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| WCW vs. WWF - The Pay-Per-View Comparison Thread; Special Thanks To The WWE Network | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 18 2014, 10:52 PM (1,156 Views) | |
| Infinite Devil Machine | Jun 18 2014, 10:52 PM Post #1 |
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A Very Cunning Linguist
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So, this is it. An idea I've had floating around my head for a little while now. Everybody who writes reviews for this site seems to write reviews of certain shows in a bubble. "Oh, WWF Show X was great." "Dude, WCW Show Y was terrible." But, I've yet to see anybody directly compare two such shows. Remember, WCW vs. WWF on pay-per-view existed decades before the "Monday Night Wars". WWF hyped its pay-per-views unopposed on RAW for two years as WCW did their hype on their weekend programming. In no uncertain terms, WCW sucked at pay-per-views as their shows, especially those in the early-90's, were littered with heatless, undercard matches and often left much of their card unannounced until the night of the show. WCW knew Charlie Norris vs. Big Sky wasn't a pay-per-view worthy match, so it made sense to not announce it ahead of time, but viewers often felt blindsided by plenty of poor early matches. As the Monday Night Wars era hit its peak, WCW would pull the trigger on what should have been major PPV matches on free TV to win a rating while forgetting the importance of the paid market. 46,000 paid at the Georgia Dome to see Hollywood Hogan vs. Goldberg on free TV? Great. And it did record ratings for WCW at the time and set attendance records for that arena. But WCW saving that match for the paid market? That's literally hundreds of thousands of more dollars. Big picture stuff. WWF on the other hand used their time to carefully announce every match on any given show. Their undercard was properly filled out (for the most part) on any given show. Viewers knew a pay-per-view's lineup from the top down by the weekend of the show. Hell, WWF occasionally over-promised (notably having to cut an advertised 10-man tag team match from a Wrestlemania event and cutting three solid undercard matches from Summer Slam 1992.) The WWF knew the importance of PPV. When WCW Nitro debuted in 1995 to oppose RAW, the WWF shot back by putting superstar vs. superstar matches on their show. In a move that's hard to pin down the exact specifics of, somehow, the WWF didn't often blow their big matches on TV. Angles involving big names often ruled the day, rather than matches. By the late 90's, as Nitro added a third hour, their show had become rote. Filler matches from 8 to 9 and a big angle at 9 to contend with RAW hitting the air. Its this need to fill an extra hour that many claim was Nitro's downfall as their roster became bloated, their expenditures for putting on a live three hour show every week (complete with a massive fireworks display on the top of every hour) and the massive financial drain of having wrestling's highest paid stars on every week (including the lunacy of offering "favored country" status to contracts of the more important wrestlers - meaning that when a new wrestler joined the company who was making more than a wrestler with "favored country" status, those who enjoyed that status were given an automatic, non-negotiable pay bump. Guys like Kevin Nash and Scott Hall definitely had to thank Bret Hart for the raise.) Its this corrosion of company funds, along with a lack of insight on how to properly utilize the pay-per-view market that eventually ate away at a lot of WCW's back end money. Once the WCW's ratings advantage began to slip ("that'll put butts in seats!") the WWF's gained the advantage and held it. Their pay-per-view revenues were strong. Wrestlemania did hundreds of thousand of dollars to millions of dollars a year, reliably, in sales. WCW couldn't recover on TV and, in a silly decision, still tried the same hot shot, ratings-grab matches on TV instead of building them for PPV. Bret Hart vs. Hulk Hogan would have been a major pay-per-view seller in the late-90's era. Almost that era's version of John Cena/Triple H. And, on top of that, it was one the rare misses in the WWF. And hey, look at that, it was over by 9:45 for free on TNT. Instead of making millions in paid revenue, it was over before the next commercial for the TNT airing of "Sleepless In Seattle". In all, as you can see, pay-per-view was an incredibly important part of wrestling in the WCW vs. WWF era. As each