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First, worst, best, last


JNLister

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Stole this from a magazine feature on live gigs, so let's do it for live matches you've seen. We're looking for the first live match you ever saw and the most recent.

 

For best and worst, to avoid 200 responses of Bulldog-Bret Hart at Wembley, let's say to pick a non-televised match unless you've only been to TV tapings and PPVs.

 

To kick off:

 

My first match was in April 1991 at the Times Club in Stevenage, the only show I went to with my dad (though it turns out he used to go to Belle Vue in Manchester most weeks as a kid and never mentioned that for years because it was just something everyone did back then.) The opener was Steve Sadler against Bearman John Elijah. My main memory was that I was writing for a fanzine at the time (Spiked Piledriver) and had permission to go into the dressing room to get interviews. Unfortunately I got permission from the caretaker who didn't really have that authority. I walked in to see all the wrestlers sat in the same room, and John Elijah in his pants giving me a dirty look.

 

My worst match was at an All Star show in Croydon with Lee Bronson against the Viking. You know when people dismiss an "old-style" match such as one on film from the 70s and comedically exaggerate how little action there was? This was the real thing. The match was literally lock up, Viking gets waistlock, they sit down in it for a few minutes, stand up, Bronson reverses waistlock, back suplex, pin.

 

My best non-televised match is a tricky one. The real answer is probably Jericho-Scorpio from ECW, though that did eventually air on ECW TV in the US. Bret vs Owen from the UK tour after WrestleMania X was great as it was close in quality to the Mania bout and five minutes longer. Though I'm sure it couldn't possibly live up to the memory, I'd plump for the WCW tour in 1993 when Sid and Arn had their scissors fun and the Royal Albert Hall show had to be rejigged, leading to Flair & Steamboat vs the Hollywood Blondes in a 27 minute match.

 

My last match was Finlay vs JD Knight at 4FW in Swindon, which was fine. I've been meaning to do this for a few months and really wanted to do it in time that my last match was Knight vs Eddie Ryan in Bristol, just because it was a street fight (or similar stip) in a village hall in December and they had a Christmas tree in the corner and Knight at one point took control with a snow-covered star decoration to the eye.

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First - Some small show years ago when I was a kid at the Leisure Centre. Can't remember much about it really, apart from a fat bloke yelling "Who just got stuck in then?" every time he hit a move. No idea what that was about.

 

Last - All Star featuring Little Legs and someone else vs. Ringo Ryan and some woman. Little Legs did all the midget spots as we lol'd uproariously.

 

Best - Boss Man vs Austin at the Telewest Arena. Seeing the Boss Man in all his glory, selling out a 10,000 seat arena on his own was a truly great moment to behold. Gutted there wasn't a title change.

 

Worst - Me and a mate saw this promotion in the North East with a six sided ring. It was rotten. We left halfway through. Just a bunch of fat lads in tracksuit bottoms looking like someone was going to die of sloppiness.

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First match - Penarth Leisure Centre, October 10, 1992. The same night that Gladiators started on ITV. No idea what the match was. Earthquake impersonator topped the bill. Three match card - though in hindsight my old man might well have dragged me out in the interval, having convinced me it was over.

 

Worst match - Tables match on a tribute show, date escapes me. Less said the better I think.

 

Best match - 123 Kid vs Rick Martel, 1993 house show in Cardiff. The opener of the first 'big leagues' show I'd been to, so was more than a bit dazzled by the TV stars and the scale of it all. Great match too.

 

Last match - Sheamus/Daniel Bryan on the last house show go-round. Got given a ticket on the day, so didn't have much expectation and it was pretty fun.

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First Live Match - No idea who was competing in it but it was on a show at Everton Park Sports Centre in 93 that was headlined by Davey Boy Smith inbetween his stints in WWE and debuting in WCW

 

Worst Match - Yokozuna and Greg Valentine v two random guys at the Liverpool Empire about a week before Yoko died, such a sad sight to see how big he had become and the match itself was a clusterfuck

 

Best Non-Televised Match - Toss up between Punk v Jericho from the post - WM 25 tour or DX/Cena v Orton/Legacy from the November tour that same year at the Echo Arena

 

Last Match - The dark main event from the Smackdown taping at the Echo last November which I believe was Orton/Sheamus/Big Show v Henry/Rhodes/Christian

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First non televised: I think it was Tony St Clair vs PN News at Plas Madoc Leisure Centre in a WCW ring, as it was an Orig show in 1994 or so. It also had Dynamite Kid resembling an AIDS ridden Martin Clunes as he took on Skull Murphy which made my dad really angry as they were calling him Stone Crusher instead and "That's not his fucking name! Fucks sakes. He's fucking Skull Murphy!". It also had a child calling PN News a fat twat and as PN News shouted at the child "I bet your daddy's real proud of you" and the father replied "I am, you fat twat!".

