Nobledark Imperium: There are precisely two foes that Lucius the Eternal considers to have been worthy challenges to his skill: Vulkan and Lelith Hesperax. Vulkan was the immovable object to Lucius' unstoppable force, and was the only one to ever cleanly beat him in combat; Lucius respects him greatly and still drops by the Temple of the Flame on Nocturne from time to time to pay respects at Vulkan's grave. He and Lelith both consider their duel to be the best fight that they ever had and greatly look forward to a rematch. When David Von Erich died in 1984, Michael Hayes praised him as one on World Class' TV show. The Von Erichs and the Fabulous Freebirds were bitter enemies at that time.

Similar to the Bird/Johnson example, we have Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. They epitomized Statistical dominance vs Championships, the charismatic larger-than-life attitude vs politically militant disciplined stoicism, playing for many teams vs staying with one, and individual brilliance vs the consummate team player. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird faced each other 37 times, Chamberlain and Russell faced each other 142 times. Outside of basketball, they were great friends, though the friendship soured after 1969 and was only revived in The '90s. Hanse Davion and Takashi Kurita. The two would feud bitterly on the battlefield, but also respected each other's prowess as warriors and never underestimated each other. Their fights were notable for being largely 'above the table' in a setting where espionage was rampant. In fact, when Kurita's beloved wife fell seriously ill, Davion sent a secret message to Kurita with well wishes for her speedy recovery. Contrast this to the mutually disrespectful relationship between Maximillian Liao and Hanse Davion, or Takashi Kurita and Katrina Steiner. 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. 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!

Success!

The Simpsons: For most of the series' run, Bart and Principal Skinner have carried a relationship of cordial rivalry, although this is subverted by the fact Skinner asserts little to no actual authority over the school's students. However, the college football rivalry (and to a lesser extent, the rivalry in other sports) between Army and Navy has to be the best example of this. Although the two teams are fierce rivals on the field, and cries of "Beat Army!" and "Beat Navy!" are heard year-round, they have high respect for each other, knowing that in a few years, they could be fighting alongside each other on a real battlefield. At the end of each game, the winning team joins the student body of the losing team in singing that school's alma mater, and then the losers join in with the winners to sing theirs. In college football, few rivalries are as heated as the one between the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies, whose fans often sport shirts with the Longhorns' logo's horns sawn off. However, when they aren't actually facing each other, both teams will occasionally show a little in-state solidarity. During the 2006 Rose Bowl championship, when the underdog Longhorns defeated the favored USC, some Aggies fans donned t-shirts with an image of their rival's logo with bandaged horns and the caption "Today Only: Gig 'Em, Horns!" True Villains: The Paladin sees the Living Legend Sebastian as this, but soon becomes disgusted by his Face–Heel Turn. Hector and Achilles of Homer's The Iliad. Hector was an honorable man and considered a worthy foe by many of the Achaean heroes fighting at Troy. Achilles had no such feelings for the man; he spent the early parts of the war pissed at his own leaders and the later parts in nothing less than a homicidal rage toward everyone after Hector killed Patroclus, and spent a lot of time and effort trying to desecrate Hector's corpse. Although he did relent after he'd taken his revenge and cooled down a bit. Achilles actually seemed to think more of Hector's father, Priam, as a worthy opponent (in the overall war) when the latter came to beg for his son's body for proper burial. Achilles agreed to allow Hector the honor he deserved, but Priam's love for his son and his bravery in coming alone to the Greek ships also got to him.

After the Russian army defeated the Swedes in the Northern War, the Russian emperor, Peter the Great, treated the captive Swedish officers with great respect and allowed them to keep their swords. During the celebration feast, Peter raised a glass to the Swedish king, Carl XII, and called him his teacher. Also, Napoleon greatly respected the Russian commander in chief, Mikhail Kutuzov, even considering the only general capable of defeating him. In fact, after the inconclusive clash at Borodino Kutuzov would proceed to do just that, defeating Napoleon's invasion through superior strategy.

Shinji: That... that thing killed three Cherubim, took a nuclear missile to the face and it's afraid of me? When the time finally comes that the Goa'uld Hegemony is forced to surrender to the Celestial Empire in The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor , Yu is pleased to note that at least he lost to an enemy he could respect. However, this is entirely one-sided as by the time the Goa'uld surrender, Naruto was only willing to allow it because he'd become so bored with the war. Pearson: I always felt that if I beat him I beat the best, and I heard he said the same thing about me. Transformers Animated: Cybertronian Genesis: Megatron and Optimus Prime, just like in canon. In Megatron's trophy room, he reserves a spot between the helmets of the two Magnuses he has personally defeated in combat just for Optimus, all but stating that, to him, defeating Optimus would be his greatest triumph.

on 11 December: "A dragonheart empowerment. How very rare. You've got quite an arsenal on your side, Miranda." In the Teen Titans fanfic Jewel of Darkness, resident Psycho for Hire Guerra views Cyborg as this, as he was the only one of the Titans to provide him with a decent fight, and actually managed to defeat him. It gets to the point that, during a fight with Robin, Guerra compares his fighting style with Cyborg's, and while he loses all interest in the Titans after his contract with Midnight expires, he's still looking forward to a rematch with Cyborg. Able: "Different? Because, unlike you [Sumerian word, untranslated], he was a challenge, a real enemy."After Tadius Greasenherr has his second encounter with Zoë, who pretends to be a rival Diabolical Mastermind, and he gets defeated again, and sees that she has the services of a really badass rabbit, he's absolutely in awe of her. ( And not just that.) FBI Agent Alexander Mahone, Worthy Opponent to Prison Break protagonist Michael Scofield in the second season. Mahone frequently expresses his professional admiration of Michael, and is the only person that Michael really fears will catch him (out of, you know, the entire United States law enforcement community). However, while he fulfills every other requirement to a T, Mahone subverts one aspect of the trope by being genuinely committed to killing Michael, and offs a fair few other characters along the way.