Biggest babyface shows

[tiger_rick]

Who doesn't love a big baby babyface show? I think one of the joys of AEW, perhaps last a bit, has been the big babyface shows on Dynamite or PPV that have created the moments every fan needs to keep investing in their heroes. 

What, historically are the biggest babyface shows?

I'll set the bar at SummerSlam 1991. A show that blows off several long-running feeds, particularly in the main event where Hogan and Warrior beat Slaughter, Adnan and Mustafa to end pretty much a year long story, and not a good one, and is co-headlined by two beloved characters getting married!

Bossman beats The Mountie and Virgil beats Dibiase in big blow-offs, and both undercard titles are won by faces in Bret over Perfect and the LOD over the Nastys.

The opener, one of my favourites ever, is a great bit of business that puts over three tremendously popular midcard acts, albeit two of them were not going anywhere, sadly.

Normally, WWF PPVs of the era would have some wins for the heels who'd carry the houses after the PPV cycle but there's only the Natural Disasters and IRS getting the rub here. *shudders* Still mad that Taker wasn't on, and even the freshly turned Jake.

I think the fact that Perfect was done and Slaughter, Adnan, Mustafa, Warlord, P&G and Nastys were so obviously at the end of their usefulness was why they were happy to burn through them like they rarely did. Dibiase and Mountie didn't have loads of juice either.

The antithesis is clearly Starrcade 97. 

Anyway, what are your suggestions?

[davertfnewman]

Yeah, it's SummerSlam '91, not just because I became a fan just after WrestleMania VII and saw pretty much the entire build across the summer and it was my first big event. And 'Taker and Jake don't need to be on that card, just like Flair didn't need to be that year or the next. It's better to hold something back.

[HarmonicGenerator]

WrestleMania 30 is about as right as WWE’s ever got it. Top babyface Daniel Bryan beats top heel Triple H in the opener before winning the title in the main event. You also get three generational babyfaces in the ring together to start the show, and a big babyface pop for Cesaro winning the battle royal.

Or you can have for AEW, All In 2024. Top babyface Bryan Danielson beats top heel Swerve Strickland and with his family in attendance wins the title in the main event. You also get Will Ospreay become a generational babyface with his assassin entrance, and a run of big babyface pops in the casino gauntlet.

Basically, have the American Dragon win the big one and you can’t go wrong.

[RedTwoster]

Wrestlemania 40, back before the bubble burst for WWE and they fully committed to the MAGA bubble. At the time, that main event felt joyful, with Cody finally dethroning Roman Reigns with a whole host of cameos that made it feel as close to a series finale as wrestling has ever had. The only thing that was missing was Steve Austin, who would have been the most appropriate person to take Rock out rather than Undertaker. 

For a while it was one of my favourite ever wrestling matches, surpassed by Hangman’s win at All In Texas, although the shine has come off both for different reasons - Wrestlemania by what WWE has become (not just the MAGA stuff, but the way the company has embraced late-stage capitalism in everything it does) and All In: Texas thanks to the Hangman/Scurll fiasco. I don’t feel the same way about Hangman as others do - I think he explained himself well, and I think that relationships, friendship and forgiveness is complicated - but it’s lost the feeling of universal joy that it had. I don’t think anyone who has soured on Hangman is wrong to feel the way they do, and part of the magic of that match was the way it united everyone to create a truly special moment. That probably can’t happen with Page anymore. 

[Callum1993]

1 hour ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

WrestleMania 30 is about as right as WWE’s ever got it. Top babyface Daniel Bryan beats top heel Triple H in the opener before winning the title in the main event. You also get three generational babyfaces in the ring together to start the show, and a big babyface pop for Cesaro winning the battle royal.

Or you can have for AEW, All In 2024. Top babyface Bryan Danielson beats top heel Swerve Strickland and with his family in attendance wins the title in the main event. You also get Will Ospreay become a generational babyface with his assassin entrance, and a run of big babyface pops in the casino gauntlet.

Basically, have the American Dragon win the big one and you can’t go wrong.

I mean the argument against Wrestlemania 30 is Brock breaking the streak and killing the crowd for the next portion of the show beating one of the biggest faces of all time. 

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

The antithesis is clearly Starrcade 97.

You say that, but WCW took on the nWo and beat them for the World title, the US title and Nitro. The execution was iffy but the good guys did win big at the end.

[Supremo]

Double or Nothing 2021 will never be beaten. Vibes for days.

After over a year of depressing Covid hell, crowds finally return.

Show starts with Hangman vs. Brian Cage. For the first time, we have evidence that the hard work they’ve put in with Hangman has worked, he’s over as fuck with the crowd, busting out gorgeous Moonsaults as the beautiful sun sets behind him.

Moxley and Kingston do that entrance.

Jungle Boy wins the Battle Royale with all the fans singing and dancing to his song.

