44. Mick Foley Vs. Terry Funk (Raw Is War, 4/28/98)
The story here is that a disconsolate Foley was unable to wrestle the WWF belt from Steve Austin at Unforgiven, and must beat best friend Terry Funk to get another shot. Ungimmicked Foley warred with Funk all over the building without any moments of slide-whistle comic invention that his run with Titan would become recognized by. Instead, it's an increasingly hostile Foley letting loose with his angsty killer instinct. In a nice touch, the ending didn't come from nowhere, and it wasn't out of a finisher exchange, but was instead Foley beating Funk into oblivion, culminating with two piledrivers, the second onto a steel chair. As a brawl it's top-notch, and as an exhibition for fleshing out shades of a character, it's even better.
43. Bret Hart Vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte (In Your House: Triple Header)
Lafitte was in it up to his neck with the Kliq by this point in 1995, so even a great performance (which this was) wasn't going to make much of a difference for his dwindling push. The feud centered around Lafitte, a pirate, stealing Hart's jacket in this most yaar-matey cliche of a way. Still, it's Quebecer Pierre vs. a determined Bret, so it had potential going in. The match displayed plenty of nifty counter-moves, making it a rare test of brains and wills involving a one-note character in an era full of them. Hart wins clean with the Sharpshooter after an epic battle, making it all the more sad that politics cut the legs off of a performer with an elevated ceiling.
Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.
