What is the GOAT storyline in wrestling?

[JackSlater]

Yeah it's a ridiculous oversimplification to paint Austin/McMahon in that way. This was a story that encompassed roughly five years of wrestling storylines in the hottest period in the modern era of wrestling. A person can easily say Gargano/Ciampa is just a tag team breakup story followed by a feud. It wouldn't be completely accurate, but it's a lot more accurate than painting Austin/McMahon as just a guy feuding with his boss. It's akin to calling The Odyssey "a guy gets lost at sea and finally gets back home" at least in a wrestling context. I can see pumping up Gargano/Ciampa as the top storyline if a person is relatively new to wrestling but other than that there's plenty out there that is comparable story-wise and various things that are better. One potential benefit for Gargano/Ciampa is that it can still improve as a story, but I do think unfortunately that the better odds are that it will devolve as Vince gets his hands on it.

 

[Disclose]

nothing against Austin vs Vince. i was young, i loved it. but it also gave us Vince winning Royal Rumbles and Championships. f*** that lol.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

No mention yet of what I felt was the perfect storyline and one of the greatest babyface turns of all time. Shoot it even got a call back this year to potentially set up yet another story.

Talking about the build up to Wrestlemania 21 between Triple H and Batista.

After getting an itchy trigger finger and hot shotting Randy Orton’s babyface turn and ruining it, they did things right with Batista.

While HHH and Evolution spent much of the fall feuding with the babyfaces of RAW led by Randy Orton, there were teases of a turn from Batista, including this (listen to the crowd response to Batista):



But it wasn’t until 2 months later during the Elimination Chamber when HHH refused to save Batista from being eliminated in the Chamber before things really got heated up.



Batista took the spot in the Rumble “just in case” HHH couldn’t beat Orton for the title so Evolution wouldn’t be left out. HHH would respond by putting Flair in, “just in case” Batista were to get eliminated.

HHH would win his title match....but Big Dave won the Rumble and that meant it was time to make a decision....but before Batista could get out what he thought....



.....a clip of JBL, the WWE champ on Smackdown, aired telling just what he thought of Batista. The Animal didn’t take too kindly and went to the parking lot to confront JBL where Batista was nearly run over by what looked to be JBL’s limo.

Batista went to Smackdown, destroyed JBL’s limo and the following week on RAW, it was time to make a decision for Wrestlemania for Batista.....

Triple H and Ric Flair discussing Batista before the contract signing for Wrestlemania 21

.....which when we come back from commerical break leads to one the most memorable Royal Rumble contract signing ever:

Batista decides which champion he will face off against at WrestleMania 21

From there, Batista would go on to defeat HHH at Wrestlemania, in a rematch at Backlash, and then finally, in a Hell in a Cell at Vengeance before Batista was drafted to Smackdown.

It made one of the biggest babyfaces of the decade and was IMO, the perfect storyline.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Depends on what you are looking for. For pure name value and getting eyes on the product, either Austin/Vince or Hogan/Piper. Possibly the NWO Invasion.

If you are going with all around greatest storylines, the ongoing Freebirds/Von Erichs has to be up there, as does the Junk Yard Dog blinded angle from way back when. Raven and Dreamer took things to another level. I personally loved the Jerry Lynn/RVD "Respect" angle, where they feuded, tore down the house, and RVD refused to give Lynn respect no matter how good he was. My personal favourite though, is the Hart Foundation vs USA, where they were shit heels in the USA, and faces in every other country. That was just gold.

 

[alko]

I think, there isnt a story , that cant beat the NWO invasion. Is was such a innovating idea, with great athletes. Many feuds. But at the end, it was a little bid overheated. There were simply too much NWOs.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

I think, there isnt a story , that cant beat the NWO invasion. Is was such a innovating idea, with great athletes. Many feuds. But at the end, it was a little bid overheated. There were simply too much NWOs.

This is true. Hogan turning heel was amazing. Every face in the crowd was the same as that dude's when Undertaker lost at Mania.

 

[Dr Pepper]

I wish the ECW/WCW Invasion angle ended differently.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

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

This


Also Austin vs. Vince as well as the various storylines with the Ministry of Darkness before all that higher power Vince bullshit was great too.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I don't want to use a poll here because I feel the "other" option would be best. This thread is obviously built on the idea that Ciampa/Gargano has been discussed lately as the GOAT. I'm going to post a few that get the recognition but I want your opinion and/or rank them top 3. Just some to start with:

- Summer of Punk: The ending was brutally ruined but this was a summer reign of a guy who was disgruntled and it played out in front of all of us with one of the greatest promos of all time. That being said - only lasted a summer and the payoff was AWFUL.

- Austin/Vince: The anti-hero vs. the boss we'd all love to beat up. Can't deny that this storyline was solid but it was one dimensional in the sense that it was a one way street between the anti-hero vs. the power hungry boss. There really wasn't too much depth and the turn at WM17 didn't work albeit very fun.

- Mega Powers implode: Now THIS is a well built story over time between egos, a well built story behind Elizabeth, and just some incredible foreshadowing. I think this storyline has more depth than the previous mentioned.

- Ciampa/Gargano: For my money... this is the GOAT. From a tag team to a betrayal. From a betrayal to a face trying to get redemption. From a face trying to get redemption to becoming the villain and slowly deteriorating to the person he never wanted to be. The call backs, matches, slow build, even the ****ing wrestling attire was built into the story. It's pure perfection.

