Scott, hope all is well. Waiting for the late NFL game to start, and reading some BoD. Was just curious on some completely subjective things...
- What PPV were you most excited to watch, for whatever reason? Mine was WM 14
- Most excited you were for a wrestling "reveal?" 3rd NWO man? Higher power?
- Favorite wrestling "moment?" Im a sucker for retirement stuff, so I gotta say the HBK farewell speech. This was guy who was a self described asshole, who was hated by almoat everyone, that changed his life around and was being completely transparent and real in his retirement address. Just great fucking stuff. Second is probably Austin and the beer bath.
- Biggest letdown, whether it be match, reveal, angle, etc?
Just curious to your answers. Thanks...officerfarva
Most excited PPV: Wrestlemania XV or 2000, mainly because it was the main gathering of people at the apartment, and in particular with 2000 it was coming off two huge shows in 2000 and we all geeked to see Rock finally win that damn title back.
Most exciting reveal: Third man, no contest.
Favorite moment: Piper smashing up the Flower Shop on crutches.
Biggest letdown: Luger choking against Yokozuna at Summerslam was a pretty big disappointment after all the weeks of build.
Most excited and biggest disappointment are the same PPV: Starrcade 97
ReplyDeleteMost excited PPV of all time was Wrestlemania XVII. Had a stacked card from top to bottom. To bad it turned out to be a major disappointment....
ReplyDeleteNot silly at all. I have fond memories of SummerSlam 91, it was the first PPV I ordered. It was my birthday present as I turned 8 two days later, had a bunch of friends over, pizza and a sleepover. I was the only kid in the room rooting for The Mountie to win as I wanted to see Bossman tazed but seeing Bossman arrest Mountie and book him in jail was fun too. That night was so much wrestling fun, I recorded the show on the VCR and had gotten tapes for WM 3 and 6 so we watched all those the rest of the night and the next morning.
ReplyDeleteOh and my mom had a friend who worked on Late Night with David Letterman. So he got me like 8 tapes full of Saturday Nights Main Event on my birthday that year. Such an awesome birthday present.
ReplyDeleteBest blah blah blah...Breaking Bad Finale.
ReplyDelete- Milpool
Most excited and favorite moment: WM X although I wasn't excited for long. I asked my dad if I could order WM X and he said no which bummed me out. The day of the show he asked if I wanted to come with him to his work as he had to pick up some papers. I said yes as I liked going to the city. After a little while I noticed he was going a different way but didn't think anything of it. Then finally I noticed we were headed right for MSG, I asked him if that's where we were going but he said no, he had to just go to a different office but the smirk on his face said it all. I started flipping out in the car. Seeing that ladder match live was beyond amazing, it was the first time I had seen anything like that. Bret/Owen was great as well although I wasn't sure if Owen won right away because of the angle I was seeing it from. Bret winning at the end just capped off an awesome night, I remember being exhausted by the time the show was over.
ReplyDeleteYour dad was kind of a dick for depriving you of anticipation like that.
ReplyDeleteMost excited PPV: No Way Out 2000. I actually thought Mick was serious about jumping off the top of the cage.
ReplyDeleteMost exciting reveal: IT WAS ME AUSTIN! IT WAS ME ALL ALONG!
Favorite moment: Flair coming back in 98. Was going to go to that show but couldn't afford to take off work. 15 years later and I'm still kicking myself.
Biggest letdown: HHH basically squashing Kurt Angle at Unforgiven 2000. All that build up for something exciting to happen only for HHH to kill the entire angle in 20 minutes.
1. Wrestlemania XV. Packed house for that one. Not the best show wrestling-wise, but no one cared. They were just waiting for the payoff.
ReplyDelete2. Ciclope unmasks to reveal he's really Dean Malenko and he gets the title shot against Chris Jericho
3. Bret Hart reunites the Hart family
4. Montreal
Man that was just a fun show all around.
ReplyDeleteBiggest letdown: Glacier. Yeah, I said it. I was so pumped for his debut, being a giant MK fan. I knew he wasn't gonna start chucking ice magic(if only it had been in DDT), but anything would have been better than what we got.
ReplyDeleteMoment: Mick's title win on RAW had me screaming at my tv and just going nuts. My favorite wrestler getting a "Let's blow this motherfucker apart" pop and the strap. Good times. Shawn throwing Marty through the barbershop window is up there though.
Ppv: I remember a house-load of very psyched people for "Invasion" . Sigh, what could have been.
Most Excited:
ReplyDelete- Flair return and Horsemen reunion in '98
- Jericho's WWF debut in '99
- Jericho & Benoit over HHH & Austin in '01
- Goldberg over Hogan in '98
- Radicals WWF debut in '00
That's still the best use of a song for a PPV. Highway To Hell was just awesome. Going to the RAW a couple weeks before that and having the music blaring to see Stone Cold come in driving the hearse was one of my most favorite moments that I saw live.
ReplyDeleteWiki says 770,000. So not quite mania but that's a big big number.
