Greetings. Before we get to it, I'd like to state that the QOTD will from here on out be about anything. Really, we can only mine the wrestling cave for so long before we start over talking about how lame Starrcade 1997 was. So, for those who want to send a question in, you can literally ask anything. Be it about movies, TV, comic books, worse job, worse girlfriend, best job, best girlfriend, whatever. So, send'em on in to caliberw@hotmail.com
I'm glad you guys are digging the QOTD. Today, we've got a question from Mr. Eric Griffith.
"I just watched KotR 97 and Canadian Stampede back to back. The difference in quality between the two is quite striking. So, my question would be, what back to back PPVs have the biggest disparity in quality (i.e. one is really good, one is really bad)? Does anything top KotR '97 and Canadian Stampede?"
He has a great selection, but I'd have to go with WrestleMania 2000 to Backlash 2000. Now granted, WrestleMania 2000 had a ****+ ladder match, but the rest of the undercard was crap, with a massively disappointing main event. Backlash 2000 completely brought the goods, and still stands as one of the better PPVs of all time.
I'm glad you guys are digging the QOTD. Today, we've got a question from Mr. Eric Griffith.
"I just watched KotR 97 and Canadian Stampede back to back. The difference in quality between the two is quite striking. So, my question would be, what back to back PPVs have the biggest disparity in quality (i.e. one is really good, one is really bad)? Does anything top KotR '97 and Canadian Stampede?"
He has a great selection, but I'd have to go with WrestleMania 2000 to Backlash 2000. Now granted, WrestleMania 2000 had a ****+ ladder match, but the rest of the undercard was crap, with a massively disappointing main event. Backlash 2000 completely brought the goods, and still stands as one of the better PPVs of all time.
Starrcade '97 to Souled Out '98.
ReplyDeleteJudgment Day 2000 and King of the Ring 2000. Judgment Day was one of the company's great cards while the following month was a rare misfire during their hottest period.
ReplyDeleteWatched the 10 man tag from Canadian stampede last week, a little disappointing given the hype. I'm no expert but I'd personally clock it in around 3 1/2-4.
ReplyDeleteAhh the question of the day. My welcome distraction from the pikers that I have to talk to on the phone before I can leave and go to the gym.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I was thinking of an answer I went back onto the phone and my last call put me in a really bad mood...I don't even want to answer the question now. I fucking hate people.
Was just going to post this one. They also followed up KOTR 2000 with a great Fully Loaded card that had Y2J/HHH in the last man standing match, Benoit/Rock and a couple of other good undercard matches (the cage match where Rikishi! splashed Val from the top of the cage).
ReplyDeleteI chose that one b/c every match is good on that card. I understand being disappointed with 3.5-4 stars...but that's still a really good match. Contrast that with KotR 97 were Scott had all but one match at one star or lower, and you'll see what I mean. It needs some more love for worst PPV of all time.
ReplyDeleteFully Loaded was a great card. Still one of my favorites today. Jericho-HHH was balls-to-the-wall great and Benoit-Rock had an outstanding main event title match. The Hardys/Lita vs. T&A/Trish six-person tag gets overlooked a lot but it's pretty damn awesome too.
ReplyDeleteNot both PPVs but this year's Wrestlemania/Raw the night after was quite the contrast
ReplyDeleteMy home state did me proud that night :)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah sorry, should have mentioned I wasn't criticising your choice of PPV example or anything, just a random thought.
ReplyDeleteFirst I'd like to say that I really like the QOTD. Sure some of the topics have been done to death but it's similar to the News Feed Shelby was running. It opens conversation.
ReplyDeleteCanadian Stampede from King of the RIng 97 is a good one. I saw others mention the two 2000 events bookending King of the Ring from that year as well.
A recent example would be Capitol Punishment and Money in the Bank 2011. Capitol Punishment was decent(Rey-Punk and Orton-Christian) but MITB was all kinds of awesome.
Unrelated comic note: Has anyone else been foolish enough to read New 52 Catwoman? Just read through them and it's been pretty bad. Most of Winnick's run was just average-to-below average. Most of Nocenti's stuff has been actively bad with the DOTFtie-ins and the Black Diamond Vault heist being exceptionally terrible.
The beginning of the brand split really showed how night and day the talent level was at that point. RAW's first was Bad Blood in June of '03. SmackDown got their chance a month later at Vengeance and just blew the other brand out of the water. Total sleeper show. Top to bottom, had a little bit of everything.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it you do?
ReplyDeleteAlso, you said you're a PT. How did you get certified, and was it costly? I've been looking into it, and man is it pricey. I've seen courses costing upwards of $600.
Amen, man. I gave it *** a few months ago and people wept. The heat is great and all, but there's just so many sub-par workers in the match, and it never really gets going. I don't think anyone who didn't grow up watching during that era will ever give it 5 stars.
ReplyDeleteYou brilliant bastard.
ReplyDeleteI had to try.
ReplyDeleteI do like the QOTD being about more than wrestling. I will upvote that.
QOTD follow up...with all the talk of Starrcade 97 recently, I went back and watched the finish. It doesn't seem "epics" anymore, probably because in hindsight they fucked up the execution and follow up. I remember people legitatimely saying it was the most anticipated match ever. Was this hyperbole or was it really that anticapitated?
ReplyDeleteHa, it's funny you mention this. I read one of the new CatWomans last night while working overnight at the hospital and it seemed AWFUL. Was gonna try another one but hearing you review just saved.
ReplyDeleteFor me at the time it was really that anticipated. It's one of those situations where if you didn't watch from the moment it began until that point it would be difficult to recreate that type of anticipation. It started back in the summer/fall of '96 and went for over a year before we finally got to see Hogan-Sting. It was the match everyone was waiting for.
