House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[air_raid]

May 1992 is here. The first full month with no Hogan, no Jake, no Sid, no Piper, Macho Man as WWF Champion, Bret as Intercontinental and Warrior back.

 

Macho Man Randy Savage vs Ric Flair for the WWF title is still the main, with early month cards having pinfall finishes but by 15th they've switched to a DQ. Crowds are pretty rubbish. <3000 in Orlando, 4300 in Houston, 4000 at the Capital Center and <2500 in Nashville. A whole California loop is cancelled due to the Rodney King riots and Jacksonville due to a poor advance.

 

Ultimate Warrior vs Papa Shango is our other main event and for the era, 11,000 at Nassau Coliseum is very good indeed and 8000 at the Spectrum is better than they might have expected without a title match on top. May other towns have <3000 fans although 5000+ in Richfield is not terrible for a very picky market.

 

This is the easiest month since 1987 for who wrestles who, as its usually the same every night. Bret Hart beating Shawn Michaels in the Intercontinental title matches and Money Inc losing by count-out to the Natural Disasters. Elsewhere its Undertaker vs Berzerker, Legion of Doom vs the Beverly Brothers, Sgt Slaughter vs The Mountie!, Hacksaw Duggan vs Repo Man, El Matador vs The Model, Texas Tornado vs Skinner, High Energy vs the Nasty Boys, Tatanka vs Col Mustafa, Crush vs Kato and Virgil vs whoever else shows up - Brooklyn Brawler, Bob Bradley, Genius. Nailz goes on the road late month with Jim Brunzell. Jim Powers actually gets booked to get a few wins over Brawler.

 

Subs - The Model and Berzerker do a few SWS shows so on one show Nailz is the opponent for Tito, and they move The Mountie! onto Taker, so Kamala is on the road to get some wins over Slaughter. Hacksaw misses Tucson, so Repo Man moves up to losing to Crush and they call Dale Wolfe to do a job for Kato. On a Florida loop they give Genius the courtesy of a few wins over Brunzell.

 

There are two 40-man battle royals at TVs, the first is won by Tatanka and makes it to Coliseum, the second by El Matador and doesn't. More importantly in Cincinnati - here's the Bad Guy!! Razor Ramon wins his first dark match.

 

It's not a particularly noteworthy month otherwise.

Edited June 7, 2022 by air_raid

[Mr.Showtime]

Is there any footage of a Taker v Mountie match somewhere? Those two and, just before this point, Mr.Perfect were my absolute faves in this era.

[air_raid]

25 minutes ago, Mr.Showtime said:

Is there any footage of a Taker v Mountie match somewhere? Those two and, just before this point, Mr.Perfect were my absolute faves in this era.

 

[air_raid]

June 1992

WWF Champion Randy Savage kicks off with Kamala in Halifax but thereafter he’s straight back to Ric Flair and Dusty finish DQ wins everywhere else. It’s just 4500 at the Boston Garden, by now Legion of Doom are Randys support. There’s fewer still in Miami and other cities but apparently it’s near 11,000 at Nassau Coliseum which saves the month and 7800 at the Spectrum is passable. 2800 in Montreal sums up where things are.

Ultimate Warrior vs Papa Shango draws just 2500 in Chicago even with with Intercontinental title support. 3600 in San Diego and 5800 at LA Sports Arena aren’t much better, maybe 6500 in Oakland would have been considered positive but on that night the finish was a DQ which I imagine discouraged returns. Why on that night Warrior couldn’t just pin him is beyond me. 2800 in the Capital Center brings things back to Earth.

In Fort Wayne, Warrior no shows which makes Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels the top match and they tack on a show closing battle royal won by Earthquake. 

