House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[Statto]

Imagine being an Ohioan father in 1987, whose kids watched that WrestleMania III show at their buddy's house and became massive Hulkamaniacs, then found out the WWF show was coming to town in a few months. They bug you to take them and you finally relent because they got good grades that year, you rock up to the Toledo Sports Arena on a hot August night and are presented with this:

[air_raid]

@Statto Fond memories of papa raid booking tickets and having fear that who I wanted to see wouldn’t be there, telling me “It probably won’t be any of the ones you know from TV.” Before I saw a show topped with Bret vs Owen for the belt in what turned out to be Brets first defence since Mania X anywhere in the world. The inverse of that Toledo situation.

[air_raid]

FEBRUARY 2025
Oh look, these just happened! … No main roster house shows for the first month since covid restrictions lifted. Damn.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT
Fallon Henley vs Wren Sinclair for the WNAT goes on last 7th in Lakeland, next night in Tampa its Oba Femi vs Eddy Thorpe for the big one. 21st in Fort Pierce after the switch, its Stephanie Vaquer vs Karmen Petrovic for the WNAT then night after in Sebring its Ethan Page vs Je'Von Evans in a lumberjack match.
CARDS - HIGHLIGHTS
In Lakeland Stephanie Vaquer vs Jazmyn Nyx opens, there's Josh Briggs & Yoshiki Inamura vs Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs Myles Borne & Tavion Heights and Roxanne Perez & Cora Jade vs Sol Ruca & Zaria amongst the undercard. In Tampa there's Nathan Frazer & Axiom vs Uriah Conners & Kale Dixon for the tag belts, Lexis King vs Bronco Nima for the Heritage Cup, Gigi Dolin, Tatum Paxley & Shotzi Blackheart vs Nikkita Lyons, Arianna Grace & Lainey Reid and Lince Dorado vs Dion Lennox among a fair few interesting sounding matches. Fort Pierce has Briggs & Inamura over Borne & Heights, King vs Channing Lorenzo for the cup, Trick Williams vs Charlie Dempsey and Paxley losing to Lash Legend, Sebring see Fraxiom retain over Hank & Tank, King beat Joe Coffey and Nyx lose to Lola Vice.

TVs
1st, you probably remember the Royal Rumble on the 1st which we discussed at length where 65,000+ see the return (ugh) of Charlotte in victory, Jordynne Grace showing her face again and nostalgia pops for Trish Stratus and Nikki Bella in the womens Rumble, Guns watch - the Motor City Machine Guns fail to win the tag titles back from DIY, Cody and Kev impress in their ladder match, and among the star studded Rumble featuring John Cena, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, the surprise of Joe Hendry and the return of AJ Styles, they give the nod to Jey Uso. Raw's "World Champion" doesn't wrestle. 3rd Raw (13,000+) in Cleveland, Sonya Deville (sob) jobs to Natalya for Main Event. We'll get to that. 7th SmackDown in Memphis Solo Sikoa returns at the end of the main event to seemingly reignite enmity with Cody and before the show Isla Dawn donates one last drop of value, losing to Shotzi for Speed. 10th Raw in Nashville (12,000+) there is actually a dark main - Bianca Belair & Naomi vs Chelsea Green & Piper Niven for the tag titles. 14th SmackDown in Washington (12,500... I remember when the Capital One used to be a tough building for them) - Guns watch - Shelley & Sabin beat Angel Garza & Humberto Carrilo and Trish comes out of the crowd to the rescue of Tiffany Stratton. 15th still in Washington NXT do "Vengeance Day" featuring defences for Oba, Fraziom and Giulia, plus Vaquer relieves Henley of the WNAT. 21st... Jesus, I think we've talked enough about The Rock wanting Cody's soul, right? 24th Raw in Cincinnati (12,000+) we get Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez winning the tag titles again beating Belair & Naomi in a fine sprint.

Again, the expected PLE (Chamber) doesn't fall inside the month we expect. Harumph. So I don't get to moan about neither champ defending NOR Reigns showing up until next month.

NON TITLE WHINING
Beaten on TV this month : DIY (SmackDown Tag Team Champions) by Pretty Deadly, Lyra Valkyria (Womens Intercontinental Champion) by Bayley, Chelsea Green (Womens United States Champion) by Naomi. OH YOU DIDN'T KNOW? Wins and losses don't matter, apparently.

DEPARTURES 
Around 7th of the month a series of releases hit and there’s a fair few I can’t make much comment on having never watched (or at least paid attention to) any of their WWE matches - Giovanni Vinci, Cedric Alexander and Blair Davenport all may have seen the writing on the wall - in particular I never saw anything special about the former Mrs Ospreay and she always felt a bit of a “Brit quota” hire. Reports that creative had no plans for her AT THE TIME of her main roster call up, should probably not surprise anyone. Conversely Isla Dawn is an odd one given “The Unholy Union” just won the tag belts last year, but then a woman who’s only presented as half of a tag team in that threadbare division is probably always on thin ice unless there’s clear upside to go further - Kayden Carter is probably looking over her shoulder right now. Sonya Deville hit me fairly hard and I think it’s disgraceful Shayna Baszler is still employed if she isn’t. I’m probably biased because I found her attractive, but Sonya had bad luck several times over. Trying to get over with an MMA gimmick at the time WWE were using the most recognisable women’s UFC fighter on the planet didn’t help, Absolution being fucked from the start due to Paige’s wonky neck definitely didn’t, then taking a leave of absence due to her stalker at the peak of the Fire & Desire split really hurt her, long term. Also, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows getting cut for the second time. Am I biased due to being in the building when "The Machine Gun" became the first gaijin to reach a G1 final since Rick Rude? Probably, but Ryogoku believed in him that night and I think there's potential there that most don't. I always liked Doc n Karl in Japan (oh, do shut up) because they were good heels to piss you off by retaining the titles over and over before eventually getting their comeuppance. Finally, and conversely... I never understood why Authors Of Pain got a second look, they'd clearly hit their ceiling first time round and were bland incarnate, the fact they insisted on Paul Ellering coming with them should have warded WWE off, really. We're talking about a bloke that never connected with the WWE audience in THREE previous runs over the 30 years prior, why would you give him a cheque??

