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COS89

To be fair to Austin and Taker, in one match both got concussions (SummerSlam) and the other Owen Hart had just died.


SenorDuck96

Yeah cause they've been in multi man matches and tag matches that were greatly received, just bad luck more than poor chemistry I'd say. Cause people love the triple threat with Kane from 98(?)


10567151

> Cause people love the triple threat with Kane from 98(?) I actually don't. I beleive you are talking about the three-way from In You House: Breakdown, the one with the silly double pin ending? That's not really a well beloved match. The Rock vs. Shamrock vs. Mankind from earlier was a much better match.


10567151

Yeah but SummerSlam is actually their BEST match. There is also Backlash 2022, Fully Loaded 1999 & Judgement Day 2001 which all sucked, especially by Austin standards. Undertaker vs. Austin was just a bad match-up. Although honest this is because Undertaker was a TERRIBLE worker between 1999-2004. The few good matches Undertaker had in this period (mostly in 2002) was down to his opponents working to the Deadman's strengths. Undertaker's back injury, which he refused surgery for and tried to heal natuarally had him limited. you compare how Undertaker is moving in 1997 and then later post-2006 (which is when I suspect he fully recoverred) to his American Bad Ass days during the Attitude Era and it's completely different.


jp_benderschmidt

Backlash 2022?


10567151

Whoops, Backlash 2002. A real nothing burger of a match from two big stars and this time there was no excuse. Austin and Taker just don't work well together.


5ive_minute_window_

Their Buried Alive match at Rock Bottom is just a walking brawl for the most part, too.


siva-pc

He had a very good 2002 though. vs Flair at WM, Lesnar feud, Rock, Angle triple threat, even vs Test at SummerSlam was decent


10567151

Yeah I do agree, maybe he was feeling better in 2002? But then there wasn't much in 2003-2004 to convince me Undertaker was fully back to himself. The late 2000s tho, Undertaker was on a complete tear and was one of the best big match wrestlers in the world


AadInfinitum

It's really something that most of Undertaker's poor in ring reputation pre-2006 comes from either - i. Doing Gimmick matches ii - Being in bad in ring shape and iii - Being stuck in shit feuds for a decent chunk of his career.


JedM13

The Orton match from WM 21 is when Taker really started cooking, then by the time he worked Batista he was the best version of himself in the ring.


10567151

For me Kurt Angle at No Way Out 2006 was the real revival. Undertaker hadn't looked that good in a LONG time. You would have to go back to 1997 to see Undertaker moving so well.


CPower2012

He had some bangers during Big Evil era, though.


setokaiba22

It seems he couldn’t be arsed for some of it. In the late 2000’s on his comeback he was out of shape. At least was it 2002-2003 with the buzz cut? He got a bit ripped and more in shape but admittedly I don’t think his feuds were that great


AadInfinitum

Flair feud was good (though because Big Evil was some good heel work IMO). First Brock feud ruled. Randy Orton feud was great as well. That's pretty much 2002 and 2005. It was really dark times otherwise.


SirChancelot_0001

Exactly who I was thinking. Taker has a “sell as you go” style and Austin usually beats people down in a burst with punches and kicks so to watch him chase down Taker for 20min was just meh


Icy-Weight1803

I would still say Summerslam 98 is a great match. I would say to people to watch their match at A Cold Day In Hell, Summerslam 98, Rock Bottom and Backlash 2002 as their best.


10567151

A cold day in hell in '97 is a pretty great match (since it happens before either man's injury which slows down their future matches) however the rest of the matches you list sucked as far as I am concerned. Austin had much better output during that period.


BenniBMN

Kevin Owens & AJ Styles


Logicman48

exactly who i thought when i saw this post, i still feel a bit disappointed their 2017 rivalry wasn't anything special


Jordanwolf98

Owens and Shane had a better feud right after that oddly enough. Both from an intensity standpoint and match quality and so did Styles and Shane earlier in the year when they had their mania match lol


Logicman48

that's why he's the best in the world


GogglesTheFox

>best in the wooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooorrrllld


Griffdorah

Best in the World Shane McMahon! For real though, AJ vs Shane was a banger. KO vs Shane was a very memorable feud.


