10 WWE Matches That Completely Exceeded Expectations

When Chris Jericho faced a 56-year-old Ricky Steamboat at Backlash 2009, their meeting came just three weeks removed from WrestleMania 25. There, Jericho had beaten the team of Steamboat, Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka in a handicap elimination match – and not a very good one.

The match had been as gimmicky as it sounds, and essentially a glorified PR stunt for a ringside Mickey Rourke and his new movie, The Wrestler.

Thankfully, come Backlash, Jericho vs Steamboat in one-on-one action was a vast improvement.

Steamboat had been the most able of the legends in that WrestleMania match, and he built on the flashes of his old self that he’d shown that night to put on a display that defied his years.

He busted out a dive to the outside, a skin-the-cat spot as well as a backdrop and a crossbody from the very top rope. And though he almost messed up his Figure Four attempt, Steamboat’s performance was better than it had any right to be for a man in his mid-50s who hadn’t wrestled a singles match since 1994.