RedSox1981 here. Steady reader and infrequent poster. I was reading the post about wwe.com's 15 Best Ever PPVs, and I posed this question in a reply and was told I should submit this as a question for the blog, so here we are.
What you would you say the best back-to-back-to-back PPVs would be for any company? My first thought would be the 2001 Royal Rumble, No Way Out, and Wrestlemania X-7. Maybe other readers would have different ideas. Conversely, would would be the WORST grouping of three consecutive PPVs you can think of? You could honestly throw a dart at any month for WCW 2000 and work in either direction from there, but I'm curious to see what the readers could come up with.
WWE's had a pretty solid year for PPV, actually, but 2001 is hard to top. Getting the Benoit-Jericho ladder match, then HHH-Austin three stages, then Austin-Rock on three consecutive shows is an awesome run, no doubt. If WM2000 wasn't in there like a sore thumb you could have had a rare five-pack of greatness in 2000, with Rumble-NWO-WM-Backlash-JD. You could also go back to 1989 for Chi-Town Rumble/Wrestlewar/Great American Bash.
As for the worst, yeah, Russo's 2000 run made for some hideous stuff. Probably Bash at the Beach/New Blood Rising/Fall Brawl would be the worst combination but there's SO many more. At least these days WWE doesn't do strings of bad shows anymore, because Vince generally changes the entire direction two months in and evens things out again.
WWE 92. Rubmle, WM, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series.
ReplyDeleteYou liked Fall Brawl!
ReplyDeleteSo crazy that 2000 was the wedding best year and wcws worst. Well not that crazy with who was running the show.
ReplyDeleteAdd on Rumble 93 for another one
ReplyDeleteNo love for the Bash/Bash combo from 1996?
ReplyDeleteOne or two good matches does not a great show make. If you watched the first half of the '92 Rumble or the 2nd half of Wrestlemania 8 youd be bored out of your mind.
ReplyDeleteNothing is boring when Bobby and Gorilla are calling it.
ReplyDeleteOne of the heartening things about current WWE is that they rarely put on multiple shows in a row that completely shit the bed top to bottom (see: about 3/4 of the PPVs in 2003).
ReplyDeleteI think RR, NWO, WM17 is the answer for sure.
ReplyDeleteAfter that...it opens up a bit
Summerslam -> Survivor Series 2002 was solid, too...but nowhere near the stratosphere of shows you mentioned, Scott.
Spring Stampede, Slamboree, BATB 94 could be in the running too.
Good call Scott on 1989 with Chi-Town Rumble/WrestleWar and GAB. Hell if they wouldnt have done that awful Ironman tournament at Starrcade 89, then we could have had the best PPV year in wrestling as Halloween Havoc was a good show as well
ReplyDeleteReally? For recent WWE I'd say he's a solid get. He wrestled (against some big names), did commentary (on big shows and for big moments), and had a long tenure with the company.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping in the distant future we can get a Renee shoot; I say distant as I hope she's there a while. She's different from most of the 'Divas' as she isn't a TV rookie. It'd be an interesting perspective.
ReplyDeleteBacklash and Judgment Day 2002 had some good stuff between them (JD more so). Bollocks to ya.
ReplyDeleteIv always dug that Awesome/Steiner match for whatever reason
ReplyDeleteNot even Edge and Kurt Angle could save those turkeys. All three of those shows had quite possibly the three worst PPV main events in WWE history so they are more than deserving of induction.
ReplyDeleteVery funny. Let's all downvote the duck.
ReplyDeleteLove Renee. Watched her on The Score for years and was surprised she actually got hired by WWE.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, her previous experience really shines through. She's exceptionally polished compared to their usual hires. That's probably why she spent little or no time in developmental.
IDK....the 3 immediately preceedingthe nWo in WCW 1996 were pretty bad too
ReplyDeleteAre we talking the logical "main events" on KOTR94 and SS94 or the final match on the card?
ReplyDeleteThe final matches on the cards, which were all negative-star affairs. Well, Bret/Yoko was about *, but the KOTR/SS mains are 2 of the worst matches ever.
ReplyDeleteI actually like this show - sans when Macho Man goes for the fucking pin on Yokozuna in the Rumble. Who the hell booked that shit?
ReplyDeleteHaha I hate Disqus on my phone
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I'd be interested to hear is his take on bill Simmons live journal of wrestlemania 26 where he ripped strikers commentary to shreds. I mean he shit all over the guy. The worst parts were 1) everything Simmons said was 100% true and 2) way more people read that journal than ever saw that show. That was definitely detrimental to strikers announcing career (which is fine by me because I thought he sucked too).
ReplyDeleteWell, he never claimed to be a genius like his brother...
ReplyDeleteGood or bad?
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a mark for Awesome. I just find his style and matches incredibly entertaining, even when they're probably quite shit. Don't ask me why.
ReplyDeletewwe.com's 5-point preview doesn't make me think that a decision-reversal is going to happen tonight, unless they're swerving in a much more subtle, tone-based way than usual.
ReplyDelete"WM25" was such a turning point for how WM is booked, and not in a good way.
ReplyDelete"Relatively speaking" might be the applicable word...
ReplyDeleteyou still have a lineup that has Hugh G. Rection, the Insane Clown Posse and Gary Coleman getting hit with a guitar.
Not horribly bad (especially compared to the rest of WCW in 2000) - but nothing you want to pop in the DVD player and watch again.
Royal Rumble 99/St Valentine's Day Massacre/WM XV has got to be up there.
ReplyDeleteAs has Souled Out/Superbrawl/Uncensored 2000.
