House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[air_raid]

2 hours ago, Loki said:

I’m getting v excited because the Nature Boy arrives in WWE at some point this year.  Landel that is.  What a weird year!

For three whole matches!

[BomberPat]

5 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

I always thought that she was actually caught in possession of coke. 

That's the story I'd always heard too, though you'd assume there would be greater repercussions for that than just losing her WWF gig. The story was always that the drug bust got her blackballed in Japan for the remainder of her career, but that doesn't fully add up - she worked some AJW and indie dates after the WWF and around her WCW run. 

[air_raid]

It seems the drugs test for Bull was a false memory, indeed they found it on her, although clearly there were no criminal charges if she continued to get booked at home. Which she did, until the lure of more jobs to Mads took her to WCW.

June 1995
THE MAIN EVENTS
With the WWF Champ on the shelf Bret Hart vs Hakushi is going on last supported by the IC title ladder match, but they're strong cards playing to 2000 people or fewer. Bret's off for a few days around the "hometown" venues so we've got Bam Bam Bigelow vs Sid at Nassau Coliseum (6500) with a battle royal underneath won by HBK, <8500 at MSG for Shawn/Sid in a cage, then Undertaker vs Sid at the Meadowlands (6000). Thereafter most of the top guns are back in Europe for the Tour De Force (Bret vs Hakushi, Taker vs Kama) with Bam Bam and Sid swapping wins in cage matches. 7000 at Anaheim is still a decent number, it remembers a relatively hungry market. After King of the Ring Diesel has recovered enough to start his cage matches with Sid, just 3000 paid in Baltimore on 30th.

THE CARDS
Bret Hart vs Hakushi, Undertaker vs Kama and Shawn Michaels vs IRS are nightly battles all over the place, including the Euro jaunt. Razor Ramon chasing Double J in a ladder match comes to a screeching halt at Nassau when Razor injures his ribs ; thereafter the fairly easy replacement for Jeff is Savio Vega, beating Jarrett by count-out in straight matches. Adam Bomb is back in the winners' circle beating King Kong Bundy every night. In California we have short runs of Davey Boy Smith vs Tatanka and Man Mountain Rock going over Bob Backlund ; early month, Tatanka had been losing to Rock.

The tag champions are uncharacteristically quiet but on the California loop Owen Hart & Yokozuna are beating the Bushwhackers. The Headshrinkers start the month losing to the Blu Brothers, then in Europe to Men On A Mission. Jacob & Eli spend the tour losing to the Smoking Gunns. Both early month and mid month in Cali Tekno Team 2000 are beating the Heavenly Bodies.

Alundra Blayze vs Bertha Faye is the new Womens title feud. Jean-Pierre LaFitte starts his month with a few wins over Virgil then beats Dumpster all over Europe. Skip is beating Barry Horowitz (careful) early month and Aldo Montoya in CA. Doink losing to Henry Godwinn and Bob Holly vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley round out the Cali card.

It's another month where lots of guys have more nights off than they'd want.... Lex Luger isn't even booked if he isn't taping matches for TV, up until 30th, right at a time when the Allied Powers are being pushed as a serious threat to the tag belts.

VARIATIONS
Nassau, MSG and Meadowlands are all a jumble. Starting from the top - Shawn and Bam Bam work a tag with Tatanka and Kama in New Jersey. Double J drops a count-out defence to Adam Bomb at MSG ; he'll also beat him by cheating 30th in Baltimore. At Nassau Bomb teams with Man Mountain Rock to beat Tatanka & Bundy, and he beats HOG at the Meadowlands, Form! Owen & Yoko are supposed to fight Razor & Savio at MSG but Razors hurt so after a coin toss, Owen loses to Savio one on one. They beat the Gunns in a best of 3 falls at East Rutherford. There's a merry go round of jobbing - Skip beats Dumpster at Nassau, Aldo at MSG and Doink at the Meadowlands. Hunter beats Doink at Nassau, Dumpster at MSG and Aldo at the Meadowlands. The pirate beats.... fuck me, you can work that out, right?

Baltimore also has Skip/Doink and Hunter/Montoya, Bundy misses it so the pirate loses to Bam Bam, Savio is in for Razor beating King Mabel by count-out, 1-2-3 Kid is back and doing a job to Sir Mo (poor sod) and the Allied Powers finally do a match with Yoko/Owen... and lose.

TVs
June 5th we're taping Raw at Struthers High School which SELLS OUT (1450 seats) and they get to see all the current feuds - Bret vs Hakushi, Shawn vs Sid, Taker vs Kama, Double J vs Razor ladder match and Yoko/Owen vs Gunns, plus a rather famous try out for Chris Benoit losing to Bobcore. They also tape a particular brutal Sid/Tatanka win over the Headshrinkers where Sionne gets powerbombed on the floor which airs right before King of the Ring. If that sounds like a decisive burial, it is. Next night in Wheeling Benoit is losing to Adam Bomb, Shawn's beating The King, we tape Bret/Razor/Savio vs Hakushi/Owen/Yoko from several Coliseum tapes, extra rounds of Gunns vs MOM and Taker vs Kama, plus a dry run for Waylon Mercy, with SparkPlugg. Next night in Johnstown PA is fascinating ; a fairly random pairing of Razor & Bam Bam beat the tag champs by count-out, Benoit does a job to Owen (!!!), Taker beats Kama again, Shawn beats Sid again, Mo and Mabel beat the Gunns again, Mercy does another tryout with Erik Watts/Troy of Tekno Team 2000, and there's a tryout for Gorgeous George III managed by Harvey Whippleman... George will (eventually) be known as The Maestro in WCW.

