Best Shows of All Time

[rzombie1988]

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!

Have you ever watched the show?

 

The show isn't 10 hours once you take out the welcome parties which eat up atleast an hour. If you take out the non wrestling stuff that knocks off atleast another hour. If you also go straight to matches without the interviews or entrances that's another hour off.

[Loss]

It's hard to call something the best show ever when you can't sit through it enjoyably in one sitting, even if it's full of good matches.

[rzombie1988]

It's hard to call something the best show ever when you can't sit through it enjoyably in one sitting, even if it's full of good matches.

I sat through it without any problems. But I can totally understand it if you don't have 7-10 free hours straight. The matches on the show are so different from each other that its like watching multiple shows anyway. You can easily split the tape before the tournament and both would still be top level shows. The legends match is the best ten minute draw I've ever seen.

[Phil Schneider]

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!

Pretty sure that is a one of the outtakes from Zero Dark 30

[Grimmas]

The first Super J Cup could be on this list as well. With the Sasuke-Lyger and Sasuke-Benoit matches both being awesome and the rest of the card all pretty solid. A great overall show.

 

I seem to remember a Judgement Day from a few years ago that was great. Upon looking it up, it was 06 with London/Kendrick vs MNM, Benoit vs. Finlay, Helms vs. Crazy, Henry vs. Angle, Booker vs. Lashley, Khali vs. Taker and JBL vs Rey. Those I remember all being good with some of them being really good. Not all time great, but one of the better ones of that time period.

 

My absolute favourite show of all-time is Survivor Series '89, not great or even that good, but I love it for nostalgia and fun factor and the main event being the best Survivor Series match ever.

[Mr Wrestling X]

Big Egg Wrestling Universe

 

So many near-flawless matches. I discovered the awesomeness that is BEWU, at the behest of Power Slam magazine. They did a feature a while back about what they considered the best cards of all time, and BEWU was ranked number one, if I'm remembering right. I'd love to see male Puro try and capture the essence of this type of event (and many others of the same ilk) when they do the cross-promotion shows. The January 4th NJPW shows have declined somewhat, in the last couple of years. Don't get me wrong, the headline matches are still awe-inspiring, but the presentation and "all out" feel just doesn't seem to be there. Same with WWE and Wrestlemania really.

 

Two, from the top of my head, that I also highly rate -

 

WWF (E) Wrestlemania 17 2001

NOAH - Destiny 2005

[ohtani's jacket]

AJW laid an egg with Big Egg Universe. Dream Rush and Dream Slam I were much better shows.

[Ricky Jackson]

My absolute favourite show of all-time is Survivor Series '89, not great or even that good, but I love it for nostalgia and fun factor and the main event being the best Survivor Series match ever.

I could watch the original, all tag team Survivor Series shows any day of the week. 89 is maybe my favorite, but I love 90 as well.

[Dylan Waco]

The first Super J Cup could be on this list as well. With the Sasuke-Lyger and Sasuke-Benoit matches both being awesome and the rest of the card all pretty solid. A great overall show.

 

I seem to remember a Judgement Day from a few years ago that was great. Upon looking it up, it was 06 with London/Kendrick vs MNM, Benoit vs. Finlay, Helms vs. Crazy, Henry vs. Angle, Booker vs. Lashley, Khali vs. Taker and JBL vs Rey. Those I remember all being good with some of them being really good. Not all time great, but one of the better ones of that time period.

JD 06 is a really great show. Even Taker v. Khali was surprisingly solid.

[soup23]

JD 06 is a really good dark horse pick.

 

Desiny 2005 is a show I wouldn't argue as one of the best ever but absolutely would argue was better than the Tokyo Dome show. While no match on the Destiny show was as good as Nakamura/sakuraba probably, I liked the Kobashi vs. Sasaki match last time I saw it and the tag title match and main event was miles better than anything else on the 1/4/13 show in my eyes.

[Mr Wrestling X]

The first Super J Cup could be on this list as well. With the Sasuke-Lyger and Sasuke-Benoit matches both being awesome and the rest of the card all pretty solid. A great overall show.

