Great moments of booking

Chain Smoker

A thread where you bring up times where you've been incredibly impressed by booking decisions.


Wrestlemania 31's main event was absolutely inspired imo. It looked absolutely toxic in the build up, but by bending the MitB rules they managed to get the belt off the part-timer without Brock taking the pin, got to save everyone (specifically themselves) from a terrible terrible terrible Roman Reigns run and laid out the groundwork for Seth Rollins to reach all manner of new heights (they dropped the ball a lot since, mind).

Moneymaker

Basically everything on NXT. Lucha Underground is generally booked very well too.

Specifically....

Hogan and Savage for WM5 was masterful. Booked a year in advance and it was a slowwwww burner.

Sami Zayn's journey to the NXT title and the follow up with KO was some of the best booking i've seen.

The Shield were booked well for their entire run.

DM_7

Brocks first run to become Champ was excellent.

martyos121

To be extremely specific, the way they got the WHC on Edge back in 2007 was brilliant. Mr. Kennedy just went down to an injury (the heat he had didn't help either) and Taker needed time off, so they had Edge take the MITB briefcase and cash it in the same week after Taker was beaten down by Mark Henry. It absolutely solidified Edge as a main eventer and led to him becoming "The Ultimate Opportunist". I thought it was a brilliant bit of booking that led to one of the biggest stars being created since the Attitude Era.

The Y2J vs. HBK feud back in 2008 was also booked to absolute perfection, one of my favourites for sure.

Turtyturd

Am a fan of a nice swerve, so Rock winning the title at Survivor Series 98.

martyos121

Have to say, the Daniel Bryan rags-to-riches, standing up to the Authority storyline over the course of Summerslam to Mania was just incredible, even if they did make it up as they went along due to fan pressure. The payoff was the most satisfying moment imaginable, and everyone genuinely felt delighted for him. We'll probably never get anything like that again.

DM_7

Speaking of Edge, his interference at one night stand, spearing Cena and Heyman becoming the ref to count the 1-2-3 for RVD was perfect for that crowd and that moment.

Blue_Dabadee

The first thing that comes to mind is the feud between HHH and Batista for WM 21.

That feud really made Batista a main event star and got him over as a babyface.

Huntergonzo

I haven't been a regular watcher of wrestling since 2004 but I'd say purely from a booking point of view WM 17 had the best card I remember and it payed off because they all performed to make it such a great event, the TLC in particular was brilliant.

CSF

I'll go recent and say Survivor Series 14. That just felt unreal to watch and they could have pushed Ziggler and Sting to the moon. Unfortunately after that nothing else was allowed to be good while they had Reigns to push and therefore neither Ziggler nor Sting were showcased a fraction of what they could have been after that.

ricero

The whole introduction and booking of kane and his debut story with the undertaker is by far the best booking i have ever saw since i started watching wrestling

ShagNastii

ricero wrote: »

The whole introduction and booking of kane and his debut story with the undertaker is by far the best booking i have ever saw since i started watching wrestling

That was fantastic. Kane truly came across like a super monster and the whole thing had so much depth.


On par might not be out and out booking but the way the characters of "Legend Killer" Randy Orton and "Crow" Sting played out were great.

Another is Ric Flair's retirement match booking. Could it have been more epic, emotional and memorable? From that amazing enterance, the robe the size of a house and the little nuances thoughtout the match.

Huntergonzo

ricero wrote: »

The whole introduction and booking of kane and his debut story with the undertaker is by far the best booking i have ever saw since i started watching wrestling

That was class alright, that was around when I started watching wrestling though so there's probably bone nostalgic bias there.

From evil dentist to evil brother of the Undertaker, it was quite the career turnaround for Glen Jacobs.

It has to be said the McMahon v Austin feud from around then was legendary as well, I've never seen crowd reactions like it since, it was brilliant booking by the WWE at a time when a slip up really was costly!

CSF

Not sure there's been a bigger WWE pop than for when that glass finally shattered for Austin to come take out the invasion. Mankind's title win would have been just as good had it not been for the bitter people at WCW. The Rock vs HHH at Backlash too.

They really knew how to make things epic over those couple of years.

Kankan14

The Montreal Screwjob. Years in the making and still paying off 19 years later

Looper007

martyos121 wrote: »

Have to say, the Daniel Bryan rags-to-riches, standing up to the Authority storyline over the course of Summerslam to Mania was just incredible, even if they did make it up as they went along due to fan pressure. The payoff was the most satisfying moment imaginable, and everyone genuinely felt delighted for him. We'll probably never get anything like that again.

