Bad event, good memories

[Ken_Shamrock]

First ever thread, so bear with me.

Premise is simple, an event you enjoy - for whatever reasons you want - but is either regarded by many as poor or upon reviewing the event you tend to agree.

Two early ones for me: Wrestlemania 4 and 6.

WM6 was the second WWF video I got as a kid - the first was 1988 survivor series. At the time I was very young and the decision on what videos to buy was primarily due to the cover.

Anyway, I remember watching WM6 and thinking it was awesome. Mesmerised by the huge attendance at the event and thought the matches were good - in hindsight many turned out not to be. I was a huge Demolition fan as a kid - was delighted, too, that they are in WWE12 - and buzzed that they won the tag titles.

Am not proud to admit this, but as a small kid I thought the Ultimate Warrior was cool so seeing him win the title was great.

I watched the event the other week and boy does it not live up to the memories of old. Yeah the tag title match was cool and the main event was good but a fair few sub par matches too. The Orient Express v The Rockers is great but some garbage on there as well.

As for WM4, I liked the tournie for the title at the time but viewing the event recently I thought the whole event dragged a bit and went on far too long. I was clearly attracted, at the time, to the fact that it was a double video!

 

[JWGunslinger]

I'd have to go with No Mercy 2007 here, one of my favorite events actually but in general was not received well. I'm not saying that I loved every single match, hell how could anyone enjoy Batista and Khali's Punjabi Prison match? But I enjoyed the rest and most importantly I loved what they did with the WWE Championship that night. Having Vince award Randy Orton with the title and then lose it to HHH right then and there was crazy, and then for HHH to have to defend it against Umaga a few minutes later and on top of that face Orton in his rematch made the night a crazy roller coaster of emotions. I was going crazy the whole time and when Orton won back his title at the end of the night it was so gratifying to me, but everyone else I've talked to about the PPV thought the exact opposite.

 

[D-Blaze]

I'd have to go with No Mercy 2007 here, one of my favorite events actually but in general was not received well. I'm not saying that I loved every single match, hell how could anyone enjoy Batista and Khali's Punjabi Prison match? But I enjoyed the rest and most importantly I loved what they did with the WWE Championship that night. Having Vince award Randy Orton with the title and then lose it to HHH right then and there was crazy, and then for HHH to have to defend it against Umaga a few minutes later and on top of that face Orton in his rematch made the night a crazy roller coaster of emotions. I was going crazy the whole time and when Orton won back his title at the end of the night it was so gratifying to me, but everyone else I've talked to about the PPV thought the exact opposite.

I LOVED No Mercy 2007! As a huge Beth Phoenix fan, I fondly remember that show as the night she won her first Women's Championship. It saddens me greatly knowing now that the PPV was so close to where I live and I didn't go to see it. (But, you're right about the Punjabi Prison match. XD)

Hmm, as far as a show I enjoyed but others didn't... Judgment Day 2002. This card has gotten crapped on so badly by so many people, and alright, I'll admit it, there weren't probably any five star matches on the show or anything, but I loved it because a) Edge vs. Angle, hair vs hair and b) Undertaker winning the Undisputed Title from Hulk Hogan. Heel Taker in early to mid 02 was on a hot streak IMO, and him winning the title was the culmination of that. I recall that the PPV was so poorly received that it wasn't even sold in the U.S., aside from being carried briefly on ShopZone.com. I eventually found a Canadian copy on eBay, it was the only DVD I could find of it. Lol

 

[Midgetmania619]

WrestleMania XXV, XXVI and XXVII.

My friend always hosts a WrestleMania 'party' or so (it's sort of tradition, now, and has been since WrestleMania 22). We always have fun and go out of our way for some crazy stuff. Over the past, wow, coming up to 7 years, now, we've done things ranging from regular 'murder in the dark' style wrestling, night time ball tag/tiggy, cutting WWE/WWF promos along the street, opening windows and starting large, large, chants, 'WrestleMania games' (drinking, fighting, etc, games) and even some pretty foul and crass 'games' which would probably get me a violation here. We always have a good dinner, too.

We might leave the day sour because of the bad WWE event, but the actual event of the party - a main reason I look forward to WrestleMania for (as well as Undertaker) is always great fun for me and the, I think, 10 different people who have been across the years.

