What is the GOAT storyline in wrestling?

[Fro]

Did you all miss where I said this the other day? SMH no respect around these parts

Also Raven/Dreamer forever the best....I would even add RVD/Jerry Lynn just bc I loved the matches so much

Sting/Flair and Sting/NWO

Yeah then the others IMO

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Did you all miss where I said this the other day? SMH no respect around these parts

Also Raven/Dreamer forever the best....I would even add RVD/Jerry Lynn just bc I loved the matches so much

Sting/Flair and Sting/NWO

Yeah then the others IMO

RVD and Jerry Lynn I put in the Steamboat/Flair category.

Amazing series of matches, but didn't really have a storyline to it.

Tanaka and Mike Awesome are in that category too

 

[TNT87]

I would like to add Jericho/HBK.

 

[Belieber]

From the moment Paul bearer mentioned Kane for the first time until their wrestlemania 14 match was pure gold.

 

[Disclose]

i love how every 3 weeks theres a @Peter Sidorkiewicz and @PeterSidorkiewicz confusion.
ah. i remember my first time..... welcome guys.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

 

[izzy]

because its when i was most into it, the original evolution storyline. powerhouse of heels old and new. orton on batistas shoulders and triple h giving the thumbs up and turning it is the most memorable moment in my time watching

 

[xtra]

As great as the Gargano/Ciampa story has been should we not wait to see how it ends.

The ending (ala summer of punk) can secretly lower a feud rating.

But I can admit it would have to be a disaster of an ending to not have it be one of the best ever feuds

 

[Disclose]

 

[KaseMeOutside]

The Mega Powers are on the short list because back then WWE actually told good stories and if you paid attention everything made sense and even if Randy was the heel you still understood why he was angry.


Sting/NWO was well done

The build up to the HHH/Orton WM match was great but the match f***ing sucked

HBK/Jericho is up there too

 

[BonMorrison]

View attachment 189977

CC: @PeterSidorkiewicz

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

I would even add RVD/Jerry Lynn just bc I loved the matches so much

Great call

 

[JackSlater]

But once again.. not too deep in layers. I'd say a fantastic storyline but the depths of Gargano/Ciampa trump literally anything i can think of. The Gargano character being told over the course of DIY to today is a masterpiece. An utter masterpiece.

It's been mentioned multiple times now so I feel compelled to ask... what makes Gargano/Ciampa a legitimate contender for the greatest wrestling storyline ever? I see some very high quality matches and a pretty basic tag team break up storyline done well. I can see it standing out given how generally non-existent storylines (other than random attacks from behind in the ring) are in wrestling now but in history I don't see it as noteworthy. Maybe I am missing something but I'd like to know why it is a contender against something like Austin/McMahon or Mega Powers explode.

 

[ColePens]

It's been mentioned multiple times now so I feel compelled to ask... what makes Gargano/Ciampa a legitimate contender for the greatest wrestling storyline ever? I see some very high quality matches and a pretty basic tag team break up storyline done well. I can see it standing out given how generally non-existent storylines (other than random attacks from behind in the ring) are in wrestling now but in history I don't see it as noteworthy. Maybe I am missing something but I'd like to know why it is a contender against something like Austin/McMahon or Mega Powers explode.

I think their matches are just the cherry on top. Their matches rarely had to do about winning/losing the match and more about destroying the other person within the story. And every time they faced off, Johnny went a little further into a dark place where he'd go against his morals JUST to destroy the one guy who has ruined his life.

But it doesn't even start there. The rebuild of Johnny Wrestling, the singles career, after the DIY breakup. The return of Ciampa. The small hints of turning to the dark side (ring gear for Johnny, moves, how far he'd go, etc). The call backs to glory days of DIY now used against one another as heels. The fact they are real life friends and the story felt so real.

Oh man... i could go on for days. When i get out of work, i might post a chronological order of videos to make it easier to witness because WWE did a great job on their video packages (as always).