 

I seem to remember a Judgement Day from a few years ago that was great. Upon looking it up, it was 06 with London/Kendrick vs MNM, Benoit vs. Finlay, Helms vs. Crazy, Henry vs. Angle, Booker vs. Lashley, Khali vs. Taker and JBL vs Rey. Those I remember all being good with some of them being really good. Not all time great, but one of the better ones of that time period.

JD 06 is a really great show. Even Taker v. Khali was surprisingly solid.

 

In retrospect, it's hard to believe that Taker put Khali - of ALL people - over that hard. I know Undertaker has always been one who has been willing to help build talent by doing the job, but in Khali's case, this kind of domination just showed how badly WWE were invested in him at the time, even if they could tell right away, that he was going to be more Giant Gonzales than Andre the Giant.

 

I seem to recall Taker also putting Vladimir Kozlov over big, back when WWE was trying to push him.

[Ricky Jackson]

I seem to recall Taker also putting Vladimir Kozlov over big, back when WWE was trying to push him.

Clean without Kozlov using his finisher on a random Smackdown, wasn't it? One of the more surprising jobs that I can ever recall.

[Mr Wrestling X]

I seem to recall Taker also putting Vladimir Kozlov over big, back when WWE was trying to push him.

Clean without Kozlov using his finisher on a random Smackdown, wasn't it? One of the more surprising jobs that I can ever recall.

 

Yup,

 

I think Kozlov caught Taker when he was going for "Old School" and hit a body slam or something like that, for the three count.

[Death From Above]

In what universe is Big Egg a better show than Dreamslam?

 

Big Egg is a chore. And has a pretty weak main event match, considering who was in it.

[rzombie1988]

In what universe is Big Egg a better show than Dreamslam?

 

Big Egg is a chore. And has a pretty weak main event match, considering who was in it.

Dreamslam was great as well which is why I lumped DS 1, 2 and Big Egg together. DS 1 had the all-time classic Kandori/Hokuto match and 2 had the classic Toyota/Yamada vs Oz/Kansai match. I'd also lump DreamRush into there as well as the main is possibly my favorite match ever and Aja/Bull was awesome.

 

Big Egg had the 5-star Aja vs Toyota match, the awesome Kandori/Yamada tag, the awesome legends match, a good opener, the good LCO/Kurenai and Nagashima tag, Hotta getting a great one out of Toyoda, Hokuto dropping Sawai on her head in a great one plus Inoue and Kansai having one of the top matches of the night and more!

[goodhelmet]

From here on out, lets list the card so people can look the card over. When you guys throw out show names like Survivor Series (for example only), I know Hart-Austin and Rocky's debut. Don't remember the rest of the show. LEts look if a show, from top to bottom is really one of the greatest of all time or just has a couple of great matches. Lets actually argue the cards as a whole.

[Ricky Jackson]

I suggested Summerslam 89 as one of the WWF's best shows in my first post, but I don't have time for a full match by match breakdown. The highlighted matches, depending on your appreciaiton of 80s WWF, range from good to great IMO, and five is more than you usually got from a WWF PPV during an era with a lot of short matches and crap finishes. The crowd is mostly hot throughout, as I mentioned before. Just a really fun show...but likely not on par with all your Dreamslams and Egg shows and what not.

 

*WWF Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart in a non-title match at 16:23 when Anderson, the illegal man, pinned Hart after Anderson hit a double axe handle off the top on Hart behind the referee's back as Hart had Blanchard covered

Dusty Rhodes pinned the Honkytonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart) at 9:36 with the Bionic Elbow after Hart accidentally hit Honky over the head with the guitar

Mr. Perfect pinned the Red Rooster with the Perfect Plex at 3:21 as Rooster attempted to climb back inside the ring; late in the bout, it appeared as if Rooster suffered a knee injury

*Rick Martel (w/ Slick), Jacques & Raymond Rougeau (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Tito Santana, Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty at 14:58 when Martel pinned Jannetty with a clothesline as Jannetty had one of the Rougeaus covered with a roll over; twice during the live telecast, the Rougeaus' music was accidentally played during the match, thus giving away the finish

*The Ultimate Warrior pinned WWF IC Champion Rick Rude (w/ Bobby Heenan) to win the title at 16:02 with a back suplex and splash after Roddy Piper mooned the champion from ringside

