From the moment it was announced, WWE has been promoting the latest Edge vs. Randy Orton match at the Backlash pay-per-view as “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever.” Both wrestlers have admitted they thought the promotional strategy was a rib at first, fans have been mocking notion online, and Ric Flair had already come out with his own pick. But let’s play along for a second — let’s say that, against all odds, the pair pull off the greatest match ever. That means they’ll have to beat out every single other match that has ever tried to stake that claim. And that is a long list.
Here’s a list of just seven(-ish) matches that Sunday’s Backlash match will have to be better than in order to be considered the greatest wrestling match ever. And to make things a little bit fair, we’ll limit it to just WWE matches — so no Flair/Steamboat trilogy, nothing from WCW, no New Japan and no Young Bucks vs. Hangman Page & Kenny Omega from AEW Revolution back in February.
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Do you think Edge vs. Orton can surpass all of these matches? What match truly is the greatest of all time? Let us know down in the comments!
The Two Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker WrestleMania Matches
Yes, these two again. You can’t have a conversation about the best WWE matches of all time without bringing them up, especially the first one. WWE itself even has the WrestleMania 25 match listed as a) the best WrestleMania match of all time and b) the No. 1 match you need to watch before you die.
Both of Their Hardcore Matches With Mick Foley
In order for this claim to have any modicum of legitimacy, Edge and Orton will first half to surpass all of their own career highlights. That includes both of their Hardcore Matches involving Mick Foley — namely Edge vs. Foley at WrestleMania 22 and Orton vs. Foley at Backlash 2004. The former tends to pop up on the bottom half of all-time great WrestleMania matches, while the latter is an underrated gem that helped solidify Orton as a star prior to his split from Evolution.
And since we’re on the topic of Edge/Orton’s own matches…
The Triangle Ladder Match, TLC 1 and TLC 2
Yes, all three of them.
Randy Savage vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat — WrestleMania III
Even after all of these years, there are still WWE fans out there that will argue this is the greatest WrestleMania match from bell-to-bell.
Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin — WrestleMania 13
The brawl through the crowd. The double turn. Austin’s bloody, screaming face. Everything about this match is as iconic as it is violent.
John Cena vs. CM Punk — Money in the Bank 2011
A modern classic and a master class of storytelling. There’s a reason this match was the first WWE match to get a five-star rating since 1997
Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle — WrestleMania 21
This list could be made up exclusively of Michaels or Angle matches, but for the sake of variety we’ll keep it to just the great match the pair had against each other at WrestleMania.
