If there was one PPV that defined WCW...

[CBright7831 0]

Knowing all I know about WCW and how much of a trainwreck it was, I thought, if there was one PPV that defined WCW through it's entire era, what would it be?

[Guest *KNK*]

Knowing all I know about WCW and how much of a trainwreck it was, I thought, if there was one PPV that defined WCW through it's entire era, what would it be?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Starrcade 1997.

 

So much potential, so much talent and complete ineptitude and disapointment.

[Matt Young 0]

That's if you want to point out the beginning of the end. For positive PPVs, Bash at the Beach 1996 stands out. As far as overall wrestling quality, I'll have to think on that one.

 

God, I miss WCW.

[MDH257 0]

I agree with Starrcade '97. Second would be Starrcade '98 (the last WCW ppv I ever got) for what was going on politically that led to Nash beating Goldberg.

 

I don't miss WCW. Mostly because for every good thing, there were 5 things that made me want to pull my hair out or kick my television.

[Si82 0]

I'd go with Starrcade '97 too.

 

WCW built up the event masterfully. The main event between Hogan and Sting was something the fans had wanted to say for over a year.

 

It's just a shame that the event, when it did finally go down, was such a dissapointment.

[Special K 0]

It was built up for like a year and a half, and the heels won almost every match, including, really, the main event.

[The Buzz 0]

I've seen most of WCW's ppvs over the years, and I have to say Starrcade 97 is the first ppv that comes to my mind. Only because WCW was a company that always had talent, and sometimes got lucky and produced something good, but for the most part was chaotic and poorly ran, and looking back it's very evident.

[cabbageboy 0]

I'd have to say Bash at the Beach 96 here. But I was thinking of good things WCW did and not screwing up.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Knowing all I know about WCW and how much of a trainwreck it was, I thought, if there was one PPV that defined WCW through it's entire era, what would it be?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Starrcade 1997.

 

So much potential, so much talent and complete ineptitude and disapointment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

My first instinct as well, not even necessarily focussing on WCW's downfall and ultimate demise.

 

Though I was a pretty casual(at MOST) WCW fan, there was just so much at Starrcade and it just didn't live up.

[Just John 0]

It really depends what era you're looking at. Starrcade 96 is a pretty good representation of their good years, Starrcade 97 represents the decline, and I'd say something like New Blood Rising adequately portrays their hopeless later years.

[spman 0]

I would agree with those that say Starrcade q1997, it's just a complete metaphor for the good ideas that were booked to fail by bookers with an ego, and the wasted potential both of which constantly dogged WCW throughout it's existance.

[Jebus 0]

I'm gonna be different and say a PPV that defined WCW (at least after 1994) is Halloween Havoc 97 for 2 matches:

 

Undercard brings workrate (Eddie vs. Rey)

Main Event brings pain (Hogan vs. Piper...Age in the Cage)

[CanadianChris 0]

I never even considered anything besides Starrcade 97 before opening this thread. They took a fantastic, drawn-out, superhot angle and killed it dead in one night, thanks to ego, shortsightedness, and general ineptitude. That's WCW in a nutshell.

[cabbageboy 0]

Starrcade 97 was a bit of a goof but I don't think it killed the promotion or anything. It might have caused some initial frustration though.

 

I've said it before: WCW was killed big time in between Spring Stampede 99 (their last excellent show) and Slamboree 99. I even narrowed it down to one specific Nitro that to me just killed my interest in WCW as a viable promotion. It was the show where DDP lost the title to Sting and then won it back in a 4 way at the end of the show.

[Guest JMA]

Starrcade 1997 - One of the best build-ups ever for such a subpar show. Just imagine what things would've been like if the show lived up to its potential.

[Perfxion 0]

Starrcade 90: crappy main event fueds build with bullshit only saved by a degree by Flair trying to bail them out.

[King Cucaracha 0]

New Blood Rising truely respresented how dire WCW got towards the end.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

What happened at Starrcade 97? I didn't start watching WCW till it was too late.

[The Buzz 0]

Well even though Sting was always a main eventer, popular, ...sorta a draw.....he was in his peak popularity in the long drawn out feud against Hogan/nWo. The match was set to happen at Starrcade 97, it'd be Sting's first match in like 17 months. What was supposed to be a fast count with Hogan getting a controversial win only to have Bret Hart demand the match be restarted was a slower than usual count with the same end result. Because of that Sting's heat had the legs cut out from under it.

 

It is also the show with Larry Zybysko vs Eric Bischoff and I can't even remember the rest of the matches really. I just know most of the heels won and it just left a really bad taste in your mouth. The nWo had been winning so long that it was time for WCW to get that decisive victory for once, and they didn't get it.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

More or less, it was supposed to be the night that the NWO got theirs. Hogan would get his ass kicked, Bischoff would get his ass kicked, Nash would get his ass kicked, etc. WCW would finally win the big one and ride off into the sunset.

