Most Important Match Of All Time

in some ways, inoki vs flair in Korea

you have a major star from American culture, along with a major star of Japanese culture, coming together to entertain a completely separate culture through the means of the art of professional wrestling.

in some forms, it was a display of base humanity in it's utmost, and came somewhat close to the unity that world events such as the Olympics undertake.

As evidence by this thread, there is no such thing as the single most important match of something that has been evolving for a hundred years. We can’t even settle on the most important match of the modern WWF era.

You can’t apply singular credit to an incredibly complex equation. The thing I’ve learned the most from hearing Jeff Jarrett pull back the curtain on TNA is that success requires so many ingredients, so much luck, and perseverance. And TNA has only been around for 20 years.

Hulkamania was insanely important to modern wrestling, WrestleMania I specifically in my opinion, but the steroid trials almost bankrupted Vince. So it was as much Bret and Shawn, Mr. McMahon, then Austin, that gave birth to the peak of WWF popularity. And if Hall and Nash don’t jump, WCW never has their 83 week run. So it’s impossible not to call that Bash at the Beach match one of the most important in history, too.

There are tons of examples. Omega vs Okada at WK11 probably is the catalyst for what becomes AEW if I were to pin point a single match. But even before that, AJ Styles beating Okada at Dontaku, skyrocketing the BC for North American viewers, is just as important.

We’re going to ignore things like KVE beating Ric Flair? Ali vs Inoki? How about Moolah vs Richter if we really want to get into the modern landscape of women in wrestling? How about Paul Heyman bringing over talent from Mexico and Japan and introducing them to American television? Guys like Benoit, Jericho, Rey, Eddie, all incredibly important to wrestling history.

What if Piper isn’t the foil for Hulkamania and Rock n Wrestling? He comes after Hogan wins the title. He’s more important to wrestling history than Sheik imo. Assigning one match as the most important in wrestling history is just a matter of subjective opinion, even though certain matches (plural) can be supported with objective information.

AWA Super Sunday April 24, 1983

Verne Gagne dicks Hogan around way too much and finally Hogan is like "I can either go play bass for Metallica or go see Vance McManus in New York."

Hard to say really, because there are some matches that you can point to and say "without this moment, none of the other moments we're discussing would even have happened" (e.g. Hogan vs Andre or Sheik) but then there are moments that propelled the business on to the point that there are still fans to remember those aforementioned moments (e.g. the Montreal Screwjob leading to Mr McMahon and Steve Austin which took wrestling to hitherto unheard of heights).

Then there are matches that are important because they influenced what wrestling is between the ropes (e.g. Savage vs Steamboat at WM, or Rey vs Eddie at Halloween Havoc '97).

Impossible to say.

I don't think you can reasonably put Rock/Hogan or Warrior/Hogan as being the most important matches of all time. They're more among the greatest matches of all time due to the spectacle but they didn't shape the business in their wake.

Reasonably the 5 most important matches of all time would be:

Hogan vs. Sheik @msg
NWO vs Sting, Luger and Savage @batb
Bret Hart vs Steve Austin @wm13
Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels @ss97
Steve Austin vs Shawn Michaels @wm14

-The first set Hulkamania in motion and hence the wrestling boom of the 80s.
-The second ignited WCW, the Monday Night Wars and the wrestling boom of the 90s.
-The third set the stage for Austin to become the guy, turned him face and was the true starting point for the attitude era.
-The fourth is the most talked about match in wrestling history, was responsible for pulling back the curtain on the industry. Also revealed vince at the face that runs the place and paved the way for the feud that saved the company.
-Tyson's involvement gets major mainstream publicity, and Austin is officially anointed as the guy.

These matches weren't just spectacle, but shaped the direction of the entire industry. If you wanted to add another, I'd say Austin vs. Rock from Mania 17. It's important for all the wrong reasons though. Austin's heel turn was the catalyst for people losing interest in wrestling.

Hogan/Andre

For extreme wrestling breaking through further to the WWE
Tag Team Ladder match at No Mercy 99-Followed by Triangle Ladder at WM2000

Hogan vs Andre was the first

Austin vs Jake Roberts KOTR 96 was the 2nd

I tend to think that someone else would've filled Vince McMahon's void by now if WWF was never created. I agree territories would still be around but at some point I think someone else would've had the thought to go national. I may be wrong.

The Hogan/Andre match always gets put on a pedestal and I will never understand why.

Outside of the bodyslam spot, which I think Cesaro's with Big Show at 30 was better, the match itself was not good.