- 3 years ago
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For the land of the brave and home of the WWE US Championship. These are the 10 greatest WWE United States Championship matches ever.
00:00 - Start
01:00 - 10
01:46 - 9
02:36 - 8
03:26 - 7
04:21 - 6
05:11 - 5
05:59 - 4
06:54 - 3
07:43 - 2
08:43 - 1
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TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/
Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/
Buy the book in the US! https://rebrand.ly/q1jkoyh
For the land of the brave and home of the WWE US Championship. These are the 10 greatest WWE United States Championship matches ever.
00:00 - Start
01:00 - 10
01:46 - 9
02:36 - 8
03:26 - 7
04:21 - 6
05:11 - 5
05:59 - 4
06:54 - 3
07:43 - 2
08:43 - 1
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/
Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00 America. The land of the free and the home of the big gulp.
00:04 A nation of such geographical beauty deserves to be represented by a championship with history
00:08 and prestige. WWE's United States Championship certainly has a history, being a direct continuation
00:13 of the NWA belt first established in 1975. And although their commitment to its prestige has
00:18 been more up and down than my glucose levels after a visit to the Cheesecake Factory,
00:21 it's still a belt that carries heft and importance. Currently around the waist of a bona fide
00:26 wrestling legend, I thought it was a good time to take a look at some of the very best
00:29 clashes for this grand prize. I'm Dan Hailing from PartsFunknown, and here are my 10 Best
00:34 United States Championship Matches Ever.
00:36 WrestleTalk rips the mask off crime, politics, and intrigue in the jaw-dropping new book,
00:42 Wrestling Unmasked. Featuring some of the most shocking and controversial stories
00:48 ever in professional wrestling, you simply won't want to miss it.
00:52 Pick up your copy at WrestleShop.com or via Amazon today.
00:57 10. Riddle vs. Sheamus - WrestleMania 37
01:03 Sheamus has come into something of a career renaissance in these past few years,
01:06 thanks in no small part to his clashes with Drew McIntyre, Gunther, and then Drew McIntyre
01:10 AND Gunther. Meanwhile, Riddle's run might have recently ended with a whimper,
01:14 but this match is evidence that he could always bring it on the night, and shows off exactly why
01:18 it always ground my gears that they infantilised his character by giving him those bloody bongos.
01:23 On this night, Sheamus looks like he's actively trying to cave in Riddle's chest half the time,
01:27 and hits all his signature moves with the energy of someone revitalised by hearing the roar of the
01:31 crowd for the first time in over a year. On the other side, Riddle lands an overhead
01:34 suplex off the top rope, a hard jackhammer, and a German on the apron. At the close,
01:38 Riddle goes for another high-risk springboard attack and walks right into Sheamus' boot,
01:42 allowing the Celtic warrior to pick up a much-deserved win. Lovely stuff.
01:46 9. The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan - Night of Champions 2010
01:49 The Miz agenda continues! As Bryan Danielson's career allegedly winds down, when you tell his
01:53 story, Miz will have to be considered one of his greatest rivals, tell me when I'm telling lies.
01:57 And this is the perfect convergence of face and heel performances from two students of the game
02:01 whose careers and approaches couldn't be more different. Miz is working in a tempo people
02:05 hadn't really seen from him at this point, showing his brilliant heel instincts by working over
02:09 Bryan's arm and mugging to the crowd, taking Bryan's submission away and locking in many of
02:13 his own, trying to humiliate his opponent. Meanwhile, even heel Michael Cole on commentary
02:17 can't spoil the parade, despite being directed to bury Bryan at every opportunity. It ends up
02:22 working in the match's favour - every time Cole says Bryan's career to this point doesn't matter,
02:26 Bryan pulls something out of the bag to show you that his career to this point has made him one of
02:29 the best on the planet. And when Bryan finally does lock in his finish and Miz meekly taps out,
02:34 the crowd are on their feet. 8. Ric Flair vs. Eddie Guerrero - Hogwild
02:38 1996 I don't know what it is, but I'm a little
02:40 bit obsessed with Hogwild. I think it might just be the fact that Eric Bischoff said "I really like
02:43 bikes that go vroom and de-camped the entire company to a field for the afternoon." And I
02:48 love an outdoor pay-per-view. There's something about the sky changing colour over the course of
02:51 the show that makes it feel like an event with a capital E. And the sun is setting during this
02:55 match, giving it an extra quality. Not that it needed much help - it's Ric Flair and Eddie
02:59 Guerrero for crying out loud, and there's only a handful of matches with these two on opposite
03:02 sides of the ring to choose from. The work is crisp, the flow between moves is smooth,
03:05 and the character work from both is brilliantly measured, with Eddie managing to get payback
03:09 through the match for Ric's dastardly tactics. But it's the X-factor of woman on the outside
03:13 that I love. There's a contrast between Flair's white hair and shining robe with woman's hooded
03:17 stare and raven locks that just makes them a magnetic pairing. So when woman gets involved
03:22 to give Flair's figure four extra leverage, it's a very satisfying conclusion.
