House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Would Bob Holly have been in a position to be trying to take liberty with the new guys back in 95?

No. The money was so crap in 1995 that morale was on the floor, especially among guys like Bob who weren’t guaranteed a PPV cheque every month. They had to make a few token gestures like the lumberjack match at Julys In Your House to get more guys a payday and giving a slot on the SummerSlam card to Gunns vs Blu twins instead of the planned Owen/Yoko v Allied Powers rematch. Midcarders were starving, Sparky Plugg wouldn’t have done anything to jeopardise his $25 a night downside.

[Perry]

Bob hated those rookies

[Accident Prone]

Pleasantly surprised at the lack of "Look, it's Kane with a cape!" photos that always get trotted out.

WWF ran a series of house show Razor vs Shawn ladder matches in 1994, which blew my mind when I saw photos of them in PowerSlam years later.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Accident Prone

[Fatty Facesitter]

On the subject of Bobcore, after battering Rene Dupree on a house show in the early noughties, part of his punishment was to do the honours for a local talent at the next Smackdown tapings in the opening dark match of whichever town they were in. Quite a fall from grace to round off 2004 for him having managed to blag a WWE title match with Lesnar at the Royal Rumble in January. Can't track down a record of who the lucky chap was but I imagine Bob will have been thrilled at the prospect. A rare surprise for the audience that night - rare that one of the plucky local extras actually gets the W. 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Fatty Facesitter

[Jazzy G]

I bet he still had to work bloody hard for it, though. Bobcore will have gone down fighting, I'm sure. 

[BomberPat]

It's hilarious, because that's only a "punishment" if you're so much of a mark for yourself/"the business" that you give a shit about who you're losing to on an untelevised show in the first place. Almost purpose built for Bob Holly, then.

[Accident Prone]

The 'local lad' might've been our very own door-to-door DVD anti-piracy man, Chris Masters. This is from http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/ and is the second Holly match after the Dupree incident (he still wrestled Dupree the following night in the exact same match);

WWE @ Rochester, NY - Blue Cross Arena - November 23, 2004
Chris Masters defeated Hardcore Holly
Velocity:
Doug & Danny Basham defeated Paul London & Sho Funaki at 5:43 when Danny pinned Funaki following a double choke powerbomb
Luther Reigns & Mark Jindrak defeated Robby McAllister & A-1 at 2:17 when Reigns pinned McCallister with a kick to the chest
Shannon Moore, Chavo Guerrero Jr., & Nunzio defeated WWE Cruiserweight Champion Spike Dudley, Billy Kidman, & Akio at around 8:54 when Moore pinned Spike with the Mooregasm
Smackdown!:
Rey Mysterio Jr. pinned WWE Smackdown! Tag Team Champion Rene Dupree with the springboard legdrop
Rob Van Dam defeated WWE Smackdown! Tag Team Champion Kenzo Suzuki via disqualification when Suzuki began choking Van Dam with his scarf
Kurt Angle defeated cody Steele
Dawn Marie (dressed as an Indian) fought Jackie Gayda (dressed as a pilgrim) to a no contest at the 34-second mark when both shoved referee Charles Robinson and were broken apart by Charlie Haas moments later (Viva Las Divas)
WWE World Champion John Bradshaw Layfield & Orlando Jordan defeated Eddie Guerrero & Booker T after the Bashams interfered

Masters wouldn't properly debut on TV until February 2005, and so he spent the majority of the '04/'05 winter months beating jobbers in dark matches and house shows. So although Chris isn't from NY (he was from Santa Monica, California), he did get the rub from Hardcore. Bob would also do jobs to Jesus and Luther Reigns before rejoining Charlie Hass in their much-loved tag team.

Edited January 10, 2022 by Accident Prone

[The Dart]

That's probably it, but doesn't fit the "local jobber in his home town" story, which there's no evidence of happening...so it probably is Masters.

But, it's not exactly unusual, especially then, for someone who is in developmental to beat someone on the level of Hardcore Holly in a pre show dark match.

