Opinion by SPMAN

Ever since the mediums existence, Professional Wrestling has been a staple of Pay Per View. As ludicrous as it sounds, charging viewers 30 dollars to see what is almost indistinguishable from the Television Product has always been a winning formula. Here I will go into brief detail on all of the WWF's Pay Per View shows over the years.

Part 1 1985-1991

I will omit the first 2 Wrestlemanias, as they were not show on Pay Per View. Neither is particularly good though, so don't go out of your way to see them.

1985

The Wrestling Classic was the WWF's first attempt at Pay Per View. It was a tournament put on just for the sake of having a tournament. It features a bunch of extremely abbreviated matches, none of which are given enough time to get off the ground. It also includes the one and only singles meeting between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper on a WWF show which is also available on the Hulk Still Rules DVD. This show is next to impossible to find now a day, so unless you kiss my ass and have stuff to trade, you probably won't be able to see it anyways. Recommendation to avoid

1986 was PPV free for whatever reason

1987

Wrestlemania 3 is a show which is loved by many people and with good reason. It was the WWF's first real attempt at PPV, and what an attempt it was. Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage is still considered today to be one of the best American matches of all time, and Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan was one of those moments which is still remember 15 years after it happened. Phony attendance records aside, this is a very good show. Highly recommended.

The first Survivor Series occurred in 1987. The only thing decent here workrate wise was the women’s match, featuring a very good effort from the Jumping Bomb Angels who were at least 13 years ahead of their time. There's nothing else of note on this show besides an ok match with the tag teams, but it's all fun 80's stuff, none of which is insultingly bad at least. Good luck finding a copy of this, it's pretty hard to come by. Recommended show

1988

Wrestlemania 4 was a really really really long show featuring a lot of boring matches. The Wrestling Classic was a tournament that featured matches that could have been great but got cut short. Wrestlemania 4 is a tournament where matches that no one wants to see in the first place get stretched 10 minutes longer then they have any right to be. On the Upside, The Demolition Era begins, and The Ultimate Warrior makes a very somber PPV debut. This show reeks of everything bad about wrestling in the 80's. Recommendation to avoid

The Inaugural Summerslam took place in August 1988 and it serves it's point well. It helped get over newer stars such as Bad News Brown and destroyed stars whose time was up like The Honkey Tonk Man. The Ultimate Warrior's career was also made here when he won the Intercontinental belt in a short but memorable match. Like Survivor Series 87, the workrate wasn't great, but it's all in good fun. Recommended

The second annual Survivor Series bombed in November 1988 featuring a really terrible card killed by injuries that saw jobbers replacing superstars all over the place. Unless you absolutely must see the first PPV appearance of Shawn Michaels, don't bother with this. Recommendation to avoid

1989

The Royal Rumble made its PPV debut in January and while not the least bit memorable, features a pretty good mid-card coupled with a slow and boring Royal Rumble match. An extremely pointless Super Pose down between The Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude was thrown in there simply to eat up time. The wrestlers were still learning how to work the Rumble match at this point, and it would take then another year to get the formula down pat. The result is a slow Rumble featuring a lot of stalling and aimless wandering among the competitors. This is another show, which is hard to come by these days for reasons I'm not sure of. Maybe it's just a regional thing. Mild Recommendation

Everyone speaks highly of Wrestlemania 5, but I am not a fan. Featuring a really bad Tag Title match and a very unmemorable undercard that really didn't have any significance overall. The Warrior / Rude match was eclipsed by their vastly superior Summerslam match. Still, Hogan vs. Savage was probably one of Hogan's best matches ever, but it's not enough to save this dog. Recommendation to avoid.

Summerslam 89 is simply another in a series of really unmemorable shows. It's a decent card featuring a very NWA-ish Brain Busters vs. Hart Foundation match. The aforementioned Warrior vs. Rude match is exceptionally good as well. Still, crap such as King Duggan and Demolition vs. The Twin Towers and Andre along with Zeus’s wrestling debut really drag this card down. Neutral feelings.

Survivor Series 1989 is a worthless show that had no heat, build up, or excitement at the time. It's a terrible card with absolutely nothing worth mentioning occuring. In the off chance you can actually find a copy of this, don't rent it. Strong recommendation to avoid.

Royal Rumble 1990, the first Pay Per View of the 90's is a very memorable show to me as it was the first PPV I ever watched. Defiantly one of the most forgotten good shows ever. In a semi-historical match, Ronnie Garvin and Greg Valentine fight in what was the very first Submission Match ever on WWF PPV. It also features a very energetic match between Jim Duggan and The Big Bossman, which was probably the best match of both men’s careers. The Rumble itself was one of the best ever, very fast paced with great action throughout. Highly Recommended show, but only if you fast forward through the 20 minute Bushwhacker match and the Blubber Love segment.

Wrestlemania 6 is one of those shows that is very highly regarded even though it's really a terrible show. A very weak effort put fourth by everyone. Still, Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan is a very memorable moment, which should be seen, but it can be seen on the much better Wrestlemania X8 DVD. This show gets no love from me. Strongly Recommended to avoid.

Summerslam 1990 is a fun show, far from the near anemic Wrestlemania. The tag title match between The Hart Foundation and Demolition is a great match for its time. The show also features a Jake Roberts vs. Bad New Brown match that was better then it ever should have been. The rest of the card sucks balls though, so Neutral Feelings

Like the 89 show before it, Survivor Series 1990 was a show put on just for the sake of putting on a show. Not a single good match on the whole card. The match of Survivors at the end featuring all the survivors from the previous matches on the show was a neat idea, which should have been done again. This show also has the one appearance of The Gobbeldy Gooker, a supremely stupid idea that must be seen to be believed. Strong Recommendation to avoid.

The Royal Rumble opened up 1991 with a bang featuring an awesome high flying Rockers match, a good brawl between The Bossman and The Barbarian, and another great Rumble match. The Sergeant Slaughter Title Win was a huge shock at the time for all the wrong reasons. Recommended show

Wrestlemania 7 went back to the basics featuring very good wrestling mixed with a small amount of crap. Bret Harts career took a 360-degree swerve as the Hart Foundation Era came to an end when they dropped the tag belts to The Nasty Boys. A supremely awesome Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior match occurred which blew away everything else being done at the time. Even Hogan vs. Slaughter was great. Highly Recommended show.

Summerslam 91 is a mediocre show. Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect is still talked about today, but the rest of the show, including the incredibly awful main event was quite bad. Virgil finally gets the big win against former Slave Owner Ted Debiase in what was a great moment at the time, but is not really all that significant today. The really pointless marriage between Savage and Liz occurs here too. Mild Recommendation to Avoid

Survivor Series 1991 follows the path set fourth by its brethren by being a really awful show. Ric Flair makes his debut fighting The British Bulldog and friends in a decent match marred by a really stupid ending. Another historical moment sees Hulk Hogan finally do a serious job (with a screwjob ending) to someone, more specifically The Undertaker. Move along now nothing to see here. Recommendation to Avoid

And finally This Tuesday in Texas Vince McMahon’s foray into Weekly Pay Per Views. The idea bombed, but the show isn't too bad. Bret Hart carried Skinner through a very watchable affair and Tito Santana / Virgil vs. DiBiase and Repo Man was an excellent tag bout. I'm not even sure if any copies of this show exist in it's unaltered form, so the only way to see it is to track down the chopped up version on the Supertape 92 tape. Recommended.

And thus concludes part 1 of this 3 part installment. I'll be back with part 2 when I feel like it.

Last Edited: Saturday, September 21st, 2002 - 11:29 pm EDT