House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[The King Of Swing]

Owen doing the job is what threw me for a loop. 

Did Booger beat anyone above jobber level on TV? 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, seeing that Owen was routinely looking at the lights for Bastion Booger in 93, it just lines up with what Bret says about Vince not having any plans for Owen and the planned brother vs brother feud in 94 originally being Bret vs Bruce. Owen was just gonna be “cannon fodder” for Bruce to presumably bully and squash and goad Bret into fighting him. That sounds mental now but, looking at what Owen had done at that point, as good as he always was in the ring there was no way they could’ve predicted or known what a fantastic little shit of a heel he’d make. Not to mention how incredible the Bret vs Owen matches were. Bruce must’ve been fucking livid when he got the call that they were going with Owen instead. 

[UnitedEmpireEra]

This must have been a mid 70s story but I’d love to see footage of a house show with Harley Race.
While on a night out before the show the following night, Harley was in a bar and managed to get into an altercation with an MCC. 
 

Harley was in the main event the following night,so he goes out does his thing and it was custom back then to wait in ring after the main event then sign autographs after. 
 

So the match ends, the crowd thins out and Harley looks into the crowd to find the same MCC into which he had the altercation the previous night. 
So Harley challenges the leader of the gang to a fight 

there are different versions of this story 

one involves a knife but the other involves Harley beating this guys face so bloody so quickly, then he proceeded to choke the guy out.

The guys in the MCC thought their leader was dead(obviously he wasn’t) but I’d love to see what the true story is. 
knowing Harley , either could be possible.

Edited July 12, 2022 by UnitedEmpireEra

[UnitedEmpireEra]

There is also a famous story where Tony Atlas had on nut huggers and asked the guys back stage 

is this alright 

everyone replied 

yep that works 

so he gets to the ring and Harley Race is looking at him 

like 

what the hell are you doing?

there’s kids here!!😂

Fair to say there was a few mishaps that match.

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by UnitedEmpireEra

[Chili]

Don't ruin the best thread on here!!! 

[UnitedEmpireEra]

All Harley Race story are worth telling. 
He is the GOAT👑

Edited July 12, 2022 by UnitedEmpireEra

[air_raid]

7 hours ago, UnitedEmpireEra said:

While on a night out before the show the following night,

That’s got fuck all to do with house shows, right?

I think you want the “antics” thread.

[UnitedEmpireEra]

11 hours ago, air_raid said:

That’s got fuck all to do with house shows, right?

I think you want the “antics” thread.

Nope , I have the right thread. 

and the event that followed was at a house show and let’s be honest it’s better than any other story in this thread 
 

[sivy]

When I was a kid I remember thinking some of these new heels all looked pretty cool. Guys like Borga and Adam Bomb both I was big fans of. 

[air_raid]

6 minutes ago, sivy said:

When I was a kid I remember thinking some of these new heels all looked pretty cool. Guys like Borga and Adam Bomb both I was big fans of. 

This was part and parcel of keeping things moving, for sure. The company had been a "monster factory" for years and didn't want to deviate from that. Yokozuna obviously got pushed to the moon, and as a kid once I saw the Virgil squash at Survivors 92 I immediately bought him as a terrible threat, and worse when he squished Bret at the contract signing. Giant Gonzalez was a no-brainer from a "spectacle" point of view to Vince, and throughout they carried on going for that theme - bringing Bam Bam back, turning Crush, picking up Bomb, Borga, Booger, Curtis Hughes, big Kev... gotta have monsters for the heroes to overcome, be it Bret, Hogan, Luger, Taker at a push, and in the minds of Patterson and Prichard, half an eye on Shawn for the future too. There's a particular feud which we'll get to in time where the box office performance persuaded them that David vs Goliath wasn't the best-drawing story they could tell with their current roster. No spoilers, but... well, we're up to September/October 1993 so you might know where I'm going with that.

THAT SAID....

October 1993

THE MAIN EVENTS
Yokozuna vs The Undertaker for the WWF title is an early month main through Cali, drawing an OK-ish 7500 to San Jose and 7000 to LA, Sacramento might be the smallest market but they get the first casket match. During mid month half the roster is in Europe so domestic house shows are Yoko vs Bret Hart in a cage match for a week then revert to Taker after TVs - sometimes Yoko by pinfall after using the salt bucket, sometimes the bucket results in a DQ. 9800 in Pittsburgh on 22nd is pretty great for a LOADED show with all three titles, Luger/Borga and Bret/Lawler, but in Detroit on 28th with the same card and Bret/Lawler in a cage plus the return to live events of The Steiner Brothers only draws 1700. Odd.

