House shows

[jdw]

Fuck you, John

I initially wrote out a long item on the first AAA show at the Sports Arena. Then re-read it in Preview and thought:

 

"That's a damn good story that will be read horribly wrong and probably get dragged someplace as Exhibit 537 of 'What A Prick/Asshole/Douchebag jdw is."

 

So I rewrote it to have the stuff about the Weekly Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome and Misawa instead as a boring story I've told before.

 

John

[khawk20]

My earliest live show memory is from around 1980-81-ish. Lars Anderson's World League Wrestling promotion began airing on Duluth TV which we got as our ABC/NBC/CBS affiliates. They began to run the local arena a month or so after getting on TV. If I'd have watched it as an adult I probably wouldn't have liked it so much, but as a twelve year old (or so) I was mesmerized...Lars Anderson defending against "The Bounty Hunter", complte with a false title change and blood. Also a Tommy Rich knockoff ("Timmy Rich", if you can believe it) wrestling another lighter weight guy whose name escapes me (I think he was a Duggan...weird, I know), and JR Hogg and Cousin Jed, a hillbilly face team. Good stuff there.

 

The run International Wrestling out of Montreal had here was phenomenal. That was 1986-87. Bigger names including Gino Brito & Tony parisi, Dan Kroffat and Alofa, Abdullah the Butcher, Hercules Ayala, and Steve Strong, plus the debut of "Billy Fury", aka Vampiro, on their second show.

I think they were actually pretty stunned they did as well as they did...the first two or three shows were sold out (over 6,000 capacity), and they were still drawing 2500 - 3000 when the promotion folded.

 

Probably my favourite show was a summer 1985 Duluth, MN house show that had a great Ray Stevens/Nick Bockwinkel vs. Greg Gagne/Sgt. Slaughter match, with Larry Hennig vs. Michael hayes and Buck Zumhofe vs. Boris Zurkov on the undercard.

[goc]

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

Sounds like you guys weakened it first though. Haha I kid.

[flyonthewall2983]

WWF @ Ft. Wayne, IN - Allen County War Memorial - June 4, 1992

Originally scheduled to include the Ultimate Warrior and Kerry Von Erich but were both no-shows; all fans were offered refunds for the show as the week before they had been advertising that the crew of wrestlers with Randy Savage and Ric Flair would be on this show which was a mistake, and because of the no-show of Warrior as well, that led to refunds been offered

Included WWF IC Champion Bret Hart and the Natural Disasters

Parents took me and my brother to this show, but I don't remember being deterred by the no-shows. So, of course, we didn't ask for the refund and went anyway. We got a free B&W poster on the way out, probably from 1990. Papa Shango scared the crap out of us. Sadly I can't remember any of the matches on the card, but I do remember it ended with a battle royal won by Earthquake.

 

WWF @ Ft. Wayne, IN - February 21, 1993 (3,400)

Tito Santana defeated the Predator

Rick & Scott Steiner defeated the Beverly Brothers

Bob Backlund defeated Papa Shango

Crush defeated WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels via disqualification

Virgil defeated Repo Man

WWF Tag Team Champions Ted Dibiase & IRS defeated the Nasty Boys

The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna via disqualification

Dad took us to this one, sunday matinee. Taker/Yoko had everybody going, and was really the first time I remember a crowd getting hot for a match.

 

WWF @ Ft. Wayne, IN - December 29, 1993 (2,900)

Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Doink the Clown

Crush defeated Randy Savage in a Best 2 out of 3 falls, falls count anywhere match

The Smoking Gunns defeated the Headshrinkers

Lex Luger defeated Ludvig Borga

Owen Hart defeated Bastion Booger

Rick & Scott Steiner defeated WWF Tag Team Champions the Quebecars via disqualification

Bret Hart defeated Shawn Michaels in a steel cage match

Sister and her husband took us to this one. I remember the last two matches vividly, because of the Dusty finish for the tag team match. And also what happened after the cage match. Nash pointed to a kid, lifted him up and took him backstage. Thought it was cool as hell.

[Grimmas]

Growing up in Brockville with a population of 2,100 people meant we didn't get any wrestling, except in 1993 the WWF came. Thank you steroid scandal. This was the show thanks to historyofwwe.com

 

WWF @ Brockville, Ontario - Memorial Centre - May 26, 1993

Tatanka defeated Razor Ramon

Doink the Clown defeated Crush

Owen Hart defeated Terry Taylor

The Undertaker defeated Giant Gonzalez

WWF Tag Team Champions Ted Dibiase & IRS defeated Rick & Scott Steiner

 

I don't remember Owen Hart vs Terry Taylor, but I bet that was fun. All I remember was Taker's entrance and Money Inc vs Steiners being real fun.

[Log]

Sam Mushnick Memorial Tournament - St. Louis, MO - Kiel Auditorium - August 29, 1986 (sell out)

Opening Round:

Harley Race defeated B. Brian Blair

Don Muraco fought Greg Valentine to a double disqualification

Adrian Adonis defeated King Tonga

The Junkyard Dog defeated Hercules

Brutus Beefcake defeated Lanny Poffo

Pedro Morales defeated Dory Funk Jr.

Billy Jack Haynes defeated Jimmy Jack Funk

Ricky Steamboat defeated Jim Brunzell

Quarter Finals:

The Junkyard Dog defeated Adrian Adonis

Brutus Beefcake defeated Pedro Morales

Ricky Steamboat defeated Billy Jack Haynes

Semi Finals:

Harley Race defeated the Junkyard Dog

Ricky Steamboat defeated Brutus Beefcake

Finals: Harley Race defeated Ricky Steamboat

Non-tournament match: Paul Orndorff defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via disqualification

 

This was my first show I attended. I would've been 8 at the time. The old Kiel was a dingy old building. You could still smoke in there at the time, and I remember feeling like everyone in there must've been. Looks like a really fun card, but I mostly just remember Hogan/Orndorff. People started pelting the ring with trash as soon as Ordorff and Heenan came out. It went on most of the match. Everyone went nuts when Hogan won and did his posing. I was probably hooked on wrestling before this show, but this sealed the deal.

