Biggest TV Match Ever

[rokuma]

I was thinking about this today, but what is the biggest TV match of all-time? There have been a lot of great TV main events, but which TV match could've easily headlined a major pay-per view, but for some reason was shown on free TV?

To me, it's easy: Hollywood vs Goldberg for the WCW Heavyweight Title. HUGE match. Hogan was "the guy" basically the entire time he was in the NWO and Goldberg was next in line. They decided to have the title change hands on free TV from Goldberg's hometown. Just a ridiculously hot crowd. Goldberg took all of Hogan's "tricks" and brushed them aside and finally gave him the Jackhammer as Heenan screamed, "This is it! This is what they've been waiting for!" Just a surreal TV main event and could've easily headlined Starrcade or Superbrawl, much less Monday Nitro.

What's your pick?

 

[Wolf Pac]

There have been a lot of great TV main events, but which TV match could've easily headlined a major pay-per view, but for some reason was shown on free TV?

WCW is guilty of a ton of these but my biggest gripe is with Bret Hart vs. Hollywood Hogan on Nitro for so many reasons. Not only was this not a pay-per-view match but it was a short match, Bret gets injured right in the middle of the match and Sting takes his place against Hogan, and at the end Bret comes back down to the ring and attacks Sting, joining the nWo. The whole point of this match was just for Hogan to lure Sting into a trap. No wonder Bret is so pissed off about his time in WCW, such piss-poor booking.

And the nWo vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on RAW comes to mind. But if I were booking this on PPV, I'd give Rock and Austin a third partner, HHH, and Austin and Hogan would be fighting more in the match. The 3 top guys of the Attitude Era vs. the nWo on PPV, how crazy would that have been. Maybe they could've kept the nWo together at WM, booked this match the next month at Backlash, and Hogan and HHH would square off over the WWE Title at Judgment Day.

Also, Chris Jericho and Hulk Hogan have faced each other a couple of times on Smackdown, I felt that could've been a pay-per-view match, but not a main event match, title match or anything like that, just a match on the undercard like Angle vs. Hogan was at King Of The Ring 2002.

 

[#hamler]

I don't even think it is possible to top your answer. Hollywood Hogan vs. Goldberg for WCW's World Heavyweight Championship in Atlanta was without a doubt one of the biggest matches to ever be given away on free television. With Goldberg's undefeated streak it was only suitable for Hogan to be the next in line. Goldberg was massively over as a babyface at this point while Hogan was too in his respective heel role. Clashing these two megastars together equaled ratings and a record setting crowd. A Starrcade worthy match is going to be hard to beat - but I'll go with the next best thing; a match at Clash of the Champions VI.

Clash of the Champions featured matches that were certainly pay-per-view worthy but given away on free TV. At Clash of the Champions VI, Ricky Steamboat defended his World Championship against Ric Flair in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Both of these men were known for their endurance and the ability to wrestle every night going 60 minutes; this match was no different. Ricky Steamboat had originally beat Flair for the World Title at the Chi-Town Rumble. With his foot under the rope during the Clash of Champions match, this led to another great showdown between the two at WrestleWar '89. There is no way this rivalry would've been anything significant had their Clash of Champions match not happened. A great match between the two and arguably the best these two have put on. Add that with the fact that it was shown on free TV made this match available to wider range of wrestling fans which means more people were talking about it. It’s easily one of the biggest matches to ever be given away on free television.

 

[fenderjapan]

Its gotta be Goldberg vs. Hogan. A Starrcade/Wrestlemania caliber first encounter blown for TV ratings to give a false sense of superiority to WCW.

I'll also throw Rock vs. Mankind at Halftime Heat into the mix just because of the fact that it drew a 6.6 during the Super Bowl halftime.

 

[The Butcher]

Does everyone has Similac on their breath or am I overrating Hogan vs Andre, the WrestleMania III rematch, on The Main Event? Easily as big as Goldberg vs Hogan, I'd say.

