House shows

[Loss]

Talk about your favorite live wrestling experiences ever here. The more anecdotal, the better!

[Mad Dog]

May 27, 2000 in Columbus, OH

Newport Music Hall drawing 950

Shawn Evans beat Jorge Estrada.

 

Hellraiser beat Prime Time.

 

Danny Doring & Amish Roadkill beat CW Anderson & Bill Wiles.

 

Chilly Willy beat Chris Hamrick.

 

Jerry Lynn beat Simon Diamond.

 

Balls Mahoney beat Johnny Swinger.

 

Kid Kash, Chris Chetti, & Nova beat Vic Grimes, Tony DeVito, & Angel.

 

ECW Champ Justin Credible beat Mikey Whipwreck.

 

Rob Van Dam beat Little Guido.

 

Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Yoshihiro Tajiri, & Raven beat Steve Corino, Jack Victory, Scotty Anton, & Rhino.

This was my only ECW experience. The Newport Music Hall is this complete shithole on the Ohio State campus. The building literally feels like it should be condemned. The ring was set up right in front of the stage where bands would play. The show started like an hour late and it was standing room only. So my friends and I were crammed in this shithole with a bunch of sweaty smelly guys, I've said before, I don't think there was a single vagina in the building. It was a fun and crazy experience. I had wandered up to the balcony later in the show and the Sandman almost ran me over for his entrance. I saw Dawn Marie up close when she was signing autographs and New Jack actually wandered around mingling with the crowd and signing autographs. I should mention a final time that this place is an absolute shithole of a building.

 

I remember Whipwreck dragging a pretty good match out of Credible. RVD/Guido was disappointing from what I remember. Chilly Whilly was crazy over but they announced him as studying Pimpology at Ohio State so that got him over with the crowd pretty good.

 

EDIT: Forgot, the crowd shit all over the first two matches as no one had really heard of any of the guys involved. Hellraiser was liberally giving the finger to people in an attempt to get heel heat and the crowd just fucked with him instead. He used a Jackhammer for the finish and the crowd chanted Goldberg for like 5 minutes after that.

 

Balls Mahoney also led a sing-a-long to Big Balls by ACDC after he won his match.

[Mad Dog]

WCW @ Columbus, OH - October 10, 1998

Psychosis defeated Tokyo Magnum

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman defaeted Prince Iaukea

Eddie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero Jr. defeated Alex Wright & Disco Inferno

Wrath defeated Davey Boy Smith

Lex Luger & Rick Steiner fought Scott Norton & Stevie Ray to a no contest

Sting, Lex Luger, & Rick Steiner defeated WCW US Champion Bret Hart, Scott Norton, & Stevie Ray

WCW World Champion Bill Goldberg defeated the Giant

Let's see, I was a late finder of wrestling so this would be my first show ever live. The Goldberg/Giant match was essentially move for move from their Nitro match a week or two later. Seeing Goldberg hit the Jackhammer on the Giant was awesome live. My friends and I were stuck behind some dumbfuck kids that brought signs to a fucking house show. Yeah, still bitter about that shit.

 

The matches on this show were pretty good. I remember Psychosis/Tokyo being pretty good and Guerreros vs. Wright/Inferno were good. Inferno came out with a Tennessee jersey on and went on some big tirade that pissed off the crowd really good. Kidman/Iaukea was good. The crowd hated Bret Hart. The tag team match got tossed out when Bret Hart got involved and Sting came out and convinced them to do the second match. Wrath manhandled Davey Boy and I imagine this was one of his last WCW appearances.

 

There was a lot of energy and excitement for the show. It was at the Convention Center. I bought a Sting mask and a Wolfpac shirt. I might've bought my Monday Night Jericho shirt here but that might have been the Nitro a couple of months later.

[Exposer]

WWE (Raw) @ Chattanooga, TN - McKenzie Arena - August 19, 2007 (matinee) (3,500)

Cody Rhodes defeated Johnny Jeter

Cody Rhodes defeated Jay Bradley

Cody Rhodes defeated William Regal

Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated Robbie & Rory McAllister

Snitsky defeated Super Crazy

WWE Women's Champion Candice Michelle defeated Beth Phoenix

WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch defeated Paul London & Brian Kendrick

WWE IC Champion Umaga defeated Carlito Caribbean Cool

WWE World Champion John Cena defeated Randy Orton

 

Source: thehistoryofwwe.com

 

The main event was excellent. Better than the Summerslam match. I'll never forget the pop when Cena kicked out of the RKO. That was at a time when Randy was getting a giant push and the RKO and punt were becoming a lethal finishing combination. The tag title match was I'm sure pretty good, although I can't remember it off hand. Literally, though the main event was one of the five best matches I saw in the company all year. Not kidding.

[Stiva]

Saw a Ricky Steamboat run-in during April 2009 on a Raw house show. It was following the Jericho/Steamboat stuff at Mania that year and right when Jericho/Rey was starting so we got a really fun match topped off with a great surprise run-in. There was a cool Cena/Edge street fight too which had Cena pull out all his spots that involved the steel steps in a fun way.

[Chess Knight]

SmackDown/ECW show from 2008. It was in Australia and most of the people were calling Egde a wanker. He got on the mic and said "I don't know what a wanker is but I am NOT A WANKER." Then ran around the outside of the ring yelling "YOU'RE A WANKER, YOU'RE A WANKER, YOU'RE A WANKER, YOU'RE A WANKER." He took forever to get in the ring (defending WHC v Batista) and Dave got on the mic and called him a "world class bona fide chickenshit."