company tore into each other, let's take a look back to the past. All the way back to the halcyon days of 1997. June 1997 to be exact. As summer approached in WWF-land four top stars vied for the chance to be King. Only one man would gain the crown and the others would be mere serfs. Also, in an epic clash "Stone Cold" Steve Austin would take on Shawn Michaels in a match, not about titles but about respect. And, in a rather underwhelming main event, Nation of Domination leader Faaroq would take on The Undertaker in a WWF title match. In Billionaire Ted's wrestling circus act, WCW would seek to hold a party to kick off summer. A Great American Bash. Cemented with a double main event of Ric Flair and Roddy Piper taking on Scott Hall and Kevin Nash for the WCW titles and Diamond Dallas Page taking on the NWO's "Macho Man" Randy Savage in a no-holds barred match. The rest of the show was solidified by a stiff brawl between Chris Benoit and Meng, a tag-team war between Harlem Heat and The Steiners, Madusa retiring and Glacier taking on Wrath in more Mortal Kombat inspired inanity. How well do 1997's June pay-per-views hold up? Which one's better? Well, let's find out. Posted Image vs. Posted Image So, here we go. WCW - The Ultimate Dragon vs. Psychosis (w/Sonny Ono) vs. WWF - Ahmed Johnson vs. Triple H (w/Chyna) - Honestly, you couldn't get two more different opening matches. One thing I'll give WCW credit for was bringing in the cruiserweights and utilizing them as openers on Nitro and their pay-per-views to start a show off with a hot, attention-grabbing match. Psychosis and the Ultimate Dragon (this was before somebody clued WCW in on it being The Ultimo Dragon) have, not a classic, but a solid opener. They set a good pace early and after some stalling and character work they settle into a typical fast pace with dives, moonsaults and the like. Dragon wins clean with his Dragon Sleeper in a neat little match. - In the WWF Ahmed and Triple H have a match that could be a non-prescription replacement for Nyquil. Ahmed sleepwalks through a shine sequence, Triple H takes over and kills the crowd with his boring offense, and the audience wakes up briefly as Ahmed makes a comeback before being pinned after a Pedigree and cheap interference from Chyna. Overall: Gotta give this one to WCW. Dragon and Psychosis put on a better match, the crowd was hot for it and the right guy went over. Ahmed and Triple H just didn't "click" and had a boring match. WCW: 1 WWF: 0 WCW - Harlem Heat (w/Sherri Martel) vs. The Steiner Brothers vs. WWF - Mankind vs. Jerry "The King" Lawler - Again, kind of a lopsided comparison. Harlem Heat and the Steiners are four of WCW's youngest, most talented tag-team guys. Compared to the awkward chemistry in WWF's offering, Heat and Steiners are made for each other. Booker T's super-athleticism carries Stevie Ray's distinct lack of talent as he leaps and flies around the ring delivering cool kicks and distinct offense showing his exceptional knack for timing. The Steiners do the Steiner-thing and beat the shit out of Heat and suplex them out of their boots. This match's only real weakness is the ending, where the NWO's Vincent hits the ring and attacks Scott Steiner for reasons left unexplained. Harlem Heat win by DQ. Good match, otherwise. - Over in the WWF, the WWF's ascendant "king" takes on Mankind in a match where both guys are obviously trying. They come thiiiiiiissss close to really getting it right. Then they blow a neckbreaker spot in an ugly botch. Then Mankind takes it home shortly thereafter cleanly with his finish. Good effort, not the best match. Overall: Harlem Heat and The Steiner Brothers put on a better worked match than Mankind/King. Booker looked great, the Steiners did their thing and it was solid stuff all around. Mankind/King was just awkward and kind of meandering. They tried. But effort isn't good enough. WCW: 2 WWF: 0 WCW - Hugh Morrus vs. Konnan vs. WWF - Goldust (w/Marlena) vs. Crush (w/The Nation) - Ah, filler vs. filler. In short, Konnan and Morrus start off hot, decide to go the distance (a whole 10 minutes) and by the end of things, the crowd is completely against them. Konnan beats Morrus with a German suplex and a badly executed version of the Tequila Sunrise. - Goldust and Crush on the other hand, start off fairly slow and basically, again (I've been saying this a lot) sleepwalk through a match. Its not bad, and unlike Morrus/Konnan, Goldy/Crush would have been a decent weekend show match as opposed to Morrus/Konnan, which I wouldn't watch again if