5 best tribute videos in wrestling

All Elite Wrestling’s latest video of Bryan Danielson’s career will be remembered as one of the best tribute videos they have done. Over the last forty years of wrestling, there have been countless tribute videos that have aired on television, home video releases, and on social media platforms. However, there is one burning question that must be asked.  What are the best wrestling tribute videos ever made?

While this is a great question with an impossible answer, I’m going to try my best and give my selections for the top five wrestling tribute videos ever made. From the videos that have made us smile and cheer to the videos that have made us cry and weep like babies. Videos that remind us even in our worst times in life that pro wrestling will always bring a smile to our faces.

Before I reveal my list, I have three rules I followed when coming up with this list.  First, the video must have aired on television. It doesn’t matter when it aired on television. Second, the video cannot be for a Hall of Fame induction. While I’m sure there are good videos, induction videos won’t count. Finally, no fan made videos. I’ve seen a lot of great fan made videos but for this list, I’m looking at only the wrestling promotions making the videos.

Shawn Michaels- Tell Me a Lie

The only video on this list that features an original song, “Tell Me a Lie” was one of the first tribute videos I remember as a kid being shown and used specifically for a wrestling angle. After Shawn Michaels collapsed during a match on Monday Night Raw towards the end of 1995 the question was if he would ever wrestle again?

A few weeks later, a music video and a song that is still remembered almost thirty years later hit our lives. While the song is fantastic, the music video did a tremendous job showcasing Shawn Michaels as one of the best wrestlers in the WWF during the 1990s. Michaels was a showman every single time he stepped into the ring and could take your breath away in a single second. The doubt being put into our heads of whether Michaels would ever come back to the ring is what makes the video so much better.

I’m not sure if we’ll see too many tribute videos made for a wrestler for an angle as much anymore as we used to in the 1990s, but this video still influences those who watched the story unfold. Heartbreaking, captivating, and mesmerizing, “Tell Me a Lie” never told us a lie when this video came out. Almost thirty years later, it still has a place in the hearts of a lot of wrestling fans.

Terry Funk- Desperado

Extreme Championship Wrestling was one of the best wrestling promotions when it came to creating videos. From the annual November to Remember hype packages to the fun and sometimes hilarious “Pulp Fiction” like videos, ECW did a fantastic job. But when they did videos for wrestlers it was amazing. The best video I think they ever made is one I’ve watched a bunch of times on YouTube dedicated to one man, a man who helped put ECW on the map, Terry Funk.

Funk had been in wrestling for over thirty years by the time he wrestled for ECW and the fans loved everything he did to entertain us and cheer for him. When ECW released their tribute video for Terry Funk to hype up his upcoming match at Barely Legal, there was no better song they could’ve selected than “Desperado” by the Eagles. Funk had done everything in pro wrestling, won championships all over the world, wrestled in some of the most outrageous matches ever created, and at times made us laugh.

When Terry Funk passed away last year, one video came to mind, it was this video. It is a perfect characterization of who the man was and what he meant to so many people in pro wrestling. No matter if you believe in the myth or the man that was Terry Funk, no one can ever deny the great impact he had on pro wrestling and an impact that I don’t think will ever be felt again.

WWF- Lonely Road of Faith

When I was working on this list, surprisingly this tribute video was not on my original list. However, after a friend of mine suggested this video and thinking back after all these years the video still has a tremendous impact on fans almost twenty-five years after it first aired. Premiering during the Invasion angle of 2001, this brief look into the history of the WWF was an homage not only to the promotion but to the men and women who wrestled in its long and illustrious history.

The song, sung by Kid Rock, “Lonely Road of Faith” can be looked at in two ways. If you listen to just the song, it’s about being helped by God and how you can get through any situation. When you view the video that WWF made not only is it about the history of the WWF but the troubled times they had when World Championship Wrestling was beating them on television. Plus, with the recent attacks on the United States, this video was an encouraging video to lift our spirits during dark unprecedented times.

This video, while not on the WWE Network or Peacock, can still be seen on YouTube. For WWF in 2001, this music video not only showed the rich history the WWF had but would continue to have for many years to come.

Eddie Guerrero- Hurt

I remember the day Eddie Guerrero died like it was yesterday.  Absolutely shocked that Guerrero, who had beaten so many demons to achieve the goal of his profession, was gone in the blink of an eye. The following night on a taped episode of Raw, we saw the wrestlers out on the stage for the beginning of the show as we got a ten-bell salute followed by a tribute video. The first image I remember of that episode was a dad hugging a young child as they were crying in the stands.  Then we go to the music video.

The first strings played on the guitar aired and that’s when I broke down and cried in my basement. Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” played as we saw one of the best tribute videos WWE has ever done. The words to the song matched the highs and lows of Eddie Guerrero’s career. From hitting rock bottom and going all the way to the top while living his best life.  This is a video that lives rent-free in my mind, a wonderful tribute to a wonderful man who left us too soon.

While there was a second tribute video that aired on Smackdown that week, it’s this tribute video that has had the greatest impact on my view of Eddie Guerrero as a wrestler and as a person. Someone who everybody loved, is still loved today and will never be forgotten.

Brodie Lee- Ol’ 55

If someone were to ask me in about fifteen or twenty years, how could you describe the year 2020 in one video, my answer would be simple.  The December 30, 2020, episode of AEW Dynamite has every single emotion in perhaps the worst year of our lifetimes in two hours. All for a tribute show of a man who had passed away just four days earlier, Brodie Lee.

While one of the best episodes of Dynamite to this point, the one moment I remember more than anything else was the ending of the show. Cody Rhodes was in the ring giving a quick speech before introducing Brodie Lee’s family. After Tony Khan declared Brodie Lee as the lifetime TNT Champion, a tribute video was shown. Just like the Guerrero video, I broke down and cried. The last four days of hearing the news of Lee’s surprising death and the whole year had not many wrestling fans crying.

As “Ol’ 55” by Tom Waits played we saw the wonderful life Lee had led, it’s a reminder that we should enjoy everything we have in our lives because we never know when something or someone will be taken away from us. Because of this video, the song gained a second life to new fans of the song. Many comments on YouTube for the song mention this video brought them to this song and remember a truly gentle giant.  Brodie Lee is gone but his spirit will never leave those who were affected by him.

This is easily the hardest list I’ve had to make. So many great tribute videos have been made over the years in pro wrestling and I’m sure some of your favorites didn’t make the list. But no matter what you think of this list, these videos have left an impact on wrestling fans and will continue to leave an impact on fans for many years to come.  Tribute videos will continue to air on wrestling and who knows maybe some will be better than these five, but they will always stay with us as a memory of what we love and that’s pro wrestling.