 

Card itself was ok, but the general experience was way more fun.

[Matt D]

WWF @ Boston, MA - Boston Garden - April 20, 1991 (matinee)

Rick Martel did not appear as scheduled

Bret Hart fought the Barbarian to a draw

Ricky Steamboat defeated Haku

Ted Dibiase defeated Roddy Piper when the referee stopped the bout due to injury

Kerry Von Erich fought the Warlord to a double count-out

Sgt. Slaughter defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via disqualification

The Berzerker defeated Tugboat

WWF IC Champion Mr. Perfect defeated Davey Boy Smith

Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty defeated the Orient Express

 

I WISH I remembered the show better. I was 9. But I bet Steamboat vs Haku was fun. I bet Perfect vs DBS was fun. And I can't believe I don't remember the Rockers vs Orient Express match since i was a huge Rockers fan. BUT I'll tell you what I DO remember (past Hogan, who I really loathed at 9 losing due to using a chair Slaughter brought in). I had a friend, a special kid who was the younger brother of a girl on my sister's youth soccer team. I kind of looked out for him. Well, his Uncle worked for Titan sports, so we got comped when they came around. More than that, twice we got to go backstage. This was the first time (The second was Survivor Series 1993 and it was a lot less special, but I do have a pic of me with the smoking guns somewhere).

 

My pal got scared about seeing Sgt. Slaughter and backed out at the last second so it was just me and the uncle. Somewhere shortly after the first match we went backstage and went looking around for a Wrestler. The first guy who showed up was a just out of the showers Bret Hart. He was super nice to me despite having just wrestled and showered and what have you and I came out of it with a signed ticket and a great memory.

[Troy]

WWE (Raw) @ Chattanooga, TN - McKenzie Arena - August 19, 2007 (matinee) (3,500)

Cody Rhodes defeated Johnny Jeter

Cody Rhodes defeated Jay Bradley

Cody Rhodes defeated William Regal

Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas defeated Robbie & Rory McAllister

Snitsky defeated Super Crazy

WWE Women's Champion Candice Michelle defeated Beth Phoenix

WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch defeated Paul London & Brian Kendrick

WWE IC Champion Umaga defeated Carlito Caribbean Cool

WWE World Champion John Cena defeated Randy Orton

 

Source: thehistoryofwwe.com

 

The main event was excellent. Better than the Summerslam match. I'll never forget the pop when Cena kicked out of the RKO. That was at a time when Randy was getting a giant push and the RKO and punt were becoming a lethal finishing combination. The tag title match was I'm sure pretty good, although I can't remember it off hand. Literally, though the main event was one of the five best matches I saw in the company all year. Not kidding.

I'll follow up Cena/Orton. I was front row at the 6/30/07 show, the first show after Benoit died. They had about an 18 minute match and it was one of the best matches from 2007. There was a point torwards the end of the match where Orton put Cena in the Sharpshooter. As soon as he locked it in, he looked up to the rafters and in the most genuine way, simply asked "why" in regards to Benoit. It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen at a show and I don't think it'll ever be topped. Great, great match

[Dylan Waco]

I posted this story in an old thread at DVDVR, but I thought I would drag it over to this thread.

 

Then when I was sixteen or seventeen me and my dad and a friend of mine went on a Atlantic Coast tour following random hardcore bands and ECW. We got to an Asbury Park show about seven hours early and had nothing to do so we hung out on the shitty boardwalk, which of course the Convention Center sits on top of (quite literally for those who haven't been). Next thing I know my dad walks about to Paul E. Dangerously who is watching half the roster swim in the Ocean and asks "is there bathroom around here?" Paul responds "not unless you count the Ocean". My dad looks out at Dreamer who has spotted us talking to Paul and is now pretending to bang Beulah doggystyle and says "Is that what Dreamer is doing right now?" Paul laughs and I walk off in shame. Oddly moments later I'm standing next to Spike Dudley at the urinal and when I come out and tell my dad, he asks if I looked over to see if he was the littliest Dudley. We spend the rest of the day getting cold stares from the injured Perry Saturn and randomly shooting the shit with J.C. Ice and The Sandman, who seem to be quite entertained by my bizaare father, who keeps commenting on Ice's flip flops. When the show starts we are sitting second row and J.C. Ice spots my dad and starts cutting a promo on him calling him fat, stupid and bald. My dad responds with some crazy shit and next thing I know Bill Dundee's son and my dad are in each others face barking at each other with my dad screaming about how Ice fucks his sister and he fuck's Ice's mother. When Dundee finally turns and heads back to the ring my dad yells "nice Flip Flops bitch" and Ice bursts out laughing.

 

On that same ECW trip we saw the show in Allentown that had a mid-show riot with fans and wrestlers brawling wildly and resulted in the lawsuit that caused the rift to develop between Francine and Shane Douglas. The show had (to my knowledge) the only ECW match between Smothers and Candido, which was really fucking good live. A FanCam was shot but was probably conveniently "lost" due to the riot (this was LITERALLY a riot by the way, as dozens of fans were getting their asses kicked by the entire ECW locker room).

