Tuesday, May 24, 2016

My Favorite Match

For over 20 years whenever I was asked what my favorite wrestling match is my response has always been Starrcade 1985 Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA I Quit Steel Cage Match for the United States Championship.


I mean what's not to love about it?  For almost 15 of the most intense minutes I've ever seen in a wrestling match these two beat the tar out of each other with stiff shots and high impact moves.  Both men where quickly busted open with Tully bleeding from his head and arm.  The visual of the finishing sequence just stays with you.  Tully on his knees, Magnum standing behind him driving the stake from the broken wooded chair into Tully's forehead while he screamed yes repeatedly.

The crowd was screaming from the moment the two locked up and never stopped.  The crowd was amazing all night, but they really kicked it up for this match.


I legitimately have no idea how many times I've watched the match but it's in the hundreds easily.

And incidentally, Tully never said "I quit!"

However, a match has occurred that is poised to kick the "I Quit" match out of that top position.  April 1, 2016 at NXT Takeover Dallas Shinsuke Nakamura made his WWE/NXT debut against Sami Zayn in the no doubt match of the year.

Sincerely this is the finest match I have seen in many years, I have watched it no less than 30 times since and it just gets better.  What really significant was after the fact Sami Zayn was on Talk is Jericho and revealed that prior to that match he and Nakamura had met a couple times but had never touched before that night in the ring.


The crowd was amazing, very lively chanting through the entire match for both competitors but clearly leaning towards Nakamura.  At one point they literally brought the crowd to their feet as the entire audience was taken away with what they were witnessing.  A chant that I had never heard before, "fight forever" and I couldn't have agreed more.

After 20:07 of action Nakamura nailed the kinshasa picking up the win and ushering in the era of strong style in the WWE.


Nakamura had two Wrestling Observer 5 star matches in 2015 for NJPW, I wonder if any of his matches in the WWE in 2016 with Rate the same. WWE has only ever had five matches rate 5 stars, the last in 2011.

Also Nakamura's entrance music is pretty amazing!

As of now for the longevity of it I will still have to give the nod to Magnum vs. Tully however I could see that changing in the very near future.


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Later Readers!

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