Does anybody else have a WrestleMania/other PPV tradition?

 

[yanks9548]

This is quite a funny topic for me my first pay per view ever was the god awful December to Dismember . While the show was god awful we still enjoyed the tag match and thought at the time that the chamber was good. Looking back and seeing how much of a waste it was my friends and I joke that if we ordered a different pay per view first we would not be watching wrestling today because our expectations would be much higher.

 

[CrayzChris]

My "guilty pleasure" PPV event is "In Your House: Buried Alive" - October 1996. The card is actually pretty good (on paper), but it's such an "under the radar" show. I used to watch this show over and over again - even though it's really cheesy. This is RIGHT before the start of the "attitude era" that everyone on this board loves so much.

Steve Austin vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Bulldog & Owen vs. The Smoking Gunns

Marc Mero vs. Goldust

Sycho Sid vs. Vader

Undertaker vs. Mankind (Buried Alive)

I think one of my favorite parts of this show, is the heavy involvement of Mr.Perfect. (who is one of my favorites of all time) This was around the time when Mr.Perfect was going to come out of retirement to fight HHH. Of course, if never happened. But he was ALL over this show, on commentary, and interjecting himself in the matches.

 

[The Champ]

WrestleMania XXV, XXVI and XXVII.

My friend always hosts a WrestleMania 'party' or so (it's sort of tradition, now, and has been since WrestleMania 22). We always have fun and go out of our way for some crazy stuff. Over the past, wow, coming up to 7 years, now, we've done things ranging from regular 'murder in the dark' style wrestling, night time ball tag/tiggy, cutting WWE/WWF promos along the street, opening windows and starting large, large, chants, 'WrestleMania games' (drinking, fighting, etc, games) and even some pretty foul and crass 'games' which would probably get me a violation here. We always have a good dinner, too.

We might leave the day sour because of the bad WWE event, but the actual event of the party - a main reason I look forward to WrestleMania for (as well as Undertaker) is always great fun for me and the, I think, 10 different people who have been across the years.

Does anybody else have a WrestleMania/other PPV tradition?

WrestleMania XXVI isn't considered bad, or at least it shouldn't be. Solid card from top to bottom with only one bad match.

I agree on the other two Manias though. I think they mainly get criticized so harshly because of the main events (although the Rock promos/Kid Rock concert certainly didn't help much), but as far as the overall wrestling was concerned they weren't bad shows at all. Of the six matches on XXVII that went more than four minutes, I thought three were very good and one was excellent. Cole/Lawler and Cena/Miz were bad but they had their moments. Austin provided entertainment in the former and the latter was picking up towards the end before Rocky got involved.

XXV was also good. The classic Taker/HBK match, a really fun World Title match, and Hardy/Hardy, MITB, and Jericho/Steamboat were more than worthwhile.

 

[WolfNyte]

I would have to say Wrestlemania as in Wrestlemania number 1. The Main event was a tag match between Hogan with Mr. T....and Piper and Orndorff. Hogan and T won due to Randy's old man. Mr. T ....really.....really??

Rest of the card from what I remember was ok nothing spectacular but I enjoyed Wendy beating Kai and Nikoli and Shiek getting the titles.

The Highlight for me was the Body Slam challenge I wil never forget Heenan grabbing the money from Andre and running Clasic

 

[HBKperfect23]

First ppv I ordered was WM11, first one I attended was WM 15. Being 10 when WM11 took place, I even enjoyed LT. Obviously attending at WM is awesome, unfortunetly the one I attended was the worst ever, Austin/Rock was fun tho and I loved the atmoshphere.

Some honorable mentions are: Summerslam Flashback (1997), IYH:International Incident, Tuesday in TX, WM9

 

[THTRobtaylor]

First ever thread, so bear with me.

Premise is simple, an event you enjoy - for whatever reasons you want - but is either regarded by many as poor or upon reviewing the event you tend to agree.

Two early ones for me: Wrestlemania 4 and 6.

WM6 was the second WWF video I got as a kid - the first was 1988 survivor series. At the time I was very young and the decision on what videos to buy was primarily due to the cover.