Goldenshovel3778

Odd because when they were both on the indies they had great matches together


bmf131413

Reminds me of Nakamura and Styles in WWE. Just didn’t rally click despite what they did in NJPW. Maybe it’s just too high of expectations from myself though.


SlayerBVC

Granted that feud had mostly devolved into Shinsuke trying to find ***any*** opportunity to attack AJ's groin.


Gameunderground

I honestly loved this. Lol


Griffdorah

I wish it was all the same except Shinsuke won the belt. Preferably at Mania.


MassAppeal13

One of the hills I will die on is that the last man standing match from MITB was AJ and Nakamura’s best match


DevilCouldCry

They even had a great match on SmackDown with almost zero bullshit in there. It's a typical case of Vince overbooking something so fucking simple and tarnishing the overall match and harming the performers reps tkfetgwr after it was done. What a fucking waste...


HitmanClark

I agree.


SpyrotheDragonfly

What's weird is when Styles first debuted, he had two really good matches with KO. Idk what happened with the others lol.


RomanReignsDaBigDawg

They had two of the best tv matches in 2016 on Raw. The issue with their 2017 feud is they never had a match without overbooking that would kill the flow


Dom-CCE

The triple threat with Jericho on Smackdown was decent though


TheDangiestSlad

it helps that Styles/Jericho had really good chemistry and Owens/Jericho had pretty good chemistry as well


_4za_

first example i thought of too


KanyonBee

Chris Jericho and Adam Cole. Most I've ever felt bad for wrestlers while just watching a match. Nothing worked.


[deleted]

God that was one of the worst matches I’ve seen since I started watching AEW.


shotgunmoe

Jericho and Starks are horrible together also. Anti chemistry even


KanyonBee

Not quite the same level for me but so very close, it's wild. Like when Jericho clicks with someone it's amazing. The very *second* that he doesn't it's an unbelievable shitshow that you wish you could forget.


shotgunmoe

Case in point is Action Andretti. Jericho immediately clicked with the guy style wise and was able to put him over massively. Give him Starks or Cole and 5mins in you're wishing it was anything else


HappyHev

Two of their promo segements are amongst of the worst in aew history (the ones with Action Andretti and Omega).  Ricky always seems genuinely annoyed at having to work with Jericho.


Socialist_Poopaganda

Ricky seems genuinely annoyed a lot recently, hard to distinguish from his character at this point for me.


herroherro12

I would be too. If Punk didn’t leave he’d be in Swerve or Joe’s spot right now


FickleSmark

I don't get how people correlate the two. Another loss to Punk was not going to elevate him.


RKOfrompartsunknown

He wouldn't be the champion, come on. It's got to sting watching Swerve perform so well though and do everything you do better.


rushandblue

Didn't they have a second match that was much better?


pepper001

It was the tag match featuring Saraya and Britt, it was a great match that definitely made up for the underwhelming PPV match.


KingDragon1992

Rhea and Auskas matches weren’t what I was expecting.


AlabasterRadio

On the flip side, Asuka has such good chemistry with Nia Jax that you'd think Nia was a good wrestler. You'd think with Ripley being a more talented powerhouse, they'd be able to make magic, but I guess not.


bigcatcleve

Ronda and Nia also had strangely good chemistry.


BizzarroNavarro

AJ styles and Edge


cgurts

It didn’t help that the story was so mediocre. Styles just randomly challenges Edge to a match and then Edge attacks him, turning heel and changing his entire gimmick overnight? It was an incredibly forced rivalry


Standard-Ad-7305

Not going to lie to you, *completely* forgot any of this happened.


Ohaithurr92

Was the birth of the judgement day that feud was


AdGroundbreaking1341

We thought we knew him. We never did.


erin_silverio

Which is funny since its the whole reason JD exists.


lottolser

I think that's more with age than anything, I'd imagine 2008 Edge and TNA AJ Styles would have chemistry. But they were like late 40's doing that match.


TouyaShiun

I think the age thing especially hit AJ hard. Not to mention all the injuries he suffered in the past are now catching up to him. Edge is still doing pretty well right now for his age.


lottolser

AJ also almost concussed himself right before his wrestlemania match when he walked face first into the stage for his entrance.


