The Biggest Show EVER

[klunderbunker]

In short, what is it? Every show it seems is billed as the biggest show ever and how awesome it's going to be. Naturally this is very rarely even in the discussion of truth, but what I want to know is what is the biggest show of all time? I know that's not much of an opening but I think it sums things up as well as possible. By biggest I mean a combination of crowd, card, wrestling, hype, atmosphere etc. Pretty much the show that felt huge. What I am NOT asking for is what do you feel is the best show ever. I want to know what you think is the biggest, best presented and most important show (combining those things) ever.

Please remember to give reasons or you will be penalized for spamming.

 

[SickJames]

Without a doubt the answer MUST be a WrestleMania, screw all other companies, WWE is the top dog and WrestleMania is its baby, its special event, the biggest of the year! And it truly delivers

And yes there's nothing more to be said after confirming it must be a Mania, we all know which was the biggest and it wasnt 1, 3, 18, 19, 20, none of those... it was WrestleMania X7!!

Yes, the crowd was huge, a nice sized crowd of fans, and might I add enthusiastic fans kept excited throughout the entire event! Every match being simply off the hook. The lighting, entrances, energy, electricity, entertainment value, good old fashion technical wrestling, good quality hardcore wrestling and high flying extreme action as well as hardcore brawling hot Divas, the tag team division was booming and it was The Attitude Era!

It doesnt get any bigger than WrestleMania X7 or better being headlined by the two biggest stars at the time and imo period, The Rock & Stone Cold, two very talent stars who came a long way in little time and didnt tarnish themselves like Hogan & Flair, knew when to say when and went out on top

These two alone make it big, I mean they headlined THREE WrestleManias, thats how big that match is, and those two were. But this 2nd battle was the best of all three and the unforgettable Austin/McMahon alliance during the whole thing

Taker riding down that aisle, the vintage brawl, I mean a nice hard fight he & The Game, Triple H had, and the Legends were used nicely without taking up much time, the backstage segments werent like they have been at recent Manias, just odd and unfitting at times


Everything just fit into place and WrestleMania X7 had the best and biggest card ever out of all of them


The closest Manias to it would have to be Mania X8 Rock vs Hogan was epic, WM XX obviously look at all the legends used there, Flair, Rock, Austin, Taker & more

WrestleMania 3 being so huge in crowd size and the slam heard round the world and 19 had many great moments, WM 1 put it on the map, but overall when it's said and done and you look over and watch ever Mania you got to give it to WrestleMania X7

Not just the best event ever, the biggest event ever

The presentation, stage, everything, atmosphere was perfect and great, no firework screw ups like WM24

And if I had to show one event if a person asked me whats the biggest event ever in wrestling, I'd show this, the biggest is the best by default to me, in this case of WrestleMania it reigns true

You couldnt make a card today in ANY company to match that one, thats truly something that may never be matched again or for a very long time.

 

[Megadeth]

I am gonna go with probably the most obvious one, Wrestlemania III. I know there is some controversy over the attendance figures, but it still holds the record for the largest indoor event in history. And going back and watching the videos from it, it really felt like all 90+ thousand people there were really into the show. The electricity of the crowd is just something that I don't think has ever really truly been reproduced, although they have come close a few times. Not to mention that almost 1 million people actually watched it on closed circuit, plus several more million watched on PPV, which at the time was still new and not even in most homes.
Plus, the main event, Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant. For really the first time since he had won the WWF title 3 years before, Hogan went up against someone who truly seemed unbeatable. It really had people wondering if Hulk Hogan could actually take down the giant, and the pop when he picked Andre up and Slammed him will never be matched. Not to mention the undercard with Macho Man vs Ricky Steamboat stealing the show, in one of the greatest matches of all time. Plus you had the Hart Foundation and Danny Davis vs The British Bulldogs and Tito Santana, Jake Roberts with Alice Cooper, Roddy Piper, Harley Race and many other legends and hall of famers on the undercard.