 

Worst: The Guvnor Mickey Francis against some bloke with a gut pretending to be a German in Wrexham Memorial Hall in April 2009. The Nazi salutes were DEAD TASTEFUL.

 

Last: Welsh Wrestling in the Stiwt in Rhosllanerchrugog about 6 weeks ago. Had an absolute belter on it between James Mason and Bison Brody. James Mason is the man.

 

Best: It probably wasn't the best in hindsight. But going to WWA in Birmingham as a 16 year old in 2001 was the absolute greatest time I ever had at a wrestling card. It had everything for me. Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell and Stevie Ray. So I'm going for the Jarrett vs Steiner vs Road Doggy Dogg main event from that for nostalgic reasons.

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First: The first live wrestling event I attended was WWE Rebellion in 2002. Wikipedia tells me that Bill DeMott versus Shannon Moore was therefore the first match that I ever saw live in person. I don't have any memory of it whatsoever, the only matches that I can recall from that show are a tag match featuring Reverend D-Von and Ron Simmons vs Val Venis and Chuck Palumbo (which I remember because the big screen broke during the match), and the main event which saw Brock Lesnar defeat Edge to retain the WWE Championship.

 

Worst: I've seen some real shite on tinpot BritWres shows over the years, but I'll stick to big league stuff for this list, as I really can't remember any names or dates for a lot of the rubbish I've seen. Picking a worst match is pretty difficult, actually. Especially given the non-TV stipulation. I guess that the expectation/disappointment factor should be taken into account as I've probably seen a lot of matches that were wank, but promised nothing more. I will go for Steve Corino vs Al Snow at the first ever 1PW show, Cruel Twist Of Fate. The match was for the AWA Championship, lasted about 45 minutes and completely killed the crowd, deteriorating into a ridiculous comedy match for the last twenty minutes. By the end of it, fans were not only disappointed, but genuinely pissed off.

 

Best: Again, the non-TV rule makes it difficult, but there are couple of matches that stand out. Perhaps my favourite is a match between Ric Flair and Edge from the Raw: Tour of Defiance house show in Manchester in May 2004. The match was incredibly good fun, with Edge the babyface and Ric Flair heel at the time. However, the match was notable for the absolutely massive reactions that Flair was getting from the crowd, who were desperate to cheer the Nature Boy. As a result, Edge and Ric actually performed a one-night-only double-turn for this match, with a frustrated Edge running down the crowd for 'Wooo-ing'. The match was a lot more fun from then on, with Edge even doing Ric's trademark arse-out routine, for the LOLs. Ric Flair kicked out after a Spear to an enormous pop (I genuinely thought it was over), before locking Edge in the Figure Four. When Edge tapped out I remember leaping out of my seat as if celebrating a goal in a cup-final. It was such a cool moment and felt like they had done something really special for the live crowd that night.

 

Last: The last event I attended was Monday Night Raw in Miami after this year's WrestleMania. The last match was the super-fun dark match with Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes and Kane taking on the team of Sheamus, Big Show and Randy Orton. It was probably the most over Daniel Bryan has ever been in his career, or ever will be. The show also featured the WWE returns of Brock Lesnar and Albert, two of the 3 guys that were on the card of the first wrestling show that I ever attended ten years earlier. The third man on that list is John Cena, who was featured in an intergender tag team match, teaming with Dawn Marie on that first show.

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My first was something on an All Star show in a theatre on Scarborough sea front the week before Wrestlemania 17, but I can't for the life of me remember what the opener was. Show featured Marty Janetty (got a photo of me with him somewhere) and the shortest, stoutest Kane you ever did see, which I've since been reliably informed was probably Ricky Knight.

 

Worst would probably be an absolute clusterfuck of a tag team match at BHW in about 2006 at Thurmaston Working Men's Cub, the only wrestling venue that I've ever been able to walk to from my front door. There were 8 guys in it, including Mad Mike, Ronin, possibly Tommy Stevens and some guys worse than that, and they just did an atrocious hardcore brawl on an afternoon show in a tiny venue full of kids. It got to the point where they were all over the venue, but nobody in the crowd cared except when they had to move out of the way to avoid getting hurt. In the end, the promoter sent out Jay Phoenix/James Wallace to clear them out for the main event. I'll say nothing about that, as I don't know that gentleman's current legal situation.

