Hilariously subverted in the Firefly fanfic Forward, where the Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy Si Quan confronts River, sizes her up, and considers her a worthy opponent who can test his abilities. River disagrees and shoots him in the head.

Doom still does anyway, for ''none possess the luxurious prose and unmatched scientific acumen of DOOM!''. Indeed, a large part of Doom's characterization boils down to his Inferiority Superiority Complex and his belief that he must prove himself Reed's better. It finally comes full circle during the Grand Finale of the old 616-universe, where Doom finally admits that Reed is smarter than him. In "Bullets", Watson mentions the rumors among his readers that Holmes harbors romantic feelings for Irene Adler (Holmes points out that it's Irene Norton, and that she and her beloved husband were together till death did them part.) When Watson inquires about her photo, Holmes asks if Watson having General Gordon's photo means he is in love with him. Watson answers in the negative, and Holmes finishes by saying that there's nothing wrong with a British gentleman having a heroine rather than a hero. Interviewing Scientist: "Why would that be good for you? Every time you have awoken you've tried to escape. He was responsible for apprehending you several times. Surely you must be glad he's dead." Recess: In "The Candidates," Vince and Gretchen run against each other for class president. Through it all they maintain a healthy respect for each other – in contrast the Feud Episode that plays out between their campaign managers T.J. and Spinelli – and in the end, Gretchen calls Vince a "worthy opponent and a good friend" after she wins the election because Vince votes for her. Sam: Yeah. Not only did he get us to wash the dishes, we each paid for both meals. I gave him a big tip.

Few people manage to hold their own against Lord Tywin Lannister, and he shows a certain respect for each of them in return: Cena has on record stated that Chris Masters is the physically strongest opponent he has ever faced. Masters is the only competitor who has legitimately rendered Cena unconscious, and he has done so three times.

While A_J of AJCO initially considered Egg to be a 'foolish, pathetic little girl' she changes her mind after the trial, which sees Egg beating A_J fair and square without ever having to lie, cheat or bribe. This admiration eventually leads to A_J having a My God, What Have I Done? moment after she expels Egg from the nuclear bunker into almost certain death. She runs out after her when she realizes what the consequences of her actions might be.

Other examples:

After putting on a match that Dave Meltzer called the greatest in pro wrestling history at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 11 in 2017, Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega exemplified this trope. Omega called the victorious Okada the best wrestler in Japan and possibly the world, while Okada called Omega the greatest foreign wrestler in NJPW history. After being beaten in Episode 66, Astorath strongly respects Sonic and his friends as warriors — to the point where after he defeats them in Episode 75, he spares their lives. Several of the villains on Gargoyles are like this, owing in part to their frequently grey-shaded nature.

Shane McMahon— after the better part of a decade out of the company entirely, Shane returned as the prodigal son for his birthright, and was thrust into a match against 'Taker, with both of their legacies and careers on the line, at WrestleMania XXXII. Shane had a month to prepare, and was 46 at the time, going into the (51 year old) Undertaker's specialty match, Hell In A Cell, in 'Taker's home state. Though Shane was far from Taker's toughest opponent, he still put up a fight, reversing some of 'Taker's moves, and persisting with the Bring It gesture throughout the fight. After taking bumps on the steel stairs, the Spanish Announcers' Table, and leaping from the top of the 20 foot cage, Shane had nothing left in the tank but his pride, and persisted with the Bring It gesture, twice. The Undertaker looked kindly on Shane, in sharp contrast to the "I'll do what I have to do" demeanor before the fight, and calmly patted Shane on the cheek before finally finishing the match. You would think that eventually, after so many books, that theme would get tiresome for the reader. However, for me at least, I love reading books about strong women overcoming stuff and I don’t think I will ever become bored with this author’s books. Before that, there was Grey from Choujin Sentai Jetman, who formed this type of relationship with The Lancer, Gai. Over the course of the show, the two dueled every time they saw each other. This culminated when the two had their final duel (which Gai won), and ended with Gai lighting a cigarette in remembrance of Grey. In the end, they were not so different. Another episode had Aku travelling to an alien planet and enlisting some of its inhabitants, a Proud Hunter Race of cat-men, to capture the elusive samurai. It takes them the entire episode, but they eventually scored a success. Unfortunately for Aku, the hunters believe that any prey who can give them such a great challenge deserves to run free. The Rise of Darth Vulcan: Shining Armor begrudgingly admits that the titular villain earned the respect and loyalty of the Diamond Dogs.

Scrabble Tools

The fanfic has this between Ichigo/Dead Eye and Kenpachi. After their hours-long fight, when Kenpachi is about to win, he regretfully tells Ichigo that he'd rather spare him so they can fight again but that Yamamoto would probably kill them both if he did. When Ichigo is about to win, he assures Kenpachi that he'd be honored as the worthiest of prey he has ever hunted (and likely ever will hunt) and that his memory will be passed down through Ichigo's clan. Fortunately or unfortunately, neither gets to kill the other as Unohana steps in and keeps Ichigo from killing Kenpachi. Her reason? If Ichigo kills a captain, Yamamoto will kill him and she wouldn't get her chance to fight him. Pony POV Series: Chrysalis of all people invokes this when some upper class ponies use her shapeshifting into her own corpse after Princess Celestia wins their Beam-O-War to zap her off guard, to say how "they knew" Princess Celestia was weak. This lessens Chrysalis' win, so she rambles about how much trouble she had to go through just to get her scheme this far because Celestia is that good! There's a variation. Carl Elias laments that it's hard to find a worthy opponent in prison, then finds one when Harold Finch agrees to visit him from time to time. It's not a typical example of this trope because Elias is referring to chess. The Epic of Gilgamesh: the very reason Enkidu was created was to be Gilgamesh's best friend and worthy opponent and give him another way to expend his power and Super-Strength besides sleeping with every woman in Uruk.