WWE/WCW Match Backwards Draft

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Tables and Ladders Match

Sabu vs. The Sandman

November to Remember

Monaca, PA

November 30, 1997

 

 

As a maturing smark I was completely starved for ECW. Living in Central Illinois, Sports Channel Chicago was my only opportunity to check it out. Unfortunately, they only carried the program for three weeks before it was deemed too violent. Even the first two pay-per-views were unavailable in my area. This was a total bummer, as I really dug what little of the product I had seen. Then, finally, Viewer's Choice announced that they were going to start carrying ECW PPV showings. My heart lit up. It was about time.

 

While the November to Remember show was panned as one of the company's weaker offerings, I was still just thrilled to have the chance to check out what the company was up to. I can honestly say that I enjoyed the entire show... with one notable exception.

 

The Sandman-Sabu program that had been hampered by Sandman's multiple injuries, and their first-PPV encounter was scrapped as a result. This was considered a make-up for the one-on-one that never happened at Hardcore Heaven a few months prior. The only problem was that this match should not have happened for the same reasons that the previous match did not happen. Sandman was not medically fit to perform, live, on a pay-per-view broadcast. He looked to be in great pain making his way to the ring. Each meaningless hardcore spot became increasingly difficult to watch. The two guys dragged this gratuitous spotfest on for a grueling twenty-plus minutes before putting the match out of its misery.

 

This match was so bad that the company intentionally pre-taped their next pay-per-view match as a preemptive measure just in case it sucked as much and required heavy editing.

[JHawk 0]

More WCW "goodness".

 

October 27, 1991

Chamber of Horrors

Halloween Havoc 1991

 

 

I couldn't find an image of Abdullah the Butcher in the electric chair to bring home how asinine this was. On top of the "first to be electrocuted loses" stip, you also had the lever go down on its own, so Cactus Jack has to improvise a plausible way to pull the lever without making the entire scenario look like shit.

 

It didn't work.

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I kinda like that match.

[JHawk 0]

Sadly I like Havoc 91 as a whole, but still drafted two matches from it.

 

I'd probably draft more 1999-2000 WCW but I missed most of the Russo stuff due to not having cable for six months.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Right, first pick...

 

Rick Rude vs. Masahiro Chono

WCW Halloween Havoc 1992, NWA World Title

 

Okay, first up is a match I really wanted to like. Having heard good things about their match in Japan, when I finally got this show on video I was looking forward to at least seeing the US version. Off the top of my head I can barely remember what happened. I vaguely remember a lot of restholds. You had Harley Race as Rude's chosen referee, which added pretty much nothing. For some reason Chono seemed really lost and the match limped along very awkwardly. And it limped on some more. And it went over 20 minutes before the trusty over the top rope WCW DQ finish to let Rude win without Chono dropping the title. The crowd had just sat through a 30 minute time-limit draw which probably didn't help their interest. There are worse matches out there, but this was a real personal disappointment.

 

 

And second...

 

John Cena vs. JBL

Wrestlemania 21, WWE Championship

 

 

It's amazing to think how much of a reaction Cena gets now and then look at this. Actually, it's amazing to watch shows surrounding this and then wonder why the crowd are so dead for the biggest match of his career to that point. JBL's title reign wasn't exactly crowd friendly, mainly due to the fact they booked him to be the modern day version of the Honky Tonk Man. Time after time he relied on flukes and outside interference to retain the title. Anyway, watching the hype video first, the build-up was absolutely all over the place. They ripped off D'Lo beating HHH for the Euro Title with Rock's help for Orlando's US Title win. They had Cena FU Teddy Long for some reason. They ripped off HHH/Austin by implimenting a no physical contact until the PPV gimmick. They ripped off numerous Austin feuds by having Cena get arrested and beaten up by JBL while in cuffs. And Cena still didn't have a catchphrase at this point so he was throwing all kinds of shit against the wall.

