Paid Members air_raid Posted January 11, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 11, 2022 50 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said: There were some Randy Savage versus Undertaker house show/dark matches that I'd like to see, too. WWE uploaded a couple of clips of one of them to their YouTube channel a while back. No full match though, sadly. This is another of those holy grails - the one that you refer to was from a tv taping and you’d have thought would have made it into Savages “Unreleased” set but apparently the master tape was damaged so the full match doesn’t exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted January 11, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted January 11, 2022 2 hours ago, SaitoRyo said: There were so many random, awesome matches on house shows in the 2000s. Particularly on overseas tours, it seems. One show in Japan in the summer of 2005, for example, had Eddie Guerrero, Edge and Kurt Angle taking on Rey Mysterio and the Brothers of Destruction in a six-man. Sounds better than when we had Los Guerreros and Rikishi Vs the FBI (Nunzio, Palumbo, Stamboli) at a house show we attended once. Nothing against Eddie, but wow. For some reason everybody sat around us was chanting for Johnny The Bull the whole way through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 13, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 13, 2022 My next musings are about Razor Ramon. The Bad Guy got a title shot at Bret at the 1993 Rumble which if your only knowledge is based on TV, PPV and Coliseum Video probably seemed a bit out of the blue, but he had some really interesting results on the road on the way. Let's have a look at his 1992, which becomes extraordinarily interesting post-SummerSlam having spent most of May-August working exclusively with Jim Powers, Jim Brunzell, no name jobbers and the occasional Tito or Virgil. On the 02/09/92 taping, one night after Razor had cost Macho Man the WWF title, he gets a "storyline advancement" finish win over Bret Hart by DQ when Macho Man runs in. This is the kind of match/finish I would have expected to show up on Coliseum but it didn't. On 7th in Montreal, 8th in Sydney, Nova Scotia, 10th in Providence, 11th at MSG, he's pinning Savage either with his feet on the ropes or with interference from Flair. There's a handheld from Providence here, entrances at 56:10   12th in Richfield he gets a pinfall win over Bret with his feet on the ropes, as Savage is working Flair in a cage for the belt where Razor naturally interferes. This is the only show on the loop they wrestle each other as opposed to Razor/Savage and Bret v Papa Shango. 13th in Johnstown, PA, 14th in Wheeling, 19th in Philadelphia, 21st in Winnipeg, October 8th in Des Moines, 9th in St Louis, 10th in LA, the finishes are switched to count-outs presuambly because build on TV is kicking in for Ultimate Maniacs vs Flair & Razor as the next PPV main event so there's no sense putting losses on Savage on the road. This is when he's not wrestling Undertaker and walking off for count-out losses the same as two Coliseum matches we got to see. 13th at the Regina, Saskatchewan taping - this is one night after a big taping in Saskatoon where Bret wins the big belt from Flair and they film the Shawn/Marty angle where Sherri gets hit with the mirror. In Regina, Money Inc win the tag belts back from the Natural Disasters and the Nasty Boys fall out with Jimmy Hart in the aftermath. On this show Razor and Randy go to a double count-out which doesnt end up on Coliseum though a pinfall win over El Matador does (WrestleFest 93). He goes back to beating Savage by count-out every night for the rest of October and most of November. One of these was taped on the 28th October Challenge taping and though its not as interesting as some of the other finishes, its on an Unreleased DVD so here it is ;   After Survivor Series he does have to do a few pinfall losses to Taker on a few cards where Taker had been pulled from the other towns on the loop to sub for the fired Warrior but for the rest of November and into December he closes the year mostly pinning Boss Man on the houses. December 15th Challenge taping he's doing a submission loss to Bret in a title match which again could have been a Coliseum exclusive but wasn't. Otherwise, he's with Boss Man and you can see the match they likely worked on these shots on one filmed 14th at the Superstars taping which was on the Bashed In The USA tape. So while on TV it might not have been an obvious title match to book, in the era when the live shows were still king, the tail end of 1992 most of the country that had paid to see Razor wrestle had seen him beat Macho Man and a few had seen him beat Bret too. A good few months for Razor considering 30th June at a Challenge taping he'd dropped a match to Virgil.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted January 13, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted January 13, 2022 30 minutes ago, air_raid said: A good few months for Razor considering 30th June at a Challenge taping he'd dropped a match to Virgil Got to make Virgil look strong for when he puts Nailz over at Summerslam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 13, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 13, 2022 On 1/8/2022 at 12:45 PM, Chili said: On one of Piper's newer WWE DVD's they had a dark match from late 1990 against Mr. Perfect. He clean jobs to Perfect in the ring via perfect plex, Piper offers his handshake after and they awkwardly shake and Piper leaves. Never mentioned on TV, never played up. No reason. Weird.  