Feuds are almost as easy as May. Hitman is pinning Shawn every night. Natural Disasters are beating Money Inc by count out again by 20th, Teds had a knock so to that point it’s been Earthquake vs IRS. Tatanka vs The Model is swapping Tatanka by DQ or Martel by count-out although Tatanka will be announced as undefeated on TV for another year and a half. Undertaker vs Berzerker until the latter is injured 26th ; Kamala steps in, usually becoming a handicap match with Mr Fuji, often double duty with his scheduled matches with Texas Tornado. Legion of Doom are still crushing the Beverly Brothers, Sgt Slaughter is still with The Mountie!, High Energy vs Nasty Boys, and Davey Boy Smith is back to resume his feud with Repo Man who spent the first week of the month with Hacksaw Duggan, who doesn’t do much else other than the SWS tour.

Tornado spends most of his month with Skinner or Kato then does a few losses or DQ wins with Nailz before they decide Kamala could do with those wins. Virgil spends a big chunk of the month getting flattened by Nailz but is then rewarded with a string of wins over Brooklyn Brawler with the Russian leg sweep having finally left the Million $ Dream for Ted. Crush spends the first half of his month with Skinner, including debuting the Cranium Crunch, then switches to Kato, but as always an injury pops up to curtail that. El Matador starts and finishes with Kato with Skinner inbetween, moving back to Kato when Crush hits the bench and Skinner starts doing jobs for Koko. Tito and Tornado both also do a week or so with Barry Horowitz who’s in for the departed Col Mustafa. The beneficiary of Nailz when Tornado moves on to Kamala? Our old mate Jim Brunzell. The other Killer Stallion, Jim Powers, is on the loop pinning Brawler early month and also goes to the SWS shows including a one on one with Hacksaw.

Subs and switches - not many interesting ones. There’s a couple of Hawk or Animal vs Sags matches end of the month, as they’re about to do a week of LOD vs Nastys and High Energy vs Beverlys but Knobbs has a brief injury.

Amusement - the otherwise unused Bushwhackers get four wins over a team called Double Trouble at Nassau, the Spectrum, in Springfield MA and Providence. Apparently these bookings were to compensate Double Trouble over them trademarking “Undertaker” for use in wrestling while working indies. That’s mad.

Arrival - do I really have to wait to reveal Bob Backlund is on his way back just because he won’t wrestle until 1st July???

A big three days of tapings that kick off the month include two more 40-man battle royals, one won by Bulldog which makes Coliseum, and one by Berzerker which doesn’t, plus the Bret/Model match where Shawn interferes which makes Prime Time and a Coliseum release.

Strap yourself in - Roadblock works dark matches at month end TVs managed by Genius and announced as The Golden Retriever. And you thought the Toxic Turtles was a low point? Or as SOW reported, the “Boxing Turtles.” Fun TV job - on a Superstars Peter Motts who would become Perry Saturn does a job for Tatanka. Binghamton is also the night Razor does a job for Virgil in the dark matches which is borderline unbelievable.

Fuck Bret vs Tom McGee, Virgil pinning the Bad Guy is my white whale.

 

EDIT - FUCK MY EYE, forgot to mention Binghamton is where they did Bret vs Bulldog.

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by air_raid

[air_raid]

July 1992

There are plenty of Randy Savage vs Ric Flair title defences still doing the Dusty finish including in front of 3,000 fans in Charlotte who of course cheered Flair and booed Savage from start to unpopular finish. Near the month end Macho Man starts getting the pin with a small package including a 7700 house at LA Sports Arena. At the start of the month they do a few towns with the cross feud tag of Savage & Sgt Slaughter vs Flair & The Mountie! 13th in Niagara Falls it’s Macho Man & Bret Hart vs Flair & Shawn Michaels and 19th at Warwick Musical Theatre (Rhode Island) it’s Savage vs Shawn for the belt.

Ultimate Warrior vs Papa Shango draws a healthy 12,500 upon the WWF return to the Meadowlands after a lengthy absence. 3600 at the Rosemont is a much clearer picture of the drawing power of the feud. In White Plains/Poughkeepsie on 1st/2nd it’s Warrior & Legion of Doom (yay!) vs Shango & The Nasty Boys. 30th in Santa Rosa CA at the Sonoma County Fair it’s actually Warrior vs Kamala.

