5 Wrestling Dream Matches That Lived Up To The Hype

Dream matches in wrestling are pretty much few and far between. They don't happen that often and when one is announced, you really hope it is everything you thought it would be.

In some cases, it doesn't always work out, as seen with the like of Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg, but other times, it does. And when it does, it can be the best match of the year, the best match of the last 10 years, or even the best match you have ever seen.

When it is the right opponents, the right setting and the right live audience, it can be an electric and magic match that will live on as one of the best ever. These are five such occasions where it really happened.

#5 Kurt Angle vs. Sting - TNA Bound For Glory 2007

Kurt Angle vs. Sting was a dream match that WWE would have loved to have booked, and very nearly did at one point. WWE had been in negotiations with Sting in early 2002 and believed at one point that a deal between the two sides was close to happening — so close, that they even came up with having Sting wrestle Kurt Angle at WrestleMania X8.

However, the deal never happened and with Kurt as a seemingly lifelong WWE star, all hopes of the match went down the drain.

The year 2006 was a big one for TNA Wrestling, not only had Sting come out of retirement to wrestle for them, but Kurt Angle would also part ways with WWE and find himself working for Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett.

The plans for Kurt Angle vs. Sting immediately came into play, but TNA needed to be smart about it, and they were, for the most part. Although Sting and Kurt did share the ring on a couple of occasions in multi-man matches, the first one-on-one meeting between the two was saved for TNA's biggest event of the year, Bound For Glory, in 2007.

The build-up to the bout was well executed and when it was all said and done, we were left with the best match Sting had wrestled since the late 90's. It had that ‘big match’ feel to it and the crowd loved it, everything was well paced and was just overall exciting. Sting pinned Kurt to lift his second World Championship in TNA.

#4 Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair - WCW Bash At The Beach 1994

Hulk Hogan was the biggest WWE star of the 1980's, and probably all of wrestling. Ric Flair was the biggest star of the 80's of the rival NWA. No one ever thought it would happen but in 1991, Ric Flair left the NWA after a major fall out with boss Jim Herd and signed with the WWE, and suddenly the biggest dream match in all of the wrestling was about to become a reality.... Until it didn't.

WWE did indeed have plans for the match even teasing it with stare downs between the two on television. So why didn't the ultimate dream match happen?.... Well in early 1992 WWE's live event attendance was getting pretty small and Vince McMahon decided to try to bring it up by booking a tour featuring Hogan vs Flair in the main event of each night, but surprisingly this did little to help attendance figures. WWE then got cold feet with the match happening as the main event of WrestleMania and scrapped it ans instead, we got Flair vs. Randy Savage (a great constellation prize) and Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice (the less said, the better).

While this was bad news for WWE fans, it would turn into great news for WCW just two years later. Ric Flair had returned one year earlier and was Champion again, and Hogan signed with the company, and WCW did not hesitate to set up the dream match as Hogan's in-ring WCW debut at Bash At The Beach in 1994.

Now it was by far a technical masterpiece, but it was also by far a bad match. It was a pretty good contest, but what really put it over was the fact that it was Hogan's debut, WCW broke their attendance record and pay-per-view buy record going into it, the fans were on the edge of their seats, everything about it was just big match feel with a lot of media coverage and appearances from Mr. T and Shaquille O'Neal, and it had the right and popular outcome of Hulk Hogan becoming WCW Champion.

#3 The Rock vs. John Cena - WrestleMania XXVIII

Should have stayed at once in a lifetime

Once in a lifetime. That's what they called it, it didn't end up being that, but for the year leading up to it and the match itself, WWE and fans treated it like it would be the only time we would be seeing this huge epic encounter.

The lead up to the match was truly excellent as the seeds had been planted from the moment The Rock had returned to the WWE in 2011. It had a year of build up with a series of shoot promos between the two. At this point, they didn't like each other, it showed and it that sense of realism made for arguably the best build up WWE has ever had to any match.

Taking place in Miami, the live audience was solidly behind The Rock. This only drove John to give one of the better performances he had in recent years, while The Rock showed that despite this being only his second match in eight years, that he never lost what made him so entertaining in the past.

The two went back and forth all match long with the fans on the edge of their seat, being with them vocally every step of the way. The Rock came out on top for the popular decision.

The 'once in a lifetime' moniker was thrown out the window when WWE presented a rematch between them the following year, which didn't have even 1/3 of the hype and half the thrilling action at the first. The match existed just so John could get a victory over him, as well as a hoped big butyrate, similar to WrestleMania XXVIII, which had been the most successful WWE event ever by that point.

#2 Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels - WrestleMania 21

While WWE often don't capitalize on promoting dream matches, when they do, they can be incredible matches. The Rock vs John Cena, The Rock vs Goldberg, Shawn Michaels vs Hulk Hogan, The Rock vs Hogan, they were all great in their own way, but none as perfect as Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle from WrestleMania 21.

This was truly amazing, as the gifted wrestlers lived up to the hype and then some. This was true wrestling, and the drama was incredible, with more than a dozen near falls, several Angle Slams, suplexes everywhere, a Sweet Chin Music that nearly took Kurt's teeth out and what may be the longest Ankle Lock ever to secure the big win for the deserving Olympian. Match of the night, match of the year, and arguably match of the decade.

Kurt and Shawn would go on to have several rematches, a match almost as excellent as this one at Vengeance 2005, a solid 30 minute Iron Man on the RAW Homecoming show and one final 'rubber' match, which turned out to be Kurt's final match on RAW, which was also thrilling.

#1 The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan - WrestleMania X8

Icon vs. Icon they dubbed this, and it really was.

Hulk Hogan was the biggest name in history of the industry by this point, while The Rock had already solidified himself as one of the greatest in history. While it wasn't originally supposed to happen, with Hogan vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin being the original plan, Austin giving the match a pass may have disappointed some, but gave us a match that we will never forget.

Although The Rock was arguably WWE's most popular superstar at the time and one of the most popular ever, Hulk Hogan was still possibly the most popular ever and even though he returned to the WWE as a leader of the dastardly NWO, fans refused to boo him. Hogan hadn't been seen in WWE in 9 years and he was sorely missed. He was considered the biggest name ever in the business, so despite the NWO's dirty tactics in the build up to the match, Hulkamania was still running wild.

As far as the actual wrestling went, the match was just about good, but the fans that night at WrestleMania in Toronto, made it amazing. In terms of crowd reaction, emotion and drama it’s one of the better matches you will ever see as the fans just couldn't get enough of the Hulkster. The match almost saw a double turn as The Rock was received a lot of boo's and it seemed like Hogan didn't have one doubter in sight.

This had emotion, this had drama and this had nearly 70,000 people going crazy from start to finish. While Rock stood tall in victory, both men were winners in everyone's eyes and both left the stage together knowing they just had what may forever be the most iconic match in WWE history.

The Rock and Hulk Hogan would have a rematch at No Way Out 2003 just 11 months later, also in Canada in Montreal, which was okay at best, with a good reaction from the live audience.

What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.

Edited by Sripad