It's still real to me, dammit!!!

Looking at the card for tonight's card for Survivor Series I realised how little WWE cares about this event these days. We went from 2 high quality, perfectly logical main events to 2 main events that no one really cares about.

I also realised something else.

How very rare it is these days that I get sucked into an angle/match and truly feel like a fan again. In recent memory only HBK-Taker 1&2, HHH-Taker at this years Mania and last years big Punk storyline heading into MitB 2011 and the event itself have made me feel like a huge fan again.

It's not something a lot of the "smarter" wrestling fans will be able to admit, but there are times that we truly get caught up in the moment and forget that we are watching a professional wrestling match. Most of us in our rational minds are quite aware that pro wrestling is two or more people pretending to fight. But there are those times where the emotions of the moment and/or the quality of the match sweeps up away completely into the suspension of disbelief. 

Now I'm not talking about when we were kids, because that's a different experience for a different column. As grown adults who understand that wrestling isn't real, we have our "still real to us, dammit" moments. These are a couple of my favorites, and please feel free to share yours. 

The Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy - Ladder Match, RAW 2002

This was right around the time that Jeff Hardy's personal demons were starting to get to him, but well before he alienated a good bit of his loyal following. As a kid who became a fan during the Attitude Era, I was a big Jeff Hardy fan. Going into a Pay-Per-View where the Undertaker would be defending the title in a triple threat match, it should've been obvious that Jeff Hardy was not going to win the title this night. And maybe to some, it was. 

Hardy took a massive beating from the Biker Deadman, but he wouldn't give up and stay down. This match was one of the most brilliantly told stories I've ever seen. Jeff Hardy was in his trademark environment of the ladder match, but was against a fearsome opponent in Biker Taker. Taker had turned heel and was on a vicious streak, and neither of the Hardyz were going to back down.

The Hardyz at the time were young daredevils, but hardly main eventers. All of these factors should've pointed toward the fact that Jeff Hardy was not going to win the championship in a ladder match against the Undertaker. But through storytelling, proper moments of suspense, and most of all, Jim Ross selling the story through commentary, I sat in my living room with my brother screaming at the television completely worked. 

Each time Hardy struck the Undertaker with a chair and slowly climbed the ladder, Jim Ross screamed himself hoarse, telling Hardy to "climb the ladder, kid! Make yourself famous!" Getting caught up in the moment, we really wondered if the WWE would pull a title switch before a big Pay-Per-View. What a moment that would've been at that point in time! It would've really given a vindication to the "Anything can happen in the WWE" selling point. 

In the end, Hardy did not win, and Taker attacked him after the match. Obliterated and delirious, Hardy grabbed the microphone and incoherently screamed that he hadn't broken him yet, for he was still standing... Kinda. Heel vicious Taker returned to the ring, but paused before he landed that final fist. Instead of laying Hardy out, he patted his back and rose his hand. Hardy was so shocked he collapsed on the ground. It was a truly amazing moment, because it was before Taker did that for everyone, even Nathan Jones at one point. At that moment in time, it meant something. I never forgot that match, and even with both the Hardyz turning into trainwrecks, the memory of that time hasn't faded.

Triple H vs. Shelton Benjamin, RAW 2004

One of Triple H's reigns of doom had finally come to an end after Wrestlemania 20. He was drafted to Paul Heyman's Smackdown in a shocking moment when the drafts actually mattered, but naturally they reversed it and sent Triple H back to RAW. Shelton Benjamin, recently drafted to RAW away from Charlie Haas and his inevitable Rico storyline, Benjamin had the gall to laugh at Triple H's apparent misfortune. Evolution attacked him backstage for committing such a travesty, and Triple H vs. Shelton Benjamin was booked for the main event of RAW.

I was at a friend's house for this one, and the way Triple H was between 2002-04, there was no way this guy straight out of the tag division was going to stand a chance against Triple H. Triple H disrespected Benjamin and patted him on the face, but Benjamin came right back and did the same thing. H got a close pin on Benjamin and showed him how close it was to being over, but Benjamin came right back as well with the same motion. It also saw the debut of Dragon's full 360 whip kick, and it looked like Benjamin had a legit shot. Having never been out of the tag division at this point, it was a big surprise to see the possible budding of a star at that moment. 

