“It never got better than that night.” - The Peaks of your Fandom

[LaGoosh]

11 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Weirdly despite that episode being called "the first dance" it was actually the second episode of Rampage.

It was a reference to "The Last Dance" which was the final season of the Chicago Bulls 90s squad - with the venue being in Chicago and the return of a CM Punk.

Edited June 23 by LaGoosh

[The King of Old School]

2 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

It was a reference to "The Last Dance" which was the final season of the Chicago Bulls 90s squad - with the venue being in Chicago and the return of a CM Punk.

Yes, I just think when looking back after a few years it confuses folk to think it was also the first episode of Rampage.

Not that it matters.

[Supremo]

Whilst it’s still amazing, it is crazy how much of that Punk debut is now tainted. Even the stage dive at the start! Much harder to enjoy it now. All I could think was, “you dodged a bullet there Phil, I wouldn’t try it again.”

Imagine if he’d broken his ankle on that very first night. Do you reckon he’d have still sent himself bonkers sitting at home rehabbing?

“These amateur AEW fans can’t even catch you! And that stupid AEW concrete is far too hard! I need to get back to WWE, where the fans can will always catch you and the concrete is as soft as a cloud.”

Two more from CM Punk’s AEW run. God, it was so good until it wasn’t! Arguably his best work ever.

 

 

[BomberPat]

15 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I don't think being in person for Danielson beating Swerve will ever be topped for me. You know how people say Mania 17 was the peak of wrestling and ever since the WWE has been in decline? That's Danielson/Swerve and AEW for me. 

This might be it for me as well. The first Wembley show was such an event, it really felt like being part of something historic, and I loved the whole day - a group of six of us got together, then met up with some wrestling mates that lived near Wembley for pre-show drinks and food, and once we got to the venue, we just bumped into people we knew every five minutes, it was a wild day. I felt like I'd kind of ticked the whole thing off, and wasn't fussed about going the next year - I remember sitting with a mate in the Dundee Arms, and both us saying how if someone threw a watch party for it somewhere, we'd probably have a better time just watching it with a group of pals there than going through the trouble of actually going to Wembley.

Probably less than two weeks before the show I was offered cheap tickets, and the one thing that really made me want to go was Bryan Danielson. That we got that match, and a phenomenal show before it, and that I also got to tick off names like Dustin Rhodes and Kevin Von Erich from my "seen live" list was fantastic. But the main thing, aside from the main event, is that I remember actually crying over Nigel McGuinness entering the Casino Gauntlet. After he didn't wrestle on the first show, I had just figured it wasn't to be, and I got completely carried away in the moment. I remember reading comments online afterwards from people surprised that AEW paid for his Oasis entrance music, and realising that I couldn't have told you what his music had been as the reaction was deafening.

[RedTwoster]

54 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Two more from CM Punk’s AEW run. God, it was so good until it wasn’t! Arguably his best work ever.

It’s such a shame that he is the way he is; the prospect of Punk remaining in AEW is far more exciting than anything he’s done or could do in WWE outside of matches with Reigns and Cody, and even that’s debatable.

A Punk/Swerve feud is a particularly big loss, the mic work and story would likely have been sensational. 

[Jazzy G]

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

The first episode opened up with Omega losing the TNA title to Christian

The he lost it to Josh Alexander in a heck of a match, only for Moose to come and cash in his gauntlet trophy thing and steal the belt away in front of Alexander's kid. The chase for that title win was a great one as well. 

[Chili]

Lot of talk for All In 2024, but I didn't attend that as I'd moved out of the UK. So All In 2023 for me was that.

My sister was getting married the next month so we got tickets last minute as a wedding present to her as she is a big AEW fan. The whole day was great. My sister had never been London so the day after I took her on a whistle stop tour of everything she'd find interesting or was famous.