ReplyDeleteI just blew through all of them. The best issues were 17 and the Annual that just came out. I'd classify those ones as average. 17 was a nice read. Nothing earth shattering but it was light and fun.
ReplyDeleteI also support that.
ReplyDeleteHey Caliber,
ReplyDeleteI work in an office, a sales job, in the mornings, then on evenings and weekends I work at GNC. Its not ideal but the good part is that I don't have to do to much of any one thing in a given day, and I can get to the gym at 1:00 when its somewhat quiet.
I got certified twice but the good one was by the NSCA. It didn't cost $600.00 but the study materials and test were a bit pricey. It was back in 2005 though so I don't really remember the details. I never had to take courses though because we had an awesome manager at the gym I worked at that coached us every week on the material.
spring stampede 99 to slamboree 99
ReplyDeleteDude, no joke, it really was. PWI came out with an issue that was ALL about the build up. It had a pull-out poster that had a Tale of the Tape, and it labeled the bout the Match of the Century. I had it on my wall. I hated WCW, because of how hardcore WWE I was, and Starrcade 1997 was the only PPV I ever bought of theirs, and I bought it strictly for that match. The buy-rate was 1.9, the highest that company ever did. It was such a slow burn, and they did it perfectly.
ReplyDeleteFall Brawl 98-SHIT!
ReplyDeleteHalloween Havoc 98-Not bad minus Hogan/Warrior II.
good one brah
ReplyDeleteYeah Havoc 97 is one of my favorite ppvs of all time.
ReplyDeleteww3 97 is like 1/2 of the havoc matches, at like 1/4 of the quality
ReplyDeleteMay / June 99 is really when WCW lost all its steam once and for all. I don't know if it was Sid coming back, Hogan turning face or what. Spring Stampede is still a top 10 PPV of all time.
ReplyDeletegreat american bash 99 needs to be in the running for worst ppv of all time
ReplyDeleteIf you got certified, how come you aren't training? Does the certification expire if you don't take yearly re-tests or something?
ReplyDeleteFully Loaded 2000 is one of the best cards of all time.
ReplyDeleteOh and Halloween Havoc 98 to WW3 98 is like stroke inducing.
ReplyDelete"Before we get to it, I'd like to state that the QOTD will from here on out be about anything. Really, we can only mine the wrestling cave for so long before we start over talking about how lame Starrcade 1997 was."
ReplyDeletethe fact that you barely scratched the surface of wrestling...
cant talk wrestling if you dont know it...
yer on fire
ReplyDeleteI got bored with it and I wanted to make more money.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes it does.
ReplyDeleteGod that show was terrbul.
Who booked that crap?
it puts the 'bull' in terribullshit
ReplyDeleteThat seems NUTS to me looking back at it. Having just re watched it, Stings pop/entrance seemed so flat.
ReplyDeleteIdk, I just watched Souled Out 2000....shit....
ReplyDeleteThey have such a history with the KOTR ppv tanking. I remember ordering KOTR 2002 and hating it so much I kinda stopped watching the product til WM19
ReplyDeletesame here. pretty much a WWE/WWF guy for life. but even someone like me really anticipated that match because WCW really did a great job with that buildup.
ReplyDeleteVengeance 2005 & Great American Bash 2005.
ReplyDeleteVengeance was such a great show. Classic HBK/Angle match. One of the best HIAC match with HHH/Batista, Carlito/Shelton was really good, the triple threat WWE title match was good.
Then we get GAB, which absolutely blew.
Altho I guess that can be blamed on having split brand ppv's
It's gotten to the point that we can almost expect the Raw after WM to be the preferable show. Sad state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteThe build-up to the match literally lasted from September 1996 to December 1997. It should have been the culmination of almost 18 months of the nWo running roughshod over WCW, and Sting was returning to be its savior. And then the match happened. And then the follow-up after the match. And the nWo didn't go away, it didn't really turn into anything else, it was still the dominant group in WCW for years afterwards.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a stretch to say it was the most anticipated match of 1997, one of the most anticipated matches of the decade.
WCW just fucked it up.
In the supplement game, I believe Creatine, BCAAs, and protein are the only ones you really need. Perhaps a little Glutamine. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree. Plus he just sauntered out.
ReplyDeleteYou want to hear a MASSIVE pop for Sting? Check out the end of Uncensored 1997. I watch it at least 3 times a year, and still get goosebumps every time.
Oh man, that PPV is God-awful. There's suppose to be a 3 Stages of Hell type deal with Benoit vs Jarrett. However, Jarrett is injured because Snuka gave him a splash from on top of a cage on Nitro. So then it's Kidman in a bunch of random crap. One of which has him taking on Dean Malenko in a "catch-as-catch-can" match, which means if you leave the ring you lose. 2 minutes in, Dean rolls out of the ring, clearly forgetting the rules, and they have to end the match.
ReplyDeleteMy best friend is a PT and he got certified through NASM for about $500
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the Nitro with the fake Stings?
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing
That's has to be up there; Vengeance 03 is such an underlooked little gem.
ReplyDeleteYea what a great way to START a ppv
ReplyDeleteYou're mean.
ReplyDelete"a rare misfire during their hottest period"
ReplyDeleteI swear to God, this line is taken verbatim from one of the titles to Scott's reviews, except it might've been WM2000 instead.
I'm not having a go, it was just a feeling of deja vu.
What is with Fuj? Just permanently negative?
ReplyDeletei knew qotd was gettin dry on wrestling... im just tellin it like it is.
ReplyDeleteyou can only talk about what you know about.
I happen to agree, to a point. Wrestling itself is a huge well of topics. We could go years without dropping out of decently interesting discussion.
ReplyDelete