Anyway, I remember watching WM6 and thinking it was awesome. Mesmerised by the huge attendance at the event and thought the matches were good - in hindsight many turned out not to be. I was a huge Demolition fan as a kid - was delighted, too, that they are in WWE12 - and buzzed that they won the tag titles.

Am not proud to admit this, but as a small kid I thought the Ultimate Warrior was cool so seeing him win the title was great.

I watched the event the other week and boy does it not live up to the memories of old. Yeah the tag title match was cool and the main event was good but a fair few sub par matches too. The Orient Express v The Rockers is great but some garbage on there as well.

As for WM4, I liked the tournie for the title at the time but viewing the event recently I thought the whole event dragged a bit and went on far too long. I was clearly attracted, at the time, to the fact that it was a double video!

The WM's in that time period were among the best, I always preferred the large number of matches (14 at WM7), that way there was enough to keep all fans interested. Sure not every match was a classic (Jake v Martel or Bulldog v Warlord in particular, but it had a sense of occasion as every major star was in a meaningful match.

Today they just throw people into a Battle Royal, it doesn't have the same aura. WM6 was a good all over show and the first tape I bought.

WM4 suffered only from the 2nd round booking. It needed a full tourney to get over, not 3 quarters of one. The concept of the tournament was sound and the right guys were involved although you knew only 4 of the 14 really had any chance of winning (Savage, Hogan, Andre and DiBiase) . If they did it today, you could have 14 guys and anyone could win it... so it would probably work better.

 

[Nadeem Ahmad]

I thoroughly remembered first starting to watch wrestling on a regular basis at the end of June in 1999, shortly after King of the Ring. When that event was released on a very clear VHS that even surpassed the visual sharpness of most DVDs, I was more than willing to give it a shot, having it rented from Easy Video in late July for about four to five dollars, for three nights. I even went through the trouble of bringing two VCRs in the same bedroom, hooking them together, to make a copy of the cassette.

Anyway, I liked the first viewing, as it still felt "live" and fresh, as if it did not still happen. The idea of winning the tournament was very prestigious, and the commentators hyped it up a lot. Plus, I really thought Austin had a shot of winning for control of the company, keeping me pumped through it, even though the match turned out to be very lackluster on the part of Shane McMahon. Anyway, I just loved imagining the several scenarios of who could be facing what wrestler, depending on which person would win in the first round, despite already having had read the listing for matches on the back of the cover about four times in ten minutes before getting home.

The whole spontaneousness of it was an attraction, as I was thinking Kane might have won it, and funny things like Big Show wanting to teach Kane a "lesson" by trying hitting him with a steel chair after he had lost to him prior in the show, only to have Billy Gunn slyly grab the metal from behind him, yelling BLATANTLY and LOUDLY to him: "STUPID SON OF A _____" were keeping me through it. Also, the way Big Show literally looked like he fell asleep from Kane keeping him in a chokehold for what seemed like five eternally long minutes, during one of the opening contests was great. Plus, I loved the whole anonymity and nonchalant manner in which Rocky challenged Undertaker for the WWF Championship, to have the foul mouthed, overrated, second most popular performer in WWF history lose to the phenom.

Looking back, it was typical of 1999, with every match involving closed fists, or things that should have been disqualifications like using ropes for more than five seconds, or excessively ignoring referees. The bloodiness on the part of Ken Shamrock was uncalled for too. Plus, even Steve Austin could not justify the main event, which literally seemed like a train wreck, only to never have revealed who it was, that caused the briefcase to rise up, by controlling the switch from the back. These days would let people easily assume that it was an average technician, but back then, they made such a big deal about it, implying that it could have been a wrestler. I guessed it was Steve Blackman, acting as a pawn for McMahon to get rid of enemies like Ken Shamrock and Steve Austin.

 

[brighamosity]

For me, it would have to be Wrestlemania 9. I had just started watching wrestling and at the time I had no idea it was fake. I didn't order it or anything, but it came in scrambled and I could still tell what was going on, and the audio was perfect. So my friends and I all sat around watching that. I even ended up getting it on VHS about a year later, and I watched it over and over and over again. As a kid, I thought Giant Gonzales was so scary. This was also on the tail end of WWF's Hulkamania era (and since I had just started watching, I never saw Hulkamania at it's peak) so it was awesome to see Hogan win the title. Even now, I could probably easily go back and watch it again from start to finish.