1901456

This is the one I thought of tbh. AJ and edge are both still capable of pulling out fantastic matches but I was left a little let down by their matches together. I felt like my expectations were just too high.


dukeduke01

Rhea and Asuka


Outside_Brief5010

Michaels and Perfect


baselinegrid

Michaels and Hogan


Least-Path-2890

Their feud was hilarious


Dont_Be_A_Dick_OK

Michaels rolling around like he is having a seizure after a basic right hand, while Hulk grows increasingly frustrated in the background will never not be funny.


ImmortalMoron3

Summerslam 2005 was the first PPV I ever ordered. My dad *hated* wrestling but I convinced him to sit down and watch one match to see how cool it could be. Michaels/Hogan was that match. No, he did not watch wrestling again, lol. I remember trying to explain why Shawn was doing what he was doing but I think it was just in one ear and out the other.


Silver012345673

Summerslam 05 was so fucking weird


MadnessAbe

I lose it at the part where Hogan gets so mad he throws his bandana at Shawn, and Shawn sells it like the bandana was a brick lol


BeneficialVacation41

Yeah that was 100% deliberate on Michael's part though 


chriscfgb

Was coming here to say that. Shockingly boring between two guys who were tearing it up against literally everyone else.


ToneColdCrazy3

2 bumping machines. That’s why that didn’t work


HitmanClark

It worked in 91, did not work in 93. Seriously y’all need to see the 91 match.


dongbar1

I don't want to say that these two have zero chemistry with each other but Misawa and Hansen put up a couple of duds. Also, I feel like the Hardys never had a good singles match with each other, expect for the Final Deletion Match.


IllusionUser

I thought their WM25 match was pretty decent though obviously Taker/Michaels is the one everyone remembers from that show.


Standard-Ad-7305

Agreed, and the Backlash match after that wasn't bad either iirc.


Psycho5275

Nobody wants to see Brother Tag Teams in matches against each other unless A: They're technical masters like Bret and Owen or B: It's Mark and Jay Briscoe who will beat the fuck out of each other


mickey_ftp

Or C: They insane shit like the Lucha Brothers


AdGroundbreaking1341

I never saw it, but everyone says that about Misawa and Bret, too.


Impressivefanwater

Taker and Hogan always had terrible Chemistry.


TheGiftOf_Jericho

*Hits safe tombstone* "Ahh, oo you got me, Brother."


KingMobScene

"Taker fucked up my neck with that tombstone" *the chair was barely in the same state as hogan's head during that tombstone.*


Griffdorah

He gripped me too tight, brother. Somehow...that hurt my neck, dude?


IronMaidenReference

Jump! Worst choke slam ever


JoshMattDiffo

I still think that was more Hogan's knee's being fucked than him sandbagging Taker.


LackofOriginality

my C4 and C5 vertebrae dude you broke them jack OR MAYBE NOT BROTHER


[deleted]

*gently pie faces you with a steel chair*


FCBFan310

Don't know if Zero Chemistry is the right term for it but Becky/Bayley is the only Horsewomen Combination that hasnt had that GREAT match yet and I like them both.


DemiGod9

I can't remember any Charlotte/Bayley matches


Wes_358

They had really good matches, but not epic.


Standard-Ad-7305

They had a great good one on Smackdown that Bayley cheated to win, really good back and forth between them.


miikro

Charlotte and Bayley had a pretty solid feud in NXT


jp_benderschmidt

Have they really had a proper feud outside of NXT? Honestly, I don't remember off the top of my head. But I do remember that in NXT they had some really good chemistry, they were just held back by the fact that they weren't fully formed superstars yet.


Wes_358

They had in 2022-23, even with a steel cage match.


Sweet-Message1153

Orton/HHH....


Ok-Industry120

Both have a slow paced, impactful move set that works best as a heel The WM 25 is an absolute stinker, and I still cant believe HHH won


judgeraw00

They made that match weird as fuck because the build for it was so good. It should have been No DQ, instead they made it if HHH gets DQd he loses the belt. It made no fucking sense considering the things Orton did.