Additionally, month end it breaks that Carmella, long absent for pregnancy then postnatal struggles with Scotty Steiner dropfoot, has had her contract expire without renewal. She hasn't gone into detail yet but there's something simmering that this hasn't exactly gone down well.

 

[TibBo]

Not sure if you have heard it matey, but there is a shoutout to @air_raid on this weeks WrestleMe

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, TibBo said:

Not sure if you have heard it matey, but there is a shoutout to @air_raid on this weeks WrestleMe

No way! I made it, ma! I'll pop this next to The Bagpipe Report, my nonsense being read out on SCG Radio and my actual in-person, actually talking appearance on ESPN in my "pretending I'm famous" wank bank. Well, and being very clearly visible during Musawa's intro at International Showdown, head in my hands during the main at ROH Unified etc etc etc

I'm assuming its not on YouTube yet?

[TibBo]

It's on the Summerslam 98 one they uploaded yesterday, so I can't imagine it will be hitting YouTube anytime soon matey  

Hopefully Mark/Pete don't mind too much and I won't have to hand my Pat-Patreonson wings back-in, but here is what they said (Mark was generally saying how ace the UKFF is, and how that should not skew anyone's vote for them in the end of year awards...)

"I like the UKFF, I go there every day.
There's always something really enjoyable.  There's some really funny people on there.

I mean, there's a chap who goes through house show results almost on a week by week basis throughout history, just explaining what was going on, and it is absolutely spellbinding to read it.  I absolutely love, love, love it.  Couldn't be better!"

---------------------

I must say, if you aren't already on the WrestleMe Patreon, and you have any interest in the architecture of 1960s independent petrol stations in the greater Crewe area, now's the fucking time to join!

[Chili]

If the WWE Vault wins that vote you're all as bad as Trump.

[air_raid]

MARCH 2025
Hooray, some proper house shows! They do a European tour wrapped snugly around a series of well-received European TVs.

THE MAIN EVENTS
15th-16th in Dortmund and Hannover Gunther vs AJ Styles for the Participation Belt sure sounds like a match that should have been on PLE - AND its in a cage. 22nd in Belfast Cody Rhodes vs Solo Sikoa for THE title in the cage goes on last after Gunther vs CM Punk to a double count-out before intermission, they can't be arsed dragging the cage to Nottingham the night after so the two title matches are combined to a tag won by the babyfaces. 29th in Vienna Gunther vs Punk goes into the cage, 30th in Amsterdam Punk beats Gunther by DQ in a standard match before intermission, a six-man tag goes on last though. Yeet.

THE CARDS
Jey Uso vs Dominik Mysterio, a big grudge match of Rhea Ripley vs Liv Morgan in a streetfight plus title matches of LA Knight vs Shinsuke Nakamura and Lyra Valkyria vs Zoey Stark prop up Gunther in Germany along with (The) Motor City Machine Guns vs Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano, Penta vs Chad Gable and just for the locals Ludwig Kaiser beats Austin Theory in Dortmund and Grayson Waller in Hannover. Belfast & Nottingham are fairly loaded with Rey Mysterio vs Finn Balor for an opener, Bron Breakker vs Sheamus (ouch) for the ICT, War Raiders vs New Day for the Raw tag titles and Chelsea Green vs Michin for the WUST plus Braun Strowman & Jimmy Uso vs Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga, Andrade vs Carmelo Hayes and Charlotte vs Piper Niven. In Austria and the Netherlands there's a bit of shuffling plus repeats of Knight vs Nakamura, Valkyria vs Stark, Penta vs Gable and in Amsterdam, Guns vs DIY.

VARIANTS
Unique to Vienna, Seth Rollins vs Dom opens, Jey beats Kaiser and Randy Orton tags with the Guns to beat DIY and The Miz. In the shorter card in Amsterdam those 10 men wrestle two matches combined in the aforementioned rematch and on last, Orton/Rollins/Uso over Miz/Dom/Kaiser.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT
7th in Jacksonville its Oba Femi vs Ridge Holland vs Wes Lee for the big belt, next night in Tampa Ethan Page vs Je'Von Evans in a Last Man Standing goes on last. 21st in Melbourne Oba is with Brooks Jensen, 22nd in Bartow Holland, Page and Eddy Thorpe drop Evans, Trick Williams and Oro Mensah.

CARDS - HIGHLIGHTS
Stephanie Vaquer vs Lainey Reid for the WNAT, Josh Briggs & Yoshiki Inamura vs Myles Borne & Tavion Heights and Thea Hail, Lash Legend & Maxxine Dupri vs Jacy Jayne, Jazmyn Nyx & Fallon Henley are the highlights in Jacksonville. Tampa see Trick Williams vs Brooks Jensen, Steph & Giulia beat Arianna Grace & Nikkita Lyons, Inamura beat Charlie Dempsey and Sol Ruca & Zaria vs Gigi Dolin & Tatum Paxley. In Melbourne there's Borne & Heights challenge Nathan Frazer & Axiom for the tag belts, Fatal Influence lose to Vaquer, Lola Vice and Kelani Jordan, Chemical X redeem themselves beating Wren Simclair & Kali Armstrong plus Lexis King vs Channing Lorenzo. Finally Bartow see (remember this lad?) Shawn Spears vs Joe Coffey, Briggs & Inamura beat Wolfgang & Mark Coffey plus Legend & Jakara Jackson beat Grace & Lyons.