[Franchise]

WWF @ Anaheim, CA - Arrowhead Pond - March 12, 1995 (7,000) (Source history of the WWE)

Kwang v Gary Key

Hakushi v the 1-2-3 Kid

WWF Women's Champion Bull Nakano v Alundra Blayze

Bob Backlund v Bob HollyWWF World Champion Diesel & Razor Ramon v Shawn Michaels & WWF IC Champion Jeff Jarrett

Jacob & Eli Blu v the New Headshrinkers

The Undertaker v Bam Bam Bigelow

Bret Hart v Owen Hart (NHB Match)

 

This wasn't my first card but probably one of my favorites, I was a huge Hakushi fan & was pumped to see the Harts in a NHB match.

[Johnny Sorrow]

My favorite live show has to be Starrcade 86 in Greensboro, NC. Months before the show, I had convinced my Dad that we should drive from New Jersey to North Carolina to go to a wrestling card on Thanksgiving. I stayed home from school the day tickets went on sale and used my old phone trick to get tickets the minute they went on sale. I succeeded with four tickets in the third row for Starrcade 86: Night Of The Skywalkers.

So, the day before Thanksgiving, me, my pal Joey, my Dad's girlfriend, and my Dad set off for North Carolina. My Dad, who realy wasn't much of a wrestling fan, convinced his girlfriend at the time that this was gonna be a nice get away for them. Well, the first night on the road we all stayed at a trucker motel. ROMANCE!

 

The next day, we got up early and eventually arrived in Greensboro. My Dad saw the fanciest hotel in town and got us two rooms, one for him and his girlfriend and one for me and Joey. This was the fanciest hotel I had ever been in in my 16 years so we went wild and ordered ROOM SERVICE, and watched "The Legend of Billie Jean!" "FAIR IS FAIR!"

 

That night we drove over to the Greensboro Colosseum for the show. Holy shit. We were at fucking STARRCADE.

 

We found our seats and proceeded to have one of the best times I've ever had at anything, let alone a wrestling show. At first we were pissed that the Omni got the two main events, the scaffold match and Flair/ Nikita. That changed when we realized that we got Valiant/ Jones: The FINAL match and Jones got his head shaved, Dusty/ Tully First Blood, and the Rock N Roll Express vs. The Andersons in the cage.

 

From the History Of The WWE Site

 

 

 

Greensboro: Tim Horner & Nelson Royal defeated Don & Rocky Kernolde at 7:30 when Horner pinned Rocky with a rolling reverse cradle

 

Atlanta: Brad Armstrong fought Jimmy Garvin (w/ Precious) to a 15-minute time-limit draw at 15:08; the time limit ended just as Garvin missed a dive off the top; after the match, Armstrong cleared Garvin from the ring, with Precious then confronting Armstrong; Garvin tried to sneak up behind Armstrong but Armstrong again cleared him from the ring

 

Greensboro: Hector Guerrero & Baron Von Raschke defeated Shaska Whatley & the Barbarian at 7:30 when Von Raschke pinned Whatley with an elbow drop after Whatley missed a charge in the corner; dafter the bout, the Barbarian kicked Von Raschke in the face and then hit a headbutt off the top as Whatley held Von Raschke down; moments later, Guerrero made the save

 

Atlanta: NWA US Tag Team Champions Krusher Khruschev & Ivan Koloff defeated Bobby Jaggers & Dutch Mantel in a No DQ match at 7:51 when Koloff pinned Jaggers after Kruschev hit Jaggers in the back with a chain as the challenger ran the ropes

 

Greensboro: Wahoo McDaniel defeated Rick Rude (w/ Paul Jones) in an Indian strap match at 9:05 after dragging Rude to all four corners; after the match, Jones attacked McDaniel until Hector Guerrero and Baron Von Raschke made the save

 

Atlanta: Central States Heavyweight Champion Sam Houston defeated Bill Dundee via disqualification at 10:21 when, after referee Scrappy McGowan was knocked down, Dundee hit Houston with his own boot; McGowan came to just after the assault and then helped Houston from the ring

 

Greensboro: Jimmy Valiant (w/ Big Mama) pinned Paul Jones at 4:00 after hitting him with Jones' own foreign object; stipulations stated Jones would be shaved bald if he lost and Big Mama would be shaved bald if Valiant lost; after the bout, Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez attacked Valiant, eventually dropping him with a double DDT onto a steel chair

 

Atlanta: Big Bubba (w/ Jim Cornette) defeated NWA Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin in a non-title streetfight at 11:50; after the referee counted both men down for 10, it was ruled that the first man to reach his feet would be the winner; when Garvin got up behind the referee's back, Cornette hit him with his tennis racquet, giving Bubba the win

 

Greensboro: Tully Blanchard (w/ JJ Dillon) defeated NWA TV Champion Dusty Rhodes in a first blood match to win the title at 8:41 after hitting him with a roll of coins; prior to the match, Rhodes busted open Dillon with an elbow to the head; Rhodes made Blanchard bleed first, at the 11-minute mark, but referee Earl Hebner was knocked out, allowing Dillon to wipe away the blood, rub Vasoline on the wound, and hand the challenger the roll of coins; after the bout, Rhodes threw Hebner to the floor

 