19th with Savage in Warwick and Warrior in Bangor ME, we have a B show at a theatre called Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis MA (home of Million Dollar Mans summer residence) with Hacksaw Duggan beating Ric Flair by DQ as top match supported by the tag titles on last.

What's the rest of the show look like? It's fairly consistently Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels and Natural Disasters vs Money Inc in the title matches as well as Tatanka vs The Model, The Undertaker vs Berzerker and Legion of Doom vs Beverly Brothers - 11th at the Meadowlands, 30th in Bakersfield and 31st at LA Sports they do LOD & Paul Ellering VS Beverlys and Genius as per a few TVS (and Coliseum). It's also British Bulldog vs Repo Man, Sgt Slaughter vs The Mountie! and High Energy vs The Nasty Boys, and mid month Big Boss Man is back to start his run with Nailz. Texas Tornado starts the month continuing his run losing to Kamala but that comes crashing down and the Ugandan Giant usually ends up with Jim Brunzell or Jim Powers instead. Crush, El Matador and Virgil rotate Skinner, Kato and Brooklyn Brawler.

Subs and one offs?

There's still a few of last months' feuds - High Energy vs Beverlys, Virgil vs Nailz. 19th in Bangor with Shawn having a crack at Savage, Hitman gets a defence against old rival Mountie. The last week or so of the month, almost simultaneously, Bulldog gets hurt again and Hawk goes missing again, so Animal goes from singles against one Beverly to beating Repo Man, and the Bushwhackers start filling in getting wins over the Beverlys.

Berzerker misses a few so there's some fun subs - 24th at the Palace Million Dollar Man does double duty and with both Jimmy Hart and Mr Fuji, loses to Undertaker then all three absorb Tombstones. 25th/26th Taker goes over Kamala and Fuji in a handicap match in Denver and Orlando. They'd done that on the 1st as well due to Berzerker and Tornado both missing it.

Otherwise - Hacksaw doesn't have a regular opponent but picks up a few early month spots with Nailz and later in the month with Mountie, Tito does one early month job for Kamala but gets to pin Mountie in Phoenix. It's a real tough month for Mountie's standing - 26th in Orlando he loses to Virgil. And it gets worse.

30th in Santa Rosa CA, Bret has a night off and there's a shuffle to do some storyline. Instead of wrestling High Energy, the Nasty Boys wrestle the Bushwhackers, so Koko does a job for Shawn Michaels but Owen gets to upset The Model when HBK sticks his face in. Martel's usual opponent Tatanka beats Repo Man. In fairness, Repo's not wrestling who he's meant to be half the month anyway. It's a messed up card anyway with Warrior vs Kamala and Sarge misses it so its a rare road outing for young Louie Spiccoli doing a job for The Mountie! Next night in Salt Lake, most people are back with their usual opponents except Spiccoli loses to Kamala, and with Sarge missing and LOD back with the Beverlys on the other roster, Repo Man goes over Butch and Mountie does an inexplicable job to Luke.

JTTS wins! A fairly weak card 1st in Asbury Park has Jim Brunzell beating Brawler and Iron Mike Sharpe beating Glen Ruth (Thrasher from The Headbangers). Jim Powers actually gets a run of wins over Kato who also jobs to Brunzell this month, and Powers also beats Brawler. The Killer Stallions, man. Brawler avenges himself over Powers 17th in Tampa. 19th in Warwick, The Genius gets his annual token win over Bob Bradley.

New (and old) faces? 1st/2nd in White Plains and Poughkeepsie, Bob Backlund does what looks suspiciously like tryouts with Skinner, and 12th in Toronto he goes over Brawler. At Cape Cod Melody Tent (LOL) they have another look at Latin Fury (Konnan) and The Samoans/Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu version) start a run of wins over The Bushwhackers. 25th in Denver - HERE'S THE BAD GUY! Razor Ramon pinning Powers to make him pay for those wins earlier in the month.

Departure - this is the end of Kerry Von Erich in the WWF. From mid month the no shows become permanent. He’ll carry on wrestling right up until the week before his death in February. He’s been announced as wrestling Shango at SummerSlam but will be replaced by Matador.

