Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair (WWE - 3/30/2008)

Right, it's easy to rip on this match because it's solely responsible for a lot of the ham-fisted epics that WWE has annoyed us all with for the last decade, but I still love this match. Nirvana might of been responsible for the wave of awful post-grunge bands, but they still gave us In Utero. That's kind of how I feel about this match. This is the Nirvana to Edge vs Orton Last Man Standing's Nickelback. 

The way the pre-determined world of pro-wrestling generates emotion out of real-life situations is one of the reasons I love it so much. Flair is about to close the book on his legendary career (we can ignore TNA) and there's no doubt that the tears these two shed aren't genuine. There's still a great match to found here. Michaels takes some nasty bumps and he's not afraid to roughhouse the 59 year old Flair. There's little moments that make this match so special, like Flair finally hitting the crossbody of the top rope after 40 years of getting press slammed whenever he attempted it. Flair resorting to his dirty tricks to try and keep his career was another highlight. The result to this might of been obvious, but these legends have the ability to keep you guessing and you want to believe that this isn't the end of the Nature Boy. Even with the melodrama, this is still a top 10 'Mania match for me.


★★★★½