10 Great Matches Starring Dud Wrestlers
6. Bob Holly & The 1 2 3 Kid Vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka - WWF Royal Rumble 1995
Tatanka was an average pro wrestler at best. His dubious claim to fame is that he was one part of the best match at WrestleMania IX. Elsewhere, he bored audiences to tears during his matches, many of which made up the most interminable winning streak of all time.
He naturally wasn't primarily responsible for the quality of this one, a cracking entry in the Rumble's loaded undercard canon. Those honours go to Bigelow and the Kid, who carried and performed the move of the match with a pop-up powerbomb into a Frankensteiner reversal, which was unbelievably realistic given the size difference between the two.
Tatanka more than held his own, maintaining audience interest throughout the quieter, heat-building portions of the match with his underrated facial expressions and arrogantly dismissive body language. He fared slightly better in the heel role.
Proceedings became overwrought towards the finish. Holly had been beaten down to such an extent by the more physically imposing heel team that he purportedly forgot where was he and attempted to tag in Tatanka at one point, in a sequence which hasn't aged well at all.
Beyond that, though, the action is so unexpectedly gripping that it holds up as yet more evidence that 1995 wasn't quite the death rattle of a fallen behemoth.