Raw taping after the PPV Diesel does a brief DQ with Sid, and Savio/Kid lose to MOM. In terms of what they taped for air, Shawn knocks off IRS in what turns out to be Irwin's last match on TV, and Waylon is now taping for TV including beating a certain Jeff Hardy. Next night, Bam Bam over Tatanka, Diesel over Sid, Yoko/Owen over the Powers and a good win for Savio and Kid over Double J & Roadie. Finally 28th in Wilkes-Barre, DIesel vs Sid again, Allied Powers beat the champs when Yoko is unconscious outside the ring via Surgical Steel Forearm, King Mabel actually loses to Savio by DQ, and Jarrett and Roadie lose again, to the Gunns. They also tape the only appearance of Phantasio a/k/a USWAs Spellbinder, and a rather famous Skip vs Barry Horowitz match. All together now....
HOROWITZ WINS!!
HOROWITZ WINS!!
HOROWITZ WINS!!

DEPARTURES
The Headshrinkers' defeat as above is indeed them getting written out. Fatu will, of course, be shortly repackaged, but this is the end for the company using Sionne/Barbarian. This is virtually the end of Afa and Lou Albano too although they'll be briefly back in a tryout capacity at the end of the year, which we'll get to. The final matches for the team are on the tour, culminating at Royal Albert Hall. They've been used as jobbers virtually the whole time since Samu left.

[wandshogun09]

Regarding the Benoit tryouts, I wonder why they had him coming out with Millionaire Ted? Seems a bit unusual for just a tryout. 

[BomberPat]

Slightly different, as it was a dark match with developmental talent rather than a tryout, but when Brock Lesnar had a dark match in Minnesota he was managed by Jesse Ventura.

It may be that it was just a way to establish someone with the live audience - putting him with DiBiase might have been a way of easily signalling that Benoit was a heel. One rumour I've read is that they were trying out Benoit for the Ringmaster gimmick that eventually went to Austin - though I suspect that's probably people working backwards from the photo and guessing.

[wandshogun09]

8 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

One rumour I've read is that they were trying out Benoit for the Ringmaster gimmick that eventually went to Austin - though I suspect that's probably people working backwards from the photo and guessing.

I actually speculated about that on the first page of this thread!

On 1/9/2022 at 3:49 PM, wandshogun09 said:

Maybe he’d have ended up being ‘The Ringmaster’ if he’d came in and Steve Austin would’ve made his debut as Fang McFrost or Chilly McFreeze after all. 

Didn’t even remember posting that and I was just joking. It probably is mostly guesswork but I suppose it would kind of make sense. Sure I’ve heard Bruce Prichard say on his podcast before that they often had gimmicks in mind that they’d keep on the backburner for when ‘the right guy’ would come along to fit the gimmick. So maybe they were thinking of Ringmaster Benoit. He’d certainly have benefitted from having Ted has a mouthpiece. 

[Mikeymike83]

Just want to echo the love for this thread Raid, I'd forgot my log in details (been wanting to do this for several months) so only just getting round to this, but have been reading it daily.

In my near 20 years on here, truly is the greatest 'one off' thread in the forum's history (at least since I've been present on it anyway).

[air_raid]

15 hours ago, BomberPat said:

It may be that it was just a way to establish someone with the live audience - putting him with DiBiase might have been a way of easily signalling that Benoit was a heel.

Trying a lot of “see what sticks” for an audience reaction. He worked babyface against Owen after all.

July 1995

THE MAIN EVENTS
Diesel vs Sid in a cage is still the primary main event in front of about 2000 per night apart from 4000 to the Summit in Houston which is still poor for the building. 5200 at the United Center in Chicago is mediocre, but not TOTAL disaster. After the PPV Diesel & Shawn Michaels vs IRS & Tatanka (Sid's hurt) goes on a few towns although Diesel misses Jean NV so Shawn vs IRS goes into a cage and the Undertaker vs Kama casket match goes on last - which in fairness it had been fairly often anyway. Over 10,000 at least come to St Louis for the final Wrestling Challenge taping, but Sid's not the draw here - its Yokozuna going in the cage as seen on Unreleased.

A series of fundraisers are supposed to have Razor Ramon as their biggest draw but he's hurt so the match is Savio Vega vs King Mabel, usually on last is Bam Bam Bigelow vs King Kong Bundy and a few have a bonus tag of Bam Bam & Adam Bomb (proper Hasbro team, that) against Men On A Mission.

Month end proper B shows its usually Bam Bam and Mabel on last with a returned Razor against Hunter Hearst Helmsley but 30th in Hyannis Bam Bam misses it so its Razor vs Mabel on last, at last.

THE CARDS
The Undertaker vs Kama in a casket match happens every night without exception. Double J vs Shawn Michaels for the ICT is every night with count out or DQ finishes up until In Your House. Yokozuna & Owen Hart vs The Allied Powers has a month long run. Razor Ramon spends most of the month still injured but post PPV he starts a run with Hunter Hearst Helmsley. 1-2-3 Kid eases himself back in with Brooklyn Brawler but mid month he’s with the Roadie every night until In Your House, after which it’s supposed to be Double J but instead Kid finds himself losing to Waylon Mercy. Alundra Blayze vs Bertha Faye is still on. Bam Bam Bigelow you’ve already read, is winning over King Kong Bundy before the PPV but losing to King Mabel after it. Adam Bomb is also back to winning regularly ; he’s with Hakushi on the mid month B shows then Rad Radford after In Your House, but the time is running out for Clark.

