What makes a Great Wrestling Card / Event?

[Richie Cult]

Last time, I analyzed the individual match. This time, the Whole F'n Show!
What makes a Great Wrestling Card / Event?

Let's have an 8 match card with 6 singles matches and 2 tag team matches.
Let's make it a house show (non-televised)

What would you expect to see so you could go home "high-fiving" the dude / dudette next to you saying, "That was cool, can't wait to see them next time!"

1) No more and no less than one women's match. It could be tag or singles, doesn't matter (Unless it is Shimmer Women's Athletes from Chicago, Illinois who put on an entire women's show that is entertaining if you are into that sort of thing).

2) Some good mic promos to get the crowd enthusiastic. Should be equal heel promo to face promo for a nice balance.

3) Some heel wins and some face wins. Again, balance. Plus, there might be a benefit to having a face win the last match because how many WrestleMania's took place with the main event / last match being a face victory? Or you could leave them hanging like "Empire Strikes Back".

4) Main event should be the longest match in minutes or the second longest match, but the first match of the night should be one of the shortest.

5) Main event should be the biggest reason you came there. My first concert I ever attended was in 1986 where Metallica opened for Ozzy Osbourne. Even though Ozzy is legendary, I think more people came to see Metallica, hence they could have been the main event.

6) Some wrestlers with star power / name recognition, if possible, should be on the card. However, I just recently watched a JCW "SlamTV!" show on the internet from 2007 and a wrestler I had only heard of, but never seen, Trent Acid, had such an interesting gimmick and image that I found him entertaining, so a catchy gimmick is good too.

7) NO MORE THAN ONE SPECIALTY / GIMMICK MATCH! Unless some super PPV, then maybe two, three tops.

8) Managers / valets. When I watched TNA in Nashville, TN a few years ago, Traci Brooks looked hot in person. I don't want to get negative so I won't say any more about that, but I was second row and her fan interaction, as a heel valet, was very good.

9) Elaborate scenery / decor / stage / ramp / ring banners look pretty cool, won't you agree?

10) A balance of unique matches (non-feud) and feud continuations. Maybe four of each? Recurring theme=balance.

What are your thoughts, additions, criticisms?

 

[fortune4life]

What about the order of matches. You need to build up from the bottom to top as far as star power goes. Start with two jobbers and work up. The only exception to this if they put a divas match in as a bridge between two main events which you see alot.

 

[fraserbee]

This is a really interesting topic, because I can think of so many different 'great' events that were great for so many different reasons. Just some I can think of off the top of my head:

WWF Wrestle Mania 3, Summerslam 1992, IYH Canadian Stampede, Wrestle Mania 17, Summerslam 2002.
WCW Great American Bash 1989, Wrestlewar 1991, Wrestlewar 1992, Superbrawl 3, Spring Stampede 1994, Spring Stampede 1998.
ECW Dr Is In, A Matter of Respect, Barely Legal
and a few others, like IWA King of Deathmatches, NOAH's two Tokyo Dome shows, AAA When Worlds Collide and so on.

Thinking of these shows, it is hard to think of any 1 thing that links all them, never mind a whole list.

1) No more and no less than one women's match. It could be tag or singles, doesn't matter (Unless it is Shimmer Women's Athletes from Chicago, Illinois who put on an entire women's show that is entertaining if you are into that sort of thing).

I'm trying to recall how many of those 'great shows' that I listed contained a woman's match, but no more than a few, so I don't think there needs to be one. That doesn't necessarily mean there shouldn't be one.

4) Main event should be the longest match in minutes or the second longest match, but the first match of the night should be one of the shortest.

I agree the main event should be one of the longer matches, but the opener doesn't need to be short. The best openers, I would say, are fast paced and exciting and get the crowd going. Too short a match just doesn't set a card off on the right note.

5) Main event should be the biggest reason you came there.

Yes, absolutely.

7) NO MORE THAN ONE SPECIALTY / GIMMICK MATCH! Unless some super PPV, then maybe two, three tops.

Again you are right. Although I listed IWA's King of Deathmatch tournament as a 'great show', it worked as a one-off and the first of its kind. It could never work as well again.

9) Elaborate scenery / decor / stage / ramp / ring banners look pretty cool, won't you agree?

They can. The WWE and TNA are good at this. Unless you can make your stuff look as good or better than theirs, then you shouldn't bother and keep it as basic as possible. There is no need to have fancy entrances ramps, fireworks and such if it just serves to indicate that you are second rate. See the 1996 ECW shows I listed. A plane blue ring, no ramp, nothing more than a curtain as the entrance and yet fantastic shows.

Most of the points you make are good ones, but one you missed is the crowd and the building. The crowd has to be into the matches and the show as a whole, and the matches have to be chosen to fit the situation too. This can vary depending on where you are. Like I mentioned, WM 3 was a great show but the same matches, held in the ECW arena would not have worked.

I'm interested to see what other people think.

 

[Richie Cult]

Thank you fraserbee for all the insight.
It appears that I missed a "momentum" factor which means that one match actually builds on the next and you could actually "lose" a crowd during the event. Makes sense and I use a compact disc as an analogy. If you bought a CD for track number 8, but were forced to listen to songs 1 through 7 first, then 1 through 7 need to keep you motivated or else you lose the mood. Luckily with CD's, you can skip ahead, but not with live shows or live TV.

 

[Richie Cult]

Thank you fortune4life.
Did you mean start with 2 jobbers wrestling each other in the first match or the first 2 matches being "squash matches" against jobbers to bolster an up-and-coming superstar?

 

[Richie Cult]

fraserbee also believes that unless you are a huge promotion, aesthetics like decor and the like should not be a priority.
I agree, unless you are trying to make a really good first impression for maybe a pilot / debut show. It's funny because when I saw TNA in Nashville, TN. the outside of "The Asylum" was a little embarrassing in that it was on the fairgrounds in what looks like a military plane hangar. While inside, it was gorgeous with the decor and lighting.

 

[Richie Cult]

Variety of match styles is important too. If WCW did not have the cruiserweight matches to supplement the Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper main events, they would have went under a lot sooner.
A good technical match (preferably one of the longer matches) would be welcomed as well.