[Chili]

Takeshi Morishima. There's a name from the past (I know, time is fecked), but he had some WWE dark matches didn't he. He was likened as a Japanese Terry Gordy but WWE thought he just looked like a big child or something remarkably silly. 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Chili

[Jazzy G]

7 hours ago, Accident Prone said:

The 'local lad' might've been our very own door-to-door DVD anti-piracy man, Chris Masters. This is from http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/ and is the second Holly match after the Dupree incident (he still wrestled Dupree the following night in the exact same match);

WWE @ Rochester, NY - Blue Cross Arena - November 23, 2004
Chris Masters defeated Hardcore Holly
Velocity:
Doug & Danny Basham defeated Paul London & Sho Funaki at 5:43 when Danny pinned Funaki following a double choke powerbomb
Luther Reigns & Mark Jindrak defeated Robby McAllister & A-1 at 2:17 when Reigns pinned McCallister with a kick to the chest
Shannon Moore, Chavo Guerrero Jr., & Nunzio defeated WWE Cruiserweight Champion Spike Dudley, Billy Kidman, & Akio at around 8:54 when Moore pinned Spike with the Mooregasm
Smackdown!:
Rey Mysterio Jr. pinned WWE Smackdown! Tag Team Champion Rene Dupree with the springboard legdrop
Rob Van Dam defeated WWE Smackdown! Tag Team Champion Kenzo Suzuki via disqualification when Suzuki began choking Van Dam with his scarf
Kurt Angle defeated cody Steele
Dawn Marie (dressed as an Indian) fought Jackie Gayda (dressed as a pilgrim) to a no contest at the 34-second mark when both shoved referee Charles Robinson and were broken apart by Charlie Haas moments later (Viva Las Divas)
WWE World Champion John Bradshaw Layfield & Orlando Jordan defeated Eddie Guerrero & Booker T after the Bashams interfered. 

I'm presuming they don't mean Alistair Ralph when they refer to A-1 there? 

[WyattSheepMask]

15 minutes ago, Chili said:

Takeshi Rikio!!! There's a name from the past (I know, time is fecked), but he had some WWE dark matches didn't he. He was likened and a Japanese Terry Gordy but WWE thought he just looked like a big child or something remarkably silly. 

Are you sure you’re not mixing him up with Takeshi Morishima?

Morishima had 2 Dark matches in August 2008, one against Charlie Haas and the other against Jamie Noble. He might’ve even been the GHC Heavyweight Champion at the time

Edited January 10, 2022 by WyattSheepMask

[PowerButchi]

He did look like a big child though. Least intimidating face ever. 

[Merzbow]

6 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

I'm presuming they don't mean Alistair Ralph when they refer to A-1 there? 

Yeah, that's him, Team Canada's A-1.

[air_raid]

Here’s another New Generation one, and it’s to do with a finish. Vader didn’t get to do successful moonsaults on TV much outside of the first one on Fatu, one or two jobbers and I think one on Phineas Godwinn once. On the September 96 MSG show he got to pull one out to pin Sid at the end of a lumberjack match(!) which I also found interesting as I don’t recall him beating Sid on TV either. I thought it was pretty cool. First match here, followed by Marc Mero vs Farooq and Shawn & Taker vs Mankind & Goldust ;

edit - gone.

Edited July 28, 2022 by air_raid

[SaitoRyo]

There were so many random, awesome matches on house shows in the 2000s. Particularly on overseas tours, it seems. 

One show in Japan in the summer of 2005, for example, had Eddie Guerrero, Edge and Kurt Angle taking on Rey Mysterio and the Brothers of Destruction in a six-man.

Lasted twenty three minutes and the babyfaces went over, according to reports. I would love for that and other house show matches to end up on the Network someday. WWE used to tape house shows back then so they had clips to use in adverts/reports on TV. You know the footage is sitting in a vault somewhere.

There's a few random house show matches on the Network under Hidden Gems, like a Brock/Taker match from Finland in 2003, so here's hoping. I'd certainly take them above more boring indie stuff being added. 

There were some Randy Savage versus Undertaker house show/dark matches that I'd like to see, too. WWE uploaded a couple of clips of one of them to their YouTube channel a while back. No full match though, sadly. 

House shows were also, in an earlier era, a place for public hazing/ribbing and other shenanigans to take place. There was a house show in Sheffield in 2002 (the night before Rebellion) that ended with Tony Chimel receiving stinkfaces from Rikishi, Booker T, Edge, Rey Mysterio and Torrie Wilson, for example. 

I used to love going to house shows. Much better than TV tapings or even pay-per-views. I got to see a pretty great tag match main event one in Newcastle in '05 - Shawn Michaels and Batista versus Ric Flair and Triple H.