Savio Vega moves from Mabel before Nashville to Hakushi after it. Fatu is already working singles and “making a difference” pinning Radford for three weeks then moving on to Henry Godwinn. The clock is winding down on the usefulness of Doink ; he spends most of the month as designated jobber for Hunter. Jean-Pierre LaFitte beats Aldo Montoya on all the fundraisers then moves on to Duke Droese. Man Mountain Rock vs Bob Backlund returns to the card after the PPV as does Smoking Gunns vs Jacob & Eli Blu. Skip inherits Aldo after the PPV, prior to that he’d been squashing TV jobber Nick Barberri. There's also a really interesting run of try out matches - Rico Suave from the WWC in Puerto Rico losing to Moadib from Dallas indies, wrestling under his real name, Tony Norris - of course, he'll brought in a little later as Ahmed Johnson.

Two time triple crown winner Bret "Hitman" Hart is not booked on the road in the month of July and in fact won't appear on a house show until August 11th.

VARIATIONS 
Radford doesn’t make it to Tampa so they call Tatanka for the job for Fatu. Same deal in Jean NV, except its Bomb the beneficiary. In Hyannis Phil Apollo comes to put Hunter over when HHH loses The Bad Guy to the main event vacancy. White Plains NY on the 8th is the lone booking on the road for Bob Holly, curtain jerking in a loss to Skip, and same night in Chicago Kama is missing so rather than the WWF title or tag belts going on last, there's ridiculous site of Taker vs Skip in the casket match going on in the apparent main event spot. In fairness, Chris had to open White Plains then get to Chicago by the end of their show. I sure hope the Dead Man stuffed Sunny in the box too. No idea while those wins Skip had over Barberri the rest of the loop weren't cheques for Bob unless he's injured, but after TV he doesn't get booked until August 11th either.

TVs
Should I cover dark matches at the PPV? You probably know it was Bret/Pierre and Taker/Kama because they were squeezed onto the home video release. Raw taping in Louisville after In Your House, they do dark matches of three of the big feuds - Diesel vs Sid cage match, Taker vs Kama casket match and Bam Bam vs Tatanka (rapidly fading in relevance) in the strap match, plus a totally random Bret & Shawn vs Jacob & Eli. Live to air they do the Bret vs Hakushi rematch which is probably better than the PPV match from May and the end of the Shinja character who even as kids we all spotted was Sato from the Orient Express. Also, they air the first vignette for Goldust. In the can they get the two excellent Owen/Yoko vs Razor/Savio defences. Next night in Evansville, we have Razor doing a job for King Mabel, Bret vs Hakushi in a cage, the tag champs dropping another DQ to the Allied Powers, and an ELIMINATION match where Diesel, HBK and Taker take on Ted DiBiase's corporate dream team of Sid, Kama and Tatanka. Sole survivor ; Shawn. Of course. Terrible night here for Chris Candido - Skip tapes episodes of Superstars where he loses the 10 minute challenge stip match to Barry Horowitz, and also the one where he loses to HBK and after the match they do the now infamous afters where Shawn gets Sunny in the ring then leaves her hanging when he goes to kiss him. Infamous because she'll describe in unnecessarily vivid (not Vivid... well, practically) detail detail how he gave her that kiss backstage afterwards, and the rest. Also, Pierre stealing a fans Bret Hart sunglasses to start the slow burn for that one. Finally in St Louis, they tape Rad doing a job for Phantasio that never airs because they've decided it was a one note joke (“Hahaha, I love it, pal…. never do it again”) after his first appearance airs - call me crazy, I'd have like to see him beat all the midcard heels with magic. We've got that cage match, Yoko and Owen getting DQd against Lex & Davey again, Taker/Kama and Bigelow/Tatanka doing their usual and another interesting tag for Bret & Shawn, against Hakushi and Jerry Lawler. Interesting for fans of the wider wrestling world, Brickhouse Brown does TV jobs for both Hunter and Henry on those last two nights.

DEPARTURES
As you will all know, Jeff Jarrett walks out after the show and effectively takes the Roadie with him, because Jarrett didn't want to do the split angle with the Road Dog and break up a partnership which he thought still had plenty of steam, even asking Vince right before he went through the curtain if he was sure they should go through with it. Of course, Jeff did his duty in losing to Shawn, but fallout turning Roadie babyface didn't happen (which would have led to a match at SummerSlam) and was faked by Dok Hendrix hollering in front of a door with raised voices being heard that most definitely weren't Jeff and Brian. There's scuttlebutt that Brian wanted to walk because he was worried about failing a recent drug test and getting sacked anyway, but I don't know if there's truth to it, while somewhat believable. Both will be back, of course.

29th in Jean NV is the last reported house show and therefore WWF match for IRS, after a mere four years back on the books that seemed to last far far longer when you look at the transition the company went through, from him returning to a landscape of Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Jake and LOD and leaving with the top guys being Diesel, Bret, Shawn and Razor. It's fair to say he was a good wrestler mechanically but he really need opponents that were exceptionally charismatic and energetic to have a match that rose above dull.

