goodhelmet

Before people start piling on Phil's comments, this was given **** by Tabe and here are his comments... "NOBUHIKO TAKADA VS YOJI ANJOH (Great match! Maybe the best Anjoh match I've ever seen.)" I can't even remember watching this match so I am not taking sides. Just want to emphasize there was a reason this was put on the set before we get any "Why was this match selected?" comments.

He's fucking Dr. Death. He isn't performing CPR... he's trying to KILL him!!!!

Saito getting "reevaluated" recently to "favorable"? I'm guessing that I missed the period when people thought Saito sucked? John There were many of us who weren't around in the 80s/90s tape trading scene like you were. When we put together the 80s NJ set, Saito was a genuine discovery as a great worker. The AWA set only re-affirmed that. It isn't a move towards favorable. It's a move to fucking badass.

You guys are crazy... Warrior's promos are great. Loss made the comment that Warrior promos are embarrassing but I think they are absolutely so bad they are sometimes the most enjoyable things to watch, especially when you are stuck watching tens of hours of footage non-stop. With all that said, HO KOGAN gets put to permanent use. I may go and manually change every reference to Hulk Hogan on the board and change it to Ho Kogan.

Sloppy fourths.... awesome. There has to be a bit of alliteration to replace sloppy but I am struggling to find it.