If anyone fancies seeing this, it’s here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Scott Norton jobbed to ol' Sparky Plugg on a WWF house show in 1994 at the time him and Hercules were the bad ass Jurassic Powers in New Japan. A lot of that kind of thing happened in the 90s though. Mike Awesome lost to Aldo Montoya in a dark match at a TV taping in late 96 for instance. I believe Sabu wrestled Owen Hart during a tryout match in 1993 too which sounds, on paper, like it could have been a bloody good match. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Reverend Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 How much of this stuff is potentially sitting in the vault? I reckon a lot was filmed because I can imagine Vince being one of those who was obsessed with wanting to view footage back. Interesting that it's always been said that the match in '86 where Dynamite Kid knackered his back was never filmed - yet in the fan-cam footage you can see a cameraman climb up on the ring steps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 14, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2022 11 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said: Scott Norton jobbed to ol' Sparky Plugg on a WWF house show in 1994 at the time him and Hercules were the bad ass Jurassic Powers in New Japan. I absolutely love stuff like this. Not the famous ones like Benoit or Public Enemy or the ones that worked out like Unibomb doing a few shots before getting the dentist gimmick, or “Chris & Tammy from Team Spirit” (as babyfaces no less) but the ones that DIDNT work out. Here’s another from 1995. I remember the PWI 500 entry for Crash The Terminator telling me he was doing great in Pennsylvania indies and that as a well built guy with a great look who could really move, was a cant-miss prospect if the WWF or WCW ever had a look at him. Turns out the WWF had - he did a match with Devon Storm (latterly Crowbar) on a March house show in Bushkill. They didn’t bite. Post-script - he ends up in WCW as Hugh Morrus and turns out that in the big leagues, he’s not that muscle guy/flyer hybrid we all lust for, but a chunky guy of average wrestler height who happens to do a moonsault less impressive than when Bam Bam or Vader did it. Crash the Terminator …. boy, there’s an eFed name before eFeds were a thing. 12 minutes ago, The Reverend said: How much of this stuff is potentially sitting in the vault? I reckon a lot was filmed because I can imagine Vince being one of those who was obsessed with wanting to view footage back. No doubting this. Vince loved having a feel for what was getting a reaction with live crowds so he could decide what to go with on TV and thus move up the cards and I bet many house shows were filmed (if not particularly produced) for a tape audience of 1-5 viewers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 21 hours ago, air_raid said:  If anyone fancies seeing this, it’s here. Everyone knows of Piper's rep, but his post match selling of the shock loss is (pardon the pun) perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) 14 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:  A lot of that kind of thing happened in the 90s though. Mike Awesome lost to Aldo Montoya in a dark match at a TV taping in late 96 for instance.  Didn’t Mike Awesome turn up on Superstars in 96 as well? I want to say he was losing to Jesse James Edited January 14, 2022 by WyattSheepMask Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 When Aldo first turned up on an episode of Superstars, I was convinced that it was Waltman pulling double duty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Oh go check out the Tuesday in Texas card that was untelevised. Lucky fans got Harris Twins tryouts as punishment for getting treated to Jake & Savages angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 14, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2022 4 minutes ago, Chili said: Oh go check out the Tuesday in Texas card that was untelevised. Lucky fans got Harris Twins tryouts as punishment for getting treated to Jake & Savages angle. Plus pre-gimmick Tatanka and Papa Shango matches, and LOD vs Rockers dry run for the Prime Time match they taped the night after which was the final straw for Shawn and Marty heading to the Barber Shop. Also on that day, the first time Bret was told he’d be dropping a belt (the Intercontinental) to Shawn, which he’d get out of by executing the masterful strategy of convincing Vince to move the show to Wembley instead and work Bulldog. Far more creative than just leaving for WCW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 2 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said: Didn’t Mike Awesome turn up on Superstars in 96 as well? I want to say he was losing to Jesse James Not as far as I know. Awesome never appeared on WWF/WWE TV until the Invasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thicko Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 1 hour ago, air_raid said: Plus pre-gimmick Tatanka and Papa Shango matches, and LOD vs Rockers dry run for the Prime Time match they taped the night after which was the final straw for Shawn and Marty heading to the Barber Shop. Also on that day, the first time Bret was told he’d be dropping a belt (the Intercontinental) to Shawn, which he’d get out of by executing the masterful strategy of convincing Vince to move the show to Wembley instead and work Bulldog. Far more creative than just leaving for WCW. Bret was told, in November 1991, that  he would be dropping the title to Shaun in 9 months time? Was this part of a long term plan for Shaun from splitting The Rockers? Or am I misunderstanding?  Also, forgot all about that Rockers / LOD match, the tension between the Rockers was so well done over a period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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