TVs
What even is this calendar? Rumble in Feb, Chamber in March, Mania over Easter? They'll have done 3 PPVs in the time they used to squeeze 5. Anyway. Nearly 39,000 in Toronto see - check out the names not asked to do any house shows here? It's lots if them - Bianca Belair win the womens Chamber better remembered for Jade Cargill showing up to lamp attacker Naomi, Tiffany Stratton tag with Toronto hero Trish Stratus to beat Nia Jax & Candice LeRae, a hard-hitting Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn which sets up Randy returning, and famously John Cena win the mens Chamber then elect to side with The Rock one year after his attempt at screwing over the Bloodline, because I guess he wants Cody's soul too? Dwayne hasn't shown his face since, as I type. 3rd Raw in Buffalo (14,000) Valkyria and War Raiders retain plus Io Sky wins the title from Rhea despite a tantalising Ripley vs Belair match seemingly already set up for Mania. Hmm. 7th SmackDown in Philly the Green vs Michin streetfight ends not with B-Fab turning as I expected but Alba Fyre interfering and joining Chelsea's "Hervice," plus Knight wins the UST back from Nakamura ending one of the least eventful title reigns this century. 10th Raw they're at MSG and throw.. actually, not as much at it as you'd think. About the only match of note is a somewhat daft cage match between Punk and Rollins which devolves into a ludicrous video game finisher spamfest before Roman Reigns rescues us from the forced melodrama, yanks Seth out of the cage and annihilates both me to a fantastic reaction. Predictable, but brilliant. Though it continues a march to a triple threat match first signposted at the Rumble. Hmm. Next night at the ajacent theatre (where they did the Shamrock vs Owen Lions Den match in 1998) at Roadblock, Fraxiom fail in their shot at The Hardy Boys for the TNA tag title (WTF did I just type) and Vaquer beats Giulia in a title for title match to become undisputed queenpin of NXT. 14th SmackDown in front of a racous crowd in suburban Barcelona Street Profits win the tag titles from Ciampa & Gargano and Cody beats Miz thereafter. 17th in Brussels Cody vs Dom goes on after the show. 21st SmackDown in Bologna is best noted for the latest slobberknocker between Braun and Jacob, 24th Raw in Glasgow there are defences from Breakker and Valkyria plus Punk/Cody/Rey vs Balor/Dom/Carlito dark, 28th Sown at the O2 Guns vs DIY goes down before Raw and the Profits retain over Pretty Deadly, finally 31st back in the same building for Raw Io vs Rhea with Bianca as the ref expectedly goes to a non-finish on the way to Triple Threat Mania and there's Punk vs Kaiser dark.

NO NON TITLE WHINING
NO DEPARTURES

 

[air_raid]

APRIL 25

Time to be honest, they’ve killed domestic (main roster) house shows. None since January now. Since the first show ran by Capitol back in January 1953, after 72 years under three generations of McMahon and then the Khan/Levesque regime, we’ve arrived at the point where making the American wrestling fan buy tickets to come see the matches month in month out simply isn’t that important to the business model any more. What a time to be alive. I never dreamed when I started this project with a view to getting to “the end” it be literally the end of house shows.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

4th in Crystal River, Oba Femi vs Channing Lorenzo has no finish and next night in Gainesville Stephanie Vaquer vs Wren Sinclair for the Women’s title sits atop another 10 match card. 25th in Dade City it’s the tag belts’ turn with Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs Josh Briggs & Yoshiki Inamura, and the night after in Orlando Oba retains over Brooks Jensen.

CARD HIGHLIGHTS 

Crystal River get Stephanie Vaquer vs Jacy Jayne for the belt, Giulia vs Arianna Grace, a four-way with (winner) Lola Vice vs Cora Jade vs Jazmyn Nyx vs Zaria - in fact, 6/10 matches are womens. In Gainesville there’s Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs Swipe Right vs Tyson DuPont & Tyriek Igwe, Gallus lads Wolfgang, Joe Coffey & Mark Coffey vs Charley Dempsey, Tavion Heights & Myles Borne, double duty for Wes Lee losing first to Yoshiki Inamura then later tagging with Trick Williams to beat Bronco Nima & Lucien Price, plus wins underneath for Thea Hail, Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson, and Brooks Jensen (over Oro Mensah). Plenty of names I dont recognise in Dade City, victories for Williams, Lexis King, Hail and Wren Sinclair plus Izzi Dame vs Karmen Petrovic, Borne & Heights beat Nima & Price, and Cora fails to wrest the WNAT from Sol Ruca. Plenty more relative unknowns in Orlando plus wins for Mensah, Gallus and Vice (over Wendy Choo)  and Ruca & Zaria fall to Giulia & Roxanne Perez.

Hey, a fair few names there just lost their jobs.

