The Top 100 Matches in WWF History (Part 2)

It's the top 50 matches in Counterfactual history (WWF PPV only) Part 1 is here

50.  Royal Rumble '96 IC: Vader (w/Perfect) d. Shawn Michaels (switch) 4 ½
-Vader's WWF PPV debut, he busts Michaels over hardway and pins him after the Vaderbomb.

49.  Summer Slam '96 IC: Vader (w/Perfect) d. Cactus Jack 4 ½ 
-Vader and Cactus picked up their old NWA rivalry here, potato-ing each other for 20 minutes; Vader kept his belt and postmatch powerbombed Jack off the apron.

48.  Summer Slam  '96 WWF Title: Shawn Michaels d. Owen Hart 4 ½
-This featured the rare pre-match brawl between Austin and Pillman; both Michaels and Owen were babyfaces and Shawn kept his belt from his longtime rival.  

47. Survivor Series  '05 IC/US/TV: Chris Benoit d. Kurt Angle (triple crown) 4 ½
This was an Eddy Guerrero tribute match as he died a couple of weeks prior to the show; Benoit beat Angle in the finals of a tournament for the vacant IC belt, the winner would also gain the Triple Crown.  Benoit took this one (Angle never won the IC)

46. Survivor Series '96 IC: Cage: Cactus Jack d. Vader (switch) 4 ½
-Flaming barbed wire baseball bat in Madison Square Garden in 1996. Foley took Vader's belt.  Vader's best WWF match.

45. WM32: IC: El Generico d. AJ Styles (switch) 4 ½ 
-AJ never beat Generico in WWF (through 2020) their first meeting was for AJ's IC title at WM32; Generico got the win, then took a brutal Bullet Club asskicking.  AJ won the WWF Title in the Elimination Chamber at night's end.  

44. Survivor Series: '96 WWF Title: Bret Hart (w/Anvil/Pillman) d. Shawn Michaels 4 ½ (switch)
-It's a Harts/Clique matchup; Bret was the heel in this one, he held onto the ropes as leverage during the pinfall, becoming the first man in WWF history to win the title 3 times.  Postmatch saw a brawl between the two factions (Davey Boy and Owen were babyfaces but they still fought with Bret - when it came to Harts v Clique, blood was always thicker than water).  Austin, of course, was also involved here because it was 1996.  

43. WM 16: IC: Eddy Guerrero d. Chris Jericho 4 ½ (switch)
-Eddy and Jericho had a long NWA feud and they brought it right to WWF, Eddy taking Jericho's title in his Mania debut.  

42. WM 17 Chris Jericho d. Eddy Guerrero (Guest referee-Hector Guerrero) 4 ½
-The blowoff, Jericho gets the liontamer submission and wins the girl (Stacy Keibler) at the end.

     41. WM35: Bryan Danielson d. Samoa Joe 4 1/2

-   -The blowoff to their long program; from ROH to Danielson's time as WWF Commissioner, to a 3 match series in WWF; each man staked his wrestling reputation on the outcome of this one and it was Danielson who came away victorious.

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40. WM22: WWF/NWA/ECW: Rey Mysterio d. Chris Benoit 4 ½
The only singles match the two men would ever have (it's Benoit's last ever match) Rey kept his belt to cement his role as the ace of the promotion.  

39.  WM31: WWF Title No DQ: Brock Lesnar d. Claudio Castagnoli 4 ½
-Brock took Claudio's belt at the Rumble and kept it here; postmatch saw the debut of Prince Devitt, arriving at WWF as a Paul Heyman Guy.  

38. Summer Slam '10 Bryan Danielson d. CM Punk 4 ½
-Danielson's WWF PPV debut, Punk became a crazy person following Edge's attack on Maria, he hospitalized Steamboat, leading to this match; Punk did a stretcher job here following a referee stoppage.  

37. WM34: AJ Styles d. Bryan Danielson 4 ½
-Danielson's return to the ring after a 3 year retirement saw him fall short in an attempt to reclaim his "best wrestler in the world" moniker. 

