1. Kurt Angle vs. Bret "Hitman" Hart
In my view, this would be the best match of all time. The meeting of two athletes who, when in their respective primes, were undeniably great. Both gifted amateur wrestlers, Bret and Kurt brought a heightened degree of realism into their matches. Neither had a particular flair for the dramatic (with Kurt being by far the better talker/promo guy) and both preferred to use submission holds and plausible scenarios over theatrics and stunt work. Kurt Angle first arrived in the WWF in the late 90's. Within the industry equivalent of a minute and a half, Angle not only won the European Championship, but also the Intercontinental Championship, which was traditionally the title given either to great workers who weren't quite perceived by management as being bankable enough for a top spot, or junior stars in the process of being built for a top spot Angle, of course, turned out to be the latter. As an irritating, egotistical heel, Angle was hugely over with the WWF fans. He would freely run away from bigger wrestlers like The Undertaker or Kane, but then blindside them and get the pin, bragging about each and every win until every single viewer was willing to pay good money just to watch him lose. Angle bragged about everything he did, from genuine accomplishments like winning an Olympic gold meal (with a broken neck, no less!), to matches in which he had brazenly cheated. Eventually, the character was allowed to mature and be a bit more of a badass, a change of heart that led to him capturing the WWF Championship whilst still in his rookie year. However, rather than being rushed to the top and looking decidedly out of place like Lex Luger, Brock Lesnar, Ultimate Warrior and others before him, Angle was absolutely up to the challenge and embarked on a lengthy title run as one of the all-time great heel champions, which coincided with some of the WWF's biggest-ever profits. Live show attendance was up, PPV sales were up, merch sales were up. Angle was a draw. Kurt Angle went on to hold the WWF/WWE Championship numerous times, feuding with next generation upstarts like Edge, Randy Orton and a (now-main eventing) Eddie Guerrero, before moving on to TNA and becoming arguably their biggest consistent star. In the ring, Angle's matches are beautifully choreographed exhibitions of violence, with his belly-to-belly suplex being simply stunning. His German suplexes, back drops and even a glorious moonsault, are absolutely textbook, every single time. He is also a master of tense, dramatic storytelling and he regularly had my teenage self on the edge of his seat as he kicked out at of yet another two and seven-eights count. Angle is one of the greatest pro wrestlers to ever work in any era. Fact. However, it also helped that, in his most successful period, he shared the limelight with arguably the greatest main event roster ever assembled, a list that included a returning Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H, Big Show and Kane. Any one of these wrestlers could hold a belt with credibility and sell a ticket of 10 (thousand, that is). Angle was a great wrestler, but he was working in the company of other great wrestlers. His opponent tonight, however, was never so lucky... Bret Hart, known to most as "the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be" is widely regarded as the greatest technical wrestler of his era and quite possibly, of all time. The son of the legendary Stu Hart, Bret was a second-generation grappler, a gifted amateur wrestler and, having grown up in the wrestling business, somebody who understood the mechanics of the sport from the inside out. An expert in crowd psychology, match choreography and technical wrestling, watching a Bret Hart match is like a "how to" manual that all aspiring wrestlers should read at least once. Hart is a five-time WWF Champion, as well as a two-time WCW Champion and he has held numerous other titles as well (including an Intercontinental Championship run that delighted me as a child), but he struggled for a very long time to get there. In an industry dominated by the drawing power of Hulk Hogan, Hart was seen as a great worker who lacked both charisma and the ability to sell tickets. Later, however, after he had proved time and time again that he had both in more than sufficient supply, Hart was finally able to inherit a Hogan-less WWF, albeit a WWF besieged by sex scandals, steroid scandals, court cases and riddled with horrible booking decisions... Despite this, he was still able to draw and, had he not had his legs cut out from under him during almost every WWF Championship run, Vince could have built the entire promotion around him quite easily. A good babyface champion needs a steady supply of heels to challenge him for his belt. Whereas Hogan worked, essentially, the exact same match night in and night out, meaning that he could work against literally anyone, Hart, who was more of a craftsman, found himself struggling to find opponents who matched his own abilities. Despite priding himself on being able to work with almost anybody, Hart's matches needed to be unique exhibitions of more than just huge arms, yellow trunks and a lot of charisma. As a result, he floundered in the top spot against Yokozuna (who was a very good wrestler, but whose size made him hard for a smaller guy like Hart to work with), Diesel (aka Kevin Nash, a one-dimensional big man with a combined arsenal of about 4 moves), Lex Luger (a roided up guy with a good look and a brilliant finisher, but not much else to him) and Shawn Michaels (a great performer with whom Hart had red hot in-ring chemistry, but whom Hart personally hated). Eventually, Hart was able to work with better opponents like Steve Austin, Bob Backlund, Jerry "The King" Lawler and The Undertaker. His best opponent, however, was Owen Hart, his younger brother. Following Hart's departure from the WWF, rival promotion WCW did nothing significant with Hart (preferring instead to promote Bill Goldberg, master of the 2 minute squash match) and his career effectively petered out rather than ending on a high note. Tonight, however, is an opportunity for Bret Hart to meet an opponent with whom he's guaranteed a great match. Both Angle and Hart are cut from the same cloth, both amateurs, both genuinely great storytellers and both the type of hard working champion that the fans love to see. With Kurt working as the heel and Bret working as the face, the parameters for this main event would be clearly drawn, super worker against super worker, American hero against Canadian hero. I put this one last because I genuinely feel that nobody else I've written about could follow this match. Angle would catch Hart in his patented Angle Lock, Hart would escape and lock in the Sharpshooter, Angle would escape in turn and so on and so on. This match would go at least 30 minutes, maybe even 45, before Hart would be declared the winner, probably by pinfall. What a match it would be. I'm breathless just thinking about it.
WINNER: Bret "Hitman" Hart So, there you go, a supercard of five great top-level matches. Of course, this is all from a fan's perspective (I've never wrestled a day in my life), so if any wrestlers out there want to call me out and tell me why they wouldn't work, then please feel free. Also, if you think you can come up with some better matches, let me know. Until then, I hope you have fun imagining them. I did.