TVs

4th SmackDown at the AllState Rey Fenix beats Nathan Frazer which is going turn out to be a bit of an audition for when they’re in a bind later. Guns watch - (The) Motor City Machine Guns beat Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa to become top contenders, and dark it’s Cody Rhodes vs Solo Sikoa for the title. 7th Raw in Minneapolis the El Grande Americano saga continues and Lyra Valkyria finally beats someone with some credibility (Bayley) a mere four months into her WICT reign. Smacksown in Seattle on 11th they tape Sol beating Candice LeRae (yes, still there) for the Speed title, on the show proper Fenix wins again, Valkyria & Bayley win a tag gauntlet (including Katana Chance & Kayden Carter - sob!) to earn a crack at the WGWTT at Mania, Chelsea Green vs Zelina Vega has a now infamous botch ending when Chelsea doesn’t hear the count and the ref has to count her out on live TV, and Randy Orton is back wrestling on TV, tagged with LA Knight against The Bloodline. 14th Raw in Sacramento draws 14,000+ but no dark matches to report, Fridays arrival in Paradise NV for Mania weekend has a very eventful go-home SmackDown at the T-Mobile where Carter & Chance knock off Piper Niven & Alba Fyre dark, on the show proper Carmelo Hayes continues his slow burn push by winning the Andre Battle Royal, Street Profits vs Guns goes to a no contest when the rest of the division interfere and Rey Mysterio sustains the injury that lets Fenix in the back door to Mania at the last minute. Saturday afternoon in the same building NXT Stand & Deliver sees Ricky Saints retain, Hank & Tank relieve Frazer & Axiom of the tag belts and there’s multi-person mania ; Oba retains in a 3-way, Steph in a 4-way (including Jordynne Grace) and Ruca wins the WNAT in a 6-WAY ladder match. Also on the kick off a 4-way contenders for the main roster WTT occurs where almost funny in its sadness, nearly half the women involved have just lost their jobs including one of the winners (Gigi Dolin, tagged with Tatum Paxley). That night we move into the Allegiant Stadium (nearly 61,500) for Mania night 1, which opens with Rumble winner Jey Uso stepping up and winning Seth’s Silver Medal from Gunther, the welcome sight of a storyline driven womens grudge match that didn’t need to be about a title in Jade Cargill vs Naomi (which I thought delivered some enjoyable action) and on last a man’s soul at stake for the second PLE running - CM Punk vs Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins, winner gets custody of Paul Heyman. Night 2 (63,000+) sees Dominik Mysterio win the ICT from Bron Breakker in a four-way without having to pin him, Joe Hendry turn up to fill the vacancy of Ortons opponent (hand picked by Randy, apparently) and back to back, two very contentious pieces of business. First Becky Lynch retains to replace the kayfabe-injured Bayley, announced for a WrestleMania match she was never getting, to win the tag belts with Lyra from Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez, then Cody drops the title to John Cena (winning his 17th World title, extending his own record in WWE but not really breaking Flairs record as they insist) in a terribly conceived, ludicrously short-sighted and poorly executed finish which involves a belt tug-of-war, Rhodes looking a dork for refusing to hit Cena with the belt when he has chance, and an incongruous stroll-in from musician Travis Scott, about whom my prior knowledge was that he is a musician, and his incongruous role in Cena turning heel and aligning with The Rock… for the night. What a shitshow. Next night back in the T-Mobile on Raw, Orton attacks Cena ensuring we know which title matters on BOTH shows, Lynch & Valkyria lose the tag belts back to Livi & Rocky after which The Man turns heel, Rusev returns, Vaquer debuts going to a non finish with Io Sky, current holder of the younger of the Women’s titles (Rhea’s belt) and Bron joins up with Seth & Paul. 25th Downers in Fort Worth, Aleister Black returns, Frazer & Axiom get called up, Tiffany Stratton vs Cargill goes non finish when Nia Jax waddles in, Zelina wins the WUST from Chelsea and the Profits retain vs DIY vs the Guns in a chaotic ladder match. Finally 28th Raw has nothing dark but Roxi has her first match on Raw, a non finish with Rhea Ripley, Vaquer pins Ivy Nile and Sami Zayn is the latest victim of Dangerous Alliance ‘25.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Chelsea (Women’s US Champion) by Vega

DEPARTURES 

The annual spring clean, much like Mania, came later than usual this year as you likely already know, so none. Unless you count Meiko Satomura announcing her retirement after her last matches for Stardom, technically still having been under a WWE contract despite not having wrestled under their banner for more than two years. Wait til next month.

 

Edited May 4, 2025 by air_raid

[air_raid]

Long term readers might like to know that periodically I go through and refresh, removing videos that have been pulled and adding new relevant video from WWE Vault, one or two of the better Twitter accounts, and fresh YouTube finds. For instance the July 91 post now includes the Macho Man “mixtape” video which includes the only surviving footage from Macho Man vs Undertaker, the finish to Megamaniacs vs Money Inc lumberjack match culminating in the Hogan/Giant Gonzalez face to face has been added to June 93, and just today on my search for replacement footage for Bret vs Bulldog at the Meadowlands in November 95, I unearthed an upload of their match from Stu’s anniversary show in December that year by which time Bret had won the belt - and it’s added here.

 

[air_raid]

MAY 2025
NO MAIN ROSTER HOUSE SHOWS AGAIN
Fuck WWE. Oh well, at least they're in Europe in August....

MAIN EVENTS - NXT
18th/19th is our only weekender. It’s Oba Femi vs Dante Chen for the big belt in Lakeland and Stephanie Vaquer vs Jacy Jayne for the Women’s title in Jacksonville.
THE CARDS
Lots of names I don’t know in Lakeland, there’s Bronco Nima & Lucien Price vs Uriah Conners & Kale Dixon, Lash Legend vs Nikkita Lyons and wins for Lexis King, Lince Dorado and Karmen Petrovic. A bigger card in Jacksonville has Noam Dar vs Ridge Holland for the Heritage Cup, wins for Legend, Chase U, Trick Williams and Lola Vice, plus Ethan Page vs Myles Borne vs Je’von Evans vs Brooks Jensen.

Kale isn’t a fucking name, it’s a leaf.

TVs
No dark matches 2nd SmackDown in Des Moines, nor 5th Raw in Omaha though they at least got a high profile match - Jey Uso vs Seth Rollins in Rollins’ chance to regain his own Participation Belt ; fuck finish. 9th SmackDown in suburban Dayton Jimmy Uso vs Shinsuke Nakamura is a two move dark opener, see below, and Alexa Bliss wrestles for the first time since Elimination Chamber. Next night in St Louis 17,000 fans turn up to Backlash, a 5 match PLE with half the roster missing and one match featuring a commentator, topped by presumably the last John Cena vs Randy Orton match plus JC Mateo (Jeff Cobb) as the newest member of The Bloodline. Nothing dark reported on Raw in Louisville, 16th SmackDown in Greensboro (headlined by Tiffany Stratton vs Nia Jax for the belt) or 19th Raw in Greenville, 23rd Smackers in Savannah. 24th in Tampa it’s SNME, The Creed Brothers vs Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde is dark before the show proper where CM Punk wrestles, Bronson Reed joins the new Dangerous Alliance and Cody Rhodes (remember him?) turns up to challenge Cena to a fucking tag match at the next PLE. Next night in the same building NXT do a Battleground, on which Sol Ruca vs Kelani Jordan for the WNAT steals the show, Steph retains the big one against Jordynne Grace and Trick wins the TNA title from Joe Hendry. No dark matches on Monday's Raw either.
NON TITLE WHINING 
Beaten on TV this month : Street Profits (SmackDown tag team champions) by Nathan Frazer & Axiom, Zelina Vega (Women’s US Champion) in triple threat vs (winner) Giulia vs Charlotte. This has snuck back in, hasn’t it? With the decline in ANY form of non-televised match, this might be all the thread is within 3-4 months.

