The strange booking of The Wrestling Classic.

[ToyfareMark]

This show is just balls out weird. You have your heel Randy Savage have 3 pretty hard matches to make the finals, including a HUGE bump in the semifinal, and then you have Junkyard Dog pin a Moondog in under a minute, with no ref in the ring that ends up giving him a bye into the finals. Then in the finals JYD wins the tournament on a countout... This whole show is pretty strange, especially considering it was the WWF's first official PPV event.

Despite all that this show is a hoot to watch, but god damn that booking just straight out of bizarro land.

[Aceorton]

This show is such an odd mix of fantastic, funny, unintentionally funny, boring, rushed and botched. The 6-second Dynamite-Nikolai match and Funk's backfired attempt to trick Spot are the types of unexpected moments that really make a tournament, but then you also have screwups involving refs and matches that should have been great but weren't (Orton-Orndorff, Tito-Muraco). JYD half-assing his way to win the whole thing is a wet blanket that actually makes Jesse's bitching seem valid (Savage, the heel, comes off as sympathetic). And don't forget Lord Alfred's "analysis" in between rounds. Vince was still about a year away from finding a consistent formula and production standards.

[jason1980s]

I think because it is technically the first WWF PPV they wanted a somewhat memorable show. If it had been a few years later maybe it would have come off as good as the 1993 King of the Ring or similar to make a winner really important. I've never watched the full version but I'm sure it's slightly better than the chopped coliseum version. At $39 or $59 per tape coliseum and WWF should be ashamed at what they gave fans in the 80s and 90s.

[Deleted]

This show is pretty much completely ignored by WWE history. They always make it sound like Wrestlemania was their first ever PPV

[ToyfareMark]

Mar 9, 2020 21:17:14 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

This show is pretty much completely ignored by WWE history. They always make it sound like Wrestlemania was their first ever PPV

Which is hilarious in hindsight, because it was called 'The 1st Annual Wrestling Classic".

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

I always found the look and set up of this show strange too. That ring for a start.

[thecrusherwi]

Adding to the weirdness, it was broadcast on a Thursday night.

For some reason, there’s a charm and simplicity to this show that I find endearing. I probably watch it in full every couple of years.

[Joe Neglia]

Mar 9, 2020 21:17:14 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

This show is pretty much completely ignored by WWE history. They always make it sound like Wrestlemania was their first ever PPV

Wrestlemania was their first PPV; it took place before the Classic. Granted, WM's own status as a PPV is dodgy, since it was mostly closed circuit set-ups, with actual PPV being extremely limited to a tiny handful of areas.

[lildude8218]

I wonder how different it would have been if The Missing Link was in it instead of Moondog Spot

[nisidhe]

Mar 10, 2020 21:35:31 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Mar 9, 2020 21:17:14 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

This show is pretty much completely ignored by WWE history. They always make it sound like Wrestlemania was their first ever PPV

Wrestlemania was their first PPV; it took place before the Classic. Granted, WM's own status as a PPV is dodgy, since it was mostly closed circuit set-ups, with actual PPV being extremely limited to a tiny handful of areas.

I don't think PPV was a thing in my area until, I want to say, 1989 at least. The arena had a chokehold on the closed-circuit showing and sold tickets per head at roughly ringside prices at the time. In fact, I don't think we Apter-mag readers referred to such events as pay-per-view: they were called "supercards" at the time in the mags and that's the term we used until pay-per-views became commonplace for at-home viewing.

As for the Wrestling Classic, it was very much a "throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks" kind of thing. Dynamite Kid's win over Volkoff actually helped boost the British Bulldogs' credibility as capable competitors and set things up for what to expect from a tag-title reign from them.

[Deleted]

Mar 10, 2020 6:55:15 GMT -5 ToyfareMark said:

Mar 9, 2020 21:17:14 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

This show is pretty much completely ignored by WWE history. They always make it sound like Wrestlemania was their first ever PPV

Which is hilarious in hindsight, because it was called 'The 1st Annual Wrestling Classic".

Why is that hilarious? Haven't you seen the 1986-2019 Wrestling Classic tournaments?