 

 

I have been to a shit ton of good house shows over the years because of my best friends dad who was an usher at a local arena when we were kids. One of my favorite memories was seeing a fan set a cup on fire and drop it on Larry Zbyszko's head after dousing him with soda when he first came through the tunnel (this was during the Dangerous Alliance era). We got to talk to a shit load of the wrestlers before the shows because we were there super early for set up. Saw a ton of good matches but I'd be a liar if I said that a lot of them didn't run together because I was so young. Pretty sure we saw Liger work at least one house show which was a major standout for my buddy who still says he is the best wrestler he ever saw.

 

I'm 99.99 percent certain my first live wrestling show was the Midnights v. RnR's match Corny talks about in the Midnights yearbook where the local timekeeper refused to ring the bell at sixty minutes because he was sure the RnR's would win if they had a few more minutes, so they had to improvise with a screwjob dq.

 

More recently I went to a really good house show a couple of years back on the front of Punk's slow heel turn. The whole show was very good (20 minute Steamboat v. Drew Mac match, really good Southern tag, Christian v. Dreamer, Finlay v. Regal as the opener), but the Punk v. Jeff Hardy main event was brilliant. I had been teasing my daughter all match about Punk winning thinking they might do some sort of Dusty finish and I wouldn't look like an asshole. Oops. Punk won in a great, great match and my daughter who NEVER curses starts dropping every four letter word known to man and starts taking off toward the ring to the point where I had to physically restrain her. Good times.

 

I also saw a pair of very good house shows back in December with my brothers and dad.

[Jingus]

This was the first live wrestling show I ever attended.

 

WCW House Show Results from Nashville, TN - 01/28/00

Sigh...

 

There were, at most, a thousand people in the building; maybe much less. Said building was Municipal Auditorium, aka the home of Starrcades 94-96, and holds at least ten thousand people at capacity. It looked sad. I paid for a shitty seat, but moved up to a much better one and absolutely nobody cared to challenge me.

 

Match #1: Disco Inferno (w/ the Mamalukes) def. The Maestro

I got there late and missed this. Can't imagine I missed much.

 

Match #2: 3 Way Dance - The Wall d. Berlyn & Dustin Rhodes

It was weird, seeing a wrestler for the first time in person that I already knew from television. "Holy shit, it's really The Wall!" And three years later he was dead. Ugh. Not much to write home about with this match. Dustin tried a bunch of pandering-to-the-crowd stuff, talking on the house mic and gesturing for fan support. None of it got over, the crowd seemed to be resentful that he was trying that. There were two laughs: first when Berlyn claimed that someone pulled his hair, and then when the announcer didn't realize that this was under three-way-dance elimination rules and the first pinfall didn't end the match.

 

Match #3: WCW Hardcore Title Match - Brian Knobbs (w/ Fit Finlay) def. Screamin Norman Smiley

No memory of this whatsoever.

 

Match #4: Kidman def. Vampiro

I recall this one being pretty disappointing. I was still a very inexperienced smark at the time, so I thought "young cruiserweights in WCW = automatically good wrestlers" and probably expected way too much outta Vampiro.

 

Match #5: Meng def. the Total Package w/ Elizabeth

Best singles match of the night. Luger played the cowardly heel role to the hilt, stooging like crazy for everything Meng did.

 

Match #6: Triple Threat Match, World Tag Team Championship - The Mamalukes def. The Harris Boys and David Flair and Crowbar

MOTN, sadly enough. Flair/Crowbar were shockingly over live with their crazy act. Crowbar kept taking bumps for no reason, at one point even flinging himself into the ring steps just for the hell of it. This is also where my infatuation with Daffney started, cuz she was working her ass off at ringside.

 

Match #7: Kevin Nash w/ Jeff Jarrett def. Ric Flair

Oh man, this PISSED ME OFF. The whole reason I went to this show was to see Ric Flair live. I figured, how much longer could he possibly be wrestling? I wanted to see him in the ring in front of me, while I still had the chance! Sigh.

 

The match was total crap. Nash was the commissioner at this point, and before the match started he announced that the figure-four was banned. Then he sloooooooowly beat up Ric for about five minutes, with Flair not even getting any hope spots worth a damn. Complete squash. At the end, Flair finally got a thirty-second comeback, and then locked on the figure-four. The referee was Lil' Naitch, Charles Robinson; so you'd naturally expect him to show Flair favoritism and overlook the ban and have the babyface win and send the crowd home happy, right? WRONG! He promptly disqualifies Flair. Nash gets up, and he and Jarrett stomp on Ric for a minute. Then everyone just walks to the back. SHOW OVER. Good night, everyone, drive home safe! This FUCKING company. Nash's ego wouldn't even let him do a harmless job at a goddamn house show; hell, if memory serves, he didn't even take a single bump. Gee, why did they go out of business?!

 

 

Cody Rhodes defeated Johnny Jeter

Cody Rhodes defeated Jay Bradley

Cody Rhodes defeated William Regal

What was the deal with this?

[Cox]

The first wrestling show I ever went to was a local indy show that, sadly, I can't find the results for online (as I guess nobody has created a website that includes indy show results from 1991). Funny story there, my dad had bought tickets from somebody at work but wanted to do something cool, so he called our house from work and pretended to be from some fake radio station with wrestling tickets if I could answer the day's trivia question (which I think was "Who was buried in Grant's tomb?" or something similar). I thought it was a crank call so I hung up, but the second time around I thought it was "real" so I answered and won. I got worked by my own dad before I even stepped foot in the building!

