House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[Onyx2]

59 minutes ago, air_raid said:

DugBoat

Bravo.

[air_raid]

24 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

Bravo.

Was one of DugBoats opponents, yes.

[air_raid]

August 1990 is here and SummerSlam might have been “The Heat Returns” but for gate receipts what they’re really dying for is “The Hulk Returns.”

Straight out of the gate there’s changes - Ultimate Warrior & Texas Tornado vs Rick Rude & Mr Perfect is our new tag main event starting in - where else? - Dallas on 3rd and throughout the month until 26th in Hartford we start with Warrior & LOD vs all 3 Demolition. Post SummerSlam that’s the main in Nashville and Salt Lake City to wrap the month.

8th TVs in Providence HULK IS BACK as Hulk Hogan pins Dino Bravo dark with Big Boss Man and Earthquake in the respective corners (from the Mega Matches tape), as he does mid-late month in Spokane, Tacoma, at the Cow Palace, 10,000 gate (the first of those I’ve seen in ages) at Long Beach, in Phoenix, Dayton and Niagara Falls, which takes us to SummerSlam, and at TVs afterwards they tape 2 Hogan & Tugboat vs Earthquake & Bravo matches, one of which makes the Hulkamania Forever tape.

Dusty Rhodes & Sapphire (with Elizabeth) vs Macho King & Sensational Queen (with Brother Love) is still going, 5th in Halifax Rhodes and Randy are in a cage, 6th in Manchester NH it’s two singles with Sapphire beating Sherri but Savage beating Rhodes by count-out. Post SummerSlam Dustys winning cage matches in Poughkeepsie and White Plains to wash the taste of betrayal away. They had Liz on the road right up until 25th at the Palace. 10th-11th in Sudbury and Kitchener (Ontario) Randy actually headlines with Superfly. Again.

We have a few more of Hacksaw & Tugboat vs Earthquake & Dino Bravo but 3rd in Rochester it’s Tugboat pinning Earthquake (!) in singles after he’s been hit by Duggans 2x4. Quake gets revenge pinning Duggan 24th in St Louis but most of the month he’s just in Dinos corner against the Hulkster. 30th/31st in Huron SD (no idea) and Cedar Rapids we switch to Tugboat & Big Boss Man vs Quake & Bravo.

That’s your main events, here are the other feuds, most of which transition after the PPV. Although weirdly some of the transitions only last 4-5 shows before something new comes along for a lot of the guys.

Demolition carry on working the Harts in support of main events. It’s usually Smash & Crush but it’s Ax & Crush 10th-11th in Tampa and Orlando. Mid month we move to Harts & Hacksaw vs all three, with varying results, including going on last at Boston Garden on 18th following Savage/Rhodes/Liz etc. Weirdly the last Hart contributions for the month after SummerSlam are two singles matches Anvil has with Paul Roma.

Rockers vs Orients comes to a screaming halt on 4th when Shawn does his knee. Marty wrestles one or the other in singles a few times but then Shane Douglas starts to substitute. Tanaka misses a Canada loop so it becomes Jannetty & Douglas vs Sato & Mr Fuji. 25th at Auburn Hills it’s Marty, Shane & Jim Duggan vs Tanaka, Sato and Fuji. 30th in Nashville Marty loses a singles to Valentine (with Honky interfering) but 31st in Salt Lake City Shawns thinks he’s pulled himself together and we kick off Rockers vs Rhythm & Blues. This is the match Shawn refers to in his book where he knows he’s fucked, and he won’t be back now until October.

Jake Roberts vs Bad News goes on through the month up to the PPV then Snake moves into teaming with Hacksaw against Rude & Perfect month end, which confused me because I assumed Rude would be working Big Boss Man straight away. These are stopgaps before singles matches in those feuds which in the case of Perfect vs Jake will be a further stopgap before Perfect starts chasing Tornado and Jake returns to Bad News - however, Brown only returns for one of his stopgap matches with Koko on 30th before he quits. 15th at Utica TVs there’s a dark match dry run of Perfect vs Jake as featured on SuperTape 3 which I remember for Al Hays shouting something about Perfect going for the “sugar sack” when they’re on the mat like it was peak Crossface Chickenwing levels of jeopardy.

Million Dollar Man works Boss Man most of the month, losing most but winning the odd one by DQ including taped at the Providence TVs from SuperTape 3. Teddy moves on to post PPV shots at Texas Tornado, a feud which will run in earnest later, but just holds him over til they start the Dusty run. As well as dropping a DQ loss to Ted, Kerry was also drop a non-title match by PINFALL to Perfect dark at month end TVs so hardly an auspicious start to his reign.