03:25 Number 7 - Ricky Steamboat vs Steve Austin - Bachelor Beach, 1994
03:29 There's a reason Steve Austin was able to become one of the most iconic wrestlers of all time,
03:33 and it's not just because drinking beer and sticking your middle finger up is the epitome
03:36 of cool to 15-year-olds in the 90s. It's because he understands wrestling psychology like few
03:40 others and knows how to fully commit to a character in his efforts to get it over.
03:44 Insert picture of him serenading Vince McMahon with Kurt Angle here.
03:47 In this match, Austin plays the snivelling heel so well, faking a knee injury and luring
03:51 Steamboat to the outside before running away like a wimp when he fails to capitalise. It's brilliant.
03:56 Occasionally, when his cheating works, he'll look to camera and deliver this diamond-white smile,
04:00 utterly dripping charisma. Steamboat's comeback spots show him as a resilient babyface,
04:04 and there's an amazing pile-driver reversal sequence that looks like something out of
04:07 Strictly Come Dancing, so obviously I love it. But after Steamboat stops the ref disqualifying
04:11 Austin for all of his cheating, Austin resorts to simply using the ropes for leverage on the
04:15 pinfall and immediately bails, and I'm left shaking my head at the absolute gall. What a legend.
04:20 Number 6 - John Cena vs Kevin Owens, Battleground, 2015
04:24 My friends, it is time. We can no longer avoid it, we're entering the portion of the video that
04:27 could have been a list in and of itself. I present to you three of John Cena's Open Challenge
04:32 contests in a row. Starting with what I would argue is a textbook example of what an Open
04:36 Challenge should achieve. Cena had a three-match programme with the debuting Owens, which instantly
04:40 put the new star on a higher level, and with one win apiece, this follows the blueprint for rubber
04:44 matches. At this point, each man is so familiar with his opponent's offence that they can
04:48 anticipate it, they know how to counter, and they have to get creative in their attempts to put each
04:52 other away. To that end, Cena busts out a Code Red and Owens hits a vertical netbreaker that
04:56 leaves JBL on commentary speechless. I mean, he gets five stars for that alone. For 20 minutes,
05:00 it stays a close contest that could go either way until Cena kicks out of a small package and rolls
05:05 into the STF for the tap-out victory. Owens remains one of the top stars on the roster,
05:09 so chalk this up as a job well done. Number 5 - John Cena vs Cesaro,
05:12 Monday Night Raw, 2015 Cesaro is just a specimen, isn't he? And this match is a showcase of his
05:17 strength, from the moment he dips into a squat, holding Cena aloft in a perfect vertical suplex.
05:22 Cesaro matches everything Cena is able to throw at him and overpowers the champ on multiple
05:26 occasions. The reliably hot Chicago crowd will the pair on, and they're not afraid to slow things
05:30 down as the match turns into a submission chain, sharpshooter, into crossface, into an STF,
05:34 until Cesaro somehow muscles into an upright position and reverses that STF into a deadlift
05:38 vertical suplex. The nearfalls start coming thick and fast, on commentary, Saxon describes it as
05:43 "sudden death", one big move for either man, and it's over, and on this occasion, it's an avalanche
05:47 AA that just puts Cena over. While Cesaro never managed to fully break into the main event scene
05:52 in WWE, it wasn't through lack of talent or connection with the fans, and this match shows
05:56 exactly why he's such a valuable asset wherever he goes. Number 4 - John Cena vs Seth Rollins,
06:00 SummerSlam 2015. This is a winner-take-all clash with Rollins' WWE Championship also on the line,
06:05 and for my money, it's the best way to close out this fantastic open challenge run.
06:09 I love everything about this match, Seth's white gear which just elevates everything,
06:14 the action is crisp and smooth, some basic stuff done right, signature moves traded back and forth,
06:18 and a few intricate high spots executed to sheer perfection. Big match John by name,
06:22 big match John by nature. It all builds to a classic bit of WWE drama, a few high-risk
06:27 top rope moves in a row, the falcon arrow, nearfall, through to a flip, a ref bump, and an
06:31 AA, and the crowd are on their feet thinking we're about to witness history as Cena equals Ric Flair's
06:35 record as a 16-time world champ. And then John Stewart comes out and turns heel on Cena, and yes,
06:40 somehow even that works for me. Possibly because now I can't see the man without hearing Michael
06:45 Cole's incredulous "John Stewart" objective nonsense, and for some, a bit of a shark jump,
06:50 and I fully acknowledge that. But what can I say, the heart wants what it wants. Number 3 - Zack
06:54 Ryder vs Dolph Ziggler, TLC 2011. This match was the culmination of a nearly year-long,
06:58 utterly organic story that saw Zack Ryder, unsatisfied by the way he was being used on TV,
07:03 start something of a revolution with the fanbase using the then-nascent tool of social media.