36. WM16: WWF Title: Chris Benoit d. Cactus Jack 4 ½ (switch)
-Benoit/Eddy/Malenko/Saturn arrived from NWA after the Rumble, they all won matches at WM 16 - with Benoit, the 3 time NWA Champion, getting the big one, taking Cactus's WWF Title.  The four intruders victoriously taking control of the ring postmatch.  Foley's best WWF match.

35. WM31: Kenta d. Bryan Danielson 4 ½
-It sure seemed like the last match of Danielson's career when it happened; with Steamboat and Kobashi looking on from a luxury suite, Kenta hit the Go to Sleep to win the main event at Wrestlemania.  Kenta's best WWF match.

34. WM29  WWF Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) d. Bryan Danielson (w/Steamboat and Punk) (Guest referee-Bruno Sammartino)(switch) 4 ½ 

-First ever meeting between Danielson and Lesnar; Heyman juiced Lesnar up for years about this guy named Bryan who everyone said was the best wrestler in the world - Lesnar came to WWF, mowed down Punk and set his eye on Danielson.  The finish came when Punk (in Danielson's corner) threw in the towel as Bryan was locked in a submission hold.

33. WM16: Tags: TLC: Hardys (Lita) d. Dudleys (Spike), Edge/Christian (Guest referee-Bob Backlund) (switch) 4 ½ 

Crazy spotfest, you know how it goes, the Hardys took the belts from the Duds.  

32. WM13  WWF Title Steve Austin (w/Pillman) d. Bret Hart (switch) 4 ½
-Austin aligned with Pillman and they set their sights on both the Harts and the Clique, Austin won with the Stunner.

31 Survivor Series 2019 IC Title: Ricochet d Adam Cole 4 3/4

-State of the art modern wrestling; two of the best wrestlers alive going full tilt.

30.  Royal Rumble '98 WWF Title: Owen Hart d. Steve Austin  4 ¾
-You remember the iconic image; the blood flowing down Austin's face as he passes out in the Sharpshooter. Once Austin recovers he gives Owen the stunner postmatch.

29. Survivor Series '94 WWF Title: Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel) d. Owen Hart (w/Bulldog) 4 ¾ (switch)

-Shawn takes Owen's title in San Antonio after the superkick; postmatch Diesel jacknifed Michaels to the canvas and held the belt aloft.

28.  Royal Rumble '03 TLC4: Hardys (w/Bischoff) d. Dudleys (w/Heyman) d. Edge/Christian (w/Trish) 4 ¾ 
-5 stretcher jobs postmatch; only Matt remained standing as this long feud came to an end.  It's the best match of any configuration of this feud.

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27. Summer Slam '91 IC: Bret Hart d. Ricky Steamboat 4 ¾
Steamboat, obviously a critical figure in modern WWF history, returned to the promotion and lost this all babyface match to IC Champ Bret, who also kept over Tenryu in this run.

26. Royal Rumble  '14 WWF Championship: Montreal Match: Bryan Danielson d. CM Punk,  Brock Lesnar, Jack Swagger 4 ¾

The third Montreal Match, that's a 4 way, one fall tornado submission match - loser leaves town.  Owen beat Bret, Matt beat Jeff, and here, Danielson beat Punk.  Danielson and Punk had been stablemates but this marked the full transition of GDI from Punk to Bryan (Lesnar had feuded with both of them, he and Swagger went into this one as stablemates but this match fractured that relationship). The best WWF match for Punk.

25. Survivor Series '97 WWF Title: Montreal Match: Owen Hart d. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin 4 ¾

All these years later, wrestling fans worldwide still talk about Montreal.  Bret and Shawn had a seven year rivalry heads of their respective stables whose feud served as the backbone of this period of WWF. Shawn and Owen were career long rivals, where one went, the other followed - Austin's mission was to destroy everyone on both sides - and Bret had turned on his brother and those two had been enemies, but had neared reconciliation.   Owen submits Bret in the sharpshooter.  

24. Summer Slam '00 IC: 2 of 3 Falls: Chris Jericho d. Eddy Guerrero 4 ¾ (switch)
-Babyface Jericho, heel Guerrero, in the middle of their hot feud - Jericho with the pinfall win; Malenko and Eddy had postmatch words which would lead to their only WWF meeting.  