Divorced from Hammer & Honky at the end of the month, the Bushwhackers start a run month end with the Orient Express. Nikolai Volkoff vs Sgt Slaughter is another that will run and run, Sarge taping his first squashes early month and going on the road 30th. Tito Santana vs Warlord is one that runs before, at AND after SummerSlam.

There’s a midcard shuffle mid month. Ron Garvin steps up from beating losers to doing a nightly job to the Barbarian. Precipitated by the Power & Glory stuff Hercules starts trading wins with Jimmy Snuka and Roma is pinning former partner Jim Powers every night. There are variations - sometimes Roma is with Garvin or Sam Houston and he does a couple of broadways with Tito, Superfly left with JTTS. 31st The Model is back to start a run with Snuka. After SummerSlam Herc is subbing for Bad News against Koko. Interestingly on 26th in Hartford right before the PPV with Warrior working Demolition, Ravishing is with Tito. Tony Atlas starts making towns under his real name, going over Haku, but by month end TVs he’s unveiled as Saba Simba although Roddy Piper being himself, tells the home viewers it’s Atlas anyway. Haku is otherwise usually with losers before SummerSlam (including a lot of matches with Barry O - Bob Orton Jrs brother, christened Randal, uncle to famous Randy) but post PPV he’ll do a short run with… The Genius??? Dustins getting to pin losers every night although early in the month he has a valuable experience in the ring with Hercules subbing for Hillbilly Jim. Speaking of Jim - 30th and 31st he’s pinning Black Bart, and that’s the end for him in the ring for the WWF for nearly a year. There’s another fun note, with Shane Douglas as a sub Rocker for most of the month his wins are often given to Brooklyn Brawler.

Fun spot - one of the TV squashes for Ravishing at the end of the month is against Glen Ruth who’d become Headbanger Thrasher.

[Loki]

15 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Ultimate Warrior & Texas Tornado vs Rick Rude & Mr Perfect is our new tag main event starting in - where else? - Dallas on 3rd

I can imagine the crowd was insane for that match!

[air_raid]

2 minutes ago, Loki said:

I can imagine the crowd was insane for that match!

Sadly I couldn’t find a fan cam of Dallas but one from a TV taping made it to Unreleased, and they’re pretty chirpy considering they’ve probably sat through four hours of Bob Bradley and Tom Stone matches.

 

[JNLister]

You know when Hidden Gems uploaded an entire taping that had the Survivor Series 92 showdown and then a bunch of dark matches? I'd love to see them do the same with this epic event.

A bunch of tryouts (Sir Charles is the future Papa Shango), three dark matches with the existing roster, the Rockers split angle, seven matches for Prime Time (most of them star vs star), a couple more dark matches, and then the Tuesday In Texas live PPV.

 