 

[rokuma]

Retroactively, one of the biggest TV matches ever might be Mankind/Rock for the WWF Title. It helped turn the tide in the Monday Night Wars to the WWF because Tony Schiavone read the results on-air trying to discourage viewers. I'm just putting that one out there for the sake of argument. I agree above that Hogan/Andre is a HUGE main event, but I think Hogan/Goldberg defeats it for two reasons: 1) It's the first time Hogan/Goldberg ever met and 2) Wrestling's popularity at the time was ENORMOUS. 1998 was probably the peak of the professional wrestling business. Everyone tuned in for this match and if you didn't you either taped it or watched Nitro's replay. It was a must-see.

 

[ABMorales787]

Does everyone has Similac on their breath or am I overrating Hogan vs Andre, the WrestleMania III rematch, on The Main Event? Easily as big as Goldberg vs Hogan, I'd say.

Nope. I'd say Andre vs Hogan was by far the bigger TV match. It did draw a 15 on the ratings. If that doesn't justify it as the biggest TV match ever, nothing will.

 

[Rayne]

Nope. I'd say Andre vs Hogan was by far the bigger TV match. It did draw a 15 on the ratings. If that doesn't justify it as the biggest TV match ever, nothing will.

And herein lies the rub of how subjective this is.

Ratings- see my signature currently- are just about everything. But it's damned near impossible to compare ratings from two different eras and have the results mean anything. People simply watch television differently then they used to. This awesome thing called the internet came along and made it damned near impossible to get a 15 rating unless you're a football player or a musician who needs a boost to a flagging career.

That's not to say Andre/Hogan wasn't an absolutely huge match, but if the intent of your comment was to hold up a rating from the '80s and compare it even to the '90s (when cable started fragmenting the TV market), it's apples and oranges. Which match was bigger, Andre/Hogan or Goldberg/Hogan? I'm going to take the cop out and say they were the high water marks for professional wrestling television in their respective eras. You might as well ask who the bigger star was, Bruno Sammartino or The Rock. There is no right answer.

What does make me a bit sad though is that nothing from the past decade would even make a top ten list, unless that list was being constructed by a ten year old.

 

[Slyfox696]

What does make me a bit sad though is that nothing from the past decade would even make a top ten list, unless that list was being constructed by a ten year old.

I think that's a sign of a business which is much different than it was in '88 and a company which is much smarter than WCW in '98. The WWE puts their big matches on PPV now, not on free TV. Whereas Hogan vs. Andre happened in a time when PPV just really wasn't the beast it is today, we now have PPVs every month.

I also get the feeling you're suggesting there are no matches which could come to the level of either of those two matches, and if that's what you're thinking, I would disagree completely. Just last year, John Cena had back to back PPV matches which could rival Hogan vs. Andre and Hogan vs. Goldberg. With the same build, surely you can see how Cena vs. Rock 1 could easily be as big as either of those previous two matches. And I think Cena vs. Lesnar could also have been as big of a TV match. Heck, I think with the proper build Ryback vs. Cena could carry the same dynamic. You could even possibly throw Cena vs. Punk at MITB in the discussion as well. And Hogan vs. Austin, even today? Absolutely.

Perhaps you weren't suggesting there aren't matches which couldn't carry the same level of interest, but if you were, I disagree completely.

 

[The Butcher]

I just had to make sure that Hogan vs. Andre got its due.

Another classic that deserves mention would have to be Hogan vs. Piper on MTV, the match the set up the WrestleMania I main event.

 

[King Patrick Star]

SmackDown All-Star Kick-Off
October 3, 2008
WWE Champion, Triple H vs. World Champion, Chris Jericho vs. ECW Champion, Matt Hardy

The card was stacked with all Champion vs. Champion matches. I remember treating this show as if it was a PPV. The Main Event was the inspiration for me to buy my 3 Commemorative Belts, the Spinner, the Big Gold, and the Platinum Phoenix. Now, my pick isn’t the greatest match on TV, but it sure as hell could have been, had it been on PPV, or even Raw instead with more time. I am a huge Jerichoholic. At the time, my daughter was a huge Hardy fan. She was a fan of the Hardys up until they left Titan Towers for Orlando Championship Wrestling (I’m actually running out of time to use that reference). There is only one way they could possibly top this today. Antonio Cesaro vs. Wade Barrett vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. The Rock, in a Fatal Four Way match on Raw or Smackdown or Main Event or Slam. I wish they would give a PPV quality match on Saturday Morning Slam once in a while.