DEPARTURES
Another cost cutting measure as the wrestling company striving to fill their air time with as few wrestling matches as possibly again decides they're paying too many wrestlers. The value has somehow run out again of Braun Strowman after doing everything possible to get Jacob even more over in the build to Mania. Little over a year after Dakota Kai bringing the sexy at Mania 40, she's done. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance are BOTH cut despite having recently been equalisers against the Secret Hervice ; let's be fair, there won't be a Womens tag team division for long. Shayna Baszler finally stops stealing a cheque for boring everyone to death. NXT is hit even harder ; Gigi Dolin, Cora Jade and Jakara Jackson are pruned from the Womens division despite being fairly featured and/or good history on the show, the former Meta Four is even further decimated with the release of Oro Mensah, all three Gallus lads Wolfgang, Joe Coffey and Mark Coffey pack their bag(pipe)s and among the others let go are regulars Eddy Thorpe and Riley Osborne.

Edited July 17, 2025 by air_raid
It is the year 2005. The treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobots' home planet of Cybertron.

[air_raid]

Here's something I should have done ages ago. A constantly updated index post of what matches and oddities can be found throughout - hereafter it will footer any new posts for easy access.

(WORK IN PROGRESS)

Intro - (Bret vs Bulldog from Kuwait, May 1996)
(Tito Santana vs Undertaker in Barcelona from Spanish TV, October 1991 AND Bret vs Bulldog Coliseum dark match, June 1992)
(Bret/Edge/Rey vs Del Rio/Drew/Cody from Istanbul, Nov '10)
Razor Ramon special - (10/09/92 Providence house show fancam IN FULL, Razor vs Savage Coliseum dark match 28/10/92)
WWF Japan 1994 special - (08/05/94 Bret vs Bam Bam AND 07/05/94 Bret vs Macho Man fancams)
(Austin/Taker/Cactus/Chainsaw vs Nation, 29/12/97 pro shot Raw dark match)
(Taker/Austin vs HBK/HHH, 15/11/97 MSG shot with WWF ringside camera)
Lex Luger special - (20/10/93 Luger vs Borga Coliseum dark match)
(28/12/93 Quebecers vs Bam Bam & Adam Bomb fancam from Chicago)

FIRST HALF 1987 (02/05/87 Boston Garden CCTV broadcast in full)
SECOND HALF 1987 (12/09/87 Boston Garden CCTV broadcast in full)
FIRST HALF 1988 (05/03/88 Boston Garden CCTV broadcast in full)
Q3 1988 (15/07 and 13/08 LA Sports and 19/09 Meadowlands CCTV broadcasts in full)
Q4 1988 (16/10 and 17/12 LA Sports CCTV broadcasts in full)

Edited May 28, 2025 by air_raid

[air_raid]

“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends” - he says, quoting fittingly from Danny Baker in the intro to the Own Goals & Gaffes 2 tape. Fittingly, because there’s a lot there you could assign as relics from a bygone era, and that’s increasingly how WWE seems to act in regards to domestic live events without benefits of ad revenue or increasing Netflix views. Also fitting, is that I write for the first time since the passing of Hulk Hogan, just a few days shy of what would have been his 72nd birthday - a man so committed to the road, he used to wrestle 400 days a year thanks to the time difference to Japan, brother.

JUNE 2025

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

13th in Lakeland it’s a tag title main event with Hank Walker & Tank Ledger vs Trick Williams & Lexis King, then Saturday night in Dade City it’s Oba Femi vs Yoshiki Inamura for the big belt. Two Fridays later in Fort Pierce, a 10 match show is topped by Hank & Tank, Je’Von Evans & Ricky Saints vs Ethan Page, Wes Lee, Tyson DuPont & Tyriek Igwe, then Saturday 28th in Melbourne the big lad turns back the challenge of Niko Vance.

THE CARDS

Lakeland see Noam Dar vs Channing Lorenzo, Lash Legend vs Kelani Jordan, Je’Von Evans vs Lince Dorado and wins for Dante Chen, Thea Hail, Izzi Dame, a Chase U (Uriah Connors & Kale Dixon) win in a tag team three way and an 8-woman tag won by Karmen Petrovic, Tatum Paxley, Zena Sterling & Tyra Mae Steele. In Dade City there’s Jacy Jayne vs Lainey Reid for the belt, Lorenzo vs Josh Briggs, Sol Ruca & Zaria vs Fallon Henley & Jazmyn Nyx, Lola Vice vs Dame vs Nikkita Lyons vs Arianna Grace and undercard wins for three of Dark State, Brooks Jensen and the aforementioned Niko Vance. In Fort Pierce Jacy retains against Hail, Briggs & Yoshiki Inamura defeat Bronco Nima & Lucien Price, Jensen beats Luca Crusifino and Reid loses to Blake Monroe, who I’m sure you all know is TAFKA Mariah May. Finally in Melbourne Ruca defends the WNAT against Dame, Lorenzo retains the Heritage Cup against Chen, there’s Vice vs Lyons, Inamura vs Tavion Heights, wins for Zaria and Edris Enofé, and Dixon, Connors and Andre Chase lose to a different three Dark State.