Atlanta: The Road Warriors (w/ Paul Ellering) defeated Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey (w/ Jim Cornette & Big Bubba) in a scaffold match at 7:07 after Condrey and Eaton were kicked off the scaffold; after the bout, Ellering chased Cornette up the scaffold, where Cornette eventually fell off and blew out both knees

 

Greensboro: NWA Tag Team Champions Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson defeated Arn & Ole Anderson in a steel cage match at 19:03 when Gibson dropkicked Morton onto Ole for the pin

 

Atlanta: NWA World Champion Ric Flair fought NWA US Champion Nikita Koloff to a double disqualification at 19:12 after the challenger repeatedly shoved referee Tommy Young to the mat as Young tried to get Koloff and Flair out of the corner; earlier in the match, both Young and referee Scrappy McGowan were knocked down; after the bout, Jimmy Garvin, Bill Dundee, and Big Bubba came out and helped Flair gang up on Koloff until Bobby Jaggers, NWA Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin, Dutch Mantel, Sam Houston, and Brad Armstrong made the save; the two men were then held apart

[MikeCampbell]

ECW @ Schenectady, NY - Sportsplex - November 10, 2000 (1,000)

Balls Mahoney defeated Mike Bell

Nova pinned Bilvis Wesley (w/ Prodigy & the Prodigette) with the Kryptonite Krunch

Tony Devito & Angel defeated Christian York & Joey Matthews when Devito pinned York after Angel hit York with a chair behind the referee's back

New Jack defeated the Blue Boy (w/ Jasmine) following a chairshot off the top; the match came about from the Blue Boy & Jasmine appearing as guests for Lou E. Dangerously's Danger Zone

Kid Kash pinned Simon Diamond with a tornado DDT

ECW Tag Team Champions Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke defeated Super Crazy & Tajiri when Mamaluke pinned Crazy after Sal E. Graziano interfered and hit a powerbomb on Crazy

Danny Doring, Roadkill, & the Sandman defeated EZ Money, Julio Dinero, & Chris Hamrick (w/ Elektra) when Roadkill pinned Hamrick with a splash

ECW World Champion Steve Corino (w/ Jack Victory) pinned CW Anderson (w/ Cyrus) with the Old School Expulsion

Jerry Lynn & Scott Hall (mystery partner) defeated Justin Credible (w/ Francine) & Rhino when Lynn pinned Credible with a tombstone.

 

When Hall came out a Lynn's partner, the place went nuts! The six man tag with Sandman was fun too, it was obvious the boys were having a good time. At one point Sandman hits a big chop on Dinero and then yells out "That hurt me! I know that hurt him!"

[Blehschmidt]

I had been to a few local indy shows, but this was my first WWE show....

 

WWF @ Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Arena - February 25, 1996 (matinee) (9,000)

Fatu pinned Bob Backlund with a roll up

Steve Austin defeated Bob Holly via submission with the Million $ Dream

Justin Bradshaw pinned Marty Jannetty with the lariat

Ahmed Johnson defeated Tatanka

Henry & Phinneas Godwinn defeated Skip & Zip

Duke Drose pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Roddy Piper (sub. for Razor Ramon) pinned the 1-2-3 Kid

Savio Vega defeated WWF IC Champion Goldust via count-out when Goldust left ringside

Ahmed Johnson vs. Jeff Jarrett (No DQ match)

WWF World Champion Bret Hart fought the Undertaker to a double count-out; the bout was scheduled to have included Diesel as well

Shawn Michaels & Yokozuna defeated Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith when Michaels pinned Owen with the superkick

 

and this was the show that I got to sit 2nd row at, after winning the tickets on the radio....

 

WWF @ Pittsburgh, PA - April 16, 2000

WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko defeated Scotty 2 Hotty

WWF European Champion Eddie Guerrero defeated Tazz

The Big Bossman & Bull Buchanon defeated the Headbangers

WWF Tag Team Champions Edge & Christian defeated Matt & Jeff Hardy and the Dudley Boyz

WWF Hardcore Champion Crash Holly defeated Perry Saturn

Albert & Test defeated Steve Blackman & Al Snow

Kurt Angle defeated Val Venis

WWF IC Champion Chris Benoit defeated Chris Jericho

The Big Show fought Rikishi to a double count-out

The Rock & the Acolytes defeated WWF World Champion Triple H, Road Dogg, & X-Pac

[flyonthewall2983]

My favorite live show has to be Starrcade 86 in Greensboro, NC. Months before the show, I had convinced my Dad that we should drive from New Jersey to North Carolina to go to a wrestling card on Thanksgiving. I stayed home from school the day tickets went on sale and used my old phone trick to get tickets the minute they went on sale. I succeeded with four tickets in the third row for Starrcade 86: Night Of The Skywalkers.

So, the day before Thanksgiving, me, my pal Joey, my Dad's girlfriend, and my Dad set off for North Carolina. My Dad, who realy wasn't much of a wrestling fan, convinced his girlfriend at the time that this was gonna be a nice get away for them. Well, the first night on the road we all stayed at a trucker motel. ROMANCE!

 

The next day, we got up early and eventually arrived in Greensboro. My Dad saw the fanciest hotel in town and got us two rooms, one for him and his girlfriend and one for me and Joey. This was the fanciest hotel I had ever been in in my 16 years so we went wild and ordered ROOM SERVICE, and watched "The Legend of Billie Jean!" "FAIR IS FAIR!"

 

That night we drove over to the Greensboro Colosseum for the show. Holy shit. We were at fucking STARRCADE.

 

We found our seats and proceeded to have one of the best times I've ever had at anything, let alone a wrestling show. At first we were pissed that the Omni got the two main events, the scaffold match and Flair/ Nikita. That changed when we realized that we got Valiant/ Jones: The FINAL match and Jones got his head shaved, Dusty/ Tully First Blood, and the Rock N Roll Express vs. The Andersons in the cage.

