10 Greatest WWE TV Matches Ever

WWE presented a list of 100 Matches To See Before You Die recently.

It was fairly comprehensive - as much as a list which for obvious reasons was politicised (no Chris Benoit, naturally) and unable/unwilling to include anything the company does not own the rights to (essentially anything from Japan) could be.

The clear choices were front and centre - the best WrestleMania matches, the landmark stipulation bouts - but it incorporated some lesser-seen (though not exactly hidden) gems like The Midnight Express Vs. The Southern Boys, from the Great American Bash 1990, and the Magnum TA Vs. Tully Blanchard I Quit Steel Cage match from Starrcade 1985. Incidentally, that match is one of the most believable in the history of the game, all palpable hatred and agonised howls.

What was less understandable was the omission of several seminal bouts to which the company does own the rights - a glaring lack of classic wars waged behind the glare of the television screen.

It is understandable, to a degree - the prestige of pay-per-view, the stage on which everything is geared towards, is all-encompassing - but some of the very best and or momentous matches ever held formed part of the journey, not the destination.

This whirlwind of a match is almost as easy to dislike as it is to get swept up in.

The Kliq were a toxic backstage faction, all four members of which were very good to exceptional in their own right - but they were incredibly selective about how much of their talent they were given to show off. It depended entirely on who they perceived as a threat, but since this tag team dynamic represented a chance to prove why they felt themselves worthy of terrorising the locker room, they went and wrestled an almost irritatingly brilliant minor classic which broke all rules of pacing and content.

The amount of action in it is almost - almost - ridiculous. Diesel even bumped like a madman for Kid in the early exchanges, highlighted by a vintage opening face shine and a stupidly early false finish. He and Michaels, as per traditional psychology, assumed control with lightning-paced blind tags and devastating double team moves absorbed by Razor in a classic face in peril performance.

There was just enough of an absorbing story underpinning it all to excuse the amount of sh*t all four Kliq members were compelled to get in; the friction between Michaels and Diesel was explored superbly with a teased and delivered-upon mistaken Superkick before Michaels kicked out everything at the last second for about ten consecutive times.

It is the closest thing you'll ever get to the platonic, interfacing ideal of wrestling heaven shared between Jim Cornette and Vince Russo - the definition of a hidden gem.