In Your House has the final appearance of Mantaur as a lumberjack and the last appearances of Tekno Team 2000 until, unbelievably, April 96. This is also the last TV appearance of the Gigolo Jimmy Del Ray - bookings for the Heavenly Bodies have already ceased although Tom Prichard will be used again at Survivor Series right before he's repackaged as Zip. Finally, Stephanie Wiand has a contract dispute with the company and disappeared. At least she was immortalized forever as a graphic doing commentary in the 32X version of Raw, braces and all.

Here are the two most interesting Coliseum matches that weren't, from St Louis ;

 

 

 

[air_raid]

AUGUST 95

THE MAIN EVENTS
Several big names return 11th in New Haven including a main event of Diesel, Shawn Michaels & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Sid, Tatanka & King Kong Bundy. Thereafter the build for SummerSlam is well and truly on as the Two Dudes With Attitudes take on Men On A Mission. <9000 at MSG is awful and only 2000 at the Palace too. After the PPV and TVs Diesel is crocked again because Mabel's a reckless fat twat, so 30th in Niagara Falls NY its Lex Luger tagging with Shawn (which will be really interesting in September's entry) and next night in Sydney (Nova Scotia) we have a new tag team feud planned but divided into singles with Shawn Michaels vs Owen Hart on last and - bound forever - Lex Luger vs Yokozuna underneath.

Prior to the big guns returning and shows getting back to full strength Bam Bam's nursing a knock so several shows are headlined by King Mabel vs Razor Ramon when Scott's booked or against Savio Vega when he isn't. After the 11th two crews are running again so Undertaker vs Kama casket matches are the B show main event, continuing into Canada after SummerSlam

THE CARDS
Bret Hart is booked on five house show reports that exist in August so his usual opponent by virtue of wrestling him twice(!) would be Jean-Pierre LaFitte. Razor Ramon moves into Sid after he's finished subs against Mabel. Hilariously Sid had decided post In Your House that he was hurt, so they immediately wrote a TV storyline to remove him from his SummerSlam payday with Shawn, but he's back in the ring by the 11th anyway. Undertaker vs Kama is non-stop even after SummerSlam. Owen Hart & Yokozuna are back in action from 11th and work a couple of best-of-3 matches with the Smoking Gunns then from 16th to SummerSlam they do four shows against the Allied Powers when Bulldog has already turned on TV, so walks off leaving Lex by himself. The Gunns otherwise work with Eli & Jacob Blu and while they're with the champs again in Niagara, the Blus feud resumes 31st in Chatham Ontario. Fun story - the originally planned Yoko/Owen vs Allied Powers match for SummerSlam was dropped for Gunns vs Blu Brothers because the house show matches were well received and the office decided to throw a bone to the lower card guys who were a little starving at this point, and show everyone could get a cheque if they worked for it. Hmm. Those nights the champs are with the Gunns, Davey and Lex are losing to the Blu brothers in similar circumstances.

Bam Bam Bigelow is usually beating eternal rival Tatanka in strap matches except at MSG. 1-2-3 Kid is losing to buddy Hunter Hearst Helmsley every night from MSG onwards. Doink swaps losing to Hunter for a couple of losses to Hakushi and the calls for the clown are going to dry up shortly.  Bob Holly gets a couple of paydays at MSG and Albany losing to Skip, who's finished with Aldo Montoya by now, and with Waylon Mercy in Quebec. Weirdly Skip will do two jobs for Pierre in Quebec where they let PCO play babyface (Skip's subbing for King Kong Bundy) then post SummerSlam and TVs starts the run with Barry Horowitz. Aldo mid month loses to Mercy then post TVs he's losing to Bob Backlund in Quebec in matches which reportedly go over 20 minutes. Alundra Blayze vs Bertha Faye is going on every night.

Fatu finishes his run of wins over Rad Radford then also beats Hakushi for a few nights. Savio Vega works the opposite heel to Fatu on the same nights. Adam Bomb does a handful of short loses to Henry Godwinn, and my heart breaks. Man Mountain Rock ekes out another couple of weeks getting paid to lose to Backlund. Duke Droese is losing a few shows to Pierre then spends several nights beating jobber Mike Bell.

VARIATIONS
Early month Skip has to work a couple of matches with Mike Bell or Nick Barberri. 4th in Emmitsburg Savio misses it so Aldo fills in with Hakushi.

Hitman works Hunter in New Haven before his couple with the pirate then beats Sid in Niagara and Isaac Yankem DDS by DQ in Sydney. As well as the main event and Bret vs Hunter, New Haven has random MOM vs Allied Powers matches and Razor & Savio losing the those brothers Blu, Skip going over the Kid and Holly losing to Pierre. MSG has a one off Fatu win over Bundy. 13th in Albany Godwinn is missing so Adam Bomb pins Rad Radford in what appears to have been his penultimate match for the WWF straight after Radford beats jobber Tony DeVito, and Bam Bam misses it so Savio beats Tatanka in the (Caribbean?) strap match. On the Quebec run Bart Gunn is injured so the Blu twins are beaten by the random team of Billy and Henry O.19th at the Palace Savio beats Sid by DQ. Razor works a double DQ with Mercy in Niagara, Kid's losing to Hakushi again.

31st in Sydney.... here's Goldust going over Dumpster, Bobcore loses to the pirate, Hakushi beats El Fuego, and Fatu does a double count out with Mercy. Same night in Chatham Dean Douglas goes over Man Mountain Rock, Savio pins Radford, HHH pins Aldo and brand new heel Davey Boy Smith goes to a non finish with HOG. Most interesting, 17th in New Hampshire there is a tryout for The Eliminators. Every day's a school day.