 

[M.C.G. 31]

It's been mentioned multiple times now so I feel compelled to ask... what makes Gargano/Ciampa a legitimate contender for the greatest wrestling storyline ever? I see some very high quality matches and a pretty basic tag team break up storyline done well. I can see it standing out given how generally non-existent storylines (other than random attacks from behind in the ring) are in wrestling now but in history I don't see it as noteworthy. Maybe I am missing something but I'd like to know why it is a contender against something like Austin/McMahon or Mega Powers explode.

I think what we have here is a 2.5 year long storyline

- Tag team
- Fighting in the CWC as partners
- Teaming still
- Fans repping Johnny more than Tommaso, even tho he was fighting with a destroyed knee
- Tommaso destroys Gargano and disappears due to injury
- Gargano still being haunted at the broken friendship in matches
- We have the wars that they fight in
- Then Ciampa wins the big one after Gargano continues to lose
- Ciampa seems to brainwash Johnny and thus, Johnny thinks what Ciampa is doing is the right way to do things and succeed, except we keep getting glimpses that we haven't seen the demise of Johnny, but rather he's luring Ciampa in.
- Johnny goes full heel, and even teaming with Ciampa, to the point where his wife thinks he's lost his mind. Meanwhile, Johnny is still thinking the fans love him and he's completely justified in his actions, again, because in his mind, either what Ciampa is doing is right, OR Johnny knows what he's doing in regards to luring Ciampa in, and even sacrificing his image to the fans and the rest in the locker room is necessary to destroy Ciampa.
- Johnny finally wins a singles title at Takeover, beating Ricochet. He poses with Ciampa to close the show... but he's staring at the ultimate prize. He's not on Ciampa's side, he's biding his time. He knows what needs to happen.

there's so many layers to peel back with this story, that it's definitely up there for me.

Austin/McMahon is definitely one of the GOATs, but this is just some crazy ass storytelling on an artistic level imho. They say pro wrestling is an art form, and Ciampa/Gargano would be one of the ones I'd point to to solidify that if I had to back it up.

 

[JackSlater]

I think their matches are just the cherry on top. Their matches rarely had to do about winning/losing the match and more about destroying the other person within the story. And every time they faced off, Johnny went a little further into a dark place where he'd go against his morals JUST to destroy the one guy who has ruined his life.

But it doesn't even start there. The rebuild of Johnny Wrestling, the singles career, after the DIY breakup. The return of Ciampa. The small hints of turning to the dark side (ring gear for Johnny, moves, how far he'd go, etc). The call backs to glory days of DIY now used against one another as heels. The fact they are real life friends and the story felt so real.

Oh man... i could go on for days. When i get out of work, i might post a chronological order of videos to make it easier to witness because WWE did a great job on their video packages (as always).

I appreciate the response. There's no need to put the videos up, I've followed it enough that I've seen the matches and some of the hype videos. The strength of the angle is Gargano becoming more aggressive in ring over time (though I think that the heel turn needed to be fleshed out more) but I find it quite lacking in promos and an actual noteworthy story, at least compared to all of wrestling history. Who knows though, there is time to continue this story.

 

[Alex Jones]

I don't really think that Austin/Vince was necessarily an all-time great storyline, as much as it was two incredible performers at the absolute height of their careers. Looking back some of the storytelling didn't really go anywhere and parts were never really tied together properly. For example, who raised the briefcase? What a huge storyline that just kind of disappeared...

 

[les Habs]

Reminds of Chris Jericho vs Lenny Lane, just not as good.

 

[yukoner88]

The build up to Kane's debut

 

[BostonBob]

For me the choice is easy as this is still my favourite angle and favourite moment in rasslin' history - Barry Windham finally sees the light and joins the most elite faction in wrestling history. This was amazing for me as you had my favourite wrestler joining my favourite group and the results were freaking great. A bit of background - after the Horsemen kicked out Lex Luger for refusing to let JJ Dillon win a Bunkhouse Stampede match they spent a few months with just 3 members and Dillon.