23. Summer Slam '94 WWF Title: Cage Match: Owen Hart d. Bret Hart 4 ¾
-Bret's the heel - Owen's the babyface; the Anvil (on Bret's side) and Davey Boy (on Owen's) both returned to the promotion in this one; Owen escaped the cage to keep his belt.

22. Summer Slam '92 WWF Title: Bret Hart d. Davey Boy Smith 4 ¾
-The one at Wembley; on the outside, Michaels dropped an elbow from the top buckle to send Owen through the announce table in the first table bump in promotion history.  Davey submits to the Sharpshooter.  Savage attacks Michaels after the table bump, Flair attacked Bret postmatch; Hennig saved Bret.  Lot going on at Wembley.  Davey's best ever match.

21. WM35: IC Ricochet d. Prince Devitt 4 3/4
-Ricochet's first WWF PPV match, he relinquished the Dark Ride belt in order to put a stop to the evil reign of the Bullet Club leader Devitt. He did in a high octane spotfest.  

20. Summer Slam '04 WWF/NWA/ECW 2 of 3 Falls: Chris Benoit d. Kurt Angle 4 ¾
-Toronto providing a home Canadian crowd for babyface Benoit against heel Angle.  Neither man had ever submitted and the third fall was submission only -  Angle tapped to the crossface.  

19. Summer Slam '05 WWF/NWA/ECW: 2 of 3 Falls: Rey Mysterio d. Eddy Guerrero (switch, triple crown) 4 ¾

-Eddy's last match. All babyface; Rey wins his first WWF Title and the triple crown.     Mysterio's best WWF match.

18.  WM21 WWF/NWA/ECW: Iron Man: Eddy Guerrero d. Chris Benoit (switch) (Guest referee- Dean Malenko) 4 ¾ 

-They went over an hour; there were judges, Eddy got the frogsplash pinfall and WM 21 ended the way WM20 ended - with Benoit, Eddy and Dean standing in the ring.  

17. Royal Rumble '17 Tags: Kevin Steen/El Generico d. Trash (Claudio/Neville) (switch) 4 ¾

-Steen and Generico became the 100th WWF tag champs, taking the belts from their former GDI stablemates.  

16.  Survivor Series '00 WWF Title: Chris Benoit d. Steve Austin 4 ¾

-Benoit's the heel champion; Austin's been gone a year with injury, Benoit hits him with 10 consecutive germans and taps him out with the crossface.  The best match of Austin's career.

15. WM33 Tags: Ladder Wars: Trash (Neville/Claudio) d. El Generico/Kevin Steen (switch) 4 ¾

-Full carnage; the four former GDI stablemates doing all the terrible things four men could do to each other with a mess of ladders.  Trash took the belts and then immediately lost them to the returning Hardys.  The best tag match in WWF history.  

14. WM2   WWF Title: Dynamite Kid d. Ricky Steamboat (switch)  4 3/4 

-Steamboat's held the belt since taking it from Hogan prior to the first Mania; he drops it here to the head of the Hart Foundation - the other 3 members of which hit the ring postmatch; Wrestlemania 2 ends with Dynamite, Davey Boy, Bret and the Anvil all standing on turnbuckles holding their title belts. The best WWF match for either man.  

13. WM19  Eddy Guerrero (w/Horsemen) d. Chris Benoit 4 ¾ 

-Benoit broke away from the Horsemen (Flair, Leviathan Batista, Eddy, sort of Chavo) and Eddy set his sights on him; Chavo aids in the finish (Eddy wanted to fight Benoit alone) angering his uncle. Its Eddys best WWF match.  

Here come the 5 star Matches.  

12.  Royal Rumble '93 IC: Iron Man: Shawn Michaels d. Owen Hart (switch) 5

-RAW debuted here; in the first match, Shawn beat Owen, making them 2-2 in their career singles battles.  This was a 30 minute Iron Man match; Michaels won 2 falls to 1.  This was Shawn's second IC title; postmatch he superkicked Owen cold and danced up the aisle. 

