The greatest "Loser leaves town" match?

[CM Steel]

The Loser leaves town or loser go's home match is rare to some. Where a wrestler has plans to move to another wrestling promotion or is just taking a break from wrestling behind the scenes. What is the greatest loser leaves town match?

In my opinion it could be two. The first, on RAW in 1993 with a match between Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect. With Bobby Heenan in the middle of it all. Ric Flair had plans to go back to WCW that year. So this was a way for the WWF/E to do it in style. And the second one can be CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy in 2009 the Smackdown after that years Summerslam. Jeff Hardy's contract was up with the WWE, so this was a way out for both parties.

So in your. What is the greatest loser leaves town match in history?

 

[The Brain]

Has to be Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior from WrestleMania VII. Besides Hulk Hogan you could not find two bigger WWF names from that era. The two of them wrestling at mania would have been huge without the stipulation but with their careers on the line the match was nothing short of epic. The build was huge, the crowd was hot, and the action was incredible. The match was filled with drama and emotion. It was amazing to see how the fans wanted to see the hated Savage lose his career but give him a standing ovation after the loss. His reunion with Elizabeth after the match was one of the all time great WrestleMania moments. The whole match told an awesome story.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Has to be Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior from WrestleMania VII. Besides Hulk Hogan you could not find two bigger WWF names from that era. The two of them wrestling at mania would have been huge without the stipulation but with their careers on the line the match was nothing short of epic. The build was huge, the crowd was hot, and the action was incredible. The match was filled with drama and emotion. It was amazing to see how the fans wanted to see the hated Savage lose his career but give him a standing ovation after the loss. His reunion with Elizabeth after the match was one of the all time great WrestleMania moments. The whole match told an awesome story.

Definitely this match, just it's sheer epicness and build would take it alone but it was also a match for the ages. What made it even more memorable was Macho Man's sendoff after the match, truely unforgettable and one of my favorite Mania moments of all time.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I agree with The Brain and all, but I actually enjoyed Flair vs. Perfect more. Thought the match was more entertaining than Warrior and Savage, and even though you knew around that time, in-truth Flair was going to lose all along I just enjoyed Flair and Perfect that little bit more. Their history came into it as well, plus they had a great match on RAW and Bobby Heenan's reaction was hilarious.

 

[Saeros]

Ill pick Flair vs Perfect aswell simply due to the fact that as a 5 year old wholoved everything Mr Perfect did, but also knew Ric Flair was a huge star, i definatly thought Perfect was going to lose, and throughout the match my heart was racing constantly.

 

[caesarmacdaddy]

Retirement Matches need to be big and meaningful. Here are my Top 3:

3. Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg: Publicly announcing trying out for the NFL at a WWE press conference? Then, word leaked out over the net that Goldberg would not resign! I never seen a crowd turn on both performers during a "double retirement" match. I loved how Stone Cold buried both of them with stunners and a beer bath to both ingrates! It provided closure to both slimy greedy powerhouses!

2. Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Adorable Adrian Adonis: The build was very inventive at the time and very emotional. People really didn't want Piper to go, but were still happy for him pursuing his Hollywood dream. I still remember Howard Finkel..."The winner in his FAREWELL match, Rowdy Roddy Piper!!!" It still gives me chills. Also, he got to embarrass his opponent and win the feud conclusively.

1. Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior. Incredible. Nobody ever kicked out of Warriors Press Slam/Splash combo. FIVE flying elbows made you believe you were watching something special. The commentary was fantastic too (until Heenan talked over the pinfall.) The crowd was in real tears over the Randy-Liz reunion. I was watching with my mom, (who is not a fan) and even she was getting emotional. Great TV all around.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

Has to be Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior from WrestleMania VII. Besides Hulk Hogan you could not find two bigger WWF names from that era. The two of them wrestling at mania would have been huge without the stipulation but with their careers on the line the match was nothing short of epic. The build was huge, the crowd was hot, and the action was incredible. The match was filled with drama and emotion. It was amazing to see how the fans wanted to see the hated Savage lose his career but give him a standing ovation after the loss. His reunion with Elizabeth after the match was one of the all time great WrestleMania moments. The whole match told an awesome story.

i never saw this match but i wish i did i shall try & find it on youtube today but sense i havent seen that im going with punk vs jeff hardy steel cage match on smackdown it was just a really good match to end a really good fued and then the next week when punk came out dressed like jeff hardy and the crowd went nuts...that was just pure epicness!

btw why no love for michelle mccool vs layla loser leaves wwe match from this year eh? haha jk

 

[James]

HBK v. The Undertaker II

The career vs. the streak. Shawn Michaels was my favourite wrestler and I knew that he wouldn't end the streak. With each finisher and each kick out I was jumping off my feet, but when HBK mocked Taker I knew that was it. The Tombstone with the jump signaled the end. I cried my heart out because I knew that Shawn would keep to his promise and never wrestle again.