Looking back, I acknowledge that this was probably one of the worst Wrestlemania's ever. But it will always hold a special place with me.

 

[legendkiller1979]

I have to go with the 1989 survivor series. This was at a time when the WWF did a masterful job of promoting their big shows and this was no different. I was so excited for the chance to see Hulk Hogan get another shot at Zeus, Rowdy Roddy Piper get a shot at Ravishing Rick Rude, and The Ultimate Warrior get a shot in Andre the Giant. The other matches provided intrigue as well but those were the big ones for me.

With all that said, this event was extremely poorly booked. The dream team vs the enforcers was an enjoyable match. Nicely done.

The 4x4's vs the king's court was damn near a squash match. And the 4x4's included hall of famers Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Bret The Hitman Hart.

The hulkamaniacs vs the million $ team was the one that I really wanted to see. Every feud in this match was great and I wanted to see each one get at their rival. Looking back, the first three survivor series were nothing more than a big tease. They would put the hottest feuds at the time on teams. Unfortunately the match you would want to see would last maybe a minute and someone would get disqualified. This match was no different. Hulk Hogan and Zeus started the match and it might have lasted a minute before Zeus got disqualified. In fact three of the four members got disqualified.....lazy booking.

Roddy's rowdies vs rude brood was a decent match. It pretty much followed the survivor series script. Eliminate the tag teams first, Have the people in the main feud got at it and have nothing happen. Decent match.

The "main event" was over before it started. Tully Blanchard was fired for failing a drug test and was replaced by Bobby Heanan. To make matters worse, Andre the Giant was eliminated immediately. So we are left was the rockers and Jim Neidhart the ultimate warrior vs Arn Anderson, Haku, and Bobby Heanan. To make it worse, Bobby heanan was the last eliminated.

As bad as it was, I find myself watching it and enjoying it. There's just something about that time period that I just love. Objectively i can say it's not one of the best survivor series ever, but it's one of my favorites.

 

[MrAsmith97]

Survivor Series 2004
This has always been one of my FAVORITE wrestling PPV'S of all time, I had loved the RAW Traditional Tag match, what i was most excited about was that the winning team controled RAW for a month which i found really cool, i also enjoyed the opening Fatal Four Way for the cruiserweight Title, Matches i didnt enjoy were simply The WWE title match its been a while since the last time saw the PPV so my opinion may have changed but Booker T vs. JBL for the wwe title what a joke who honestly thought Booker would win. Another match i didnt particulary care for was the Smackdown tag match. Its not that this was an AWFUL match i just feel that it was frankly quite pointless. They also had Christain vs Shelton Benjamin which was that bad of a match, but mutch like the smackdown tag match it seemed quite pointless.

For those who dont know the card is:
Orton Benoit Jericho and Maven vs. HHH Batista Edge and Snitsky in The raw tag
Rvd Eddie Guerrero Cena and Big Show vs Kurt Angle Mark Jindrak Luther Reigns and Carlito (well kind of) in the smackdown tag
Mysterio vs Billy Kidman vs Chavo Guerrero Vs Spike Dudley for the Cruiserweight title
Lita vs Trish Stratus for the womens title
Underaker vs Heidenreich
JBL vs Booker T for the WWE title
Christain vs Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental title

 

[GrandSword]

An episode of WCW Nitro is one of my favourite ever wrestling shows, where the cunning but cowardly World Champion DDP took on Sting for the title half way through the show. The match is one of my very favourites because Sting counters the Diamond Cutter with the Scorpion Deathdrop and wins the Gold.

Sting then defends the belt in a fourway match in the main event that very night against DDP, Kevin Nash and Goldberg. Macho Man gets involved and DDP is a two time, two time WCW Champion.

At the time many people hated this show and said that Bischoff did this for ratings, as DDP walked out the show with the title, why was there a title change in the first place and it devalued the Championship. Also before the Money in the Bank concept, Sting's 2 hour title reign was the second shortest in wrestling history (next to Yokozuna's when Hogan beat him at WM).

I thought the show was great as it had the epic match an amazing Cruiser title match, and the four top WCW guys that weren't old men Hogan and Flair in the main event for the belt.