 

Best: Zack Sabre Jr vs Bryan Danielson, AMP at the Tam O'Shanter/Jolly Beggar in Coventry, whenever the hell it was. My absolute favourite in the UK, in the venue where me and my mates watched him blossom from a hot prospect into genuinely fucking great wrestler. And he was in front of a partizan home crowd, taking on one of the very best there was on the indies who's now one of the very best in the big leagues. D-Bry, both in WWE and before, usually gets a chance to either show off his wrestling chops or his character chops. Here, he got to do both, and he was an absolutely perfect foil for Zack. They brought out so much of each other's best, and this match remains utterly unparalleled as a live experience (although that wonderful Andy Simmons/JC Thunder IPW:UK title match is second, and that top 2 are miles ahead of everything else). I watched this back on DVD afterwards, and it's not the same. Still a wonderful wrestling exhibition, but MAN, being there was just something truly special that I'll never, ever forget.

 

Last: Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk for the WWE Championship at Nottingham Arena last November. Del Rio retained, leading up to Punk beating him at Survivor Series. This was a solid house show match, with comedy from Ricardo and a huge faces/heels brawl that ended in Dolph Ziggler taking everyone and their grandma's finisher. Punk was so over in that arena that I went home convinced he was the next Austin. Crazy, crazy reactions, and half the arena went home wearing the white Best In The World t-shirt. It's amazing comparing that night with the Laurinaitis feud totally bombing a couple of months later. Ultimately it showed me that house shows are meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but that didn't stop me enjoying it a lot and feeling kinda cool about one of my pet indy guys making it big in his own small way.

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First: Typhoon vs. Damian Demento

 

Worst: I can't remember too many hideously bad house/dark matches I've seen (Only been to WWE shows) so can't say any random fat lads in trackies. So I'll break the rules just a little and say Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero at Wrestlemania 24 as it was about 10 seconds.

 

Best: A few spring to mind, but I'll go with Carlito vs. Shelton vs. Nitro vs. Jeff Hardy at a house show in Birmingham in 2006. Absolute non stop action the whole way through.

 

Last: Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk dark match main event after the Raw taping in April.

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First- I assume it was some show I was taken to by my folks when I was a kid. cant remember owt though. First one I can remember was the GWF show at Preston Guildhall 2002. So whatever the first match on that card was the first I could remember. A trainees match iirc

 

Worst-Lee Butler vs Shak Khan at the same show. A Hardcore bout, without much in the way of hardcore, or anything else for that matter.

 

Best/Last- El Ligero vs Tozawa at PCW Guild Wars. Out of this world

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Best: Again, the non-TV rule makes it difficult, but there are couple of matches that stand out. Perhaps my favourite is a match between Ric Flair and Edge from the Raw: Tour of Defiance house show in Manchester in May 2004. The match was incredibly good fun, with Edge the babyface and Ric Flair heel at the time. However, the match was notable for the absolutely massive reactions that Flair was getting from the crowd, who were desperate to cheer the Nature Boy. As a result, Edge and Ric actually performed a one-night-only double-turn for this match, with a frustrated Edge running down the crowd for 'Wooo-ing'. The match was a lot more fun from then on, with Edge even doing Ric's trademark arse-out routine, for the LOLs. Ric Flair kicked out after a Spear to an enormous pop (I genuinely thought it was over), before locking Edge in the Figure Four. When Edge tapped out I remember leaping out of my seat as if celebrating a goal in a cup-final. It was such a cool moment and felt like they had done something really special for the live crowd that night.

 

I've no idea if there's any truth, but I remember hearing a few weeks later that they changed the finish in the ring because of the crowd reaction.

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Best: Zack Sabre Jr vs Bryan Danielson, AMP at the Tam O'Shanter/Jolly Beggar in Coventry, whenever the hell it was. My absolute favourite in the UK, in the venue where me and my mates watched him blossom from a hot prospect into genuinely fucking great wrestler. And he was in front of a partizan home crowd, taking on one of the very best there was on the indies who's now one of the very best in the big leagues. D-Bry, both in WWE and before, usually gets a chance to either show off his wrestling chops or his character chops. Here, he got to do both, and he was an absolutely perfect foil for Zack. They brought out so much of each other's best, and this match remains utterly unparalleled as a live experience (although that wonderful Andy Simmons/JC Thunder IPW:UK title match is second, and that top 2 are miles ahead of everything else). I watched this back on DVD afterwards, and it's not the same. Still a wonderful wrestling exhibition, but MAN, being there was just something truly special that I'll never, ever forget.

 

Let's recap this one for people who skipped over the venue.