 

I know Chris Candido was on the show, as he dropped the WWA Junior Heavyweight title to "Jungle" Jim Macpherson on the show, and in my mind, that title belt is the same one he used in SMW a couple of years later. I was also told once that this may have been the show Chris first met Tammy Sytch, but I think that story may be apocryphal. Also on that show was The Spider (future Headbanger Thrasher), Ray Odyssey, Bob Orton, and the main event was Cactus Jack vs. Morgus the Maniac. I got an autographed Cactus 8x10 because I recognized him from Herb Abrams' UWF, (yes, that was the first place I ever saw Cactus as I didn't start watching WCW until 1991) and that 8x10 is still somewhere at my parents' house.

 

The first ever "big two" house show I went to was at the Civic Center in Philadelphia. I won free tickets on TV through WPHL-17 by being the first caller after they showed a graphic to win tickets, so that was pretty cool, and this time I really DID win free tickets, as I doubt anybody from my family would have wanted to drive me out to Philly to see a wrestling show unless the tickets were free. Results from the show:

 

WCW @ Philadelphia, PA - Civic Center - August 30, 1991 (650 paid)

Terrance Taylor pinned Big Josh

Dustin Rhodes pinned Joey Maggs

Ron Simmons pinned Tommy Rich

Richard Morton pinned Robert Gibson

Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyzsko fought Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin to a double count-out

Tom Zenk pinned the Diamond Studd

WCW TV Champion Steve Austin defeated Johnny B. Badd via disqualification

Rick Steiner & Bill Kazmaier defeated Dick Murdoch & Dick Slater

El Gigante & Yellow Dog defeated the One Man Gang & Oz

WCW US Champion Sting pinned Cactus Jack

WCW World Champion Lex Luger pinned Barry Windham

We got there in the middle of the Dustin/Joey Maggs match. I don't remember a whole lot from this show other than Cactus being on it and being surprised, since just a few months earlier he was working indies for Dennis Coralluzzo. Since I didn't go to another wrestling show for a few years after that, for a while Cactus Jack had the odd trivia point of being the only wrestler to appear on all of the wrestling shows I had attended live, which I guess is something. And hey...I got to see the great Bill Kazmaier live and in person! Oh, and I bought my sister a Tom Zenk t-shirt that I think she still owns, because literally the only WCW wrestler she liked was the Z-Man.

 

The other weird house show story I have is from my dad, which is strange because he never really liked wrestling, and this was shortly after I was born. Apparently, he went to a WWWF show with one of my uncles. He ran into Bob Backlund on his way out and tried to get him to hit the bar with him after the show, but Backlund told him he had to go to a show in Boston and couldn't make it. He offered to sign an autograph for my dad, but my dad didn't have a pen. Based on the clues (had to be a show in the central NJ area headlined by Bob Backlund, show in Boston the next day with Backlund) I THINK this is the show he went to live. God bless the internet for being able to figure things out like, "What was on a wrestling show that my dad attended when I was 2 years old?" And you can tell that my dad really didn't follow wrestling that closely when he's asking Bob freaking Backlund to go back to the bar after the show...

 

WWF @ Highland Park, NJ - December 4, 1981

Tony Altimore defeated Barry Hart

Ron Shaw & Mr. X defeated Jerry Johnson & Johnny King

Davey O'Hannon fought Manuel Soto to a draw

WWF IC Champion Pedro Morales fought Greg Valentine to a draw

WWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeated Angelo Mosca

[Dylan Waco]

Was thinking about this someone more and the coolest thing I've ever seen at a house show was Chris Hamrick taking "his" bump through the ropes to the hardwood, basketball court, floor and then proceeding to slide on impact wiping out the first three or four rows of ringside fans in the process. The same show featured a brawl in the stands with George South and Terry Austin and a local wrestling high school wrestling coach piledriving a heel manager to take the fall in the main event. This was also one of the last indy matches (PWF to be exact) that Charles Robinson reffed before going to WCW.

[Tim Evans]

The only house shows I've been to are FCW ones. I've seen a lot of good matches on some of those shows like Seth Rollins vs Justin Gabriel, Johnny Curtis/Zach Ryder vs Brad Maddox/Dolph Ziggler and probably my favorite match I've seen at a house show Epico, Antonio Cesearo, Kevin Hackman, Donny Marlow and Zero vs Hunico, Nick Rogers, Kenneth Cameron, Peter Orlov and Tyson Kidd . Just a total comedy match with everyone having a good time with the crowd. Tyson Kidd got a huge pop and this match made me a fan. Natalya was there too. Also anytime Damien Sandow wrestles on a house show is a delight. Dylan can back me up on that one. The pink tights, the cart wheels, the poems, all great.

[Exposer]

This was the first live wrestling show I ever attended.

 

WCW House Show Results from Nashville, TN - 01/28/00

Sigh...

 

There were, at most, a thousand people in the building; maybe much less. Said building was Municipal Auditorium, aka the home of Starrcades 94-96, and holds at least ten thousand people at capacity. It looked sad. I paid for a shitty seat, but moved up to a much better one and absolutely nobody cared to challenge me.

 

Match #1: Disco Inferno (w/ the Mamalukes) def. The Maestro

I got there late and missed this. Can't imagine I missed much.

 

Match #2: 3 Way Dance - The Wall d. Berlyn & Dustin Rhodes

It was weird, seeing a wrestler for the first time in person that I already knew from television. "Holy shit, it's really The Wall!" And three years later he was dead. Ugh. Not much to write home about with this match. Dustin tried a bunch of pandering-to-the-crowd stuff, talking on the house mic and gesturing for fan support. None of it got over, the crowd seemed to be resentful that he was trying that. There were two laughs: first when Berlyn claimed that someone pulled his hair, and then when the announcer didn't realize that this was under three-way-dance elimination rules and the first pinfall didn't end the match.

