ESPNTheMag.Com Presents: All-World Power Rankings

What's the most overstated event title ever?

by Ted Bauer

WHEN IT COMES TO THE MOST OVERSTATED EVENT TITLES, WE'LL GO WITH "THE WORLD AWAITS"

[Ed's note: Not sure what All-World Power Rankings is? Please click here.]

The movie Monsters vs. Aliens opens today. Cool. First note: we read an article recently that said if this movie is a hit (it will be), Seth Rogen will "approach the level of Will Smith." That's utter garbage. Rogen is cool and all, but there's only one Will Smith from a "take-it-to-the-bank" perspective. The title got us thinking, though: pretty overstated. Honestly, monsters battling aliens? The world would be at stake, no? But it's a cartoon. How do you reconcile such contradictory thoughts? (You bet on horses.) All kidding aside, though, you ever notice how sports—especially sports focused on fighting—tend to oversell their event titles too? Time for a deeper investigation into this.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (10)	"THE WORLD AWAITS"	This was the title of the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight in May 2007. We admit: 24/7 was a tremendous show, but was the world truly "waiting" for this? That night, we watched Game 7 of the Rockets/Jazz series.
	2 (35)	"THE BRAWL TO END IT ALL"	We may be wrong about this, but we've heard people refer to Tyson/Lewis by that moniker. Plain and simple, the fight was awful.
	3 (62)	FALL BRAWL: "WAR GAMES"	Now-defunct WCW used to run this PPV every September. It started around 1993, when we first were getting involved in some dicey Middle East affairs. War Games? Really? C'mon now.
	4 (9)	"THE SOUND AND THE FURY"	Also known as Holyfield vs. Tyson II. (Notice a lot of boxing on this list? Those dudes are salesmen!) It's an ironic title, because how do you finish that sentence normally? "…signifying nothing." Ha. Like this fight! An ear got bitten and boxing started to dissolve. Sheesh.
	5 (42)	THE HOLY WAR	This is what they call BC vs. ND (and to a lesser extent, BYU vs. Utah). We get the hyperbole and all, but equating a college football game to the Crusades is maybe, like, a smidge too far.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	82 (139)	BATTLE FOR THE UNIVERSE	Eh, best we can tell, this is just an online game that barely works. Besides, everyone knows that the real battle for the universe is being contested daily right here.
	103 (1,870)	MOST UFC EVENT NAMES	Read this. Boiling Point? Weird. We still love Hockensmith, though.

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		"THE BATTLE FOR PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY" (We just wanted an excuse to link that video, honestly.)
		THE BATTLE IN SEATTLE (Since it's a movie now, can you use the term to describe a big Seahawks game—ya know, if there is a big Seahawks game in the future? ZING!)

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