House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[air_raid]

January 1998 
THE MAIN EVENTS
Clear division between A and B towns, as the WWF Champ is on limited dates at this point. On days with two shows he's only working one. 

Shawn Michaels draws a sellout to hometown San Antonio on the 4th to beat Owen Hart, Alberquerque NM on 5th has a reprise of Steve Austin & Undertaker vs DX, then a sold out MSG gets treated to Undertaker & Legion Of Doom against Shawn and the New Age Outlaws in a cage, THEN Stone Cold & Cactus Jack vs The Rock & D'Lo Brown, falls count anywhere. Pittsburgh (over 7000) and Anaheim (near 13,000!!) get the same loaded pair of matches minus the cage, Vegas the night before the Rumble has no Austin, Taker or Shawn so LOD and the Outlaws close, then the Rumble hits and we have to say goodbye to Shawn. Shows without Shawn on top and no Austin (easing his way back in from injury, still) have Owen & Kent Shamrock vs The Rock and Farooq or LOD vs the Outlaws on top.  

Post Rumble the rest of the month has a couple more B towns getting Owen & Shamrock vs The Nation on top but the bigger towns have a huge treat. With HBK on the shelf, D’Lo subs for Rocky in the tag against Kenny boy and “the Blackhart” underneath, and on top Stone Cold, Cactus and Terry Funk beat The Rock and the Outlaws in Philadelphia (12,000+) on 25th and Hartford on 27th. Two shows in Ohio on 31st, Cincinnati then Cleveland, close the month with Austin, Cactus and Owen vs Rock, Roadie and Billy. Chyna is receiving a Stunner ever night. No, the Outlaws aren’t in DX yet, but you’d think they are.

Gates are up. Medium sized venues are getting 5000-7000 as opposed to the 3000 they might have gotten a while back. Corpus Christi and Scranton as examples are small venues but sell out. Big cities are starting to command 10,000 again, sell outs are back in smaller towns, and quite a few of those numbers come in BEFORE the much-ballyhooed Austin/Tyson confrontation on Raw. Fuck Mike Tyson, Stone Cold Steve Austin was WELL on his way to proving he was the biggest draw in North America.

THE CARDS
The Rock vs Ken Shamrock for the belt occurs in Albuquerque and Scranton ; Kenny is otherwise beating Farooq at MSG, in Pittsburgh and in Anaheim, then post Rumble he has a double shot with Jeff Jarrett on 31st in addition to the tags we looked at above. Dude Love vs D'Lo Brown happens as a falls count anywhere when Mick's not in the main, in Austin and Scranton. Owen Hart vs Jarrett is booked for a couple of towns but Anaheim is the only one where it actually happens. The New Age Outlaws defend the belts, fittingly, against the soon-to-be-defunct New Blackjacks on a three town Texas loop in addition to what you know. Vader vs TAFKA Goldust and Kane vs Chainz happen an awful lot before the Rumble although Kane does several towns with Vader too ; after the Rumble mysteriously Kane vs 8-Ball becomes a fixture. Goldust is losing to one or another face of Foley before the Rumble when he isn't with Vader ; after the PPV he starts doing weird comedy jobs to Chainz. If you're wondering what Skull is up to when his twin's with Kane, he's with Jarrett, though 30th when Chainz reverts to Kane, Jarrett defends the NWA North American title against Cactus. By then, Goldie is losing to Bradshaw. Legion of Doom you know about before the Rumble, after it they're swapping wins (WTF) with the Godwinns, some of which have the "Country Whippin match" stip, until 31st double shot they're beating Farooq & D'Lo.

Tom Brandi vs Marc Mero usually has Brandi by DQ before the Rumble - though he pins Marc in Pittsburgh which is near enough a homecoming for the Philly boy - though after the PPV Mero's beating him. Taka Michinoku vs Brian Christopher for the Light Heavyweight title is fairly regular. 8-Ball & Skull vs Savio Vega & Miguel Perez is pretty regular although 31st in Cleveland there's no Miguel and a Jesus outing instead. The Headbangers also have a few matches with Los Boricuas (fairly even wins for both) and you could probably guess that Mosh & Thrasher also end up with HOG & PIG from time to time too. There are various tags and six mans for Max Mini, Nova and Mosaic against combinations of El Torito, Tarantula, Batalion and Piratita Morgan, if any of you cared about specifics, I've gravely misunderstood my readers. That's the extent of the house show matches - no cheques for the road in January for Steve Blackman, Ahmed Johnson, Mark Henry or a few other lower card bods. Bob Holly is still without any work at all.

VARIATIONS
Flash Funk beats The Sultan 3rd in Corpus Christi and 4th in Austin. 4th afternoon in San Antonio its Shamrock vs Sultan. Jarrett misses Scranton so Owen beats Kama. 17th in Vegas Jarrett defends his less-than-minor belt against Dude Love. 16th in Anaheim there's no "Too Sexy" so Taka beats a "David Heath" - Gangrel sighting unconfirmed. Couple of one-offs for Dogg & Ass, 24th they beat Skull & Chainz (pulling double duty) in Bethlehem PA, 31st in Colombus its the Headbangers.