 

Match #3: WCW Hardcore Title Match - Brian Knobbs (w/ Fit Finlay) def. Screamin Norman Smiley

No memory of this whatsoever.

 

Match #4: Kidman def. Vampiro

I recall this one being pretty disappointing. I was still a very inexperienced smark at the time, so I thought "young cruiserweights in WCW = automatically good wrestlers" and probably expected way too much outta Vampiro.

 

Match #5: Meng def. the Total Package w/ Elizabeth

Best singles match of the night. Luger played the cowardly heel role to the hilt, stooging like crazy for everything Meng did.

 

Match #6: Triple Threat Match, World Tag Team Championship - The Mamalukes def. The Harris Boys and David Flair and Crowbar

MOTN, sadly enough. Flair/Crowbar were shockingly over live with their crazy act. Crowbar kept taking bumps for no reason, at one point even flinging himself into the ring steps just for the hell of it. This is also where my infatuation with Daffney started, cuz she was working her ass off at ringside.

 

Match #7: Kevin Nash w/ Jeff Jarrett def. Ric Flair

Oh man, this PISSED ME OFF. The whole reason I went to this show was to see Ric Flair live. I figured, how much longer could he possibly be wrestling? I wanted to see him in the ring in front of me, while I still had the chance! Sigh.

 

The match was total crap. Nash was the commissioner at this point, and before the match started he announced that the figure-four was banned. Then he sloooooooowly beat up Ric for about five minutes, with Flair not even getting any hope spots worth a damn. Complete squash. At the end, Flair finally got a thirty-second comeback, and then locked on the figure-four. The referee was Lil' Naitch, Charles Robinson; so you'd naturally expect him to show Flair favoritism and overlook the ban and have the babyface win and send the crowd home happy, right? WRONG! He promptly disqualifies Flair. Nash gets up, and he and Jarrett stomp on Ric for a minute. Then everyone just walks to the back. SHOW OVER. Good night, everyone, drive home safe! This FUCKING company. Nash's ego wouldn't even let him do a harmless job at a goddamn house show; hell, if memory serves, he didn't even take a single bump. Gee, why did they go out of business?!

 

 

Cody Rhodes defeated Johnny Jeter

Cody Rhodes defeated Jay Bradley

Cody Rhodes defeated William Regal

What was the deal with this?

 

This was around the time Cody got on television and was teaming with Bob Holly. I honestly don't remember in detail what this was about. If I recall Holly was making Cody impress him in matches and shit. It's very possible this could have been one of the "tests" given to Cody before they started their tag title run.

[Strummer]

first show I ever attended:

 

 

 

WWF @ Albany, NY - Knickerbocker Arena - February 18, 1990

Debut at the venue

The Genius defeated Hercules after Mr. Perfect interfered

The Red Rooster defeated Bob Bradley

Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty defeated the Powers of Pain via disqualification

Dusty Rhodes defeated Randy Savage via count-out

Bret Hart fought Greg Valentine to a draw

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Mr. Perfect

 

As Jingus mentioned the "Oh man I see these guys on TV" vibe starts to catch on and it's an awesome experience. Not much to say about the matches but I remember the Rockers bumping like absolute beasts for POP in a match they probably had hundreds of times in 1989/1990. Hogan was so over it was scary live for me as a ten year old. I remember thinking that they wouldn't mention Perfect losing on TV and of course they didn't. There was supposed to be an Akeem match ( I believe against Tito) but they had announced he had missed his flight Bret was directionless at this time working against Valentine around the horn and they would put the foundation back together for one last run soon after. Fun experience. The next show I went to later in the year was headlined by Warrior v Bravo so this wins out for 1990!

[Dylan Waco]

The only house shows I've been to are FCW ones. I've seen a lot of good matches on some of those shows like Seth Rollins vs Justin Gabriel, Johnny Curtis/Zach Ryder vs Brad Maddox/Dolph Ziggler and probably my favorite match I've seen at a house show Epico, Antonio Cesearo, Kevin Hackman, Donny Marlow and Zero vs Hunico, Nick Rogers, Kenneth Cameron, Peter Orlov and Tyson Kidd . Just a total comedy match with everyone having a good time with the crowd. Tyson Kidd got a huge pop and this match made me a fan. Natalya was there too. Also anytime Damien Sandow wrestles on a house show is a delight. Dylan can back me up on that one. The pink tights, the cart wheels, the poems, all great.