11. Royal Rumble '97 WWF Title: Lumberjack: Bret Hart d. Shawn Michaels (Guest referee-Brian Pillman) 5

Shawn was a babyface in '97; the rest of the Clique (Hunter and the Outlaws) heels, but they stood together here.  Bret and the Anvil were heels and the rest of the Harts (Owen/DBS) faces, but they stook together here.  This one's in San Antonio and Bret kept the belt.  It's a half hour match; the lumberjacks in almost constant battle with the other side.  Postmatch Pillman leveled both Hart and Michaels with the title belt, then aligned with Austin to lay out everyone on both sides of the feud.  

10. Royal Rumble '01 WWF Title: Chris Benoit d. Chris Jericho 5

- Jericho's best ever match. This is where Benoit extended the lineage of the Hart Foundation; Jericho positioned he and Benoit as the heirs to that proud legacy.  The match is filled with references to past Hart Matches, Dynamite spots, Bret spots, Owen spots - Benoit gets the fall and keeps the belt.  

9. WM11 WWF Title: Bret Hart d. Shawn Michaels 5 (switch)

-Harts v Clique is the feud that never ends; Bret was the heel, but Owen and DBS both made it clear they would pull for him.  Shawn was the babyface, but the rest of the Clique, all heels, were firmly on his side.  Bret regains the belt with the sharpshooter.  

8.  WMX  IC: Ladder Razor Ramon d. Shawn Michaels (w/Diesel/Waltman) 5 (switch)
Razor was the babyface in this one, on the opposite side of the rest of his stablemates; he wins his first title belt here in a match you probably remember most of.  

7.  Summer Slam '13 WWF Title: Cage: Bryan Danielson  d. Brock Lesnar 
(w/Heyman/Swagger) 5 (switch)

-Danielson regains the strap in a bloody cage brawl, then is attacked postmatch by Punk with the WWF fork.  

6. Royal Rumble '96 WWF Title: Bret Hart d. Owen Hart 5

-Heel Bret keeps his title here in another classic between the two brothers; postmatch Owen inadvertantly hit Davey Boy.

5.  WMX  WWF Title: Owen Hart d. Bret Hart (Guest referee-Hennig) 5 (switch)
-Bret didn't want to face his little brother, but Owen said he couldn't stay in Bret's shadow any longer and needed one night to see who the better man was.  Bret came in as two year long babyface champion and ended it as a heel who lost the strap to his baby brother.  Postmatch saw a handshake between bitter rivals Hennig and Savage.  The best match of either man's career.

4. WM17 WWF Title: Kurt Angle d. Chris Benoit (switch) 5 

-Angle was undefeated, Benoit was undefeated in the WWF - Kurt took the belt and started the longest WWF title run in the Mania era.  

3. WM 20 WWF/NWA/ECW: Chris Benoit d. Kurt Angle (switch) 5

-3 years after their initial meeting the roles had flipped, Angle was the leader of a heel stable; Benoit firmly ensconced as the heir to the Hart lineage - Benoit/Eddy/Malenko had an all babyface celebration postmatch.  The best match for either man. 

2. WM30 WWF Title: Claudio Castagnoli d. Bryan Danielson (switch) 5 

The height of the "hey movement" - Danielson was the champ, the leader of GDI, the best wrestler in the world - but there had been momentum behind one of his stablemates, Castagnoli - and it led to this; what seemed like the entire city of New Orleans chanting "Hey, Hey, Hey" in favor of the new WWF Champion.  

1. Survivor Series '10 Bryan Danielson d. Low Ki 5

Low Ki/Danielson/Steamboat and Josh Matthews were all of GDI at one point; like Malenko and Eddy were stablemates whose disagreement led to their only ever WWF matchup, so was the case with Danielson and Low Ki.  Danielson went over in the greatest match in World Wrestling Federation history.  On TV the following week, Low Ki attacked Danielson and was fought off by a debuting Tyler Black.  

Nearly a decade later - Black is WWF Champion; and when we return next month we'll see the build to his first title defense, where he'll be taking on Kingston.  