Runner up would have to be

Austin V. HBK

 

[The Brain]

I think some people are misunderstanding the question. A loser leaves town match or career ending match is different than a retirement match. The example in the OP and my example had a stipulation where the loser would be forced to retire from their current promotion. Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis just happened to be Piper's retirement match win or lose. Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg was both men's last match but not because of any stipulation. They just happened to be leaving. HBK vs. Taker at WM26 was not a loser leaves town match because only HBK was threatened with the possibility of retirement. Had Taker lost he would have been able to stay.

Perfect vs. Flair is a good example but I'll stick with Savage vs. Warrior because of the build and the drama. Perfect vs. Flair had no hype and was just a simple Raw match as opposed to an epic mania match.

 

[spinningtorturerack]

I'd like to put my bid in for Cactus Jack vs Triple H for the WWF championship in a loser leaves town match...in a hell in a cell.

This had everything riding on it, I think most people knew Foley would be leaving, but at the same time to escalate from their match the previous month, the street fight at Royal RUmble, was amazing. Such anticipation especially knowing that Foley doesn't go down without having the seven colours kicked out of him first.

 

[DeathClutch]

Flair/Perfect springs to mind, but thinking back Foley/HHH from No Way Out 2000 was pretty good in the "hardcore" dramatic feel. Jeff/Punk no chance, everyone knew Jeff was leaving so there was zero suspense in the finish.

The internet is might just be one of the most useful tools we'll ever use but it has to be Wrestling’s biggest thorn in their side, spoils to many things.

 

[LegendKiller716]

Edge vs Matt Hardy in the loser leaves Raw/MITB ladder match. I loved this whole story line. All the matches these guys put on were great. I wish there was a cleaner finish, but they did a good job of having Edge keep his briefcase while allowing Hardy to go to Smackdown without loosing all momentum.

Another, not really a loser leaves town match, but it was team Austin vs team Bichoff at Survivor Series. Really great match.

 

[ilapierre]

Warrior vs Savage hands down. Was the Michaels-Flair match a loser must retire match or was that only a stipulation for Flair? That match was a pretty damn good one too. But Savage vs Warrior would be like Cena and Orton in a retirement match in 2007 but much bigger. Savage and Warrior were the two biggest names in wrestling after Hogan and it was strange to think that one of them would never be wrestling again. At that time a loser must retire match was authentic. In WWE no wrestler had retired in a retirement match and came back (at that point in time) as far as i can remember. Roddy Piper did come back years after the fact but it was his choice to retire and unretire. It wasn't a stipulation. Today wrestlers retire and unretire whenever it suits them. But this epic match really felt like the end and both wrestlers careers seemed far from being over. Plus the stage was Wrestlemania, the whole storyline with Elizabeth coming back and Savage turning face after the loss was epic. It's my favourite all time Wrestlemania match beginning to end ahead of The Rock vs Hogan at WM 18, and Taker and Michaels at WM 25-26.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Ric Flair's final WWE match at WM against Michaels, or Cactus Jack v HHH in the HIAC.

I know that the "retire" stipulation only really existed for Foley and Flair, but I'm picking them anyway. The emotion in the arena for both matches was unreal as 2 of the most loved wrestlers of all time looked like they had bowed out at the top.

Flair rolled back the years against HBK and the way Shawn told Flair "I love you" before ending his career made the match one of my favourites of all time. Flair should have called it quits right there, he will NEVER perform thatr well again and should have gone out at WM like a man of his legendary status should have.

The way Mick Foley turned back with blood over his face and raised his arm before going back through the curtain after falling through the Cell once again has always stuck with me, I had so much respect for Mick after all the wars he had been in and was really sad to see him retire. Plus, putting a fan favourite like Foley on the shelf did wonders for Triple H too, solidifying him in my eyes as the best heel of his generation.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I think some people are misunderstanding the question. A loser leaves town match or career ending match is different than a retirement match. The example in the OP and my example had a stipulation where the loser would be forced to retire from their current promotion. Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis just happened to be Piper's retirement match win or lose. Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg was both men's last match but not because of any stipulation. They just happened to be leaving. HBK vs. Taker at WM26 was not a loser leaves town match because only HBK was threatened with the possibility of retirement. Had Taker lost he would have been able to stay.