Yeah Sandow is a really great heel live. Really came across like a star and a guy who was ready to take that gimmick to prime time when I saw him in Dec

[vikingsfan73]

The History of the WWE site doesn't have the results of the first house show I went to, which was featured the British Bulldogs challenging Valentine & Beefcake for the tag titles, but here's the second and third shows I went to (thanks to the thehistoryofwwe.com):

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - August 17, 1986 (11,500)

Cpl. Kirchner defeated Tiger Chung Lee

Hercules defeated Tito Santana via count-out

B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell fought Mike Rotundo & Danny Spivey to a draw

The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff defeated Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake; the winners of this match were to meet the winner of the Killer Bees / Rotondo & Spivey match to determine who would get a tag team title shot at the 10/5 show but because the previous match went to a draw Sheik & Volkoff automatically won the title shot

King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd defeated Big & Super Machine via disqualification

Paul Orndorff defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via disqualification

 

 

 

WWF @ St. Paul, MN - Civic Center - October 5, 1986 (8,000)

Big, Super, & Crusher Machine defeated Big John Studd, King Kong Bundy, & Bobby Heenan when Crusher pinned Studd with a bolo punch

WWF Tag Team Champions Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid vs. Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff via count-out

 

The Met Center show was my 13th birthday present from my parents. I was so surprised when Valentine & Beefcake were the faces against Sheik & Volkoff. I hated the Dream Team because of their feud with the Bulldogs, who were my favorites at the time. I actually liked the Iron Sheik because of his cool suplexes. Ken Resnick was ring announcing, and he got doused with a beer that was aimed for Volkoff during the Russian National Anthem. It took me a few minutes to realize that in the battle of "bad guy" teams, the foreign villians will still get booed, while the US villians get the cheers!

 

Giant Machine was at ringside for the tag match, which was the only time I ever saw Andre live, from what I remember. Even from far away from ringside, he looked giant.

 

The Civic Center show had a number of no-shows, including Terry Funk, who was supposed to team with Dory against the Killer Bees. The tag match ended up being broke into a couple of singles matches.

 

The Machines match with Crusher Machine was hilarious, because Crusher Machine had a cigar stuck in the mouth of his mask. And then he'd turn to the crowd and lift the match, just so we knew it was the Crusher! Heenan was going nuts on the ring apron, shouting "It's the Crusher!"

 

After 2 indecisive finishes in a row, the Hogan vs. Orndorff match went to the steel cage the following month. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to that match. I loved Paul Orndorff in that feud.

 

Also, saw a few AWA house shows in high school gyms and hockey rinks, plus an indy show around 1990 in a high school with no one I'd ever heard of.

 

In the 90s, I attended 4 Ilio DiPaulo Memorial shows in Buffalo that were put on by WCW. They brought in some legends, and did some nice tributes to DiPaulo, was a community legend. By the last one, they had really downplayed the legends aspect, and it ended up being a Thunder taping.

[S.L.L.]

Talk about your favorite live wrestling experiences ever here. The more anecdotal, the better! smile.gif

Is it wrong that the first thing I thought of was an ROH show where, when buying tickets for the next event there, we specifically asked for - and received - Green Lantern Fan's seats?

[Matt D]

The only house shows I've been to are FCW ones. I've seen a lot of good matches on some of those shows like Seth Rollins vs Justin Gabriel, Johnny Curtis/Zach Ryder vs Brad Maddoheh Cameron, Peter Orlov and Tyson Kidd . Just a total comedy match with everyone having a good time with the crowd. Tyson Kidd got a huge pop and this match made me a fan. Natalya was there too. Also anytime Damien Sandow wrestles on a house show is a delight. Dylan can back me up on that one. The pink tights, the cart wheels, the poems, all great.

Yeah Sandow is a really great heel live. Really came across like a star and a guy who was ready to take that gimmick to prime time when I saw him in Dec

 

Some of my favorite live wrestling experiences were going with my college roommate and a guy a year or two above us to Chaotic Wrestling in 00 in Boston and watching Aaron the Idol Stevens and his (literal) life size britney spears cut out doing his stchick. It was like his OVW character turned up to 11. He was the third guy in a stable called One Night Stand and would stand outside the ring in their matches selling everything that was happening in the ring. Just awesome over the top comedy timing.

[jdw]

This is a tough one because no single show stands out above the other great one.

 

The first three AAA shows at the Sports Arena were great on a lot of levels.

 

The TJ show with Wade and Bruce, along with UFC in Casa del Yohe, was a lot of fun.

 

Santo vs Rey was pretty much the end of our trips to TJ, and a memorable one to go out on since we thought Carlos would put Rey over... and popped like shit when Santo won (after watch was a very enjoyable match).

 

The two trips to Guadalajara were fab beyond belief, and I kick myself for not dragging Hoback along with the rest of us to that first one.

 

The two trips to Japan had a number of shows and/or matches that were memorable. I'm thankful that I went when I did, before the business started declining let alone went off the cliff.

 

Simple things like JCP's 8/86 card at the forum, when you pretty much saw JCP at the very peak of its expansion.

 

Even simpler things like Bret vs Yoko in a Cage in a very knew Pond, with the two of them working a match load with good things that got comments like "nice spot", "that was nice", "sweet" from us so often that by the end of it we were wondering if it was one of the best house show matches we'd ever seen. It was just that smartly worked, and the three of us can still toss it out and know that the other two will respond with something along the line of, "That was a helluva match."

 

Things that maybe only have meaning to you at the moment, but linger: Onita wandering slowly to the back at the Dome after one of his "last" matches, with the crowd generally not giving a shit and wanting him to get on with it so they could watch the next match. As soon as he was behind the curtain and the light dimmed, the crowd without any music to cue them started chanting:

 

"MI-SA-WA!!! MI-SA-WA!!! MI-SA-WA!!!"

 

Loud. Really fucking loud. 60K+ Loud (or the revised 50K+ load or whatever number Dave is using for it now).

 

Of course someone else came out first, they chanted that wrestler's name loudly... then the next... and the next... until Misawa came out and they blew the roof off.

 

All Japan Fan. The biggest setting "your guys" would be in during that decade, surrounded by talent all over the card. And they were the ones the fans went the most batshit about... just fucking coming out, let alone for their wrestling.

