10 Greatest Wrestling Squash Matches Ever

7. Braun Strowman vs. James Ellsworth – Raw (July 25, 2016)

When a squash match helps create a character that people want to see more of, it’s a good squash match. When it helps create two, it’s undeniably great.

For the longest time, Braun Strowman was s**t, a lumber farmhand who looked like he’d been hit by lightning and pissed himself doing it, just another uncoordinated, ultimately unthreatening tall boys to join the ranks of Giant Gonzalez and The Great Khali.

However, in July 2016 WWE drafted Strowman to Raw, repackaged him to have a decent haircut, and put him on a strict regime of hyper-violent, hyper entertaining squash matches, against foes like the Splash Brothers, Johnny Knockout who likes big sweaty men, and of course peaking with James Ellsworth, whose beak from Xmen look and his catchphrase of ‘any man with two hands has a fighting chance’, made him a fan favorite.

So much so that he was a signed to a contract that culminated in him becoming the first-ever Ms. Money In The Bank. Sometimes dreams do come true and then Braun Strowman kills you.

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6. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA – NJPW Sakura Genesis 2017

New Japan Pro Wrestling doesn’t really do squash matches, especially between name talent, and especially especially on pay-per-view.

Fans expect marquee New Japan matches to be long, super competitive with a gradual build to insanity, which makes the rare New Japan squash even more effective.

At Sakura Genesis 2017, Hiromu Takahashi, who is an insane, no concern for his own safety anime character who once used to be accompanied to the ring by a stuffed cat called Daryl, defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against KUSHIDA.

KUSHIDA, as you probably already know, is a big deal. Hiromu Takahashi beat him in two minutes. What makes this match so great, aside from the stunned reaction of the crowd, was the story behind it.

Takahashi’s offense was so dangerous, so unpredictable that no one had a gameplan for taking on the Ticking Timebomb of New Japan.

Still hurting from being beaten by Takahashi at Wrestle Kingdom that year, Kushida ambushes him before the bell, basically trying to beat Hiromu at his own unpredictable game.

Kushida steps away from his methodical working style and it blows up in his face, eating a HORRIBLE powerbomb to the outside, two finishers and being destroyed in the time it takes to make a sandwich.

Deliberate, character-focused booking and a hell of a statement.

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5. Razor Ramon vs. Lightning Kid – Raw (May 17, 1993)

Important thing to remember, the dominant guy doesn’t always have to win his squash match for it to count.

In fact, in May 1993, one of the most iconic upsets in wrestling history, as well as one of the first headline-grabbing moments from WWF’s new show Monday Night Raw took place. 

Razor is battling the Pichu version of X-Pac, the Lightning Kid, tossing him around the ring, showboating, before the kid hits Razor with a fluke moonsault for the fluke victory.

Seen as a shocking subversion of what had become an already overused match type in Raw’s 4-month history, the Manhattan Centre goes BANANAS, and Heenan’s cracking voice as he shrieks ‘he just beat Razor Ramon is almost as memorable as the match itself.

In fact, it was so impactful that the kid’s name was changed to the 123-Kid after his three-count win, and fans took to chanting 1-2-3 at Ramon. One single squash led to months of storyline and a brand new star from out of nowhere. And speaking of…

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4. Big Van Vader vs. Antonio Inoki – NJPW (December 27, 1987)

Back to New Japan we go for a squash match that was so unexpected, so shocking, and worked the crowd so much that it started an actual riot.

Japanese crowds don’t make signs about wrestler wins or we riot, they just f**king do it. Antonio Inoki was basically the Verne Gagne of Japan. Founding his own breakaway wrestling promotion, before taking it to great success by booking himself as the top star.

At the end of 1987, Antonio Inoki was two years deep into an undefeated streak in New Japan and felt his run had gone stale. To shake things up he decided to bring in a brand new gaijin monster and push him to the moon.

Enter Big Van Vader, a man who wore the coolest entrance gear of all time and became a legend in Japanese wrestling.

How did he become a legend, in December 1987, at Tokyo’s prestigious Sumo Hall, he wrestled Antonio Inoki, the man who ten years earlier had taken Muhammad Ali to a draw, a man who had once unofficially become WWF champion by beating Bob Backlund, one of the most recognizable Japanese athletes of all time, and Vader beat him [checks notes] without Inoki hitting a single move. Hot damn.

Confused and incensed at the death of their hero, fans tore up the seating of Sumo Hall leading to New Japan Pro Wrestling being banned from the venue for two years, while Vader began a run that would shift thousands and thousands of tickets for the company.

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