Still the greatest thing WWE has done in the last few years, and they didn't mean for it to happen. Some of the best TV of that year no joking. Bryan was the ultimate babyface something WWE have lacked since Austin. HHH and Steph have never been better (they have overstayed their welcome since), poor Orton and Batista were second fiddle. But damn the payoff at WM 30 was classic.

chopperbyrne

Bret's heel in the US, but face everywhere else with the reformed Hart Foundation was brilliant.

All started with a double turn in a match with Austin at WM.

For one specific moment of booking it has to be when the NXT guys just destroyed the end of RAW.

brianregan09

Jericho's Debut duelling on the mic with the Rock was perfection (they did squander Jericho abit afterwards) but what an impact to make on you're 1st night of Raw and properly made Jericho look a massive deal

Mr. Guappa

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Bret's heel in the US, but face everywhere else with the reformed Hart Foundation was brilliant.

All started with a double turn in a match with Austin at WM.

Bret Hart's heel run was the first thing I thought of too. The seeds were sown in his match with Austin at Survivor Series '96, the double turn at WM felt so organic. The Hart Foundation heel run was just fantastic.

Chain Smoker

CSF wrote: »

They really knew how to make things epic over those couple of years.

Interestingly, I disagree there actually. There was tons of horrible booking and storylines in the Attitude era, it just so happened that the product was so hot, the crowds were so into it and they had such incredible characters at their disposal that okay booking was more than able to suffice and bad booking was much easier to ignore.

Bret's anti-America run, the fallout of the Montreal Screwjob and the decision to spend crazy money on Mike Tyson at a point when he was near the peak of his notoriety were three hugely successful ones though.

LeeJM

A great bit of booking was Jerry Lawler challenging The Miz for the WWE Title. I was genuinely on the edge of my seat and thought The King was gonna win. Everything after that involving Cole and Lawler was awful but that match on Raw was magnificent.

Also Terry Funk attacking Ric Flair after he turned down Funk asking for a shot at the WHC. Just a brutal vicious assault by 1989 standards. Thats how you launch a new top heel.

gerrybbadd

I liked Shawn's chase to the title, culminating in his win at Wrestlemania 12.

Talk about slow build. The boyhood dream, that Rumble win, bringing in his trainer Jose Lothario, the training montages, and to win the title the way he did, I thought was awesome.

Of course, Bret didn't come off as well, his training montages etc weren't great (given they asked him to jog on ice, straight after a knee surgery or something along those lines), while HBK was doing the upside down chin ups, and running up the stairs of a stadium!

CSF

Chain Smoker wrote: »

Interestingly, I disagree there actually. There was tons of horrible booking and storylines in the Attitude era, it just so happened that the product was so hot, the crowds were so into it and they had such incredible characters at their disposal that okay booking was more than able to suffice and bad booking was much easier to ignore.

Bret's anti-America run, the fallout of the Montreal Screwjob and the decision to spend crazy money on Mike Tyson at a point when he was near the peak of his notoriety were three hugely successful ones though.

To be honest, I think we've been in an era with the superstars to match the Attitude Era. They just don't know what to do with them. You'd a roster featuring Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Roman Reigns (would make a great heel), Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Dolphins Ziggler, Kevin Owens, with Undertaker, HHH and Jericho back pretty much every year for Mania and 3 years in a row they're in a situation where the main event has to be changed and thrown together haphazard because they're unable to get their number 1 plan over and all the other candidates have had zero booking.

The Attitude Era was certainly not without its ridiculous gimmicks, frequently a lower calibre of wrestler and some outright weird storylines (Mae Jung and the hand probably wins out here), but when it came to the big events they generally had their fingers on the pulse, knew what the fans wanted to see, and made their plans with that in mind.

Liam McPoyle

Tyson's involvement in the run up to WM was inspired.

Itssoeasy

Business Cat wrote: »

Tyson's involvement in the run up to WM was inspired.

Well bischoff has said he knew things had changed when he heard that news. He even knows where he was.

Chain Smoker

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Well bischoff has said he knew things had changed when he heard that news. He even knows where he was.

That's just buscho trying to make himself sound smart there. Sure didn't Tyson approach WCW to try and get more money out of then and, be it bischoff not having a grasp of how much tyson could be worth or hogan et al not wanting to be over shadowed, they decided WWE had bid way more than he was worth?

Stereomaniac

I was amazed when Mike Tyson appeared at the Royal Rumble in 1998, and was the relieved when he ended up not having a match. Then his fast count bugged me afterwards too.