 

Anyway, the match itself. NOTHING HAPPENED. Actually, that's a lie, JBL's entrance was awesome with the JBL bucks falling from the ceiling. But after that NOTHING HAPPENED. For reasons known to nobody JBL absolutely squashed Cena from the start. He just worked him over with move after move, shot after shot and the crowd were dead. By the time Cena eventually made his comeback, nobody really cared and those that did stopped caring at the sight of his piss-poor offence. This match features THE VERY WORST hiptoss in wrestling history. Thank god Cena eventually dropped that. The fact this happened after Angle/HBK and an Austin/Piper segment probably didn't help either. But aside from a couple of not too impressive Cena chants the crowd were really disinterested. And then it just ended out of nowhere with an FU. No drama, no nearfalls, it just ended. Cena then went into a full Eddie Guerrero victory celebration in the crowd, minus the fans going wild and the great match that proceeded it.

 

Considering everything it launched, it's amazing how pointless this all was.

[JHawk 0]

WWF Title Match: The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid© (WrestleMania 13)

 

 

This might be the worst main event in WrestleMania history. 22 minutes of sheer boredom on an already craptacular card.

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The 1995 Royal Rumble

Tampa, FL

January 22, 1995

 

 

If you want to see just how pathetic and thin the WWF roster was at this point in time, just go ahead and watch this depressing refurbishment of everything that made the traditional rumble match enjoyable. It used to be that this epic 30-man contest was the one match that featured every major WWF superstar. Remember Warrior and Hogan back in '90?

 

The efforts of Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith would have been more impressive if it weren't for the fact that nobody else in the match could have believably won. Not to mention that the sixty-minute intervals did little to highlight the "iron man" aspect of numbers one and two making it until the end. There are losers from previous rumbles who had lasted longer, yet drew later numbers.

 

Did I mention that the roster was thin?

[CanadianChris 0]

 

WarGames match: Team WCW (Warrior, Diamond Dallas Page and Roddy Piper) vs. Team Hollywood (Hollywood Hogan, Bret Hart and Stevie Ray) vs. Team Wolfpac (Kevin Nash, Sting and Lex Luger), Fall Brawl 98

 

What a debacle this was. A shitty, convoluted match, and a total desecration of the WarGames concept. Three teams of three? Teams that don't work together (since whoever won got a shot at Goldberg's title)? Pinfalls count? Add in all of Warrior's stupid hocus-pocus, and I feel sorry for the rest of you.

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FYI, I will be gone until Sunday so just skip over me and I will make up any missed selections at a later time.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Since I was at WM 21, let me just say the WWE Championship match was boring. All I remember is JBL hitting like a dozen spinning neck breakers and him missing the Clothesline from Hell leading to the FU.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

60-Minute Iron Man Match for the WWF Championship

Bret "Hitman" Hart © vs. Shawn Michaels

WrestleMania XII

Anaheim, CA

March 31, 1996

 

Let me start by saying that I am a huge Bret Hart fan, and a huge Shawn Michaels fan. But this match was both boring and disappointing. The original plan was to have both men trading falls before going into overtime, but management (or Michaels, depending on who is telling the story at the time) decided against the idea of the Heartbreak Kid "losing" several times en route to his first run as WWF Champion, so what we got, in turn, was an hour's worth of build to the only fall. The idea seemed really good on paper, but the execution was less than stellar. I do not want to sit through this ever again.

 

 

Really? I quite like that match. I don't see how it deserves to be put alongside the other stinkers here.

 

[Gert T 0]

With my 4th Round Pick, I select:

 

 

Kevin Nash v. Scott Steiner v. Goldberg/#1 Contender for WCW World Title/New Blood Rising

 

 

Wow Vince, wrestling is fake! Thanks.

 

 

[CanadianChris 0]

Still you, Gert.

[Jingus 0]

When you've only got five people, do you really need the serpentine rules?

 

I would have liked to do this one though, seems a nice change from all the other drafts.

[Gert T 0]

Can't find a pic:

 

 

The Nasty Boys v. Sting & Road Warrior Hawk/WCW Tag Titles/Starrcade '93

 

 

I am guessing this was supposed to be a ten minute match, and they decided since the show was running short they told them to go 30. Horrible match with a weak DQ ending.

 

 

 

[CanadianChris 0]

 

Casket match for the WWF Championship: Yokozuna vs. Undertaker, Royal Rumble 1994

 

Really, what needs to be said about this one? A fifteen-minute negative-star affair, followed by one of the all-time dumb angles with the Undertaker's "death" (complete with levitation!).

