10 Classic Wrestling Rivalries With One Thing Missing
Load up the "My Way" video packages (but leave out that one thing we didn't quite get around to...)
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00:00It is almost impossible to pull off a feud and tick every single box.
00:04We all think we can do this when we fantasy book, for sometimes everything can be great
00:08on paper and then BAM, something doesn't click or a totally different idea comes into
00:12play.
00:13You really do need all the stars to align perfectly.
00:15So let us investigate this a little bit further today, because that's right my friends,
00:20here are 10 Classic Wrestling Rivalries With Just One Thing Missing.
00:2410.
00:25Bret Hart vs Steve Austin
00:26And the fact it never really had a definitive singles payoff.
00:29This likely would have changed if Bret Hart hadn't gone to WCW, and let's all remember
00:33that their submission match at WrestleMania 13 is one of the most important in WWE history.
00:39It was the same when they clashed at Survivor Series 1996, especially because this was Hart's
00:44big return and the first proper time we started to sing the praises of one Steve Austin.
00:49Both men were about to embark on storylines that would change their careers forever.
00:53The chemistry between them was also wonderful, which is why we did it again at In Your House
00:56Revenge of the Taker and on a random Monday Night Raw, but by this point other elements
01:01had come into play, so they ended in a disqualification and no contest respectively.
01:06So you would have thought eventually a WrestleMania would have come around when we got that big
01:09payoff, and Austin probably would have been the champion, but alas we never got it.
01:14That one big blow off that would have sent them off into the sunset together.
01:16I'm not sure we're going to get that today all things considered, but let's definitely
01:20enjoy what we had.
01:229.
01:23Mike Orson vs Masato Tanaka
01:24Between 1994 and 2005, Mike Orson and Masato Tanaka stood across from each other 168 times.
01:32Most of these were tag team matches, but we still got 20 or so single encounters and nearly
01:37every single one are considered a classic.
01:39The sheer violence is something to behold and freak out over, and this continued at
01:43the WWE Precord One Night Stand event in 2005, even though Orson was hated by the ECW fan
01:49base for leaving the company as champion to join WCW.
01:53After this war, we all remembered, oh yeah, when these two get together, it's an utter
01:58spectacle.
01:59Amazingly though, the sheer brutality was enough to sell their battles, which is why
02:02I suppose they never felt the need to resort to blood.
02:05Well, externally, don't want to know what was happening on the inside, but many a critic
02:09has made the argument that if one of these pastings had been accompanied by the red stuff,
02:13it may have reached even higher levels.
02:14A big part of me is glad they didn't because what they did was more than enough, I mean
02:18if you told me they were actually trying to kill each other, I would believe you.
02:23Great Bianca Belair vs Sasha Banks.
02:25And the fact that at the moment, they've never had that long-awaited rematch kills
02:29me.
02:30We all know they made history at WrestleMania 37 by getting all the emotion and pouring
02:33it into the ring before just showcasing their ridiculous wrestling skills.
02:37It also basically anointed Belair as a new mega player on the main roster, and when we
02:41were done, the big conversation was how soon we could get to round two, and we didn't.
02:45So I'm sure this one was on the cards when Banks had a falling out with management and
02:49decided to leave the company, but maybe this has worked in our favour.
02:53Mercedes Monet feels like a bigger star than ever so if she does return and we kick this
02:57off again, my gosh it could be all time.
03:00We already know they have wild chemistry so I should just keep my fingers crossed as this
03:04is an actual feud we can go back to, they're both still kicking ass and taking names.
03:08We just need one signing and we're halfway there.
03:11CM Punk vs MJF.
03:14And the fact that it's another feud that didn't get their big final match.
03:17Now AEW clearly wanted to do this, but we all know what happened.
03:21It all imploded with CM Punk and he was fired.
03:23Well, even before that.
03:25MJF didn't confront him after All Out 2022 for fun, that was the direction.
03:29But that didn't mean that both guys now had a win each.
03:32Their chemistry was so good too, when a world title was thrown into the mix it just made
03:36sense to do it all again.
03:38Now just to be that guy, yes this could very well happen in another promotion one day,
03:44maybe somehow it goes down in AEW.
03:46Would anybody dare say no way after the last 12 months?
03:49If so you're totally crazy, anything is possible.
03:52Either way I do hope we get it somehow, it kind of feels like we'll all be in for quite
03:57the treat.
03:58CM Punk vs Eddie Kingston.
04:00And here's the other one we gotta mention, we only got one fight between these two.
04:05One.
04:06This should be illegal.
04:07I tell ya.
04:08I totally believe they don't like each other, even if I am being worked more power to you,
04:13you smashed it.
