Best Matches of 1996?

[Manute Bol]

Let's keep this going!! The 93 poll was definitely NOT a success, but hopefully we can fix this with 96, which was a much better year in-ring wise than 93.

Remember, you can choose up to 5 matches!

The 1993 poll:
officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=wrestling&thread=439632&page=1

The 1994 poll:
officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wrestling&action=display&thread=435505

The 1995 poll:
officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wrestling&action=display&thread=438886

[fw91]

iron man match. idc if people since think that its an overrated borefest, but i still think that it was exicting and told a great story.

[Renslayer]

1. Hart/Austin
2. Michaels/Mankind
3. Michaels/Diesel
4. Michaels/Owen
5. Austin/Savio

[thegame415]

1. Michaels vs Mankind

One of my favorite matches ever. Also, hasn't Foley himself said this was his favorite match.

2. Michaels vs Hart

Very revolutionary. Building a match around wrestling is so unheard of, especially in WWF. ]

3. Hart vs Austin

Great match that really took Austin to the next level.

4. Michaels vs Diesel

A fun match. One of Nash's best as the Diesel character.

5. Sid vs Michaels

Sid's best match, IMO. Great crowd.

[flatsdomino]

1. Shawn vs. Mankind - Mind Games
2. Austin vs. Hart - Survivor Series
3. The Iron Man match
4. Shawn vs. Sid at Survivor Series
5. Shawn vs. Diesel IYH

Honorable mention goes to the Doomsday Cage Match from WCW

[Some Guy]

1. Austin/Hart- Survivor Series
2. Shawn/Mankind- Mind Games
3. Shawn/Diesel- Good Friends, Better Enemies
4. Shawn/Owen- Rage in the Cage
5. Shawn/Vader- Summerslam

[Deleted]

1) Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin, Survivor Series 1996. The only thing that could have made this better was Steve Austin winning. They could have played up Bret having "ring rust" from being away for a long time.
2) Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind, Mind Games. Believe it or not, I never seen the actual match. I read the reports from the Torch and they spoke very highly of the first 26:45. (The last 15 seconds/cop-out finish brought it down.)
3) Iron Man Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart, WM XII. I love the concept of marathon matches. Could have had a couple of falls take place, but nevertheless a fine match.
4) Sycho Sid vs. Shawn Michaels, Survivor Series 1996. Hot crowd, Shawn reaming out the haters, Sid beating up Jose "Why is he here again?" Lothario (Sid responding on Raw the next night "When you put your ass on the apron, you became part of the game!" - an all-time great quote from Sid).
5) Steve Austin vs. Vader, RAW. Just two guys beating the crap out of each other.

Honorable mention: Shawn Michaels drew British Bulldog, IYH: Beware Of Dog. They may have had a better match at KOTR, but they had a lot of heat behind this match, even if they were just half-assing it here. (They were told not to go all out because they didn't know if the power would be restored. Oops.)

[J is Justice]

Bret/Austin
Austin/Savio (underrated match)
Royal Rumble
Shawn/Mankind
Bret/Shawn

[dav]

I always found the Shawm/Mankind one really overated. The booking's really just wrong where the psycho is the one getting his arse handed to him for most of the match.

[Deleted]

HBK/Mankind is my number one that year. Amazing match.

[surferrosa12]

1. Shawn vs. Mankind - Mind Games
2. Austin vs. Hart - Survivor Series
3. No Holds Barred: Shawn Michaels/Diesel (IYH 7)
4. Shawn Michaels/Sid (Survivor Series)
5. Buried Alive: Taker/Mankind (IYH: Buried Alive)

[Manute Bol]

Jul 15, 2012 10:21:28 GMT -5 dav said:

I always found the Shawm/Mankind one really overated. The booking's really just wrong where the psycho is the one getting his arse handed to him for most of the match.

This is definitely one of my favorite matches of all-time, if not my absolute favorite. Yeah, the finish is disappointing, but the match itself is incredible.

I've always thought the No DQ match between Shawn and Diesel is extremely overrated. Much like Diesel's two brawls with Bret Hart from 1995, these matches don't really hold up for me. I find them incredibly boring, plodding matches.

And I hate to say it, but I'm one of the people who is just not a huge fan of the Iron Man match either. I'm going:

1. Shawn/Mankind
2. Bret/Austin
3. Shawn/Vader
4. Royal Rumble
5. I'm still contemplating this one...

[chazraps]

96, from an in-ring perspective, is an underrated year. I could do a top 5 matches that weren't included:

(in no order)

1) Shawn vs. Bulldog (IYH)
2) Bret vs. Owen (Nov '96 Raw)
3) Shawn vs. Janetty (June '96 Raw)
4) Austin vs. Mankind (Raw, the night after Survivor Series)
5) Jake Roberts vs. Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw (Superstars, June '96)

I'm serious with that last one. Roberts was on the comeback trail in the quarterfinals of the 1996 King of the Ring, and Bradshaw was undefeated for several months by that point. The match is the perfect telling of a cinderella story and really made Roberts seem like a believable pick to go all the way in the tournament. Excellent match.

[unclesoda]

First poll where the results (so far) have surprised me. I thought this would be a landslide for Austin/Hart from Survivor Series.

[Manute Bol]

Jul 16, 2012 13:05:09 GMT -5 unclesoda said:

First poll where the results (so far) have surprised me. I thought this would be a landslide for Austin/Hart from Survivor Series.

Same here. I fully expected Austin/Hart to win this poll.

But I love the Shawn/Mankind match, so I have no problem with it getting the upset win. I don't know how the hell Shawn/Diesel has so many votes though.

[RedDevil]

Like the other threads, this just reminds how many good matches there were at a time when business was down.

Also considering Bret Hart was off TV for so long, he still had two of the five best matches - Survivor Series against Austin was the best that year. Honourable mention to the fantastic Mind Games main event, the Iron Man match, and a special mention to the Boiler Room Match - that ending was enough on its own, truly shocking

Also Diesel vs. Taker was far, far better than it should've been.

[chazraps]

Jul 16, 2012 17:21:36 GMT -5 Manute Bol said:

Jul 16, 2012 13:05:09 GMT -5 unclesoda said:

First poll where the results (so far) have surprised me. I thought this would be a landslide for Austin/Hart from Survivor Series.

Same here. I fully expected Austin/Hart to win this poll.

But I love the Shawn/Mankind match, so I have no problem with it getting the upset win. I don't know how the hell Shawn/Diesel has so many votes though.

Before the era where Hardcore matches were a regular thing, it was really something special. The WWE hadn't really gone to levels of guys using whatever they could to throw everything at their opponent like that in quite sometime. From the fake leg to the fire extinguisher, for many of us this was our first time seeing something like that. Call it nostalgia playing a factor, but even today when I watch it I feel like I did at age 10 when it was my first WWF PPV.

[Long Live the Stream]

HBK/Bret
HBK/Diesel
HBK/Mankind
Bret/Austin
HBK/123 Kid

I've never seen Austin/Vader and now feel like I have to find it.

[Manute Bol]

In the polls from 93, 94 and 95, Bret Hart had a clear advantage in terms of matches nominated and total votes. Some of Shawn's matches would get votes of course (the Ladder matches came in second place in the 94 poll and first in the 95 poll), but it was clearly Bret who had the matches we all love and remember from those years. 1996, however, seems to be the one where Shawn took over and began cementing his place as "the guy" in the WWE.

[The Sam]

A close call between Mankind/HBK and Hart/HBK but I chose Mankind/HBK in the end.