- Golden Lovers: Does this count or is there too big of a gap? If it counts then I think it's an underrated possible candidate for GOAT.


Honorable mention - HBK vs. Taker at WM25 to HBK needing redemption and ending his career at WM26. Light vs. Dark. It was only for one run but the ring attire, the gimmicks, the matches.... Really deserve a nice tip of the cap even though the longevity of it didn't really stay as consistent as the others. But that 1 year period was a beautiful story of a man obsessed with breaking the streak that he lost everything. One mistake made in the WM25 match ended it for HBK and his obsession ended his career. Annnnnnnnnnnd then Crown Jewel. [/QUOTE

So you think summer of Punk deserves to be there but not Bret VS HBK, the NWO OR Kane's debut?

This is a terrible list

 

[HandsomeHollywood]

Summer of Punk was indeed bad. I agree.
It's not remembered for being Punk's launching pad at all. It was when they did everything they could to try to squash Punk. Having him come back too early, lose to Del Rio and be inserted into Triple H and Nash's nonsense. Not to mention losing to Triple H as well.
Punk's run was mostly good, the start of it didn't contribute to that.

 

[ColePens]

Wicked awesome quote ability. @LEAFANFORLIFE23

2nd - its just a starter list as mentioned. Not a top 5 list or anything. Just throwing discussion pieces out there and letting others join the fun. You know... like how message boards work?

Solid effort.

 

[JackSlater]

Summer of Punk 1 (ROH) was a strong angle that was given some room to breathe despite time constraints. Summer of Punk 2 (WWE, referenced in this thread) was an all time great promo that laid the seeds for a great story, but WWE is and was far too impatient. If they had Punk win and disappear for some time, appearing in various places with the WWE title, cutting (worked) shoots online and so on it could have been a unique and potentially great storyline. WWE and HHH decided that it really needed the rubbbuhhhh of having him and his buddy Nash interjected. Typical fumbling from WWE.

It's an all time great promo. It's not a storyline that deserves to be mentioned with the actual best storylines such as Austin/McMahon, Mega Powers or Hart/USA. Very much a case of what could have been.

Wicked awesome quote ability. @LEAFANFORLIFE23

Aha...

 

[WingsMJN2965]

Took a whole page for Y2J/HBK to mentioned. Yikes.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Summer of Punk is one of the worst botched storylines I can ever remember. There have surely been plenty, but that one is up there.

 

[ColePens]

The culmination of the Punk story to the Cena match was BRILLIANT. What they did after was brutal. From the too early return to everything after that. Brutal.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Both World title and WWE title matches at Mania 21, going in to it, was really well written tbh.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Took a whole page for Y2J/HBK to mentioned. Yikes.

HBK just had a year there with amazing stories that flowed together perfectly.

Asked by Flair to be his opponent at Wrestlemania, retires him and angers Batista, cheats to beat him and gets away with it from the fans which frustrated Jericho.

Three separate stories with three completely different tones and wrestlers and the transition from one to the next was as good as I can remember.

 

[DustyMartellaughs]

Hornswoggle versus El Torito AINEC.

 

[xtra]

So with gargano and Ciampa not getting the payoff we wanted/expected how far down does it fall on the greatest storyline lists?

 

[JackSlater]

So with gargano and Ciampa not getting the payoff we wanted/expected how far down does it fall on the greatest storyline lists?

Oh I expect WWE to throw them together countless times in the future. Everyone will be sick of it by then of course. If current Vince traveled back in time, making wrong what once went right, I'm sure we'd see the Mega Powers colliding at pretty much every PPV and a few Saturday Night Main Events.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Kofi/Bryan had potential, but Vince apparently can't stop himself from adding extra hoops for Kofi to jump through. It's bordering on sadistic.

If Kofi wins at Mania, it'd make for a hell of a moment. One of the better ones in recent memory.

That said, I'm wondering what the plan was supposed to be, prior to Ali's injury. To borrow a term we see all too often with Charlotte, Kofi was pretty much shoehorned into the title picture, but damn if he hasn't made the most of it.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Kofi/Bryan had potential, but Vince apparently can't stop himself from adding extra hoops for Kofi to jump through. It's bordering on sadistic.

If Kofi wins at Mania, it'd make for a hell of a moment. One of the better ones in recent memory.

That said, I'm wondering what the plan was supposed to be, prior to Ali's injury. To borrow a term we see all too often with Charlotte, Kofi was pretty much shoehorned into the title picture, but damn if he hasn't made the most of it.

Apparently it was going to be Kevin Owens.

 

[xtra]

Yea Ali was getting the Fastlane shot and then KO was gonna get the mania one

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Yea Ali was getting the Fastlane shot and then KO was gonna get the mania one

They didn’t decide what they were doing at Fastlane before Ali’s injury. There’s no telling if Ali would have gotten over as Kofi did in these circumstances. Kofi has the vet thing and 11 years of goodwill going for him.

 

[xtra]

They didn’t decide what they were doing at Fastlane before Ali’s injury. There’s no telling if Ali would have gotten over as Kofi did in these circumstances. Kofi has the vet thing and 11 years of goodwill going for him.

Kofi repacked Ali and took his role in the gaunlet where he did the match as Ali was supposed to...they were testing Ali to see if he gets over and penciled him into the Fastlane match