10 Essential Pay-Per-View Events

[Guest Choken One]

Indeed...the WM2000 was a triangle ladder match not a TLC match...similar but called different...kinda like an I QUIT match and a Submission Match same type of purpose different name.

[PsychoDriver 0]

I would have liked to have seen Spring Stampede 99, Heat Wave 98 and Summerslam 2002 on the list.

[DCMaximo 0]

I know it was mentioned earlier, but AAA's When World's Collide,which had one of the greatest tag matches ever in Guerrero and Barr vs Octogon and Santo, was such an awesome event in terms of pure workrate that I'd certainly stick it in there before Barely Legal, which had that terrible Douglas/Pitbull match. Also No Way Out 2000 was a great show (HHH/Foley, Radicalz/Too Cool & Rikishi, E&C/Hardyz) that is often forgotten

[Guest MikeSC]

The 6 man was awesome, but the rest of a show was a letdown.  RVD/Storm is decent, but features some of the weakest chairshots ever seen, Dudleyz/Eliminators is nothing special, ditto for Taz/Sabu, Pitbull/Douglas, and Raven/Funk.  The triple threat match is ok, but not enough to save the show.

Even so though, how many shows can you name where every match was at least decent along with having a match as good as the 6 man? WMX only had two watchable matches. I wouldn't ever say Barely Legal was as good as WMX and CS, but I'd still put it somewhere in the top ten.

 

I liked Taz/Sabu, I really liked the triple threat, and Raven/Funk wasn't the greatest thing ever but it was emotional. A cool ending for a PPV. That's why I would put it over something like Heat Wave, which was a great show but had the Dudleys main eventing.

 

Another thing was it showcased everything ECW was about at the time. So aside from being a good show, it's got some historical signficance.

EVERY match was decent?

 

Douglas v Pitbull was decent?

 

What, precisely, qualifies as crap?

 

The only thing BL showed was that if they wanted great matches on PPV, they had best invest in bringing over M_Pro guys as they SMOKED the ECW work.

-=Mike

...Then again, ECW never had a truly great PPV, ala WCW Spring Stampede

'99 or, well, all of WWF's PPV's in 2000 up to Unforgiven (well, ignore KOTR that year, too)

[Guest MikeSC]

Uh drop the 96 WCW.

 

Take anything post-Road Wild in 97 to WWIII 97 and you'll find superior work all around.

 

Halloween Havok 97 and Clash of the Champions from this time period were excellent shows.

Havoc '97 was just as much a one match show as Badd Blood that same month.

-=Mike

[Murmuring Beast 0]

Backlash 2000.

[KTID 0]

Thread bumped for those interested in the article.

[Betty Houle 0]

Thread bumped for those interested in the article.

Thanks for posting it. I'm always looking for things to read when I have a moment to pause during work.

 

Incidentally, I can see including the ECW PPV on an essential PPV list (although maybe not on a best PPV list).

[Guest MikeSC]

Hearing somebody claim that Barely Legal had nothing but good-decent matches is still funny after all of this time.

 

Jesus, Douglas v Pitbull was horrendous.

-=Mike

[res37618 0]

Summerslam 98's a better pick than 00 IMO since it's one of the peak shows of Attiutde in it's early days.

 

Or how about Wrestlemania 1? WCW Souled 97? All better than SS00 and Wrestlewar.

I'll agree that SummerSlam '98 would probably have been a better pick than '00, both from a historical perspective and for being a more solid, well-worked-and-booked card overall. But WrestleMania 1 and Souled Out '97 being better, and more deserving, than SS '00 and WrestleWar '91? I beg to differ.

 

WrestleMania 1, while uber-historic for multiple reasons, was a completely wretched card with a bunch of matches that were borderline-horrible (why did we have to get Valentine/JYD instead of the Valentine/Santana match that made more sense and would've been about 8 1/2 times better?) And as much as I love the energy surrounding the Piper/Orndorff vs. Hogan/T main event, it was nowhere near good. WrestleMania 1 is probably among the five worst WM's ever, so how on Earth can it be one of the top-ten PPV's ever? WM1 has always gotten a "bye" from being slaughtered by the die-hard wrestling community simply for it's historical significance, but that's it. If such a show was presented today, it would be raped by even the most lenient fans on this board. WrestleMania III did much, much more to shape our image of what WrestleMania should be than 1 ever did.

