Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches To See Before You Die: #14 Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle (WWE Wrestlemania 21)

(Here’s the link for the match on the WWE Network: http://network.wwe.com/video/v31305371/?contentId=31305371&contextType=wwe-show&contextId=wrestlemania )

Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle is one of my all-time favourite matches. It had all the elements in place: dream match, WrestleMania match, entertaining feud, and two of the greatest workers in the industry going one on one for the first time. It was a match I had hoped for ever since Shawn Michaels returned to the business. To say I was hyped about it was an understatement. Frequently, high levels of hype result in a disappointment. This did not result in disappointment, but in something exceeding my very high expectations.

Review: WWE Network’s 100 Best Matches: #77 Inaugural Money In The Bank Ladder Match (WrestleMania 21)

They say that the original is always the best. And the Inaugural Money In The Bank Ladder match is arguably the best of its kind. You’ll find higher up the list the first Hell in a Cell match and the first Elimination Chamber match; you won’t find any other examples of these gimmick matches. You won’t find another MITB ladder match, either. The impact of the MITB ladder match (and HIAC and the Chamber) has been lost through the gimmick being turned into just another PPV/Special. But take your minds back to the original MITB ladder match, and think of what a spectacle it was to see! It was breathtaking and brutal from start to finish. Other MITB ladder matches have come close to its quality, but for the sheer originality of it all, the Inaugural MITB match can never be beaten.