The Best Wrestlemania?

[GIMH]

Well folks? The title says it all. Time for the wrestling fans round here to vote for their favourite Wrestlemania.

As those of you who post in the wrestling thread might have noticed, I have been slowly getting back into wrestling of late, and am pretty hyped for the upcoming WM 25 (depsite the false 25th anniversary advertising )

Well anyway, my favourite WM has to be X-Seven. There was that buzz following Shane's 'purchase' of WCW on the Monday, a decent main event with Austin's heel turn - it wasn't all that surprising, obviously one of them was going to turn, but it was still good. And on top of that, seem to remmeber HHH V Undertaker being better than expected, TLC 2 being awesome, and the event in general being the most enjoyable WM I have watched.

But I am sure plenty of you disagree, so do share

 

[masterblaster]

The Wrestlemania's that stand out for me are 17, 20 and 22. I have a soft spot for Wrestlemania 19 as well. But you can't go past Wrestlemania 17. That was a perfect PPV when the wrestling industry was at it's peak.

 

[Retox]

Has to be
WrestleMania VI

Warrior V Hogan for WWF Intercontinental Championship and WWF Championship

Ted DiBiaseV Jake Robertsfor the Million Dollar Championship

The Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka) V The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty).

Demolition (Ax and Smash) V The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) for the WWF Tag Team Championship

Rick Rude V Jimmy Snuka


These are the highlights for and this could be the best WWF PPV I've seen ever. That might beacuse I dislike the current product and love the old school.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

X-Seven for me, probably just followed by III purely for how historic it was (and the fact you have Savage-Steamboat).

But WM17 is one of the best two PPVs I've ever seen; you've got a fine title match with a shocking turn, TLC II (I think it was II), a Benoit-Angle ripper and then a very strong undercard.

The only PPV I've seen that compares is GAB '89 - that was awesome:

Flair-Funk
Sting-Muta
Luger-Steamboat
WarGames

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

WrestleMania 13 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[duffer]

X for mine. Probably for nostalgic reasons as much as anything.

 

[99*]

WrestleMania 13 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Awta.

 

[GIMH]

Not a huge fan of some of the undercard on 13, but Hart-Austin is awesome. Love the double turn.

 

[Indipper]

X. Had Owen v Bret #1, the ladder match and the Quebecers. What more could you want?

 

[Francis]

My favourites are 3, 8, 10, 14 and 17.

If I had to pick my favourite it would be 10. Despite not having the best all-round show, it had two of the three best Wrestlemania matches I've ever seen in Bret-Owen and Razor-Shawn. The sad thing is that these days ladder matches are just mindless spot-filled matches that don't move me. Back in the day I remember watching a spot in Razor-Shawn where Razor hits Shawn with the ladder and Shawn falls out of the ring. Razor sets up the ladder and starts to slowly climb the ladder. Shawn is slowly climbing the turn-buckle. Razor gets closer. Shawn keeps climbing. Razor has it until Shawn hits him with an ax-handle flying through the air etc. It's just an example of doing something simple and well and getting the people excited before you fall off the ladder.

I also don't think people will ever be able to appreciate just how shocking Shawn baseball sliding into the ladder really is. Back in the day that move shocked the hell out of me because it was so original and unseen! A nostalgic match for sure.

Wrestlemania 3 I enjoyed because of the match between Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat. I've met so many wrestling fans on the net who've said that was the match that turned them into hardcore wrestling fans. As the saying goes, "Hogan and Andre drew the crowd, Steamboat and Savage stole it."

I enjoyed Wrestlemania 8 because it was the most star studded Mania of them all - Hogan, Flair, Savage, Hart, Piper, Michaels, Undertaker, Jake Roberts, DiBiase... I just got a kick out of seeing them all perform. Hart and Piper had a good match... not technically, but from a storytelling stand-point.

Wrestlemania 14 has no great matches, but it felt so fresh to me back in the day. You knew the WWE was going in a different direction with it.