Quote

WWF @ San Antonio, TX - Freeman Coliseum - December 3, 1991 (8,000; announced at 20,000; sell out)
Originally announced for the show was Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair and Jake Roberts vs. "Mr. Madness"
Ron & Don Harris defeated Brian Donahue & Brian Costello
Sir Charles defeated Dale Wolfe
Chris Walker defeated Brian Lee
Chris Chavis defeated JW Storm
Greg Valentine defeated the Brooklyn Brawler
The Nasty Boys defeated the Bushwhackers
WWF Tag Team Champions the Legion of Doom defeated Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty
Wrestling Challenge - 1/12/92 - featured Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty as guests of the Barber Shop in which they appeared to put their differences behind them only for Michaels to superkick Marty Jannetty before throwing him face-first through a plate glass window
Prime Time Wrestling - 12/9/91: Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart defeated Kato & the Brooklyn Brawler at the 5-minute mark when Owen pinned the Brawler with the Rocket Launcher
Prime Time Wrestling - 12/23/91: The Big Bossman pinned Kato with the sidewalk slam at 4:19
Prime Time Wrestling - 12/30/91: The Beverly Brothers & the Genius defeated Brian Donahue, Sonny Blaze, & Larry Ludden at 4:32 when Beau pinned Ludden after a double flapjack from the Beverlys
Prime Time Wrestling - 12/30/91: Kerry Von Erich fought Hercules to a double count-out at 6:56 after both began brawling on the floor
Prime Time Wrestling - 1/6/92: The Berzerker (w/ Mr. Fuji) defeated the Barbarian via count-out at 3:59 after Fuji tripped up the Barbarian with his cane, with the Barbarian then stalking Fuji around the ring
Prime Time Wrestling - 1/13/92: Tito Santana pinned Col. Mustafa (w/ Gen. Adnan) with a roll-up at 6:48 after pushing Mustafa into Adnan on the ring apron
Prime Time Wrestling - 1/27/92: Jim Duggan & Sgt. Slaughter defeated Louie Spicolli & Barry Horowitz at 4:10 when Duggan pinned Spicolli with the running clothesline
WWF Tag Team Champions the Legion of Doom defeated the Natural Disasters via disqualification after Typhoon threw the referee over the top rope
Ric Flair pinned Roddy Piper with his feet on the ropes
Tuesday in Texas - shown live on pay-per-view; featured Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan on commentary; all matches were included as part of SuperTape 92; featured Gene Okerlund conducting a backstage interview with Hulk Hogan regarding his upcoming match against WWF World Champion the Undertaker, during which they reviewed footage from the Survivor Series of Ric Flair interfering in the match and costing Hogan the title:
Prime Time Wrestling - 12/30/91: WWF IC Champion Bret Hart defeated Skinner via submission with the Sharpshooter (WWF Wrestling's Fan Favorite Matches)
Prime Time Wrestling - 12/9/91: Randy Savage pinned Jake Roberts with the flying elbowsmash; after the match, Roberts hit a number of DDTs on Savage and slapped Miss Elizabeth until President Jack Tunney and other officials swarmed the ring when it looked as though Jake was going to bring a snake into the ring (Savage's TV in-ring return following WrestleMania VII) (Macho Madness: The Ultimate Randy Savage Collection)
Prime Time Wrestling - 1/13/92: Davey Boy Smith pinned the Warlord (w/ Harvey Wippleman) with a crucifix ("The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith )
Prime Time Wrestling - 12/23/91: Ted Dibiase (w/ Sensational Sherri) & Repo Man defeated Tito Santana & Virgil when Dibiase pinned Virgil following a knee to the back by Repo Man
Hulk Hogan pinned WWF World Champion the Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) to win the title at 13:11 with a roll up after Bearer accidentally hit Taker in the head with the urn and Hogan threw ashes from the urn into the champion's face; WWF President Jack Tunney was at ringside to see that the match was fair but was knocked out during a confrontation between Hogan and Ric Flair on the floor (Undertaker's first TV loss) (WWF Champion Hulk Hogan's Greatest Matches, Hulk Still Rules, Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology)

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by JNLister

[air_raid]

I’ve already drafted up to January 1992. The story surrounding that taping is even more interesting than just the matches and angles filmed.

13 minutes ago, JNLister said:

(Sir Charles is the future Papa Shango)

See, I wasn’t 100% it’s the same Sir Charles. An Observer from June 91 reporting on tapings claimed that it was Mark/Killer Kyle using that name on the 28th May taping in Tucson. But that’s bollocks/a mis-ID, because Godfather tells the story himself of getting hired off the back of a tryout in Phoenix (near enough!) - so conclusive proof not everything you read in the sheets is true, even from people that went to the shows.

[JNLister]

I was going by memory so double-checked the Observer from that week and it says Sir Charles at the Texas show was: "(Charles Wright aka Soul Taker doing a British gimmick that may turn into a voodoo man gimmick)" I now want to see that even more.

Hard to see how you'd mix those two guys up. I guess it's possible Sir Charles was on off-the-shelf gimmick that they tried Kyle out for, then had another go a few months later.

[BomberPat]

I cannot get my head around how, in a single untelevised tryout match, you could possibly establish "British gimmick that may turn into a voodoo man", or why you'd even try. 

A more obvious one there is Chris Chavis, doing the gimmick but not yet the name of Tatanka.

I can't see any evidence of Kyle having worked the WWF pre-1996. Cagematch only has him working one match a year for them in 96-99.

[air_raid]

11 hours ago, JNLister said:

Hard to see how you'd mix those two guys up. I guess it's possible Sir Charles was on off-the-shelf gimmick that they tried Kyle out for, then had another go a few months later.

 

3 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I can't see any evidence of Kyle having worked the WWF pre-1996. Cagematch only has him working one match a year for them in 96-99.

Like I say, a misreport no doubt, especially if Wright says he tried out in Phoenix and the alleged Kyle match was in Tucson, which is probably the arid South West US desert equivalent of confusing Wolverhampton with Birmingham.

[JNLister]

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I cannot get my head around how, in a single untelevised tryout match, you could possibly establish "British gimmick that may turn into a voodoo man", or why you'd even try. 

