CavemanLynn Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 I absolutely hate how massive the sets have become. I'm sure there's a correlation between how much WWE especially splashed out on the staging and how inconsequential and expendable the Superstars (tm) became. The neon doorway of Superstars, tunnels like Royal Rumble 98 and the central positions of the NY taxi cab smashed through the wall at Rumble 2000 and the WM X entranceway were all boss without dwarfing the characters coming down the aisle. It looks pretty naff, but I love the cardboard Star Trek sliding doors on WCW Saturday Night. I think it was partly because the music was a bit generic, and everyone got the same wall of dry ice, so unless the commentators dropped the name, it was exciting just seeing who was coming out. Combine that with the fact you had an often bizarre mix of squashes and genuinely stellar pairings (every time you YouTube search to see if two legends from different eras faced off, it'll usually pull up an 8 minute Saturday Night sprint), and that rickety entranceway is definitely one of my faves.
Chili Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 Open air sets are cheating a bit to be honest. I love the Wrestlemania rollercoaster set. But it was so massive I was like, yeah but, you've got the sky lads! @CavemanLynnmentioned WCW Saturday Night and the 1992 version where they walk out of a locker room hall with posters and stuff, making WCW look like a very off high school always worked for me. Guess it doesn't count as an entrance set but what WCW b/c show had the the MOVING RING!? Is that WCW Prime?
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted July 14, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Wideload90 said: 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. Until about 1999, WCW's entire production pissed all over them. That Nitro set posted by @mim731is spectacular but the brightness of the arenas, the ring canvas, the direction and replays, the location of the promos, the commentary and having Michael Buffer announce main events was all so big time. Can never take any of that away from Eric Bischoff. I think WWE is still so overly produced now because Vince wakes up in cold sweats about Nitro in 1996.
Liam O'Rourke Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 16 minutes ago, Chili said: Guess it doesn't count as an entrance set but what WCW b/c show had the the MOVING RING!? WCW Worldwide on ITV had the rotating ring for sure.
Paid Members garynysmon Posted July 14, 2021 Author Paid Members Posted July 14, 2021 WCW were so much more innovative in general weren't they? Going back further I always loved the generic WCW entranceway, which for its time was ahead of anything the WWF was using.
Chili Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 16 minutes ago, garynysmon said: WCW were so much more innovative in general weren't they? Going back further I always loved the generic WCW entranceway, which for its time was ahead of anything the WWF was using. What's the story with the slanted cut off WCW sign. I've clocked this before and can only assume because WCW that it was some sort of cock-up.
Paid Members garynysmon Posted July 14, 2021 Author Paid Members Posted July 14, 2021 27 minutes ago, Chili said: What's the story with the slanted cut off WCW sign. I've clocked this before and can only assume because WCW that it was some sort of cock-up. Been watching a lot of WWE Network documentaries recently?!
Chili Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 Just now, garynysmon said: Been watching a lot of WWE Network documentaries recently?! No, the Saudi stuff finished that, but as much as I love WCW, they were amazing at cocking little slight things up. A banner saying RICK FLAIR being a brilliant example.
Paid Members garynysmon Posted July 14, 2021 Author Paid Members Posted July 14, 2021 4 minutes ago, Chili said: A banner saying RICK FLAIR being a brilliant example. Haha, now you mention it, I swear that I can recall three back to back episodes of WCW Worldwide in 1993 which all featured completely different spellings of Maxx Payne for the on-screen nameplate.
simonworden Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 I'm guessing it was designed that way to sit flush with the stage as in that photo above but then I think it got used again later but suspended in the middle of the stage which made the cut off look ridiculous. Starcade 89 which I think was the first ever big set in wcw and perhaps generally in America looks fantastic.
wordsfromlee Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 I know this thread is for best - and maybe it deserves it's own thread instead - but one of the worst has to be the Cyber Sunday 2008 giant Blackberry set.
Paid Members DCW Posted July 14, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 14, 2021 I love the 2000 Raw era set with the two slim trons either side of the giant tron screen, and before they had the electronic spinning WWF logo behind where the wrestlers walk out. Reminds me of us getting Sky in and finally being able to watch the whole show and not rely on Superstars & Metal of a Sunday morning, well the months the bill got paid anyway!
The Gaffer Posted July 14, 2021 Posted July 14, 2021 The simpler the better, for me. B-shows in the Attitude Era with just the raised, mid size screen and fencing on either side. Grungy but still clean production. Everyone looked great coming down the aisle which is what a set should do, anyway. By the mid noughties WrestleMania sets became these big theme park rides that just spat a tiny wrestler out at the end. Not into it. Titantrons went away as well. I loved a good titantron. They all got replaced by objectively worse 3D logos a lot of which to this day just resemble some PS1 demo disc. I did love the roster banners at WrestleMania 22. They should do that every year.
Paid Members mim731 Posted July 15, 2021 Paid Members Posted July 15, 2021 15 hours ago, wordsfromlee said: I know this thread is for best - and maybe it deserves it's own thread instead - but one of the worst has to be the Cyber Sunday 2008 giant Blackberry set. While this is objectively absolute shit, I do miss a time when WWE actually made an effort with more physical props rather an the current over reliance on LEDs. I understand from a cost and production perspective why they do, but it kills any sense of originality for the PPV sets. The last one I remember WWE doing that had any really effort put into was the TLC set, and even that is just sending the production lads down to B&Q. I quite liked the Armageddon '08 set too. It felt like a time where they were really going all out withe the production design rather than the identikit offerings of more recent years (sorry, couldn't find a better picture).
Paid Members garynysmon Posted July 15, 2021 Author Paid Members Posted July 15, 2021 16 hours ago, DCW said: I love the 2000 Raw era set with the two slim trons either side of the giant tron screen, and before they had the electronic spinning WWF logo behind where the wrestlers walk out. Reminds me of us getting Sky in and finally being able to watch the whole show and not rely on Superstars & Metal of a Sunday morning, well the months the bill got paid anyway! Personally I preferred the simpler one used in 1997 with curtains replacing the side Trons. It was probably the start of the massive sets phoenomenon though, as before that it was simply the RAW letters made famous by Sabu jumping off them. Most of the arenas Raw was being taped in before 1997 could never have fit any set of that size anyway.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.