*King Jim Duggan & Demolition defeated Andre the Giant (w/ Bobby Heenan), the Big Bossman, & Akeem (w/ Slick) at 7:26 when Smash pinned Akeem after Duggan hit Akeem over the back with his 2x4 as Akeem had Smash covered following a splash from the middle turnbuckle; Bobby Heenan was introduced as being in Andre's corner but did not appear ringside until after the match began; Duggan wore one of Demolition's face masks for their ring entrance, had his face painted like the American flag, and had his 2x4 wrapped in the flag

Greg Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart) pinned Hercules with both feet on the ropes for leverage at 3:06; prior to the bout, Ron Garvin was introduced as the guest ring announcer for the match, with Garvin insulting both Valentine and Hart during their entrance; following the bout, Garvin announced Hercules as the winner until he was corrected by the referee, with Garvin then saying Hercules was the winner by disqualification; moments later, Valentine knocked Garvin to the floor and brawled with Hercules until Garvin climbed back in the ring and knocked Valentine to the floor with a punch

Ted Dibiase (w/ Virgil) defeated Jimmy Snuka via count-out at 6:26 when Dibiase threw Snuka into the ringpost after Snuka became distracted by Virgil on the floor; following his introduction, Dibiase took the mic and bragged about ending Jake Roberts' career; after the contest, Snuka knocked Dibiase to the floor, assaulted Virgil, and hit the splash off the top

*WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake (w/ Miss Elizabeth) defeated Randy Savage (w/ Sensational Sherri) & Zeus at 15:04 when Hogan pinned Zeus with a body slam and legdrop after hitting him with Sherri's loaded purse; prior to the ring introductions, the Genius read a poem in the ring in which he predicted Savage & Zeus to win; after Hogan & Beefcake's entrances, Hogan whispered something in Howard Finkel's ear, with Finkel then introducing Miss Elizabeth to be in Hogan & Beefcake's corner; after the match, Beefcake cut some of Sherri's hair

[goodhelmet]

OK, I killed this thread earlier when I had the audacity to ask for actua explanations with ful lcards. However, I still think the topic is worth saving so I am going to throw out some dates with my thoughts to chew on.

 

 

Crockett Cup 1987 Day 2 (4/11/87)

 

Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger vs. Brad & Bob Armstrong (Crockett Cup 4/11/87)

- Blanchard & Luger worked really well as a tag team here. After watching so many matches, I think Tully Blanchard may have been one of he Top 5 best guys of the 80s. Fuck it, I said it. After 25 years of hating this guy, I am slowly becoming a monster fan. I may have done him a disservice giving him only a 3-disc comp. Nomination.

Midnight Express vs. Road Warriors (Crockett Cup 4/11/87)

- OK, this may be the best Road Warriors match I have ever seen and it may be all due to Bobby Eaton. After watching this, along with the previous tag, it kind of pisses me off that they edited the fuck out of their commercial tapes. The fireball and interference was a little bit of overkill in the end but the fact that the Roadies were elminated was probably a big shock. I'll nominate this and see where it goes. (I saw this before I saw Starrcade 1987 which is the best Roadies match I think I have ever seen.)

 

Rick Rude & Ragin' Bull Manny Fernandez vs. Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff (Crockett Cup 4/11/87)

- This is JIP with about 5 minutes gone with less than 5 minutes shown. No vote.

 

Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger vs. Giant Baba & Isao Takagi (Crockett Cup 4/11/87)

- Man, this match kinda sucked.

 

Midnight Express vs. Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff (Crockett Cup 4/11/87)

- Like the Tully/Lex match before it, this was pretty anti-climatic. The MX did their shtick well and the match was inoffensive but nothing worthy of being on a set.

 

Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham (Crockett Cup 4/11/87)

- I'll have to rewatch the TV match but I don't know which one I like better. I think this one may be helped by the fact that there are no commercial breaks. This should land in my Top 10 and this was another one of those matches where people should be pissed that they edit the commercial releases to hell.

Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger vs. Nikita Koloff & Dusty Rhodes (Crockett Cup 4/11/87)

- Magnum TA walking was such a great moment that even if this match doesn't make it on the set, Magnum's entrance will go on the EXTRAS. When Luger & Nikita started off, this was pretty slow but it picked up when Blanchard got in there. It's hard seeing Nikita as a face in peril after watching him play the monster in those Ivan tags. Still, I would rather Nikita be in the ring than Rhodes. The ending was really great with Rhodes coming off the top. I'll nominate this one but won't fight for it.