Britt Baker wins the Women’s Title and gives Tony Schiavone a big hug afterwards.

Sting wrestles his first real match after everyone assumed he was retired due to a broken neck and dives off the fucking ramp.

Kenny Omega comes out looking cool as fuck with ALL THE BELTS.

And then they close the show with the Inner Circle winning another brilliantly fun Stadium Stampede, closing on a huge singalong.

Pure, distilled joy from beginning to end. Just writing that out has put me in a great mood. Genuinely one of the best pay per views of all time.

When it’s good, it’s fucking great.

Edited August 9 by Supremo

[HarmonicGenerator]

20 minutes ago, Callum1993 said:

I mean the argument against Wrestlemania 30 is Brock breaking the streak and killing the crowd for the next portion of the show beating one of the biggest faces of all time. 

Oh yeah…

Maybe I forgot about that bit. I could argue that the shock of the moment is in itself a great babyface moment even if it’s for the babyface losing. A real “where were you when…” landmark type thing.

I could argue that but I’d be onto a losing battle. At least it doesn’t sully the other babyface moments like future events made the happy ending of WrestleMania XX unwatchable.

[Chico Torres]

It’s very obviously Summerslam 1991. The Tiger has expressed why but just adding some additional context.

It was the first year that WWF became huge in the UK, started the year before but in 1991 everyone at school was into wrestling, a lot of people had Sky and even if you didn’t the videos were widely available, the magazine was in every shop and we even had our even superstar in the British Bulldog. The toys and stickers were everywhere too. Perfect event at the end of the long summer holidays, especially after we had to endure fucking Bryan Adams and that fucking Robin Hood song all summer.

Also WWF was awesome in 1991, in my view it’s the peak of everything WWF is supposed to be with larger than life superheroes, evil supervillains, crazy gimmicks, very colourful and steroid and cocaine fueled American insanity. But 1991 WWF also had the craziest and darkest angles such as Warrior getting locked in a coffin by the Undertaker, the snake biting Macho, Earthquake killing Damien, Warrior locked in the snake room, Mountie electrocuting Bret, the Slaughter reign of terror and flushing pukamaniacs heads down the bog, Sherri trying to blow Warrior on live tv, mild mannered commentator Vince McMahon getting knocked out with a chair, supervillain Jake slapping Elizabeth etc.

So given how over the top the angles were that year, Summerslam 1991 was a joyous celebration of the goodies getting their revenge on the baddies. Bret winning was huge (and the legendary Lord Al interview with Stu), Virgil winning was en even bigger deal, Hogan and Warrior (whose look was at his peak here) teaming together to destroy the awesome (yes Rick) Triangle of Terror, SID joining the babyface army and Macho reunited and marrying the love of his life was the biggest wedding since Scott and Charlene.

Of course in typical awesome 1991 WWF fashion the reception was ruined by Jake and Undertaker but it was a wonderful time overall.

[AshC]

Yeah, Summerslam 91 is a dream, but the VHS sends you to bed with a nightmare at the end! 

[Joe Blog]

With actual matches won by faces on a show  then survivor series 99 is a shoe in.

8/10 matches won by faces

D’lo, Godfather and Headbangers def Dudleys and Acolytes 

Henry, Venis, Gangrel and Blackman def Bulldog and Posse

Moolah, Mae, Tori and Deborah def Ivory, Luna, Jaqueline and Terry

Kane def Xpac

Big Show def Bossman, Albert, Mideon and Vis 

Chyna def Jericho

Big Show def HHH and Rock

(you could also argue about the NOA def Mankind and Al Snow as it was always hard to hate the outlaws)

[AshC]

Austin angle overrides all that. 

[Chili]

Summerslam 1991 is on the Vault. What a card (though I'd have loved The Rockers to have replaced The Bushwhackers), but it was my first ever PPV I saw. Jacques Rougeau's 'barter at the gates of St. Peter' trump card, hilariously pathetic.

Also, I absolutely love that bric a brac Six Man Tag. The babyface team is absolutely brilliant on paper and visually. I love Stemboats absurd Dragon outfit and the fire blowing looks amazingly shot on this with the deserved pop.

It's a show where everybody just nails it (Valentine and IRS aside, but short popcorn match), Roddy Piper has easily his best night ever on comms too.

 

Edited August 9 by Chili

[Chico Torres]

Get the full Summerslam 1991 experience by also watching the awesome Summerslam Spectacular show leading up to it. This is truly peak WWF

 

[davertfnewman]

Something that also makes SummerSlam shine is that Survivor Series sees Hulk lose the title in a chaotic scene, then This Tuesday in Texas sees him win it back but not really. After that, Flair wins the Rumble, so it feels like the age of a heel on top has commenced. It would only last three or four months, nevertheless it felt significant. I think they made an excellent choice with that Rush recap video at the end of the show because it's fairly upbeat and makes you feel all is not lost.