TVs 

The 2nd June Raw from Tulsa lives long in my memory for the anticipation for CM Punk vs AJ Styles vs El Grande Americano only to be let down by minimal decent sequences between the two major stars. Nothing of note from SmackDown in Bakersfield, Saturday 7th in Inglewood (suburban LA) a fascinating Worlds Collide in the afternoon at the Kia Forum in conjunction with recent acquisition AAA sees Page retain his NXT title and Chad Gable (as himself) fall short in a crack at AAA’s Mega Championship. That evening at the Intuit Dome (home of the LA Clippers) a very eventful - comparatively speaking - Money In The Bank sees briefcase wins for Naomi (a revelation as a heel) and Seth Rollins (for the second time), Jacob Fatu turn on Solo Sikoa during the latter match, Mrs Rollins Becky Lynch beat Lyra Valkyria for the loser belt and a tag team main instead of either World title being contested (WTF) seeing former tag team champions Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso vs John Cena & Logan Paul where “The American Nightmare” pins the WWE Champion after very popular interference from a hastily re-hired R-Truth (see below). I will continue to slate the company for putting on so few wrestling matches, especially on PLE, but at least there are always talking points, I suppose. 9th Raw in Phoenix has a couple of big roster happenings ; Nikki Bella returns to promote the upcoming second Evolution PPV/PLE only to be confronted by Liv Morgan, Truth sheds his gimmick AND his braids to start going by real name Ron Killings (watch this space) and Jey coughs up Seth’s Silver Medal back to Gunther. Experiment very much over. 13th Downers in Lexington, as well as a Main Event taping there’s a true dark match as they have a look at Hikule’o, the third of Haku’s lads, going over Kit Wilson of Pretty Deadly. The show proper sees busy man Cena attacked by Killings, keep things simmering with Cody AND start building his match with “hypocrite” Punk at the next blood-stained PLE. 16th Raw in suburban Green Bay there’s the second round in as main tapings for Karrion Kross vs Cruz Del Toro although this one is dark and while wrestling Asuka, Liv sustains the injury that will cost her both the tag title and her apparent forthcoming program with Bella Bot 1. Friday 20th it’s worth mentioning on a 14 match Evolve taping at the PC, Dorado falls short against Jackson Drake and there’s Kali Armstrong vs Natalya, both for the relevant titles. That night before Speed/SmackDown in Grand Rapids inbound Tonga 3rd of 3 beats Ryan Matthias and on the show proper Killings beats Cena by DQ. Nothing much to note 23rd Raw in Columbus (OH) except 13,500 is the latest in a string of healthy gates. 27th SmackDown in (ugh) Riad it’s the semi-regular “big” episode where Giulia ends the nondescript UST reign of poor Zelina Vega, and Tiffany Stratton retains against Nia Jax in a Last Woman Standing match. Saturday night on the PLE, Solo wins the UST from Fatu after inference from JC Mateo, a back-from-injury Tonga Loa AND Hikule’o who will later be dubbed Talla Tonga - it’s going to get daft when Tama comes back - plus Cena beats Punk in their apparent last match after Rollins (OBVIOUSLY) interferes. Finally 30th in Pittsburgh  a live Raw sees Finn Balor and (ugh) JD McDonagh relive The New Day of the Raw tag belts (I still don’t know who was meant to be the faces) and a taped SmackDown sees Alexa Bliss and Charlotte become top contenders to the WTT.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Dominik Mysterio (Intercontinental Champion) in a four way vs Penta, Bron Breakker and (winner) Sami Zayn.

DEPARTURES

Having JUST lost to Cena on SNME a week prior, R-Truth has his contract expire without renewal as a cost-cutting measure on 1st June, presumably thinking that storyline was the last bit of value they could extract on what they saw as a marginal, comic relief character. After a massive backlash from the fanbase, he’s hurriedly brought back at MITB. In the presser (remember those?) Uncle Paul would not be drawn on if the release was real or work, and/or if the fan outrage sparked a U-turn, simply saying “I love the question. Enjoying the show? All part of the show, man.” Even more cynically, his bio on WWE.com reads as I type, “Just when you think Truth has faded into the sunset, he comes back, and he comes back strong.” OK.

On a similar but different note with a very different ending, Carlito reveals on his social networks around the same time as Truth’s release, that his contract isn’t getting renewed, and jokes that WWE have asked him to pay back money he’s stolen, and after watching back his televised performances, his lawyers have advised him to pay up. At least he was a good sport about it. Valhalla (Sarah Logan) is also cut 2nd June - no shock there, she was never wrestling.

https://youtu.be/CDL5P1YwYFI?si=FPQZ2Yu-awWvWgZ2

JULY

HOLY FUCK, a couple of domestic house shows!!! Shut the front door.

MAIN EVENTS 

19th/20th just down the road from where a son of a plumber grew up, sandwiched between two Texan episodes of TV, it’s Cody Rhodes, Jacob Fatu & Randy Orton vs Solo Sikoa, JC Mateo & Tonga Loa in Corpus Christi and Edinburg, with Gunther vs Penta for Seth’s Silver Medal before intermission. Saturday 26th at Mexico City Arena, for the six man Orton’s out and Jimmy Uso is in, match 8 of the night right before the same title fight, next night in Monterey Gunt and Pent are back sending them to intermission with the six man on last.

THE CARDS

In Texas Rhea Ripley & Io Sky vs Naomi & Nia Jax is a big cross brand revenge tag, Jimmy Uso vs Carmelo Hayes in a streetfight continues a TV storyline, there’s Lyra Valkyria vs Bayley, LA Knight vs Bronson Reed, Charlotte vs Raquel Rodriguez and Uncle Howdy, Erick Rowan, Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy vs Nathan Frazer, Axiom & The Motor City Machine Guns. In Mexico there’s Dominik Mysterio vs El Grande Americano vs Ron Killings for the ICT, Tiffany Stratton vs Nia for the Women’s title, Raquel and Roxanne Perez defending the WTT against Michin & B-Fab, Reed and Bron Breakker against Jey Uso & Sami Zayn, Stephanie Vaquer vs Chelsea Green, Andrade & Ray Fenix vs The Creed Brothers and especially for the locals, Mr Iguana, Pagano & Psycho Clown vs Santos Escobar, Angel Garza & Humberto Carillo. It was a good weekend to be Latino.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

Friday 18th in Sebring is a bit B-show, Sol Ruca & Zaria vs Fallon Henley & Jazmyn Nyx goes on last. Next night in Tampa it’s Oba Femi vs Hank Walker for the belt. Friday 25th in Citrus Springs stands alone (Lakeland rescheduled for November) where they open with a 10 bell salute to Hulk Hogan, who grew up 90 minutes down the road in Port Tampa, one day after his passing. A 15-woman battle royal won by Thea Hail goes on last, it’s what he would have wanted, Jack.

