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The 411 Wrestling Top 5: The Top 5 Favorite Gimmick Matches

May 15, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Cody Rhodes

The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. We take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to participate and give us their Top 5 on said topic. So, onto this week’s topic…

Week 338 – The Top 5 Favorite Gimmick Matches

At this time, what are your top 5 gimmick matches in pro wrestling? (Not a specific wrestler vs. wrestler match, the gimmick as in cage match, 2 of 3 falls, ect…)

Kevin Pantoja
5. War Games – The concept of War Games itself is genius. Think about the best part of a tag team match. It’s the hot tag. War Games works as hot tag after hot tag since the babyface team never won the coin toss from what I know and were always at the numbers disadvantage. When done right, War Games would be an excellent spectacle. The two rings, two warring factions, a hot crowd and non-stop action. Check out the War Games from WrestleWar 1992 to see perfection in this match type. The only reason this didn’t rank higher is because the final few War Games matches were pretty bad, especially the 1995 one against the awful Dungeon of Doom. Seriously, who thought that was a worthy main event?

4. Street Fight – Over the years, this match type has become synonymous with Extreme Rules, No Holds Barred and No Disqualifications. When the WWE releases polls for fans to choose a stipulation, they usually give three of those four so they can book the same match either way. However, I’m talking about legit Street Fights. When two guys enter the squared circle, clad in street clothes and just beat the hell out of each other. Think CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho from Extreme Rules 2012. It had a different feel from your typical No DQ match. Or hell, I don’t know if it was actually called a street fight, but the Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins match from the night after SummerSlam 2014 was their best outing so far. A good old fashioned fight is always good television.

3. Elimination Chamber – Born from the concept of War Games, the Elimination Chamber follows a similar pattern. Six men enter, two start and every five minutes, a new one joins the fray out of their pod. While War Games was all WCW, this one is pure WWE. It’s the only gimmick match on this list whose entire run I’ve been around for. It debuted at the 2002 Survivor Series (one of the best Pay-Per-Views in history) and since then, there have been some great ones featuring tons of future Hall of Famers. They were always done for high stakes, either for the WWE, World Title or a shot at one of the belts. In 2015, they changed it up, putting the Tag and Intercontinental Titles on the line inside to mixed results. Outside of the terrible IC Title Chamber match, every single one has been good to great, giving it a success rate, for me at least, that no other gimmick match can touch.

2. 2 Out of 3 Falls – Easily the least “gimmicky” match on this list, there is something so pure about the Two out of Three Falls match. It doesn’t need anything fancy to make it stick out. I’ve always felt that it was two men or women trying to prove who was truly the better performer. While the Ironman match stipulation is very similar, this one has always been preferred to me. They don’t have the restrictions of having to make sure the match lasted 30 minutes or an hour. There is a freedom here that is quite great and allows for a lot of versatility in the match. Think back to Bryan vs. Sheamus from Extreme Rules 2012, Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn or even the old Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko one from ECW in 1995. All great matches and all very different.

1. Ladder Match – While I say ladder match, I’m really counting anything involving a ladder and the stipulation of climbing it to retrieve something. So I’m including TLC and Money in the Bank matches. While some have disappointed over time, most have been great and there are more stellar ones than any other match type I can think of. Jericho/Benoit, HBK/Razor, the original MITB and the classic TLCs between the Hardys/Dudleys/E&C. Even now, after we’ve seen tons of them over the years and they get randomly booked, they still prove to be some of the best matches on recent WrestleMania cards. I love a good ladder match and still get excited to see certain ones when they get booked.

Bradley Hargett
5. Hell in A Cell – The most famous Hell in A Cell match took place at King of the Ring 1998 between Undertaker and Mankind in which we saw Mankind fly from the top of the cage through an announcers table below. However, my personal favorite of the genre will always be the one that took place on the night that Kane made his WWF debut in 1997. It’s strange that simply adding a roof to what is otherwise just a standard cage, can make it seem fresh…but damn it did. I myself was not privy to War Games, being that I was a WWF loyalist, and for that reason Hell in A Cell was a fresh concept to my thirteen-year-old eyes.

4. Cage Match – The cage match has been around for as long as I can remember, and beyond. To me, that warrants a spot on this list. There have been so many great outings that have taken place inside the cage in the history of wrestling that I feel it would be unjust to leave it off this top five.

3. Elimination Chamber – The Elimination Chamber debuted in November of 2002. Unfortunately, I did not get to see the flagship match until many years later. If memory serves me correctly, the first match of its kind that I was able to witness took place at New Year’s Revolution in 2006. In the years since the match was born, it fell victim to being the namesake of a gimmick pay-per-view that only served to water it down. However, in its time I did provide us with many memorable moments in wrestling history.

2. TLC – TLC is one of those matches who’s name proceeds it. It has produced some of the most iconic matches of all time.

1. Ladder Match – When we were given the topic for this week’s top five, I knew almost instantly that the ladder match would be my number one. Sure, there have been flashier matches since this particular inception, but to a nine-year-old kid who saw his first ever ladder match at WrestleMania X, this, match was the greatest thing ever. Ladder matches continued to be a big part of my childhood and teen years, and for that reason it has to be number one.

Rob Stewart
5. Table Match – As I pondered this Top 5, it dawned on me how many gimmick matches I don’t enjoy. I hate Last Man Standing. Iron Man matches and Best Out Of Three matches are almost always formulaic. I Quit matches are annoying. Anything-On-An-Anything-Else match have become a punchline. Lumberjack matches? Ugh. So finding the #5 option here was really just trying to figure out what gimmick I dislike the least. So yeah… tables matches are okay. I like the stipulation of being able to win by putting your opponent through a table, so you can have a guy lose and still feel “protected”. And visually, no matter how many times we’ve seen it happen, seeing a guy crash through a table is pretty nifty.

4. The Money In The Bank Ladder Match – I guess I just generally enjoy most multi-man ladder matches, but the Money In The Bank briefcase just makes it… better. Even more exciting than a title being up for grabs is this symbolic ability to challenge for a title at any time. A lot of times (though absolutely not always), WWE uses the briefcase as a means to prepare an up-and-comer for the main event scene, and it’s often a blast to watch the winner tote around a briefcase for a few months while we all wait to see when they cash in. And the match itself? Well, it’s the build! Who is going to be that guy? Who is going to be trusted in that role? It’s a good ride to get to the contract coming down.

3. Falls Count Anywhere – One of the things I hate about basic No Disqualification matches is that you can drag your opponent halfway around the world, smack them with oncoming traffic, throw them in a lake… but you still have to drag them back to the wrestling ring to properly defeat them. With the Falls Count Anywhere match, that is no more. Pin your opponent in a bathroom. Pin him in a bar across the street. Pin him on the roof of the arena. You never know when or where the match will end.

2. The Elimination Chamber – Six men, all entering the match at intervals, usually with a title on the line. The uniqueness of the structure, with its pods and dome-like enclosure and metal grated floor outside the ring, has its own charm, but even if it was a basic cage (or, you know, WarGames), I still dig the idea of a multi-man match with the mystery of “Who is coming out next?”

1. The Royal Rumble – I love the Royal Rumble. Love it. It’s usually my favorite event of the WWE year. I know that most of the time, the winner is either completely foretold or, at best, in a possible pool or 2 or 3 guys. But I don’t care. I love the countdown and the anticipation of who is next; between this and the Chamber, I guess that is pretty obvious. I love the surprise returns or debuts. I love the influx of several storylines into one match. It’s early May, and I’m already excited for next year’s Royal Rumble!