 

I think it's meant to be that in this tryout match he was doing a British gimmick, but if/when he comes in full time he may do a voodoo gimmick instead.

[The Reverend]

18 minutes ago, JNLister said:

I think it's meant to be that in this tryout match he was doing a British gimmick, but if/when he comes in full time he may do a voodoo gimmick instead.

Has there ever been any photos or a general idea of what the Sir Charles gimmick entailed? I'm guessing British meant wearing a tophat, so it was nice and easy to switch to the voodoo Papa Shango instead.

There's a photo of UK star Dave Bond (which I think is in Simon Garfield's book 'The Wrestling') in which he is seen in bowler hat, suit and carrying an umbrella. I wonder if in some strange incident someone thought this was what Sir Charles should look like.

[air_raid]

I’m going to keep these coming as the card make-up is increasingly interesting and I’m keen to get to 1991.

September 1990 is a month of transition. There are 4-5 shows late August early September where guys work brief programs before either reverting to their usual or moving onto something else. Or have a week of something different in between. You’ll see what I mean.

Take Ultimate Warrior as the best example. Warrior & LOD vs Demolition continues 1st/2nd but then there are a few shows reprise of Warrior vs Rick Rude for the WWF title before going back to the six man tag including a half full MSG for the one seen on SuperTape 3. Crowds are also disappointing at the Boston Garden, Rosemont Horizon and Palace. Those shows on 1st-2nd are supported by Jake Roberts & Jim Duggan vs Rick Rude & Mr Perfect, and at month end the Intercontinental title match is added to Warriors shows.

What’s THE IMMORTAL HULK HOGAN up to…? Not all that much, still. 18th-19th he’s at TVs taping Hulk & Tugboat vs Rhythm & Blues for SNME in Toledo and dark with Earthquake in Flint. 21st at LA Sports Arena we go HUGE with with a Hogan Earthquake main supported by both midcard titles, the big Tugster vs Dino Bravo and Big Boss Man vs Haku, and exactly the same card next night in Oakland (except Haku). About 19,000 tickets shifted in two nights is better than Warrior usually does in a week.

There are a few shows early headlined by August 30/31s Boss Man & Tugboat (Big Tug? BossBoat?) vs Quake & Bravo tag, supported usually by the Intercontinental and always by the tag belts. Mid month it’s split into two singles with Earthquake vs Boss Man and Tugboat pinning Bravo with both titles supporting for a run right through to the 24th. 14th in Grand Rapids, all the participants in the tag title match have transport issues so they throw on a bonus battle royal at the end, won by Boss Man. 16th this crew runs Maple Leaf Gardens and tape nerds may like to know Tornado vs Perfect is on SuperTape 3 and the Quake/Boss Man main is on SuperTape 4. 28th-30th it’s Quake/Boss with the Jake Roberts vs Akeem (in for Bad News) “Harlem Streetfight” with two out of three having Dusty Rhodes vs Ted DiBiase but 29th at Nassau Coliseum having Hacksaw Duggan & The Bushwhackers vs The Orient Express & Mr Fuji (on last) as well as Superfly vs Rick Rude ; the other two nights Duggan vs Rude supports the Harts. The Intercontinental match has been moved to Warrior cards.

Dusty Rhodes vs Randy Savage has two lumberjack matches 1st-2nd to wrap their feud then the rest of the month it’s the American Dream with The Million Dollar Man, who worked Texas Tornado on the undercards of Dream/Savage. 6th it’s actually a rare outing for Virgil as Ted has a knock. 7th-9th they share billing with LOD vs Demolition (Ax and Smash) and for the bulk of the rest of the month with Jake vs Akeem in the cage matches Roberts was supposed to have with Bad News. Plenty of the finishes are pin after either using the Million $ Belt or interference from Virgil but there’s also the odd DQ when Dustin tries to help his dad.

The Hart Foundation vs Rhythm & Blues is the tag title match and they do a variety of DQ finishes - Honky uses his guitar, Hammer uses the ring bell, and plenty of Dusty finish reverse decisions. 28th-30th they’re arguably main event, with Duggan vs Rude twice and Dusty vs DiBiase once.

As for other feuds (and mini feuds?)

The Intercontinental title feud, after each finishes their mini feuds, is Mr Perfect chasing Texas Tornado. The finish is always SuperTape 3, Perfect by count-out, which you’d think was to build rematches in the same towns but Kerry isn’t holding the belt that long. If you’re wondering who Macho King has been wrestling since Dusty - nobody. Randy is off. I had no idea this happened or why, but Savage won’t be on the road for the better part of two months.