 

Souled Out '97 was wretched, a waste of money, and three hours of my life I'll never get back. It's only historic significance was being the first "completely nWo" PPV, but aside from the Guerrero/Syxx ladder match, that show was bad. Really bad. And speaking of the ladder match from SO '97 - it was by far the match of the night, but as ladder matches go, it's an afterthought to at least a dozen better ones, and it's hard not to stand out on a supercard that has such blockbusters as Jarrett vs. Michael Walstreet and Scotty Riggs vs. Buff Bagwell. Aside from some historical value, I have no idea how you could ever call Souled Out '97 any better than ANY of the shows on the top-ten list we're debating.

 

In comparison, WrestleWar '91 had an outstanding WarGames (definitely one of the ten best WCW matches from the first half of the '90's), plus the Luger/Spivey match which defied all logic as one of both men's best efforts EVER. I'm not quite sure about it being a top-ten PPV overall, but definitely a top-ten WCW PPV. If you can find a copy and fast-forward to the final hour-and-a-half or so of it, you should enjoy it immensely.

 

And SummerSlam '00 had three excellent matches (the main event 3-way, the TLC match, and Jericho/Benoit 2-of-3 falls.). The rest of the card wasn't that good, and didn't carry the booking aura of '98 or '02, but it was still a fairly solid show that deserves good praise. And, undoubtedly, more enjoyable to watch than either WM1 or Souled Out '97.

 

I don't know that I would've included SummerSlam '00 or WrestleWar '91 on the list, but saying that WrestleMania 1 or Souled Out '97 needed to be on the list ahead of those two shows is, as Carlito would say, "not cool." I'll give those two shows the "historical significance" card, but that's it. To me, the "top-ten PPV's" should provide both outstanding workrate, PLUS memorable moments that helped define the industry. Neither WM1 or SO '97 did that.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

I'll agree that SummerSlam '98 would probably have been a better pick than '00, both from a historical perspective and for being a more solid, well-worked-and-booked card overall.

 

Agreed.

 

For historical reasons, Barely Legal and WM3 both belong on this list.

 

Now, I have a different sort of approach to the topic. As opposed to 15 overall, why not 5 key ppv's from each fed? I'll post, but only 10, as I never really watched WCW.

 

WWF/E:

 

Wrestlemania 3-Billed as the biggest card of all time. Fair enough. Even if you hate Hogan, admit it. You marked out when he slammed Andre. And Savage Steamboat might be the best match of all time.

 

Wrestlemania 10- I take that back. There's at least one. and many would say two, contenders for 'best of all time' with this show. Bret vs Owen was a truly classic match. And at the time, the Ladder Match was just unprecedented. Truly revolutionary.

 

Wrestlemania 14- Quality matches up and down the card. A surprise return from the LOD, five great mid card matches, nostalgia from the Undertaker/Kane match. Most importantly, this helped turn the corner for the WWF, and without a doubt, officially marked the beginning of the Attitude Era with Austin's win.

 

Summerslam 98- Again, some great matches across the board. Who would have said Edge as Sable's partner? Mankind was truly entertaining in the tag handicap match, a (semi) clean win over the Taker for Austin, and the title drop for the Rock helped springboard his career. And, sob, a time when HHH wasn't a glory hog.

 

Wrestlemania X7- Little to no filler, probably the best work rate of any card I've ever seen. Nostalgia from the Gimmick Battle Royal, and a genuine surprise with Austin's turn. Great show all around.

 

ECW

 

Barely Legal- Show wasn't spectacular, but still very good, with lots of good matches. Find me one person who didn't love Funk getting the title, with a little help from Dreamer, finally getting revenge on Raven. Most of all, made ECW a household name.

 

HeatWave 98- Unbelivable mid card. Lynn vs Credible was a quality opener(who knew it'd be a PPV main event two years later?) The Main event was solid, and RVD and Sabu vs Shinsaki and Hayabusa was incredible. And I didn't even mention Tanaka vs Awesome!

 

Guilty as Charged 99- A great match with The Dudleys over Spike and New Jack, the first ever PPV encounter with Super Crazy and Tajiri, a brutal Stairway to Hell between Credible and Dreamer, and a good Main Event saw Taz defeat Shane.

 

Massacre on 34th Street- Brutal bout after brutal bout. The PPV debut of what would have been a phenomenal team in York and Matthews, who lost to what also would have been a great team, Swinger and Simon. A great tag match with The Unholy Alliance vs Crazy and Kash. Incredibly good CW vs Dreamer match. Good main event, coupled with a great plot that saw the Sandman steal the belt afterwards.