The Top 100 Matches in WWF PPV History (Part 1)

Over the past two summers, I posted star ratings for every WWF PPV   Here is the ranking of 100-51.  Feel free to watch them on the Network. You may have some free time.  Only WWF PPV matches included

    

     100. WM18 Unified Tags: TLC3: Chris Jericho/Lance Storm (w/Stacy) d. Hardys, Bubba/Spike (switch) 4 1/4  

      -In front of a Toronto crowd, Jericho and Storm retained the tag titles (WWF/ECW/NWA belts were all active and unified at the time) in the third ever TLC match.  

     99. WM24 WWF/NWA/ECW Titles: TLC CM Punk (w/Maria) d. Johnny Nitro, Shelton Benjamin 4 ¼

      -The catalyzing event of modern WWF history was Punk's winning the title at Survivor Series '06, throwing down the belt, and launching the era of GDI. A year and a half later, this was the match to unify the 3 world titles (Floyd Mayweather brought a new Undisputed Championship belt to the ring) Punk came in with the ECW belt, Nitro the NWA and Benjamin the WWF. Following Punk's win he was attacked by Matt Hardy, who had been gone for a year after beating Edge at the main event at WM23.

98. WM34 Mask v. Mask: El Generico d. Kid Canada (Kevin Steen) (Rey Mysterio, special guest referee) 4 1/4  - Steen was on a quest to rid his longtime friend Generico of his mask (theoretically for Generico's benefit) and created an entire masked man personna in order to do it.  He lost the match, but took Generico's mask anyway.  That's a result Mysterio could not live with and he excised Steen from the locker room and the promotion.  

     97. Survivor Series 2018: WWF Title: Shinsuke Nakamura d. Claudio Castagnoli  4 1/4 - Claudio was once beloved WWF Champion, leader of the "hey movement" Nakamura was once member of the global wrestling heel stable The Bullet Club, but as they came into this one, Nakamura was babyface world champion and Claudio was sneering anti-American heel.  Postmatch, Tyler Black was seemingly poised to cash in his MITB briefcase when he was laid out by his longtime partner Dean Ambrose.

     96. WM4 IC: Bret Hart d. Randy Savage (w/Liz) (switch) 4 ¼

      -An all babyface match; Randy had the IC for two years when he dropped here to Bret.  

     95. Royal Rumble ’06: Shawn Michaels d. Kurt Angle (w/Benjamin) 4 ¼

      -The blowoff to the long Team Angle v. Clique feud; Michaels gets his first ever singles win against Angle when Benjamin turns on his mentor.  Benajmin leaves Angle laying postmatch; also laying is Michaels, taken out by Edge.

     94. Royal Rumble ’04: WWF/NWA/ECW Titles: Kurt Angle d. Eddy Guerrero 4 ¼ (switch)

     -Kurt's two year long babyface reign as WWF Champ ended in his relinquishing the title due to injury - as it turns out, that injury was a little overplayed; the wear and tear of having to defend the belt began Angle's transformation from Your Olympic Hero to the Vic Mackey like leader of Team Angle; that transformation is just starting here, he regains the title with chicanery.  

     93. Survivor Series ’87: WWF Title: Ricky Steamboat d. Dynamite Kid 4 ¼

     -The first Survivor Series; Steamboat/Dynamite was the top of the card feud that drove the early days of the Mania era, Steamboat kept in this one.

     92.  WM3 WWF Title: Ricky Steamboat d. Dynamite Kid (switch) 4 ¼

     -Steamboat lost the belt at WM 2, chased for a year and became the promotion's first 2 time champ since Bob Backlund.  Wrestlemania 2 ended with Bret/Davey Boy/Savage/Dynamite all holding their title belts aloft in the ring.  

     91. WM32: WWF Title: Elimination Chamber: AJ Styles d. Kevin Steen, Nick Nemeth, Dean Ambrose, Kalisto, Brock Lesnar 4 ¼ (switch)

      -The first ever WWF Elimination Chamber match was the main event at WM32 - the belt had been vacated as a consequence of the destruction caused by the arriving Bullet Club at the Rumble, this is the Mania debut of Styles, he came into the night as IC Champ - lost that belt - but left as WWF Champ.  