THE CARDS

Of note in Sebring there’s Andre Chase vs Charlie Dempsey, Kelani Jordan vs Lash Legend, Myles Borne & Tavion Heights vs Lexis King & Harlem Lewis, Tatum Paxley vs Zena Sterling and the rest of Chase U, Kale Dixon & Uriah Connors vs Wes Lee & Tyriek Igwe - or “The High Ryze” (ugh). Plenty of “who?” in Tampa but there’s Heights vs Brooks Jensen to a no contest, Kali Armstrong vs Kendal Grey for the Evolve women’s belt, Zaria vs Izzi Dame, and from the files of “forgot he was there” Ridge Holland beats a Tate Wilder and it’s Shawn Spears & Niko Vance vs Je’Von Evans & Yoshiki Inamura with a DQ finish - two screwy finishes on a house show? Lame. Might as well tell you all of Citrus Springs, most of it is interesting - Hank Walker & Tank Ledger defend the tag title against Bronco Nima & Lucien Price, Chase U and High Ryze, Holland beats Shiloh Hill, Inamura drops Wilder, Legend over Jaida Parker, Jordan beats Tyra Mae Steele, plus Lince Dorado vs Edris Enofé and Tony D’Angelo vs Anthony Luke.

TVs

No roster notes of interest until 11th SmackDown in Nashville where Lumis & Gacy win the tag belts from the seemingly indomitable Street Profits - plus dark matches of Sheamus vs Ludwig Kaiser and (Raws) Gunther vs Jey no DQ. Next night there’s a big one-two in Atlanta, NXT Great American Bash at spiritual home of early WCW, Center Stage, has defences for Oba, Ruca and Ethan Page (NAT) plus on last, Henley and Women’s champ Jacy Jayne fall to Blake Monroe & Jordynne Grace. Later at State Farm Arena (12,500) the latest SNME has a dark match of Michin/B-Fab over Piper Niven & Alba Fyre, and an eventful show proper sees a seemingly cursed Seth Rollins appear to sustain a legitimate serious injury (which would be his third in little over three years) and Bill Goldberg wrestle his final final match against Big Gunt, though I have my doubts at this point whether Baldy will be satisfied having gone out on his back. They aren’t done there however - next night in the same house WWE do a second Evolution. Much like the first it’s poorly promoted on TV and the attendance is disappointing (8500) but much like the first it delivers one of the better shows I’ve seen for ages. In highlights nearly too many to mention, there are successful defences for Judgment Day, WICT holder Becky Lynch, Tiffy (over the incomparable Trish Stratus) and Jayne over Grace in which Monroe turns heel, Vaquer wins a 20-woman battle royal which includes Nikki Bella and features Michael Cole outing himself as a gooner by repeatedly referring to Candice LeRae as “Candice Michelle,” Naomi falls to Jade Cargill in a strong “No Holds Barred” match refereed by Bianca Belair to put a lid on the story between her, Gilly and Belly, but then returns at show close to interrupt a (really rather superb) title bout between Sky and Ripley to cash in her briefcase and win the Women’s Silver Medal to, in fairness, a big pop from Atlanta. “You deserve it” strikes again - shame, she’s done great as an unhinged baddie. Next night on Raw in Birmingham, Bella returns to singles by pinning Green, and CM Punk earns a title shot at the Participation Belt. With mortal enemy Rollins crocked, should be plain sailing for Punker to finally get his moment in the sun, right? 18th SmackDown in San Antonio had a tasty dark match tag (see below). Nothing of note from Houston Raw or Cleveland SmackDown) except Judgment Day beat Valkyria and Bayley in the shot they should have had at Mania. 28th in Detroit (near 15,000) is a big night for some of the girls, Natalya drops in with her semi regular reminder that she’s (kind of) a main roster wrestler, teaming with Maxxine Dupri to beat Karmen Petrovic & Lainey Reid for Main Event, and a couple of big multi-persons on Raw see reunited Asuka and Kairi Sane team with AJ Styles to beat Roxi, Raqqy and Dom Dom, then Ripley/Sky/Vaquer/Bella defeat Naomi/Green/Niven/Fyre.

NON TITLE WHINING 

None that I spotted but fear not, Road Dog will be back next month.

DEPARTURES 

Bill Goldberg, if it counts, since (a) he probably isn’t truly finished up and (b) he hasn’t been a regular for more than 20 years. Non wrestlers wise, Scott Stanford is let go from his deal mid-month in a shock to most of us who had forgotten he existed, much less was employed at WWE.

https://youtu.be/_owCt0CpBFA?

[air_raid]

AUGUST 25

A European tour month end shows a huge drop in attendance from previous jaunts - yeah, bringing PLEs to a territory but then charging the same ludicrous prices for “just a house show” will do that. Also this month a name I never thought I’d have to type on this forum unless it was a Twatlist thread.

THE MAIN EVENTS

It’s CM Punk, LA Knight & Penta vs Finn Balor, Dominick Mysterio & JD McDonagh 23rd in Liverpool and 24th in Newcastle (just 7600). We switch it up 26th-28th in Manchester, Leeds and Cardiff where Judgment Day fall to Punk, Penta and Sami Zayn.

Just a few days out from Manchester there were still hundreds of tickets still available even with the half-capacity setup. Time will tell if the tour was considered an expensive flop and they’ll either reduce prices or stop running them - I think the latter.

THE CARDS

Our tour card before Raw has Tiffany Stratton vs Jade Cargill vs Nia Jax for the belt, Jacob Fatu, Sami Zayn & Jimmy Uso vs Solo Sikoa, JC Mateo & Tonga Loa before intermission, Io Sky vs Roxanne Perez and Lyra Valkyria vs Bayley which both sound alright, War Raiders vs Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed (ouch) and Damian Priest vs Aleister Black. After Raw there’s Alexa Bliss & Charlotte vs Roxi & Raquel Rodriguez for the tag belts, Giulia vs Zelina Vega for the WUST, two of the Wyatts (in Manchester and Cardiff it’s Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis) vs LA Knight & Rey Fenix for the SDTTT, Raiders vs New Day (twice in both Leeds and Cardiff, the second match being no DQ), Joe Hendry vs The Miz, still Tiffy vs Jax vs Jade and Fatu, Jimmy and Jey Uso beating MFT who is still Solo/Mateo/Loa in Manchester and Cardiff.