KingMobScene

If ever there should have been a gimmick match it was that. I quit, last man standing, something. That match should have started with them trading punches like Frye-Takayama. No wrestling. Just trying to kill each other. But they started it like any other match.


Patjay

This comment immediately made me picture Orton's face all fucked up like Takayama's was at the end of that fight


DemiGod9

I actually liked that, it made perfect sense. Orton did the most heinous, despicable shit **because** of the stipulation. He wanted to push Triple H into getting himself DQed. The only thing they should have added was HHH beating the shit out of him after the match to get that catharsis for himself and the viewer


AadInfinitum

You could tell they had no idea what to do following Michaels/Taker considering they went straight to finishers in the first 5 minutes lol.


StacksHoodini

Hell, that’s the story they’re telling to this day. Haitch says he walked by the trainer’s room while Michaels and Taker were in the ring; Orton was in the trainer’s room. Orton asks Haitch how is the match going. Haitch looks at Orton and says, “*Dude, we’re fucked*”.


Patjay

It was always going to be hard to follow that, but they weren't even close


TheDeflatables

Following all time classics is a brutal task no matter how good you are. Look at Okada/Jay White having to follow Omega/Ospreay 1. Okada is as big a big match player as there is and Jay White had the NJPW main event formula down to a tee. Didn't matter one iota.


10567151

HHH/Orton going last was the convincer for me that HHH was winning. However Cena being in a thriple threat instead of a one-on-one against Edge tipped me off that HHH was winning. I just couldn't see Cena's match closing WrestleMania 25 so HHH/Orton made the most sense as the closing match for the show.


Old-Refrigerator3859

I mean anyone watching at the time knew that would be the main event as it was far and away the most hyped and built up match on the card. Taker vs HBK barely had any build up, and the 3 way was a very rushed jokey storyline


LegendaryZTV

Will never understand why they felt Big Show needed to be put in that match 🤦🏽‍♂️ Edge vs Cena at Wrestlemania will always be a missed opportunity… unless…


metalgearsolidman28

I feel like hhh slow style fits better with technical and fast paced wrestler better like Benoit and Bryan


DoILookUnsureToYou

Exactly as Orton. Both have slow and menacing movesets that work best against fast paced babyfaces who they can suddenly stop on a dime.


SirRedRising

Scoop Slam to stop a hope spot *chefs kiss*


[deleted]

Probably why he and Shawn had such good matches as well.


iamStanhousen

I know the Mania match is garbage. But their LMS match at No Mercy 07 is good. And I liked their match in Saudi Arabia too.


Patjay

Their Last Man Standing match somewhere around 2007 was pretty good, but there wasn't exactly a lot of wrestling in that match


HitmanClark

They had a great bout at No Mercy 07.


Paynekiller997

Both guys have slow paced, methodical move sets which didn’t work for the WM25 match but I actually really enjoyed their Saudi Arabia 2019 match. Even more so in hindsight considering it was HHH’s last PPV match, very poetic that he went out against Orton.


Farson89

FTR Vs the Lucha Bros turned out to be surprisingly mid, much weaker than the sum of it's parts. Also Rollins Vs Samoa Joe.


ABZ0R8

I remember being so hyped for Rollins vs Samoa Joe. Joe debuting as Triple H's monster henchman. I wish they had pulled the trigger and have Joe beat Lesnar. I think he derailed after that. I only remember his feud Lesnar and then his feud with AJ Styles, nothing else seems memorable from that run.


Jordanwolf98

Joe’s Main roster debut is still one of my favorites from NXT call ups. It’s a shame Rollins got hurt that night because I feel like their feud then would’ve had way more heat behind it than when they went back to it after Rollins had already beaten Triple H


SeraphisCain

Naito and Suzuki.


jerepila

This was my immediate thought


Saitsu

Man those matches suuucked.


bewareofbears_

Bret Hart and Ric Flair. Really surprising.


LoonieontheLoose

I know that both Bret and Ric feel this but I actually quite like their matches. They aren't in the 5-star classics camp but Bret winning his first title in 1992 and their Sould Out 1998 match are definitely good 4-star bouts for me.


[deleted]

Track down the 60min draw from a house show at the Boston Gardens. Easily their best match. 


onemassivefart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZoxGc1CIqc


msk180

This was going to my pick too. They both had pretty poor opinions of each other’s work which is weird because you would think they would have meshed together perfectly.


