What was your first live wrestling show?

[LSM]

My first show was Summerslam 1992 at Wembley Stadium.

 

My first non UK show was Scott Conways The Wrestling Alliance in May 1999. My first look at watching James Mason and Johnny Storm. The Bushwhackers were the main event.

[Liam O'Rourke]

First ever was the Birmingham NEC house show in November 96. Shawn Michaels was my favourite wrestler, and was hoping to see him work his magic in a great main event title match. Instead he dropped the belt at Survivor Series right before to Sid, who defended the title in a match at my first ever show with Faarooq that went 90 seconds.

 

On the plus side, I got to see the only ever Bret Hart Vs. Mankind match.

[air_raid]

Mine was 5 days after WrestleMania X in "beautiful" Telford, myself an 11 year old Hitman fan with no knowledge of the Mania results, having been told by my old man all the way in the car "Well, it's the wrestling, but you probably won't see any of the ones that get onto TV." Oh, Raid Sr, you were quite the japester.

 

I saw -

Kwang pinned Koko B Ware

Earthquake pinned IRS

Diesel pinned 1-2-3 Kid (Raid Sr was visibly in awe of Big Kev - "How tall is HE???")

Bam Bam Bigelow pinned Tatanka (I was gobsmacked having only seen Tatanka lose to Borga on TV. But my strongest memory is Papa Raid reacting to the sight of Luna Vachon with "What the bloody hell is that??")

J-e-double f - HA HA HA! - J-a-double r-e-double t pinned Doink

The Quebecers beat Men On A Mission

 

Then the last match was announced as being for the belt and I assumed that I would know from the heel who was fighting. If Yoko came out, he'd be fighting Lex. But Owen came out, and I realized my hero had won the big belt. Then his music started and my balls fizzed. Thank Christ it was a Friday because Mama and Papa would have had difficulties getting me to sleep at a sensible hour on a school night after that level of excitement.

 

Bret won, obvs.

 

 

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

 

Owen had not turned yet. It was Shamrock and Owen against The Rock and D'Lo.

 

 

First ever was the Birmingham NEC house show in November 96. Shawn Michaels was my favourite wrestler, and was hoping to see him work his magic in a great main event title match. Instead he dropped the belt at Survivor Series right before to Sid, who defended the title in a match at my first ever show with Faarooq that went 90 seconds.

On the plus side, I got to see the only ever Bret Hart Vs. Mankind match.

 

I was there. I was very happy that Sid had lamped Shawn. At the time, I perceived Shawn to be a massive gaylord and I wanted to see him get lamped. I was very happy to see Sid do a powerbomb, because that's all I wanted from him.

 

I was very impressed with Undertaker vs Vader on the night, with them having not worked together on telly yet.

Edited July 14, 2015 by air_raid

[Snitsky's back acne]

 

On the plus side, I got to see the only ever Bret Hart Vs. Mankind match.

 

First ever maybe, but not only ever.

https://youtu.be/3WdjieYmfKc

[Hugh Thesz]

SEC Glasgow 1993 (I think). 

 

As Damian Demento and Typhoon circle each other prior to locking up in the opening bout a really loud fellow Glaswegian (and that is saying something) behind me shouts

 

"Aw come oan Typhoon; get fuckin stuck intae this Basturt"

 

I may as well ask this here but the next year the Glasgow show saw Earthquake take on Bam Bam Bigelow who was managed by Luna Vachon.  All three and the referee pissed about the whole bout and were killing themselves with laughter.  Does anyone else remember this or have some idea of what happened?

[Phil Jones]

Aside from a few camp shows in the 1980's a Kiln Park, Tenby, my first live show was a Reslo TV taping at the Star Centre in Splott, Cardiff.

 

This was just when WWF was exploding at my high school so a bunch of us went.

 

Results -

 

CARDIFF – 30/3/90. Filmed for Welsh TV…Dave Finlay (W) v Kid McCoy

 

Cage: Danny Collins (W) v Richie Brooks

 

El Bandito (Orig Williams) (W) v Blondie Barratt

 

Colonel Brody (W) v Steve Regal

 

Giant Haystacks/Klaus Kauroff (W) v Boston Blackie/Jamaica George

 

European Heavyweight champion Pat Roach (W) v Ray Steele

 

Jimmy Ocean/Ricky Knight v Tony Stewart/Gary Welsh

 

Source: http://www.johnlisterwriting.com/itvwrestling/other.html#Anchor-Resl-7498

[Alex Wright Mark]

It was October 2002 at the Plymouth Guildhall when I attended a TWA show!

 

The first match was UK Thunder against Adam Angel. No idea who Angel was, but I knew UK Thunder from the FWA and some kids documentary on Channel 4 where they were filming at Lights Camera Acton. Thunder won.

 

John Harding took on Andy Simmons. Harding won. I don't remember how. It was decent though.

 

Jake Roberts beat The Flatliner. Jake Roberts was the first person I've ever been in awe of. Afterwards, a kid threw a bus ticket at Flatliner, who then spat on him.

 

INTERMISSION: Jake did Polaroids.

 

Klondyke Kate squashed some woman whos name I don't care to remember. After the match, John Harding challenged her to a match the next month. I don't remember who won that.

 

A man dressed up as a Mummy beat someone. My Dad, who came with me, looked at me in sheer shame.

 

In the main event, Justin Starr beat Jody Fleisch. I was furious! "But Jody is a fucking star in the indies! And he jobbed to someone I've never heard of!?! Whaaat?"

