Hi Scott,
Long-time fan.
Question: suppose you meet someone who is vaguely familiar with pro wrestling, but has never really watched it and knows very little about it (I work with a lot of people from foreign countries, especially China). I was wondering, if you could offer this person only one match to show them what our so-called sport is really all about, what wrestling is when it's at it's best, what would it be?
Then I got to thinking: there are so many different choices for this because there are so many different types of wrestling styles in the world. If this hypothetical person was patient, could you think of example matches in each of these sub-sections (feel free to add or ignore groups as desired)?
* the best lucha match
* the best puro match (e.g., Misawa vs. Kobashi)
* the best "WWE Main Event Style" (e.g., Rock vs. Austin)
* the best wild brawl (e.g., something from ECW, Benoit vs. Sullivan)
* the best ladder match / TLC / MitB (e.g., Michaels vs. Razor)
* the best cage match / HiaC (e.g., Michaels vs. Taker in the very first HiaC, the Mankind vs. Taker one)
* the best tag team match (e.g., R 'n' R Express vs. Midnight Express)
* the best good vs. evil match (e.g., Hogan vs. Andre)
* the best comedy match
* the best WCW cruiserweight (e.g., Pillman vs. Liger, Mysterio vs. Eddie)
* the best from Ric Flair's prime (vs. Steamboat; vs. Sting)
* the best from other big names like Savage, Jericho, Benoit, Angle, Guerrero...
I'm going to artfully dodge the question by noting that showing someone matches rarely works. That's generally how you hook someone on legit combat sports like UFC, but wrestling is a different animal. I would opt instead for showing them a really awesome ANGLE, because that's what hooks new viewers. Like the early nWo stuff, or Batista turning on Rey, or something very soap operatic like that. The matches are generally a means to an end for newer fans, I find. But if readers want to come up with a list, have at it!