TVs
14th at the Worcester Raw taping most other interesting matches are used for Action Zone although Taker vs Kama cask... oh, wait, I said interesting. Same crap next night plus Diesel beating Mabel by DQ in a dry run, Sid pinning Shawn, Bret doing a dry run with the dentist. The most notable thing to tape that night is the Bulldog heel turn although weirdly by the time it airs, Davey has already been walking out on Lex on the house shows. After SummerSlam we have FASCINATING stuff taped that never airs. On the Raw taping they record an interview where Lex Luger is challenged to a match by Mabel, plus a dark match where Shawn, Taker and Lex beat Sid and MOM. Next night at the Superstars taping the dark match ramps up to include Diesel and Kama and becomes an elimination match then they tape the Luger/Mabel match where Smithers interferes and beats Luger up ; neither the interview nor the match will air, and you probably know why. Also we have Bret vs Pierre and the first Razor vs Goldust match.

DEPARTURES
On 14th TVs Adam Bomb tapes a squash of Bell that airs on WWF Mania on 2nd September. In Worcester that night he still looks pretty over, chucking his little foam nukes into the crowd for the kids to catch after the win. But that's it. He's not booked again for the company unless we want to talk about Kronik, and why would we. Truly a victim of circumstance, he looked a fantastic monster heel when he came in, but then almost immediately they hired Kevin Nash, who was bigger. So in the middle of 1994 they fancied Adam might make a decent babyface, and right about the time he was getting traction, they turned Diesel too. Fittingly of course, over in WCW, he'll get super over in 1998 when he effectively switches his Wrath character from the Blood Runs Cold nonsense back to Adam Bomb under a different name, Meltdown and all, until his win streak is unceremoniously snapped on Nitro by... Kevin Nash. Huh.
 

[The King Of Swing]

Shinja was Sato? Fuck me I actually had no idea.

[air_raid]

SEPTEMBER 1995

MAIN EVENTS
Our WWF Champ starts the month injured so thrown-together but still logical Shawn Michaels & Lex Luger VS Owen Hart & Yokozuna starts as the A show main event then comes to a skid stop, and you probably don't need telling why. Cards are juggled a bit so Shawn vs Sid starts going on last with Taker, Bret AND the tag title match supporting. Diesel vs Jean-Pierre LaFitte is on the block in Montreal and Quebec City and Kev's back in time... we've talked about those before too. Toronto ends up with Diesel vs Waylon Mercy with Pierre on the undercard. In Kalamazoo and Port Huron after the PPV Big Daddy Cool is with Yokozuna.

B shows start the month pretty loaded with the Undertaker vs Kama casket match on top. 9th in Tallahassee it’s Razor Ramon vs King Mabel but for the rest of the Florida loop Mabel's not wrestling and its Razor with Sir Mo, and the new feud of Bam Bam Bigelow vs Davey Boy Smith which sometimes goes on last. The post In Your House loop through Stockton and San Diego is so well attended there aren't reports up.

THE CARDS
Bret Hart vs Isaac Yankem DDS is happening every night. The Undertaker vs Kama in the casket match carries on for another month even though they basically finished Kama at SummerSlam - post In Your House Taker starts his ill fated series with King Mabel. Shawn Michaels moves straight from Sid on to Davey Boy Smith after the PPV. Razor Ramon vs Dean Douglas starts through Ontario and Pennsylvania early month before Razor's Men On A Mission antics then after the PPV he's back with Sid - the big man having been beating Savio Vega before being required on top with HBK. Owen Hart & Yokozuna vs Smoking Gunns happens every night until Owen goes on paternity leave. It wasn't just a storyline - Athena was born the night before In Your House.

Bulldog starts the month with a few brawling double count-outs with Henry Godwinn before moving to his healthier series of wins over Bam Bam Bigelow. 1-2-3 Kid is losing to Jean-Pierre LaFitte until 10th then up to In Your House he's trying to make something with Dean Douglas. Can't work with Kid, can't work. Savio Vega ends up with Dumpster when Sid moves up. You can guess who the Gunns are with either side of their matches with Owen and Yoko - those brothers Blu. Happily when the Gunns are busy and they need bodies for Eli and Jacob, they call the Bushwhackers. Bertha Faye vs Alundra Blayze is happening a fair few times. Bob Holly is getting a few more paydays this month - early month he's losing to Jean-Pierre LaFitte then the rest of the month he's putting over brand new Goldust. Hunter Hearst Helmsley splits his month back and forth between Aldo Montoya and his forthcoming new feud, Godwinn. Douglas is usually wrestling whoever Hunter isn't. Month end Douglas is beating Doink, who's at the end of the line.

Fatu is doing various draw finishes with Waylon Mercy all month. Barry Horowitz vs Skip is a 50/50 feud all month. Hakushi does a couple of wins over Dumpster early month but then as he's a babyface on TV now, through Florida he's going over Rad Radford. The writing is on the wall for Man Mountain Rock - he loses a few matches to Radford early month but injuries and substances have taken their toll and before October is out, he'll be done. Tatanka is left without Lex so the phone stops ringing for now, but he'll be back at the Rumble.

VARIATIONS
Owen doesnt make Quebec and Toronto so somehow the Gunns have to overcome Yoko and King Kong Bundy. Bret's also off so the dentist gets wins over Aldo. Toronto, the pirate does a job to Fatu. Which is quite a step down from going on last with the champ for two nights in Quebec.