 

Guilty as Charged 01- Mostly for nostalgic reasons, but certainly a good show. Excellent 3 way tag dance for the #1 contendership, good revenge match between CW and Dreamer, great build of Rhino, a little humour sprinkled throughout the card, and a finish I honestly never saw coming.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Bash 96?!??!!?

Starrcade 96?!?!?!?

 

While both have some decent low-card matches...uh, no.

 

SummerSlam 2000 is a highly overrated show. TLC is amazing, Benoit/Jericho is too short to be memorable and very overrated, they've had 4 PPV matches against each other in WWF alone I can think of that are better. Main Event is average for them.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Summerslam 98's a better pick than 00 IMO since it's one of the peak shows of Attiutde in it's early days.

 

Or how about Wrestlemania 1? WCW Souled 97? All better than SS00 and Wrestlewar.

I'll agree that SummerSlam '98 would probably have been a better pick than '00, both from a historical perspective and for being a more solid, well-worked-and-booked card overall. But WrestleMania 1 and Souled Out '97 being better, and more deserving, than SS '00 and WrestleWar '91? I beg to differ.

 

WrestleMania 1, while uber-historic for multiple reasons, was a completely wretched card with a bunch of matches that were borderline-horrible (why did we have to get Valentine/JYD instead of the Valentine/Santana match that made more sense and would've been about 8 1/2 times better?) And as much as I love the energy surrounding the Piper/Orndorff vs. Hogan/T main event, it was nowhere near good. WrestleMania 1 is probably among the five worst WM's ever, so how on Earth can it be one of the top-ten PPV's ever? WM1 has always gotten a "bye" from being slaughtered by the die-hard wrestling community simply for it's historical significance, but that's it. If such a show was presented today, it would be raped by even the most lenient fans on this board. WrestleMania III did much, much more to shape our image of what WrestleMania should be than 1 ever did.

 

Souled Out '97 was wretched, a waste of money, and three hours of my life I'll never get back. It's only historic significance was being the first "completely nWo" PPV, but aside from the Guerrero/Syxx ladder match, that show was bad. Really bad. And speaking of the ladder match from SO '97 - it was by far the match of the night, but as ladder matches go, it's an afterthought to at least a dozen better ones, and it's hard not to stand out on a supercard that has such blockbusters as Jarrett vs. Michael Walstreet and Scotty Riggs vs. Buff Bagwell. Aside from some historical value, I have no idea how you could ever call Souled Out '97 any better than ANY of the shows on the top-ten list we're debating.

 

In comparison, WrestleWar '91 had an outstanding WarGames (definitely one of the ten best WCW matches from the first half of the '90's), plus the Luger/Spivey match which defied all logic as one of both men's best efforts EVER. I'm not quite sure about it being a top-ten PPV overall, but definitely a top-ten WCW PPV. If you can find a copy and fast-forward to the final hour-and-a-half or so of it, you should enjoy it immensely.

 

And SummerSlam '00 had three excellent matches (the main event 3-way, the TLC match, and Jericho/Benoit 2-of-3 falls.). The rest of the card wasn't that good, and didn't carry the booking aura of '98 or '02, but it was still a fairly solid show that deserves good praise. And, undoubtedly, more enjoyable to watch than either WM1 or Souled Out '97.

 

I don't know that I would've included SummerSlam '00 or WrestleWar '91 on the list, but saying that WrestleMania 1 or Souled Out '97 needed to be on the list ahead of those two shows is, as Carlito would say, "not cool." I'll give those two shows the "historical significance" card, but that's it. To me, the "top-ten PPV's" should provide both outstanding workrate, PLUS memorable moments that helped define the industry. Neither WM1 or SO '97 did that.

I meant Souled Out 1998. But looking back I disagree with my own choices of WM1 and Souled Out.

 

But I maintain that Slam 98 belongs on there.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

One big problem with the people who thought WrestleMania 1 should have been on the list...

 

It says Essential PPV events.

 

WrestleMania 1 was not a PPV event at the time.

[slabinskia 0]

I will give a list of 10 ppvs each from wwf,wcw.These are ppvs I like but not necessarily for everyone.The only noteworthy ecw ppv is barely legal imo and that doesn't stand the test of time.

 

In no order

 

WWF

 

WM17

The best workrate ppv ever imo

 

RR00

Great workrate with a good rumble,the debut of taz,the first tables match in the fed and the awesome streetfight

 

WM8

2 great title matches and the surprise return of the warriar.I don't know if it still holds up but it is still one of my favorites.

