goodhelmet Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 I listened to Meltzer call the recent NJ PPV one of the best shows of all time. Then soup reviewed the show and said No Fucking Way!!! So, I think it has been awhile (and there have been tons of shows since) than we can do another Best Shows of All Time thread. So, soup, as a comparison... what do you consider one of the best shows of all time? Top to Bottom Mother Fuckers!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 I will start with 4 NWA/WCW shows: 1. Clash 1 - Two matches aren't very good but comprise of 10 minutes of match time and further extended storylines in each. I will even give the opener credit for implementing an interesting stipulation for the 1 count wins the match using the amateur wrestling rules. I think the Fantastics/MX is the perfect junior tag match mixing in vicious brawling with an even faster pace than what you were seeing around this time. The tag title match is one of the most classic southern tag matches I have ever seen and the pop for the change is fantastic. I personally love Flair/Sting but can see how your mileage can vary on the match and show overall based on this match. I thought it was a great star making performance by Sting and Flair worked amazingly hard to make Sting look good while still getting in a lot of offense on his own. 2. GAB 1989 - I think this show is really neat to compare to the Tokyo Dome show because this show like the Dome show is touted as having a superb second half. I really love the second half of this show but I don't think a lot of the first half is terrible and almost everything is at least logical. Sting vs. Muta was a match that held up pretty well last time I watched and comparable to the 3 way from 1/4/13. Luger vs. Steamboat is an absolutely great match. Even though wargames is "by the numbers" I still think it is good, and to top it off you have one of the best matches of all time in Flair vs. Funk which is a different type of brawl and match from the Wargames but completely awesome. 3. Spring Stampede 1994 - Another show that lives and dies probably based on what you think of the main event and even a lot of peoples opinion align with mine and that I respect don't like Flair vs. Steamboat all that much. I think it is great and really feels like a classic NWA main event on top of a brawl heavy card. Below the main event though you get three totally unique but great brawls. Cactus/Payne vs. Nasties is a choatic, Tupelo Concession stand match that goes everywhere. Buck vs. Dustin is a great old school street fight with stiff shots galore and using the bunkhouse elements to wail on each other. Vader vs. the Boss is a big man slugfest with neither person backing down. There is also two more matches on this show I would say are good (Sting vs. Rude and Regal vs. Pillman) and only Muto vs. Austin was bad. 4. Slamboree 1994 - WCW followed up one of the best PPV's with a show that might be better. Again there is a variety of styles presented here and each one is done very well. I said in the Rich vs. Race GAB comments how much I like legend showcase matches and Funk vs. Blanchard while including some slop showed that both guys could go and was a lot of fun. Zbysko vs. Regal kicked off their fabulous feud in wonderful fashion and played the veteran vs. cocky upstart motif very well. I really liked the bullrope match and thought it used the stipulation really well and in many unique ways. The main event tag match took the Spring Stampede template and tightened it up for one of the best tag matches in company history and one of the best garbage style tag matches I have ever seen. Sting vs. Vader isnt on par with their other matches being only merely good instead of mindblowing like a lot of their matches but again comparing to the 1/4/13 show I would have no problem calling that match better than Nagata vs. Suzuki. That only leads Badd vs. Austin which is a good opener and Windham vs. Flair that while disappointing is certainly decent. I really don't want to sound like a contrarian with the Tokyo Dome show and came in optimistic but maybe it is just a style that I can't get behind because immediately following watching that show, I watched the first two matches from Starrcade 1988 for the podcast tomorrow and liked those two probably better than anything on the Dome show minus Sakuraba/Nagata. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Top to bottom, Canadian Stampede is pretty spectacular. Every match is good to great and the atmosphere is off the charts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World's Worst Man Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Is it a cop-out to say any big Joshi show from 1992-1995? Some of these cards had two MOTYCs with the rest of the card being filled out with good-very good stuff. Dream Rush would be one example, with the classic Toyota/Yamada vs. Kansai/Ozaki tag match, a very good Bull vs. Aja match and a great Kyoko Inoue vs. Hokuto match. The NJ dome show wasn't bad, with 3 matches I'd say were good or very good, but that's about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Not talked about as much as some, but Summerslam 89 (super hot crowd and really fun matches) and Royal Rumble 91 (great undercard and pretty fun Rumble) are two of the best WWF shows IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chess Knight Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 I fucking adore Spring Stampede 1994 and am not sure I can say I've seen a better show than that. Jack/Sullivan v Nastys, Vader v Bossman, Rhodes v Buck, Flair v Steamboat are all really great matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted January 5, 2013 Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Well several of my top picks have already been listed. GAB 89 will always be the emotional favorite for me and I have probably watched Spring Stampede from beginning to end more than any card ever and I never get sick of it. There is an ECW show from Dec. of 99 that is stacked from top to bottom. It's from TN and is one of the Awesome/Tanaka title switches but also has Hidaka v. Crazy, Calo v. Tajiri and Smothers v. Kanemura. Goodhelmet knows what show I'm taking about and while it's not really one of the best shows EVER, I did want to mention it. I really like SMW Superbowl of Wrestling in the same vein as a great show, though not necessarily a show I would put in all time classic category. One excellent show that I do think is all timer level and hasn't been mentioned was Money In The Bank 2011. Two awesome MITB Ladder matches, a really good Show v. Henry match that gets totally forgotten because the card was so loaded, Christian v. Orton which is a series I didn't love as much as others but was still really good and of course the Punk v. Cena match which I thought was transcendent and excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Great call on MITB '11. One of those Perfect Storm nights in wrestling. A