Much like winning the jackpot at a gas station slot machine, amazing dark matches and house show bouts are real treats for those in attendance. There tends to be a ton of mystery and intrigue around these matches, as they are not televised and are only seen by the fans in the stadium, giving them a sense of exclusivity.
Due to the mysterious nature regarding the taping of these matches, they are extremely rare and cannot be easily found on the internet. Nevertheless, images and videos of these bouts can still be found if one is willing to do enough digging.
Below are 10 of the rarest matches in wrestling history.
10 Eddie Guerrero vs The Undertaker
While the two legends may not have ever had their prime time head-to-head moment in the ring, the did face off in a series of house show bouts in the summer of 2005. 'Taker went 4-0 when he faced off against Guerrero, and it was said that Guerrero had some of his best work as a heel when facing off against The Deadman.
It is a shame that these two never got the chance to face off in a televised match, as that bout would have been a sight to see for many more than just a local stadium audience.
9 John Cena vs Jack Swagger vs CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio
John Cena's WWE Championship was on the line in the Fatal Fiveway Hell in a Cell match that aired after the taping of Raw on September 26, 2011. All of the wrestlers involved were peaking at this time, and it was a contest that truly could have been scheduled for the main event of WrestleMania.
While he may have come out of the Fiveway victorious in only 5 minutes, Cena didn't hold the belt for much longer. He lost the championship to Del Rio only 6 days later at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
8 Bret Hart vs Tom Magee
Tom Magee looked like the second coming of Hulk Hogan in his first match with the company, beating The Hitman in the process. Unfortunately for Magee, he was nothing more than a flash in the pan, and the entire match was a carry job by Hart.
It was soon evident that he was not going to live up to his lofty expectations when he looked completely off his game against everyone who wasn't named Bret Hart. Having to return all of those hats and foam fingers must have been a real shot at Vince's ego, so at least there is one positive takeaway from the Magee tease.
7 The Last Battle Of Atlanta
The 1973 Georgia Championship Wrestling bout between Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer offered inspiration for the modern-day Hell in a Cell gimmick. The bout was years ahead of its time, as it was the first to feature a mesh steel cage ceiling, as opposed to the open roof concept that was popular at the time.
Much like the infamous Magee vs Hart match, this bout was seen as the "holy grail" due to the limited footage of the battle. While it was previously thought that only pictures were taken at the event, the match was uploaded to the WWE Network only 2 years ago.
6 Bret Hart and 123 Kid vs Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels
The unlikely clash between the 4 fan favorites took place at a house show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on February 25, 1994. The babyface duo of Bret and Kid won the bout and sent their loyal fans home happy.
Battles between the Hart brothers were an oft-used storyline for house shows during this time because the WWE wanted to capitalize on the popularity of their upcoming duel at WrestleMania.
5 Randy Savage vs The Undertaker
The two legends never went head to head in front of a televised audience, which is a major reason why there was so much hype around the footage of their dark matches from the Summer of 1991. The two icons faced off in three matches in total, each of them being won by Savage. Shockingly, these mark the only occasions that the two icons met face-to-face in the ring.
Their dark match taping in Portland, Maine on July 30, 1991, was the only bout between the stars with footage on the WWE Network, although even this only includes short clips of the bout.
4 Batista and Shawn Michaels vs Triple H and Ric Flair
The clash took place at a Newcastle, England RAW house show on April 23, 2005. The match has as much star power as any bout ever seen on the grandest stage, and it was more than deserving of a spot on the card.
The match lasted nearly 30-minutes, and the powerful duo of Batista and Michaels came out on top. Amateur footage of the match can be found on Dailymotion, but the video quality leaves an awful lot to be desired.
3 Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels
The inaugural ladder match in company history did not occur on a main event stage or any pay-per-view for that matter. Rather, it occurred at a Portland, Maine house show in a dark match for the Intercontinental Championship between iconic rivals Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels on July 21, 1992.
Hart came out victorious in the match, but the two men continued their feud and shared one of the most heated rivalries of the decade. The bout remained widely concealed until the WWE released the 2007 Ladder Match DVD.
2 Owen Hart vs Kurt Angle
The untelevised match between Owen Hart and Kurt Angle before the Raw taping on May 10, 1999, was far more significant than the typical dark match. First off, Hart sounded like a prophet after the bout, predicting that Angle would one day be a Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, the match was also significant because it was one of Owens last, as he tragically passed away only two weeks later.
Images are all the only form of proof of the famous bout, as there is no known video of the match.
1 Ric Flair vs Bret Hart
The legend of untelevised events struck again on October 12, 1992, in his match against Ric Flair where he won the WWF Championship. The fact that Hart accomplished the feat in front of his loyal fans in Saskatchewan, Canada makes the achievement even greater.
This win catapulted the enigmatic Hart into the main event picture, which he would never again leave over the course of his career. His hardworking attitude set a standard that other wrestlers attempted to emulate. The Excellence of Execution never took a day off, and he could have a standout match with anyone, at any time.