Wrestlemania 17 was the WWE at their last great peak. Great epic crowd and a pretty good (though overrated) main event. I also liked some of the undercard as well.

 

[GIMH]

I actually think Bret Hart V Roddy Piper at 8 was bloody brilliant you know

 

[superkingdave]

VIII-XII probably the best period but its between IX and X for me, with IX just edging it.

Great line-up including my favourite tag team, The Steiners, an appearance from 40odd year old Bob Backlund, great match between Tatanka and Shaun Michaels and plenty more. Probably the one i remember the most as well which must mean something

 

[GIMH]

The thing about IX though was that the ending sucked

 

[Barney Rubble]

Yeah, I was wondering who voted IX, purely because it had the most non-sensical and stupid piece of booking in wrestling history as its go-home moment.

I voted X-Seven - pretty much the perfect wrestling PPV in my opinion. The undercard was stacked with quality - Jericho vs Regal, Eddie vs Test (which was surprisingly good for a match featuring Test), Big Show vs Kane vs Raven, the immortal first-ever Benoit vs Angle encounter, TLC II, and more. Then the main events of Triple H vs Undertaker and Rock vs Austin just blew the roof off.

I also think XXIV deserves plenty of credit, along with XX and VI - and I should also say that I think XXV could be one of the best if they pull it off the way they should.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

I never much liked HHH-Taker; thought it went on too long in the crowd.

 

[Indipper]

I actually think Bret Hart V Roddy Piper at 8 was bloody brilliant you know

Yea that was pretty cool. Also Flair v Savage from the same show stuck out. But the rest of the card was solid meh from what I remember.

 

[Francis]

Like I said, Bret v Piper was terrific from a storytelling point of view.

The actual *wrestling* wasn't great, primarily because Piper sucked around this time (he wasn't a great wrestler to begin with) and had a steel hip. But yeah the match is stuff like Bret putting him in an arm-wringer, and Piper just reversing it. Bret reverses it the same way. They tell a good story and it builds to a nice ending where Piper teases the crowd that he might cheat by using the bell. But in terms of beautiful wrestling I'd rather watch great wrestlers like El Dandy.

 

[Indipper]

Thats like saying 'I'd rather watch some cool movie with lotsa explosions than one of them boring dramas where you see like, real people who show - ew! - emotions!'

 

[Francis]

What explosions are to movies, mindless spots are for wrestling. And I don't watch wrestling for mindless spots.

Here's a good example of what I mean...

In the above post I mentioned how I enjoyed it in Razor v Shawn that they teased the crowd, rather than throwing out mindless spots. The part where Shawn was climbing the turnbuckle while Razor was nearly grabbing the title is a great example of how to control the crowd's emotions.

By comparison, the part in the Wrestlemania 17 TLC match where Edge spears Jeff Hardy swinging from the belt came out of no where. I didn't see it coming when I watched that match live! It happened out of no where and the crowd was like 'woah'. I was shocked too. But that shock value decreases every time I see a spot like that. The US indy circuit is choc-full of young guys hurting their bodies, performing mindless spots that hardly get a reaction from the crowd.

So no, I don't care for mindless spots, gruesome violence...

That said, I like seeing athleticism in wrestling. I like seeing good moves that are intelligent. "Good moves" doesn't mean insanely violent highspots, it means moves that look convincing and believable and have a place in the story the wrestlers are trying to tell. The moves in Bret-Piper really didn't look all that good, which is mostly Piper (who was a limited worker). I'm fully aware that everything in wrestling looks fake, especially compared to UFC. But even the most jaded wrestling fans can get annoyed by poor looking moves. I remember at Wrestlemania 7, Ultimate Warrior beat Randy Savage with four consecutive shoulder-blocks, which looked comparatively weaker to the moves he used earlier in the match. Hence the ending lacked believability. Even by wrestling's standards, Bret v Piper looks hookey at times. Terrible counters and simple moves.

Don't misunderstand me though, I enjoyed the match and thought it was great from a storytelling point of view. Tremendous emotion.

 

[Indipper]

Point well made.