TVs
12th in State College PA they try out Bart Gunn in the character Black Bart beating the Brooklyn Brawler before the cameras start (surprised Bart & Barry didnt get a whirl as a team), Mark Henry joins the Nation, and after Raw there's a HELL of a would-be Coliseum Exclusive ; The Rock defends the belt against Undertaker in an unofficial lumberjack match where the Nation and Taker's real life pals DOA surround the ring. 19th in Fresno Mike Tierney vs Chris Daniels is an interesting try out, and the Fallen Angel will get some TV work out of it later in the year, dark main is Ahmed and LOD going over Rock, Farooq and Mizark. We film Barry Windham turning on Bradshaw as part of the crap NWA angle, the Quebecers come back without everything that made the gimmick great, LOD wrestle the Rock n Roll Express for Shotgun but are only permitted to beat them by DQ (WTF) and El Pantera starts doing TV matches to build to his shot at Taka. Oh, and Mike Tyson appears, I don't really remember what they did with him.

Next night in Davis, Erin O'Grady vs Vic Grimes will net a developmental deal for each, O'Grady will become Crash Holly and Grimes will be the short-lived Key character but will be better remembered as a baldie getting thrown from scaffold by New Jack. Daniels does a job for The Irish Assassin (Tierney again), Scott Taylor pins Black Phantom (very likely Dave Heath/Gangrel), and after the show Kenny & LOD beat Rock and the Outlaws as per house shows. Future GHC tag champs Mike Modest (from Beyond The Mat) and Donovan Morgan do TV jobs for Kurrgan and Bradshaw respectively, plus on the taped Raw we have LOD doing a job to Jarrett & Windham (how the mighty have fallen) and Owen Hart taking the European title from Triple H by beating Goldust meaning all three singles champions are still walking around with belts they didn't really beat the last champion to win.

DEPARTURE
Those three dates in Texas are the last bookings in that character for Fatu as The Sultan. Don't worry, he'll be part of the training camp in May and eventually they'll go back to the well with him and find third time's the charm, even if he'll starve as an independent for a while first.
 

[air_raid]

FEBRUARY 1998
Shawn's fucked, Taker's off selling being "set on fire", no time at all after Bret's left. Panic stations. Except.... look at the fucking gates. The WWF is BACK in a big way. The edgy content, unpredictable TV and one guy being unmissable - Stone Cold Steve Austin - are the biggest factors.

THE MAIN EVENTS
1st in Louisville we manage 5000 fans for Steve Austin, Owen Hart & Cactus Jack vs The Rock & New Age Outlaws, but on 6th SELL OUT the St Louis (>20,000, near 19,000 paid) for a huge 10 match card with Terry Funk in for Owen who's defending the Euro title underneath. We have near 6000 in Miami and near 7000 in Tampa where Triple H has recovered to team up with the Outlaws, 13th in West Palm its Ken Shamrock, Cactus and Chainsaw vs Rocky and the outlaws, with Stone Cold vs Triple H earlier. Post PPV, on the 21st we have a healthy 13,000+ to the SkyDome in Toronto, although the advance for Shawn Michaels vs Owen Hart for the belt will have helped prior to Shawn's injury, the main event ends up being Steve Austin vs The Rock non title, near 12,500 turn up to the Continental Airlines (formerly Meadowlands) for Austin/Jack/Funk vs Rock/Dogg/Gunn again, over 15,500 to Vancouver for Austin vs Hunter with three title matches underneath (I suspect also planned to be Shawn vs Owen), and nearly 9000 to Winnipeg for Austin & pals vs DX.

Cape Girardeau MO on 4th and Springfield IL on the 5th are nights off for Austin so The Rock vs Ken Shamrock for the ICT is our draw, likewise 26th in Tacoma which still draws nearly 11,000 with the Euro and tag titles supporting but no Shawn, Taker or Austin. How's this?? Suddenly the WWF is drawing 10,000 fans without a real main eventer involved?

THE CARDS
Ken Shamrock vs The Rock for the ICT is nearly every night when they aren't opposite each other in tags. Owen Hart usually wrestles TAKFA Goldust for the European title outside of the above although Miami and Tampa have big champion v champion matches with Rock, with only Owen's belt at stake (Ken has those nights off). New Age Outlaws vs Cactus Jack & Terry Funk naturally occurs in Toronto, Tacoma and Vancouver when they aren't in multi mans against each other. Kane vs Chainz - again - is the run you didn't know happened. Takers bro vs fake Taker. Legion of Doom are playing out poor form/tension between them on TV, but they're getting a more regular cheque on the road, although they're having to lose a nightly Country Whippin match to the directionless Godwinns. Never dreamed the pig farmers would go down as the eventual winners of that war. 

The Headbangers often wrestle D'Lo Brown and a rotating Kama or Mark Henry before the PPV then the Quebecers after it. Taka Michinoku vs Brian Christopher for the LHWT is a welcome addition to lots of cards. Marc Mero vs Tom Brandi continues all month, as one sided as you'd hope. Skull & 8-Ball beat Savio Vega and a rotating Miguel Perez or Jesus Castillo up until East Rutherford then move back to HOG & PIG. Bradshaw vs Kama makes up numbers in St Louis, Vancouver and Winnipeg. There's a minis six-man virtually every night.