07:07 Forcing his way onto the cards, the fanbase got behind him so much that when he wasn't
07:10 booked on Survivor Series, we want Ryder-chan's hijack the entire show. So it's almost like these
07:14 two workhorses are sailing on a wave of energy as they hit each other with some brilliant offence.
07:19 There's a vicious DDT on the apron from Ziggler that even I felt. Dolph in particular looks like
07:23 he's having the time of his life in full show-off mode, and when Ryder gets his comeback spot,
07:28 the crowd kick into another gear before exploding as Vickie Guerrero is ejected from ringside.
07:32 The near-falls get very near indeed, and when Zack hits the Rough Rider, the noise is deafening.
07:37 A win for the crowd as much as for the man himself. Wrestling is theatre,
07:40 and this is a brilliant example of it.
07:42 2. Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit - Vengeance 2003
07:45 Please make sure you're sat down, because it might shock you to hear that a match between
07:49 these two wrestlers is really, really good. We start slow with chain wrestling, tests of
07:54 strength, the pair evenly matched through the opening. The pace picks up, the intensity is
07:58 high. When they knock their opponent down, they jump right on top of them to lock in a hold.
08:01 Things kick up a pace as they trade suplexes. Eddie manages to hit the three amigos,
08:05 but takes the third amigo to the top rope and makes it a super amigo, and the whole sequence
08:09 deserves those camera flashes that made those high spots at that time feel magical, and sadly,
08:14 which no longer exist. And then we seamlessly move into Act 3, the theatrical climax.
08:18 The ref gets bumped so many times that it's basically a triple threat match at this stage.
08:21 Eddie plays cheat to win a whole bunch, and he's hilariously exasperated,
08:24 when the ref that he has knocked out doesn't come to in time to allow him to take advantage.
08:28 The finish comes as Rhyno interferes and turns on his partner Benoit, which ordinarily might open
08:32 them up to accusations of overbooking, but the quality of the match to this point and the sheer
08:36 charm of Eddie Guerrero, it all just works. What a way to reintroduce this belt and make it feel
08:41 immediately important. And number one,
08:43 Magnum TA vs Tully Blanchard, Starrcade, 1985. Sometimes I've heard stories of how seriously
08:48 audiences used to take wrestling, and I've often wondered how they ever believed that this was
08:52 anything other than scripted entertainment. Well, this match is the answer. This is an all-out,
08:56 bare-knuckle brawl. These two men hate each other, and they're trapped in a cage for what
09:00 will become one of the most iconic I Quit matches of all time. At the outset, the crowd are incredibly
09:05 vocal, but as the brutality steps up, a hush descends. And when they're not using the mic
09:09 as a weapon, they're holding it to each other's mouths to capture the agonised screaming. It's
09:14 tense, it's uncomfortable, and Babydoll, outside of the ring in the corner of Blanchard, is crucial
09:19 to its success, with the camera cutting regularly to her, clutching her face as Magnum TA scratches
09:23 and claws at the open wounds of her charge. A broken chair is launched into the ring,
09:28 and it looks like Blanchard wants to gauge his opponent's eye out in something that wouldn't
09:31 look out of place in a horror movie, but Magnum manages to get the upper hand and drives it into
09:35 Blanchard's skull, so when the villain screams that he's given up, honestly, you don't blame
09:39 him. An iconic match, on an iconic show, for an iconic belt. And that's our list! Go on, which
09:44 ones have we missed? Pop them in the comments, and while you're there, make that like button,
09:47 scream I quit, and hit subscribe, and then I will beg of you to watch this list right here.
09:53 We do like a bit of symmetry here at PFK, so when we were brainstorming list ideas,
09:57 we thought, well, we've done the best title wins leading to terrible reigns,
09:59 and it's one of the greatest videos ever uploaded to YouTube, and everybody thinks so,
10:03 so why not do it the other way? That'll be fun. Except here's the thing, it's much harder to
10:07 find a bad title win that worked out for the best. As fans, we tend to stick to our guns,
10:10 so going from this is awful to this is awesome is...
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