Luger started tagging with Windham and they even beat AA and Tully to win the NWA Tag Team Championship at the first Clash of the Champions event in March 1988. Then the Horsemen started dropping hints during interviews about Windham possibly joining the group and Dillon told Windham that someday when he needed him the most that Luger " would not be there for you ". Finally in April 1988 during a match against AA and Tully for those NWA Tag Team belts Windham realized that his future lay with the Horsemen and turned on Flexy Lexy.



Less than a month later Windham was the new US Heavyweight Champion and the Horsemen held all the Gold in the NWA.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

It is the Rock and Billy Gunn feuding because Billy Gunn said the Rock had a fat *** so the Rock responded by having a masseuse rub Billy's *** with a "herbal *** treatment", that was in reality "the people's poison ivy".

I would like to seriously nominate Bret Hart's run in the summer of 97 playing a mega heel in the states and a mega babyface in Canada. He had some great feuds there before it all went terribly wrong.

 

[xtra]

Also with the Gargano/Ciampa feud there were a couple times I thought Johnny was gonna win and they surprised me: one of the best was the last man standing match with Ciampa sliding off the stage onto his feet to win

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

Gargano and Ciampa I would call the best feud or story currently going, and maybe best of the last 5 years in WWE. All-time great though? Not even close to me .

Austin/Vince was literally revolutionary. It made pro wrestling the most popular it ever will be, along with some help on the other side with the nWo. Austin and Vince was the hottest thing I've seen on wrestling TV in my time of watching wrestling for nearly 30 years. Someone said stuff didn't go anywhere, like the briefcase. Pretty beyond weak excuse to dismiss the hottest angle in the history of the WWE. They traded wins and didn't blue ball the crowd much at all. Nothing had to be drawn out and nothing had to be saved up because whatever they did was over.

I'd say my personal favorite storyline is Bret Hart's heel turn in 1997. When he finally snapped at Vince on Raw was one of the greatest wrestling/reality line blur I can remember..."and if you don't like it, tough shit."

Also, Raven vs Dreamer is great and all but there's a lot of ECW stuff left unmentioned. Steve Austin and Mick Foley's ECW arks are very well written.

 

[ColePens]

@HandsomeHollywood - I think Austin/Vince was the best because the time, but if you peel back and look into the actual story... it was pretty basic. And just because it was basic doesn't mean anything bad. It was a guy we all want to be in a fake reality that walks into work and kicks his boss's ass. That's all it was really. The boss getting the upperhand with power. Classic story.

I would say it was a great introduction into the reality world where the inner workings behind the scenes started to be seen. But if you put that story down on paper, it's pretty basic at the end of the day.

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

@HandsomeHollywood - I think Austin/Vince was the best because the time, but if you peel back and look into the actual story... it was pretty basic. And just because it was basic doesn't mean anything bad. It was a guy we all want to be in a fake reality that walks into work and kicks his boss's ass. That's all it was really. The boss getting the upperhand with power. Classic story.

I would say it was a great introduction into the reality world where the inner workings behind the scenes started to be seen. But if you put that story down on paper, it's pretty basic at the end of the day.

I'd say you're somewhat right in pointing out its basic elements, but only with the benefit of hindsight. There's little touches left out too, like Austin hating Vince so much but still insisting on saving helpless Stephanie from Undertaker because he's a good guy deep down.
Also keep in mind that the root of the story is that Vince recognized Austin's star power, hence why he never just outright fired him like he could have. Can't just leave all that tmoney on the table. Instead he tried to fight a no-win battle to try to reign Austin in or make him a team player. The story is definitely more layered than you're alluding to.
Also also, Vince was not a major character before this and authority powers were generally babyfaces, so it was pretty fresh as hard as that might be to grasp considering WWE can't book shit without inserting heel authority.

You can boil any storyline down to its most basic beatpoints to make it sound underwhelming. Really when it comes down to it Ciampa/Gargano are former best friends and a broken up tag team. It's the way it's told that elevates it. The little touches. I do like the Gargano/Ciampa story a lot, I just can't buy it as best ever when I've been more thoroughly entertained by better stories.