BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) MANKIND VS TRIPLE H
Off the bat, let’s preface. I’ve not seen EVERY cage match and I don’t remember a lot them. When I thought about doing this Top Four I figured it was going to be easy. Not really. The first match was actually the opening match of Summerslam 1997. Such an underrated match. Hunter Hearst Helmsley was still with Chyna but evolving from the snob character towards the DX thing. Meanwhile, Mankind was a finding himself a huge fan favorite as the whole “Dude Love” thing was coming to surface. I remember enjoying the hell of this when it happened, but even in retrospect it was a pretty pivotal bullet point in the roots of the Attitude Era and beyond.
(THREE) VINCE MCMAHON VS STEVE AUSTIN
After the launch of one of the biggest feuds of all time, Vince McMahon finally takes on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin…. and they put it in a cage! I remember this match pretty clearly for some reason. Vince stalling at the start, Austin beating the shit out of him, Vince not giving up, Austin beating the shit out him, Vince not giving up, Austin almost winning, and then Big Show debuts and throws Austin through the cage. It wasn’t a technical masterpiece, but in a cage match you shouldn’t expect that. It was a spectacle and A LOT of fun.
(TWO) MAGNUM T.A. VS TULLY BLANCHARD
1985. Not many old NWA matches really stand out to me. I can enjoy a good old school match, but two “big hoss” types beating the hell out of each other in a really slow pace is not my cup of tea. I don’t need high spots or anything, but the style was bland. Everyone did the same simple moveset. Granted some folks like Flair, Dusty, and others could tell a great story with the simple moveset it still comes down to that two “big hoss” types stiffing each other in short underwear. Too southern for my liking. That said, THIS match was awesome. I almost put it as my number one. Magnum T.A. was the shit and Tully was on his A-game here. They beat the hell out of each other like a normal cage brawl, but the finish was amazing. It was an “I Quit” Match on top of being a cage match. A wooden chair was broken. In order to get the win, a broken chair leg was held to someone’s eye until he had no choice but to either give up or lose an eye! Great ending!
(ONE) BRET HART VS OWEN HART
Is this the best cage match of all time? I dunno. It’s my favorite at least. In 1994, I was a young kid and was really into wrestling. Things around this time were just a lot of fun and it was a great time for a young wrestling fan’s eyes to really open. Earlier in the year we had the Ladder Match at Wrestlemania 10, Bret and Shawn were tearing it up, people still went along with the Undertaker character, it was cartoony but it still had a sense of class to it. One match from 1994 that I think is INSANELY underrated is THIS cage match. Owen and Bret broke up and had a sibling rivalry for awhile. At Wrestlemania 10, Owen defeated Bret in the opening match. That same night Bret won the WWF Title in a really cool and poetic moment. Fast forward to later that summer and the brothers Hart put on a clinic.
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