"History Of The WWE Championship"-What Matches Should Be Included?

Mr. Kennedy

wwe.com currently has a poll asking fans what matches they want included on a 3-disc DVD set called "The History of the WWE Championship" which will be released on September 5, 2006. You get to select 5 matches from each decade, here are the choices:

70s:
Pedro Morales vs. Ivan Koloff(2/8/71 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. George ‘The Animal’ Steele (Steel Cage Match)(early 1973)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Ivan Koloff(11/17/73 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Stan Hansen(4/26/76 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera(3/7/77 MSG)
Bob Backlund vs. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham(2/20/78 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham(10/30/78 MSG)
Bob Backlund vs. Pat Patterson (Steel Cage Match)(9/24/79 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine(10/22/79 MSG)

80s:
Bob Backlund vs. Harley Race(10/22/80 WWE/NWA Title unification match)
The Iron Sheik vs. Bob Backlund(12/26/83 MSG)
Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik(1/23/84 MSG)
Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy (Steel Cage Match)(4/5/86 WrestleMania II)
Hulk Hogan vs. ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff (Steel Cage Match)(12/14/86 SNME)
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant(3/29/87 WrestleMania III)
Andre The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan(2/5/88 The Main Event)
Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase (the undisputed championship tournament)(3/27/88 WrestleMania IV)
Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage(4/2/89 WrestleMania V)

90s:
The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan in a Champion vs. Champion Match(4/1/90 WrestleMania VI)
Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter(3/24/91 WrestleMania VII)
Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair(4/5/92 WrestleMania VIII)
Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Steel Cage)(8/29/94 SummerSlam)
Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog(12/17/95 In Your House)
Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart in an Iron Man Match(3/31/96 WrestleMania XII)
Shawn Michaels vs Diesel in a No Holds Barred Match(4/28/96 In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies)
Shawn Michaels vs Mankind(9/22/96 In Your House: Mind Games)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Shawn Michaels(3/28/98 WrestleMania XIV)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Dude Love in a Street Fight(5/2/98 Over The Edge)
The Rock vs Mankind in an “I Quit� Match(1/24/99 Royal Rumble)
Mankind vs The Rock in an Empty Arena Match(1/30/99 Halftime Heat)

2000s:
Triple H vs Cactus Jack in a Street Fight(1/23/2000 Royal Rumble)
Kurt Angle vs The Rock(10/22/2000 No Mercy)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock in a No Holds Barred Match(4/1/01 WrestleMania X-Seven)
Chris Jericho vs Stone Cold Steve Austin(12/9/01 Vengeance)
The Rock vs. The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle(7/21/02 Vengeance)
Brock Lesnar vs The Rock(8/25/02 SummerSlam)
Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit(1/19/03 Royal Rumble)
Eddie Guerrero vs Brock Lesnar(2/15/04 No Way Out)
John Cena vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian(6/26/05 Vengeance)
John Cena vs. Edge(1/8/06 New Year's Revolution)

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Mr. Kennedy

They do have some good choices there, although I wish they had the Brock Lesnar-Kurt Angle Iron Man match in there. 6 of the 9 matches from the 70s list feature Bruno Sammartino, could that be a sign that they are trying to patch things up with him?

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Slimdust

Im glad Chris Jericho vs Stone Cold Steve Austin(12/9/01 Vengeance) is on it. Jericho becoming the undisputed champ was huge.

Blitzkrieg

Good job Kennedy. These are the matches I'd keep from that list and I have a desription next to all the ones I actually saw and reasons why I picked the others.


70s:

Bruno Sammartino vs. George ‘The Animal’ Steele (Steel Cage Match)(early 1973)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera(3/7/77 MSG)
Bob Backlund vs. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham(2/20/78 MSG)
Bob Backlund vs. Pat Patterson (Steel Cage Match)(9/24/79 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine(10/22/79 MSG)

I picked these matches because I enjoy the work of the performers. The only one I've actually seen from these is Patterson/Backlund and that was decent.

80s:
Bob Backlund vs. Harley Race(10/22/80 WWE/NWA Title unification match)
Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik(1/23/84 MSG)
Hulk Hogan vs. ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff (Steel Cage Match)(12/14/86 SNME)
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant(3/29/87 WrestleMania III)
Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase (the undisputed championship tournament)(3/27/88 WrestleMania IV)

I picked these based mostly on the way they impacted wrestling overall. I've seen most of them and the actual match quality isn't great because of Hogan but hey, it's a huge part of the history of this industry.

90s:
The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan in a Champion vs. Champion Match(4/1/90 WrestleMania VI)
Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Steel Cage)(8/29/94 SummerSlam)
Shawn Michaels vs Mankind(9/22/96 In Your House: Mind Games)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Shawn Michaels(3/28/98 WrestleMania XIV)
The Rock vs Mankind in an “I Quit� Match(1/24/99 Royal Rumble)

I went with all of these based on in-ring work. The matches were all pretty awesome except Warrior/Hogan which wasn't bad but again the history behind it. I got rid of HBK/Bret because it was too damn long without falls and submissions.