few other personal favorites including some consensus picks: Royal Rumble '92 Barely Legal '97 Bash '89 Summerslam '98 Mania 17 Dream Slam II Big Egg Universe When Worlds Collide Canadian Stampede No Way Out '01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Summerslam 98 is a show I really want to rewatch. I don't think anything on it will be blowaway great on a rewatch but I also don't foresee anything being outright bad besides the Oddities match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Exactly. The opener is hot, the ladder match is fun, main event is good, even the should-be-garbage tag/handicap titles match is good. Super hot crowd which gets bonus points for taking a place a couple miles from home. Just a fun night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpchicago23 Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Not calling it the best show of all time but survivor series 96 is probably my sentimental favorite of all time. I remember liking the first ONS when it happened and I second Stampede. It's always hard for me thinking of the best or my favorite all time card I guess I like SS 96 so much because that was my wheelhouse of fandom and Sid Hbk was pretty good with an awesome environment and Bret Austin is one of my top matches of all time. The survivor matches while not all great were at least fun and introduced guts like Scorpio and furnas and Madonna. The taker mankind match was fun as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 The first few Superbrawls are all really great cards, especially Superbrawls II and III. I love Beach Blash 92 as well. Late 91/ early 92 is a hot streak sort of period for WCW. I'd take Wrestlewar 92 as well. I have a hardon for 92 in general. Rumble 92, Wrestlemania 8 and Summerslam 92 would all be in contention for being in my 10 favourite shows. As ever, it's not all about the matches. I like shows that stand out for the storyarchs that run through an entire night and each of those shows from 92 in WWF have that with Flair in the Rumble, the stuff with Liz and the centrefold and one of the best promos of Flair's career post-match at Mania and the stuff with Perfect and Flair surrounding the title match at Summerslam followed by Bret vs. Bulldog. I also love Spring Stampede 94, which various other people have already mentioned. And GAB 89 of course. GAB 87 I remember being a really good show, but that's because the VHS is a composite of two separate cards. For a show that no one talks about ever? How about Slamboree 93? Blondes vs. Zenk and Steamboat, Arn Anderson vs. Barry Windham, Bulldog vs. Vader in quite a stiff match. As for later stuff, I remember really enjoying a LOT of the cards from WWF in 2000 but I haven't seen them since and they've aged badly from what people have said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 I always thought SuperBrawl II was a good sleeper pick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Crackers Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 GAB 89 and those 94 WCW shows are good calls. Wrestlemania 23 may be the best Wrestlemania. The 4/24/89 Dome show is pretty fucking sweet. I'm also very fond of Superbrawl III and GAB 92. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Rude's pre-match promo from that is probably one of the biggest boos I can remember seeing. Rude is awesome in 92. As a single year from one guy, I'd put it up there with anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Cooke Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Super brawl 1992 as Loss and Jerry have said is a good pick. There are some TV shows in Japan that are better. The 11/1/90 NJPW TV puts this card to rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rzombie1988 Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Dreamslam 1, 2 or Big Egg. Big Egg had 10 matches over ***+. Nothing is ever going to even come close. There is nothing to even question about it. Comparing WCW, WWF and ROH shows to it is blasphemous. End of thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Schneider Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 I am trying to think about all the early ROH shows I saw. I haven't watched in a while, but Epic Encounter was really good. London v. Dragon was one of the first Danielson classics, Styles/Red v. Briscoes I remember enjoying, I always liked the Special K scrambles and the main event was fucking awesome live with Dusty, Iceberg, Boyce Le Grande brawling with random Doghouse guys in the audiance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrickHithouse Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 SuperBrawl II, WrestleWar 91, Bash 89, Starrcade 86, Clash I, Starrcade 88 Wrestlemania 14, 17, Summerslam 97, Canadian Stampede, Royal Rumble 91, Royal Rumble 92 also Wrestlemania 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Superbrawl II & III are great picks. 3 was the first WCW PPV I ever ordered and I thought they'd all be that good. Didn't quite turn out that way, but from the Benoit/Scorpio opener to the classic finish it was a special show. I just ordered a couple yearbooks from Will and definitely looking forward to seeing these again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpchicago23 Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Fucking auto spell made me put Madonna instead of Lafon lol. Oh yea gotta add that the debut of the rock was on that show as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Survivor Series 96 is kind of underrated as an historically important show. One could say it was the final nail in the coffin of the New Generation with the MSG crowd turning on Michaels, along with Austin having a big night and the Rock debuting foreshadowing the Attitude Era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpchicago23 Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Yea the whole feel of that show was a lot different at the time. Kind of like mind games but an overall hostile crowd through out. It's just always been a show I can remember as a kid and still fully enjoy today top to bottom. Hell I even liked fake razor and diesel at the time as corny as it was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 It's hard to nominate Japanese shows from the '80s because we don't have a great idea what it was like to watch them top to bottom. You could say the same for a lot of the '90s shows as well. I guess I'm not surprised to see Big Egg mentioned. But to me, the idea of sitting through 10 hours of Joshi seems like a truly vile form of torture. I'll tell you anything if you just make it stop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted January 6, 2013 Report Share Posted January 6, 2013 Its a fair point. Gotta assume all of us had the luxury of watching in intervals rather than from the mezzanine section behind third base. Definitely a different perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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