 

From the History Of The WWE Site

 

 

 

Greensboro: Tim Horner & Nelson Royal defeated Don & Rocky Kernolde at 7:30 when Horner pinned Rocky with a rolling reverse cradle

 

Atlanta: Brad Armstrong fought Jimmy Garvin (w/ Precious) to a 15-minute time-limit draw at 15:08; the time limit ended just as Garvin missed a dive off the top; after the match, Armstrong cleared Garvin from the ring, with Precious then confronting Armstrong; Garvin tried to sneak up behind Armstrong but Armstrong again cleared him from the ring

 

Greensboro: Hector Guerrero & Baron Von Raschke defeated Shaska Whatley & the Barbarian at 7:30 when Von Raschke pinned Whatley with an elbow drop after Whatley missed a charge in the corner; dafter the bout, the Barbarian kicked Von Raschke in the face and then hit a headbutt off the top as Whatley held Von Raschke down; moments later, Guerrero made the save

 

Atlanta: NWA US Tag Team Champions Krusher Khruschev & Ivan Koloff defeated Bobby Jaggers & Dutch Mantel in a No DQ match at 7:51 when Koloff pinned Jaggers after Kruschev hit Jaggers in the back with a chain as the challenger ran the ropes

 

Greensboro: Wahoo McDaniel defeated Rick Rude (w/ Paul Jones) in an Indian strap match at 9:05 after dragging Rude to all four corners; after the match, Jones attacked McDaniel until Hector Guerrero and Baron Von Raschke made the save

 

Atlanta: Central States Heavyweight Champion Sam Houston defeated Bill Dundee via disqualification at 10:21 when, after referee Scrappy McGowan was knocked down, Dundee hit Houston with his own boot; McGowan came to just after the assault and then helped Houston from the ring

 

Greensboro: Jimmy Valiant (w/ Big Mama) pinned Paul Jones at 4:00 after hitting him with Jones' own foreign object; stipulations stated Jones would be shaved bald if he lost and Big Mama would be shaved bald if Valiant lost; after the bout, Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez attacked Valiant, eventually dropping him with a double DDT onto a steel chair

 

Atlanta: Big Bubba (w/ Jim Cornette) defeated NWA Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin in a non-title streetfight at 11:50; after the referee counted both men down for 10, it was ruled that the first man to reach his feet would be the winner; when Garvin got up behind the referee's back, Cornette hit him with his tennis racquet, giving Bubba the win

 

Greensboro: Tully Blanchard (w/ JJ Dillon) defeated NWA TV Champion Dusty Rhodes in a first blood match to win the title at 8:41 after hitting him with a roll of coins; prior to the match, Rhodes busted open Dillon with an elbow to the head; Rhodes made Blanchard bleed first, at the 11-minute mark, but referee Earl Hebner was knocked out, allowing Dillon to wipe away the blood, rub Vasoline on the wound, and hand the challenger the roll of coins; after the bout, Rhodes threw Hebner to the floor

 

Atlanta: The Road Warriors (w/ Paul Ellering) defeated Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey (w/ Jim Cornette & Big Bubba) in a scaffold match at 7:07 after Condrey and Eaton were kicked off the scaffold; after the bout, Ellering chased Cornette up the scaffold, where Cornette eventually fell off and blew out both knees

 

Greensboro: NWA Tag Team Champions Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson defeated Arn & Ole Anderson in a steel cage match at 19:03 when Gibson dropkicked Morton onto Ole for the pin

 

Atlanta: NWA World Champion Ric Flair fought NWA US Champion Nikita Koloff to a double disqualification at 19:12 after the challenger repeatedly shoved referee Tommy Young to the mat as Young tried to get Koloff and Flair out of the corner; earlier in the match, both Young and referee Scrappy McGowan were knocked down; after the bout, Jimmy Garvin, Bill Dundee, and Big Bubba came out and helped Flair gang up on Koloff until Bobby Jaggers, NWA Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin, Dutch Mantel, Sam Houston, and Brad Armstrong made the save; the two men were then held apart

I think this means you win the thread

[Johnny Sorrow]

I forgot the best part. After Tully beat Dusty, this drunk dude in the section to the right of us who was in like, the third row..was so mad that he tossed his chair at the ring. It landed ringside, and security immediately went looking for whoever threw it. We could see the guy and he was squatting, pretending to still have a seat. Security found him right away and dragged him away as he was kicking and screaming.

[Loss]

Wrestlemania X-7 was the biggest show I've ever attended live, but my most memorable live experience was definitely seeing Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon in a cage. Just an amazing moment to be a part of live.

 

The second most fun experience I've ever had watching wrestling live was an NWA TV taping I attended in 1989. Flair/Funk, Sting/Muta and Luger/Doc were the untelevised big matches, but they taped several weeks of TV during that taping, so there were matches like Flair/Bill Irwin and Flair/Rotunda throughout the night that were lots of fun, and I also really liked the Pillman/Gilbert/Irwin/Cuban Assassin four-corners match.

 

That was also the taping where Doom debuted (taped just four days before Havoc when they had their PPV debut), and everyone in the crowd figured out that they were Ron Simmons and Butch Reed about two minutes in.

 

Gary Hart and the Great Muta were sitting in the bleachers watching the whole show, and Tommy Rich was playing all of the entrance music. There was a small hole in the wall where you could see the locker room that I peaked into. The SST and Humperdink were playing cards and Ric Flair walked by to straighten his tie in the mirror. I remember thinking it was weird that they were in the same dressing room.

