flair/savage

Flair/Savage had one of my favourite angles ever -- "she was mine before she was yours". Plus two of my favourite promos ever, an awesome psycho baby face promo from Savage after winning the title, and Flair regrouping after losing it.

Flair/Steamboat

Flair/Steamboat

I can't even tell from this post whether you definitely meant to vote Flair/Steamboat or not, but it's counted as such right now.

Also the Austin/HHH v. Jericho/Benoit tag match escapes the upset by the thinnest of margins given that late vote registered earlier today. Put that one in the books. It will get a stiffer test next round, taking on HBK/Taker in the Sweet 16.

Yes, Flair/Steamboat has my vote.

Haha, okay. I'm sure you can understand my confusion.

I agree with your sentiments on Flair/Savage. That was one of the finest angles ever.

#2 SEED: SHAWN MICHAELS VS. KURT ANGLE (WRESTLEMANIA XXI)

Whole match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4G6xs3q8Xk

Shawn Michaels eliminated Kurt Angle from the Royal Rumble, provoking an attack from angle and the feud that led to this match. After Michaels made the challenge, Angle accepted by interrupting HBK’s match with Edge on Raw and attacking Shawn again.

This match is an absolute classic. Both men obviously have quite a catalog of amazing matches, and I can’t readily point to one for either that is clearly better than this one. Great mat wrestling, brilliant psychology, awesome ending sequence…this one is a joy.

VERSUS

#7 SEED: JOHN CENA VS. CM PUNK (MONEY IN THE BANK ’11)

Whole match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1i1bkhDcIs

I hardly need to describe this one for you guys since you’ve undoubtedly all seen it in the past six months…but it was awesome. One of the most incredible crowds of all time, a great underlying story, excellent work on commentary where Cole ditched the character and just called it straight (and did better than he usually did before his heel turn), the whole thing was extremely well done and left our cynical selves going on and on about how no matter what happens going forward, nothing can spoil the amazing show we just watched. I stand by that assessment and don’t think that the bungling and meddling of Punk’s storyline since then takes anything away from this. Especially if you watched it live, you know how it felt to see it play out.

VOTING ON THIS MATCH IS NOW OPEN. POST YOUR VOTE IN THIS THREAD; THE POLL WILL CLOSE AT 3:54 P.M. EASTERN TIME ON SATURDAY THE 4TH.

Easy vote for HBK v. Angle in my book. I like HBK v. Angle more than HBK v. Taker too, which is a high compliment that readily comes to mind.

Yeah, I have to go with HBK/Angle too. Wrestling wise, it just blows Cena/Punk out of the water, and the atmosphere and storyline at MITB just can't bring it all the way back.

I actually hate the HBK/Angle ending.

Cena/Punk

I'm going to say Punk/Cena, which is weird for me voting against an HBK match, but yeah, the middle part after Angle did the Angle Slam on the post and before HBK's crossbody on the table, kinda brings it down a bit.

I'm a huge HBK mark but I have to vote for Punk/Cena.

punk/cena easily. far more to a match than its technical ability. punk/cena was teh first time i've suspended disbelief and was actually not looking at a match as a smark but a fan who had no idea what was going to happen. match itself was pretty ****ing good, the leadup was unreal and the atmosphere was GOAT

What in the blue **** is going on?

I've mostly be abstaining from voting because I haven't been able to be caught up on watching matches, but I have seen both of these and I don't like where this is going.

ANGLE/HBK

Cena-Punk

I'm clearly a wolf for diverting the wagon.

Cena-Punk reasoning: The match and angle were awesome, but the crowd puts it over the top for me. It was like a soccer home crowd with waves of power and emotion

I don't even...Punk-Cena isn't possibly going to look that great in 5+ years. Future voters, I urge you to just say no to recency bias. HBK and Kurt Angle put on a ****ing clinic in this WrestleMania XXI match.

Well, that's tough noggies to that then. How do you think I felt, when Benoit/Angle only had one vote and of course, that one vote was me?

It was up against Flair-Steamboat. Were you expecting a different result?

HBK-Angle was a 9 seed (and should have lost to Hogan-Rock) in the first round for a reason...very good match, but did not pull out emotion from the viewer

Of course not, but you know, I expect it to be like around 35-40% to 60-65%, but that did not happen and that it is what it is, and if Punk/Cena outlasted HBK/Angle, then it happens.

Well Cena-Punk was a 12 seed in the first round for a reason too. Sometimes that reason was that the guy doing the seeding was an idiot.

Honestly when I doled out the 9 seed to HBK-Angle I had never seen that match. I just sort of assumed it was going to be on the level of HBK-Jericho and went with that.

Wait a minute, Cena/Punk outlasted HBK/Undertaker HITC and there is no way I'm willing to accept that match to be not better than HBK/Angle, so yes, I still stand by my opinion.