The short scheduled run of Rockers vs Rhythm & Blues doesn’t happen since Shawns properly fucked his knee so Marty works in singles losing to Hammer on 1st and beating Honky on 2nd, and the rest of the month with one or the other of Power & Glory, outnumbered and beaten every night without fail. Although early month Herc often subs for the departed Bad News in a short scheduled run against Koko B Ware.

Ravishing is out short term with a knock leaving Hacksaw with JTTS guys until mid month when Rude returns and they pick up - usually Duggan by DQ.  As you’ve read, when Boss Man isn’t with Earthquake, he’s with Haku. Sgt Laughter beating Nikolai Volkoff and The Orient Express going over The Bushwhackers run all month. Superfly spends the first half of the month with the Barbarian and Tito Santana with the Warlord, they they swap. Koko is usually with Genius and later Boris Zhukov. Ron Garvin has gone from losing every night to beating the JTTS guys. Brooklyn Brawler is doing his thing putting over Dustin Rhodes, Battle Kat and Shane Douglas but even he gets a win or two over a Dale Wolfe. Genius also does jobs for Kat and Shane, it’s a pity we didn’t get more of Shane & Marty during Shawns recovery. Saba Simba is picking up wins from Playboy Buddy Rose.

Variants of interest - Perfect actually works Jake 7th-9th on Warrior cards with Kerry working Haku under BossBoat vs DinoQuake. 28th in Youngstown Garvin wrestles Akeem, who while winding down actually does double duty that night, fighting Jake in their usual street fight in Pittsburgh. As usual, a Warload or Haku occasionally has to slum it with Jim Brunzell or Mike Sharpe - the cleanest wrestler alive.

Of interest - 18th dark at Toledo TV there’s a Jake vs Ravishing match for old times sake. As an aside, I wonder if anyone would be interested in a review of “lost Coliseum Exclusives” once I’ve finished covering the road? A review of dark matches from TV tapings (not including Boston Garden, MSG, Maple Leaf Gardens shows, that would take forever) where we look at what matches were taped but (so far) remain unreleased? OK, it’s usually what was on the house shows, but often there are fascinating exceptions as I’ve covered in short form earlier in the thread. And like Jake the Snake vs Rick Rude (short hair edition) in September 90 right before Ravishing left the WWF.

Personnel notes - Koko is sent home from a California loop for getting into a bar fight but keeps his job, although it’s reported Paul Diamond is let go in September. He does a few jobs for Brunzell before he finishes but he isn’t gone very long.

Finally- 14th-15th at the Capital Center and Boston Garden, Douglas is missing so who gets the call to do jobs for The Genius? SD Jones of WrestleMania “1” loss to Bundy fame. Awful undercard there with four matches having Jones, Black Bart, Pez Whatley and Conquistador #1 doing jobs. The overall card quality has fallen off a cliff.

[air_raid]

Here’s another small snippet. There’s been a few years in my reports where short cards (5 matches) take place at the National Orange Show in Cali. Well, on March 4th 1995 they do a whole 8 matches and apparently “segments (is that orange humour?) aired on MTV Sports.” The card was massive as there was only one show a night by 95 - Razor vs Owen and a main of Diesel & Taker vs Double J and Bam Bam, but my interest is in Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels - this is a mere month before Shawn turned face and probably a year since they last wrestled, and it’s a match I’d love to have seen. By this point Shawn is absolutely at his best and it’s tough to argue Hitman wasn’t still at his best as a babyface. I genuinely think this is the time that these two would have delivered the best version of the match possible between them, with neither jaded or injured and a clear face/heel divide. I’d love to know the finish of this match, the Observer notes from that week I can find from a quick Google don’t mention it. It’s not that far removed from Shawn vs Undertaker in front of my good friends in Portland ME either, which we talked about before.

[Loki]

On 3/21/2022 at 6:47 AM, air_raid said:

Bizarrely there’s a 3 date swing in New Zealand after the post Mania TVs in conjunction with a native fed. Local heroes The Bushwhackers naturally headline with the Bolsheviks and for reasons I cannot fathom the company dusts off Don Muraco for three wins over Haku, and his old mate Bob Orton Jr who wrestles a certain Norman Smiley. The other WWF guys sent to butt heads with Kiwis? Jim Powers and Tom Magee. Jesus.
 

Sorry to drag us back a few pages, but I'm still befuddled by the idea of Don Muraco wrestling for WWF in 1990, when he was released in 1988 and according to Wiki never wrestled for them again.  Who, why, how... and why?