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Nice pick. I believe that to be the worst match (or at least the worst main event-level match) that I've ever seen. It makes the Doomsday Cage Match look like a ***** affair. The only moment as equally painful out of the Big 2 that I can remember is the Ric Flair beatdown in the desert on Nitro. Nothing like watching the hero get beat up by 10 guys for 20 minutes only to get 'killed off'.

[JHawk 0]

With mellow out of town until Sunday, I select for round five...

 

July 14, 1991

WCW The Great American Bash

El Gigante vs. One Man Gang

 

 

Had to have at least one bad match from the worst PPV ever. Horrible even by WCW big man standards.

[JHawk 0]

King Cucaracha asked me to select for him as he's gone for the weekend. His round five selection:

 

Picture won't show up, but it's The Undertaker vs. Big Bossman (Hell in a Cell WMXV)

[JHawk 0]

And King Cucaracha's last selection:

 

 

 

Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude (WrestleMania IV)

[JHawk 0]

And for my final selection:

 

 

Uncensored 1995:

Strap Match:

Hulk Hogan vs. Vader

 

So mindnumbing right up to the finish where Hogan drags Ric Flair, who dressed as a woman to sneak into the building, to all four corners. Sadly, I could have easily chosen the entire card and still had a viable choice.

[CanadianChris 0]

Yes, you probably could have, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that my last pick is also from that card:

 

 

King of the Road match: Dustin Rhodes vs. Blacktop Bully, Uncensored 95

 

Who on earth thought that this match could possibly be a good idea? The only thing that makes it even remotely worth watching would be Bobby Heenan's commentary. Amazingly bad and amazingly stupid.

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WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Hulk Hogan vs. The Butcher

Starrcade 94

Nashville, TN

December 27, 1994

 

 

Really? After last year with Flair and Vader? This match was the main event of what is supposed to be the company's biggest show of the year?

 

Perhaps this match isn't completely terrible, but I get a little sick to my stomach every time I remember WCW trying to sell me this shit. Of all the people in the world, Ed Leslie is the last person who had any business main eventing this show. Blech.

 

[Jingus 0]

WarGames match: Team WCW (Warrior, Diamond Dallas Page and Roddy Piper) vs. Team Hollywood (Hollywood Hogan, Bret Hart and Stevie Ray) vs. Team Wolfpac (Kevin Nash, Sting and Lex Luger), Fall Brawl 98

I somehow missed this. You know what my very favorite part of this match is? If you're even vaguely smart to the business, the lineup alone gives away who's going over and who he's pinning to do it.

 

Alright, we got six former world champions, Piper might as well have made it seven, DDP has gotten a few PPV main events, and then Stevie Ray... wait, what the fuck? Stevie Ray?! NWO Hollywood could've stuck in plenty of other higher-profile guys there. Yeah, Steiner, Hennig, and Hall already had other matches on the card, but not important ones. Hell, another member, The Giant, wasn't even on the show. So when you wonder why a guy as low on the totem pole as Stevie was in a match this big, it all becomes clear: he's only there to do the job.

 

And wait a minute, why do all these guys need Stevie Fruitbooty Ray to lay down for them? Hell, that's embarassing for all these guys who have main evented countless big shows. A closer look at the roster reveals one more guy who doesn't quite fit in with the rest: DDP. Sure, he had the feuds with Savage and Hogan, but he'd never been a world champ and just wasn't nearly as big a star as the others. Now it all makes sense. They wanted a match which was overstuffed with big stars, but they wanted DDP to go over, and since it's WCW of course a top guy isn't allowed to elevate a younger one. Diamond cutter, slapjack down, 123.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

The best part of that match, and I'm not even being ironic or joking here, was Piper's face and yell when he came out from the back. Just wild-eyed, lovely psychotic Piper. Easily the best part of the night that didn't involve former ECW talent.

 

And, of course, there's the DDP/Goldberg match from Halloween Havoc, which I think is still Goldberg's best match (it just narrowly beats out vs. Steiner from Fall Brawl 2k, I'd say).