Vader's injured and No Way Out is his only match of the month. Jeff Jarrett, who talked himself up as a main eventer between October and December, is booked on one house show in February. Yes, Bob Holly is still starving. So's Bart Gunn, I hope creative comes up with something for them both soon.

VARIATIONS
Shamrock wrestles his last match with Jarrett in Louisville and works Farooq in St Louis and Kama in Toronto since Rock's in high demand. Louisville is also the last win for LOD over Farooq & D'Lo, Cape Girardeau and Springfield have Owen defending against D'Lo Brown, the Outlaws defending against the Headbangers, Godwinns breaking up their LOD run by working DOA, Savio trading wins with Kama, Bradshaw beating Goldust by pin or DQ, and rare Cactus vs Farooq scraps (OUCH). Bradshaw's also with Goldust in Miami, Tampa and Tacoma as Owen's working Rock twice and has Tacoma off. East Rutherford has Owen and Kenny boy beating Farooq and D'Lo, Taka & Brandi vs Christopher & The King, Skull & 8-Ball vs Kama & Mizark, and Mero & Goldust dropping a tag to odd couple Chainz & Steve Blackman (blame Sable) - in Toronto Mero gets pinned by Skull (announced) or 8-Ball (reality) with switcheroo going on (blame Sable). Mero and Sable are still technically together here but she's sure costing him a few matches. Owen's with Farooq in West Palm and actually wrestles one of his logical defences against HHH in Tacoma. West Palm breaks up many matches from Miami and Tampa - LOD get a win over Savio and Miguel, the Godwinns beat Skull & 8-Ball, Kane crushes Tom Brandi, Chainz is with Goldust, leaving Mero to do a job for Bradshaw. I can't confirm this, but probably blame Sable.

TVs
2nd Raw in Indianapolis is the infamous one where Cactus and Chainsaw are having a match with each other just for shits and giggles and the Outlaws shove them off the stage in a dumpster, then get a pep talk about attitude from DX. Also Mero and Sable have a proper spat. Next night on the Shotgun show taped in Evansville, the Rock N Roll Express beat DOA by sneaky tennis racquet DQ in a match introduced by Honky Tonk Man (what a fucking time warp this is), Raw is dreadful with LOD losing to Jarrett and Barry Windham again, Godwinns vs Quebecers (zzzz) ... at least Steve Blackman is on TV but its against Recon (zzzz) and the only storyline of note is Headbangers beating Mero & Goldust where tension is boiling over between Sable and Mero on her own side and Luna Vachon on the other. Shamrock beating Rock non title is at least an interesting dark main. In Dallas after the PPV John Tenta does a dark match which will get him rehired soon, the show is drizzling shits again with LOD losing to dull as fuck Quebecers by count-out, and Headbangers losing to relics Morton and Gibson by DQ in a NWA tag team title match (bet you can't wait for this payoff). Dark, LOD are restored to some level of prestige, tagging with Stone Cold to beat Rock and the Outlaws. Next night in Waco, Tenta is trying out again, Austin, Cactus and Chainsaw are beating Rock/Outlaws dark, and on Raw Luna attacks Sable during Mero vs Owen, Mosh and Thrasher relieve the Rock n Rolls of those valuable tag belts, plus Nation tension continues as Rocky loses a non-title match to Blackman when D'Lo miscues, but Rock blames Farooq. As if there wasn't enough boring shite in Texas for one week, Waco also suffers DOA vs Quebecers and Rock N Rolls vs Godwinns for Shotgun.

Haven't mentioned Sunny again. She's still doing a guest ring announcer spot on TV, star fading more every week.

DEPARTURES
No Way Out is the last gig for Ahmed Johnson. Ego's been a bigger danger to him than injuries for a while and if real life enmity with the Nation lads (including the already highly-thought-of Rock) wasn't bad enough, he no shows Raw - depending on the story you believe, he rocks up to Dallas TVs and gets told he's to do a job for Kurrgan on TV and promptly flounces because he thinks his cancer-stricken sister doesn’t have long left and he doesn’t want her last sight of him on TV to be as a loser, or he tells Vince he can’t make it but not why, and that it’s to be with her. Either way, he never returns.
 

[air_raid]

MARCH 1998

THE MAIN EVENTS
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Triple H is still our main event and they get over 9000 to the Molson Centre a mere four months after the screwing of Bret Hart, plus a near 10,000 SELL OUT of Cobo Hall, Detroit and six nights later they're already back in Anaheim and improving on January's (impressive) attendance with 13,000+ .... near 14,000 in Buffalo for Austin & Terry Funk vs Hunter and Billy Gunn, 7000+ is good for Salt Lake City too for Austin & Cactus Jack vs HHH/Mr Ass. Dogg is injured. We're back to Austin/Hunter in Pittsburgh (nearly 12,500), Chicago (17,000+ SELL OUT) and at MSG (15,000+ paid, 18,000+ gate). On. Fucking. Fire.

We also have The Rock vs Ken Shamrock in Toledo, and over 9500 in Grand Rapids. Either "the brand" is the draw, or (second month in a row) Rocky vs Shamrock is a match they want to see.