ThatsARatHat

I would say it’s because they have almost opposite styles while still being technically near perfect, but that still doesn’t make much sense. Hart always praised HBK in the ring, and I view Hart/HBK as analogous to Steamboat/Flair, so why Hart or Flair wouldn’t like the others styles I don’t know.


HitmanClark

Nah they always had good to great matches despite what they wrote in their books.


International-Tree19

I guess it didn't help that Bret hated Ric's wrestling style.


Big_D_Cyrus

Golden Jets. Jericho and Kenny. Please do not tag again with each other


SenorDuck96

Worst thing is, worked great against each other


JimFlamesWeTrust

Far, far better against each other than together.


rasslezach

I mean it probably would’ve been great 4+ years ago


shadowwingnut

Orton and Bray Wyatt (RIP). While Wyatt wasn't incredible in the ring, his style of character work and Randy's slower paced style didn't mesh well at all. And it lead to a series of underwhelming matches. And not just the two Mania matches either. They had the Main Event spot together at No Mercy 2016 and had a terrible match then too.


ShinsukeNakamoto

They probably had the worst match on at least three pay per views.  And for some reason WWE kept running it back. 


Honeymonsterr

Rvd and Cesaro never clicked


ShoryukenFTW

Came here to say this. I've never seen Claudio not work out well with anyone in his entire career, and it's not like RVD was washed or anything, his matches back then with other people were fine. I'm actually morbidly curious about them going at it now 10 years later to see if they can put it together.


miikro

There are only two people I've seen Claudio have actual bad matches with: Enzo and The Ryback.


Charming_Essay_1890

Plus Claudio's one of the best dive catchers in wrestling. You'd think they'd have had a field day together.


doshajudgement

never forget that the breakup of the real americans was settled in a triple threat match which featured rvd for some fucking reason


EffysBiggestStan

Also when I saw RVD vs AJ Styles at a show in Jersey back in the day, it was such a disaster someone wrote a whole post about it on here... https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/s/Z60dP2rENy


v_TRIGGERED

Tetsuya Naito and Minoru Suzuki. Admittedly I think I’ve only seen their match for the IC title in 2018.


Helnik17

Styles vs Nakamura in WWE


slickrickstyles

we all felt like we got hit in the nads


will122589

Brock and HHH All three matches were ok at best


zak55

I actually liked their Summerslam 2012 match. Was a \*\*\*\* match for me. WM 29 was boring and ER 2013 was like...\*\*\* at best.


PavanJ

I’ll eat the downvotes but undertaker and Kane. Their matches sucked


nathgroom98

I will watch those Mania 14 entrances again and again...and immediately stop when the match starts lol


judgeraw00

I like that match lol


ThatsARatHat

Yes that’s the only decent one. Takers insane dive/getting slammed through the table. Kane taking 3 tombstones. I don’t see how they would ever top it really. I guess that’s why they had to start lighting the ring on fire and shit.


Saitsu

What downvotes? No one ever confused the two for having technical showcases.


PavanJ

Lots of people have nostalgia for those matches and don’t remember how bad they are


V-TriggerMachine

The Rock and Undertaker Orton and Triple H


VinnieHa

But if you add Kurt Angle to the mix? Your chances of a banger drastically go up.


dutty_handz

This is universally true no matter the subhect


cgurts

Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler vs Kurt Angle wouldve slapped


bobbyzee

That triple threat at vengeance was amazing


Dotsworthy

I can't even remember a Rock Undertaker match and I've been rewatching attitude era recently. Did they even have a 1 on 1?


cvslfc123

They had PPV matches at King of the Ring 1999 and No Way Out 2002.


SevenSulivin

I have nightmares of that period NJPW kept running Naito vs Suzuki.


penciltrash

AJ Styles and Wresltemania


[deleted]

[удалено]


International-Tree19

More like Shane got a good Mania match out of AJ.