 

That building was at the Fairgrounds in Arkansas, and was also the site of some fairly famous UWF TV tapings, like the one where the Freebirds broke Doc's arm before his match with Gordy. It was small and the wrestlers had no problem leaving the locker room and going elsewhere in the building. At a house show a few years later, which was headlined by a really great Blonds vs Steamboat/Douglas match, I remember going to the concession stand and Cactus Jack was in line to get a corn dog. That show was right after Vader regained the title from Simmons, so we were surprised to see Vader with the belt.

[Matt D]

WWE @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - September 20, 2003

Chris Benoit defeated the Big Show via submission with the Crippler Crossface at 4:41

Matt Hardy & Shannon Moore defeated Spanky & Paul London at 7:35 when Hardy pinned London with the Twist of Fate

Sho Funaki pinned Nunzio with a roll up at 5:22

Doug & Danny Basham defeated the Ultimo Dragon & Jamie Noble at 8:23 when Danny pinned Noble

Albert pinned Orlando Jordan with a boot to the face at 5:09

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. pinned Tajiri following the 619 and West Coast Pop at 8:31

Charlie Haas pinned Billy Kidman at 6:40 with a roll up after Kidman failed the Shooting Star Press

WWE US & Smackdown! Tag Team Champion Eddie Guerrero defeated John Cena and Rhyno by pinning Cena with the frog splash at 6:45 after Rhyno hit the Gore on Cena who held up the title belt, knocking out both challengers; after the bout, John Cena insulted NYC which prompted Tazz to come to the ring and apply the Tazzmission on Cena

Torrie Wilson defeated Dawn Marie and Sable in a tiny teddy contest; Sho Funaki was the guest MC

WWE Smackdown! World Champion Brock Lesnar defeated the Undertaker in a steel cage match at 18:20 by escaping over the top after Vince McMahon interfered and prevented the challenger from leaving the cage

Right before I went off to England for a year in 03, my college roomate, as a birthday present, got us tickets to a MSG house show. It's my only time ever going to a show there and business was way down in 03 so we were able to get really great seats. Not ringside but the next best thing.

 

Great atmosphere. I don't remember a ton of stuff. I remember Tazz getting a great pop and that feeling special. I remember the main event being awesome. it's on a fancam on youtube and I have to watch it at some point. It's a really fun card on paper. I wish I remembered it more.

[The Thread Killer]

Later on in this thread, when I have time I am going to post about my first house show, and some other noteworthy shows I've been to, but let me tell you about the time I saw Lex Luger beat Ric Flair fair and square in a world title match, that few people ever heard about.

 

NWA @ The CNE Coliseum Toronto, Ontario - June 27, 1990

This show was noteworthy for a bunch of reasons.

 

Firstly, since Jack Tunney was the Toronto promoter, the WWF had Toronto locked up tight for years and no other promoter could ever get anywhere close to running a show in Toronto. There is an outstanding book which partially covers this topic called "Drawing Heat" which I cannot recommend enough. It is the story of the infamous "Bearman" Dave McKigney who ran independent shows in and around the Toronto area. The Bearman was famous because he used to wrestle a bear, which once got loose and mauled his wife to death. He kept on wrestling, and was eventually killed in the same car accident that killed Adrian Adonis. If interested, you can now get an updated version of the book at Highspots, including a new chapter about the death of McKigney and Adonis. I have the original, but it was out of print for years. It gives an interesting insight into the Tunney family, and Original Sheik and how nuts he was too.

 

So this show was one of the first that broke the WWF stranglehold on Toronto, so about 3,000 hardcore fans show up - not as many as the NWA/WCW were expecting.

 

Why? The NWA/WCW had no current TV shows running in the Toronto market. Like...ZIP. Zilch. Nada.

 

I found about the show from an ad in the paper.

 

If you had a satellite dish (and in 1990, who did?) you could get TBS, but aside from that, all you could get was old re-runs of the WCW Power Hour run at 1:00 am, and they were MONTHS behind. Like, they were behind the Apter mags, that's how out of date they were. So the ring announcer tries to hype up the crowd, reminding them that you can catch WCW action on the Superstation, and the crowd starts booing him and throwing shit at him.

 

I almost died laughing. They booked the show in Toronto, and their own ring announcer didn't know that Toronto fans couldn't get the Superstation, and we didn't get current NWA/WCW TV. That explained the small crowd, and why the crowd was dead for some of the matches...they had no idea who some of these people were, or only knew about them from the Apter mags, like my friends and I.

 

Anyhow, as for the show...

 

Mean Mark defeated Nick DeCarlo - first time I saw The Undertaker live, I guess!

 

Brian Pillman defeated Dutch Mantell - Pillman was over HUGE from being on Stampede Wrestling for the years leading up to this, and Mantell played off it brilliantly, getting on the microphone and bashing Canada, and Pillman, etc.

 

Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong defeated NWA US Tag Team Champions Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane in a non-title match

 

Rick & Scott Steiner defeated NWA Tag Team Champions Doom via disqualification

 

The Junkyard Dog defeated NWA TV Champion Arn Anderson in a non-title match - JYD was always over in Toronto but he was so damn big by this point he could barely move.

 

NWA US Champion Lex Luger defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair in what turned out to be a non-title match...

 

So get this...Luger gets Flair to submit in the torture rack, and the crowd loses it's shit...since this was NOT announced as a non-title match ahead of time. Then the ring announcer gets on the microphone and announces that the NWA World Heavyweight Championship CANNOT CHANGE HANDS IN CANADA.

 

There was almost a riot, I swear. Good thing nobody told Harley Race that back on February 6, 1977 when he beat Terry Funk for the NWA World Heavweight Championship in Toronto.

 

The next time WCW came to town, they drew around 500.