      90. Survivor Series ’04: WWF/NWA/ECW: Chris Benoit draw Eddy Guerrero  4 1/4 

       -Benoit and Eddy came to the WWF together; left together; returned together as members of the Four Horsemen; then split; then once again reunited and both are babyfaces here, albeit with tension mounting between them, in this time limit draw.

      

      89. Survivor Series ’16: Claudio Castagnoli/TJ Perkins d. Kevin Steen/El Generico 4 ¼
      -What was to be the first PPV meeting of Trash and Steen/Generico (Trash was Neville and Claudio split from Steen/Generico) required Perkins to sub in for a seemingly injured Neville..who turned out to be miraculously healthy when his run in led to the fall.

      88. WM16: Dean Malenko d. Taka Michinoku 4 ¼
      -Benoit/Eddy/Saturn - and Malenko arrived as an invading force from the NWA in the build - and all 4 men won singles matches at WM 16 in 2000; Dean beating Taka in a pure workrate matchup.

87.  Summer Slam ’16: WWF Title: AJ Styles d. Kevin Steen 4 ¼ 
      -Steen didn't really lose his WWF Title; it was vacated at the Rumble when the Bullet Club invaded; AJ pinned Steen to win the belt in the Elimination Chamber, and then the two men squared off at Summer Slam - AJ keeping the strap.  

86. Summer Slam '17: WWF Title: Samoa Joe (w/Horsemen) d. AJ Styles (switch) 4 1/4 
      -Samoa Joe had the longest World Title reign in both ROH and TNA; his feud with AJ was the signature program in TNA history - he came to the WWF, started Dark Ride Wrestling, reformed the Four Horsemen, and took his old rival's belt.  

     85. Royal Rumble '05 Paul London d. Rey Mysterio 4 ½
       -Young London was a member of the Clique; he beat Mysterio in a high flying all babyface match back at Rumble 2005.  
    
     84. Royal Rumble '18: Number One Contenders: 2 of 3 Falls: The Revival (Dash/Dawson with AA) d. American Alpha (Gable/Jordan) 4 1/2 - Two young tag teams who feuded all the way through the WWF developmental system; Revival established themselves as superior here, with a show of respect postmatch.

     83. Royal Rumble '03 Tags Titles: Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin d. Chris Benoit/Eddie Guerrero (w/Horsemen) (switch) 4 ½    -Rookie babyfaces Haas and Benjamin upset the veteran legends Benoit and Guerrero here; postmatch saw Benoit seem to split from the Horsemen.  

82. Royal Rumble '00 IC Title: Cage: Chris Jericho d. HHH 4 ½
      -Jericho arrived in '99, took the IC Title from Waltman, and then kept it here in a bloody MSG war against Hunter in a steel cage.  

81. Royal Rumble '99 WWF Title: Barbed Wire: Owen Hart d. Cactus Jack (switch) 4 ½
      -It's a 90's Cactus Jack death match; it's fire and thumbtacks and barbed wire and total war; heavy color for both men, an appearance by Steve Austin to hit the Stunner on Cactus on the ramp - and it's Owen winning his record tying third WWF Title.

80. Summer Slam '96 WWF Title: Shawn Michaels d. Owen Hart 4 ½
       -HBK and Owen were almost always positioned at exactly the same level; Shawn kept his belt over his rival here, Pillman and Austin brawled on the outside in this one.  

79. Summer Slam '99 WWF Title: Career vs. Career: Cactus Jack d. Steve Austin (Guest referee-HBK)  4 ½
       -Austin and Cactus were rivals throughout their WWF careers but never met in a singles PPV match until one of them had to hand over the power to control his career to the other - with HBK, who had been gone for a year, returning as guest referee - the star power was out of this world; Cactus keeping his title.  

78. Royal Rumble '95 WWF Title: No DQ: Shawn Michaels d. Diesel 4 ½   
      -They were good friends, but they were better enemies - Michaels kept his strap in a pretty wild brawl involving Mad Dog Vachon's prosthetic leg.  