 

It was the best built and higest drawing PPV that WCW ever did. The Sting match was brewing for 18 months. Bret Hart, the hottest star in the business was making his WCW debut. WCW was ready to leave the WWF for dead. Alas, they put on a shitty show, have the card was rearranged due to no shows and the heels won everything. It is the epitome of all that was WCW, end of story.

[Just John 0]

It is also the show with Larry Zybysko vs Eric Bischoff and I can't even remember the rest of the matches really. I just know most of the heels won and it just left a really bad taste in your mouth. The nWo had been winning so long that it was time for WCW to get that decisive victory for once, and they didn't get it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The rest of the matches were all awful and included:

 

Steiners/Ray Traylor vs. Norton/Vincent/Savage

Goldberg vs. Mongo

Benoit vs. Saturn (sounds good except it turned into an extended beatdown by the Flock)

Nash vs. The Giant (Called off because Nash no-showed or some such bullshit)

Luger vs. Buff Bagwell (Went over 15 minutes... Think about that)

[CanadianChris 0]

Starrcade 90: crappy main event fueds build with bullshit only saved by a degree by Flair trying to bail them out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey, that sounds like Starrcade 93, too.

[cabbageboy 0]

What exactly were people expecting out of Starrcade 97? Only the Eddie/Malenko match and maybe Benoit/Saturn without silliness had any real potential to be worth a damn. Hogan/Sting was always going to be a shitty match, ditto Bisch/Larry Z. Some might have anticipated DDP/Hennig but honestly can anyone name a really good Hennig match post 1993?

 

Wrestling wise the show was always going to suck. The bad booking only made things worse. That said I kinda enjoy the show for some sick reason...it's kinda like watching Rome at the height of its decadence.

[MDH257 0]

What exactly were people expecting out of Starrcade 97?  Only the Eddie/Malenko match and maybe Benoit/Saturn without silliness had any real potential to be worth a damn.  Hogan/Sting was always going to be a shitty match, ditto Bisch/Larry Z.  Some might have anticipated DDP/Hennig but honestly can anyone name a really good Hennig match post 1993?

 

Wrestling wise the show was always going to suck.  The bad booking only made things worse.  That said I kinda enjoy the show for some sick reason...it's kinda like watching Rome at the height of its decadence.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

People were expecting that the blowoff to a 17 month angle would play out in the right way. Instead, typical political bullshit won out.

[Guest *KNK*]

Sting/Hogan was WCW's Hogan/Andre. The match quality was known to be horrible going into it, it was all about the spectacle.

 

This was supposed to be their WMIII. They had the mother of all main events and one surefire classic mid-card match (eddy/dean) and a bunch of nothingness in between but those two matches were gold and factor in the debut of Bret Hart... It was can't miss. They tanked big time.

[Guest JMA]

It also wouldn't have hurt to put Bret Hart in a match instead of having him be a referee. I mean, you have a guy that lost the WWF Championship in a controversial fashion and is on the biggest WCW PPV on the year and you have him referee a match between an announcer and a non-wrestler? They could've put him with Hall or Flair or anyone and it would've been good.

[cabbageboy 0]

Eddie and Dean had kind of an off night on that show though. At least I thought so.

 

WM 3 had a lot of nice stuff on it though, quite a few matches that either have a fun little angle or occurrance, nice *** type matches.

 

I never even entertained the idea of getting Starrcade 97 at the time. The concept of buying a WCW show was laughable to me at that point (though ironically the first WCW PPV we did get was Fall Brawl 98--one of the worst shows ever). The funny thing is that quite a few of my friends got this show and were all stoked for it....and I've never heard anyone talk about how much they liked the show.

[Just John 0]

Yeah, that Eddie/Dean match wasn't very good by their standards. It was at least two stars worse than their Uncensored match from earlier that year. That was the whole theme of Starrcade, disappointment, whether it be with workrate, build, booking or whatever.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

I'll give you one that can probably crystailze WCW's existence, the first nWo Souled Out in 1997

 

Great idea, horrible execution, returned to even more disasterous results with nWo Nitro later in the year

 

Pretty much summed up most of WCW's bad decisions both before and after

 

Steve

[cabbageboy 0]

I've actually never seen that Souled Out show but it sounds so bizarre that I wish I could find it.

 

The thing I never liked about the NWO was the way they tried in vain to pimp them as a completely separate organization. I mean at the end of the day they were merely a heel faction in a promotion, not some different entity. The hugest fundamental problem with the NWO angle is that all through it they constantly joked about how much WCW sucked and then proved it by beating their asses at every turn. Make no mistake about it...WCW was never hot, it was the NWO that was hot. Once the NWO angle ran out of gas note how fast interest in WCW waned. The big problem was that fans had been taught for so long that WCW sucked that once the big NWO angle fizzled out there was nothing else people cared to see.

 

I think WWE is making a similar mistake with Smackdown right now, constantly having the Raw guys joke on how bad and 2nd rate the show is, how much the show sucks. When you condition your audience to think that a show is inferior and second rate, they eventually believe it. The sad thing is that Smackdown is quite a bit BETTER than Raw.