[artDDP]

So get this...Luger gets Flair to submit in the torture rack, and the crowd loses it's shit...since this was NOT announced as a non-title match ahead of time. Then the ring announcer gets on the microphone and announces that the NWA World Heavyweight Championship CANNOT CHANGE HANDS IN CANADA.

I'm surprised WWE hasn't tried this finish. Preferably with Pat Patterson announcing, "Just a reminder...!"

[Dylan Waco]

Went to a show in Charleston tonight. Oddly the other crew was in Chattanooga and my brother and dad went to that show. Anyhow the Charleston show was good stuff. Attendance was WAY down from the Dec show which had Cena and Punk on the show to be fair. My guess is around 3500. No really great match like the last three or four WWE house shows I've been to, but nothing that was less than entertaining and a lot of good.

 

They are using a new set for these house shows that has a small double tron, a mini-stage and this giant lighted X that displays various colors throughout the night. Looks really cool and sort of made the show seem like a bigger deal than it was.

 

Opener was The Usos/Khali v. Hunico/Cammacho/Jinder Mahal. Uso's entrance came across great live. Uso's were crazy over and so was Khali who had people freaking out for him all match even though he really didn't do anything until the finish. Hunico was the star here as he ran over and ripped up a guys sign, mocked the Uso's chanting, reeled off a slew of athletic spots and generally kept things interesting even when he was on the apron. Cool spot to set up the heel control segment with Jimmy taking a nasty bump to the floor. Amusing spot with Mahal trying to headbutt the Uso's multiple times as they tagged in and out displaying their typically Samoan craniums. Mahal isn't very good but they worked around that well and built to the Khali hot tag nicely which the crowd was amped for. Finishing run was pretty fun. Good opener.

 

They did a weird backstage promo with Kane here. It was clearly shot elsewhere, but I thought this was smart as again it made the show feel like a bigger deal.

 

Ryback squashed Heath Slater. Watching Slater try and reason with Ryback was amusing. My brother was texting me from the Chattanooga show and said that Tensai squashed JTG and Tyson Kidd there. He said people shat all over it and were heading for the bathroom. By comparison Ryback was pretty over for a relatively new act, with limited exposure. There was a Ryback chant and those that didn't know him seemed to be won over by the quick thrashing. Slater took a sick bump for the clothesline.

 

Nattie Neidhart v. Layla for the Diva's Title was actually a very good match, in some respects the best match on the show. Nattie has really been the star of two out of the last three house shows I've been to as she always tries really hard and is great in the house show setting interacting with fans. She was wonderful screaming at the crowd, throwing shit at Tony Chimmel, fucking with Charles Robinson, et. They opened up with some really nifty matwork, almost World of Sport style, before Nattie took over. Really cool spot with Layla elbowing Nattie's leg to escape an ab stretch, with Nattie countering in one fluid motion into a really nasty looking body slam. Nattie took a sick bump to the floor on another Layla hope spot, but then creamed her with a tornado clothesline. Layla also got an awesome near fall off of this awesome spot where she hit a flash armdrag into a floatover roll up all in one super quick motion. Finish was great with Neidhart going for a delayed vertical, but Layla shifted her weight down and immediately drilled her with a sick neckbreaker. Post-match Nattie knocked Chimmel on his ass which was pretty awesome. I never say this about Diva's matches, but if this had gotten three or four more minutes (it got about eight total) it would have been a legitimately great match.

 

Drew MacIntrye desperately tried to carry Bo Rotunda to a good match and while it was decent that's all it was going to get with Bo in there. This guy is seriously fucking terrible to the point that I can't believe he has a contract EVEN WITH his family connections. He literally botched TWO rope running spots in the match, at one point getting caught up in the ropes and nearly tumbling to the floor. Drew Mac held shit together pretty well, hit some nice offensive spots and positioned himself really well for an admittedly cool finish, but Rotunda was just amazingly terrible. I'm talking Abyss level bad.

 

Another backstage promo this time with Daniel Bryan putting over his main event match v. Sheamus and Del Rio.

 

Orton beat Kane in a No DQ match. I have liked their other matches WAY more than I would have guessed, but this match had a lot of silly stuff, including Kane locking on a mid-ring bodyscissors (in a street fight?), some of the worst cane shots I've ever seen, and the shittiest use of an exposed turnbuckle you could imagine. On the other hand the crowd was CRAZY into this match, with Orton getting the biggest pop on the show and really buying into the near falls of this match. In a live setting that really makes a match like this impossible to hate, especially when you are sitting next to your wife and child who are both enjoying it. To be fair the finishing run was pretty good and it was far from bad, but I actually thought this could have been better.

 

After intermission they ran Yoshi Tatsu v. Christian which was a real surprise and a pretty good match. I still think Christian is a FAR better worker as a face as there were points in this match where he appeared to be searching for his next move on offense, but over all he looked fine here. This got kind of dance routinish at times, but Yoshi actually has a cool connection to the crowd as they clearly knew who he was and were into his act. Funny bit with Christian teasing tossing his shirt into the crowd and throwing it to Chimmel, with Yoshi going to the floor taking it and tossing it into the crowd. Finish of this ruled as Tatsu rattled off a run, but missed his top rope spinkick for a huge bump and ate the Killswitch.

 

Semi-main was Cody Rhodes defending the I-C title v. The Big Show in an extremely entertaining match. Some guy had brought a sign with a rubber chicken and Cody's pic taped over it's head and they worked spots around that all match. At one point Show decked Cody in the head with it and Cody bailed to the floor and bashed it with a chair. Show then retrieved it and performed CPR on it. A few seconds later Show made Chimmel hold the mic up to Cody's chest while he did the "Shhh chop" spot. Cody came back with some big kicks and hit a disaster kick which Show took a really massive bump floor. Show came back by choke/shoving Cody to the floor but took another big bump off of a post shot. This was starting to get really good, when Cody bailed to the floor and got DQ'ed after a chairshot. It was a logical finish for a house show, but still disappointing as it was well on it's way to being a really great match. Best I've seen Cody live even if the pre-match Buffalo Springfield inspired promo was bizarre.

