Nostalgia is in the air in pro wrestling, asWWEhas proved by the fact that recently decided to reboot Saturday Night’s Main Event. Back in an era when almost all major moments happened at one of the big four shows of the year (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series),a wealth of great in-ring action from WWE’s Golden Era has been overlooked. The Golden Era of wrestling has plenty of under-appreciated classics, with lesser-known Dream Matches and milestone moments that are too frequently glossed over in favor of the company’s regular historical narrative.
The matches of The Golden Era are more rugged and less glossy than what today’s audience is conditioned to. However, these bouts show the quality that existed throughout this era. There is a natural focus on the strength of The Golden Era mid-card and Intercontinental Championship scene, butall of these matches have cultural relevance to today’s WWE in some form.
10Honky Tonk Man vs Macho Man Randy Savage (Saturday Night’s Main Event, October 3rd, 1987)
The Match That Formed The Mega Powers
Much is made of its historical importance, but Honky Tonk Man’s matches in his record-breaking Intercontinental Championship reign are rarely spoken about. The squash match with Ultimate Warrior that ended his time as champion may be the most known, but this defense inHonky Tonk Man’s Saturday Night’s Main Event classic with Randy Savage has it all. It’s a great match in its own right, but it is perhaps known for its cultural significance.
With Randy Savage’s popularity on the rise and his babyface status increasing, Honky Tonk Man could feel the Intercontinental championship slipping away. He lost the match via DQ when his allies at the time, The Hart Foundation, hit the ring to beat down Savage and set him up for Honky to smash his guitar over his head. Miss Elizabeth would run backstage and recruit Hulk Hogan to make the save.The Mega Powers handshake happened directly after this occurrence, but Savage and Honky Tonk Man’s match provided the set-up to one of WWE’s most iconic moments.
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage only tagged as The Mega Powers on two WWE broadcasts.
9British Bulldog vs Shawn Michaels (Saturday Night’s Main Event, November 8th, 1992)
The Heartbreak Kid’s First Taste Of Intercontinental Gold.
The British Bulldog’s victory over Bret Hart that headlined SummerSlam ‘92 at Wembley Stadium goes down as one of the most significant title changes of all time. It showcased Bret Hart’s ability to headline a WWE PPV in front of a sold-out stadium and thatthe Intercontinental Championship had as much of the audience’s attention as the WWE Championship. But what happened to the Intercontinental belt after that classic moment?
Shawn Michaels’s first Intercontinental Championship reign was the second-longest championship run of his entire career at 202 days.
Just nine months after superkicking Marty Jannety through the Barber Shop window,Shawn Michaels left tag team wrestling for good and scored his first Intercontinental Championship victory. The British Bulldog only had one televised title defense of the title in a disappointing count-out victory. This match holds cultural significance as a sliding doors moment for both wrestlers. Michaels went on to achieve greatness, while The Bulldog never reached the potential he showed that Summer.
8The Perfect Madness vs Ric Flair and Razor Ramon (Survivor Series, November 25th, 1992)
An All-Star Tag Team match For The Ages.
Of all the opponents he faced in his short run with the company,Ric Flair’s greatest rivalry in his 90s WWE days came with Macho Man Randy Savage. Flair would tease the hero that he owned lewd pictures of Miss Elizabeth and he and Savage would bring the house down with their match at WrestleMania 8. They fit each other perfectly, even if it felt like the world really wanted to see Flair and Hulk Hogan on opposite sides of the ring for the first time.
After Flair lost the WWE title to Savage in their Mania classic, their feud would continue throughout the year, with Flair and his Executive Consultant, Mr Perfect, launching sporadic attacks on the Macho Man. Razor Ramon would join the pair in targeting Savage ahead of a Survivor Series tag team match between Ramon and Flair and Savage and a mystery partner. Savage would eventually convince Mr Perfect to stop being Flair’s lackey and to have his first match in just over a year. As you’d expect with this red-hot setup and talent involved,the match is a riot despite its unsatisfactory double DQ finish.
Ultimate Warrior was originally due to be Randy Savage’s partner in this match but parted ways with WWE in late Summer of 1992.
7Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper (The War To Settle The Score, Feburary 18th, 1985)
MTV Broadcasts Pro Wrestling To The World
WWE has spent most of its last 40 years existing on its own terms and needing nobody else to find success. The War To Settle The Score pre-dated that notion and was one of the most important shows in WWE history.A wrestling extravaganza broadcast on MTV ahead of the first-ever WrestleMania, Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan would headline the show ahead of their match in the firstMain Event of WrestleMania. It merged wrestling and pop culture in one of the most significant ways of all time.
This match is as much about taking in the spectacle as watching Roddy Piper get a great match out of Hulk Hogan. Piper is played to the ring by live bagpipes and drummers who flanked the ring for his entrance. Hogan’s larger-than-life persona fit perfectly with the colorful and flamboyant pop stars of the day. It was one of the first times the outside world would understand pro wrestling en masse, an enormous part of the WWE’s story, and a touchstone moment inestablishing the company’s motives when it comes to the world of pop culture.
6Texas Tornado vs Mr Perfect (SummerSlam, August 27th, 1990)
One Of The Von Erich Family’s Finest Hours
Since worldwide acclaim was justifiably hoisted upon The Iron Claw, global interest has never been higher in the Von Erich Family. Mr Perfect is regarded as one of the best WWE mid-card wrestlers of any era. He picked up his first Intercontinental title after winning a tournament for the vacated championship in April 1990, following Ultimate Warrior unifying it with the WWE Championship in his victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 6.Kerry Von Erich had debuted just one month before this match.
