Good morning!
I hope that all is well!
Thought this might make a good discussion topic, and I'd certainly love to hear your opinion as well:
What are some of the most iconic/memorable wrestling promotional posters/video cover arts over the years?
Thank you!
My favorite was Fall Brawl 99, where WCW didn't have a main event booked and just used a generic "top secret" graphic instead. Also memorable was Wrestlemania 19, because they put Hogan and Vince on the poster as the sole focus and then blamed Seattle when it scored one of the lowest buyrates in modern WM history.
Royal Rumble 2001 - it was a throwback to all the old 90's Royal Rumble posters.
ReplyDeleteWrestleMania 6. That poster is the reason I became a wrestling fan.
ReplyDeleteSurvivor series 88, WrestleMania V and VI, old early 90s rumble posters.
ReplyDeleteThey blamed Seattle? Clearly 75% of the fault layed with Kurt Angle and 25% of the blame was on Brock's shoulders.
ReplyDeleteI went to WM XIX and loved it!
ReplyDeleteSame on both counts. Cool city also.
ReplyDeleteInVasion's was pretty damn cool.
ReplyDeleteThis one is electrifying! Giant smiling Sting head....Ric Flair about to throw the switch on who I assume is Sid. Would that even have had an effect on Sid?
ReplyDeletehttp://semcatch1.chez.com/ppvWCW1990/HalloweenHavoc1990logo.jpg
That avatar is awesome. Soda Popinski has always been my mortal enemy in Punch Out.
ReplyDeleteYou have those numbers backwards, methinks.
ReplyDeleteI usually smoke Soda Popiniski, you need to brush up your skills son.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites are the Royal Rumbles from 07 to 09.
ReplyDeleteSurvivor Series: Gang Rulz
ReplyDeleteAnd you can't deny those early cartoon-like Rumble PPV covers with like half the roster on the front.
Along those lines... I came here to post about the actual early 90s Rumble posters. Those are iconic.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to make you punch drunk!!
ReplyDeleteI quit once I get to Sandman... hate that fucker.
ReplyDeleteWWE.com actually has an article up about the worst posters.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wwe.com/classics/classic-lists/10-worst-ppv-posters
the original no mercy 06 (before they added the other 3 guys fr the dvd cover)is actually pretty cool (booker and queen sharmell)
ReplyDelete'And you can't deny those early cartoon-like Rumble PPV covers with like half the roster on the front.'
ReplyDeletesure i can
...and i'd be so very very wrong
if you take a quick look at the one for wm 22, it looks like it says "big tittie"
ReplyDeleteactually, it was all piper's fault, for hesitating so long before deciding who to hit when he ran in... even though he kept looking at hogan and telegraphed it from a mile away
ReplyDeleteand wasn't cena supposed to do a rap battle with jay z or something, but it felt through? we'll blame that too
Good lord. Of all the things WCW sucked at... their entire video division was at the top of that list.
ReplyDeleteMake no mistake about it... 19 has one of the most STACKED cards EVER... but that's what made the buy number so incredibly disappointing. You can't fully blame McMahon/Hogan though, because the image you're thinking of is for the DVD release.
ReplyDeletehttp://img39.photobucket.com/albums/v120/Y2Jay/Wrestlemania_19_DVD.jpg
They blamed the war for the low number
ReplyDeletethe race war that hhh was fighting
ReplyDeleteThat's what I just came on here to post.
ReplyDeleteThe Invasion cover art, with the half Vince/half Shane portrait, was pretty boss.
ReplyDeleteAs far as WCW goes... Bash '90 was great.
ReplyDeletehttp://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b384/ainckenchi/WWE/WCW%20PPV%20Posters/NewRevolution1990.jpg
But this is my personal favorite. It's like WCW finally started to "get it" right when they went under.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b384/ainckenchi/WWE/WCW%20PPV%20Posters/Mayhem2000.jpg
Iconic... and ironic... and bionic (he was a bit of a robot)
ReplyDeleteI liked how the Hogan/Vince feud was based on Vince feeling he could have created Hulkamania with anyone, and to settle this 20 year old backstage debate they decided to have a real fight, that they've basically admitted was all fake with the "I could have used anyone" storyline of the match. It was one of those Russo storylines that we're supposed to invest in as if it's real even if aspects of it are based on wrestling being fake.
ReplyDeleteIt's stacked on paper and pretty much all of the matches were good, but was Brock really a draw as the top face? Or was he main eventing Wrestlemania as a face because they decided six months ago that's what they wanted to do? The basis of the Hogan/Vince feud was a little too inside and felt like something the two of them made a storyline because they fought with one another over it backstage.
ReplyDeleteThey should have promoted Austin/Rock as a career ending match, since with Rock's movie career it's possible either guy could lose. And Austin losing clean was shocking enough, imagine Austin losing with his career on the line? Shocking Wrestlemania moment.
I always liked that second one. What the hell ever happened to Midajah?
ReplyDeleteWas just going to come here and post that.
ReplyDeleteI was there too! It was an amazing show live. The pop when Piper showed up was crazy. We all thought Lesnar was dead. Great night.
ReplyDeleteMy absolute favorites are the 1990/1991 Rumble posters with the cartoon wrestlers walking towards the screen. They brought that design back for 2001, which I always thought was cool.
ReplyDeleteSurvivor Series 1993 with a cartoon Luger and his team carving up a turkey dressed up like Yokozuna is one of my favorites.