Lex Luger vs Ludvig Borga is the main event on the European tour and shares top billing with Bret Hart vs Jerry Lawler when B shows return. It's weird to think of Nassau Coliseum as the B show on 29th (Yoko and Taker are in Orlando) but it draws a HUGE 10,300, up considerably from June and August and even an improvement on May's 8400. The common denominator in the better gates in that building? Bret. Who famously "didn't draw." His match with Lawler is a straight match except in Detroit and Toronto on 31st they put the cage on it.

During some of those packed A shows 21st-28th, the second string working small towns and fundraisers has more of a C show feel to it. Mr Perfect vs Diesel and Tatanka vs Adam Bomb (booked to be the AWOL Shawn) are the biggest matches, except 21st in Plymouth MA Perfect misses it so they stick a battle royal on top, and 28th in Ft Pierce FL there's no Tatanka so Bomb works Marty Jannetty instead, who'd been killing time with Johnny Polo after Bomb was moved up the card, and they were originally working each other anyway.

THE CARDS
The Undertaker vs Adam Bomb rolls through Europe as a casket match. Macho Man gets a few dates, wrestling Bam Bam Bigelow mid month - I bet that was great. Razor Ramon vs IRS for the Intercontinental title (with a comedy count out finish) happens nearly every night as does Mr Perfect vs Diesel with a split of DQ and PerfectPlex finishes, both run through Europe and at Nassau Coliseum there's the obligatory cross-feud tag match. Early month there are exceptions as Ramon has to finish up his rematches with The Model - those nights, Irwin's going over 1-2-3 Kid. Kid then beats Doink (Lombardi) every night through Europe, then he does jobs for Bigelow on the small B shows, followed by Bomb for a few nights. Once Bam Bam is finished with Kid he's off and running with Doink, who's still Lombardi under the paint, but now he's a babyface. Tatanka is still booked strong, beating Bastion Booger every night before Europe then Bomb in the small towns.

It's a mad month for The Quebecers who finish their weird run with Bam Bam and Bomb then have a lengthy series with Men On A Mission (save Detroit) then spend the last three days walking off or winning against The Smoking Gunns. Of course Detroit they're with The Steiner Brothers back from suspension, who follow with three nights with The Headshrinkers. Otherwise Samu & Fatu beat the Gunns all month, including in Europe. Mo and Mabel end up doing a few nights double duty working Well Dunn in depleted B shows as well as Jacques & Pierre elsewhere. When the B shows return to full strength and the Steiners come back, MOM are the odd team out and end up on a run with Barry Horowitz & Pat Tanaka. Early month Well Dunn had been losing to The Bushwhackers.

Marty Jannetty, grateful for the bookings no doubt, gets wins over job boy Tom Stone early month, then Johnny Polo (circumstances above) on the lesser B towns then settles down into a more natural spot doing jobs for The Model month end. Owen Hart is, of course, going to a featured act after Survivors so he gets to beat Barry Horowitz before Europe and Bastion Booger after it. Bob Backlund vs Papa Shango is making up the numbers in Europe.

VARIATIONS
The King misses Plymouth and Hershey so on those, Bret works Bam Bam instead. On 24th Bigelow works double duty but his absence from Plymouth means Kid wrestles Iron Mike Sharpe instead. Also in Plymouth, Men On A Mission miss it so Well Dunn have to do a job for the thrown-together team of Bob Backlund & Virgil. I've covered MOM doing double duty, except 29th in Fort Pierce its the Gunns who do double duty and end up with Timothy Well & Barry Horowitz. 23rd in Baltimore its the champs that are missing so MOM go over The Executioner and Axl Rotten (huh?). With the champs working Rick & Scott in Detroit it means one night only of MOM vs Headshrinkers. The Quebecers are meant to do a little run mid month with The Bushwhackers but this only manages to happen once, in Sioux City.

In Europe, Mr Perfect is late catching up with the rest of the crew so Diesel goes over the Brooklyn Brawler in Israel - Lombardi doing double duty as he often had to over the years. Perfect disappears month end so 30th in Rochester Diesel does a job for Owen Hart (pulling double duty) then 31st in Toronto we're missing IRS too so big Kev works his first singles with The Bad Guy - but of course, not his last. 29th in Fort Pierce with Adam Bomb moved back to Marty to cover for Tatanka, it leaves Kid on Johnny Polo duty. A couple of one-offs in Toronto - the Kid does a job for The Model and Polo goes over Virgil. In Moline, Barry is with Marty so Owen Hart goes over Stone instead. At Nassau Coliseum we've got Backlund going over Duane Gill. What you really want to know, is that when he isnt doing the Macho Midget gimmick, in Palmetto FL (the Manatee Civic Center, no less) Tiger Jackson is back tagging with the Bushwhackers against Little Louie, Cuban Assassin and Dave Heath. Yes, that one, who loves Walkers Cheese and Onion.