2000s:
Triple H vs Cactus Jack in a Street Fight(1/23/2000 Royal Rumble)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock in a No Holds Barred Match(4/1/01 WrestleMania X-Seven)
Chris Jericho vs Stone Cold Steve Austin(12/9/01 Vengeance)
Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit(1/19/03 Royal Rumble)
Eddie Guerrero vs Brock Lesnar(2/15/04 No Way Out)

All the matches on this were pretty amazing, but here's why I picked these. HHH/Foley is an obvious choice. Probably HHH's finest match in the McMahon/HHH era and a huge performance for Mick. Jericho won and became the 1st Unified champion, awesome achievement that he'll always have. SCSA/Rock was really good for two guys who aren't supposed to be able to wrestle. That's a joke right there, they could both go! And also, the match between two of the most if not THE two most popular wrestlers of all time. Guerrero getting his win after all he put in the business is cool, and Benoit/Angle was just a great technical wrestling display. The way wrestling SHOULD be. I was surprised not to see HBK/HHH/Benoit from WMXX on here. That was awesome and Benoit's 1st title reign!

Chewy

I surprised they dident include Kurt and Brock from WM20, I really enjoyed that match.

Blitzkrieg

I hate to sound like a fucking tool but Angle/Brock was at WM 19 Chewy, not 20. hahaha.

But yeah, to stay on topic, I'm shocked that isn't on here either. Not a whole lot of Bret matches considering he's one of the better "wrestlers" of the last 20 years.

Chewy

Really, Who main evented 20?

Was that the HHH vs Batista one?

Mr. Kennedy

WM 20 was Triple H/Benoit/HBK.

Triple H/Batista was WM 21.

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Tyler Durden

I'd have the one's in red

70s:
Pedro Morales vs. Ivan Koloff(2/8/71 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. George ‘The Animal’ Steele (Steel Cage Match)(early 1973)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Ivan Koloff(11/17/73 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Stan Hansen(4/26/76 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera(3/7/77 MSG)
Bob Backlund vs. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham(2/20/78 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham(10/30/78 MSG)
Bob Backlund vs. Pat Patterson (Steel Cage Match)(9/24/79 MSG)
Bruno Sammartino vs. Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine(10/22/79 MSG)

80s:
Bob Backlund vs. Harley Race(10/22/80 WWE/NWA Title unification match)
The Iron Sheik vs. Bob Backlund(12/26/83 MSG)
Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik(1/23/84 MSG)
Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy (Steel Cage Match)(4/5/86 WrestleMania II)
Hulk Hogan vs. ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff (Steel Cage Match)(12/14/86 SNME)
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant(3/29/87 WrestleMania III)
Andre The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan(2/5/88 The Main Event)
Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase (the undisputed championship tournament)(3/27/88 WrestleMania IV)
Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage(4/2/89 WrestleMania V)

90s:
The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan in a Champion vs. Champion Match(4/1/90 WrestleMania VI)
Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter(3/24/91 WrestleMania VII)
Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair(4/5/92 WrestleMania VIII)
Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (Steel Cage)(8/29/94 SummerSlam)
Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog(12/17/95 In Your House)
Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart in an Iron Man Match(3/31/96 WrestleMania XII)
Shawn Michaels vs Diesel in a No Holds Barred Match(4/28/96 In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies)
Shawn Michaels vs Mankind(9/22/96 In Your House: Mind Games)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Shawn Michaels(3/28/98 WrestleMania XIV)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Dude Love in a Street Fight(5/2/98 Over The Edge)
The Rock vs Mankind in an “I Quit� Match(1/24/99 Royal Rumble)
Mankind vs The Rock in an Empty Arena Match(1/30/99 Halftime Heat)

2000s:
Triple H vs Cactus Jack in a Street Fight(1/23/2000 Royal Rumble)
Kurt Angle vs The Rock(10/22/2000 No Mercy)
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock in a No Holds Barred Match(4/1/01 WrestleMania X-Seven)
Chris Jericho vs Stone Cold Steve Austin(12/9/01 Vengeance)
The Rock vs. The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle(7/21/02 Vengeance)
Brock Lesnar vs The Rock(8/25/02 SummerSlam)
Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit(1/19/03 Royal Rumble)
Eddie Guerrero vs Brock Lesnar(2/15/04 No Way Out)
John Cena vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian(6/26/05 Vengeance)
John Cena vs. Edge(1/8/06 New Year's Revolution)

Chewy

Shows what I know. How the hell do you guys get the dates for those fricken matches? I can't even remeber what I did last week for fuck sakes!!

Just when I considered myself a wrestling geek.