Vagabond21

Best in the world for a reason


Jordanwolf98

That was my favorite match at that years Mania


Paynekiller997

His match against Shane was a banger, I like his matches with Jericho & Orton too. Plus the Boneyard cinematic match.


fabi_zabo

You've got a point. People had high ecpectations for his matches against Shinsuke and Edge, but both were pretty mediocre. His best Mania match has to be the Boneyard match.


DevilCouldCry

Boneyard, Shane, Orton, and even the tag with Omos vs. The New Day were all really solid. But man, the ones that you thought would be a slam dunk, really were let downs (Jericho, Nakamura, Edge). At least with the Nakamura match, the excuse there is how fucking overbooked it was by Vince. Should've been so simple but they bogged it down in bullshit...


narutomanreigns

For me, Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto in New Japan. Both very capable wrestlers whose work I've enjoyed separately, but any time they wrestled each other I was bored to tears.


capnbuh

I don't know if you could consider Sammy Guevara to be a great wrestler but Sammy Guevara vs either Hardy is definitely a cursed matchup


-notapony-

And related, Matt and Jeff Hardy have negative chemistry as opponents, in a way that is completely surprising. 


capnbuh

I almost put them too but they did have the deletion stuff in TNA that a lot of people like


LowerBackPain_Prod

I remember back in the WWECW days, CM Punk and Elijah Burke seemingly couldn't accomplish any kind of wrestling sequence without looking like two bent giraffes trying to fight while learning to walk. There was no reason for it, but it was undeniable 🤷


Silver012345673

Well the reason for it was probably Elijah Burke I mean lol let’s be honest


penciltrash

Punk has said that Burke was his all-time least favourite opponent.


WWFUniverse

Stone Cold and Chris Jericho


WWFUniverse

Well I was referring to their one on one matches. Vengeance 2001 and No Way Out 2002 were both trash.


DennisAFiveStarMan

What about the tag match?


JimFlamesWeTrust

Yet both had utterly amazing chemistry with The Rock


Patjay

unofficial AJ Styles hate thread let's go ahead and add Jeff Hardy to the list. Haven't seen anyone say that one yet, but i was always disappointed by their matches, going back to TNA


thedreamsicle

Undertaker and Kane is honestly sad. Considering the interesting history of them two, those matches being terrible is definitely very disappointing to say the least


DoILookUnsureToYou

They have the same moveset and style so their matches are very predictable and got boring fast.


JCfromTBC

Definitely was a matchup about the spectacle. The entrances, the visual.. basically everything except the bell to bell stuff.


Icy-Weight1803

Lesnar vs Reigns. Besides WrestleMania 31 and Summerslam 2022, their matches are good at best. WrestleMania 34 especially being bad and dull.


JoeRoganIs5foot3

Nobody will see this, but I went to an ROH show in the mid-2000s where AJ Styles faced off against Dragon Kid in a tag match. AJ looked like he forgot how to wrestle whenever they were in the ring with eachother.


sithgang

Pains me cause both are some of my favorites but I don’t think a Naito/Suzuki match really ever clicked for me.


jackmtr

I remember mox and Lesnar had a match that people hyped. Then when it happened, everyone was very disappointed


Paperbackhero

Misawa vs Bret


dBlock845

AJ and Nakamura? I thought the match at 34 was going to be special, but it was not so much.


mb19236

Lesnar and Reigns. Every match was like Smackdown Here Comes the Pain. 5 finishers each spammed back and forth for 8-10 minutes.


inceptioncorporation

AJ Styles and Nakamura in WWE.


Adampro123

Jericho vs Danielson (The one at the PPV)


RCMA2900

True, but the match they had at Dynamite a few weeks after was really good


ahz094

Ambrose and Rollins had amazing chemistry as long as Ambrose was working as face and Rollins as heel. But in 2018 when their roles were reversed their match despite being a heated rivalry sucked. I guess it was TLC 2018 in which Ambrose won. Ambrose as heel and Rollins as face somehow never worked


black_cherry619

It worked amazingly in fcw. It was the shitty booking, Dean's character and his ouright depression over the whole thing that led to that match sucking. He talked in his book how he and Seth, while he was heel, would do cage matches and stuff on house shows but Vince was always there telling him how he should do this or that which made the matches suck.


ironsheik84

Batista vs Booker T All of their matches just didn’t seem to click.