 

Yeah... that was a moment I'd like to go back in the time machine to experience again.

 

John

[FLIK]

WCW @ Oakland, CA - Coliseum - July 16, 1998 (13,393)

The Ultimo Dragon defeated Lizmark Jr.

Villano IV defeated Chill

Blitzkrieg & Super Dragon defeated Dragon Yakuza & American Wild Child

Villano IV defeated Zuma

Thunder - 7/17/98:

Konnan defeated El Dandy

The Ultimo Dragon defeated Lizmark Jr.

Public Enemy defeated Alex Wright & Disco Inferno via disqualification

Jim Duggan defeated Roadblock

Perry Saturn defeated Kanyon

Eddie Guerrero defeated Psychosis

Scott Norton defeated Ciclope

Stevie Ray defeated Damien

Rey Mysterio Jr. fought Juventud Guerrera to a no contest

Hugh Morrus & the Barbarian defeated Marty Jannetty & Chris Adams

Scott Hall & Curt Hennig defeated Diamond Dallas Page & Konnan

Dark match after the taping: WCW World & US Champion Bill Goldberg defeated the Giant

 

This Thunder taping was the first live show I ever got to go to, I was about 14 at the time. The only things that stand out to me now that I can still remember is that I got in a big fight w my mom (who went with me) about something outside the arena that led to me almost not going. The Super Dragon/Blitzkreig dark match was pretty cool as they did as many crazy flips & shit they could fit into 2-3 mins. Bret Hart attacking Rey after his match vs Juvy for some reason, Nash cutting a taped promo that no one could hear in the arena, Hall/Hennig vs DDP/Konnan was pretty decent and I was pissed as fuck Raven wasn't thear since he was my favorite wrestler in the world at the time.

 

After that I didn't get to go to another live wrestling show for 5 more years when I discovered there was a local indy sceen. Considering Nor Cal isn't considered a hot bed for indy wrestling i've gotten to see a lot of great matches, big names & cool shit over the years. When I first started venturing out I was pretty limited to shows I could get to via public transportation since I didn't have a car so I only got to see mayby 5 or 6 indy shows in 2003 & 2004.

 

The 2nd indy show I went to had Donovan Morgan vs Michael Modest in a falls count anywhere match for NOAH's GHC Jr Title with Crash Holly as the special ref. Scorpio Jr vs Rockero Del Diablo for the IWRG title was the main event way way before I knew who the fuck Scorpio JR was or WTF IWRG even meant. The 4th indy show I ever went to was the Pro Wrestling Iron card that had Misawa & Ogawa vs Nigel McGuinness & Bart Blaxton as the main event. No clue who Nigel was back then but him & Ogawa did some cool chain wrestling shit & Misawa didn't dog it. Undercard had Sumie Saki vs Sara Del Rey in a real good match which I was excited for since i'd just gotten into joshi back then. I remember she was selling a best of tape but wanted $20 for it which I didn't have so I bought an autographed photo instead and she misspelled my name on it.....still pissed

 

Next show I went to after that was one of the worst shows i've ever been to still to this day. Something like 10 diffrent ppl who were advertised including Vic Grimes, the SAT & some Rev Pro guys ended up being no shows so the undercard was filled out with really shitty local talent. The main event was Rockero & NOSAWA vs 2 lucha guys I can't remember in a 2/3 falls match which was pretty good but had a crappy screwjob ending. After that it was almost a year before I went to another show for various reasons.

 

By 2005 I had a car so I started going to Hayward to see the Chick Fight shows and then started going to APW each month after that since they were free Mariko Yoshida & her student Nene Kimura were at Chick Fight 2 which is the first 1 I went to and the reason I came out. Meltzer was thear too sitting a few chairs down from me, the first time i'd ever seen him in person and the only time i've ever seen him at a show period in this area. I wasn't a subscriber back then but knew who he was, my first impression was actually that he looked kinda creepy in person. The Yoshida vs Princess Sugey of CMLL main event is still one of the best live matches i've ever gotten to see. Between that and the next tourament later in the year I got to see Yoshida wrestle 5 times live which was awesome. Was really cool to see other joshi talent like Yoshiko Tamura, Kaoru & even Tanny Mouse on the future shows. Plus IWA MS was still hot back then & Shimmer was just getting started so girls like Mercedes Martinez, MsChif, Daizee Hase, Alison Danger, Mickie Knuckles & Hailey Hatred coming through was pretty sweet + Cheerleader Melissa hadn't wasn't getting booked all over back then so I still got to see her monthly too.

 

Lot of other cool random ppl showed up back then for diffrent APW shows, Asian Cougar was on a bunch, Kudo from DDT came through, Dino & American Baloon wrestled on 1 show which i'd rather forget, Gangrel was a regular for a while, Kamala (wrestling flip flops, throwing chops that had atleast a foot of air between them that guys still had to sell), Steve Corino, Chris Hero, Claudio, Delerious, The Sandman showed up at the garage 1 night just to cane a bunch of folk. Besides marking out I also remember thinking "shit, I don't drink, I really hope he doesn't offer me a beer cause i'm gonna look really dumb turning him down", thankfully he didn't. I got to see stuff like Strong Man's (of CMLL & NJPW fame) first few matches which weren't as bad as you'd imagine actually & Kafu before he got signed by WWE, he never made it out of FCW and got released a while but it was still cool seeing a local guy almost make it to the big leagues. Eventually after a few years I stoped going, mainly because I hate the fucking garage but by that time i'd learned about all the other 8 trillion local indies so it wasn't so bad. For a while in like 07-08 I was going to prob 3-4 live shows a month. Was crazy awesome getting to discover live death match wrestling being a big fan of that style too.