 

Main event was Sheamus defending the World title against Alberto Del Rio and Daniel Bryan in a Triple threat. Ricardo was awesome in the pre-match fucking with Chimmel (the theme of the night?) and just generally milling around like a shithead. Match itself had really good psychology as Sheamus arm was still taped up and both heels attacked it and stayed on it. Make sense because both guys have an armbar finish which added an extra dimension to the match. Rather than having a handicapped match feel, one heel would knock the other out of the ring, keep him at bay and then go back to attacking Sheamus arm. Sheamus is a guy with varied and good offense and even in a match largely built around his selling we got to see a bunch of it. At one point Del Rio locked on the armbar and Bryan had to rush in to break things up. The heels tried to work together toward the end, but it didn't come off and Sheamus pinned Bryan after his kick. This went a little under fifteen minutes and is another one that was good, but would have been better with a little more time.

[Tim Evans]

Shame about Bo. I think the injury has hurt him a lot more than once thought. He probably came back too soon.

[Exposer]

I'm the brother who attended the Raw show in Chattanooga. I'll give a rundown of the show:

Crowd was much better in Chatt than what Dylan texted me from Charleston. I'd guess probably close to 5,500. They had the same entrance set as the one in Charleston did and it really improved the atmosphere I thought.

 

The opener was R-Truth and "surprise" partner Santino vs. The Colons. This was actually tremendous. The crowd was molten for Truth and Santino. Primo "attacked" Little Jimmy which cut the fuse on Truth who went after him. Primo was awesome in this bumping and taking Truth and Santino's offense to another level. Santino can be an excellent FIP and it really showed in this match. There were some brilliant and innovative hope spots and my two favorites being Santino missing a double clothesline and later diving for Truth's hand but didn't quite jump far enough and took a bump right on his face. During this stretch, the Cobra was taken from Santino and actually used on him throughout the FIP segment by the Colons. He had already done the Cobra after a brief hot tag following a short Truth FIP segment. It was really great because it basically eliminated his signature move from the match. The hot tag was really good here with the Colons bumping perfectly for Truth's unorthodox offense. The finishing run was really great too with Santino giving Epico the Cobra and Primo executing a beautiful dropkick followed by a hilarious look of arrogance only to get hit with the Lie Detector for the Truth/Santino win. My only beef with this is that Santino still did the Cobra without the actual Cobra because a good bit of the match was worked around preventing that move. It's a minor complaint though because everything else was so well put together. Great match.

 

Jack Swagger cut a pre-taped promo on an upcoming match with Brodus Clay on the show.

 

JTG and Tyson Kidd came out for a singles match but Eve showed up and announced that she just got off the phone with Ace and the match had been changed to a handicap match with Lord Tensai as their opponent. Almost immediately fans got out of their seats for a bathroom break and ice cream. I mean they shat all over Tensai. Part of the problem I think is his squashes are too long. If you watch a Ryback squash, it last about a minute and half tops. Tensai squashes take up valuable air time with five minute matches. I think that's a huge reason why he's not so over with the crowd, then you include his past as Prince Albert and an obvious cartoonish gimmick and it really doesn't present itself very well. Moving on to the match. It was okay for the first couple of minutes with Tensai just manhandling JTG and Tyson. It actually got interesting once Tensai disposed of JTG to the floor and was left with Tyson. It became a nice little competitive squash and Tyson looked really good delivering quick strikes and kicks. He even kicked out of the black hole slam. Tensai finished him with the claw/pin and the crowd came back with their dinner and bladders empty.

 

The FCW wrestler of the day was Husky Harris who is sporting a new look. He has improved slightly albeit still not good at all. He went by Bray Wyatt and cut a bizarre promo with a thick dixie accent. He wrestled Ryder who carried him to an overall decent match. Husky's shittiness was much more subtle here and didn't do a lot to damage the match but just has very little going for him at all. Ryder won with the Rough Ryder.

 

Brodus and Swagger was next. Brodus came out with Cameron, Naomi, and Hornswoggle. They were way over. Swagger came out and fucked around with some fans in the front row. Brodus touched his hair so he went to the floor to a security woman and had her check for damages. She took out her flashlight and actually checked. That was pretty great. Brodus fucked Jack's hair up and Jack got mad. Brodus sells weird and it bothers me. It's hard to take him seriously. He ran through Swagger after a brief FIP segment. Brodus, Cameron, Naomi, and Hornswoggle danced with little kids in the ring afterwards. This was a fun match and Swagger was pretty entertaining as the heel.

 

Eve faced Kelly after an intermission. This was pretty much a terrible match. Eve is fucking God awful. I did like one spot where she did her booty shake and Kelly kicked her into the corner. Eve won with a terrible move that looked pretty ineffective. This was kind of fun though because the crowd was into it.

 

Dolph came out and cut a promo about how he's been left to dwindle in the mid-card and should be the face of the company. He says he's got a new insurance policy that will be with him wherever he goes to ensure he becomes the face of the WWE. His insurance policy is Mason Ryan. LOL and WTF? Anyways Dolph brags about Ryan for a second then Cena's music hits and holy shit he got the loudest pop. The crowd was into this segment more than any other. We still got the typical "LET'S GO CENA" - "CENA SUCKS" but there was massive support for him here. This is obviously due to the high number of kids that attend house shows. From the first exchange Cena sold the arm that was wrapped up from the Lesnar and Ace attacks. The whole story of the match was Cena's attempts at the AA but could never succeed because he only had the use of one arm. Every time he tried he lifted Dolph with his good arm only. Cena was terrific in this with his selling and one armed offense. Mason Ryan got involved four or five times which hurt the match a little bit but the crowd was way too fucking into this for it to be a significant factor. Cena pulled out all the stops and managed to succeed with the AA in the end for the win. I wish Dolph had worked on the arm a little more as well but I like the story of the match and Cena had a great performance.

