By Graham "GSM" Matthews Here on SummerSlam Recall, I will be ranking my top 20 favorite matches in WWE SummerSlam history. A new installment will be posted every day leading up to SummerSlam 2016, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Saturday, August 20th. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. John Cena vs. CM Punk from Money in the Bank 2011 is my favorite match of all-time. There, I said it! I don't want to go into immense detail as to why that is, simply because I don't want to bore anyone who has heard me talk about it ad nauseam before, but I felt compelled to mention that because it is part of the reason why this match is so high up on the list. I couldn't cite one bad match Cena and Punk had together, though some of their battles have been better than others. That said, I think their match from SummerSlam 2011 doesn't usually get the credit it deserves for being as great as it was. Did it have a superior story to the one they told at Money in the Bank? No. Was it as well-wrestled as their match from the February 25, 2013 edition of Raw? Probably not. Regardless, there was excitement in the air for this anticipated encounter coming off the controversy from the month prior, and fans were anxious to see who would be crowned the undisputed WWE Champion once and for all.
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By Graham "GSM" Matthews Here on SummerSlam Recall, I will be ranking my top 20 favorite matches in WWE SummerSlam history. A new installment will be posted every day leading up to SummerSlam 2016, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Saturday, August 20th. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. Although I have fond memories of watching wrestling in 2009, by and large, it wasn't a great year on the whole for WWE. Other than Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker, WrestleMania 25 was largely a disappointment, and the rest of Raw's year consisted of the same old tired matchups: John Cena vs. Randy Orton, Cena vs. Triple H, and HHH vs. Orton. Rinse and repeat. On the SmackDown side, things started to heat up at the onset of the summer when Jeff Hardy and CM Punk kicked off their storied rivalry for the World Heavyweight Championship. If there was any one feud (sans HBK vs. 'Taker) that was the saving grace of 2009 for WWE, it was Punk vs. Hardy. Because the storytelling, the matches, the pacing of the program, and the character development of both men were exceptional. Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on a drained Hardy at Extreme Rules to win the world title for a second time, but unlike the year prior, fans criticized the Second City Saint for blindsiding one of their heroes. By Graham "GSM" Matthews Here on SummerSlam Recall, I will be ranking my top 20 favorite matches in WWE SummerSlam history. A new installment will be posted every day leading up to SummerSlam 2016, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Saturday, August 20th. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. Once again, we revisit SummerSlam 2002 here on SummerSlam Recall, which should come as zero surprise given how star-studded the card is from top to bottom. As much as I enjoyed Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio in the opener and The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar in the main event, my favorite matchup of the night was undoubtedly the No Holds Barred co-main event between Triple H and Shawn Michaels, a match that had been nearly five years in the making. On the July 22, 2002 edition of Raw, Michaels (who had a random run with the New World Order) and HHH (who had just been moved over from SmackDown) reunited as D-Generation X for the first time in several years, and the fans were hot for it. They did their usual shtick... until HHH surprised his "best friend" with a Pedigree to the stomach, leaving the audience shocked, stunned and silent. What motivated The Game to promptly stab his longtime partner in the back? Why, Trips, why?! By Graham "GSM" Matthews Here on SummerSlam Recall, I will be ranking my top 20 favorite matches in WWE SummerSlam history. A new installment will be posted every day leading up to SummerSlam 2016, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Saturday, August 20th. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. I don't care what anyone says: The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30 was absolutely atrocious. Some fans claim the match was "bad by design" in order to tell a story. No, that wasn't the case whatsoever. Undertaker was legitimately knocked out during the match, which is why it looked like he was literally dead out there. Other than The Streak getting broken by The Beast Incarnate, that is a match that is better off forgotten, and needless to say, I had no desire to see them face off in a rematch. Even when it was rumored in mid-July that Undertaker would be making a rare return during the summer season, I wasn't at all enthralled at the idea of him potentially rekindling his rivalry with Lesnar. Forget their sensational series of matches on SmackDown, that was over a decade ago. Their last one-on-one outing was beyond horrid. Yet somehow WWE managed to change my mind in the matter of a night when Taker resurfaced at Battleground and the two engaged in a brawl for the ages on the subsequent episode of Raw. |
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