 

It was the man who was the current holder of the Observer annual award for the best in-ring wrestler in the world.

 

In the upstairs room of a pub.

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My choices break the non-TV rules for the most part, sorry.

 

First: Skinner vs Tatanka at the Sheffield Arena in 92, televised but only on Sky Movies Plus. Remember thinking I was in the biggest arena of all time and doing that stupid thing with my arm when Tatanka won. Not a great match but it pushed all the right buttons for me at the time as a kid.

 

Worst: I've seen no end of rancid British stuff, but that's so par for the course I feel bad including it. To that end, I'll go with Drew McIntyre vs Finlay at the 86-hour Smackdown TV tapings a few years ago, can't remember what year, 08 or 09 I'd say. Three fucking retapes of a dire and boring beatdown after an absolutely dreadful match. A horrid, horrid experience that actually made me want to leave the arena. Hard to articulate how awful and LONG the whole thing was, but if you were there, you'll know.

 

Best: There's been a few, but Newcastle from October last year actually pinches it with the star-studded main event of Cena, Ryder and Kofi vs Miz, Truth and Kevin fucking Nash. The Big Man showing up was an enormous surprise and treat, Cena was incredible to watch (and lots of fun too), and Ryder was peaking in overness. A close second would be another house show treat, with HHH and Flair vs HBK and Batista from 05 just after Wrestlemania. As fun as it sounds, especially with the cameras off.

 

Last: CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Title at the aforementioned October 2011 house show. Fucking boring, natch, and couldn't follow the above match. Punk was really over so his entrance and exit were great, but the match was just dull and we were knackered from cheering Nash and Cena for the last half an hour.

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First: Would have been an NPWA show in 2002, Jason Glory and Shaun Williams vs Sean Phoenix and the Welsh Dragon. At the time I was fairly new to wrestling and didnt really get wrestling yet so I thought it was good. Looking back on it ten years later I realise it wasn't anywhere near good but it was the first.

 

Worst: Seen some awful NPWA shows over the years so any matches from those really. Especially back in the 2002-2005 period full of ddt's, stunners and other nonsensical stuff. One show in particular had a match with light tubes!

 

Best: The front runner at the moment would have to be Jack Gallagher vs Mikey Whiplash from Futureshock 58. It was a really great effort from both and special also because it was the first show after Dom Travis had passed away so both guys wanted to give there all and I think they did and then some.I couldnt think of a more fitting tribute main event match on a show dedicated to a wrestler.

 

Last: GPW Battlefield 2, Dirk Feelgood vs Cyanide vs Jack Gallagher vs Martin Kirby ©. This was a terrific main event and quite an emotional one as well as Dirk lost the match and has now retired and left the UK completely. Given that the stip of the match was title vs career this really added to the drama because I didn't know Dirk was leaving so I thought it was possible he could win and all 4 guys looked like they could win it at any time. One of the best main events we've ever had I think.

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First: I couldn't tell you, but I know Daddy went over in a tag in the main event, and it was either in Skegness, or at Victoria Baths in Nottingham.

 

Worst: Trainee battle royale in an LDN trainee show for charity in Edmonton, London, watched with one of the Leicester lads (I don't remember his name on here, OCPWS will know) - had Rogue, Dave the N18 Kid's mrs. (or possibly her sister) in it, and she may not even have been the worst person in there.

 

Best: I'm going to go with J.C. Thunder taking the title from Andy Boy Simmonz in IPW:UK in Orpington (2007?) - not the greatest inring performances I ever saw, but the most perfect package of buildup, atmosphere, booking, wrestling, and alcohol I've ever encountered.

 

Last: Terry Frazier vs. Martin Stone,IPW:UK Sittingbourne Spectacular, May 2009. Over 3 years ago, it seems insane.

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My first was something on an All Star show in a theatre on Scarborough sea front the week before Wrestlemania 17, but I can't for the life of me remember what the opener was. Show featured Marty Janetty (got a photo of me with him somewhere) and the shortest, stoutest Kane you ever did see, which I've since been reliably informed was probably Ricky Knight.

 

I was at this show at the Futurist Theatre and have lost a picture I had of Janetty I had too! He was in his New Rockers singlet if I remember correctly, and still looked the bollocks. I lost it really soon after it was taken too, always been one of my biggest regrets.

 

That said, I couldn't offer you a suggestion for an opener if you offered me a million quid. I went to a few of those shows down there and outside of the ex-stars (we had PN News the year after I think), the local/British guys were a bunch of Grade 1 never-weres and Never-Gonna-Bes. And they're probably still serving suspensions for all the public warnings they got too.

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