First, worst, best, last

[Slapnut]

First: Raw Wrestlemania Revenge at Cardiff's CIA in 2006. I'd just started watching wrestling again after a 2 year break so this was good fun. Edge & (insert randomer here) vs. Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair was a treat, including Naitch ripping into Lita with lines like "Hey Edge, your girlfriend's boobies are hanging out". It was Cena's birthday as well and they had a massive bash in the ring afterwards which included Flair putting over Cena like a motherfucker on the mic. The crowd were mostly anti-Cena, but by the end of the show everyone was cheering him because of this.

 

Worst: A Celtic Wrestling show in the Gurnos from about 3 years ago. I only went because a mate who I hadn't seen for a while was on the card, and even he was talking about how shit it was. It was in a rugby club and the ceilings were so low that they couldn't celebrate on the turnbuckle or they'd hit their heads. Just a really crap show with a really crap roster (minus about 2 standouts).

 

Best: Easily Beer Money vs. Motor City Machine Guns from TNA's Whole F'n Show in 2010. I only got into the actual show about half way through due to TNA's (or Universal Studio's) incompetence in dealing with people queuing. This was the last match of their Best of Five series and it was an absolute joy live.

 

Last: Cena vs. Big Show from No Way Out. I'm not sure how it came across on TV, but it was pretty boring live, with most of the crowd seemingly having no interest until the end.

[CleetusVanDamme]

First. One of the shows at a Butlins, early 90's. I would have been about five, I can barely remember anything about it, other than that all the merch was Hogan stuff. Pretty sure I'd remember more if he was actually on the card!

 

Worst. Aside from the obvious "womens" or "All Star shitness" answers, I'll go with Shawn Michaels vs Muhammad Hassan from the night WWE graced my great hometown, performing in the state of the art car-boot-sale superdome that only a Capital city can provide. It was the semi-main event of the night, they wrestle for maybe a couple of minutes before the fire alarm starts blaring through the "arena!" Now, it started off amusing, because how often do you get to see a show produced by a multi-million dollar company interrupted by a fire alarm? And Daivari running around screaming "IT'S A BOMB.... TERRORISTS!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" was hilarious, but when the alarm keeps ringing, and they wrestle for another couple of minutes looking absolutely lost, before deciding they'd be better off ending it and running to the back. Which is exactly what they did do, was ridiculous. Michaels hits the SCM, 1-2-3, no celebration at all, he's out the ring and jogging to the back, Hassan and Daivari are right behind him, same with the ref and Lillian. Leaving the crowd to just sit and stare at an empty ring and listen to a fire alarm for a further 5-10 minutes afterwards until it got sorted and the show continued.

 

Funny, but awful. Probably the most amateur WWE have ever looked.

 

Best. I seen HHH and Shawn Michaels put on a ppv quality match at a house show in Manchester in 2004, that would be the best bell-to-bell non-televised match I've seen, but my favourite was probably from a WCW house show in Newcastle, Kevin Nash, Sting and Buff Bagwell vs Natural Born Thrillers. I was 12 and Big Kev was my hero, my first time ever seeing him live, I was big into Sting and Buff, too, it was brilliant, just youthful cheering your heart out for your favourites, you can't beat it. I got to see Steiner, Goldberg and The Greatest that night as well. Amazing experience.

 

Last. Rock vs Cena. Not bad eh?

[JNLister]

Now, it started off amusing, because how often do you get to see a show produced by a multi-million dollar company interrupted by a fire alarm?

 

There was a fire alarm during the opener of a WWE house show at the MEN Arena I went to. It was A Train vs Benoit. Maybe that's what set him off.

[Carbomb]

I started VERY late with live shows, believe it or not. Mainly because my parents saw wrestling as too lowbrow, and wouldn't take me to any shows. I suspect my dad would've taken me to old British shows if he hadn't been worried he'd be torn apart for a "darkie" at them. They didn't stop me watching it on TV, but that was the limit. As it is, I've never EVER been to any American company's shows, and really would like to go to a WWE and TNA show soon.

 

First: Mark Sloan vs. Aviv Maayan, FWA New Frontiers 2004 - As a relatively larval-stage smark, I was blown away by all the amazing moves I saw in this match, and that the guys in the ring didn't look massive and WWE-style slick didn't bother me; everything looked painful enough for me to take them seriously at the time. This wasn't really a full match, though, as it was interrupted by the shock emergence of Steve Corino, who lariated both guys (I think), and got on the mike to challenge Alex Shane. Great way to start one's live show fandom.

 

Worst: This was a match at a Dropkixx academy show in Tottenham (I shouldn't include it, but they were charging for admission), between some guy and "Electric" Dan Eels (whose presence [though not performance], for some reason, I was really entertained by because he looked like an exact clone of a young "Goldbelt" Brian Maxine - squat and a bit ordinary-looking, and because his name was just so silly). I'd say I hated it, but actually I spent most of the show chatting with RoFu, so didn't really have much emotional involvement with it. But it was bad.