Mania V with Hogan and Savage facing off with a bunch of flames behind them is pretty iconic.
I rented Survivor Series 1989 so many times because of the cover image of Hogan/Demolition/Jake. Coolest Survivor Series team ever in my book. I also loved the back of the old survivor series VHS boxes with pictures of two guys from each team.
I had a lunchbox with the 91 version on it, just because it was handy so my mom grabbed it, and it caused me to strike up a conversation with a kid who was a fan who hipped me to who all the people I didn't know were, and that's how I became a wrestling fan.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.midajah.com/home.htm
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome, I loved those covers so much. I had a much different experience. I had a Hulk Hogan lunchbox as a kid and remember getting so much shit about it from some older kids in the cafeteria that I begged my mom to get a new one for me. I wound up getting a Batman Returns lunchbox and I kept my Hogan box at home where it eventually stored my pog collection.
ReplyDeleteThe Starrcade issue confused the shit out of my when I started collecting tapes.
ReplyDeleteDammit man, I was just about to say the same thing about the 91/92 Rumble posters.
ReplyDeleteAnd won!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely one of the best covers of all time. I remember as a kid having the vhs rented from Hollywood Video and trying to draw the image of Warrior with his hands over his head growling.
ReplyDeleteI just bought Batman Returns today. Small world.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember Heyman trying to sell the Hardcore Heaven 97 poster? "The lighting for the poster is better than the lighting for the PPV!"
ReplyDeleteIt still holds up, IMO. As a six year old, I was scared shitless by the Penguin to the point where I kept asking my dad to take me to the bathroom throughout the movie. Also, Michelle Pfeiffer in her catwoman costume = boner material.
ReplyDeleteThreadjack:
ReplyDeleteAuburn-Georgia... HOLY FUCK! http://deadspin.com/auburn-takes-lead-on-georgia-with-improbable-insane-ha-1465966458
Auburn blew a 37-17 lead in a 11-minute span of the 4th, may have gotten screwed on the last Georgia touchdown (Murray looks short on the 4th Down scramble for the end zone)... and then the above happened.
Auburn has one loss this year... to LSU. Is it wrong for me to cheer for them over Bama next week? (LSU is far out of the Western division race)
"Welcome to the TENTH ANNUAL Starrcade '92"
ReplyDeleteStarrcade 92: A Flair For The Gold
Starrcade 92: The Million Dollar Challenge
Starrcade 92: The Gathering
Starrcade 92: Night of the Skywalkers
Starrcade 92: Chi-Town Heat
Starrcade 92: True Gritt
Starrcade 92: Future Shock
Starrcade 92: Collision Course
Starrcade 92: Battlebowl
Yeah, those were easily the most memorable. I remember looking forward to seeing the 1993 Rumble VHS box and being disappointed to see it was focused on the title match instead, with Razor and Bret half-faces. Bleh. It was also the first time, at least I'm pretty sure, that they used a normal VHS box instead of those awesome porn-style sleeves.
ReplyDeleteThe whole "New Revolution" gimmick for that PPV was awesome. The TV ad that aired, calling Ric Flair "the imperialistic monarch of professional wrestling!" and claiming Theodore Long was a "manager and statesman." Classic stuff you just don't see anymore.
ReplyDeleteBawahaha.
ReplyDeleteBotchamania reference ftw.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised no one said No Mercy 2007. People went batshit crazy for that poster when it first came out.
ReplyDeletehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/WWE_No_Mercy_2007.png
The 1993 Survivor Series one has an interesting subtext if compared to this kind of stuff (hope the link works, its to an image in a book on googlebooks):http://books.google.ca/books?id=A8V8VPle4GIC&lpg=PR9&ots=vAQr6_zgC3&dq=le%20monde%20illustre%20russia%20carves%20up%20china&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q&f=true
ReplyDeleteI agree, though, I loved the Rumble 91 and 92 boxes, but Rumble 91 was the first event I ever saw.
Holy shit. I would have went absolutely batshit crazy if I would have seen that live
ReplyDeleteNever wrong to cheer against Bama.
ReplyDeletehater
ReplyDeleteI never ever ever understood the appeal for that poster
ReplyDeleteHow the hell did y'all forget this?
ReplyDeletehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Summerslam1998.jpg
Big fan of this one too: http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b384/ainckenchi/WWE/PPV%20Posters/Summerslam/Summerslam1997.jpg
ReplyDeleteThat poor girl. Scott in a padded cell, seemingly stripping off, reaching out to her while pulling his angriest rape-face I doubt anyone wants to see.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing you wouldn't have wanted your Dad to take you to the bathroom if you'd been a few years older.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised someone was allowed to put a poster with Triple H on a list of worst posters.
ReplyDeleteHow about the poster for Summerslam that had Umaga and the cast of Jackass on it?
ReplyDeleteI loved the old Survivor Series and Royal Rumble box art. WM III, V and VI were boss. WCW had some terrible ones (World War 3 '97), however nothing was as bad as Starrcade's having the wrong year on them.
ReplyDeletehttp://caws.ws/forum/topic/121838-the-real-summerslam-poster/
ReplyDeleteOf WWE's newer ones I think of that Randy Orton doves one from No Mercy, Jericho's Armageddon big red button from '08 and whatever one where Edge does the "here's Johnny" pose.
ReplyDelete