ReplyDeleteI remember being satisfied with the PPV after watching it although honestly without consulting wiki I couldn't remember anything other than the ending, the Hardy/RVD match and X-Pac somehow still getting booed even for being on team WWF
Most excited PPV: Either Satrrcade 97 or Barely Legal.
ReplyDeleteMost exciting reveal: What Scott said, word for word. Jericho's debut in the WWF was great too.
Favorite moment: Eh, hard to pick one. I want to say when Dreamer finally pinned Raven, but I also want to say HBK beating Jarrett for the IC title, just because it was my first hardcore mark-out moment. Sentimental value, on that one... Yeah, I'm going with HBK, though I very well could edit to something else entirely that will pop into my head later.
Biggest letdown: Starrcade 97, and mean the fucking whole show, not just the main event.
I said the same thing above.
ReplyDeleteOh, we enjoyed it. It's the after-effects that bummed me out.
ReplyDeleteMost exciting reveal: The time Triple H pulled down Stephanie's pants and you could see her bare ass on RAW.
ReplyDeleteFavorite moment: HBK putting Marty through the window of the Barbershop set.
Biggest letdown: Bret Hart getting screwed at Survivor Series 1997.
Most excited: Over the Edge 98 I knew Mick wasn't going to beat Austin that close to his WM win but I knew it would be a great match, those two just had magic together. Then we ended up getting what I consider the best "overbooked" match in history, changing the rules mid match, Austin kicking all the stooges asses, JR's best over the top indignant commentary ever and one of my favorite funny moments ever, Austin stomping Foley's fake teeth on the mat and Lawler screaming "Dude just lost his smile!"
ReplyDeleteBest reveal: Same answer as Scott, nothing beats Hogan turning heel for pure shock and dismay.
Favorite moment: Savage and Liz, WM7 The last chapter of my favorite storyline ever.
Biggest Letdown: The Higher Power was pretty brutal, can I pick a wrestler? If so I pick Ultimate Warrior's entire career.
PPV most excited to watch: SummerSlam 1990 (first PPV I ever ordered). I remember thinking that it might actually be $27.95 a match as a kid and thinking that seemed like a pretty good deal... needless to say I didn't understand the value of the dollar and I was *PUMPED*.
ReplyDeleteMost anticipated reveal: "The third man"
Favorite wrestling moment: Savage/Elizabeth reuniting @ WrestleMania VII.
Biggest letdown: Starrcade 1997 / WrestleMania XV
Agreed, an amazing moment and definitely right near the top of all time great speeches in wrestling.
ReplyDeleteMost exciting reveal: When Mae Young took her top off at Rumble 2000! That image stayed in my spank bank for years to come.
ReplyDeleteHa! The original poster agrees! Screw you haters!
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna go a different way: my favorite reveal was Ricky Steamboat as Dustin Rhodes's partner. I knew Steamboat was a great wrestler who had a reputation in the NWA/WCW, but this was the first show I had seen (the Sting/Abdullah feud had my attention -- okay, I may be clogging a few details). My point is, when Dustin pulls that robe off and Steamboat strikes a Bruce Lee pose... then you cut to AA and Z, both of whom look like they've just seen the Terminator... it was a totally awesome moment. And then he DELIVERED in the match! A lot to love.
ReplyDeleteYep, I do agree, robbing me of the anticipation and crossing off days on a Calender is a dick move. I don't get the Downvotes, I thought it was a cute joke.
ReplyDelete"Hiiiii... don't you just love the way leather feels against your body?"
ReplyDelete"LET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!!"
My first PPV too! I would be roughly the same age as you. Because I thought it was all legit at the time, I remember thinking that Ricky Steamboat was literally going to die in that first match. Funny thing is, I could probably watch it now and still think he was going to die he was that good.
ReplyDeleteI preferred the reveal of Ricky Steamboat as Eddie Gilbert's partner.
ReplyDeleteBiggest letdown: Godfather vs Blue Blazer match not happening.
ReplyDeletePPV I was most excited for? Wrestlemania XIV because I was there.
ReplyDeleteWrestling reveal? Hogan as the third man, of course.
Wrestling moment? Austin and the zamboni followed the Undertaker and Kane breaking Vince's leg.
Biggest letdown? The only correct answer has to be the Invasion, doesn't it?
My favourite moment of all time was the Ric Flair retirement on Raw after Wrestlemania XXIV. Now, I realize in retrospect it has perhaps been damaged, and maybe I should have predicted this beforehand, but at the time, in the moment, it was hands down my favorite moment as a fan.
ReplyDeleteI had spent the last few years basically "learning" about Ric Flair. For years, I had come to Scott's sites, and had read "Flair in '89 was ungodly", "NWA in the 80s and Flair was the best shit ever". I never understood the hype...until I started watching.