 

EDIT: OVERALL THOUGHTS: This is another example of the high quality shit that Crockett was putting out in the mid-80s. 3 of the 6 tag matches are all going to be contenders on the future Crockett set. One may be the best Road Warriors performance of all time. The main event has the emotional return of Magnum TA which is one of those chills up the spine moments that big shows probably should have. Flair vs. Windham may contend for #1 on the 80s set and could be argued as the best match either guy ever had. To me, this is the type of show that people should be pimping when pimping greatest show type shit.

[anarchistxx]

Dreamslam II has to be up there, the last three matches are straight fire, with the undercard being pretty damn awesome as well. The main event is one of the greatest of all time, of course, which always helps.

 

1. Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka

2. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe & Saemi Numata vs. Utako Hozumi & Leo Kitamura & Mikiko Futagami

3. Terri Power & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazami & Miki Handa

4. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo

5. Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko & Bolshoi Kid

6. Suzuka Minami vs. Harley Saito

7. Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bull Nakano (Memorial Superfight)

8. Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai

9. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Championship)

 

--

 

WWF/E won't ever top Wrestlemania X7 as a top to bottom card. Every wrestler pretty much was crazily over, every match had the right build. It had everything from overbooked attitude era clusterfucks to high flying ladder spotfests to workrate matches to the epic main event. Pretty much encapsulated what the WWE strives for in four hours or brilliance. I loved it as a kid and I loved it as a smark, kind of wish I'd kept the tape now as I've the urge to watch it. Followed up No Way Out as well which was another fantastic night.

 

1. Intercontinental Championship

Chris Jericho © vs. William Regal

2. Six Man Tag Match

Tazz & APA vs. RTC

3. Hardcore Championship

Kane vs. Raven © vs. Big Show

4. European Championship

Test © vs. Eddie Guerrero

5. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit

6. Women's Championship

Chyna vs. Ivory ©

7. Street Fight

Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon

8. The Hardyz vs. The Dudleys © vs. Edge & Christian

9. Gimmick Battle Royal

10. Undertaker vs. Triple H

11.WWF Championship

The Rock © vs. Stone Cold

 

--

 

Then there are the shows that are just personal favourites. I used to have a fantastic tape of an indy tournament in 2001 with Low-Ki, Danielson and a few others, would love to see that again. The talent working the indies at that time was phenomenal. A few ROH cards I loved top to bottom at the time including All Star Extravaganza II.

 

Davey Andrews, Shane Hagadorn, Anthony Franco & Matt Turner vs Special K (Izzy, Dixie Deranged & Angeldust w/Lacey, Becky Bayless, Cheech and Cloudy)

Jay Lethal vs The Weapon of Mask Destruction (w/Prince Nana)

The Outkast Killers (Diablo Santiago & Oman Tortuga) vs The Ring Crew Express (Dunn & Marcos), The Carnage Crew (HC Loc & Tony DeVito), Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer

John Walters vs Jimmy Rave

Austin Aries vs Low Ki (w/Julius Smokes)

The Rottweilers (Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero w/Julius Smokes) vs Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer

Trent Acid vs Jerk Jackson

Colt Cabana & Jimmy Jacobs (w/Bobby Heenan) vs Generation Next (Roderick Strong & Jack Evans w/Jim Cornette)

Bryan Danielson vs Homicide (w/Julius Smokes)

Samoa Joe (w/Jay Lethal) vs CM Punk (w/Davey Andrews and Shane Hagadorn)

 

--

 

I used to really enjoy watching the 90s Super-J Cup tournaments as well, though I imagine they stretched across a few shows each year even though the matches were back to back on the discs I had. Some Michinoku-Pro card blew me away once too, when I just sat and watched it randomly, someone had sent me the DVD by mistake. Wish I still had all my listings so I can recall the date, pretty sure it wasn't the one with the famous ten man.

