What was your first live wrestling show?

[Linus]

Shamelessly stolen from DVDVR, what was the first show you went to see?

 

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I was never a wrestling fan as a kid so my first show was when I was 17, and even then I went for "ironic" fun with some pals from school.

 

We sat front row in a crowd of about 50 at a local community centre, and awaited the only man on the poster we'd heard of - Skull Murphy (the British one). Anyway, he no-showed.

 

We did get four matches, the first of which I have zero memory. The second was a qualifier to face The Mighty Chang in the main event, between "Belfast" Billy Reid and someone I don't remember. Reid won.

 

Then they had the interval and the guy who won the raffle came down and cut a promo about how he'd followed this show around the local towns Nd was going to expose it as a fraud. Then he grabbed his prize and returned to his seat.

 

The first match of the second half was Giant Haystacks versus Steve Regal. Yeah, really. Haystacks pretty much beat the piss out of Regal and dropped him out of the ring into our laps at one point. An old lady behind us shouted, "piss off, Haystacks! and he came to our side of the ring, blocking out the light, and said, "fuck off!"

 

The main event was The Mighty Chang versus Billy Reid. Chang wasn't Chinese, he was just so fat that his fat cheeks made it look like he had slanted eyes. He wore a dressing gown and flip flops and had a "handler" because he was so evil.

 

A man from the crowd was selected to be guest timekeeper - because the usual timekeeper was pulling double-duty as the handler - and he kept ringing the bell to DQ Chang, only for the referee to tell him to "fucking stop it!"

 

Chang DID get DQ'd in the end and left Reid hanging by his neck in the ropes. Then Chang, his handler, and the referee left, and some fans had to free Reid from the ropes. Christ knows what he'd done to deserve that.

 

And that was the show. No goodbyes, just a man left hanging and everyone else leaving. Small-time British wrestling in October 1989. I still have the (generic) programme, with a picture of Trooper Larson taken in front of his fridge. Good times.

[lightningxlock]

Outside of a couple of 'tribute shows' that were the thing in the mid-late 90's, my first propper show was the WWE in Sheffield on the Attitude Adjustment tour. This was the card with a couple of no marks headlining:

 

 

WWF Tag Team Champion X-Pac defeated the Brooklyn Brawler

 

Triple H defeated Kane

 

D-Lo Brown & Ivory defeated Val Venis & Jackie

 

WWF IC Champion Goldust defeated the Road Dogg

 

Hardcore Holly defeated Al Snow

 

Billy Gunn defeated Gangrel

 

Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett defeated Edge & Christian

 

The Undertaker defeated Ken Shamrock

 

The Big Show defeated the Big Bossman

 

WWF World Champion Steve Austin defeated the Rock

[AshC]

Cogan Leisure Centre, 10th October 1992. I remember this as it was the same night 'Gladiators' started on the telly and we missed the Eliminator to go. Earthquake was the main draw. It wasn't John Tenta. :-(

[WyattSheepMask]

WWF at Hull Ice Arena, September 1994 matches might be out of order as I'm just doing this from memory)

* IRS pinned 123 Kid

* Alundra Blayze pinned Bull Nakano

* The Undertaker beat Yokozuna in a Casket Match

* Shawn Michaels & Diesel beat Razor Ramon & Lex Lugar by DQ to retain the Tag Team Titles

* Jeff Jarrett beat Mabel

* Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Doink

* Bret Hart & The British Bulldog beat Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart

[Mr.E]

My very first was one of those "WWF tribute" shows, somewhere in Colwyn Bay (I think it was).

It had:

 

"Bubba Dudley" vs "Young Hardy" (not a typo)
"The Rock" Vs "The Undertaker"
And "Kane" Vs "Road Warrior Animal"

[Sergio Mendacious]

Nottingham Victoria Baths, around about 1984/85 — I was a really little kid, went with my grandad. Don't have much in the way of memories, Daddy/Greg Valentine vs. Haystacks and some bloke with a gimmick of a bin man or something. Went a few other times there and at Skegness Winter Gardens, and then my grandad refused to go after it went off the telly, and my next show was at Butlins in 1998.

[PRINCE2356]

Mine was WWF "Mayhem in Manchester" in 1998.

 

Including the infamous Undertaker wearing his street clothes having lost his luggage vs kane, austin vs triple h, owen hart and the rock vs ken shamrock and blackman (i think), godwinns vs l.o.d

[Disco]

Four Star promotions (Tom Thumb's company) at ipswich corn exchange early 1990's

[Jon-Carr_92]

Butlins Bognor, July 2006 on a school resi. Saw it in the programme for the week on the Thursday. Really wanted to go and the teacher understood my enthusiasm and she arranged it so it was a choice between that or this pop covers band.

 

About 5 or 6 of the 18 strong party (including staff) were up for it. So it was a go. Managed to grab the last ringside seat in the venue. Bought a foam hand. Still have it knocking about somewhere. Was all hyped to finally see wrestling live

 

First match was Drew Galloway vs Mikey Whiplash representing Timbuktu for some reason (they had a UK v ROW thing going on) Drew got the win

 

Match 2 was a Tag. James Mason & Kid Cool v TJ Wilson (Yes. As in Tyson Kidd) & some American guy who I for the life of me can't remember. Team ROW got the win after TJ hit Mason round the head with his Canadian flag while the ref was distracted.

