Your tournament bracket for WBM's greatest wrestling matches of all time.

A quick rundown:
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1. By popular demand, the losers of the semifinals are facing off in a matchup to determine third and fourth place in the tournament.

2. Voting window will be 48 hours.

2. Voters must have 100 posts on 2p2 (these posts can be on any forum; whatever. I just don't want gimmicks swinging the vote is all). These polls will be public, and if I see unfamiliar names I'll check them out to see if they're legit. If you have fewer than 100 posts, ask for approval before voting. I might grant it; no promises, but I might. If you fire off a vote without asking first, your vote is disqualified regardless.

3. Voters are strongly asked to have watched both matches at least at some point before casting a vote. These matches are all awesome, so I'm not asking you to do something that sucks.

4. Advocacy for the side you take is perfectly welcome and even encouraged. And if the occasional hot Alison Brie gif slips in, I don't think that will hurt anyone either.

5. I will just post the links to the videos in my write-ups, because (a) too many embeds slows page-loading down for lots of people and (b) some matches are only available on DailyMotion, and I'm not sure that those can be embedded.
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THIRD PLACE MATCH

#1 SEED: RANDY SAVAGE VS. RICKY STEAMBOAT (WRESTLEMANIA III)

Whole match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv3OBWwxX_0



Path to the Consolation Finals:
Defeated Edge v. Eddie No DQ (Smackdown), 8-1
Defeated Cena v. RVD (One Night Stand), 13-0
Defeated Savage v. Warrior (WrestleMania VII), 11-1
Defeated Cena v. Punk (Money in the Bank '11), 21-14
Lost to Steamboat v. Flair (WrestleWar '89), 15-9

I took more pleasure in registering Savage/Steamboat's elimination of Cena/Punk than Vince did in firing Ultimate Warrior as he came back through the curtain after the main event of SummerSlam '91. However, it ultimately had to job to a superior (in the eyes of me and the majority of voters) Steamboat/Flair match in the semifinals.

At WrestleMania III, which was built around Hogan vs. Andre, Savage vs. Steamboat stole the show in a very big way and put on what many would still agree to be the greatest Intercontinental Title match in WWF history. Obviously two of the greatest all-time workers, and they outshined even their usual standard here. Absolute nonstop action, great ending, hot crowd, Jesse and Gorilla on commentary…this match has it all.

VERSUS

#1 SEED: BRET HART VS. OWEN HART (WRESTLEMANIA X)

Whole match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pdDHLnTL4Q



Path to the Consolation Finals:
Defeated Eddie Guerrero v. JBL (Judgment Day 2004), 12-0
Defeated Shawn Michaels v. Chris Jericho (WrestleMania XIX), 13-1
Defeated Ric Flair v. Terry Funk I Quit (Clash of the Champions '88), 14-0
Defeated Ricky Steamboat v. Ric Flair (Clash of the Champions '89), 18-6
Lost to Bret v. Austin (WrestleMania 13), 25-9

Owen Hart had hung around as a jobber for a few years in the WWF, just a generic babyface who was pushed as the Bret Hart’s little brother. In Survivor Series 1994, the Hart brothers took on Jerry Lawler Shawn Michaels and his knights of the squared circle. Owen was the only one to get eliminated; he blamed Bret and tempers flared. They had a fight but made up, and they decided to team up to try to win the tag titles. At the Royal Rumble, they lost to the Quebecers when Bret Hart could not continue in the match, infuriating Owen to the point that he kicked Bret’s leg out of his leg. This match was the result.

This match, which opened WrestleMania X, is an all-time classic. It is in the race for Bret Hart’s finest match, which obviously says a lot.

HART2HART, ainec.

I do think this is quite close. I have a leaning but not an ability to pull the trigger quite yet. This was a great final four though, it seems a shame for either of these matches to finish things out with consecutive losses.

Gonna be some tears imo.

Hart2Hart +1

Hart vs. Hart is always solid, but there are only so many big moments, so many really high peaks. In addition, Bret is somewhat dull when in control and lacking in intensity and charisma when Owen is when compared to other all time greats (which he is being compared to here).

Close matchup so far. My leaning is Bret/Owen, but I'm still trying to figure out whether that's just me being a huge Owen mark rather than thinking that it's sincerely the objectively greater match.

It's the objectively greater match, Hart2Hart and it's not close.

All I know at this point is that the "it's not close" people are wrong.

Pretty hard to be wrong on something so subjective. But I haven't seen the phrase "not close" as much as I have during this tournament, becoming the new imo..imo

Yeah, saying "wrong" was admittedly wrong. Ah the irony.

This one is close enough, and the winning margin of Bret-Austin over Flair-Steamboat is close enough to its margin over Bret-Owen, that I feel comfortable in declaring that there was no significant difference in which one was Bret v. Austin's actual final matchup. The slightest of edges to Bret v. Owen in relative strength over Flair v. Steamboat? Maybe. But even if so, not nearly strongly enough to say one should have been the championship round over the other.