Perfect vs. Flair is a good example but I'll stick with Savage vs. Warrior because of the build and the drama. Perfect vs. Flair had no hype and was just a simple Raw match as opposed to an epic mania match.

Flair & Perfect had been feuding for some time, at least three months before this match, and Perfect had been constantly showing up during Flair's other matches, either to thwart his rulebreaking or intimidate him. In fact, the week before their match Flair was wrestling Tito Santana on RAW in a pretty good match when Perfect interferred, costing Flair a victory. That prompted Flair to challenge henning that night to meet next week, Loser Leaves Town. That coupled with Perfect eliminatng Flair from the Royal Rumble earlier that month, essentially costing him a WrestleMania Title shot (that was the first Rumble where the winner was promised a title shot before hand) set the stage for a pretty good final match.

That's still my pick for favorite such match, the idea of a star of Flair's magnitude taking a clean pin on national television was huge, plus this was before the advent of the internet, etc, so most fans had no idea that Flair was leaving. Hening on the other hand had been retired for most of the last three years except for a handful of matches vs Flair in this feud and was not the star quality Flair was. The quality of the match and somewhat shokcing nature of the clean win make this my pick.

Savage-Warrior is a great example of how good Savage could be in the ring, he clearly carried Warrior, making him look like a million bucks. Savage's subsequent face turn afterwards was a nice, unforseen moment, but the real winner in this match is Savage. Warrior had to be one of the worst performers in the last 30 years to make it to the main event stage and Savage carried him to what was probably a 3 1/2 star match with a terrific ending.

 

[The Brain]

Flair & Perfect had been feuding for some time, at least three months before this match, and Perfect had been constantly showing up during Flair's other matches, either to thwart his rulebreaking or intimidate him. In fact, the week before their match Flair was wrestling Tito Santana on RAW in a pretty good match when Perfect interferred, costing Flair a victory. That prompted Flair to challenge henning that night to meet next week, Loser Leaves Town. That coupled with Perfect eliminatng Flair from the Royal Rumble earlier that month, essentially costing him a WrestleMania Title shot (that was the first Rumble where the winner was promised a title shot before hand) set the stage for a pretty good final match.

That's still my pick for favorite such match, the idea of a star of Flair's magnitude taking a clean pin on national television was huge, plus this was before the advent of the internet, etc, so most fans had no idea that Flair was leaving. Hening on the other hand had been retired for most of the last three years except for a handful of matches vs Flair in this feud and was not the star quality Flair was. The quality of the match and somewhat shokcing nature of the clean win make this my pick.

Savage-Warrior is a great example of how good Savage could be in the ring, he clearly carried Warrior, making him look like a million bucks. Savage's subsequent face turn afterwards was a nice, unforseen moment, but the real winner in this match is Savage. Warrior had to be one of the worst performers in the last 30 years to make it to the main event stage and Savage carried him to what was probably a 3 1/2 star match with a terrific ending.

I know Perfect and Flair had been feuding for a couple months but the loser leaves town match came out of nowhere. Like you said the challenge was issued and a week later the match took place. It was barely even mentioned at the Royal Rumble which came in between the challenge and the match. Monsoon basically said by the way there will be a career ending match tomorrow and that was it. Such a big match should have had more hype. Savage vs. Warrior felt like one of the biggest matches of all time. Flair vs. Perfect seemed like an afterthought. Good match with great performers. They just didn't get the hype they deserved. It was probably due to a sudden decision for Flair to leave but regardless the lack of hype makes the match less memorable and important than Savage vs. Warrior in my opinion.

 

[MachoManiac]

Originally Posted by The Brain
I think some people are misunderstanding the question. A loser leaves town match or career ending match is different than a retirement match. The example in the OP and my example had a stipulation where the loser would be forced to retire from their current promotion. Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis just happened to be Piper's retirement match win or lose. Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg was both men's last match but not because of any stipulation. They just happened to be leaving. HBK vs. Taker at WM26 was not a loser leaves town match because only HBK was threatened with the possibility of retirement. Had Taker lost he would have been able to stay.

Perfect vs. Flair is a good example but I'll stick with Savage vs. Warrior because of the build and the drama. Perfect vs. Flair had no hype and was just a simple Raw match as opposed to an epic mania match.

I agree that most people are misunderstanding the question. Savage vs Warrior was not a loser leaves town match it was a retirement match. Shortly after Savage lost that match at WM7, he joined the announce crew.

As for my favorite, I would have to go with Abdullah The Butcher vs Bruiser Brody in a steel cage from WCCW I think in early 1987.