 

Yeah, pretty substandard show really.

[Sir Steve Redgrave]

All I remember was that it was Drew McDonald vs. Tiger Steele in the main event at the Southampton Guildhall. Must have been All Star Wrestling. Also featured James Mason turning heel on Robbie Brookside.

[Ant]

My first show was WWF at the Glasgow SECC on 18 April 1992.

 

Owen Hart vs Skinner

Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels w/Sherry (IC Title)

Sgt Slaughter Vs Col Mustaffa

Macho Man vs The Mountie w/Jimmy Hart (World Title)

El Matador vs Dino Bravo

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Papa Shango

Legion of Doom vs Nasty Boys w/Jimmy Hart

 

After seeing the Sheffield taping I wondered who I'd all missed the night before Glasgow. They did 2 nights in a row in Birmingham and Glasgow, alternating the rosters. Whilst I'd love to have seen the Undertaker and British Bulldog then, I was and am thoroughly happy with the line-up I saw.

 

Hugh Thesz - that was my second WWF show. I was in the tiered section and genuinely couldn't remember the Quake/Bigelow stuff. Though a guy I worked with, who I'll see at UFC on Saturday funnily enough, recalls exactly what you do, he just wasn't clear on what they were laughing at either.

 

After 1994 my next WWF show was going to be the Newcastle leg of the 1996 Xpress tour. However it ended up getting cancelled, with only Brum and London going ahead.

 

I remember at the time the shows were advertised in the national newspapers. Michaels was never advertised to appear for what it's worth. I randomly recall Yokozuna was advertised, but didn't work the tour (or possibly many or any WWF shows at all thereafter).

[air_raid]

I remember at the time the shows were advertised in the national newspapers. Michaels was never advertised to appear for what it's worth. I randomly recall Yokozuna was advertised, but didn't work the tour (or possibly many or any WWF shows at all thereafter).

 

Yes. Yokozuna did not wrestle for the WWF again after Survivor Series. He was advertised for the UK Xpress Tour but got sent to the fat farm instead. For Birmingham he was announced as facing Steve Austin. You can imagine how pleased I was to see Austin crush Aldo Montoya instead.

[Ant]

 

I remember at the time the shows were advertised in the national newspapers. Michaels was never advertised to appear for what it's worth. I randomly recall Yokozuna was advertised, but didn't work the tour (or possibly many or any WWF shows at all thereafter).

 

 

Yes. Yokozuna did not wrestle for the WWF again after Survivor Series. He was advertised for the UK Xpress Tour but got sent to the fat farm instead. For Birmingham he was announced as facing Steve Austin. You can imagine how pleased I was to see Austin crush Aldo Montoya instead.

The Power Slam review of the Birmingham show was almost hard to believe. Some real high and low points, with not a lot in between I'd guess. But that main event, as alluded to already in this thread. Jesus.

[Harry Wiseau]

WWFs "first European tour of the superstars of wrestling" October 11th 1989 at the NEC. The only match I remember is Hogan & Hacksaw against Randy Savage and Dino Bravo. I remember we took our own turkey sandwiches and cartons of drink because there was no way my dad was paying NEC prices, also there were posters with Hogan on advertising Sky tv -we were there before anyone else in our row so I ended up with loads which I covered my bedroom wall with.

[air_raid]

The Power Slam review of the Birmingham show was almost hard to believe. Some real high and low points, with not a lot in between I'd guess. But that main event, as alluded to already in this thread. Jesus.

 

Hard to believe that Barry Horowitz vs The Executioner, The Stalker vs Bradshaw, Bob Holly vs Crush and Rocky Maivia vs TL Hopper did not impress Fin.

[RoryFice]

My first show was at the Magnum Centre in Irvine about midway through 1999, quite possibly promoted by All-Star.

 

I hadn't stopped watching wrestling since first seeing WWF Mania on the telly years before. Plenty of kids had though, but as the Attitude Era progressed wrestling had become really popular again. Totally didn't know what to expect from the show, the WWF was so over-the-top at the time whereas this was at the Magnum with Yokozuna as the headliner.

 

My main memory of the show was that it was pretty bad overall. There was an eight-man tournament which Skull Murphy won by demolishing Spinner McKenzie in the final. McKenzie defeated Andy Flyer (who naturally got booed out the building by carrying the English flag to the ring) in the semi-final with the final starting immediately thereafter.

 

The main event was the absolute pits though, featuring the team of Yokozuna & Fatu against Henrik The Viking and his team-mate, who for some reason was a Scottish guy wearing a kilt with bagpipe entrance music, but who hated Scotland. Looking back, it could possibly have been Drew McDonald. Fatu wasn't Rikishi either (although I thought it was for years) but apparently another relative.

 

Anyway, over ten minutes elapsed before anyone even locked up and despite the repeated attempts to sustain a chant for either of the faces, the crowd rapidly became disinterested. After about five more minutes of "action" it was over, with a bizarre finish of Fatu turning on Yoko, getting his team disqualified in the process. Fatu & the unknown then beat up Yoko until Skull Murphy (who was heel for the rest of the show) turned up for the save, issuing a challenge for another tag match which was accepted, but not for that night.

 

After the underwhelming introduction to live wrestling it was nearly another decade before I attended another show!

[Ant]

That sounds like a British Wrestling Federation show. I think "the ringer" was Tonga Kid. Earthquake later toured the same locations for this promotion. They were in the Sunday Mail a few times as the promoter (Shane Stevens) didn't pay venues.