 

The main event was Punk-Jericho for the belt. Punk's pop wasn't any where near the levels of Cena but that is to be expected at a house show. Punk led a "CM PUNK" chant and Jericho tried to start a "BEST IN THE WORLD" chant for himself. The crowd booed it and Jericho got on the mic and bitched. Punk left the ring and jumped into the crowd and sat in the front row and mocked Jericho. That was pretty funny. The match got under way and was okay for a few minutes until Jericho had to try and display athleticism that he no longer has. They did the corner spot where Punk catches Jericho in an attempt for the GTS but Jericho botched it and Punk had to correct it. Then Jericho got his control segment and that was fucking awful. He was terrible mistiming shit and standing around not knowing what to do next at times it seemed. What a fucking crock a shit he was tonight. Punk got his comeback and got a pretty good near fall after the Savage elbow. The finishing run was actually great and Jericho applied the walls after he had been targeting Punk's back some earlier in the match. Punk reversed it into a small package for a great near fall. Jericho nailed a sloppy codebreaker but Punk kicked out. Eventually Punk nailed the GTS for the win and celebrated with the crowd afterwards. Punk tried his best here and made it a decent affair but Jericho was the worst I've seen him in a while and maybe ever.

 

Overall, very entertaining show with one very good match and one tremendous tag opener. I enjoyed it a good bit and had a lot of fun. I'm sure I'll be making it back to the Roundhouse for another card probably around Christmas time.

[Marty]

I was at a RAW house show two months ago and agreed with you guys about the new set they're using at house shows. Not huge or anything, but good enough that the shows have a bigger feel about them.

[Victator]

I was at the show in Huntsville on Friday.

 

Highlight of the night was Cena vs Tensai. We all lost our shit when Cena's music hit. Him and Tensai had a great match, that was as good as the first Umaga/Cena PPV match. Tensai cut out the hand motions and focused on fucking up Cena's arm. Cena sold the arm the entire match. Even when doing shoulder blocks he did it without bending the bad arm.

 

Tensai hit the Baldo Bomb but Cena kicked out. He went for the mist at this point, but Cena ducked and it hit the referee causing a DQ.

 

Main event was Punk vs Dolph for the WWE title. It was suppose to be 2 out of 3 falls, but was changed to a Street Fight. The match was good, but I was burnt out by Cena. A Street Fight is not Dolph and Punk's forte. It ended up being a few chair and cane shots around their normal match. Great moment with Dolph hitting Punk with the mic and ranting "I wanted 2 outta 3, you asked for a street fight!!!"

 

Dolph went a 100 miles an hour and gave a ppv effort.

 

From the show tonight

 

 

 

 

[Eduardo]

That Cena match sounds really good.

[thebrainfollower]

At age 11 I attended the July 29th 1991 Worcester Centrum TV taping headlined by the first ever Hogan-Undertaker match. As cool as that and seeing Sid's WWF debut were, the most shocking moment was Bobby Heenan coming out for a funeral parlor with the NWA title in hand and announcing that Ric Flair was coming to the WWF. Even though we had no cable I had heard of Ric Flair for years (along with the Road Warriors when they showed up) and was excited I had some major news to tell all my friends the next morning.

 

The next day I stopped at my local video store. I had never seen a Ric Flair match but figured now that he was WWF bound I should catch up. I grabbed the one and only Betamax (yes my techodense parents still had this in 91) WCW/NWA tape my local video store had and went home, popped that sucker in and sat down with baited breath.

 

And watched Starrcade 1990.

 

 

At the end of which, after I figured out this Black Scorpion guy was Ric Flair I was aghast. Barry Horowitz was a better wrestlerr than this guy! (I obviously don't mean that now but if that was the only Flair match you saw and you assumed he worked them all like that, you might come to the same conclusion)

[JNLister]

WCW came to Manchester in March 2000. They sold out a 16,000 seat building. The publicity advertised four names: Goldberg, Bret Hart, Sting and Nash.

 

The actual show was:

 

Norman Smiley defeated Brian Knobbs

The Wall defeated David Flair

WCW TV Champion Jim Duggan defeated Fit Finlay

Curt Hennig & Vampiro defeated Ric Flair & Lex Luger

Terry Funk defeated Dustin Rhodes

Booker T defeated WCW US Champion Jeff Jarrett via disqualification

WCW Tag Team Champions Big Vito & Johnny the Bull defeated Ron & Don Harris

Bret did talking. Nash appeared unannounced in the aisle but didn't wrestle. Sting and Goldberg was never mentioned, and they didn't refer to the tag match as the main event, leaving people to assume Goldberg was still to come. During the match the crowd was so quiet everyone on the floor listened to a guy on his mobile getting live play-by-play from his wife who was watching WWF Heat. After the match the ring announcer and referees went to the back without any further announcements and people eventually realised that was it.

 

Complaints about the show made page 3 of the local newspaper and a national network TV consumer show.

 

They came back in November and did 2,000.

[bradhindsight]

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.

I was at a WWE house show a year ago (main was Punk vs Ryback in a lumberjack match to prep for their Cell disaster) and Sandow was so over as a heel the crowd started a loud JTG chant. Was unbelievable.