ThunderStruck: Top Fifty WWE Title Matches Part Five

Finally, we have the top ten WWE Title Matches in history as selected by yours truly! Enjoy!

 


 

50. The Undertaker vs Jeff Hardy, Ladder Match, Raw July ‘02
49. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant, WM 3
48. The Rock vs Triple H, IronMan Match, Judgment Day 2000
47. Hulk Hogan vs Triple H, Backlash 2002
46. Eddie Guerrero vs John Bradshaw Layfield, Texas Bullrope Match, Great American Bash ‘04
45. Hogan/Taker Judgment Day 2002
44. Cena/JBL I Quit Match, Judgment Day ‘05
43. 1992 Royal Rumble Match
42. SCSA/Y2J Vengeance ‘01
41. Rock/Foley Raw Jan ‘99
40. HHH/Cena WM 22
39. HHH/Y2J Raw April ‘00
38. Rock/Cena WM 29
37. Hart/HBK SS 97
36. SCSA/Rock Backlash ‘99
35. CM Punk vs Alberto Del Rio vs The Miz, TLC Match: TLC 2011
34. Rock vs Brock Lesnar Summerslam ‘02
33. Angle/Taker/Rock Vengeance ‘02
32. Rock/Austin WM 17
31. Angle/SCSA Unforgiven ‘01
30. John Cena/Umaga RR 2007
29. Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior WM 6
28. Brock Lesnar/Eddie Guerrero NWO ‘04
27. Ric Flair/Randy Savage WM 8
26. Kurt Angle/Brock Lesnar Summerslam ‘03
25. Iron Sheik/Hulk Hogan Jan ‘84
24. Randy Savage/Ted Dibiase WM IV
23. Undertaker/Hulk Hogan SS ‘91
22. Edge/John Cena Unforgiven ‘06
21. Rock/Kurt Angle/HHH Summerslam 2000
20. Stone Cold/Undertaker Raw June 199
19. Bret Hart/123 Kid Raw July ‘94
18. Punk/Cena Night Of Champions 2012
17. Jeff Hardy/Triple H/Edge Armageddon 2008
16. Savage/Hogan WM 5
15. Mysterio/Cena Raw July ‘11
14. Triple H/Cactus Jack RR ‘00
13. Bret Hart/Ric Flair Oct. ‘92
12. Punk/Jericho Extreme Rules 2012
11. Lesnar/Angle WM 19

10. Punk/Dbry OTL 2012: There’s not a match in WWE history that comes closer to a Ring of Honor style classic than this one. You could see the grin on Daniel Bryan’s face as CM Punk came to the ring and these two former ROH talents went one on one for the biggest prize in WWE. We were given a 25 minute matchup that blew away the crowd and Punk was able to deliver on the finish when he countered the labell lock into a rollup three count.

9. John Cena/HBK WM 23: This was originally designed to be a triple threat match with HHH involved, but he was injured. Shawn came to the ring with DX music and put on another show stopping classic with Cena. When all was said and done, Cena was able to retain the WWE Championship and HBK left after refusing to shake Cena’s hand.

8. John Cena/Rob Van Dam One Night Stand ‘06: Rob Van Dam decided to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase at the second ever One Night Stand event in 2006 and go for the WWE Title at the Hammerstein Ballroom! Cena was taken down by Edge’s spear and then fell victim to the five star frog splash while, ironically enough, Paul Heyman ran to the ring to count to three and secure Van Dam’s victory. The crowd was insane for this match(they threw Cena’s shirt back over and over) and practically exploded when RVD finally won the championship!

7. HBK/Mankind IYH:Mind Games September ‘96: Mankind made a huge impact upon his WWE debut in 1996, and challenging Michaels for the WWE Championship while embroiled in a rivalry with the Undertaker made for impressive addition to his resume. Mankind gave Michaels his absolute best and these two put on a wrestling/brawl clinic for the audience. Despite the DQ finish to the match, there is no match that Shawn Michaels had with another heel opponent(straight up heel, that is) that can be considered better than this.

6. Bret Hart/British Bulldog IYH Dec. 95: While this 1995 encounter wasn’t quite the fast paced contest full of athleticism and counters that we saw in their 1992 Summerslam match, it’s been referred to by the Hitman himself as a sloppy masterpiece. The match was physical and excellent, and many believed that the Bulldog had a realistic shot at taking the title from Bret. On this night, Bret would eventually wrap up a bloody(Davey was actually covered in Bret’s blood, as he bladed during the match) Bulldog into a rollup pinfall to retain the WWE Championship.

5. Lesnar/Undertaker No Mercy ‘02: Brock was dominating the WWE when he arrived in 2002, and the Undertaker was a legitimate threat to his championship reign. Taker would go into the match with an injured hand, and Brock took advantage of that during the match. After an F5 was delivered to the bloody deadman, Brock was able to get the victory and continue his dominant run in WWE.

4. Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit RR 2003: This duo had a great series of matches over the course of a few years, but none were better than this technical masterpiece. Kurt went into this match as the heel with Team Angle on his side, and he was able to score the win by making Benoit tap out to the ankle lock to hold onto the gold. Despite the WWE trying to keep Benoit out of the spotlight as much as possible(and with good reason), there’s no denying the talent that he brought to the table with his contributions to the wrestling business and more specifically, as a believable challenger for the WWE Championship in this mat classic.

3. Owen Hart/Bret Hart Summerslam ‘94: This was indeed the most technical cage match in the history of Chicago, Illinois. Bret and Owen’s bitter rivalry continued to formulate in 1994 and came to a head at the annual Summer spectacular. Despite a hard fought battle, Owen failed to capture the WWE Championship on this night, and he would actually never reach that ultimate goal of winning WWE’s biggest prize. Bret and Owen were without a doubt two of the best technicians in all of wrestling, and on this night they tore the house down with their hard fought classic.

2. John Cena/CM Punk MITB 11: I never would’ve pictured myself putting a match with an outside distraction at the finish in the number two slot on a top ten list, but the importance and hype surrounding this match added to the outstanding performance put on by both men made it impossible not to recognize as runner up to the best match on this list. Cena and Punk have always brought out the best in one another, and this was certainly an encounter where you couldn’t take your eyes off the screen. Punk would ultimately leave Chicago with the WWE Championship after John Cena clocked John Laurinaitis on the outside and then jumped back into the ring to fall victim to Punk’s GTS.

1. HBK/Bret Hart WM 12: No one would want to see two men wrestle for an hour, and no one could put up a good enough match to go sixty minutes. That’s what Bret and Shawn were told in regards to their pitched match idea for WrestleMania 12. It’s a good thing the doubters let it go down, because we were treated to the best one on one encounter in the history of the WWE Championship. When all was said and done, Shawn was able to pin Bret in overtime after the superkick and the boyhood dream finally came true for HBK!

Appearances on the list:
Cena – 10
Rock – 8
HHH – 7
Angle – 6
Hart – 6
Taker – 6
Austin – 5
HBK – 4
Punk – 4
Lesnar – 4

What do you think? What matches would you have included here? What matches would you take off? Make sure to share your thoughts below! Thanks for reading!

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