 

[The Idiot]

Well wasn't Warrior vs Savage a retirement match, not a Loser-Leaves-Town match? Whoever lost would have to retire from competition, not leave the company? Whereas Flair vs Perfect had to leave the WWF?

I guess I'm being nit-picky. Both pretty much the same concept. As far as the in-ring action, I loved watching Perfect/Flair on Raw. I remember the blood and drama...absolutely fantastic match.

For pure emotion, you can't really top Warrior/Savage. It was the first of it's kind (For me anyway as I never watched other promotions during the time). Great hype, great build and a beautiful ending with Liz running in. Although the finish to the match could have been better. A shoulder tackle? Really?

Anyways, those are the two that standout for me.

 

[shawndeeds]

While I am big fan of the Savage/Warrior match from Wrestlemania VII and the Perfect/Flair match from Raw, I am as much a fan of two other Loser Leaves Town Matches.
The first one is from WCW Fall Brawl 1994 and pitted former Tag-Team Champions Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan against one another. The build up was only a couple of months, as they blamed each other for losing the Tag Titles to Pretty Wonderful at Back At The Beach. The match itself was a No-DQ match that had lots of back and forth and a couple of good bumps. But it was the aftermath that makes this Loser Leaves Town Match legendary. Cactus leaves WCW, signs with ECW full-time and cements his status as the future "hardcore legend." And then in 1996, he leaves ECW for the WWF/E and, well, we all know what happened from there.
The second one is from ECW Wrestlepalooza 1997 and was the culmination of a near 3 year feud between Raven and Tommy Dreamer. The build up was huge between these two, especially since Tommy had never beaten Raven, ever! They had wrestled each other hundreds of times with all sorts of stipulations, titles and women being thrown into the mix. But this time, their ECW careers were on the line. The match was of the usual ECW fare; lots of weapons, interference and hard hitting action (and also about 45 DDT's thrown by everybody in the building, including the late great Louie Spicolli dressing like Dreamer and causing quite a commotion)! Finally the ending came after Dreamer grabbed a sign from a fan and nailed Raven with it, except it wasn't just a sign, but a stop sign wrapped in posterboard that read "Tommy, use my sign!" Then Dreamer quietly layed the sign down and gave Raven one final DDT, covering him and pinning him. It was quite emotional for Dreamer, as he finally got his first win over Raven and finally beat his "demons."
Each match was very different, in terms of build up and aftermath, but both were very significant in the history of the Loser Leaves Town Match and the careers of those involved!

 

[Davi323]

Has to be Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior from WrestleMania VII. Besides Hulk Hogan you could not find two bigger WWF names from that era. The two of them wrestling at mania would have been huge without the stipulation but with their careers on the line the match was nothing short of epic. The build was huge, the crowd was hot, and the action was incredible. The match was filled with drama and emotion. It was amazing to see how the fans wanted to see the hated Savage lose his career but give him a standing ovation after the loss. His reunion with Elizabeth after the match was one of the all time great WrestleMania moments. The whole match told an awesome story.

This. The thing is, not only was the buildup very well done, but the Brain left out the most important part, for one night only, the Ultimate Warrior actually looked like a WRESTLER. Randy Savage's ring skills made that match, because it forced Warrior to keep up. In addition to the drama and emotion of the match, which Brain alluded to, the match also confirmed Randy Savage as one of the greatest ring generals ever. It's one thing to put on a great match with Ricky Steamboat, both of them were capable of carrying any match on their own...but for Savage to bring out the inner wrestler in the Ultimate Warrior, even if it was only for one night? Impossible! Yet he did it. For making the Ultimate Warrior look competent for one night, this match has to be the greatest loser leaves town match of all time.

 

[RicoLen]

For me it comes down to Perfect vs Flair & Savage vs Warrior.

Savage vs Warrior was the better match, and had the better finale by a mile, as it was capped off by the best face turn of all time.

Perfect vs Flair started from another of the very best face turns when Perfect joined Savage at Survivor Series 92 to fight against Heenan, Hall, & Flair. From there Perfect and Flair fought like rabid animals until finally Perfect ran Flair out and Heenan went ballistic. The thing about the Perfect vs Flair feud that makes it so great was that Heenan was inextricably involved in seeing his golden child (Perfect) feuding with his newest flavor of the month main eventer. Perfect playing face against the last great member of the Heenan family was huge, and when Perfect came out on top, wow.

I'm still pissed off that Perfect didn't win the Royal Rumble in 93. I just KNEW that he was going to win and face Bret Hart at WM9 for the world title. I definitely think it would have made a better main event too if Perfect & Hart had a face vs face feud from the end of RR through WM9 capped off with Perfect as the new champion instead of Hulk Hogan.