04:14The real joy is it wasn't you go, I go, we all go.
04:17They yelled at each other, interrupted, got mad, were frustrated, felt like two people
04:21who had serious beef.
04:22You also got to choose your side as this wasn't about good guys vs bad guys, and it tied into
04:27that full gear match and the intensity just kept on rolling.
04:30This was also the first time since his comeback where Punk felt like the angry version of
04:33himself which made the story even better.
04:35We also all know that Kingston is just the best and sadly I don't think we are going
04:39to get this.
04:40I hope I am wrong given what I just spoke about, but either way I shall continue to
04:45dream.
04:465.
04:47Kenny Omega vs Jon Moxley
04:48They never had that one classic exhibition singles match.
04:52We first lost it at All Out 2019 when Mox injured his elbow, when they did come back
04:56together and we got that incredible lights out war as a make good.
04:59The Winter is Coming 2020 clash certainly was big time and for the championship, but
05:03we do have to throw an asterisk in there too, it was right in the middle of the pandemic
05:08so we didn't have the crowd we normally would.
05:10Next was the barbed wire exploding madness with the steel cage topping this off, so there
05:14is still room here and can have Kenny and Jonathan just stirring each other across the
05:17ring and let them cook.
05:19I cannot believe this isn't in the future plans too, I bet we see it in the next 12
05:24months.
05:254.
05:26WCW vs WWE
05:27If well over a year World Championship Wrestling could claim to be the number one promotion
05:30in the world, when Vince McMahon and friends fought back, it felt like we were in the middle
05:34of a slugfest.
05:35In actuality though, as soon as Raw did pull ahead, that was that.
05:39There was no twist in the tale or resurgence from WCW, I mean you can actually go and watch
05:43Nitro in late 1998 and start to see the mistakes that were going to kill the company three
05:47years later.
05:48Come 2001, McMahon just turned up on their TV and we moved forwards, as if this wasn't
05:53the predominant battle of the mid to late 90s.
05:55So you think that WCW would have had one last hurrah, but I tell you this, they did not.
06:013.
06:02Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat
06:03The feud never made it to the WWE, but that is not the be all and end all and forevermore
06:08Steamboat vs Flair will be considered a classic.
06:10But the truth is both men were employed by WWE at the same time, and yet never clashed
06:16in the company.
06:17Ricky wrestled his last match at the time for the World Wrestling Federation on October
06:2020th, 1991.
06:21Just a month prior, Flair had debuted against Jim Powers and had 14 matches before the Dragon
06:27left so we could have done it.
06:29Knowing how McMahon's brain worked, he likely wanted nothing to do with it as it happened
06:32outside of his powerhouse, and he had spent most of 1989 coming up with counter-programming
06:37to try and kill interest in their feud.
06:40So really if we lay all our cards on the table, probably never going to happen.
06:442.
06:45CM Punk vs Jon Moxley
06:46The tension between these two felt real, and we soon learned that it was, because after
06:50the infamous All Out press conference, both shared less than complimentary words about
06:54the other.
06:55This could be why on the TV we saw Mox wreck Punk in a squash match before CM returned
06:59to defeat him at the paper, as really this was two guys playing compromise.
07:02More power to them as well, that's how it should be.
07:06There was then the super duper mega fallout so we never got the big final battle, and
07:10now, I don't know man, it does go against what I said earlier, but it feels like once
07:15CM Punk is done with this WWE run that could be it, whereas Moxley has made it clear he
07:20never wants to return to The Other Place.
07:22Unless maybe one of those what ifs that last forever more, but don't bet on it.
07:271.
07:28Randy Orton vs Triple H
07:29So this all stems back to WrestleMania 25, which is kinda stupid, but hey, people still
07:34wanna talk about it.
07:35Cause do not forget, the rivalry between these two basically went on for years.
07:40The most notable falling out was when Randy Orton got ejected from Evolution, and down
07:44the line it got so personal, we had a home invasion.
07:47That's right, wrestlers infiltrating another private's life to try and kill them.
07:51These two clearly hated each other.
07:53This is why it was so crazy to get to the show of shows in that year, and they just
07:57locked up.
07:58That's right, they decided to apply headlocks.
08:02Somebody please make it make sense.
08:03This sort of rang true for the rest of their encounters too, and look, they're not bad,
08:06don't get me wrong.
08:07These were two seasoned pros.
08:09We never got to that bubbling blood level where you watched wide eyed worrying about
08:13what was next.
08:14And we could have done that, it's all there.
08:16It sort of doesn't matter as both are hall of famers, but yeah, oh what could have been.
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08:28Otherwise, have a great day, remember it's more fun to enjoy wrestling, and I will talk
08:32to you again very, very soon.