it was performed live in my living room for free. Eventually, Goldust pins Crush with a DDT after saving Marlena from The Nation. Filler. But not bad filler. Overall: Take a damn guess. WCW: 2 WWF: 1 WCW: Wrath (w/Mortis and James Vanderburg) vs. Glacier vs. WWF: The Hart Foundation (Owen Hart/The Bulldog/Jim Neidhart) vs. The Legion of Doom and Sid Vicious - Not much to say here. I've always had a soft spot for Glacier and Wrath is infinitely talented for such a big lumbering guy (he busts out a running front flip dive off the apron at one point, which is always cool.) but this match just grinds after a bit. Things start out hot, but eventually cool down as Wrath has to get some heat on Glacier (no pun intended) and uses boring wear down holds to do so. Eventually, a Mortis miscommunication leads to Glacier using a chain and his Cryonic Kick to pin Wrath. Not bad, but kind of boring. Also, the Mortal Kombat stuff seemed really out of place on a show featuring the NWO running rampant. Almost Dungeon of Doom-like. - A pretty good six-man here. The faces get a chance to look good and the heels take over. Honestly, Owen and Bulldog (who were both pretty hot at this time) have it in cruise control. But, an Owen and Bulldog in cruise control is still better than Glacier/Wrath trying. Eventually, Sid makes the hot tag, cleans house and gets pinned by Owen with a botched-looking top rope sunset flip. Decent stuff. Overall: Neither match is incredible. But, the characters and work in the six-man are better than those of Wrath/Glacier. Owen Hart vs. goofy Mortal Kombat knockoff shit? Yeah, Owen gets it every time. WCW: 2 WWF: 2 - I'm not going to rate the Madusa vs. Akira Hokuto match here, as the WWF has nothing to compare it against. Needless to say, it wouldn't stand up well to the WWF's offering of Mankind/Triple H in the King of The Ring finals. It was good for what it was, but Mankind/Triple H is a bigger, hotter match for sure. Women's wrestling was a novelty in 1997. WCW: 2 WWF: 2 WCW - Meng vs. Chris Benoit - Death Match vs. WWF- Triple H (w/Chyna) vs. Mankind - King of The Ring Finals - Another contrast in crowd reaction here. In terms of their place in wrestling, Meng and Benoit in WCW are a definite step down in star power compared to the King of The Ring final match between Triple H and Mankind. That being said, Benoit was solidified by 1997 as being a workhorse in WCW and Meng was always good for a stiff brawl. And that's what we get here. The live audience is red hot for this one as Benoit, this being a return match, tries once again to put Meng down for the count in a "death match" environment. For the record, WCW's "death matches" are sort of like last man standing matches where submission can render a fall too. Benoit chops the living shit out of Meng and Meng clobbers Benoit. There's a great spot early in the match where Benoit dives on Meng to start the match as Meng's talking with Jimmy Hart. Eventually, Benoit weathers the Tongan Death Grip and makes Meng pass out in the Crippler Crossface. Meng sells it perfectly by very, very lightly tapping out before fading away. Its a little uncomfortable to watch, all things considered. But its well done for the time. - Like I said; contrast in crowd reactions. Triple H/Mankind is a solid match that starts slow with each guy getting a chance to shine. Its incredible how not over Triple H's act is here. That being said, Mankind's crowd reactions don't exactly set the world on fire in the early going. Eventually, things settle into what's almost a prototype for a typical hardcore match. There's a lot of brawling on the floor and around the outside. Mankind hits his "Cactus Jack" spots and bumps his ass off the put Triple H over. Eventually, Triple H takes the crown home after Mankind takes a nasty header through the French announce table, a shot from the King of The Ring scepter, which to be fair, Mankind gets a pretty good pop for kicking out of, before eating a Pedigree for the loss. This match started slow and ended pretty hot. Overall: Hard to say. Both matches featured fairly solid work, but I've got a soft spot for Benoit and Meng just stiffing the hell out of each other. By the end of it, Triple H and Mankind had the crowd hot but Benoit and Meng managed that right out of the gate. I'll give the WWF half a point for the pop after Mankind kicked out of the scepter shot. WCW: 3 WWF: 2.5 - Obviously, Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels is going to blow away "Mongo" McMichael and football player Kevin Greene. So, to