20th in Worcester and 21st in Portland ME we have reasonably interesting TVs. The Headshrinkers are taping squashes for Prime Time and international markets Superstars, with Afa and their entrance theme but being introduced as The Samoans and another look at Konnan (as Relampago) . In Worcester we have another round of Macho Man & Bret Hart vs Ric Flair & Shawn Michaels which makes Coliseum, and the Natural Disasters win the tag team titles from Money Inc which also makes Coliseum (complete with incongruous Jim Ross commentary). The next night the cross-feud tag is Savage & Undertaker vs Flair & Berzerker and Bret vs Shawn in the famous first ever ladder match. MYTH BUSTING - this is described by Bret as a dry run in case Vince decides to keep SummerSlam in DC and go with them instead of Wembley with him vs Bulldog, but thats bollocks as they've reported Hart vs Smith on TV five weeks before this match happened, and reported SummerSlam being held in an unspecified European location as early as May on international telecasts.

 

EDIT - prefer to share SOMETHING so here's that tag from Savage's unreleased DVD ;

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by air_raid

[gmoney]

 

[air_raid]

@gmoneyThis Terrific Card was definitely worth the $8, which was the $150 of its day. * It probably wasn't as Stupendous as that years WrestleMania ** but it was definitely Terrific.

* May or may not be accurate.

** Which would have been Mania II, so not a particularly high bar.

[air_raid]

August 1992

Macho Man Randy Savage vs Ric Flair for the WWF title is still the top match in the company. Its a poor 6000 at Nassau Coliseum on 1st, and again 2nd at the Spectrum, not bolstered much by guest ref Hacksaw Duggan. It's similarly rubbish everywhere, even 7500 for Nashville TVs is over 50% comps - Macho Man works Kamala dark. Otherwise its still Flair, although in Sudbury, Ontario on 15th he has to win a battle royal to earn the shot first. Duggan doing the ref on and off including Boston Garden (3400). A fundraiser on 3rd in Stamford (that Library Fund one I mentioned a while back) has the Savage & Bret Hart vs Flair & Shawn Michaels tag. Shawn misses London (Ontario) on 14th so its Flair & Kamala. Makes sense since Kamala's scheduled opponent (Texas Tornado) is AWOL or already fired.

Ultimate Warrior vs Papa Shango has 7500 coming to the Cow Palace on 2nd and otherwise poor gates everywhere else. In Rochester on 23rd and Syracuse 24th, Jim's with Kamala instead.

There’s a big shuffle midcard and Bret Hart works a DQ with Kamala every night of his last month as Intercontinental champ. Shawn Michaels actually misses a few dates but beats El Matador in Dallas and Rochester and Jim Powers (said to be sub for Bulldog) at Boston Garden and in Syracuse. Legion of Doom finish their last month as a team for over four years in the company working with Paul Ellering over the Beverly Brothers & The Genius. The Undertaker vs Berzerker is every night too, as is Big Boss Man vs Nailz, Natural Disasters are still defending the tag belts against Money Inc. It’s consistently Tatanka vs The Model, Sgt Slaughter vs The Mountie!, Nasty Boys vs High Energy, and Virgil has a decent run of wins over Skinner while Tito and Crush usually work Kato or Brooklyn Brawler though month end they shuffle at Virgil ends up with Brawler and Crush with Skinner.

