Favorite Up and Comer VS Legend Match / Feud in WWE History?

[pepentorresHHH]

I was rewatching Unforgiven 2003 on the Network and ran into this little gem i forgot about: Randy Orton vs Shawn Michaels!
The whole story was Randy Orton, with Evolution backing him, had started targeting and "killing" legends for the last few months, including Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels. This lead to a match at said PPV where Orton tried to use Shawn as a Stepping Stone.

that got me thinking.... the passing of the torch, future vs present/past, to be the man you got to beat the mean, and all those saying reside in the whole young up and comer taking a crack at the established veteran to become the guy. and which was your favorite?

Brock Lesnar vs The Rock at Summerslam 2002 was a great example as well. Brock came in, destroyed everyone in his path and then met the great one at the main event of summerslam with the Undisputed Championship on the line

Bret Hart vs Stone Cold at WM 13. Steve Austin was on the rise and Hart was already an all time great. This submission match took Austin to the next level as far as popularity and toughness goes..

Thoughts?

 

[Nate DaMac]

Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley. Pretty much the feud that made the Legend Killer Gimmick and they held off on the one-on-one blowoff match for at least 4 or 5 months without letting the interest dissipate.

That blowoff match though. The day Randy became a Man.

 

[Cena Is A Punk Rocker]

For me it has to be the birth of Hulkamainia. Hogan was just finding his way and the Iron Sheik put him over clean. At the time, the US vs Iran was a big deal and this skyrocketed Hogan to superstardom. So its Hogan/Sheik for me.

 

[Dyscord]

Jeff Hardy v Undertaker from 2002 comes to mind. It was one of those rare times that I actually suspended my belief and thought they were going to have Jeff go over.

 

[WBL]

Personally, I liked Kane vs Bray Wyatt.

Yes, the payoff was incredibly stupid... somehow Kane came back Corporate. But for how it helped launch Daniel Bryan from tag team hell into the stratosphere, and for the fact that someone was able to scare a legendary monster like Kane, really gave the Wyatt Family a foothold.

 

[tdmoon]

When talking about a feud featuring an up and comer against an established legend, I can't see how it could get any better than Sammartino/Zbysco. Mentor vs. Student, with the mentor being one of the biggest names in the history of the industry. The buildup was great and it concluded with one of the most memorable main events up to that point in time.

 

[Cena Is A Punk Rocker]

When talking about a feud featuring an up and comer against an established legend, I can't see how it could get any better than Sammartino/Zbysco. Mentor vs. Student, with the mentor being one of the biggest names in the history of the industry. The buildup was great and it concluded with one of the most memorable main events up to that point in time.

I agree with this. Sadly though, not enough people know who Larry Zbysco is. I for one only caught the tail end of his wrestling career. However he was one of my favorite commentators ever. And the stuff he did with Last Call w/ Scott Hall was amazing. So thank you for bringing him up.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Zybysko left the WWE shortly after the Shea Stadium Match vs Sammrtino, he ended up married to Verne Gagne’s daughter I think (not sure) and did fine work as a cowardly villain In the 80s AWA. He had a love/hate on screen relationship with legendary AWA champ Nick Bockwinkle (who usually worked as a villain but was mostly a fan fave at the end of his career). Bockwinkle always seem to end up with the title (which Zybysko always wanted) and eventually they ended up in a protracted feud in 1987 when Zybysko helped a fan fave Curt Henning turn heel and cheat NW out of the championship (Bockwinkle’s last title reign and Henning’s only World Title).
Since this is “WWE Only” I would go with HBK’s matches in 1992 vs Ric Flair & Brett Hart. The Flair match, while way too short given how good they both were, was a huge turning point in his career, it was the catalyst for his breaking up The Rockers Tag Team and changing from a kid friendly, tag team guy into the HBK heel character that made him famous. Likewise his first televised match vs Hart, at S-Series 92 was an excellent showing, I really didn’t take him seriously as a singles star (Id been watching him as a teeny bopper tag team guy imitating Ricky Morton since 1986 so I wasn’t buying him as main event level heel). HBK put on a great show (as did Hart) – they kept the match believable enough that even though Hart was big time singles star you legit believed watching this HBK could steal a win (he was on a decent push with an IC Title win over British Bulldog previously). This was very similar to the dynamic in the 1988 Clash of Champions match between Flair & Sting, where going in you didn’t take Sting seriously as legit top guy but he performed so well in a competitive, down to the wire match, that even though he lost you came away thinking “this guy has some talent, the crowd was hot for him, he might be something”. In both cases that ended up being true.

 

[Just Do It]

Zybysko left the WWE shortly after the Shea Stadium Match vs Sammrtino, he ended up married to Verne Gagne’s daughter I think (not sure) and did fine work as a cowardly villain In the 80s AWA. He had a love/hate on screen relationship with legendary AWA champ Nick Bockwinkle (who usually worked as a villain but was mostly a fan fave at the end of his career). Bockwinkle always seem to end up with the title (which Zybysko always wanted) and eventually they ended up in a protracted feud in 1987 when Zybysko helped a fan fave Curt Henning turn heel and cheat NW out of the championship (Bockwinkle’s last title reign and Henning’s only World Title).

Beat me to it! This was literally the first thing I thought of when I saw the topic title, well played.

 

[ChaoticMind33]

Favorite up and comer vs legend: Dean Ambrose vs Piper. They both seem crazy enough to try anything and make an awesome and entertaining match. As for best feud I would say Shawn vs Bret. That was one for the ages with a scandal thrown in to make it memorable.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Taking some liberties with the term legend because while he turned into a legend he was just beginning his main event run at the time I would submit Bret v Shawn at Survivor Series 92. This match was no doubt thrown together the closer we got to the event because I don't remember much of a build for this match. This was also around the time that major changes where taking place in the company with big name guys on there way out.

Back to the match, Bret and Shawn put on quite the title match and while this match is overshadowed by Mania and Montreal, it is just as good as those matches were.