keep things even going into the main events of both shows, I'm not going to rate this. Needless to say Mongo/Greene wasn't very good. WCW: 3 WWF: 2.5 WCW - Ric Flair and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall (w/Syxx) © - WCW Tag Team Championship vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels - Tag-Team Champions Explode - WCW, at their peak, managed to have some of the most predictable Pay-Per-Views around. Solid undercard, which this show has, and crappy main events. This is one of the most hyped matches on the show and it only runs 10 minutes. Flair and Piper control early, eventually Flair chases Syxx to the back and Piper eats the loss after going down swinging in the ring. Not bad and probably better than a standard match between these four would ever be. - The WWF, on the other hand often had pay-per-views featuring a weak undercard and a strong main event. This show is no exception. Austin and Michaels bring the house down here. This match is better than anything on WCW's show and when compared to the short, disappointing tag-team match, it blows it out of the water. Austin and Michaels, again in a trend with this show, start slow but build to a hot finish. Austin is in his pre-crippled days here and Michaels hasn't developed an untenable attitude by working with Bret Hart. This match isn't a lost classic, but its a proper solid pay-per-view match that ends with an unfortunately poor double-disqualification ending. Really good stuff. Overall: Easy win for the WWF here. Austin and Michaels brought their working boots and had a great match whereas WCW's big tag-team championship match was booked well but just didn't do it. WCW: 3 WWF: 3.5 WCW - Diamond Dallas Page vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage (W/Elizabeth) - Falls Count Anywhere/No-Holds Barred vs. WWF - The Undertaker © vs. Faarooq (W/The Nation of Domination) - WWF Title - Its strange to see a WCW show without a title match to end it, but Page and Savage come at this one with so much heat and have the history and the in-ring chemistry to put on solid match that doesn't require a title. Page gets the early advantage and holds it until Savage goes after his seemingly perpetually injured ribs. They brawl all over the arena, including some strange "VIP picnic" area off the side of the entrance way. Its the usual solid work between these two as Savage, of all the 80's guys still competing in '97 was the closest to still "having it" and Page brought his usual workman like style to this thing. Eventually, after some solid semi-hardcore action, Page scores with a Diamond Cutter but is jumped by an interfering Scott Hall, dropped with an Outsider's Edge and nailed with a Randy Savage flying elbow for the loss. Despite the loss, Page looks like a contender here. Page would spend years flirting with the top of the card before finally becoming a main event player in WCW's waning years. This match was a solid precursor to that and great match to close the show. - On the other hand, Faarooq and Undertaker have a fairly meandering title match. This was shortly before the debut of Kane and Faarooq was clearly a filler contender. Trying to re-capture his WCW glory days, Faarooq tries to bring his working boots and Undertaker comes along for the ride. Its not awful, but its barely a passable RAW title match. And, clocking in at only 13 minutes, it feels like kind of a letdown. 'Taker wins with the Tombstone piledriver after Faarooq becomes distracted with an arguing Nation on the outside. Blech. Faarooq would never ascend to this position on the card again and, notably, would tag up with another stagnant midcarder in Bradshaw to be the Undertaker's minions in the year to follow. Overall: Another easy decision. Page/Savage was great stuff and Undertaker/Faarooq was a boring filler feud and a poor match. WCW: 4 WWF: 3.5 And Overall: WCW owned the pay-per-view wars in June 1997. Their show featured great tag-team wrestling, cruiserweight action, a good stiff brawl between Meng and Chris Benoit and a really enjoyable Randy Savage/Dallas Page match. The WWF felt like it was in second gear for much of King of The Ring's duration. The tournament matches felt slow and muddy and the Undertaker/Faarooq match was a snoozer. Not even Austin/Michaels could save the show as its poor double-DQ finish marred an otherwise good match. Neither show is an all-time classic, but I'd recommend WCW's June offering over the WWF's King of The Ring. |
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12:06 PM Jul 11