Didn't the PPV cut off before the finish or something here? In some markets. I watched it live and I caught the entire PPV. Even then, that isn't a booking issue with the match.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy when I made the statement that WWE may do some bad endings but that the bad finish to the cage match on Sunday wasn't WCW level bad. I did want to lay out the finishes from 1997 – 2001 just for comparisons sake. IF I can get around to it, I will probably do WWE PPV finishes from 2011 and 2012 to see if WWE has a pattern that even come close to the pattern shown in WCW for their last 4 years. If interference happened, I tried to make sure it was noted even if it didn't directly lead to the finish. I used the History of WWE website as a reference to refresh my memory when I didn't remember exact details. At the very least, people can comment on the matches and their memories of them. I'll admit, when doing the results, some of the matches I don't even remember happening or ever recall watching them EVEN if they may have appeared on the Death of WCW set. 1997 Souled Out 1997 The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan - Ends in a no contest when Nick Patrick refuses to count the fall for Giant so Patrick gets chokeslammed. NWO beatdown on Giant. NWO celebrates!!! Superbrawl 1997 Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper - Hogan wins after Randy Savage hands him a foreign object after Piper thought he had won with the sleeper. NWO interferes throughout the match. Savage and Hogan lay waste to Piper after the match. Uncensored 1997 Team NWO vs. Team WCW vs. Team Piper - Team NWO wins after outside interference. NWO beatdown until Sting comes down from the rafters and lays Hogan out with the Scorpion Deathdrop. Spring Stampede 1997 Randy Savage vs. DDP - DDP gets the win after a ref bump. NWO lays waste to DDP and Kimberly after the match. Slamboree 1997 Ric Flair, Kevin Greene & Roddy Piper vs. Scott Hall, Kevin Nash & Syxx - The face team wins with Nick Patrick making the pin. No interference? Great American Bash 1997 Randy Savage vs. DDP (Lights Out Match) - Good match where Savage wins after DDP gets dropped by a Razor's Edge from Scott Hall. Bash at the Beach 1997 Dennis Rodman & Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger & The Giant - Lex Luger puts Hogan in the torture rack and gets the victory after a fake Sting nails Hogan in the back with the baseball bat. Road Wild 1997 Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger - After Luger shocked the world and won the title, Hogan gets his title back after multiple run-ins from the NOW and the fake Sting nails him with the baseball bat. NWO celebrates!!! Fall Brawl 1997 Four Horsemen vs. NWO (Wargames) - Curt Hennig turns heel on the Horsemen. Ric Flair's head is slammed in the cage. I think everyone counted on the Hennig turn and I actually enjoyed this match when it happened but I have not watched it in 15 years. Still… what a buzzkill seeing Flair destroyed like that. NWO celebrates!!! Halloween Havoc 1997 Roddy Piper vs. Hulk Hogan (Cage Match) - One of the worst cage matches in history. More of a backdrop to the Sting-Hogan storyline. Piper puts Hogan to sleep after Randy Savage interference but doesn't win the title again. World War III 1997 60-Man Battle Royal - Kevin Nash wears a "Sting" mask and drops from the ceiling. The giant gets attacked by Sting and Scott Hall wins the 60-man battle royal. NWO celebrates!!! Starrcade 1997 Hulk Hogan vs. Sting - We have the slow Nick Patrick count, the Bret Hart restart, interference from Vicious & Delicious and a held up title. One of the worst finishes from one of the most important matches in WCW history. 1998 Souled Out 1998 Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage - Luger defeats Savage with the torture rack after 6 minutes. NWO attacks Luger after the match. Sting makes the save. Superbrawl 1998 Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan - Sting wins the world title after Ransy Savage nails Hogan with a can of paint. NWO interfered throughout the match. Sting celebrates with the title after the match and spray paints Hogan. Uncensored 1998 Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage (Cage Match) - Horrible cage match with The Disciple interfering and Sting coming down from the rafters to even the odds. Savage turns on Sting, gave him 2 piledrivers and walks out of the cage leading to a no contest. Spring Stampede 1998 Randy Savage vs. Sting - Savage pins Sting to become champion after Kevin Nash interference. Miss Elizabeth & Hulk Hogan interfered in the match. Slamboree 1998 Sting & The Giant vs. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash - Scott Hall turns on Kevin Nash and allows Giant to get the pin. Giant and Hall celebrate. Sting looks perplexed. Great American Bash 1998 Sting vs. The Giant - Sting pinned the Giant in 6 minutes to become the Tag Team Champions. This is the match where Giant walked to the ring smoking a cigarette. Bash at the Beach 1998 Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. DDP & Karl Malone - Hulk Hogan pins DDP after the Disciple's interference. NWO celebrates!!! Road Wild 1998 DDP & Jay Leno vs. Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff - Leno pins Bischoff after Kevin Eubanks interferes and gives Eric a Diamond Cutter. NWO beatdown until Goldberg makes the save and celebrates with Team Late Night. Fall Brawl 1998 - Fuck, man…. The worst Wargames in history. Stevie Ray is the focus with his slapjack. Warrior appears in a cloud of smoke and chases Hogan away. DDP gives Stevie Ray the Diamond Cutter. This was the shits. Halloween Havoc 1998 Goldberg vs. DDP - Probably the best match and finish to end a WCW PPV in the 4 years being discussed here. World War III 1998 DDP vs. Bret Hart - DDP pins Bret Hart in 18 minutes. Throughout the match, there was controversy with an NWO referee and MIckie Hart. Hart had the match won with the sharpshooter but the match was restarted and DDP wins with the Diamond Cutter. I don't think I have ever seen this match. Starrcade 1998 Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash - Interference from Disco Inferno, Bam Bam Bigelow and Scott Hall. Tazer. End of Streak. 1999 Souled Out 1999 Scott Hall vs. Goldberg (Taser Match) - Goldberg defeats Hall in a taser match despite interference from Disco Inferno. Bam Bam Bigelow attacks after the match and lays waste to Goldberg and Hall. Superbrawl 1999 Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair - Hogan pins Flair after interference from David Flair. David celebrates with Nash, Hogan and Torrie after the match. Uncensored 1999 Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan (First Blood Cage Match) - Ric Flair pins Hogan to become champion… in a first blood match. Arn Anderson, Torrie Wilson and David Flair were involved at ringside. Spring Stampede 1999 Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan vs. Sting vs. DDP - DDP wins the belt. Randy Savage was guest referee but dropped the elbow on Flair when he had Sting in the Figure-4. Slamboree 1999 Kevin Nash vs. DDP - Nash wins the title. The match included Randy Savage interference and a restart after Nash originally won by DQ. Great American Bash 1999 Kevin Nash vs. Randy Savage - Kevin Nash defeated Randy Savage by DQ after Sid debuts and powerbombs Nash at the end of the match. During the match, Savage's women posse interfered. Bash at the Beach 1999 Randy Savage & Sid vs. Kevin Nash & Sting - Savage pinned Nash with the flying elbow after interference from Gorgeous George. Goerge turned on Savage in the middle of the match only to swerve and turn on Nash leading to the finish. I honestly had no idea this happened. I don't know if it is on the Death of WCW set but I don't remember recording it. Fall Brawl 1999 Sting vs. Hulk Hogan - There was interference from DDP, Bret Hart, Lex Luger and Sid Vicious as well as a ref bump from Nick Patrick. Sting turns heel and attacks Hogan with a baseball bat to win the title. Halloween Havoc 1999 Sting vs. Goldberg - Goldberg wins the title in 3 minutes after Sting defended it earlier in the night when Hogan came out, laid down in the ring and let Sting pin him. This was announced as non-title but they awarded it to Goldberg anyway. Did they do a Dusty finish here? After the match, heel Sting gives Charles Robinson the Scorpion Death Drop. Mayhem 1999 Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit - The finals of the World Title Tournament. Bret Hart wins the title after interference from Dean Malenko, The Outsiders and Goldberg. I think this was Vince Russo's first or second PPV. Starrcade 1999 Goldberg vs. Bret Hart - Attempted Montreal Finish with Roddy Piper screwing over Goldberg and awarding Bret Hart the title. 2000 Souled Out 2000 Chris Benoit vs. Sid - Benoit wins the WCW title while Sid's foot was under the ropes. Arn Anderson reverses his decision the next night. Superbrawl 2000 Jeff Jarrett vs. Scott Hall vs. Sid - Sid pins Hall after a chokeslam. Roddy Piper came out, knocked out the original referee and counted the pin. Uncensored 2000 Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (Strap Match) - Hogan pins Flair after some Lex Luger interference. The winner was supposed to touch all 4 corners but Hogan only touched 3 and then pinned Flair. Spring Stampede 2000 DDP vs. Jeff Jarrett - Jarrett wins the WCW title after Kimberly turns on DDP and joins the New Blood. The New Blood celebrate at the end of the PPV. Slamboree 2000 DDP vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. David Arquette (Triple Cage Match) - Arquette turns heel, allows Jarrett to win the title. Mike Awesome interfered in the match and later tossed Kanyon from the top of the cage through the ramp. Great American Bash 2000 Jeff Jarrett vs. Kevin Nash - Jarrett wins the belt from Nash after Goldberg interferes and turns heel. The New Blood celebrate with Goldberg. Bash at the Beach 2000 Booker T vs. Jeff Jarrett - Booker T wins the world title. This is the PPV where Russo cuts the shoot promo on Hulk Hogan. New Blood Rising 2000 Booker T vs. Jeff Jarrett - I don't remember this match. No description at History of WWE so I went to a Scott Keith recap that said there were 2 or 3 ref bumps before Booker wins the match. Fall Brawl 2000 Booker T vs. Kevin Nash (Cage Match) - Booker T wins the match and the World Title with the Rock Bottom. Halloween Havoc 2000 Goldberg vs. Kronik (Handicap Match) - Goldberg wins in three minutes first pinning Clarke after a spear through a table and then pinning Adams with the Jackhammer. Mayhem 2000 Booker T vs. Scott Steiner (Cage Match) - Scott Steiner wins the world title with the Steiner Recliner. What are people's thoughts on this match? Starrcade 2000 Scott Steiner vs. Sid - Steiner wins with the Steiner Recliner after a ref bump and Jeff Jarrett interference. 2001 Sin 2001 Scott Steiner vs. Sid vs. Animal vs. Jeff Jarrett - Sid breaks his leg. Superbrawl Revenge 2001 Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash - Originally a regular title match with loser leaves town stips but after Nash knocked Steiner out in 18 seconds with a belt, Ric Flair changed the stipulations and made it 2/3 falls, No DQ. DDP, Luger, Bagwell, Midajah and Flair all got involved in the match. Greed 2001 Scott Steiner vs. DDP - Steiner defeats DDP with the Steiner Recliner.

