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WILL SELF-DESTRUCTION OF WARRIOR MAKE IT TO WWE NETWORK, BEST AND MOST UNDERRATED WWE PPVS OF ALL TIME, BEST ECW PPV AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2015-01-24 10:00:00
What are the chances that "The Self-Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior" documentary makes it to the WWE Network? They seem to be uploading just about all their material, but is this one that is considered obsolete given Warrior's death and the fact that he mended fences?

I think that given the fact that WWE and Warrior made amends, this likely would have ended up the one DVD that never leapt over to the WWE Network. Given that Warrior passed away, to air it now as fresh material would be tantamount to kicking his family in the teeth, plus it would also be horribly outdated. Much like the Chris Benoit DVD, I think this is best served being left in the past for DVD collectors to peruse.

What was the greatest and the most underrated WWE PPVs of all time?

I honestly believe Wrestlemania 17 was the best PPV WWE has ever produced. Here are my thoughts from 2001 and they are still pretty much the same:

"I attended Wrestlemania X7 live at the Astrodome in Houston. I remember liking the show, although from my sightlines (the 200 level, which was priced at $75) it was a little hard to get into some of the matches because of the distance of the ring. Nothing, however could match the atmosphere of being inside the Dome, which I still consider to be one of the best live events I've attended. From the second you walked out from the tunnel into the building, one could not just feel overwhelmed by the sheer size of everything: the crowd size, the production, everything. The roar of the crowd when the show began was unlike anything I had ever seen in any event, be it a wrestling show, a concert, a theatrical production or a sporting event. It truly was WWF's peak and in my eyes, they have yet to surpass this 2001 day in that regard. While the crowd roared for the superstars of the promotion all night, the World Wrestling Federation's production was the true star of the event. The staging of the show, particularly 16 spotlights with changing colors added a great sense of magic to the look of the building, while the graphics and Titantron screens made everything seem important. Every match had it's own identity based upon the graphical designs of the WWF staff. They were second to none anywhere in the entertainment business. The main event between Steve Austin and the Rock was nothing less than spectacular, although live whatever the storyline was for the alliance with Vince McMahon was completely lost on the crowd and eventually was a factor that helped put WWF business into a downward spiral. The dichotomy of the audience was really interesting to follow in the main event. The crowd cheered Austin completely, while factions were cheering for the Rock, most of the majority booed his offense and comebacks on Austin. When McMahon got involved, the crowd wasn't happy, but if turning Austin was the point, the crowd didn't seem to know whether to react or not. They booed at the doubleteaming but when Austin scored the pinfall after pummeling the Rock with multiple chairs, the crowd exploded. The crowd was really strong for the opening matches and quieted down as the show went on. They came alive again for the TLC match, were brought down by the gimmick Battle Royal and were completely electric for the two main events. It was quite an experience as the Texan fans were something else. Live, Triple H vs The Undertaker was really great with the crowd totally behind the Undertaker. The roar when Helmsley was thrown off the scaffolding was tremendous. The crowd swarmed to the stage that Motorhead was playing from and popped huge for Triple H's entrance like he was a true star. At the time with Austin's turn, it would have made sense to turn Triple H face, but the idea was discarded. The TLC match was a really fun match to watch, although one couldn't help to wonder at the times how in the world they could even try to top themselves. You could see they were working really hard and well beyond the point of sanity and logic and one can only respect what everyone involved went through. The scariest moments of the match were easily Jeff Hardy slipping as he crossed the top of three ladders and D-Von nearly killing himself on a ladder as he fell when hanging from the belts. Hardy's penchant for crazy stunts eventually burnt him right out of a full time wrestling career. When one thinks about this show, they have to think of the gimmick battle royal. What can one say other than it was there? It was fun in a nostalgic sense to hear all the old theme songs. Live, the crowd didn't seem to know who most of the performers were, although Michael Hayes, Jim Cornette and Doink received great ovations live. It was a great idea to bring the crowd down so they weren't burnt out for the main event, too. The Vince McMahon-Shane McMahon match was a lot of fun to follow live with great twists and turns. The crowd came alive for the match, chanting "Linda" through the entire match while waiting for the then-catatonic Linda McMahon to attack her husband. It was really fun to see Mick Foley returning to old form for a few brief moments while pummeling Vince. The debut of the Van Terminator by Shane McMahon was a surprising move, and with all the turns, the catfight, and the great finisher, Paul Heyman's fingerprints were all over the match. While Rob Van Dam would eventually do the move in WWE, it would be Shane McMahon would be credited with doing it first on a huge national scale. The undercard of Mania 17 had it's moments as well. Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle gave us a nice taste of what to come. It was cool to see the crowd popping live for the matwork in the opening moments of the show. Chris Jericho vs William Regal and Test vs Eddy Guerrero were fine live, although I found the earlier portion of the show odd at first because I couldn't hear the bumps in the ring. The crowd popped huge for Bradshaw hitting the lariat and the big boot like he was Stan Hansen in the Tokyo Dome during the six man tag team bout, which was a little too fast to follow live. Tazz got a nice pop coming out when he prevented the RTC from speaking on the mic."

As far as runner-ups, I would go with the 2000 Royal Rumble, the In Your House Canadian Stampede, and the ECW One Night Stand 2005, which for emotion, is still amazing to watch.

As far as the most underrated, there are a lot of shows with good wrestling but I always think of Survivor Series 1998: Deadly Game. I have always felt this was the best writing Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara ever had for a major PPV as the "conspiracy" that ends with The Rock turning at the end has a lot of little hints that make sense when you watch the show back with the knowledge of what's going to go down and I thought it was well done and a "swerve" because wrestling out-swerved itself. That's my pick.

What were the best and worst ECW PPVs?

The ONLY ECW PPV to accurately capture the insanity and the fun of the live ECW experience was Heatwave 1998. I love Barely Legal (and that show means the most to ECW fans personally) but there's no argument that Heatwave is the superior show.

As far as the worst, Hardcore Heaven 1997 was a show that was just great live and then when you watch it on PPV, everything went wrong: production miscues, bad lighting, bad direction, you name it. It was everything that an alternative wrestling product should never, ever be.

How come WWE hasn't looked at Kyle O'Reilly he is a young talent who can work and he has the I can beat you with any hold and anytime gimmick going.

O'Reilly has gone through the WWE tryout camps but he was never signed. He's currently working full-time for ROH and New Japan, so he's not lacking for work right now.

I was just on Amazon and saw Linda Hogan wrote a book a few years ago? Really? Did anyone buy it?

She really did. I've read it. It was, well, something to behold.

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