Interesting or notable substitutes or one offs - with Bulldog injured a cross feud tag at Nassau sees Sgt Slaughter and Crush beat The Mountie! and Repo Man ; Crush also beats Repo in singles in Macon GA. Due to Earthquake absence Repo also does a couple of jobs to Typhoon. Crush is busy this month - in Albany he does double duty and tags with Koko (in for an injured Owen Hart) 21st in Albany. 22nd in Columbus it’s Virgil doing the double but 23rd in Rochester they call in Bob Backlund to do Virgil’s scheduled singles with the Brawler instead. Also in Rochester we have Slaughter & LOD vs Mountie & Nasty Boys, split into two matches the next night in Syracuse. Those last two shows also have Koko +1 going over Double Trouble who you may remember are booked for litigious reasons. That fundraiser I mentioned? Bulldog and Tornado both miss it so Repo Man is with Luke and Kamala with Butch! Luke also works - and BEATS - Repo in London, Halifax and Toronto to add to his win over Mountie last month! What form! Luke also goes over Brooklyn Brawler 1st at Long Island while Butch does a job to Shawn then next night at the Spectrum the Bushwhackers beat Shawn & Repo in a tag. The mind boggles. They beat the Beverlys in Memphis too to cap a shockingly good month - when they’re booked. Finally - our mate Jim Brunzell still gets a call, he beats Kato in Columbus. Super random - in Augusta Doug Somers does a job for Repo.

Only two interesting happenings on TV tapings and both are 10th in Huntsville - near four yeas before "Lock Ness", Giant Haystacks does a dark tryout as The Wolfman! Also for mid September TV they record Nailz annihilating Sgt Slaughter, writing him out permanently as an active wrestler. He'll move into a prototype Commissioner character shortly.

[HarmonicGenerator]

The Wolfman! I can only imagine the costume they had in mind for him.

[Hugh Thesz]

Thanks for all your input @air_raid.

This thread is amazing.

[Geemann05]

1 hour ago, Hugh Thesz said:

Thanks for all your input @air_raid.

This thread is amazing.

Seconded 👍

[Chili]

Fucking hell. Haystacks and Taker for Mania IX lads. Christ. 

Echo the love, @air_raiddoes a top job with these. 

[air_raid]

I appreciate the kind remarks. Long terms fans probably appreciate the next few months of write ups have some FASCINATING shit hit the walls in terms of the main event scene, who comes and goes, the lengths to which the cards need to be shuffled. Most of which you already know - Flair gets hurt, Bret wins the belt, Warrior and Smithers get shitcanned, Flair gives his notice, Perfect comes back, Hogan comes back etc... but reading it unfold week on week is mental.

[Chris B]

Seeing how much audiences dropped off with Savage headlining, I can't help but wonder how much Flair was the exact wrong person to have available to slot into the main event scene. In hindsight, he was the exact opposite to the WWF style, and a lot of areas would have known him pretty well. After years of 'This ain't wrestling like you know it', you had someone in the main event who was very much 'wrestling like you know it'. 

It's weird to think about, because Flair's first run was the exact point I started watching wrestling, and there was still a little of the Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior/Jake the Snake/Legion of Doom stuff going on that I'd seen figures/sticker albums of, etc - but along with the losses, maybe Flair was a detriment at the time.

[air_raid]

54 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Seeing how much audiences dropped off with Savage headlining, I can't help but wonder how much Flair was the exact wrong person to have available to slot into the main event scene. In hindsight, he was the exact opposite to the WWF style, and a lot of areas would have known him pretty well. After years of 'This ain't wrestling like you know it', you had someone in the main event who was very much 'wrestling like you know it'. 

It's weird to think about, because Flair's first run was the exact point I started watching wrestling, and there was still a little of the Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior/Jake the Snake/Legion of Doom stuff going on that I'd seen figures/sticker albums of, etc - but along with the losses, maybe Flair was a detriment at the time.

This is very much an argument worth having. Having invested considerable time into a "monster of the month" formula that they relied upon with Hogan, the WWF audience at the time (families, largely) will have looked at Flair after the likes of Earthquake and Undertaker and thought "Pffft, the Hulk will murder this guy." They could buy wrestler vs wrestler for the Intercontinental title but not on top. Probably another reason why Warrior tanked (on top of not being personable) - you had him fighting Perfect, Rick Rude and Savage, none of them posed a physical threat to him. He'd spent 12 months with Andre and Earthquake, he wasn't getting pinned by Mr Perfect. Who'd just got beat by Beefpiece, let's not forget.

Edited June 21, 2022 by air_raid