 

[#BabyFace]

Hmmm... nice thread for a first time thread! I think im gonna go with WrestleMania 23. This hasnt gotten as bad a reputation but ive seen it be critisized alot. The Cena/HBK match was a last minute change because of the injury of HHH, but I loved the match pairing. The Undertaker/Batista match was good. Obviously not his best but very good. Always loved the Taker/Batista fueds. Other matches were good too and i speciffically remember the Lashley w/ Donald Trump vs Umaga w/ Vince with Stone Cold as the ref. I laughed so hard and loved it when Vince got his head shaved bald.

Nice Thread

 

[brighamosity]

I've got to confess. I know it's wrong, but...

I enjoyed the "Fingerpoke of Doom" Nitro. I know people say it ruined Nitro, but when it was happening live, I marked the hell out. I loved nWo Hollywood and I hated nWo Wolfpac, but still liked Kevin Nash. And I absolutely could not stand Goldberg. So to watch him run out and get the crap beat out of him and spraypainted... I absolutely loved it. I was fifteen years old, I didn't consider how illogical the whole thing was. And to top it all off, my "frienemy" at school loved Goldberg and the Wolfpac. So when the Fingerpoke of Doom happened, I couldn't wait to go to school the next day to rub it in his face.

I know the critics say that was the beginning of the end for WCW, and I don't disagree. But at the time, I think that was my favorite ending to a Nitro EVER.

 

[Ken_Shamrock]

I think you can probably lump a lot of events from 1999 in to this thread. Take the 1999 King of the Ring. Aside from the Austin winning the ladder match the card was fairly week but I thought it was decent at the time. Thought, and don't laugh, that Mr. Ass had what it takes to go over and that the KOTR would be the launch pad.

I was still at school at the time, and being from the UK, it meant I had to stay up till 4 to watch it but I thought the event was really good - I blame being 15. Looking back, look at some of the dross that made up the TV qualifying for the event - it was hardly the A-list: Droz, Al Snow, Hardcore Holly, Viscera, Test, Val Venis, The Big Boss Man and Jarrett amongst others.

Arguably '99 is the worst year of attitude and you just need to look at their PPVs to see that. A lot of fairly cool stuff happened that year, a huge amount of garbage mind, but a few good things but I think 1999 is the worst year for rewatching PPVs etc as they just don't stand the test of time. I guess that's largely Russo's influence but too many matches are based on daft gimmicks/storylines and in the end you can barely be bothered watching the matches let alone try and find out what led to the fued.

 

[The Brain]

I’ll say Survivor Series 1993. If you look at the card you’ll see that it doesn’t look very good on paper. It wasn’t too great in reality either. It’s a show I’ve always enjoyed though. Before this I had to wait months to see a ppv. It was several months before a ppv was released on video and I would always rush to the local video store to rent a copy when it came out. I hated waiting so long. Starting with Survivor Series 93 and continuing for the next three or four years my neighbor started ordering all the ppvs and would give me a vhs copy the night of the show. With Survivor Series 93 being the first and monthly ppvs still being a year and a half away, I watched that show several times just between Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble. Not the best show but I was just excited to see it the night it happened.

 

[Ken_Shamrock]

I’ll say Survivor Series 1993. If you look at the card you’ll see that it doesn’t look very good on paper. It wasn’t too great in reality either. It’s a show I’ve always enjoyed though. Before this I had to wait months to see a ppv. It was several months before a ppv was released on video and I would always rush to the local video store to rent a copy when it came out. I hated waiting so long. Starting with Survivor Series 93 and continuing for the next three or four years my neighbor started ordering all the ppvs and would give me a vhs copy the night of the show. With Survivor Series 93 being the first and monthly ppvs still being a year and a half away, I watched that show several times just between Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble. Not the best show but I was just excited to see it the night it happened.

A great shout. I remember getting the video as a kid and thinking it was great, particularly the main event but having watced it again recently it's pretty poor. Opening match is fairly interesting especially considering it's basically the jobbers, well certainly the ones you least expect to survive, that survive. A nice twist.

On a side note, what exactly was the point in Ludvig Borga and what did Finland ever have against the USA?!