TVS
At 18th in Poughkeepsie for Raw, the Quebecers drop an interesting DQ to Tatanka & Mr Perfect, on top of a standard Razor vs IRS, and (not the last) look at Sabu, going over Scott Taylor. Next night in Glens Falls, Sabu does a job for Owen which in 1993 I'm guessing was rather good. Plus Luger vs Borga, Bret vs Lawler in a cage, Quebecers vs Steiners and the Yoko vs Perfect that ended up on the WrestleFest 94 tape. Burlington the night after Sabu is with Scotty again and there's loads of extras - Luger vs Borga which was on Unreleased, Bret/Lawler, Yoko/Taker, Razor & Marty vs Diesel & IRS from Coliseum, and a tryout for renowned genius Glen Jacobs.

DEPARTURE
Nassau Coliseum on 29th is the last match Mr Perfect will wrestle for the WWF despite being promoted for Survivor Series for another 3 weeks on TV. Technically this isn't the end of Hennig on the payroll, they'll false start on two comebacks including actually promoting him to wrestle Luger on house shows after Mania X, and he won't leave for good for another 3 years (something nearly ALWAYS happened around Survivors for him) but this is the end of his remarkable prime in the ring.

I could include that Unreleased Luger vs Borga, but instead here's one of their house show matches. I don't know from where it is but trust me... that doesn't matter. They're all the same.

 

 

[BomberPat]

God, I knew they'd looked at Sabu in 1995 and 1997, but the thought of the WWF bringing him in in 1993 is mental. He'd only just started with ECW by then!

The idea of him doing an even watered down version of his style in the WWF of that time is fascinating, and the prospect of him getting a run with Bret, Owen, 123 Kid and the like is so intriguing. I love thinking about what might have been, and this thread suggests so many topics for that conversation.

Edited July 13, 2022 by BomberPat

[UnitedEmpireEra]

On 1/9/2022 at 7:21 AM, air_raid said:

Yeah, a match that totally passed me by at the time but that I recently saw, Bret & Cena vs Del Rio & Ricardo. Of course, the finish was Sharpshooter on Ricardo.

Appropos to this thread, I’d known about the MSG shows but had no idea that Bret had tagged along on a few European dates in November 2010, usually tagging with the Hart Dynasty against three of Slater, Gabriel, Otunga and Husky Harris. If he’d come to Britain on that tour 100% I’d have gone. Interestingly his final house show match was in Istanbul tagged with Edge and Rey against Del Rio, Cody and Drew. Some footage is on YouTube, including the finish ;

 

That’s interesting “Banjo boy” 

tell us more 🥱

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

The idea of him doing an even watered down version of his style in the WWF of that time is fascinating, and the prospect of him getting a run with Bret, Owen, 123 Kid and the like is so intriguing. 

I imagine something akin to the matches Kid had with Jerry Lynn in Global.

[sivy]

Reading these, I've been watching the TV on wrestling with Paul Channel. Marty has such a crazy 6 months in 93. He wins the ic title, loses, gets squashed by borga at Summerslam, then starts to get wins again against 123 kid, goes on to win at survivor series  

[air_raid]

27 minutes ago, sivy said:

Reading these, I've been watching the TV on wrestling with Paul Channel. Marty has such a crazy 6 months in 93. He wins the ic title, loses, gets squashed by borga at Summerslam, then starts to get wins again against 123 kid, goes on to win at survivor series  

Is that as crazy as his first 6 months? Where he has a series of belters with Shawn on the road then a disappointing outing at the Rumble, gets fired for it for being hungover for the night before but then re-hired and given the belt first night back because Perfect grassed Shawn in for being off his face on pain pills the night before. If Marty had been able to keep himself sober, his 92-95 would have looked MARKEDLY different. He could have been a standby Intercontinental champ for a decent run or multiple times, hot potato'd it with Michaels more than once then become gatekeeper for Razor. He'd have been the guy Diesel, IRS, Double J etc would have gone through. And been right there when babyface Shawn and big D needed another partner in 1995.