Ric Flair ran down to ringside, so the screwjob ending seemed inevitable, but newly-crowned champion Chris Benoit came to ringside to even the odds and support Shelton Benjamin. Even with these circumstances, it didn't seem likely that Benjamin was going to get the win. However, in one of the most shocking endings of Monday Night RAW in the last decade easily, Shelton pinned Triple H, surprising even himself, and closed out RAW leaving us staring at the screen in shock. 

I've never really hated Triple H, but during these few years, his constant dominance got really obnoxious. In a moment where none of us were expecting anything, Shelton Benjamin became a star in one night. He managed to win again in a match virtually dominated by Triple H, but the valor of surprise was gone. Benjamin did have some shining moments as Intercontinental champion, but just could never seem to regain that magic he had that night. However, for one night, he caught all of us off guard expecting Triple H to crush yet another emerging young star. 

Both of mine involve Shawn Michaels and Triple H -

The first was the No holds barred match between the two at Summerslam 2002. As HBK hadn't wrestled in four years, I had no idea what sort of shape he'd be in, and expected Triple H to dominate the match, with Shawn getting a little bit of offense, before Hunter picked up the win.

What made the match so believable as well was the way JR and King called it. As the match went on, they began to believe that Shawn could do the impossible. I really ike the ending as well, Shawn stealing the pin, and just after getting his hand raised, Hunter massacring HBK, ruining the feel-good moment.


The second was the triple threat match at WrestleMania eighteen months later, as involving Benoit. Again the smark in me didn't see Hunter's ego allowing Benoit to get the belt. The crowd being red-hot for Benoit also helped as well.

I would also go for a Raw match, one from early 2000 between Triple H and TAKA Michinoku.

It was a brilliant match where you thought for a split second that HHH might actually lose. As a youngster I certainly did and even watching it back in the back of my mind I think "this might actually happen?!".

Would love CM Punk to do something similar. As a heel offer to put his title on the line on an episode of Raw and then call out someone like Zack Ryder...

Fantastic article and a really good topic that got me thinking.

I would have to go for:

The rock vs John Cena at Wrestlemania

The rock is without doubt one of the greatest stars the industry has ever created proved by the fact that he has now transcended the sport and is now famous in his own right and personally my number two all time favourite. So when the main event for wrestlemania was set one year in advance I was tender hooks waiting to see the great one back in action, I felt the build up throughout the year was good despite some obvious issues: Cena's lack of respect, the whole notes on the hand angle and the Cena squashing miz and truth the week before the tag match at the PPV. Despite these downfalls though I thought both men where excellent in building what at times felt like legit heat between the two, my favourite promos being the rock at home telling a 10 year old 'Cena' that he just isn't that talented, the rap and rock concert and cena's promo in Boston. The match itself was excellent and both men worked incredibly hard to make it a success, I honestly couldn't call which way it would go despite my smark head telling cena would go over and then a respect handshake would ensue. It really did ebb and flow and was a worthy wm main event

Thank you very much guys.

Not a match as such but when The Miz cashed in his MITB on Orton and won.

I was certain he would be the first to fail with a cash in and it was one of the rare occasions when I hadn't read the Raw results. When it happened I went absolute nuts.

Yeah I agree that was a brilliant moment. When his music hit,



"AWWWWWWESOOOOOOOOME"

I marked out.

The MitB cash ins have that affect, even when nothing happens but the champion is down after a match, its the feeling that someone could run out. Especially if its someone you like, you're willing them out to cash in.

Then you remember its TV, but the moment was there

more_awesome_than_a_ri wrote:Not a match as such but when The Miz cashed in his MITB on Orton and won.

I was certain he would be the first to fail with a cash in and it was one of the rare occasions when I hadn't read the Raw results. When it happened I went absolute nuts.

That was my favourite moment of WWE of the last 5 years too. I also thought he was going to lose!

I genuinely stood up when he came down to the ring to cash in as I wasnt expecting it at all. The Miz deserves so much better than the hand he is being dealt currently. He is the character and persona that Ken Kennedy/ Mr Anderson should have gone on to be.