As Hardcore Heaven/November to Remember/Living Dangerously 98.
Well, LD98 ain't too bad, if memory serves.
I want to make a Britney Spears joke... but I haven't charged my power ring today so none are coming to me at the moment...
ReplyDeleteI agree. The worst was WM 29, and, despite what alot of people say, it was just an average show. Nothing really stunk up the joint minus Henry/Ryback
ReplyDeleteThey did such a good job with WM24. Even the Snoop Dogg involvement, they put him out there WITH the Divas...basically killing 2 birds with one stone.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the celebrity match at WM24 with Mayweather (it's odd how the WWE was actually too early on the Money May train). It went downhill after that with "celebrities" like Snooki & Maria Menonous.
Matt Striker's voice continues to annoy me, post wwe
ReplyDeleteI'd love to read that. Do u have a link?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why you're getting downvoted, cause you're totally right. The Rumble, Mania and Vengeance were the only really good shows that year
ReplyDeleteId put the Mayweather/Big Show match near the top of "Celebrities in wrestling matches"
ReplyDeleteUndertaker's run of matches from Backlash to King of the Ring is legendarily bad. His match against Austin is terrible, his match against Hogan is worse, and his match against Triple H needn't be mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI was just looking for it and the page at ESPN where it was says 404 not found but maybe its just temporarily down. But if your looking for something good to read in the meantime here's his live journal of wmxx
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040315
And for when it ever pops back up here's the one for Wm26
http://m.espn.go.com/general/page2/story?storyId=5039970&src=desktop
Thanks dude--i tried Google'ing it and I received the 404 error as well--that sucks. I'll read the WMXX one now. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteIIRC LD98 was one of the best ECW PPVs. N2R 97 was probably the worst though, and a show has to suck pretty bad to be the worst ECW PPV. It's like saying that Steel Reserve is the worst malt liquor.
ReplyDeleteMenuonos is okay; she actually loves wrestling and will get in the ring halfway credibly. She's not LT, but not Jay Leno.
ReplyDeleteBacklash/Judgment Day/Bad Blood 2003 is even worse IMO. Both post-WM slates those two years were horrendous.
ReplyDeleteBeef Lamby
ReplyDeleteEven Snooki wasn't too bad; I remember the nuclear heat she got when she tagged in but then did a backspring elbow that put just about every Diva who's ever tried it to shame and got a respectful pop.
ReplyDeleteBut with that said, I don't want Snooki or Maria Menounounounounous wrestling on a PPV ever, much less WrestleMania.
Not sure how history will remember them but Money in the Bank and Summerslam were a hell of a one-two punch.
ReplyDeleteI know Payback was well received on here as well although I didn't watch it. However the Raw the night after Payback was great.
I still want to know who the fuck thought it was a good idea to put Joe Gomez and Mongo on a PPV. And don't even get me started on the Carson City Silver Dollar match. On a PPV that took place in Florida, mind you.
ReplyDeleteI meant worst, should've said, but still - who could possibly think I was ranking Superbrawl or Uncensored 2000 as some of the best PPVs ever?!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBeen more than 10 years since I've seen any of the ECW stuff. I don't recall Living Dangerously being particularly good, but then again I really liked Guilty As Charged 1999 and thought some of the latter PPVs (like Guilty As Charged 2000 etc.) were pretty good, so my personal barometer for quality may be...somewhat removed from the general zeitgeist.
ReplyDeletePointless, dull anecdote - at school, I was (somewhat embarrassingly) the guy 'in the know' when it came to wrasslin'. I was smarter to the business before everyone else and had a pretty sizeable tape library, including stuff from Japan and Mid South, and ECW. People were constantly hassling me to borrow particular tapes based on what they were reading on the internet, and I usually lent them out happily. Someone I was vaguely acquainted with had seen the match list for N2R 97, and had spattered a load of spermless cum all over the inner lining of his Calvins at the prospect of a TLC & Canes match (I believe this was just after SummerSlam 2000, and most of the fans at school were watching the TLC match from that show on repeat).
He kept on begging me to borrow my VHS of the show, and I kept denying him, because that show is literally so bad it made me ashamed to say I was an ECW fan. I kept offer lame, blustering excuses as to why I wouldn't lend it, including "well, it's for completists only", "YOU wouldn't like it, don't bother", etc. He thought I was denying him manna from heaven out of spite (wanting to keep all the HAWDKOWR to myself, or something), and this incensed him quite so much that he bought a tape of the show from some shady net trader at great expense.
The night he watched it, he stopped being a wrestling fan.
Needless to say, I had the last laugh (or something)...
That's hilarious.
ReplyDeleteYeah, true enough. There is some cracking stuff hidden on them though.
ReplyDeleteI just bought the Payback & Money in the Bank DVDs and thought they were pretty good, but for the life of me can't remember anything about that Payback main event (I kept falling asleep on that match).
ReplyDeleteSt Valentine's day massacre wasn't that bad.
ReplyDeleteMean Gene as far as I'm concerned the down voters can stick it brother!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought at first, but then I remembered that WCW got even worse in 2000..
ReplyDeleteThose down votes are just up votes from Austrailia, it's all good.
ReplyDeleteCan't comment on anything from the 80s, because I wasn't old enough to be fan then. However, out of everything from the early 90s to today, I can't think of any 3-peats better than the Royal Rumble - No Way Out - WM17 in 2001. can't really comment on the worst 3-peat though. I tend to tune out the any promotion when it has 3 terrible PPVs in a row. I missed a lot of WCW in 2000 and WWE in 2007 for example.
ReplyDelete