77. Royal Rumble '10 Cage: Christian d. CM Punk (w/Maria) 4 ½
-     -The main event of Bret Hart Appreciation Night; Christian inadvertently shoot punched Maria at Summer Slam, a mysterious third party, believed to be Matt Hardy, sent text messages that further amplified matters; postmatch Edge appeared after a blackout to spear Maria while Punk was handcuffed to the bottom rope. Matt and Edge buried their long feud in celebration. One of my very favorite moments in Counterfactual history.  

76. Royal Rumble '89 IC: Curt Hennig (w/Brain and Rude) d. Bret Hart 4 ½ (switch)
      -Unbeaten Hennig wins his first WWF title at the first Rumble, getting Bobby Heenan his first singles gold.  

 75. Survivor Series '14 Tags: TLC 2 out of 3 : The Shield (Black/Ambrose/Langston) d. The Usos 4 ½
-     -It had been over a decade since the last TLC tag match; this is a 6 man match, 3 tag title belts hang above the ring, the first team to snag two is the winner; The Shield became the longest reigning tag champs in promotion history with this one; Bret and Neidhart, the surviving members of previous record holders the Hart Foundation, shook their hands postmatch.  

74. Survivor Series '95 WWF Title: Bret Hart d. Davey Boy Smith 4 ½
      -Bret keeps his belt over his former Hart Foundation partner. Owen knocks his brother out postmatch as Bret was attempting to break the Bulldog's ankle.  

73.  Summer Slam '05 IC Tournament: Kurt Angle d. Shawn Michaels 4 ½
      -With Benjamin and London brawling on the outside; the war between Team Angle and The Clique continued here; Angle moving a step from an IC win and the Triple Crown.  

72.  Royal Rumble '16 Mask v Mask: Kalisto d. Pac 4 ½
     -Pac and Kalisto had traded hard fought wins; at Steen's urging, Pac put up his mask - and lost it and his identity. The next time we'd see him, he was Neville, forming Trash with Claudio.  

      71. Royal Rumble '19: WWF Title: Shinsuke Nakamura d. Kenta 4 1/2 
-    -Kenta had downshifted to veteran babyface, backbone of Dark Ride Wrestling; he began to support WWF Champion Nakamura, bridging the historic gap separating the Japanese promotions that nurtured them.  Kenta turned on Nakamura, leading to this match, likely the last ever Kenta match on WWF PPV.  

     70, Summer Slam '05 IC Tournament: Chris Benoit d. Chris Jericho 4 ½
      -Jericho was at his most burned out in his Lizard King phase; Benoit felt as if he had let him down - as the de facto leader of the Hart Foundation, Benoit's devotion to his own craft often overwhelmed his ability to manage the well being of others.  Benoit, like Angle, moved one step away from the Triple Crown in this IC Tournament.

    69.  Summer Slam '89 Tags: Rockers d. Brainbusters (switch) 4 ½
      -Blow off to a violent feud based on the veteran Brainbusters taking the young Rockers to the learning tree - the Rockers finally go over here, winning their first tag belts and causing a rift between Arn and Tully that never gets resolved.  

    68. WMXX  Falls Count Anywhere: HBK d. HHH 4 ½
      -Hunter's jealousy over Michaels trainees London and Kendrick led him to break Kendrick's arm, postmatch saw Edge return after a year and a half absence, Christian return after being thrown off the top of the Cell by Jericho earlier in the night, and along with London, they formed a new version of the Clique in an all time electrifying moment.

67. WM25 WWF Title: Chris Jericho d. Shawn Michaels 4 ½
      -Babyface Jericho keeps his belt over "The Messiah" Shawn Michaels in the main at Mania Silver.  

66. WM7  WWF Title: Curt Hennig (w/Bobby) d. Randy Savage 4 ½ 
       -Savage is forced to retire (albeit, not for long) with one more loss to Hennig; Savage and Liz, estranged, made up postmatch.  

65. Summer Slam '89 WWF Title: Randy Savage (w/Liz) d. Bret Hart 4 ½
      -Bret was still unable to leap the hurdle of Savage in '89 in his attempt to capture the WWF Title. Savage was the bar that Bret had to clear to become the ace of the promotion.