So, at least in my opinion, the honors have to go to Wrestlemania III. A couple of honorable mentions would have to be Summer Slam 92, which had I believe the 2nd largest crowd in WWE/F history, and featured Macho Man vs Warrior, and a main event of The Bulldog vs The Hitman for the IC title. And I think Wrestlemania VIII with Flair vs Savage, Hogan vs Sid, and Bret vs Piper was also a great card, and a great energy, but both lacked the significance of Wrestlemania 3.

 

[The Raven's Epitaph]

I'm going to have to go with 2 of the many great, Wrestlemania's.

Wrestlemania III and Wrestlemania X7, to me, by far stand out as the most anticipated, built up and biggest Wrestling shows of all time.

Wrestlemania III will always go down in history as one of the greatest, if not, the greatest, Wrestlemania in history. For starters, it had over 93,000 fans there and is still the record for the biggest indoor event ever.

Wrestlemania X7 was huge aswell. At the time, I believe that WWE was possibly the biggest thing in Sports. The way the entire show was built up, the superstars that were on the show itself, not to mention that the crowd was entirely hyped all the way through the show.

I didn't once hear the fans having some sort of brief silence throughout any part of the matches, it was arguably one of the greatest shows.

That's what I think anyway.

 

[mayankeagle]

Agree with Sick James, it has to be Wrestlemania 17. It had a great combination of technical wrestling, brawling and high flying matches. The TLC match was the best in history, the Taker/ HHH and Austin/ Rock brawls were great, and the Angle/ Benoit technical wrestling match was also superb. The PPV won the best PPV of the year award from Wrestling Observer and in fact 411manias.com called it the best Wrestlemania ever and the best PPV ever. Mania 3 was nothing compared to Mania 17. The only main wrestling highlight of Mania 3 was the Steamboat/ Savage match. Hogan vs Andre was one of the worst matches of all time with only one memorable moment.

 

[fenfool]

I have to agree with Wrestlemania III. That was the first really big show, the first time you heard about friends gathering to watch the show together. The Hogan-Andre match had amazing hype, and pulled in new fans from outside the wrestling faithful. The crowd was huge, and really into it. This is the one that really started PPV wrestling.

 

[KitInaka]

I can see people want to say WM III was the best. But compared to WM X7. I have to give it to 17. The Triple Threat TLC Tag Match has to be one of the greatest matches of all time. Not to mention every other match was a dream match at that point. HHH v Taker, SCSA v Rock, Angle v Beniot, every match was something the Universe wanted to see. All-in-all, outside of my first PPV, KOTR 98, this has to be my favorite PPV of all time in not only my mind but others as well.

 

[Megadeth]

I agree that WMX7 had a great card, but this isn't the best card ever, it's about the biggest, most important show ever. And I think WM3 takes it over x7 because most of the matches at x7 we had seen before on various other shows and PPV's. It wasn't even the first time Austin/Rock had fought in the main event at WM. Plus, even though WM is the biggest show of the year, WM3 took place during a time when PPV's didn't happen every month, which made them that much more important when they did. X7, on the other-hand, we had up to that point at least 2 PPV's a month between WCW and WWE, and a third when you count in ECW. Even if you only count WWE/F ppvs, that is still one a month, which I think weighs down the overall importance of all the ppvs.

 

[Stopford11]

Wrestlemania X7 is by far the best PPV ever. Didn't have many bad points to speak of apart from the Gimmick Battle Royal. Seeing Iron Sheik trying to walk and, DAMM, winning the battle royal. Listening to Mene Gene music was bad enough but seeing Sgt. Slaughter put that Cobra clutch on The Iron Sheik was terrible and clearly showed their advanced ages. Thought I'm sure the SGT is a close age to Flair. Flair, take note and RETIRE properly. Hogan too!

The William Regal vs. Jericho match wasn't to hot either, it wasn’t bad, But I think people find it hard to work with Regal's style of match. Very ground based and technical. Jericho is more of a fast mover and a bit more of a high spot person. But on the whole not bad.

Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle. What can you say. Two of the very best ever. WWE stop denying the existance of Benoit. He was a truly pure class wrestler. GREAT match to watch and should/copuld of been a main event at any time. Nice to watch the technical, amateur and brawling of these grapplers combined into one great match.

Raven vs. Big Show vs. Kane was a personal favourite of mine, I like it hardcore, what can I say. Seeing Kane drive the buggy with the ref on the back was funny. And the finish off of the stage. Very good hardcore brawl.


TLC 2 = 100% Great action. Death defying moves. Good use of interference (how often can you say that). More of a 3v3v3 in the end but added to the excitment and topped TLC1 and the triple threat ladder match from WM16. AND Jeff Hardy's insane ladder spot of course. The man's crazy!

Undertaker vs. HHH surprised me with it's quality and Trip's lay down for Taker. The ref bump added to the excitment (again how often can you say that) and allowed them to brawl all over the arena. The final spots were were well executed. Antoher quality match.

The main event was one, which will never be forgotten; Stone Cold sold his soul to the Devil (Vince McMahon). The match was good, two of the biggest superstars in the industry fought in an epic battle. Back and forth moves, signature moves and finisher's griping the 60,000 plus people in Austin's home state of Texas. Austin and Rock left every thing in the ring that night.

This IS the best PPV of all time will go down in history as one of the most spectacular and surprising. As a whole it didn’t have that many faults. 4 5 star matches. How only other PPV's can say that?

 

[Neiler187]

Wrestlemania 3 and X7. 3 Is big because of the attendance and the great matches and moments and X7 is the end of the attitude era and one of WWE's greatest cards of all time.

 

[Kenny Powers]

As far as WCW goes, Starrcade 87 was the first NWA event to be broadcast on PPV. It was held in Chicago with Flair vs. Ron Garvin in the main event for the NWA World title. The PPV didn't do as well compared to Survivor Series, but soon the television special Clash of Champions was aired the same night as Wrestlemania 4 and was a big success. I would have to go with Clash of Champions as the biggest show ever on television.

As far as the history of PPV and attendance, it would have to be Wrestlemania 3. The original WrestleMania was in Madison Square Garden and had about 19,000 fans, but it became the largest viewing spectacle of its time. Over one million fans viewed the event through closed circuit television. Wrestlemania 3 was the biggest show ever because of the colossal match up of Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant. It broke a record attendance in the Pontiac Silverdome of 93,000 fans. Several million fans watched the event on PPV and closed circuit television.

There have been other huge events, but I would have to put Wrestlemania 3 as the biggest show ever and the first Clash of Champions as the biggest show on television ever.

 

[The Brain]

KB, you had to know this thread would be filled with WM3 and WM17 responses. I’d like to say I’m thinking beyond that and come up with something different but if I’m going to be honest I’m going to have to agree with half the responses.

Taking everything into consideration, including the timeframe in which the event took place, WrestleMania III is the greatest show ever. The overall action may have been better at other events, but when you tie the action, hype, anticipation, crowd, and atmosphere all together nothing beats WrestleMania III. The sight of 93,173 fans in the Silverdome was awesome. The ring carts driving the wrestlers down the long aisle was a nice little touch that made this event stand out even more. Starting during the daylight and going into darkness as the show progressed was one of those little seemingly meaningless things that just looked cool on tv. Just about every match had either a story going in or had something significant take place during it. By 1987 standards this was by far the best show the WWF had ever put on. Take a look at The Big Event from only seven months earlier. That had a really cool atmosphere in an outdoor stadium and an awesome crowd of about 70,000. The problem was the action sucked and most of the card was boring. Only seven months later WM3 was far superior to that show. We also got to see Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage redefine what a classic match was. WrestleMania III just felt like a show the whole world was watching.

Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant was the most anticipated match in wrestling history. Sorry Attitude lovers but Austin vs. Rock just does not match up. There are three main reasons Hogan vs. Andre was better (hype and anticipation) than Austin vs. Rock.