THE CARDS
The Rock vs Ken Shamrock is every night. The Undertaker is back on the road warming up for Mania doing two nights each with TAFKA Goldust and with Kama. Goldusts match with Owen Hart on 1st in St Paul is the only match the "Blackhart" works on the road before he does his ankle and he stays off the road to get ready for Mania. Goldie is usually with Marc Mero every night. Kane vs Skull is another run you never expected. Cactus Jack vs Billy Gunn happens a lot. Barry Windham has a couple of weeks of beating Tom Brandi then starts losing to Bradshaw. Taka Michinoku vs Brian Christopher continues to brighten cards up but Brian also has a few wins over Mark Henry, but closer to Mania does a fair few jobs for Aguila. Steve Blackman vs Farooq gets a good run and the Lethal Weapon is actually going over. There's a fair bit of mixing up the tag team matches but most common are Godwinns vs Skull and 8-Ball in the Country Whippin match and Headbangers vs Quebecers for the NWA tag belts.

VARIATIONS
If you're wondering who Triple H wrestled on Austin's nights off... 8-Ball. Huh. 1st in St Paul has the end of Kane vs Chainz and Mero vs Brandi as well as Owen vs Goldust and Outlaws vs Jack and Funk before both feuds are blighted by injuries. Also Bradshaw going over D'Lo Brown. Godwinns vs Savio Vega & Miguel Perez is our tag shuffle in Toledo and Grand Rapids. Montreal its Godwinns vs Quebecers and Farooq & D'Lo vs Los Boricuas, Detroit and Buffalo its Godwinns vs Boricuas again and Quebecers trading wins with Farooq & Kama.

TVs
2nd in Cleveland is quite frankly unreal for the testers/tryouts. In order of weirdness, Brakus is back in front of camera going over Recon, Adam Copeland (do I really need to tell you he becomes Edge?) is losing to Jesus Castillo, Sean Morley (Val Venis) is losing to Miguel, and.... a Superstars 95 rematch sees Pierre pinning Mike Droese (f/k/a Dumpster). Did they really think they'd missed the boat (or bin lorry) on him last time? Well, if Paul Roma can get another look I guess anyone can. After the show Austin, Jack and Funk beat HHH & the Outlaws. For Shotgun Aguila beats Too Sexy as they've been doing on the road and Mero and Goldust cost each other matches against Bradshaw and Flash Funk respectively, while on Raw, Mero finishes his feud with Brandi, Owen legit does his ankle in a really inoccuous spot, Jeff Jarrett (who can't buy a gig on the road) beats Flash (likewise), and there's a show-long story where Kane interrupts Stone Cold having a confrontation with DX, then at the conclusion Austin vs Kane goes to a non-start when he's attacked by DX on the ramp. Next night in Wheeling we tape another Raw - Brakus does a job for Savio, Copeland does a job for Flash, Morley goes over Matt Hardy with what we'll know as The Money Shot, and if Droese wasn't a little out of time himself, he gets to pin Paul Diamond. TELL ME they didn't have use for a hand like Diamond in 1998 where the top matches are exciting but the midcard is so so beige? You can't, it would be a lie. For reasons unknown as well the Rock N Roll Express lose a rematch with the Headbangers that airs on Superstars (which I didn't know was still a thing in 98), Robert Gibson does a singles job for D'Lo for Shotgun. Also there's DOA winning a four-team clusterfuck where Jackyl and Kurrgan persuade Recon to abandon Sniper which as far as I can tell, goes nowhere. For Raw, Mero and the Artist have a match which serves as a backdrop for Sable and Luna having their spat again, Shamrock and Steve Blackman beat the Nation by DQ and Farooq prevents the rest of them rescuing Rock from a post-match ankle lock. and Hunter vs Savio is an excuse to further Austin vs DX. Dark its the usual suspects beating Rock and the Outlaws. 16th in Phoenix we're live again, Jarretts beating Brandi, Hunter's beating Owen by stoppage to regain the European title in a brief impromptu match because Owen's very, actually, injured, and there's a shocking amount of NWA bullshit. The New Midnight Express arrive to collective shrugs and go over the Rock N Rolls and there's a Steve Blackman vs Barry Windham match that serves to extend the Windham/Bradshaw feud. Taka Michinoku beats Fallen Angel (yes, Chris Daniels) for Shotgun. Dark, Austin beats Hunter again. Next night in Tucson the NWA stuff is too boring to adequately recap except Robert Fuller a/k/a Col Robert Parker debuts as Tennessee Lee to introduce the reinvented, reinvigorated, brand new for 1998, Hello folks! Double J here. That's J E double F ha ha ha! J A double R E double T, Double J Jeff Jarrett, the worlds greatest singer, the worlds greatest entertainer, the worlds greatest wrestler. Ain't he great? Tensions endure between Farooq and Rock, Austin pins Rock on the live broadcast and dark, Undertaker Cactus and Funk go over D'Lo, Kama and KANE. Wonder how Kane and the NOD got on??