Umm… where are half the roster?? Two championships and you can’t persuade Cody OR Seth to wrestle?? Rhea? Becky? Fucking poor.

VARIATIONS 

Two different versions of MFT lose to Jacob, Jimmy and Jey - in Leeds it’s Solo, Loa and and Talla Tonga. The defenders of the tag belts are Uncle Howdy & Erick Rowan in Leeds - the Freebirds have a lot to answer for. In Manchester, finally, something creatively hideous ; after losing a straight match to the Raiders, New Day lose a no DQ match to “The Manchester Maniacs” (thanks to Erik & Ivar beating them up) who are “comedy” twat Michael McIntyre and the guest from his latest show under masks, and had something to do with fundraising for the hospital that saved one of his sons life - a wrestling connection is one of the ailments was necrotising fasciitis which is what killed Matt Annis, one of the Hart grandchildren. Good cause and all that but… pro wrestlers jobbing to Michael McIntyre.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

8th in Davenport Jacy Jayne vs Lash Legend goes on last then Saturday 9th in Venice it’s a mixed six-person of Hank Walker, Tank Ledger & Zaria vs Shawn Spears, Niko Vance & Izzi Dame “impromptu” after a DQ in Zaria vs Dame - if you told me TAFKA Tye Dillinger would wait THIS long to main event in any capacity after his return, I wouldn’t have believed you. 22nd in Lakeland it’s Kali Armstrong vs Thea Hail for Evolves belt and next night in Sebring Joe Hendry vs Channing Lorenzo goes on last.

THE CARDS - HIGHLIGHTS

REPEAT!! Lexis King vs Myles Borne in a blindfold match (!) occurs in both Venice and Lakeland. Unbelievable. Fairly strong in Davenport - there’s Hank Walker, Tank Ledger & Je’Von Evans vs Wes Lee, Tyriek Igwe & Tyson DuPont of High Ryze, Kelani Jordan & Thea Hail vs Fallon Henley & Jazmyn Nyx, Yoshiki Inamura vs Charlie Dempsey, Chase U lads Uriah Connors & Kale Dixon vs Bronco Nima & Lucien Price, and undercard wins for Andre Chase himself, Wren Sinclair, Lainey Reid and Tavion Heights. In Venice, Sol Ruca defends the WNAT against Reid, the rest of the 10 match card (including both parts of the main) is a bit C string and includes wins for Hail, Nikkita Lyons & Kali Armstrong, Josh Briggs and Tate Wilder over Briggs’ former partner Brooks Jensen in the opener which I’m inclined to call a minor upset. Lakeland features Lash Legend vs Reid vs Izzi Dame vs Zaria, Igwe & DuPont over Dixon & Connors plus wins for Jensen, Henley & Nyx and Tatum Paxley over Kendal Grey. Finally in Sebring, Dame & Paxley beat Grey & Sinclair, Lyons loses to Carlee Bright, there’s Arianna Grace vs Karmen Petrovic and wins for Shawn Spears & Niko Vance, Chase/Dixon/Connors, Jensen, Zena Starling and Ridge Holland.

TVs

1st SmackDown in Newark is notable for the Triple A tag title contested in Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo vs Psycho Clown & Mr Iguana plus the first trip to the pay window for Tallest Tonga over pretend family member Jimmy Uso. Next two nights, of course, near 114,000 tickets combined are sold for a two night SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium (that still only totals 12 matches) where one or two decisions overshadow the amount of decent wrestling. CM Punk survives Gunther on Saturday night to hold a version of WWEs World title for the first time in nearly 13 years, but no longer has he been handed Seth’s Silver Medal than Seth Rollins himself hobbles out, tosses his crutches down revealing the injury to be a ruse, and cashes in to regain his namesake - lovely symmetry to Punk’s ringside presence when Rollins lost it and to the last two cash ins also involving McIntyre/Priest. Sunday night, Cody Rhodes pins born-again hero John Cena to lift the real title for the second time after a compelling no DQ battle, and it’s all very cordial thereafter until Brock Lesnar returns to lay out Cena. Monday 4th Raw at the Barclays (11,000+) Stephanie Vaquer vs Ivy Nile appears to be a dark opener before the matches that air on Main Event and - the League of Nations explodes! - Sheamus vs Rusev goes to a non finish. 8th SmackDown in Montreal sudden buddies Cody & Cena non finish with Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul and there’s bonuses of Bayley vs Raquel and Zayn vs El Grande Americano. 11th Raw in Quebec City, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toronto vs The Creed Brothers happens dark before Main Event, nothing to report from Boston SmackDown or Philadelphia Raw. Nearly 10,000 turn up for a SmackDown in Dublin but Sheamus is only worthy of beating Kit Wilson for Main Event, 25th Raw at the NEC (12,000) is most noted for Becky Lynch using recently deceased Ozzy Osbourne’s name for cheap heat, which isn’t a good look in the second city. 29th SmackDown in Lyon, Zayn wins the UST from Solo and Penta vs Dom follows the show. 31st its Clash in Paris (30,000), a night of shocks and rarities - Roman Reigns comes to work AGAIN only to be written out, Nikki Bella challenges (and loses to) Big Time Bex, Rusev actually wins a PLE match, Cena drops Paul and Lynch helps Rollins retain in a four way, setting the table for next months big return.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Solo (US Champion) by Zayn

DEPARTURES 

Not long after SummerSlam the profiles of Karrion Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux are moved to “Alumni” on the website and it’s clear their deals are about to expire. In spite of Kross’ recent surge in popularity the company clearly saw it as merely a last chance to extract some value and pay off Kross’ first meaningful main roster singles storyline, before deciding the ROI just wasn’t there. In Scarlett in particular, I’m not sure they really knew what they had.

https://youtu.be/myPiNloNgx0?si=IIl8WmmfTXpg4O5h

 

Edited September 19, 2025 by air_raid
MY ass better call somebody.

[Chili]

Something mumble mumble the WCW thread please grumble mumble.