TVs
At In Your House there are four dark matches, two of which were actually mentioned in WWF Magazine. Ahmed Johnson (announced on the night as Ahmed Williams) goes over Skip wearing what look like tights borrowed from Harlem Heat (funny that) and Goldust goes over Bob Holly like its any other night. Also Taker pins Mabel and Fatu puts an incongruous pin on "unbeaten on telly" Triple H. Next night in Grand Rapids the only dark match of note is Razor pinning Sid almost immediately, most of the interesting stuff is what aired - Marty Jannetty returns live on Raw and also tapes beating Dumpster for Action Zone - Duke's getting used to playing heel by now, when required. They really get their moneys worth out of Bret here, he tapes the Pierre rematch AND a cage match with Yankem. This is also the night with the chaotic six man where fat oaf Mabel (storyline) breaks Undertaker's orbital bone, which actually happens on the road in October. We've also got the TV swansong of Doink as a regular character, losing to Hunter, although depending on who you ask, its not Ray Apollo in the makeup. PG-13 tape a squash one week then a shot at the Gunns the week after but aren't yet picked up as regulars.

Next night in Valparaiso we've got another look at Ahmed, Goldust vs Savio, Taker vs Kama (Mabel's been sent home), Shawn vs the Dean, and the Diesel flukey squash of Yoko from the Confirmed Hits tape. Fun trivia - this is the last example I can find of an actual Coliseum Video exclusive. We also tape the Diesel vs Waylon Mercy match where by the time it airs on 14th October, Spivey will be out because of his back injury so this amounts to his being written out. Also a not-quite-20 year old Terry Richards does a TV job for Fatu - he'll beef up and become better known later on as Rhino. Finally, they film something interesting I'd forgotten - Pierre steals Savio Vega's ring jacket, giving an increasingly rare reason for a house show feud, as they will end up working matches a couple of weeks after it airs. So anyone that tells you about Pierre getting sacked over the debacle in Quebec regarding the finishes to the Pierre/Diesel matches is full of bullshit.

DEPARTURES
Do you really need me to explain the circumstances behind Lex Luger walking out on his nightly handshake deal? 3rd September in St John, New Brunswick, Canada, Luger and HBK beat Owen & Yoko by DQ when - here's a metaphor - Yoko jabs Lex with Mr Fuji's flagpole. Monday night 4th September, Luger walks out live at the Mall Of America in Minneapolis on the first Monday Nitro. Interestingly enough, as usual payroll was behind so Lex not only left his job for taking a gamble back down South but also forewent money owed for at least one PPV and other money - he'll tell you, the WWF basically told him he'd have to sue to get what they owed him, but he didn't bother.

Though they'll call him to make up the numbers on a couple of house shows in December, this is realistically the end of the character Doink. The clown does his jobs to the teacher and that's it.

Ahmed in those tights ;

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by air_raid

[air_raid]

OCTOBER 1995

 

THE MAIN EVENTS

The Full Metal Tour of England (2 dates only) and Germany has Diesel vs Yokozuna for the belt. Back home the A show has Shawn Michaels vs British Bulldog for the Intercontinental title. Shawn did have Taker supporting until they realize he's carrying the broken orbital bone, then Syracuse happens and Shawn hits the bench too, so on the Syracuse/Albany shows they're left with Marty Jannetty against Smithers on top after a bonus battle royal earlier in the night which are both won by Marty, amazingly. Less than 8000 pay for the card without Diesel at MSG. Back home from Europe Diesel vs Yoko carries on supported by Smithers challenging Razor Ramon, and an entire raft of B shows through small towns in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are cancelled due to combination of weakened roster and poor advance. Not that the A shows are drawing either, <3000 in Tacoma.

 

THE CARDS

The Undertaker spends a week going over King Mabel then gets a couple of matches into his new run with Isaac Yankem DDS before they realize he needs surgery where Mabel broke his face in Providence. Razor Ramon is wrestling Dean Douglas (mostly) in Europe then defending the IC title against Davey Boy Smith after In Your House. Bam Bam Bigelow gets some momentum back beating Sid every night on tour but he's losing to him back home. Owen Hart beats Fatu every night. 1-2-3 Kid is back in the winners circle beating Bob Backlund every night except Utica then after TV he starts losing to Goldust. Hunter Hearst Helmsley beats Henry Godwinn every night of the tour, as he should.

 

Bob Holly loses to Waylon Mercy every night of the tour, as does Aldo Montoya for Jean-Pierre LaFitte. Savio Vega pins Kama who is next to worthless by this point. Alundra Blayze vs Bertha Faye continues. Tag team champs the Smoking Gunns busy themselves wrapping up their long run with Eli & Jacob Blu and also do plenty of tags with Men On A Mission because presumably they're running out of top singles guys who want to risk their health in there with Mabel. Barry Horowitz bookends his month swapping wins with Skip, gets a few random wins over Sir Mo, and loses matches to King Kong Bundy in Mass and NY state. Hakushi also gets plenty of wins over Skip then after TVs he's back with Rad Radford. Man Mountain Rock gets to beat Radford nearly every night of the Europe tour then gets himself shitcanned.

 

Bret "Hitman" Hart, two time triple crown holder and the next WWF Champion, only gets work for two road dates in October, beating the dentist at the FleetCenter, Boston and at MSG. That's in spite of half the month having plenty of dates in Germany and half the months shows taking place entirely in Canada. Am I missing something, or were they trying to starve Bret out in 1995? Maybe he had Lonesome Dove to film.