 

Summerslam 98

good ladder match and main event.

 

WM10

2 of the best matches the company put on.Might be a 2 match show but they were 2 really great matches

 

Survivor series 96

Bret-Austin is a classic and had 3 other solid matches.

 

JD00

I don't remember anything bad on this show.The ironman match and ic title matches were especially great.Everyone has noted that you can put 6 ppvs from that year on the list

 

WM3

A 2 match show.one for being a classic and one for historic reasons

 

Canadian Stampede

4 matches.All were good.

 

One Night Only

I don't know how many have seen the full ppv but it is really good.bret-taker is worth going out of your way to see.UT best match not involving a cage.

 

WCW

 

GAB89

Many great matches.wargames,flair-funk,sting-muta were all good.

 

Wrestlewar 92

The best wargames match ever,a really good steiners match.I like this one more than 91.

 

Spring Stampede 94

I thought most of the matches were at least solid.The street fight and flair/steamboat were the best.

 

Slamboree 94

The rematch to the street fight the month earlier was awesome.several more decent matches makes this a good ppv imo.

 

Spring Stampede 99

A great ppv at a time when wcw wasn't putting on many good shows.

 

Beach Blast 92

Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so but I thought this had some great matches. sting/cactus,steamboat/rude and steiners/mvc were all great matches.

 

GAB96

Some have already questioned why this was on the list but I thought it was good.

 

BATB 96

The more important ppv for obvious reasons.It also had rey/psichosis and a good malenko/disco match.

 

Starcade 95

I liked the world cup idea.and the triangle match was pretty good.I am running out of ppvs to list.

 

SB3

Sting-Vader and Benoit-Scorpio were great matches and the rocknroll/heavenly bodies match was pretty good.

[res37618 0]

I meant Souled Out 1998. But looking back I disagree with my own choices of WM1 and Souled Out.

 

But I maintain that Slam 98 belongs on there.

Now THAT I could probably agree with - Souled Out '98 was a great example of a WCW PPV that hit on all cylinders. Only two or three matches on that show were "bleh", the rest were outstanding and the crew brought the workrate in spades for that one. I don't see much historical significance with that one, but I definitely can see it as a top-notch show workrate-wise.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

I meant Souled Out 1998. But looking back I disagree with my own choices of WM1 and Souled Out.

 

But I maintain that Slam 98 belongs on there.

Now THAT I could probably agree with - Souled Out '98 was a great example of a WCW PPV that hit on all cylinders. Only two or three matches on that show were "bleh", the rest were outstanding and the crew brought the workrate in spades for that one. I don't see much historical significance with that one, but I definitely can see it as a top-notch show workrate-wise.

Even Nash/Giant wasn't bad.

[Guest JerichosHi-Lite]

Judgment Day 2000 is better than SummerSlam 2000... Eddy/Dean/Saturn, Jericho/Benoit, and Rock/HHH is just 100 straight minutes of workrate.

 

Jason

So was Backlash. I think Backlash 2000 is very, very underrated. Easily the best of that year. However, I think Summerslam's second, if only for the 'big event' feel that you rarely get anymore. Fully Loaded and Judgment Day were very good too and I have a soft spot for No Way Out ...

 

 

I have to say, anybody who puts WrestleMania 3 on an Essential Pay-Per-View list is barking mad. Savage/Steamboat is obviously a classic, but other than that the event is shit. There's no other word for it. Hogan/Andre was a terrible, terrible match. Sure the match was a big deal back then, but "Essential Event"? No way

[res37618 0]

I have to say, anybody who puts WrestleMania 3 on an Essential Pay-Per-View list is barking mad. Savage/Steamboat is obviously a classic, but other than that the event is shit. There's no other word for it. Hogan/Andre was a terrible, terrible match. Sure the match was a big deal back then, but "Essential Event"? No way

 

I have to disagree. With WMIII, you've got fairly good workrate in the opening Can-Am vs. Orton/Muraco, the 6-man with the Hart Foundation/Bulldogs, and unbelievable workrate in one of the greatest IC title matches EVER in Savage/Steamboat. Plus the "historical significance" of the famed "93,173", and an epic WM main event in Hogan/Andre (the match sucked, but it's hard to deny the aura around it), and thus, WMIII is an essential view for any fan.

 

When someone speaks of WrestleMania's legacy to wrestling as a whole, it can't be denied that WMIII was a mega-milestone in the business. It's a blueprint of what the "WrestleMania hype" is all about.

[KTID 0]

*annual bump time*