I put this on next to the Savage - Piper match because they both were on the Wrestlefest commercial tape.

I am glad to know this got a favorable response from you. I kept this in full on the yearbook because both guys have been re-evaluated and looked favorably upon recently.

For the rest of us, I may do a complete Warrior promo comp. Also, his promos will continue to be featured on the yearbooks

The premise of the question was based on Available Material being able to be taken to the Island. There was a variety of territories. There's very little available, especially of real matches (i.e. Arena matches in full / near full condition). Essentially just Japan and WWWF/WWF in volume, and the WWWF/WWF is a bit spotty: they have far more in the vault than has been release, which makes it not available. For other territories... it's really sparse. Hot beds like JPC, Florida, Georgia, St Louis? Real depth of lucha material, AWA and Joshi? Good luck. I think a good / interesting / fun / great set by Will of the 70s will eventually be very cool. But the vast majority of it will be matches in Japan or matches in the WWWF. It also won't remotely come close to generating 300-360 disks like the 90s sets have (depending upon how many bonus disks get created down the road). The 70s probably would have been a really awesome decade to be a wrestling fan is: * there was as much TV as there was from 1984-93 * as many arena show and other big matches were filmed as in that period * we had access to all of it John I took that in consideration, I guess because I saw much of the 90's stuff already I would want the 70's stuff to check out on a desert Island. For 90's stuff it would be Japan and the Monday Night wars era. I never liked Lucha, too spot fest like for my taste. Then you are watching the wrong lucha.

What do you consider his best stuff?

Your argument doesn't make sense. Saying "this can't be a WCW type of thing because WCW did shitty finishes/main events more often" is not an argument against that angle/finish being shitty. No, maybe I wasn't clear but I am saying that this isn't even comparable to the dumbest of WCW moves and the pattern of PPV finishes certainly isn't WCW-like. Those who think the sky is falling and this is WCW level booking all over again weren't paying attention to WCW. This would be like the 50th worst WCW finish. EDIT: Elaborating more. The match wasn't a great Punk match but there were things to like about the match including alot of the cat and mouse stuff and Ryback doing his best battering ram into the stairs. Also, ultimately, even with the screwy finish, the WWE followed up and left the fans with Ryback on top of a cage with the fans chanting his catchphrase. There are things it seems that WCW never got right... like letting the fans leave thinking they got their money's worth... or if the card was shitty, letting them go home with a feel good moment at the end.

I want to get back to the idea that this was WCW-level booking. I don't think you guys remember WCW main events very clear. I just looked up the results of every WCW PPV from 1998 and exactly one had a truly satisfying finish that did not have some type of beatdown, interference, celebrity, swerve, turn on tag partner or a lackluster match. Most of them were downright horrid... Sting-Hogan, Giant & Sting vs. Outsiders, Savage vs. Hogan Cage Match, The two celebrity tags, the worst Wargames of all time, a shitty World War 3 battle royal with an overbooked DDP-Bret Hart match, and the end of Goldberg's run with a tazer. This isn't even discussing the undercards where 3 or 4 of the PPVs of the year could be candidates for Worst PPV of all time. I didn't even pick 1999 or 2000 which are even worse. Guys... this is not WCW. To claim otherwise is just ignorant.