 

VT from Robbie Brookside challenging them to a "Royal Rumble" (An over-the-top-rope 4 on 4 elimination match) got beat up by The Brooklyn Brawler (not the WWF guy. He did All Star now and then (who obviously have the deal with Butlins)) Brookside was Last Man Standing to get the win for Team UK.

 

I always found it not too shabby for a first show. 2 guys who would go on to be signed to WWE mere months later and one who is now a trainer at the Performance Center. Great end to the week. I was at Impact in Manchester this year and it felt so sureeal seeing Drew again after all that time

[HeavyT]

I've been to one show. It was at a local leisure centre and I saw Doink, LOD AND British Bulldog. It was between 93 and 96 I believe, I take it it was All Star or something. I genuinely believed it was them so I'm leaning towards it being 93.

Edited July 14, 2015 by HeavyT

[The Dart]

I did go to a couple of holiday camp shows in the mid-late 90s and one other show, but I'll never find out who was on them, so I pretend my first show was:

 

All Star Wrestling

November 9th 2001

Charter Hall

Colchester

 

My knowledge of British Wrestling before this day was mostly UWA TV on Live TV, so I knew of some of the British names (Jonny Storm, Doug Williams).  I wasn't aware of there being much of a scene beyond the occasional results and previews in Total Wrestling, Powerslam etc.  I'd never been to any show, not even WWE.  I was surprised to learn that there was wrestling in my hometown every 6 months, so when I found out from fellow UKFF member LSM, I decided to go.  My life changed quite dramatically afterwards, and my wallet got lighter faster.

 

Good crowd of about 800.  We sat front row.

 

Jonny Storm beat Robbie Dynamite.   Great match if I remember correctly.  Was glad I'd gone after this.
Nigel McGuinness beat Doug Williams.   An even better match.  Two tremendous matches in a row.  If this is the quality of every match on every show then this will be great!

Chad Collyer beat Fuji Makabe - also known as Togi Makabe.   Not as good as the first two matches, but still pretty great.  The matches after the interval are bound to be even better!

Nigel McGuinness (again - for reasons I don't remember) beat Sinn - who would be Kizarny in WWE 7 years later.  The quality dipped significantly here.

Tatanka & Bobby Bald Eagle beat Joe Legend & Tiger Steele.  I would learn in the future that with All Star Wrestling you might get one or two great matches on the undercard.  If you do, then you are punished with a terrible main event.  But if none of the matches on the undercard are any good, then main event will probably be great.   This wasn't a great match if I remember correctly.

 

I met Chad Collyer and Nigel McGuinness in the interval, and Tatanka said hi as he walked past before the show.  I met Joe Legend after the show.  It would be 3 months before I went to another British Wrestling show (WWA in December not counting), but I loved it.

Edited July 14, 2015 by The Dart

[ElCece]

I didn't go too any shows until I was 13 in 2000. Until I was old enough I could go with my 15 years old friends and that was a WCW house show in I think 2000 in Newcastle . Don't remember much from the show only that Booker T, Konnan and Norman Smiley. Konnan got the biggest pop in miles.

[Your Fight Site]

A tribute show in Crook in what must have been early 2000. It had the UK Undertaker, and who I would later learn was Ricky Knight as Road Warrior Animal or, “The Legend of Doom”.

 

I remember the programme was yellow, had “UK Wrestling Mania” or something as the headline, and random articles about Yokozuna and Greg Valentine.

 

My first ‘A’ show would have been WCW at the then-Telewest Arena in Newcastle in November 2000.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Your Fight Site

[Yakashi]

The first show I watched was Survivor Series 90 and then the first live show I went to was Summerslam 92. I realise this is pretty much the dream scenario. Short of a few trips to Mania, nothing has come close. Imagine if Hogan was at Wembley that summer? Would never be able to top it...

[Snitsky's back acne]

Genuinely can't remember - I think it was a holiday camp show....possibly Pontins in Weymouth right around the time of SummerSlam 1992.
All I can remember was it was in the bar area, the MC said the wrestlers had worked a show on the Isle of Wight earlier in the day and were late because the ferry was delayed, Robbie Brookside worked the show and there was some fat guy dressed as a hillbilly who made a loud fart noise whenever he was hit/took a bump (a gimmick which I still attest is pure brilliance).

 

Venue of my youth was the beautiful Winter Gardens in Margate (great venue for wrestling IMO) and I remember seeing Davey Boy there in early 1994, he teamed with Irish Tony Stewart against (I think) Blondie Barrett and Karl Kramer. I could not believe that a huge star like Davey Boy had come to my little seaside town and got a picture taken with him that I still have to this day. I vaguely recall Klondyke Kate working some redhead (possibly Rusty Blair) and a masked guy called The Yuppy.