With WWE’s Survivor Series event hyping the “fantasy”
matchup of Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg II, I thought that this would be a good
time to share five fantasy bouts of mine. Some of these matches have a slight
chance of happening while others can only take place in the world of WWE video
games. For the sake of variety, I will not repeat wrestlers for this post. Without
any further ado, here are my top five WWE fantasy matches.
5. Brian Pillman vs.
Dean Ambrose
Being a Greater Cincinnati native, I would love to see the
two most famous wrestlers from the Queen City square off in the middle of the
ring. Pillman’s high flying maneuvers that earned him the nickname of “Flyin’
Brian” combined with his “loose cannon” gimmick would make for a very
interesting wrestling mash up with Ambrose’s hardcore reputation and “lunatic
fringe” character. As I said in my introduction, some of these matches can only
take place in video games, and this match is one of them as Pillman tragically
passed away in 1997.
4. Randy Orton vs. The
Rock
This is a bout that I have played many times on my WWE video
games. The “Viper” and the “Brahma Bull” would no doubt tear the house down if
they ever met in a ring for a one-on-one match. They did have a previous
encounter at Wrestlemania 20 in a 3-on-2 tag team match when Evolution took on
the Rock ‘n Sock Connection, but these two third generation wrestlers have
never battled each other in a singles match. Orton’s slow and calculating
approach would clash wonderfully with the charismatic and electrifying tactics
of the Rock. This match has a pretty good chance of taking place as Orton is
still an active wrestler, and the Rock usually comes back to the WWE once a
year.
3. John Cena vs. Hulk
Hogan
I think this match is a no brainer as Cena, the
self-proclaimed “face that runs the place,” is today’s version of Hulk Hogan.
The similarities between their two characters are obvious as Cena’s mantra of
“hustle, loyalty, and respect” is a modern twist on Hogan’s motto of “training,
saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins.” Both are notorious for turning
matches around in their favor with Hogan “hulking” up and Cena utilizing what
have become known as the “five moves of doom.” These two teamed up with Shawn
Michaels in 2005 on an episode of Monday Night Raw with Hogan going on to face
Michaels instead of Cena later that year at Summerslam. A matchup between these
two wrestling titans likely will not happen due to Hogan’s back issues and the
fact that he is currently not with WWE.
2. Goldberg vs. Stone
Cold Steve Austin
Two of the biggest names to come out of the Monday Night
Wars of the late 1990s and early 2000s have never exchanged fists inside the
squared circle. Goldberg was arguably the biggest star in WCW, and the same can
easily be said about Austin in WWE. Both of their onscreen characters were
legitimate tough guys, and their look, wrestling style, and appeal to wrestling
fans are eerily similar. Unfortunately, Austin’s history with neck injuries has
made this matchup impossible to happen. These two just missed squaring off in
2003 as Goldberg made his WWE debut the night after Austin had his final match
at Wrestlemania 19.
1. Sting vs. The
Undertaker
To me, this is the ultimate dream match. Sting and the
Undertaker were the two cornerstones for their respective companies during the
Monday Night War. The stinger never left WCW, and the dead man remained loyal
to WWE. Both of their characters evolved during this era of professional
wrestling with Sting transitioning from a colorful surfer like wrestler to a
silent vigilante reminiscent of “the Crow,” and the Undertaker morphing into
the sinister leader of the “Ministry of Darkness” and eventually the
intimidating reaper who rode motorcycles to the ring. After WCW was bought out
by WWE in 2001, everybody thought that Sting and the Undertaker would finally
meet. However, Sting would not appear in a WWE ring until 2014 when he made his
WWE debut as the silent vigilante at Survivor Series. During Sting’s absence,
the Undertaker had gone back to his dead man character, and these two wrestlers
with similar gimmicks seemed destined to clash at the “Showcase of the
Immortals.” It looked like the dream match between the Undertaker and Sting was
on the verge of becoming a reality at Wrestlemania 31, but Sting faced Triple H
and the Undertaker battled Bray Wyatt. A neck injury then forced Sting into
early retirement, making this dream match just that, a dream. Sting has hinted
that may have one more match left in him, but a bout between the icon and the
phenom will most likely never happen.
Those are my top five WWE fantasy matches. I think that each
match would be an exciting bout to watch and would easily be a match of the
year candidate. There are more dream matches that I would like to see such as
D-Generation X taking on the New World Order or Austin and Hogan meeting for
the first time, but as I said in the introduction to this post, I was only
listing one wrestler per match for the sake of variety. Hopefully one of these
matches does indeed happen in the future, but until then, I will continue to
play out these bouts in the form of video games.