1980s all the way. LEts go down the list... WWF We are discovering tons of great WWF matches that were not on the original 1980s WWF set so it isn't like 1990s WWF destroys the 80s in match quality. Having said that, no year in the 80s comes close to the 1997. NWA / WCW I love tons of stuff from the 1990s WCW but I don't love anything as much as I love 1986-1987 Crockett. JAPAN I think I would take 1980s New Japan over 1990s New Japan easily but I think I would be a little depressed not having 1990s Kawada on my island. The one thing you have an abundance of is Japanese Indys. Phil and the DVDVR guys made an Other Japan set but there was tons of good Japanese Indys in the 1990s. Still, no match is as great as the 1984 Guantlet in my view. I couldn't live without that match on my island. MEXICO Because of available footage, this would be 1990s for sure. However, there are still tons of awesome lucha gems being uncovered by Phil, SLL, Alfredo, Bihari, etc. so I have hope lucha would still represent the 80s well. TERRITORIES / INDYS This is the tipping point for me. We have already done 1980s sets for Mid South, Memphis, AWA and Texas. I think all 4 of these sets smoke the ECW and SMW sets I made for the 1990s and I love those sets. That isn't even including Portland, the leftover territories, Puerto Rico, Canada and the World of Sport and Europe that has popped up. I know people that would vote for the 1990s on ECW alone but I don't thin kany of them have the love I feel for 1980s Memphis or Mid South. Fuck, could I live without 1980-1984 BUddy Rose on a deserted island? I don't think so.

Bingo. This really reminded me of NWO Era shit. People want to make the Flair comp, but even something like the cage being brought up so the Horseman could attack was better than this. It was lame, transferred all the heat to the ref, made Punk look like a complete fraud as a champion (rather than a pussy heel), and did nothing to help Ryback at all. If I had paid for the show it would have been the last time I paid for a WWE event for a long time. If I bought the show solely for Ryback winning the title, I would agree. Then again, there were two really good/great matches underneath (three if you count the PTP/ Mexicans match) and they did the Punk gets destroyed thing after. I don't see this as godawful WCW booking so much as the lazy booking you mentioned earlier. This happened on one PPV this entire year. WCW would leave you unsatisfied with 4-5 PPVs endings in a row, one good PPV and then 3-4 more shitty PPV endings. WWE usually lets the fans leave home happy including the ones at home.

On another note, WWE just needs to pay Goldberg for a skit or two. Ryback rings his door, Goldberg teaches him the Jackhammer in a sweaty gym, Ryback gets the Goldberg seal of approval and maybe even sits in his corner for a Ryback match. They need to address the Goldberg chants because the guy is over in about 50% of the arenas with the other half just shitting on him.

No. His track record is littered with liking shitty matches.

You wouldn't want that. Between crying babies and yelling wives, we wouldn't get a word in edge wise.

CM Punk vs. Ryback - I hated the ref finish but I love the way he laid across Ryback's legs to make sure he did not kick out. Match was lame with some good spots. Despite a good PPV overall, people are going to massacre that finish.

Woman's Match - Same old, same old. Seriously, they should just watch a bunch of old Jumping Bomb Angels matches, do non-stop spotfests and flying moves and stop trying to wrestle like men. The crowd might just get into it and it would be something drastically different. As for the match itself, I didn't mind but nobody gives a shit.

He will say it was good... for a big Show match but bitch about the slow start. Calling it now. Seriously, I will say it again... when it comes to breaking out of finishers, no body builds them better than Big Show. I bought like the last 5 finishers. Same thing happened in the Mark Henry match where the ring fell apart.

The Big Show vs. Sheamus - Holy shit, what a big time fight. The big kickouts at the end were completely unexpected in my book as all of them felt like match endings. The final KO was fucking awesome. I have a feeling this is the type of match that me and Dylan will rave over and the Meltzers will shit on. All the talk of Mark Henry makes me want to see the Big Show/Sheamus/Henry 3 way. This match felt like it kept building and building until the big finishers. Having seen Mark Henry-Big Show live, I think Big Show may be the best wrestler in trading off big finishers to make the crowd go nuts.

I'll rewatch the match when not feeding a baby. For my money, Orton-Del Rio is the top match so far despite that spot.