 

Best: Kobashi Kenta & Shiozaki Go vs. Akiyama Jun & Doug Williams - This may not have been any of these men's greatest match, but by God, was it one of my favourites. The thrill of seeing my joint-favourite wrestler of all time in action in a big arena, in the atmosphere of anticipation within the Skydome (this was Kobashi's first tour of the UK), made this a real landmark in my life. This was proper Japanese King's/Ark Road done to an absolute tee, and I couldn't believe just how good it felt to be able to see it.

 

Last: Ultimo Perversio vs. Bradford W. Bush, Lucha Britannia - I haven't been to a proper wrestling show for a while, and I really should start going again; Lucha Britannia shows are really good entertainment, not just for the matches, which are delightfully colourful, sleazy and cromulently wrestled, but also for the cabaret, which, if you're not squeamish, can stimulate the ol' morbid fascination, and the crowd, who are just as colourful, and have lots of slutty fetish women.

[Forrest]

As a relatively larval-stage smark

 

What a phrase.

[METAL ON METAL]

First: That would be a show that took place at Crowtree Leisure Centre when I was around 6/7. All I can really remember from it is it featuring quite a few fake WWF wrestlers; a fake Undertaker among others. I can't remember who it was against but the first match featured Legion of Doom, the sole thing I can remember from it was slapping the fake Animal on the arm as he passed us and seeing the remnants of his wash-off arm tattoo on my hand - looking back that is some fantastic detail from him to even mimic a small arm tattoo Animal has.

 

Worst: That'd be Big Show vs. Great Khali at a Smackdown house show in Newcastle. It was about a week before they were due to have a match at one of the PPV's, I remember watching the PPV afterwards and seeing the exact same match (awkward) move for move as the week before. Big Show was heel from what I can remember and Khali could barely get in the ring. It was awful.

 

Best: In terms of an actual match probably PAC vs. Micky L at an IWF show a couple years back. But I'd say Shawn Michaels vs. JBL at a Newcastle house show, matfch was very good with an entertaining finish (duck Clothesline into SCM) but its more a case of the occasion. Don't think anybody expected HBK to be there as he was unannounced (I believe it was his first appearance of the tour), the mix of shock of him turning up and finally getting to see him live after giving up hope probably made it the best for me.

 

Last: Been a while now, but I believe it was Cena vs. Edge at one of the house shows, pretty good match - both guys were mega-over.

[Richie Freebird]

My first experience of live wrestling was a holiday camp show in Prestatyn when I was a laal

[spartan]

My first one was, I think, a small show at my local leisure centre in 91/92 ish. I remember it had people like Giant Haystacks and Crazy Dave Adams on the card, and Max Crabtree was the announcer.

 

Come to think of it, I would also say that was my worst one as well.

 

As for best one, not sure. I have enjoyed most of the live events I have been to for different reasons. For example I went to a WCW show which had almost no main event stars on the card, but was a very enjoyable event. I also went to a WWE event and was sat right at the back next to the curtain so I spent most of my time turned around watching the wrestlers' antics at the back. Dean Malenko was road agent for it and he was getting pretty pissed off that people like John Cena were sticking their head through the curtain and doing stupid things behind his back. Malenko was basicaly sat on a chair watching the action. There was a cruiserweight match where Nunzio did a run in, and basically Nunzio was kneeling next to Malenko until Malenko gave him the OK to go. I found that kind of stuff interesting to watch, but I couldn't tell you much about the in-ring action that night.

 

Best live match easily goes to Micky L v Robbie Ryder at an IWF show in Newcastle. Both guys were absolutely off the chart that night and got a standing ovation from the crowd at the end. Superb.

 

Last event was, I think, an MEW event in Newcastle, promoted by Dan Fitch. Good little show. Christian, Tracy Smothers, Gabriel Grey, Doug Williams and a few Japanese guys on it.

[NEWM]

Can't believe I got my 'Last' wrong! I was at the Hogan show Richie mentioned so that main event was it. And it's probably the best too. Seeing Hogan being Hogan was on another planet to anything I'd ever experienced before. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

[garynysmon]

Can't believe I got my 'Last' wrong! I was at the Hogan show Richie mentioned so that main event was it. And it's probably the best too. Seeing Hogan being Hogan was on another planet to anything I'd ever experienced before. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

 

I was at the same show and I felt like I was 10 years old again. Coming out to 'Eye of the Tiger' made it even better still.

[Richie Freebird]

I just wish someone fan cam

[matbro1984]

First: WWF at the NEC after Summerslam in 1992. I'd asked my Dad for Summerslam tickets, he figured getting tickets to Birmingham would be better because it's smaller and has a better view. Joker. I had to Google but the first match was Rick Martel v Virgil. I can't remember anything about it, so let's presume it was a standard Virgil match.