But the day itself was full of great feelings. Seeing her reaction as we came into the actual stadium and seeing the crowd. So many moments she loved. Doing the "JOE, JOE, JOE" for Samoa Joe, singing along to Kenny Omega, Jericho and Best Friends. Her absolute delight at Eddie Kingston entering Stadium Stampede by just absolutely legging it down the aisle, her disgust at the skewers in Mox's head. During the main event with MJF/Cole she sat just over the mouth of the tunnel entrance in our upper section so we'd be able to rush out after the finish so just seeing her properly marking out for everything. As an older brother who spent a lot of time helping bring up my sis and she was getting married, felt I'd smashed the big brother role that weekend.

Personally though for me, that show it was Sting. I couldn't believe I was getting to see Sting live and for probably the last time as a wrestler. I absolutely lost it when Seek and Destroy started bellowing out in Wembley and when they announced Sting, I was very much the most childlike I'd ever been at a show. Just completely lost in the moment because I was somehow getting to see this mad old legend on his last run that was my gateway to another world of wrestling outside of WWF around 1992. Loved it. All In 2023 would be my answer on a personal family level and just for the sheer experience as someone who doesn't really enjoy going to wrestling shows live generally.

 

 

Edited June 23 by Chili

[BomberPat]

I was at the first All In with an old mate who had been a big TNA fan, and getting to see Sting live was a massive draw for him. Several times during the show he turned to me, this bloke in his mid-50s, just grinning from ear to ear to say how great a day it was. That will always stick with me.

That, and Dave Meltzer and Sean Ross Sapp being sat right behind me and the latter darting away at one point early on - I checked my phone a few minutes later, saw everything kicking off about CM Punk, and it all made sense.

[Jazzy G]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

Personally though for me, that show it was Sting. I couldn't believe I was getting to see Sting live and for probably the last time as a wrestler. I absolutely lost it when Seek and Destroy started bellowing out in Wembley and when they announced Sting

Yes. He's my all time favourite, and to see him with the full entrance like that was a heck of an experience, but after the casket match when the lights went off and the whole arena realised what was happening it was electric. Would have been better if he'd not been posting pictures of himself in London over the weekend, but I went crazy for it. 

[wandshogun09]

It’s got to be 96/97 for me. I was 11/12 years old and it was before the internet corrupted me so I was just enjoying it for what it was and hadn’t yet become cynical or jaded in the slightest. And Fridays back then were a magical time. School finished for a couple of days and Raw and Nitro were both on. Didn’t hurt that it was such an exciting time to be a fan as well with the creation of the NWO, the rise of Austin, Hogan’s heel turn, Bret coming back and gradually morphing into a heel (but only in the US, which was genius and so unusual and unique), the likes of Mankind and Vader jumping over to the WWF, obviously Hall and Nash going the other way etc, Ahmed Johnson looking like the nailed on future top guy for about two months, the fact you could stick Nitro on any week and be pretty much guaranteed something you’d never seen before out of the Cruiserweights, Pillman bringing a bit of an edge to the WWF, Savage could still go and the DDP feud was great, Sid unexpectedly coming back to the WWF and being so awesome they changed direction and put the belt on him. I could go on. 

I still loved wrestling for years after but I don’t think I was ever as absolutely obsessed and glued to the screen as I was in that period, for both the top promotions. And unlike the more celebrated WWF years of 98/99, I’m much more likely to rewatch 96/97 and it’ll hold up better. Same with WCW. I think Starrcade 97 marks the end of their best period and it all starts going downhill and getting increasingly silly year on year from 98 on. 96/97 was the sweet spot for both companies for me. I even prefer 96/97 Austin when he was on the rise over the 98 onwards version when he’d fully taken off as ‘the guy’.

Edited June 23 by wandshogun09

[Merzbow]

42 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

I even prefer 96/97 Austin when he was on the rise over the 98 onwards version when he’d fully taken off as ‘the guy’.

I've noticed this is a more common take these days and in hindsight I'd agree. Always thought Bret was his best feud though, above even Vince as that arguably never got the true payoff it deserved.

