Every Cinematic Wrestling Match Ever - Ranked!
2. The Boneyard Match
For about 24 hours, this match looked like being a cinematic piece of wrestling that WWE would likely never be able to top. Something that took the patented Hardy formula, injected it with a far more believable story, and gave it to two men who, between them, were (or at least were once) light years ahead of most normal wrestlers in regards to actual wrestling.
Despite the hokey nature of the way it was unveiled, AJ Styles and The Undertaker put on over 30 minutes of improbable, entertaining, career's best, it-has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed, sports entertainment. It owed a lot to the various Deletions, but also to The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, and a host of iconic TV shows.
The idea was simple. Neither man was going to benefit from going 5-6 minutes in an empty arena to allegedly settle a "blood feud". Styles calling out Michelle McCool and both men using each other's real names meant that if this was settled by a ropey big boot and botched chokeslam the audience would (ironically) crucify the whole thing. So WWE did what they do best in a crisis, and just handed all creative power over to the talent.
Their solution was to head out to a disused factory, and shoot a brutal fist-fight with as many retakes and breathers as they needed. This masked The Undertaker's near unworkable age and immediately brought back his aura as a man who can do all his talking with his fists. The decision to ditch the undead gimmick and have him roll up on a motorcycle was, while obvious, still inspired.
They fought across the ground, they ran each other through walls, they used every implement to hand to beat each other and, when it finally looked as though Styles had his opponent where he wanted him, The Undertaker used those old teleportation powers to suddenly appear behind him in a blinding flash of light. This was pure TV, and the audience loved every single second of it.
And yet despite all of this, despite the universal acclaim and professional acknowledgments, despite both men raising the bar to a level few thought could ever be met, it doesn't even make the top spot on a list written 36 hours after it aired...