 

[Rayne]

I think that's a sign of a business which is much different than it was in '88 and a company which is much smarter than WCW in '98. The WWE puts their big matches on PPV now, not on free TV. Whereas Hogan vs. Andre happened in a time when PPV just really wasn't the beast it is today, we now have PPVs every month.

I also get the feeling you're suggesting there are no matches which could come to the level of either of those two matches, and if that's what you're thinking, I would disagree completely. Just last year, John Cena had back to back PPV matches which could rival Hogan vs. Andre and Hogan vs. Goldberg. With the same build, surely you can see how Cena vs. Rock 1 could easily be as big as either of those previous two matches. And I think Cena vs. Lesnar could also have been as big of a TV match. Heck, I think with the proper build Ryback vs. Cena could carry the same dynamic. You could even possibly throw Cena vs. Punk at MITB in the discussion as well. And Hogan vs. Austin, even today? Absolutely.

Perhaps you weren't suggesting there aren't matches which couldn't carry the same level of interest, but if you were, I disagree completely.

Well, those were the two matches under discussion. The dynamic definitely has changed with the PPV juggernaut, but I just plain have to disagree with you about today's matches translating to free television. A Cena/Lesnar giveaway would be huge, but would it be a seminal moment in the current professional wrestling era? I think instead it would be exciting for a month, and people would forget quickly. I also admit I'm falling behind on my professional wrestling lately, but didn't the WWE give away Punk/Ryback recently?

I'm not saying there aren't matches which would be big-for-today that you have on television. But not only is the talent pool not deep enough to avoid starving the PPV monster, the WWE isn't insane like WCW was in the late '90s. I could see Cena/Lesnar, Cena/Rock, or Taker/Lesnar drawing the kind of interest that the Andre/Hogan/Goldberg matches did, and just about nothing else from today. And the odds of the WWE giving away those matches, all Wrestlemania caliber, are none to zero.

 

[HBsam31]

A thread was just made about the biggest night in wrestling history over on the old school thread, and the OP talks about the Hogan/Andre rematch. That match for sure gets my vote. It was huge, especially for me as a little kid. I was glued to the tv, and what a swerve they threw us. It had to be one of the most watched matches ever, and it just had that ppv feel. I would give second place to Hogan/Goldberg as that was a huge match that I think they should have saved for ppv. Both had that almost wrestlemania feel to them, but imo Hogan/Andre 2 was bigger.

 

[rokuma]

I get where you're coming from Slyfox, but WCW basically created the monthly PPV monster. WWF wasn't quite there in 95-96, but WCW forced them to go head-to-head...and the crazy thing was their roster was so stacked, it could give away a Hogan/Goldberg match on free TV and still have a colossal main event on PPV. It was just crazy the amount of matchups they could put together. But Eric Bischoff was also all about TV ratings and less about the PPVs. He wanted to turn people away from the WWF product and that method is still used today in TNA.

The wrestling market today is still saturated with the amount of PPVs, but it doesn't need to be. And the matchups in WWE are simply stale. How many times do we see Orton/Barrett on TV? By the time the PPVs come around all the matchups have been used up (major exceptions have been Ryback/Punk the first time and Punk/Rock and potentially Punk/Brock). That's why I applaud TNA's approach of doing 4 major PPVs a year. It has potential to be good for their product.

I do agree with the previous poster that said it's sad that no match in the past decade would even qualify. The exceptions for matches that actually happened would be Cena/HBK and maybe HHH/HBK from December 2003 in San Antonio and Cena/Punk from Raw 1000. Maybe Austin/Rock vs the NWO, but it didn't feel "big" then. There are very few TV matches in this era that hold the "big match feel" like Goldberg/Hogan and Andre/Hogan. Cena/Undertaker might have that appeal if it were to happen or even Cena/Brock rematch. I think this speaks to the sad state of the business. There just aren't any megastars anymore. Hogan was a megastar. Rock and Austin were megastars. Cena is a megastar. Brock is a megastar. But who else? Punk is over and is a main eventer, but I'm not sure he qualifies as a megastar.