After a bizarre parasailing injury took Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake out of SummerSlam, Texas Tornado was fast-tracked into the Intercontinental Championship match where he had a sensational bout with Mr Perfect.This is a great example of why men of this size were establishing their worth, proving that they could be as valuable as the giants of the time (something often credited exclusively to Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart). Von Erich would win the match and taste WWE gold for the first and only time. He would drop the title to Perfect in November of 1990, have a 24-minute run in the 1991 Royal Rumble match, and beat Dino Bravo at WrestleMania 7 before exiting the company in August 1992.
Kerry Von Erich’s last match for WWE was a countout defeat to Shawn Michaels on June 3rd, 1992.
5The Hart Foundation vs The Brain Busters (SummerSlam, August 28th, 1989)
An Influential Classic From The Late 1980s
Tag teams like FTR and The Outrunners are currently enjoying success with their hard-hitting style that harks back to wrestling’s Golden Age, and this non-title match isessential viewing for anyone who loves smash-mouth tag team wrestling. WWE Tag Team Champions The Brain Busters were so villainous that they didn’t even have entrance music. The Hart Foundation was enjoying a surge in popularity after spending most of the previous years as heels.
Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, and Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart provide a clinic in wrestling as a team, with Bobby Heenan at his weasel-best on behalf of the champions. Heenan’s interference would prove the difference as he distracted the referee for The Brain Busters to score the victory. At 16:23, this is the longest match on the whole card, andit has a strong claim to be the best match of SummerSlam 89.
4Hulk Hogan vs Terry Funk (Saturday Night’s Main Event, December 19th, 1985)
A Contrast Of Styles In This Forgotten Classic
This battle between hardcore legend Terry Funk and Hulk Hogan feels like a fever dream, and yet it happened on Saturday Night’s Main Event in 1986. It’s a bizarre affair in general. Jimmy Hart accompanies Terry Funk to make a very odd pairing and Junkyard Dog aligns himself with the Hulkster.
It is a trip seeing Hogan dragged into the trenches fora spit-and-sawdust fight that couldn’t be further from Hulk’s MTV-hogging 80s persona. The match sees Hogan earn the three count over Funk via clothesline in an awful finish, but it’s worth viewing to see a side of Hulk Hogan very rarely seen, especially in the 1980s.
3The Headshrinkers vs The Steiner Bros (WrestleMania IX, April 4th, 1993)
A Golden Age Classic With Very Modern Connotations
Roman Reigns, The Rock, andThe Bloodline’s era-defining runhave not only provided sauce to their present and future. The enhanced reputation of the Samoan dynasty has only added greater historical significance to their past, the work of Fatu (later Rikishi, father of Jimmy and Jey Uso) and his cousin Samu, son of their manager Afa Anoa’i of The Wild Samoans. The rise of Bron Breakker has also seen an increase in interest in The Steiner Bros, making thisgreat viewing for old and new school fans alike.
The Steiner Bros had only signed for WWE five months prior to this match after being one of WCW’s prized possessions in the early 90s. Their move set’s mix of power and fun moves like the Steinerline and Frankensteiner are ahead of their time and the perfect antidote to Samu and Fatu’s timeless physical style. Bron’s father Rick Steiner got the victory with a top-rope bulldog in a win that would set them on their way to the first of two WWE tag-team championship reigns.
2Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair (Prime Time Wrestling, December 16th, 1991)
The Heartbreak Kid Comes Of Age
Ric Flair arrived in WWE not only as WCW Champion but as the biggest name to have not wrestled for Vince McMahon up to that point. But if anything is known about Vince McMahon’s time in charge of the company, it’s that if it didn’t happen in WWE, it didn’t happen at all, and soFlair had to almost build his reputation from scratch in WWE. The opponent chosen to do that was a young Shawn Michaels, then still a tag team wrestler as part of The Rockers.
It’s the kind of match that is remarkable to look at through the lens of history. Michaels showcased a determination to stand out in a match against a marquee performer like Flair, and showed a charisma that was unnatural for a tag team wrestler to have in that era.It’s apparent that Flair vibes with Shawn’s athleticism and tenacity, making his offense look strong and dynamic, while begging his mercy repeatedly. Flair gets the three count with his feet on the ropes but Michaels showed enough quality to ensure he would win his first Intercontinental Championship less than a year later.
Fast-forward seventeen years, and these two would have a Match of the Year winner with their bout at WrestleMania XXIV, which many fans still consider one of the best matches of all time.
1Bret Hart vs Mr Perfect (King Of The Ring, June 13th, 1993)
A Classic From The King Of The Ring Archive
The prestige of the Intercontinental Championship is something that only stopped being called into question during Gunther’s recent record-setting championship reign. That is largely due to a lack of time spent developing talent and giving them the appropriate TV time. It could also be argued that the Golden Era wasthe only era in which the Intercontinental Championship felt as prestigious as the WWE title. Of all of the lost classics that make that case, this is perhaps the most overlooked of them all.
Raising the bar from their legendary IC title match at SummerSlam 91, Bret Hart and Mr Perfect Curt Hennig battled for a place in the King Of The Ring final against Bam Bam Bigelow later that evening.Hart and Perfect go over twenty minutes in this technical masterclass, sold by commentary as a war that made whoever won the match a lamb to the slaughter. Hart would get the victory and win the King Of The Ring tournament later that evening, but the match with Mr Perfect in the semi-final is the night’s true masterpiece and one of the best underrated gems from WWE’s Golden Era.