 

Sadly these days I rarely go to shows anymore because being a responsible adult and paying your ever growing amount of bills on time sucks ass & gas being almost $4.50 a sucks dick thus the funds available for wrestling aren't what they were. Last show I went to was the one with Fit Finlay vs Timothy Thatcher a few months back which was another of the best live matches i've ever seen so I picked a good one atleast.

[med2089]

WWF @ Bethlehem, PA - Stabler Arena - January 16, 1999 (6,129; sell out)

Steve Blackman pinned Tiger Ali Singh

WWF European Champion X-Pac defeated Owen Hart

The Acolytes defeated Skull & 8-Ball

Triple H & the Road Dogg defeated Test & the Big Bossman

Gangrel, Edge, & Christian beat Al Snow, Bob Holly, & Scorpio

Jeff Jarrett defeated Goldust

The Godfather & Val Venis beat Mark Henry & D-Lo Brown

The Undertaker defeated Kane in a streetfight

WWF World Champion Mankind defeated the Rock

 

This was far from my first experience with a WWF house show, but it stands out for me for one reason: The Rock's promo from just before the main event. Now, The Rock graduated from Freedom High School in Bethlehem, but he was in the Corporation at the time, so he got some heat regardless. He got on the mic and said:

 

"Finally, The Rock has come back to Bethlehem! Where The Rock graduated from the greatest high school in the world, Freedom High School! (big pop) It's sure as hell better than Bethlehem Catholic, and it's sure as hell better than Liberty! That said, the one thing that The Rock remembers about Bethlehem (crowd starts to come up for him again) is that it's the world biggest gathering of trailer park trash that The Rock has ever seen!"

 

MASSIVE heat from there. That said, Foley got a nice reaction when he won the match after some botched interference from Jim Neidhart, who could be clearly seen standing behind the curtain waiting to come out.

[artDDP]

Fuck you, John

 

All my experiences have been in Sacramento as WWE has made this a regular stop of theirs. I've seen a handful of WCW Nitro cards, several Raw and Smackdown tapings, two PPV cards, TNA once, and a few local indys.

 

Nothing really exceptional stands out. I did see Scott Hall and Kevin Nash pummel a fan who ran in during a 1997 Nitro.

 

Spike Dudley hung out in the parking lot for a while bullshitting with my friend and I that day.

 

A spectacularly hot girl flashed Edge during a six-man tag with The Brood against Too Cool and whoever their heel partner was back then. I remember the entire match stopping dead and staring at her for a few seconds.

 

In the parking lot I messed around a little with Teddy Long and Earl Hebner who were good sports.

 

Nicest pro wrestlers I ever met were Bret and Owen Hart and The Rock. My brother had a PWI with Bret and Shawn on it and asked Bret to sign and he wrote, "Bret 'Hitman' Hart RULES" across Shawn's face.

[Ricky Jackson]

First show I went to was WWF at the Saddledome in Calgary, January of 1989 (not listed on Cawthon's site). I went with my dad (never a wrestling fan) and don't remember much about the show other than the main was Savage vs. Bad News and sitting behind us was a group of 4-5 college age guys who made sarcastic, funny, and possibly smart (I was too young to know) remarks about the wrestlers all night long.

 

I went to various WWF shows over the years, nothing too memorable, but I got to see guys like Savage, Roberts, Andre, DiBiase, Bret Hart, Santana, etc. In 1993, my friends and I went to several Rocky Mountian Wrestling shows held at a community centre in the shithole neighborhood of Victoria Park, near the Stampede grounds. Jericho wrestled on at least one show, but we all hated him because he was a pretty boy babyface and we were teenage heel fans (and the only teenagers who attended the shows, which were otherwise made up of older people and young kids). A friend of mine even jumped in the ring one night to answer a grandstand challenge by Jason the Terrible and was roughed up in the corner before security broke things up (several heels lectured us in the parking lot later about not doing stupid shit like that again).

 

The highpoint, by far, of my live wrestling experiences was attending the Canadian Stampede PPV in July 1997. Just the craziest, loudest, most fun live experience of any entertainment spectacle I've ever been to, be it heated hockey and football games, rock concerts, whatever. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

 

My last WWE house show was the one in Victoria, BC in 2009 with the infamous post-show Jericho (funny, him again, 16 years later) confrontation with idiot fans in the parking lot that was a big story for a day or two. The show was actually pretty disappointing, less than two hours long, but at least I got to see Cena, Mysterio, and Punk live for the first time. The Victoria PD called me because I had an eye-witness account of how the jerk who provoked Jericho was behaving during the show (walking around with a merch table belt and pretty much acting like the whole show was a shoot) posted on Pro Wrestling.Net (or whatever the Torch spin off site is called) and told me I might be called to testify in court if it ever went that far (which of course it didn't). Pretty surreal experience at the time.

[Phil Schneider]

I was talking to Lee Benaka about an OMEGA show we went to back in the 90's. There was a street fight between Gemini Kid/Mad Maxx v. Venom/Shane Helms. Dean, Rippa and I were sitting on a couch in the crowd. Venom told us to move and just chucked Maxx onto our couch smashing it into kindling