Fun fact - the battle royal at Mania is actually the first time on record of Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor as a team, Scottys last time on TV was tagging with Taka. Did you ever even realize Chainz & Bradshaw were a team in this?? Wonder if Skull & 8-Ball were OK with that. Otherwise it's a boring mess of the usual suspects. Kurrgan and Jackyl are responsible for Recon and Sniper's elimination but nothing in the notes explains that a split really happened on TV. The real noteworthy event of course is the return of Legion of Doom (not yet officially LOD 2000) with all the new coats of paint you can imagine - new outtfits, haircuts, facepaint, theme music and Sunny as the manager. They get a good pop too. I'll be honest, I thought LOD back and booked properly as top babyface team and the return of "the Golden-Haired Fox" to a proper position on TV were things I was on board with and for a while I couldn't understand why the combination of "twisted steel and sex appeal" didn't work. The truth is, they were booked against the Outlaws at the point that DX were basically turning themselves babyface and there was no way to compete with that popularity unless you were Steve Austin. So Hawk and Animal were fucked again.

Raw taping the next night Ray Rougeau WRESTLES! Tagging with the Quebecers to beat - get this - Adam Copeland, Shawn Stasiak & Tom Brandi in a dark match, for Shotgun Christopher & Taylor do a job for the Headbangers - Scott's wearing a waistcoat similar to Brian and has some swagger but he isn't yet "Too Hot" nor are they "Too Much." On the live Raw EVERYTHING happens. Rock and the rest of the Nation turn on Farooq, LOD 2000 squash two Boricuas, Sean Waltman returns without a name but with some famous words for Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff,, Luna challenges Sable to the Evening Gown match, Kaientai (originally called Klub Kamikaze) debut attacking Taka, Triple H becomes leader of the new DX and the Outlaws go over Jack & Funk to win the tag belts back. Oh, and the New Midnights beat the Headbangers for the NWA tag belts. Dark, WWF Champion Steve Austin Shamrock and Taker beat HHH, Rock and Kane (FUCK). Next night in Syracuse, Copeland beats Stasiak and Morley pins Brandi dark, Austin/Shamrock/Taker vs Rock/Goldust/Kane dark, but little of note happens on Raw other than Dan Severn making his debut with the NWA group and Cactus starting his heel turn.

What's noticeable when I watched some TV segments preparing this, is not just the numbers and excitement of the crowd but the amount of signs, and the pop culture crossover with the fans - there are often as many signs about South Park as there are about wrestling. It's hot again.

DEPARTURE
After the 8th in Buffalo Tom Brandi is not used again on the road, his loss to Jarrett on 16th Raw and dark matches after Mania are his last bookings. Weird to get shitcanned so soon after his reinvention after being branded a "jobber" and trying to prove it wrong under his real name, and being out the door in a third of the time he endured with the jobber gimmick on him.

Montreal ;

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by air_raid

[wandshogun09]

Looking back, I’m surprised they never did Taka Michinoku vs Brian Christopher at WrestleMania that year, as a bit of a blow-off to their feud. That was the rivalry the Light Heavyweight division was being built around (such as it was) and even after their match at the D-Generation X PPV in December 97, they were still obviously feuding. Even as late as No Way Out you had Christopher ripping into Taka on commentary. It seemed like they were building to the conclusion of the rivalry at Mania then it just went away and Too Much started. It never really occurred to me at the time but Taka vs Aguila ending up on Mania seems so random. 

[air_raid]

14 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

It seemed like they were building to the conclusion of the rivalry at Mania then it just went away and Too Much started. It never really occurred to me at the time but Taka vs Aguila ending up on Mania seems so random. 

It’s possible that as soon as they got into negotiations with the MPro lads they realised a better future for all concerned would be a placeholder defence to keep the belt on Taka ready for three new heels and the future for Brian might be better served in a tag, since the two possible outcomes of Taka vs Brian 2 wouldn’t have been great - either move the belt to Too Sexy but they haven’t got any other babyface challengers ready so all you’ve got is another rematch, or you beat Brian again, which may as well have been the end for him.

Of course, planning for the title entered “non existent” soon after.

APRIL 1998
THE MAIN EVENTS
The new WWF Champion heads off to on tour with Steve Austin vs Triple H at (Mayhem In) Manchester, Obenhausen and Berlin, then the Rattlesnake's with TAFKA Goldust in Bayreuth then in Hamburg its a monster 8-man involving Undertaker, Legion of Doom, Kane and the New Age Outlaws. Steve draws good money in New Haven (8000) and Springfield (nearly 6000), 17th in Lowell at the brand new Tsongas Arena you won't believe, Triple H isn't there so, who do you call in a clutch, when you need a big name replacement?? OF COURSE, we all know the answer, we've known for over 20 years. You call Savio Vega. Wisely, Taker and Kane go on last. Lowell man.

In Scranton and Hershey Austin's off so Undertaker vs Kane is our main event. Near 8000 in Hershey is great business. Fayetteville the night before Unforgiven there's nearly 9500 there for Vader vs Kane - no Austin, no Taker and over a 9K gate!