 

VARIATIONS

Cologne is an amazing story. Firstly Henry Godwinn has to pull double duty filling in for Rock against Radford before his usual match with Hunter. Then HUNTER has to do double duty and work Razor as well - Scott's fed up of working with Shane Douglas and is asking for his buddy instead. Douglas sits on his hands that night. In Glens Falls and Rochester Savio does double duty, subbing for Taker to drop the dentist to add to his win over Kama. In Binghamton Marty comes to relieve Savio and jobs to DDS before Shawn hits the bench and suddenly they need him to be booked like a main eventer, LOL! Fatu doesnt make it to Victoria so after he beats Skip, Barry does a job for Owen.

 

TVs

In Your House has numerous non-televised matches before and after the PPV to give Winnipeg bang for their buck ; Bob Holly actually wins a match against Rad Radford, Henry Godwinn gets his win back from Sid, Yokozuna & Owen Hart go over Savio and Bam Bam, and Bret Hart closes the show beating Yankem yet again. Next night in Brandon is a RIDICULOUSLY noteworthy set of Raws recorded, with Alundra winning the belt back. Ahmed Johnson debuting and slamming Yokozuna plus taping his first squashes, Avatar getting his first squash, and Kid turning on Razor to go after Ted DiBiase's cash. Plus you might spot Terry Richards (a/k/a Rhino) doing a job for HOG. Dark, Diesel & Marty beat future tag team champs Owen & Smithers. Finally at the Superstars taping in Regina there are a couple of great forgotten TV matches - Razor and Kid (still friends, LOL) vs Owen & Yoko that I shared to the YouTube thread not long ago, the Gunns vs Kid/Razor rematch where the spat itensifies, and Bret vs Sid in what amounts to a lumberjack match with the Corporation against the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. Future TNA booker Scott D'Amore does jobs for Bigelow and Ahmed and dark we have Avatar beating Skip, Goldust beating Bobcore AGAIN, the Gunns beating Jerry Lawler and his dentist, and a six man where only half the scheduled guys are in it - its supposed to be Diesel Shawn and Razor vs Owen, Yoko and Bulldog but Shawn's hurt and presumably Razor and Yoko are knackered from already wrestling twice and once respectively that night, so it becomes Diesel, Ahmed and Marty beating Owen, Smithers and our favourite pirate. Who probably wouldn't be in the ring with Kev if there was any lingering heat from Quebec (myth busting!!).

 

DEPARTURES

TVs post In Your House are the last bookings for King Kong Bundy despite being advertised on future shows ; he's knackered. Man Mountain Rock gets himself the sack for unreliability, substance problems and an apparent need to record backstage footage that the rest of the locker room were not happy about. Europe is also the end for Waylon Mercy ; as covered last time, Spivey will actually retire with the back injury that causes him to bow out. This is the last month of booking for the Blu/Harris Twins, although they'll get another chance in 96 before finally landing the DOA gig in 97. Also, though I didn't touch on his hiring, I wouldn't mind passing comment on Bill Watts quitting this month. Depending what day it is he'll tell you he was only on a three month deal and had no interest in staying longer anyway, or that he was promised final say and Vince never let him have final say. Either way, there's some truth to the latter in that Watts would never work as a cog in the machine, only as "THE boss" and at Titan THE boss was only ever Vince. Also Crush answers no contest to most of his charges in court this month so avoids jail time, paving the way for his eventual return.

 

Here's Shawn and Smithers from MSG ;

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by air_raid

[air_raid]

November 1995

Main Events
Diesel, Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart vs Yokozuna, British Bulldog & King Mabel is a huge six man main event every night before Survivor Series including a poorly attended Nassau Coliseum (<5500) except at the Meadowlands where its Diesel and Shawn against Yoko and Owen Hart in a lumberjack match, above the Bret/Bulldog match which pretty much prompted this thread, where they will mention on TV in the build to Bret/Bulldog at In Your House about Davey winning every match the two have ever had (a lie) from Wembley to "most recently at the Meadowlands." Great example as to why the "everyone's wrestled everyone" era is so crap, that six man holds huge appeal to me as Bret never interacted with monster heel Mabel on TV.

After Survivors its new WWF Champion Bret Hart vs Undertaker at MSG (<7500) and the Spectrum (<4500) among other cities and they're already doing Diesel run ins prompting Taker/Diesel face offs. 28th in Wheeling Bret actually gets to win a defence, against Hunter Hearst Helmsley.

THE CARDS
Once the belt is onto Bret, Diesel vs Davey Boy Smith is a fixture of the cards post-Survivors. Razor Ramon vs Owen Hart is the ICT match before the PPV and its Razor vs Sid after it. Marty Jannetty vs Goldust is regular before the Series, after it Marty is doing the job for hot new heel (for now) 1-2-3 Kid. Savio Vega vs Jean-Pierre LaFitte, Bob Holly vs Bob Backlund, Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs Henry Godwinn and Bam Bam Bigelow doing jobs for Isaac Yankem DDS round out the early month cards. Fatu is a bit all over the place but the closest he has to a regular opponent is Brooklyn Brawler, Ahmed Johnson is flattening Skip. The Smoking Gunns defend the tag belts against Sid & Kama, and you can guess who got pinned. After the PPV the Gunns are with Owen & Yokozuna again, Savio vs Dean Douglas starts up (but doesn't last long) as well as a six man opener of Fatu, Barry Horowitz & Hakushi vs Kama, Yankem & Skip and Holly jobbing for Dustin.

