5. 3/11/91 - Mr. Perfect vs. Shawn Michaels (WWF @ Florida)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trwvyxzfmy0 How Can I Watch It: Road to WrestleMania VII, World Tour 91 (VHS) When Shawn Michaels met Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 93 with the Intercontinental Championship on the line, fans were expecting to see the greatest match of all time. Michaels was one of the finest workers on the planet with his bumping and selling abilities rivalled only by those of his opponents in his pomp. Perfect had hardly lost a step since his late-1992 return to the ring, as proven by some memorable performances opposite Ric Flair, Bret Hart and Doink the Clown. The WWF themselves were so confident that Perfect and Michaels would steal the show and deliver the best match in company history that they essentially promised viewers a 5* match. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to anybodys expectations. Such was the similarity of the two grapplers stylistically that the chemistry simply was not there. It also probably didn't help that both as Shawn later admitted were completely out of their faces following a particularly debauched night on the town. Thankfully, a match from 1991 between the two bumping maestros exists to give a glimpse of what might have been. While also not a classic due to the copious outside interference from Bobby Heenan, the Big Bossman and Marty Jannetty, at least the exchanges are crisp, fluid and delivered at pace, with Michaels determined to impress his old AWA mentor by taking some wild, multi-rotation bumps. Short, but rewarding.
4. 1/18/93 - Mr. Perfect vs. Ric Flair (WWF @ New York)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4jndn_wwf-1993-mr-perfect-vs-ric-flair-lo_sport How Can I Watch It: Raw 1/25/93, WrestleFest 93 (VHS), Monday Night Raw Prime Cuts (UK VHS), Best of Raw 15th Anniversary (DVD), Best of Raw Seasons 1 & 2 (DVD) Back in 1993 Monday Night Raw was the WWFs hot new concept, Vince McMahons way of attempting to breathe some life into a product that was becoming stale and dated. He wanted Raw to live up to its advertising slogan of being uncooked, uncut and uncensored... then the inaugural broadcast on January 11th featured a main event pitting The Undertaker against Damien Demento. It was more of the same that fans had seen for years, only in a much more intimate and rowdy setting. The show aired two weeks later on 1/25 changed all that when Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect put their careers on the line in a bloody blow-off to their two-month rivalry, setting the tone for what Raw would become. Flair had just reached an agreement with McMahon to leave and return to WCW, but McMahon wanted a few favours doing on the way out first. Flair had no problem with that and happily put Perfect, Bret Hart and The Undertaker over on house shows up and down the country. This match on Raw would serve as a way to write him off WWF television for good (or as it turned out, nine years). Flair and Perfect assembled a memorable contest, with the action going back-and-forth, the claret flowing, and Hennig putting in the best babyface performance of his WWF career. When Perfect pinned Flair clean with the Perfect Plex the New York fans rejoiced, although any of them who watched the Royal Rumble a week later must have been rather surprised to see Flair competing, given the Raw match was filmed a week before it aired, prior to the Rumble supercard. In fact, Flair continued to wrestle on WWF cards for another month after that, even picking up the odd win (over the Big Bossman) along the way.
The author of the highly acclaimed 'Titan' book series, James Dixon has been involved in the wrestling business for 25 years as a fan, wrestler, promoter, agent, and writer. James spent several years wrestling on the British independent circuit, but now prefers to write about the bumps and bruises rather than take any of them. His past in-ring experience does however give a uniquely more "insider" perspective on things, though he readily admits to still being a "mark" at heart.
James is the Chief Editor and writer at historyofwrestling.co.uk and is responsible for the best-selling titles Titan Sinking, Titan Shattered, and Titan Screwed, as well as the Complete WWF Video Guide series, and the Raw Files series.