THE CARDS
The Undertaker vs Kane is very constant as is the New Age Outlaws losing to LOD 2000 by DQ when Chyna interferes. Owen Hart chasing Triple H for the European title is reasonably regular too when Hunter isnt with Austin ; when he is, TAFKA Goldust wrestles the Blackhart again. Otherwise Dustin is with Cactus Jack. Ken Shamrock & Owen beating The Rock & D'Lo Brown is a regular tag on the tour but after the next TVs we move to Rock vs Farooq, Ken seems to miss some dates (injured?). Marc Mero swaps wins with Bradshaw on tour but picks up a knock, so Bradshaw takes all his subsequent bookings and beats Goldust every night. The Headbangers vs New Midnight Express for the NWA belts is going on. Steve Blackman is getting paid at last, splitting his time between beating D'Lo and Savio Vega. Godwinns vs Skull & 8-Ball happens a few times. We have a landmark series of Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor starting to tag every night opposite Taka Michinoku & Aguila. Double J beating Brakus happens most nights in Europe.

Fayetteville is the first and only house show for Vader between two In Your House PPVs.

VARIATIONS
Obenhausen has some pretty big exceptions - Kane vs Cactus Jack and Taker vs TAFKA Goldust, along with LOD beating the Godwinns and the Outlaws retaining over DOA. Bayreuth has Cactus tagging with Shamrock and Owen challenging Hunter unsuccessfully in the merry go round that lands Goldust with Austin. Other variants on the tour have Phineas working one DOA or another in streetfights because Henry's injured again, in Hamburg Brakus is with Mero, 8-Ball with PIG, Skull with Jarrett and Bradshaw with local talent August Smisl.

Bradshaw is with Savio in New Haven and Springfield. The Road Warriors beat the Quebecers in Fayetteville (boy, I wish that had happened five years earlier), Outlaws with DOA again, Goldust with on/off frenemy Marc Mero, Bradshaw winning what virtually amounts to a feud ender with Barry Windham, Owen doing a daft job for Double J, and Billy & Bart instead of the Headbangers wrestle the Rock N Roll Express. Definitely knowing their audience here with all the NWA alumni heavily involved. I bet the "We Want Flair" chants were deafening.

TVs
Raw in Philadelphia (!) there are more dark matches for Devon Storm, Ace Darling and Steve Corino - Storm & Darling even lose to Christopher & Taylor for Shotgun. Fink's announcing Scotty as "Too Hot" and the pair do refer to themselves as "Too Much" when mugging for the camera, but Too Much is only added in graphics and commentary later. For Raw, this is the infamous Austin vs Vince show where they win the ratings and Dude Love comes back and interferes. Also Scorpio rediscovers himself and starts tagging with Terry Funk. Dark, Austin Taker and LOD 2000 beat Trips, Kane and the Outlaws. Next night at the Nassau Coliseum (!) Droz works dark with Dr X (a/k/a Tom Prichard in a hood), Val Venis beats Shawn Stasiak and Adam Copeland (no gimmick yet) beats Julio Sanchez in the pre show dark matches, they rehash the screwjob on Raw for Dude Love going over Steve Blackman, the New Midnight Express do a non-title job for Funk & Scorp, LOD 2000 do another damaging loss tagging with Owen to lose to DX, they record the Quebecers going over Buchanan & Poirier (called Armageddon in the dub) and dark, Austin, Funk and Farooq beat Rocky and the Outlaws.

The night after Unforgiven, we're still ironing out the details for Val, Copeland actually has Jackyl in his corner (which may have worked for the original Edge character if they made him a heel) when he goes over Droz. On Shotgun, Too Much (Fink's got the memo at last) go over Matt Hardy & Jason Ahrndt, which The King seems delighted about, and on Raw we have the Outlaws losing non-title to DOA (doesn't hurt them, they're bullet-proof), this is the episode where DX take a tank to the Norfolk Scope and immediately turn babyface, Owen turns heel to join the Nation because he's sick of being a lone wolf and needs some help, and Austin vs TAFKA Goldust goes to a non-finish when Mankind returns and interferes, which I have no memory of. Dark, LOD 2000 beat the Outlaws by DQ for the trillionth time but we have sands trickling through the hourglass for the champs getting booked as heels. Oh, and they realize they can't get away with referring to the Kaientai fellows as Klub Kamikaze so, they just start calling them Kaientai. Next night in Richmond, Copeland's over Matt Hardy, Val's with Droz, and fuck me, here's a signing, Steve Williams goes over Scorpio. For Shotgun, Taka goes over David Jericho (who was, as ECW diehards will have suspected, Kid Kash) and Scotty does a job for Papi Chulo - the unmasked Aguila who will eventually find his groove as Essa Rios. On Raw, Owen's heel turn gets off to a rather inauspicious start as he and Rocky go over Farooq and Blackman with a finish that exists to further Blackman's feud with Double J, DX as a foursome of Hunter, the Outlaws and Chyna (!) outsmart four "babyfaces" when LOD and DOA start fighting each other, plus they record Mick Foley as Mick Foley beating Terry Funk in the falls anywhere match that earns him another shot at Stone Cold, and dark, Austin, Taker, Farooq and Blackman beat Triple H, The Rock, Kane and Double J. Hmm....  not only does Jarrett stick out a bit there, can you imagine Kane on the same side as Double J???

DEPARTURES
That one and only TV booking for Armageddon is the last payday for Luc Poirier. Of course, Barry Buchanan will end up eventually repackaged as part of Right To Censor.
 

