10 Most Unexpectedly Great WWE Matches-10

10. The Ultimate Warrior Vs Randy Savage (WrestleMania 7)

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On one hand, you had Randy Savage, who is one of the best in-ring performers in wrestling history. He was known for his legendary performances, and had a vast array of great matches during his career. On the other hand, you had The Ultimate Warrior, who was never known for what he could do in the ring. His character and promos were over-the-top, but he was always rather poor in the ring.

The match had a stipulation that actually meant something because of the time frame. It was a Retirement Match, with both men putting their careers on the line. Now, fans know better than to expect someone to actually retire because of matches like this, but back then, fans were looking at the prospects of the WWF being without one of its biggest stars of all-time.

What we ended up getting was a masterpiece, with Warrior looking more motivated than he had in a long time. They were both going all out, as if their careers really were on the line, which is exactly the type of motivation and desperation that you need going into a match of this nature. Both men gave it all they had, and the true sign of how important the match happened to be was Warrior kicking out of Savage’s Top Rope Elbow Drop finisher. Oh, and Savage hit it five consecutive times before Warrior kicked out. On top of that, Savage would also kick out of Warrior’s finisher at one point. That was absolutely unheard of back then, and could be viewed as the prelude to the future WWF/WWE main event style where it takes multiple finishers to put someone away.

Even with all the classic matches he participated in, you could argue that this was Randy Savage’s best piece of work, as he helped take Warrior to his best match when nobody expected it to happen. It’s one thing to have a great match when everyone knows the match is going to be great. It’s another thing altogether to do it when people are expecting something of a ho-hum affair. That’s a big part of what made Savage so special.