64. Royal Rumble '15 WWF Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman and Kenta) d. Claudio Castagnoli 4 ½ (switch) 
-     -Claudio was the most popular babyface in the promotion, the "Hey Movement" sweeping into popular culture - but couldn't withstand Lesnar, who won his 2nd WWF Title.  Postmatch saw a confrontation between Kenta and Danielson which led to their WM main event.

     63. Royal Rumble '19: Loser Leaves Town: Tyler Black d. Dean Ambrose - from their time in developmental through a 2+ year title reign as 2/3 of the Shield, Ambrose and Black were inseparable - until they were separated when Black joined the Bullet Club.  The town wasn't big enough for both of them and it was Ambrose who was forced to leave, his wife Renee Young joining Black and the Bullet Club postmatch.

     62.  Royal Rumble '03 WWF/NWA/ECW Titles: Kurt Angle d. Shawn Michaels 4 ½
      -An exhausted Kurt Angle kept the Undisputed Title in an epic match against Michaels; postmatch, Lesnar/Haas/Benjamin all turned on Kurt.  

     61. Survivor Series '03 WWF/ECW/NWA Titles: Eddy Guerrero d. Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit 4 ½
      -A fun mix of friends and rivals and friends turned rivals and uneasy friends about to be rivals - Eddy came in and left with the belt, getting the fall on Brock.  

      60. Summer Slam '02 WWF/NWA/ECW Titles: Kurt Angle d. Rey Mysterio 4 ½
      -The last ECW Title holder before that promotion closed its doors was RVD; when he came to the WWF, he lost that belt in his first match to WWF Champ Angle.  That same fate happened to the NWA's final champion as well, as Angle took Mysterio's belt (the secondary belts and the tag belts also had lineal continuity).  

59. WMXX   Hell in a Cell: Chris Jericho d. Christian 4 ½
      -Harts/Clique is the Hatfields/McCoys of the promotion; another chapter was written here, Trish turned on Christian to begin her Sid and Nancy relationship with Jericho -  Jericho threw Christian off the top of the Cell (this was the second ever Cell match).  

      58. WM35: WWF Title: AJ Styles d. Shinsuke Nakamura 4 1/2 (switch)
    -Styles and Nakamura feuded in New Japan, aligned when they arrived at WWF together, feuded throughout their mutual time in the Bullet Club and now meet here, both as babyfaces. Styles took from Nakamura, winning his second WWF Title - before immediately relinquishing it to Tyler Black, who cashed in the MITB briefcase to return the belt to the Bullet Club

57. WM12 WWF Title: Iron Man: Shawn Michaels d. Bret Hart (switch) 4 ½
      -Shawn's boyhood dream came true.  

 56. Summer Slam '17 Loser Leaves Town: Kevin Steen (w/Generico) d. Neville (w/Claudio/Gargano) 4 1/2 
      -They once were stablemates, confidants, friends - but after a year at war, one of them had to leave town.  It turned out to be Neville.  

 55 Survivor Series '00 Eddy Guerrero d. Dean Malenko 4 ½
      -They had great matches in ECW and the NWA - and in their only meeting in WWF, Eddy and Dean burned it down.  

      54. Summer Slam '95 IC: Ladder Shawn Michaels d. Razor Ramon (w/Waltman/HHH) (switch) 4 ½
      -Michaels became the first 3 time IC champ, taking the belt from former stablemate Ramon. 


     53. Summer Slam '00 Tags: TLC2: Edge/Christian (w/Trish) d. Hardys (w/Lita) d. Dudleys (w/Stevie) 4 ½ -Edge and Christian win their first tag belts here, aided by Clique stablemates Helmsley and Waltman.

      52.  WM5  WWF Title: Randy Savage (w/Liz) d. Bret Hart 4 ½
     -All babyface match, Savage holding off Bret's attempt to win the WWF title; postmatch the Heenan Family (Hennig, Rude, Arn, Tully) attacked Savage - they were fought off by Bret and the Rockers.

      51. Royal Rumble '05 WWF/NWA/ECW: Chris Benoit d. Shawn Michaels 4 ½ 

-BBenoit keeps the belt with the sharpshooter; postmatch are a couple of wild brawls, Team Angle against the Clique and Eddy against Benoit. 

        Back next month with the top top 50 matches in WWF PPV history.