 

[Chili]

I'm a bit fascinated by Luc Poirier. Worked Germany/Austria most of his career in CWA, a completely random WWF hiring and then a completely anonymous run. Who liked him, how'd he get in. People remember Tank in the Truth Commission more than him. Then he just disappeared. Not a clue what he's about. 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Chili

[RoryFice]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

I'm a bit fascinated by Luc Poirier. Worked Germany/Austria most of his career in CWA, a completely random WWF hiring and then a completely anonymous run. Who liked him, how'd he get in. People remember Tank in the Truth Commission more than him. Then he just disappeared. Not a clue what he's about. 

He got a also got a couple of wins on WWF TV (I assume Canadian) in the mid-1980s.

[air_raid]

5 hours ago, Chili said:

People remember Tank in the Truth Commission more than him. Then he just disappeared. Not a clue what he's about. 

I’d have thought “Recon & Sniper” was the default memory? No?

[Chili]

1 minute ago, air_raid said:

I’d have thought “Recon & Sniper” was the default memory? No?

I genuinely forget Sniper completely, just blank on his name. Recon I know is Bull Buchanan so I always remember him. But I swear Luc Poirier has to be the most obscure attitude era/97 name that wasn't a one off or super brief run. He had just under year. Just funny to me he's a memory blank. Love to know who got him in. Must have been when WWF did those Germany tours. 

[CavemanLynn]

Ah, Bull Buchanan. A simpler time, when all you had to do was skin the cat up a turnbuckle to get the whole playground convinced you were an unstoppable machine who would win the tag belts with Boss Man at Mania.

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

I’d have thought “Recon & Sniper” was the default memory? No?

This thread has reminded me of their brief stint post-Truth Commission as the tag team Armageddon, which I think never made it off Shotgun. I liked their finisher though. 

[air_raid]

13 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

This thread has reminded me of their brief stint post-Truth Commission as the tag team Armageddon, which I think never made it off Shotgun. I liked their finisher though.

You think correct. The squash where we saw that finish (also employed by the Faces Of Fear) was taped 30th March for the 4/4 Shotgun, then they put over the Quebecers on 25/4 and they were done.

MAY 1998
THE MAIN EVENTS
WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Triple H is a frequent main event ; >6000 is very good for the USAir (Landover), >16,800 in St Louis is obviously massive, there's >8000 gates in Cincinnati and even South Bend IN, 12K in San Jose, 10,000 in Birmingham AL and 14.5K in the return to the SkyDome. 3rd at Copps Coliseum Steve teams with Undertaker and odd man out babyface Farooq to beat Kane & New Age Outlaws, 16th in Anaheim we have over 14.5K SELL OUT  for Austin vs The Rock - funny that. They run Ottawa on 22nd, in Halifax its that same six man again, and in Detroit a mildly disappointing 8000 get - Christ - Steve Austin, The Undertaker & LOD 2000 vs Triple H, Kane & The New Age Outlaws.

Interesting how DX are (nearly) universally being booked as heels on the road still, their TV issue with the Nation suddenly sparking into life has moved them into a pseudo babyface role that will be legitimate by month end.

THE CARDS
The Undertaker vs Kane is going on a lot, usually a DQ but in Anaheim at least its a "lights out" match e.g. "unsanctioned"/no DQ which Taker of course wins. "The People's Champ" must be carrying a knock as he's off until 8th when we launch The Rock & Owen Hart vs Farooq & Steve Blackman. Rest of the month Owen is still challenging Triple H for the European title and beating him DQ when Chyna interferes, which is a bit of a babyface finish for the Nation of Domination, you'd think. Rocky drops a couple of DQs to Vader too when he isn't on top, Leon doesn't have a very settled month. New Age Outlaws vs LOD 2000 runs for most of the month and apart from one DQ loss at the USAir, Dogg and Ass are BEATING them now. At three shows in Ontario the Outlaws are instead beating Skull & 8-Ball.

Blackman has a run with Double J otherwise which goes as well for the "Lethal Weapon" as the PPV match will. Prior to that run Jarrett's been beating Chainz. DOA vs Los Boricuas (usually Savio & Jesus) is pretty common and there's also a few Headbangers vs Quebecers bookings. Bradshaw beats Barry Windham most of the month then has a week going over Marc Mero. Prior to that, Marvelous has been losing to Terry Funk for the previous three weeks. That was probably fun. Taka Michinoku vs Brian Christopher is back on as a late month addition, and Kurrgan has an odd run through Canada beating fellow heel D'Lo Brown.

Dude Love's only paydays come as special ref, timekeeper or other non-wrestling roles. Ken Shamrock is off, I'm not sure if he's selling the "injury" from Owen or if there's a real knock.

VARIATIONS
Rocky isn't in Landover so D'Lo is Owen's partner for the tag. In San Jose and Birmingham Owen randomly loses to Bradshaw by count out, and in Toronto and Detroit he's beating Vader by DQ when the Nation interfere (makes sense) but then the Outlaws come out for the save. Even though they're working heel in their own match on the same nights. Rock vs Farooq happens as a one off at the SkyDome. Vader's all over the place, beating one Quebecer or the other early month, and Anaheim he puts a pinfall loss on Kurrgan.