 

96 J-Crown:

 

Negro Casas vs Shinjiro Ohtani

Jushin Liger vs Ultimo Dragon

Gran Hamada vs El Samurai

Great Sasuke vs Masayoshi Motegi

 

Great Sasuke vs El Samurai

Ultimo Dragon vs Shinjiro Ohtani

 

Great Sasuke vs Ultimo Dragon

 

--

 

Can't really speak for WCW or ECW, as mostly I only saw the pimped stuff rather than full shows.

[goodhelmet]

Did you just completely ignore my posting guidelines?

[anarchistxx]

I only read the first page before replying. Will edit accordingly...

[goodhelmet]

Check out this show from Ft. Worth from 1983...

 

9/5/83 Fort Worth

Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts & Michael Hayes beat Kerry & Kevin & David Von Erich

David Von Erich beat Terry Gordy

Kevin Von Erich beat Jimmy Garvin dq

Country Whipping Match

Kerry Von Erich beat Michael Hayes

Lumberjack Match

Bruiser Brody beat Kamala dq

Iceman Parsons beat Buddy Roberts

att: 12,000

 

 

Three of the matches appeared on the Texas 80s set and all three hit the top half...

 

#19 - Freebirds vs. Von Erichs Six Man

#35 - David Von Erich vs. Terry Gordy

#64 - Michael Hayes vs. Kerry Von Erich

 

We also had Bruiser Brody vs. Kamala nominated but it missed the final cut.

 

I don't know if we have these Kevin Von Erich vs. Jimmy Garvin and Buddy Roberts vs. Iceman Parsons on tape but both were highly entertaining feuds for the time but for the sake of accuracy, I am not going to act as if they were good matches. Still, for what we have seen, this is one high powered show.

 

Bruiser Brody vs. Kamala (Lumberjack Match)

KRIS Z: This again is a war from the bell which was expected from these two. Brody juices early and often and it's funny seeing a very young John Tatum as a lumberjack. Kamala was awesome here bumping and selling for Brody and these two really meshed well together as Brody had experience with Abby but Kamala was more athletic at this time. The crowd was really hot for Brody here especially when he made his comeback. The finish was screwy as Brody would get his ass kicked by the heel lumberjacks forcing a DQ but this was a Brody match so DQ's are the norm. The finish didn't bother me at all and I think this deserves a nomination for the blood and hatred.

Michael Hayes vs. Kerry Von Erich (Country Whipping Match)

Man, what more could you ask for besides some blood? Dudes whipping each other with leather, Hayes choking the fuck out of Kerry, both guys laying in the sweet punches, Kerry wrapping Hayes leg with a strap for the trip takedown, nuclear crowd heat. Too bad Bronco Lubich whiffed on the pin. That bad ending and lack of blood will keep this out of my top 20 but the whole body was freaking why I love wrestling. Dudes beating the fuck out of each other.

David Von Erich vs. Terry Gordy (2/3 Falls)

The formula of a long 1st fall with the flash ending is in effect here. Not as solid as the Gordy/Garvin tag but good enough. 2nd fall has Gordy gaining his revenge and using an illegal spike sleeper to take the 2nd fall. Too bad, the 3rd fall has so little time because Gordy attacking the throat lights me up with smiles! After a standoff between Gordy and Chris Adams on the outside, the Buddy Roberts-Chris Adams feud overwhelms the match. David sneaks up behind Gordy with a roll-up for the cheap win. Eh, another weak ending and I was not as satisfied with the whole match like the Garvin/Gordy tag. Lower half. I think I disliked this more than the rest of the voters

 

The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs

Early on, I love how Buddy reminds David he can’t apply the claw to the head protector only to get hooked in the stomach claw. Kerry ends up FIP just the way I like it and bonus points for Gordy dropping a rolling senton! Shortly followed by a KAWADA KICK! Badass. The brief moment when Buddy was Heel in Peril was worked well followed by a sweet section where the Birds kept dropping Kevin on his throat. All good. The wild ending was perfect and I will rate this match high on the ballot!

 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Holy shit, what a great overall TV Taping. Could you imagine being in Ft. Worth grabbing a bag of popcorn with ashes mixed in the butter from the old hag behind the counter smoking her brown cigarettes? On the way to your seat, a fucking urban cowboy mad dogs you for looking at his old lady who wasn't wearing a bra so her nipples are poking out. That is how I imagine Ft. Worth every Friday watching the Freebirds-Von Erichs feud.