[LaGoosh]

16 hours ago, Merzbow said:

I've noticed this is a more common take these days and in hindsight I'd agree. Always thought Bret was his best feud though, above even Vince as that arguably never got the true payoff it deserved.

Interesting. I had never considered that before but you might be right. Austin got the better of Vince loads of times but I suppose the final pay off (Austin vs Taker at Fully Loaded 99) didn't really feel like it. I'm not sure what the true payoff could have been though.

[tiger_rick]

The pay off needed to be KOTR 1999. That was the match they'd set up with the stip that could have felt like a satisfactory conclusion. Like the nWo though, it was never going to have a pay off because they never really had another idea. Austin going away in late 1999 forced their hand away from him but all they still had was heel authority figures and McMahon drama. Fortunately, by that point, they also had an incredible midcard roster that freshened things up no end.

There's very little in wrestling that isn't just run and run until the horse collapses and breaks its legs. Feels like the handful of things that do have a satisfactory concusion are then killed in the follow-up too, either by design or by misfortune.

[WrestlingForFun]

Personally I think wrestling peaked the night The Garden held 29,000 people.

[air_raid]

For me it’s the last two nights of the G1 Climax 2013, and yes, it’s because I was there. I mean, I did go to Wrestle Kingdom 12 which didn’t quite eclipse it, it could have done but didn’t, and it’s all interconnected by one guy - Tetsuya Naito. And there’s quite a bit of background I need to give you.

Back in 2011, Naito was just half of No Limit to me though when I went to that there Tokyo for the G1, my host and sometime keffer tsve informed me that he’d earned quite a following and it wouldn’t surprise him if Naito did quite well. He didn’t start well but as long term New Japan followers all know, the G1 is rarely about how you start compared to how you finish. True enough, Naito rebounded by beating Lance Archer in Yokohama, Takayama (!) and Hideo Saito on consecutive nights at Yoyogi and Bernard by count-out to give himself a shot at the final by Sumo Hall - and we went to all those shows so watched his gradual resurrection as it happened. Come finals night, he managed another flash pin win over Tanahashi in what amounted to an effective semi final in around 5 minutes, which made him look a little fortunate compared to Nakamura who had to grind one out against Minoru Suzuki to make it. The final felt gruelling for Naito, a 20 minute match that felt like longer, and he never truly convinced me apart from a couple of flashes, that he was about to step up all the way, as much as I wanted it, and he was beaten.

A year later I was back over. Any hope that Naito could go one better was dashed when he got a legitimate (we read) knee injury early on although he kept showing up for his matches anyway. He lost more than he won and never looked like making the final, eventually won by 2012 breakout star Okada, the once and future king.

So in 2013 I went over for what I knew would probably be my last trip to Nip for a good while. Fates conspired to produce a stunning card for penultimate night, which should have been even better given Shibata vs Goto was announced but scrapped due to injury to the latter. In order, the best top end of a show I’d seen since One Night Only featuring Makabe and Ishii beating the piss out of each other, a compelling styles clash between MiSu and Kota Ibushi, a Naito vs Nakamura rematch to decide Block B, and on last to decide Block A, the rivalry of our generation, Tana vs Okada, which unsurprisingly but not disappointingly went a 30 minute broadway. Naito totally excised the demon of 2011 by beating “The King Of Strong Style” cleanly and decisively with Gloria followed by a Stardust Press.

Excitement for the final the night after, and another 2011 rematch, was tangible even if I assumed Tanahashi would beat him and set up an Okada collision for WK8. The match was another stunner, and rather than the short fluke of 2011, Naito dropped Tanahashi properly with the same one-two with which he’d defeated Nakamura, and took home the trophy. Regardless of whether Naito was going to take the belt at Wrestle Kingdom (he didn’t) I already knew this was the peak of my fandom for emotional investment - I was elated for Naito and it had been two years in the making. Going back to real life was very difficult after that.