I got my hands on both Flair DVDs, the Horsemen DVD, the Starrcade DVD, and everything else that gave me Flair 80s (and even early '90s matches). I rewatched the bouts with Steamboat, Flair, and Rhodes dozens of times. I must have seen the Flair / Windham January '87 half-hour TV draw thirty times in full. I couldn't get enough.
It was the cardio conditioning. I could not believe how Flair could keep up such a ferocious pace for an hour (and the sports fan in me loved how the announcers talked about how Flair purposely did intense-cardio workouts to be prepped). It seemed like Flair hated the THOUGHT of using a rest hold in a match.
It was the champ finding any way to escape. I loved the matches where Flair held on to the big gold belt by the skin of his teeth. Whether the bout reached time limit, whether Flair used the ropes, whether there was a double fall. I loved that Flair didn't care if he BARELY came out with the title, as long as he DID come out with the title.
I loved the promos. In ten minute blocks, Flair would: put himself over, put his opponent over, put the pay-per-view over, put various wrestlers in the promotion over, brag about his wardrobe, brag about his women, and brag about his partying. *exhales*
And, I just loved the overall presentation. The simple, yet effective, matching tights and boots with "RF"; the bleach blond hair, the robes, the strut, "Also Sprach Zarathustra". It was the icing on top of one excellent cake.
So, after finally learning myself why Flair was the greatest*, the Wrestlemania XXIV retirement match and speech the next night were perfect. It was like every other wrestler and major player in the business was in agreement--Flair was the man. It was validating. It was emotional. It was definitely my favorite moment.
(*or HBK, depending on the day)
You're right. If they were going to be so insignificant, they should not have bothered.
ReplyDeleteReveal: The Rock as 'Corporate Champion' in the Deadly Game tournament at Survivor Series '98.
ReplyDeleteRock didn't win the title at WM 2000 though....
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I thought the reveal of The Rock as Corporate Champ at Survivor Series '98 was a legit great one
ReplyDeleteAt the time, the reveal of the WCW/ECW Alliance was pretty exciting.
ReplyDeleteReveal: 3-2-1 "BREAK THE WALLS DOOOOOWWWWN" [JERICHO]
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear Scott mention Piper smashing the Flower Shop. That and the Steamboat-Savage angle hooked me, for better or worse. My favorite event is WM3, though I didn't see it live. The Invasion is easily the biggest letdown, and started the wheels in motion for me to stop being a regular viewer, so maybe it was a good thing.
ReplyDeleteBiggest letdown for me might have to be the fizzling out of the Raw Anonymous General Manager angle. They could have really done something with that and the reveal, but they just let it die out and casually mentioned that it was Hornswoggle.
ReplyDeleteThere was some satisfaction in Edge taking out his rage on a poor laptop.
Most exciting PPV: Wrestlemania X-7, with an all-star lineup, the looming threat of the WCW Invasion, and on a personal note, tickets to see the show at WWF New York. Sub-par food, but the atmosphere was CRAZY.
ReplyDeleteMost exciting reveal: "WELCOME TO... RAW... IS... JERICHO!!!"
Favorite moment: Less than a year later, Jericho slaying HHH to claim the World Title, before Hunter bullied the referee into overturning the decision.
Second place: TAKA Michinoku coming to within a hair of beating Triple H during that same title run.
Biggest letdown: The NXT participants arriving en masse to demolish Monday Night Raw, only for Daniel Bryan to get fired to protect Linda's political skin and the entire angle to devolve into Cena's latest monster-of-the-month.
i know it's recent, but Brock at Raw after mania 28 still gives me goosebumps.
ReplyDeleteGreat recap, covering a lot of ground too! I can really relate with the Bret Hart thing, even though I was a bit smarky online already at that point, I was hoping the info was wrong and that finish gave me hope lol
ReplyDeleteThanks! Mania 12 was such a bummer for me as a kid. I remember yelling at the TV that if they were going to restart the match that they needed to do it with hbk in the sharpshooter since that was where they were when the time expired. I still stand behind that logic.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Flair was really great at being able to say all of that in a span of ten minutes or less. Compare that to today where it takes 20 minutes just for WWE to tell us there's going to be a tag match at the end of the night.
ReplyDeleteMost exciting PPV: Have to go with WrestleMania III, that's the show that made me a fan in the first place.
ReplyDeleteMost exciting reveal: Scott Hall's WCW return in 1996.
Favorite moment: This is extremely random but I have to go with the episode of Prime Time Wrestling where Gorilla and Bobby were on an Old West movie set. Easily my favorite wrestling show of all-time even though the matches themselves left a lot to be desired (who in the hell thought it was a good idea to give a Sam Houston/Barry Horowitz match 15 minutes? Did Pat Patterson have a crush on those guys?).
Biggest letdown: TNA hiring the three guys that killed WCW. If they had just stayed on the path they were on in 2005, they would be holding shows in sold out 15,000 seat arenas today. But now, thanks to the incompetence of Hogan. Bischoff, Russo and Dixie, they're holding shows in half empty 5,000 seat venues. The results speak for themselves and they deserve the bad luck they're currently getting.