Paid Members garynysmon Posted July 13, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 13, 2021 Great entrance sets are largely neglected in the current era but they did so much to boost a show in days gone by. Personally I have so much love for the Wrestlemania 8 set which was recycled for a couple of years on Wrestling Challenge. That said, there was nothing more iconic than the simplistic WWF logo setup, later added to with what we'd consider now to be a pretty basic video wall.
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted July 13, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 13, 2021 Always touted as not a great period for the company financially or creatively, but I was always fond of the WCW sets from 2000-ish: some massive, fuck-off trusses with video wall and lights. Looks the business and does its job.
Paid Members mim731 Posted July 13, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 13, 2021 Have we not had this thread running quite recently? Either way I assume someone will be in shortly touting the merits of the massively overrated Backlash 2000 set. From my own perspective the classic Nitro entrance takes some beating.
Chili Posted July 13, 2021 Posted July 13, 2021 Sure they couldn't time the show to save their lives. But take a bow Halloween Havoc 1998. What a beauty.
Paid Members Tommy! Posted July 13, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Chili said: But take a bow Halloween Havoc 1998. What a beauty. That giant inflatable pumpkin was on ebay not long back, it was a barn find / warehouse salvage if I remember right. I always loved Rumble 2000. Given how little they had to work with at MSG running with that layout they put out a fantastic set.
Paid Members air_raid Posted July 13, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 13, 2021 Just run the trailer for Revenge. WCW cornered the market for fantastic PPV sets at a time when every WWF PPV apart from In Your House looked the same (and seven In Your House a year all looked the same). Kevin Nash once said words to the effect of “you didn’t know what year it was watching our show” because of how stagnant Nitros booking became, but on the PPV you damn sure knew what month it was.
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 13, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 13, 2021 38 minutes ago, Tommy! said: I always loved Rumble 2000. Given how little they had to work with at MSG running with that layout they put out a fantastic set. There were a couple with the old MSG set up that I actually really liked. The WrestleMania X one with the big sliding X was basic but looked good. And I’ve always been fond of the SummerSlam 98 ‘gates of hell’ set; Some of the WCW ones were class though. Halloween Havoc, Bash At The Beach, even NWO Souled Out in 97; The show itself was a bit crap but the presentation and how the arena looked was nicely done.
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted July 13, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 13, 2021 Yeah, Souled Out is a personal favourite. Big fan of WCW's Halloween Havoc sets too, they always did a cracking job with them.
Shane O' Mac Version 2 Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 I might be biased because it was the first- and largely due to COVID, only- WrestleMania I've attended, but this has to be one of the best modern-day ones. A freaking rollercoaster! Plus a ring above the ring. It's like they wanted to make up for years of bad sets on one show.
cobra_gordo Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 Backlash will always be my favourite. It just looked so cool and different. The Armageddon sets will always have a special place for me too.
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted July 14, 2021 Awards Moderator Posted July 14, 2021 My go-to answer for this is usually the classic SmackDown sets. I like the earliest version because it reminds me of the first SmackDown game and the opening video you got when you started it up. This is probably not accurate and just something I headcanoned, I really liked how they retired this set by having Rhyno Gore Jericho through it, and then produced this one, which I like because it reminds me of the SmackDown games when you could climb up it then jump off. Having such a different set to Raw made Smackers feel so much more like its own thing in the early years of the brand extension.
Vegeta Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 15 hours ago, Chili said: Sure they couldn't time the show to save their lives. But take a bow Halloween Havoc 1998. What a beauty. My first thought reading the topic title was this entrance set, absolutely loved it everything from the pumpkin to the small graves either side and the large graves with the screens on, my idea of the best entrance set.
Matthew Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 9 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:This is probably not accurate and just something I headcanoned, I really liked how they retired this set by having Rhyno Gore Jericho through it, and then produced this one See I always saw it as this too, but have never read it anywhere, so wasn’t sure if it was just something that I’d come up with myself. My answer is definitely Wrestlemania 33:
Liam O'Rourke Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 I don't have a picture to upload, but I remember WrestleMania X7 was the first time I ever watched a show, saw the set and thought, "Whoa!" It was just so fucking huge compared to the standards of the time. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have a fondness for the small entrance they used for Rumble 98 and Mania 14. Minimalist, but worked with the lighting and felt pretty cool.
Wideload90 Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 WCW > WWE when it comes to sets. The original Nitro set had a big-time superstar feel and when wrestlers were interviewed by Mean Gene there it felt significant. As mentioned, Halloween Havoc is iconic. I know the HD era has to happen to keep the product fresh but it really kills the buzz when they've got the same old shit. I also loved the gritty ECW brick set - fits the product perfectly.
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