First is exposure. In 1987 we didn’t see Hogan or Andre wrestling every week. It was considered a treat just to have them come on the weekly show to give an interview. We would see them on the occasional Saturday Night’s Main Event and the very rare big show. In 2001 both Austin and Rock were on every Raw and every Smackdown. They would often wrestle on those shows rather than just give interviews hyping the show. They would also wrestle a big match on ppv every month. Not only that but they already had a long history with each other and even main evented mania just two years earlier. I know Hogan wrestled Andre at a big event in 1980, but there’s a big difference. In 1980 people weren’t familiar with Hogan yet and Hulkamania was a long way off. By the time WrestleMania III came along there was a whole new fan base and Hogan was a completely different wrestler.

Second is the death of kayfabe. Hogan was obviously the hottest thing in wrestling in the mid to late 80s, but he was also huge in pop culture. Even as recently as 1987 (if you can consider 23 years ago recent) some people still believed wrestling was real. Hogan had been a dominant champion for three years but a lot of people wondered if he would be able to defeat Andre The Giant. We didn’t have the internet to ruin the outcome for us. Had the internet been around it would have been reported months earlier that Andre needed back surgery and wouldn’t be around after mania. Instead we lived in simple and blissfully naïve times and wondered how Hogan was going to be able to topple the Giant. People wondered about the outcome because they didn’t know who would win the match, not because they didn’t know who Vince decided would win the match. Also people were angry with Andre for tuning against his friend. This match was personal whereas Austin vs. Rock was just a title match.

My third point will probably be argued by some but in my opinion Austin and Rock are just not as big of names as Hogan and Andre. Hogan and Andre transcended wrestling. I know Austin and Rock have their movies now, but Hogan and Andre were famous because of wrestling weather they ever got into movies or not. Rock is now famous for his movies. Wrestling made him famous but movies kept him famous. I don’t know how famous Rock would be if he were still in wrestling. Wrestling made Hogan famous and he got some movies because of it but it was always wrestling where Hogan was most famous. Rock needed to leave wrestling to remain famous with the outside media. Hogan was able to remain famous with the media just with wrestling alone. Basically I’m saying Hogan and Andre were bigger names with the outside media and within pop culture in 1987 than Austin and Rock were in 2001.

I loved WM17. It was the first mania I attended and the atmosphere was awesome. I just think WM3 was more magical and it’s largely due to us becoming smarter as the years went on. Just for an honorable mention I’ll throw WM19 out there. Great matches, great crowd, unique venue with a great atmosphere. It just didn’t have the same hype as WM3.

By the way KB, when are you going to give us your opinion?

 

[rohtopfan]

Id love to touch on this topic unfortunately I need to make this quick... WM's 3 & 17 are blatently obvious... even some of the honorable mentions... but im quite honestly suprised that nobody has yet to mention WCW/NJPW's Kollision in Korea... great card that attracted over 300,000 people over the two day event. Surely that should be mentioned.

 

[CyDeez]

Wrestlemania is obviously the biggest show when it comes to overall wrestling show...

But which Wrestlemania is the biggest!? I think the early days of it showed more hype for the event. Each match had months of build up basically. While the BEST Wrestlemania might be a different answer than the biggest, some of the best were the biggest as well.

But for hype and anticipation I have to say Wrestlemania 6 was massive!!! Hogan Vs. Warrior was one of the biggest matches EVER! The crowd was huge and there were plenty of other big matches on the card. Demolition Vs. Haku & Andre for The Tag Team Titles. Brutus Beefcake Vs. Mr. Perfect w/ Perfect's record on the line. But Hogan Vs. Warrior was its own monster in itself!

*** Honorable Mention

Wrestlemania 5 was hyped to the extreme as well. The Mega Powers Exploded for The WWF Title in the Main Event! Hulk Hogan Vs. Randy Savage. This was big! Hogan trying to regain the championship Vs. his former friend and current champion, Randy Savage.

Many other big matches on the card... Warrior Vs. Rick Rude for The IC Title. Demolition Vs. The Powers Of Pain & Master Fuji for The Tag Team Titles.