Vader & Farooq beat Kama & Mark Henry in Ottawa, otherwise Farooq goes over Owen in Moncton (boo!!) and Mizark by DQ in Detroit. Blackman beats Kama in singles a couple of times in Cali. TAFKA Goldust gets two wins over Marvelous at the USAir and Copps Coliseum when Marc is distracted by Sable and thats it before Dustin literally burns the gimmick on Raw,

The Quebecers lose to LOD in Hamilton and DOA in Halifax. That's almost musical! Scorpio loses to Jarrett as a one off in Landover then in Hamilton makes up the numbers tagging with Kama to lose to the Headbangers. Scorp in the Nation would have been interesting. Headbangers are with Mark Henry and Kama in Halifax, finally Kama and D'Lo are with Bradshaw & "Dustin Runnels" and Kurrgan beats Chainz in Detroit. Oh! Adam Copeland beats Christian Cage at Copps Coliseum.

TVs
May 11th Raw in Baltimore Vader returns from injury squashing Windham and the DX babyface turn takes a big leap as Triple H vs Owen happens impromptu with each group piling on, then at show close Austin is saved by a group beating by Vince, Dude, stooges and the Nation by DX and that other top-of-the-card rebel… Dustin. Huh. Also we start the storyline of Al Snow getting in the building with tickets etc desperate for a job and do the proper Mero/Sable split and announce the match for Over The Edge. Dark, Taker pins Kane. 

Shotgun taping is interesting with Scott Taylor beating Papi Chulo (Essa Rios) with help from The King, Barry actually winning a squash, and New Midnight Express beating future ECW stars Steve Corino & Julio Sanchez only by DQ when the Headbangers interfere. 18th in Nashville (yes, two weeks live in a row) LOD 2000 lose to DOA and Val Venis debuts going over Scorpio. Steven Dunn vs Tony Anthony is a proper step back in time but dark main is Taker, Vader and Funk against Dude, Rock and Kane which makes little sense for feuds but I bet it was fun. Shotgun has Taka Michinoku vs Sho Funaki, and Brian Christopher vs David Jericho (Kid Kash). 19th in Chattanooga we’re taping for 25th and dark Edge finally has his name and beats Buddy Landell (!) and Savio Vega beats Anthony. Too Much wrap with Chulo and Jericho in a tag for Shotgun. For Raw Droz debuts with LOD except short term they just call him Puke (fuck sake Vinces) and you may remember the Oddities debut introduction (managed by Jackyl, originally including Luna Vachon and featuring Howard Stern characters) better than you remember the match, which was Golga vs Thrasher.

I usually gloss over the PPV unless there’s relevance to roster changes and I suppose this counts - Sable is supposed to pick a mystery wrestler to fight Mero which as usual prompted ludicrous stuff among the rumour sites and between my mates alike (Warriors coming back etc) but on the night she worked the match herself and got outsmarted by Marvellous forcing her to “leave the WWF forever.” That being, writing off TV for a month or so to recover from her latest operation. This actually being a reduction to go back down from the ridiculous basketballs she had been sporting (go watch Unforgiven again) to the size which - not to get all Meltzer about it - we all remember and cherish most, E.g how she looked at Fully Loaded. No idea if back problems were involved or it was just an aesthetic choice but either way and whatever her bra size (though they will market a “38DD Specials” T-shirt) the push to make a sexy blonde into a big part of the show has never been stronger. Speaking of which….

DEPARTURES
This one really hurts. Over The Edge is the last TV appearance of Sunny. Regardless of whether the office thought it was going well with LOD 2000, they decided she'd become a problem to deal with on account of substances and ask her to go to rehab. When she refuses, they let her go. She was an easy cut in the end, having had her star totally eclipsed by Sable. When I look back on 96-97, I much preferred her to Sable and it wasn't really close, and they should have been able to co-exist as they were different enough in the eyes of the decision makers, but ultimately they didn't get on, and one was (at the time) a lot less of a pain to deal with. Sable got the attention and the booking and took over as the WWFs primary tool for keeping their male demographics need for a little titillation satisfied and as the TV got more risque, what they were able to do with Sable/Rena had her rocket in popularity. I hoped the LOD 2000 gig was going to get Sunny back on TV long enough to restore her to where she'd been, but her demons got in the way. They still do.

2 years up, this is also the last month of Barry Windham bookings as even within the turgid NWA storyline, he's a bit superfluous. Naturally, there'll soon be a job in WCW for him. They always found room for surplus.

Edited September 14, 2022 by air_raid

[BomberPat]

18 hours ago, RoryFice said:

He got a also got a couple of wins on WWF TV (I assume Canadian) in the mid-1980s.

Luc Poirier had a few tryouts around the time that the WWF were starting to raid the Montreal territory - picking up the likes of Dino Bravo, Rick Martel, the Rougeaus etc. - so it could be that he was on the radar of someone like Pat Patterson still, or The Jackyl making a push to bring him in. He had worked USWA prior to the WWF, but given that it was under the Truth Commission gimmick, I assume he was already signed at that point.

[The Dart]

Weren't Armageddon in the Wrestlemania Tag Team Battle Royal?    Or were they still The Truth Commision at that point ?

[BomberPat]

Wiki has them listed as Truth Commission