Undertaker's off recovering/selling the facial injury before Survivors & TVs, Shawn Michaels is off selling post-concussion syndrome afterwards. As you can tell, the amount of guys getting regular bookings is way down. Bob Holly is putting serious consideration into becoming a welder full time to pay his bills because he's not earning enough as a wrestler, right about now. Probably why he got booked on Survivor Series in place of Avatar, it was easier to let Snow starve than him.

VARIATIONS
3rd in Cincinnati Avatar works with Brawler, 6th in South Bend IN he beats Radford. 4th in Bowling Green KY has many exceptions. It's the last time Razor has to contend with Dean Douglas, the last house show match for both in Alundra Blayze vs Bertha Faye. Holly works Rad Radford, Fatu/Kama and Kid vs Skip is Kid's apparent last match as a babyface. 10th at Nassau we have a mixup as always - Fatu is with Rad and Ahmed with Skip, Bam Bam loses to Owen and Godwinn to Yankem (huh???), the Gunns are with Kama & the pirate, plus Razor gets to work with buddy Hunter again. There's also a rare match for Sir Mo, losing to Hakushi. Next night in Worcester Mo's in there with Ahmed, Hakushi vs Owen (!!!), Kama beating jobber Tony Roy, Fatu wins a babyface match with Aldo Montoya, Savio beats the dentist, Razor works with Goldust again, Bam Bam does a job for the Dean, and HOG & the Gunns lose to Mabel, Hunter and Kama - bit thrown together, that!

Marty misses the Spectrum so Kid goes over Aldo. In Scranton Hakushi and Skip are missing from the six man making it a tag with Barry/Fatu vs DDS & Kama. Dean Douglas hurts his back so Savio ends up with Mr Bob Backlund. 28th in Wheeling with Bret vs Hunter, Taker renews hostilities with long term opponent Yokozuna. It's a mixed up card in general - Razor actually fights the Kid, Marty reverts to losing to Goldust, Bob Holly loses a babyface match to Hakushi, the dentist and Kama wrestle the Gunns, Owen works Barry Horowitz, plus an opening battle royal won by Hunter who hid under the ring for most of it.

TVs
Dark at Survivors the Gunns famously work another try out for the Public Enemy. After the Raw taping they dry run Bret/Taker and Bulldog/Diesel which will be running house shows. They're also taping a short-lived revival of The Brother Love Show. Of note of the Prichard family, Survivors is the last appearance of Dr Tom until they remake him into Zip. Next night at the Superstars taping having done one last TV match with the Dean, Razor's back with him dark, plus Bret/Taker and Alundra taping a win over Lioness Asuka which never airs.

DEPARTURES
Bam Bam Bigelow has had enough of the Kliq, diminished push and diminished pay - he's off after putting Goldust over clean at Survivor Series. Jean-Pierre LaFitte works right up to Nassau on the 10th then quits, exaggerating his injury so he doesn't have to wrestle through his notice period, right on time for Kid to slot into Survivor Series which worked an absolute treat, in my opinion. It's sometime shortly after TVs that they decide to dump the whole Womens division as a cost-cutting measure despite Alundra Blayze vs Aja Kong already previewed in WWF Magazine for the Rumble. Thus they either don't renew or terminate Alundra's contract, which with her still being in possession of the Womens title belt... you know the rest. This of course also means the end of Bertha Faye.

Bret vs Bulldog got pulled but here's Shawn & Diesel vs Owen & Yoko from the Meadowlands

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by air_raid

[AshC]

23 hours ago, air_raid said:

 

Here's Shawn and Smithers from MSG ;

 

I watched this a while back and it's a *tremendous* match. Highly recommended.

[JNLister]

Ooh, been waiting for October/November 95 so I can remind anyone who doesn't know just how bad business got. *Average* house show attendance fell below 2,000, an all-time low, and it hit the wrestlers.

In this era, you still didn't have guaranteed salaries. Instead of getting a fixed fee, you got most of your earnings based on the house show revenue. WWF allocated a portion of the revenue from each show for wrestler pay and then divvied it up based on position on the card (waaaay bigger chunks going to the main eventers, creating the unhelpful incentive that it was much better to keep your main event slot when business was bad than to be in the midcard when business was up).

At the time, you'd generally do the TV tapings, have a couple of days off, then do a tour of 2-3 weeks of house shows. You'd usually get a cheque in the post a week or so after the tour ended, covering all your payoffs from those shows. (Other than that, you'd get a PPV payoff a couple of months after the show on a similar success of show/position on card basis, and then a quarterly royalty cheque for your merchandise.)

Generally WWF booked you a flight to the first town on the tour and one home from the last town, but other than that you had to sort out all your hotels, travel, food, gym costs and so on. As you're being paid after the tour, that can be a problem if you're not flush with savings, so they had a system called "taking a draw". You could ask the road agents for a "draw" at each show, which was effectively a cash advance on your wages, usually up to a couple of hundred dollars a day. When you got your cheque for the tour, any draws would be deducted from the payoff.

And so we get to the autumn of 1995 when WWF locker room morale hit the low point because some lower card wrestlers started opening their post to find that because the attendance was dire, their payoffs for the tour were so low that not only were they getting no cheque (because their nightly draws added up to more than their payoff) but they owed the company money.