 

Last: Rock v Cena at WM28. Amazing atmosphere, marred slightly by a drunk Yank calling Cena a cunt sat next to, and around, several families with young children. Classy.

 

Best: HHH-Undertaker from the same event. It does translate to broadcast as well as it did in person but it's still utterly amazing.

 

Worst: Take your pick here... I'll go with November 1996 at London Arena. Executioner vs Aldo Montoya. I didn't have Sky at the time and relied on tapings of the big 5 PPVs. As such I had no clue who these guys were and consequently 12 year old me couldn't give less of a shit, and was painfully disappointed that precious time was being wasted on these two, when Stone Cold and Sid were in the building. (Also, upon Googling I've finally discovered that the match I missed by getting there late was Barry Horowitz vs TL Hopper. I must have missed a 5-snowflake classic there.)

[Big Benny HG]

The first live match I ever saw would have been Billy Joe Brannigan vs. College Boy, which was the opener on the first ever wrestling show I attended in February 1994. It was a local British show, which time would later tell me was probably hosted by Midland Promotions. It was very "Yay/Boo" and pantomime antics behind the referee's back, but the crowd was well into it and I just loved seeing wrestling for the first time. Others that appeared on that show included 'TV Rocker' Pete LePaque, 'Tiger' Kashmir Singh, Zulu Warrior, the UK versions of The Undertaker and The Barbarian, Rory Campbell, "The Irish Hangman" and the UK Earthquake. 5 singles matches, then a 10-man Rumble.

 

The last match I saw live was El Ligero vs. Akira Tozawa, which was the main event of Preston City Wrestling's 'Guild Wars' show on 2 June 2012. Excellent match, and a really fun, enjoyable show overall in my first experience of PCW. Would recommend anyone going along to see this promotion at least once.

 

The best match I have ever seen live would be hard to pin down, so I'll name a few. Triple-H vs. Shawn Michaels on a Raw house show in Manchester (May 2004) was a superb bout on the best WWE house show I have ever seen. Both men bled, brawled and fought in a dramatic cracker that was completely different to anything I'd ever seen on a non-televised WWF/E show before. There was a crappy no-effort Kane vs. Benoit main event, but everything else delivered big time. Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness at ROH's 2006 show in Liverpool was one of the most dramatic, compelling and engaging matches I've seen, while Andy Simmonz vs. JC Thunder and Zack Sabre Jr vs. Bryan Danielson from British shows were easliy the best experience as a live fan.

 

Similarly, worst match could come down to a few. The aforementioned Al Snow vs. Steve Corino 45 minute bout from 1PW's first show (2005) was abysmal. They did a slow-burn technical match, then a long fake injury, then disregarded everything else they'd done for the previous 40 minutes by turning it into a comedy match for the final stretch. Nick Knight vs. The Gambian Invader on a FutureShock Wrestling event in Stockport was fucking awful, as were a couple of bouts on a UFO show in Leeds in Match 2004. The idea behind the promotion was that it was suppsoed to be a 'worked shoot'/MMA/UWFI-like combat style, but they tried using a whole load of 'normal' British wrestlers who hadn't had the rules, the concept or any idea explained to them beforehand. They ended up trying to have normal matches with a ridiculously crap set of rules, and not a single idea what was going on.

[The Cum Doctor]

First was Papa Shango vs. Virgil from a show back in 1993. Can't remember much about it.

 

Worst was a four way match between Rob McKai, Kid Krazy and other assorted people on the very first ICW show. I think it's probably the only .time I've felt offended watching a wrestling match.

 

Best has to be from the same promotion and Red Lightning vs. BT Gunn, which was ridiculously involving and total madness from start to finish with nuclear heat. Amazing.

 

Last was last night between the same two wrestlers. To say it didn't match up would be an understatement.

[the munchies]

First: It was a show in Wisbech theatre. It was during the All Star tour that Yokozuna died on. Yoko was the reason I wanted to go but he died and half of the name guys didnt appear as a result. Tatanka was supposed to appear also. The first match I remember was a guy wrestling as Sex-Pac (an X-Pac rip off) in the opening match. The main event featured 2 guys wrestling as Sgt Slaughter and Cpl Punishment against the Legend of Doom (which I think was Ricky Knight) and the UK Undertaker.

 

Last: The last match was at the WAW EPIC studios show on the 23rd June. Main event was Ricky Knight against King Kendo in a Street Fight.

 

Best: Its a tie I think between Aj Styles versus Christopher Daniels at International Showdown in Coventry Skydome and a tag team match on a WWE house show which was CM Punk and Chris Jericho versus Umaga and Snitsky on the 2008 wrestlemania revenge tour. Even Snitsky pulled his weight in the match and it outdid the Triple H versus Orton main event.

 

Worst: A bad match between Kane and Ezekial Jackson.