 

[Wally Dangerously]

Does everyone has Similac on their breath or am I overrating Hogan vs Andre, the WrestleMania III rematch, on The Main Event? Easily as big as Goldberg vs Hogan, I'd say.

I agree. Someone posted a thread about this match somewhere else in the forums recently. I was 8 when this aired on Main Event and I balled my eyes out when Hogan lost. Technically speaking, I don't recall the match being that great, but we're not talking about the best, just the biggest.

 

[CrunKSinatrA]

Hard to top the Hogan/Goldberg match. I was thinking Hogan/Andre and Rock/Mankind but I read other posts that beat me to the punch. Outside of those three it's pretty slim pickings. Only matches I can think of are...

Bret Hart/Chris Benoit - Great match and culturally relevant b/c of the Owen Hart tragedy and it was used in the Malcolm in the Middle opening.

Shawn Michaels/John Cena - A Wrestlemania rematch and one of Cena's best matches and feuds.

Kurt Angle/Brock Lesnar - I remember they had an Ironman match for a Wrestlemania rematch. No botched shooting star presses but still a great match.

 

[shattered dreams]

Nope. I'd say Andre vs Hogan was by far the bigger TV match. It did draw a 15 on the ratings. If that doesn't justify it as the biggest TV match ever, nothing will.

Pssh. Thesz-Rikidozan did something like an 87 in Japan. I think the true biggest tv match would likely come before pay per view times although the question is hard enough to answer as is before you start trying to compare eras.

 

[Toron]

Pssh. Thesz-Rikidozan did something like an 87 in Japan. I think the true biggest tv match would likely come before pay per view times although the question is hard enough to answer as is before you start trying to compare eras.

This is very true. Rikidozan apparently did some huge numbers in Japan in the 50's and early 60's, so really these would probably have to be the winners if you're basing this entirely on ratings. They've done some huge numbers in Puerto Rico over the years as well. I remember reading in Dutch Mantell's book they did a 23 rating, along with other similarily high numbers at times. But in the 50's, during the "golden era", way before PPV, when television was 1st becoming popular and synonymously professional wrestling, that has to be when you would say wrestling did some of its biggest TV matches. With guys like Lou Thesz and Gorgeous George, wrestling had exploded. It's hard to say exactly what the ratings were for so many of these events, there were a lot less people back then to, and not everybody owned a television set, so you really can't compare such things, but with wrestling blossoming solely based on its association with television, you have to say the 50's had some of the biggest TV maches of all time.

And on a personal note. In terms of sheer 'size', I'd just like to throw in the Kurt Angle/ Brock Lesnar Ironman match from Smackdown, 2003. As a 1 hour match on free television, that's pretty big.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Before I even seen your answer when I read the thread title the first thing that came to my mind was Goldberg vs. Hogan. Granted I was too young for the TV matches of the mid 80s so maybe they might have been bigger, but all I can tell you from my personal experience no match was hyped more that Goldberg vs. Hogan. I remember the last half of my junior year of High School(between April-June of 98) all my classmates kept talking about was a possible match between these two. No joke, there were Goldberg and NWO shirts all over my High School, even by the "cool" kids. That whole storyline was what everybody was talking about. So during the summer when that match finally happened I remember getting phone calls left and right letting me know about it. Unless you were around my age during it, it is hard to explain. The anticipation for it was off the charts. So in my lifetime I can't ever remember a more hyped match than that.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

Mick Foley vs. Rock for the title on Raw. The match where he wins the title with help from Austin. That helped turn the Monday Night Wars in WWE's favour. It was a pretty big deal in terms of tv ratings, and fans (like myself) couldn't get enough of it.

Hogan vs Andre on Saturday Night's Main event. Hogan loses the belt under controversial conditions. The end of Hogan's reign and beginning of Dibiase's. Led to the tournament at WM4 where Randy Savage became champ.