rofl. seriously though how did Brodus not lose some weight and get all ripped while he was away? or get tights that don't show off his grundle nonstop. so bad. back to the voting though: Rock/Austin ftw

YOU'RE TOO LATE, ha ha. Macho/Hogan only loses by 8.

I'm still deeply upset about going down in flames so hard in my advocacy of Savage/Hogan, but I guess I get to be in the majority on 3 of 4 if current results hold, so that's not bad.

By the way, the next matchup I post is going to sort of suck. I gave Mankind/Taker HIAC a #2 seed? WTF is that ****? Still a cool match obviously, but that getting a #2 sure looks silly to me right now.

I nominated an IWA match between Punk, Rey, and Eddie that I really hope will pull some upsets.

i could see that getting to the final 16 since it's in a weak bracket. dies to owen/bret though.

It's up against the reunion of Savage and Liz, aka the greatest WrestleMania moment ever.

I haven't seen this match you nominated yet, but it would have to be ridiculously amazing in order to get my vote. After the poor reception that Savage/Hogan got, I am hereby passionately doubling down on my markishness for the Golden Era. Savage/Warrior was clearly superior to Savage/Hogan and I can't imagine voting against its advancement.

Just watched Taker/Lesnar HitC. Good match, Taker must have needed a couple pints of blood after that one.

Not good enough, though. +1 for Austin/Rock.

Disagree, although it's up there.

Nothing tops Hogan over Andre at WM3.

Savage/Warrior is >>>>>>>> Savage/Hogan though. Warrior's greatest match ever.

Hogan/Andre is actually where I break from other Golden Era marks. I kind of sort of like it, but that's about it. The ringwork is obviously awful beyond belief so it's purely about atmosphere, and...I dunno.

It faces off with that really good HBK/Cena Raw match in the first round and I have no idea how I'll vote.

Oh I'll vote HBK/Cena (the overall match is much much better). But the moment where Hogan slams Andre and the crowd goes nuts, then the leg drop and pin ... that was pretty amazing to watch (and I watched it several years later on tape).

Gotta say, on some level I wonder if I've spent my whole IWC existence being too hard on the Warrior as a wrestler. Rude/Warrior at SummerSlam '89, Warrior/Hogan and Savage/Warrior are all great matches. On the big stage, he consistently delivered.

Yeah he was sloppy as ****, and a total a-hole to boot, but the fact that the big Warrior matches during his brief run to and on the top are worth watching should probably tell me something.

Savage was one of the all-time greats though, and Rude was underrated his entire career. I do have to give Hogan and Warrior credit for WM6 though.

For as much as I can't stand Hogan, he does know how to create moments.

Well yeah, but still.

I feel this needs to posted.... doesn't get much better

I was never a real big ECW fan, I don't really like extreme wrestling at all. However Awesome vs Tanaka from ONS has always stood out for me. It's short, it's sloppy, it's one big spot fest and it had no build up, but I loved it. I know I'm probably in the minority and I don't think it should be included in this competition but I feel it deserves a mention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frlrhY1Wp1c

That Rock-Austin video promo is awesome.

The Canadian Stampede 10-man wins handily; that is now a final. New matchup forthcoming.

SOUTHWEST REGION MATCHUP #1

#2 SEED: MANKIND VS. THE UNDERTAKER HELL IN A CELL (KING OF THE RING ’98)

Whole match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz-3qp5ejXM

This one is a spotfest, but certainly one of the craziest and most memorable spotfests ever. The cage botches and Foley goes through to the mat. Foley gets thrown off the top of the cage. Foley’s tooth goes through his nose. Thumbtacks. The whole nine yards.

It was only the second Hell in a Cell, but even as great as the first one was, it feels like this was the one to put this type of gimmick match on the map and cause them to do so many more in the future. A technical masterpiece it is not, but it’s still a joy to behold.

VERSUS

#15 SEED: SHAWN MICHAELS VS. VADER (SUMMERSLAM ’96)

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUtCe7YU9D4
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atv6bQQ7-uk

Michaels had been feuding with Camp Cornette, and in a six-man tag at a crappy PPV that I was at a month before, Vader pinned him in the main event. That set up this WWF Title match for SummerSlam.

This is just one more piece of the great body of work that Michaels put forth as champion in 1996, and is probably Vader’s peak as a WWF wrestler. Yes, Shawn acts like an ******* in this one, but he puts on a show regardless.

VOTING ON THIS MATCH IS NOW OPEN. POST YOUR VOTE IN THIS THREAD; THE POLL WILL CLOSE AT 3:22 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON THURSDAY THE 12TH.

My vote:
Another easy one. Perhaps the easiest one yet. I’m getting antsy for the opportunity to actually struggle over a decision. The Michaels match is probably only like his sixth best in 1996 alone, and Mankind-Taker is both more enjoyable and more historically significant. While I’m less enamored of it than my seeding would indicate, it’s still very easily my choice.

+1 to all of this.. agree with everything.

Mankind/Taker gets my vote by a long shot.

I'm also just going to leave this here.

Hahaha, love Jim Cornette. His Vinnie Mac impression was spot on.

Didn't get round to voting on the last couple of match-ups but I would have voted for both winners fwiw.

Voting for Taker/Foley. I can't really remember Brock vs Taker so I'll check that out in a bit then vote on that match-up.

taker/foley


Cornette thing was pretty awesome. Hadn't seen any of that stuff before.

An incredibly overrated match against an incredibly underrated match. Mankind/Taker is easily the worst of the "good" tier of HIAC matches (i.e. throwing out matches such as Bossman/Taker and HHH/Nash), there's just nothing to it besides the two big spots.

Still, HIAC gets my vote. This time.

Mankind/Taker

Yeah Taker/Foley HitC is NOT a good match, it's just a trainwreck of immense proportions that you can't turn away from, and in that sense it's awesome.

Shawn/Vader does nothing for me, though, so Taker/Foley wins.