House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[The Dart]

I was just looking at some shows from 2013 I think where Sin Cara challenged for the world title on a tour of Mexico.   Yes, it was a tour of Mexico, but still....Sin Cara challenging for the world title is a bit "random".

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, The Dart said:

I was just looking at some shows from 2013 I think where Sin Cara challenged for the world title on a tour of Mexico.   Yes, it was a tour of Mexico, but still....Sin Cara challenging for the world title is a bit "random".

Fantastic stuff. October 2013, he got 3 wins by DQ against Del Rio before finally getting beaten by him on the last night in Monterrey. Sprinkled in between were two big nights in Guadalajara and Mexico City where he tagged with Rey (!) to beat Del Rio and Wade. I’d put good money on him pinning Del Rio for the finish.

[Fatty Facesitter]

17 hours ago, air_raid said:

A totally random question occurred when I was thinking about this fantastic example of what I made the thread for ;

You tease - quoting my Rock/Brock line I was expecting you to follow up with more detail on the match. You build me up and you knock me down. 

Looking into it deeper (no pics still), it appears to be Rock's last ever house show/live event match. Though interestingly, not his last house show appearance - 

Popped up at a Boston show in 2015. Imagine being at a regular tour/live event and the fucking Rock shows up. I don't care if he was spouting his 'CONNECTION' bollocks at this point. He's still the bollocks. 

Edit - Even more random that he interrupted Bo Dallas of all people. Just makes the whole thing even more unexpected. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Fatty Facesitter

[air_raid]

6 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

Popped up at a Boston show in 2015. Imagine being at a regular tour/live event and the fucking Rock shows up.

Yeah, it’s unbelievable. The closest experience I ever had to that was the 2013 TNA tour Geoff referred to with Hogan. They announce him for the tour and you expect just a mic appearance like the previous years Impact and like London would get on the TV taping. Then I read the results from Nottingham the night before and think “Hang on… he bloody wrestled??” You don’t believe it though until you see it, and sure enough, on my last possible chance to see The Hulkster in person, I happen to see his last match (as it stands). Not quite the same level as surprise but a bonus nonetheless.

Quick entry for today, just fancied highlighting a couple of controversial/talked-about shows from 1995 and even a little myth-busting. The subject is Carl “Pierre” Ouellett who’ll you’ll know best as PCO if you’re engaged in wrestling outside WWE in the 20s, or one of the Quebecers and the pirate Jean-Pierre Lafitte if you’re not.

This is a story about Pierre and the Kliq. Shawn refers in his book to a meeting they had with Vince where Vince apparently asked for their opinions on most of the rest of the locker room. This was bad news for a few on the bubble like Shane Douglas, and Shawn says they told him “we didn’t like the pirate, but he could work.”

On 15th September 95 in Montreal, Pierre is booked with then-WWF Champion Diesel. It goes to a double count-out. According to the Observer, podcasts and other sources, Pierre was promised a screwy DQ or count-out win in his hometown to promote a rematch for the next visit. Upon arrival to the show, Pierre gets told the finish is now a Jacknife and clean pin. According to Shane, who (a) was in the building but (b) always had his own anti-Kliq agenda, this was mainly down to Shawn kicking up a fuss about the finish. When they get out there a pissed-off Pierre basically refuses to do the job and walks off, the match ending in double count-out.

The next night in Quebec City, he does the Jacknife finish, no questions asked. Here’s where the myth comes in - depending on who you listen to, it gets reported that he was fired (“on the spot” in some sources) over the consequences of these two shows. Its bollocks. Fair enough, the next night at Maple Leaf Gardens he’s getting beat by  Fatu and Diesel works Waylon Mercy instead, but he’s definitely not done with the company.

The night after the In Your House PPV Pierre tapes a feud-ending match with Bret for a later Raw broadcast. He’s then immediately off on the European tour getting wins over Aldo Montoya every night. The night after the Winnipeg In Your House he’s on the Brandon TV tapings appearing in a battle royal on the live Raw and the TV starts promoting him in an eliminator at Survivor Series - at this point, over a month after the incident in Montreal. Of course when they get to the show he’ll be switched out for Kid but even if that WAS the plan all along, if he’s on the way out, why use him at all? He’s even back in the ring with Diesel two nights after In Your House, a six-man at the Superstars taping pits Diesel, Marty Jannetty and Ahmed Johnson against Owen, Davey Boy and our pirate. If the Kliq had heat with him, Kevin obviously didn’t mind working with him. It was supposed to be Diesel, Shawn (injured) and Razor against Owen, Bulldog and Yoko. I can guess Yoko wasn’t up to two matches on one night any more, it’s feasible Razor was too knackered after taping two tags with Kid already that night too - one against the Gunns, the other against Owen & Yoko, that I shared to the Hidden Gems thread. As for Pierre, he’s doing jobs for Savio on the road up until the week before Survivor Series, when he gets the injury that will keep him off the show and eventually see him released. So, next time people say he lost his job over arguing the toss about finishes with Diesel on house shows (two months before his last match for the company) -you know it’s bullshit.

Quick one - around the same time, when Shawns on the comeback trail, there are some six-mans on the houses with Diesel, Shawn and Bret against Davey Boy, Yoko and King Mabel. Those would be interesting to watch as I don’t recall Bret interacting with King Mabel on TV.

[JNLister]

Obviously there's some televised stuff as well as pure house shows here, but I did this list on the 25th anniversary of the first WWF UK show covering some of the more memorable/memorably weird moments on their tours over here:

25 years after WWE's first visit to the United Kingdom, John Lister looks back at some of the most memorable -- and infamous -- moments from the company's transatlantic trips.

 

10 October 1989: WWE's first show in the UK, held at the Docklands Arena, sees Hulk Hogan beat Randy Savage in the main event. The undercard includes a rare win for the Brooklyn Brawler (over Paul Roma), Bret Hart swearing on camera after losing to Dino Bravo, and Jim Duggan earning the appreciation of the cast of Hi-de-Hi.

 

3 October 1991: Davey Boy Smith wins a battle royale at the Royal Albert Hall to take the unlikely prize of the Samovar trophy: a Russian tea urn. The show also includes the Undertaker's entrance theme being played on the venue's magnificent 120-year-old organ.

 

29 August 1992: Davey Boy Smith wins the Intercontinental championship from Bret Hart in the final bout of SummerSlam at Wembley Stadium. Whether he wanted to or not remains unconfirmed. Legion of Doom member Hawk and the Berzerker  disappear after the show and miss the flight home.

 

28-29 August 1992: Ric Flair beats Randy Savage and Bret Hart in Sheffield and Birmingham. Both matches are 25-minute plus technical wrestling displays kicking off a short-lived plan by Vince McMahon to revamp the company's in-ring style in the wake of the steroid scandal.

 

April 1993: In its biggest ever European tour, WWE brings two crews and runs 14 UK shows in the space of 11 days, including visits to Bournemouth, Exeter and Whitley Bay. While house shows include attractive bouts such as Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow and the Steiners vs Money Inc, WWE curiously decides that a TV special on Sky Sports will have a main event of Lex Luger vs Jim Duggan along with Typhoon vs Brooklyn Brawler and Bob Backlund vs Damien Demento.

 

6 August 1993: Hulk Hogan beats Yokozuna in Sheffield in what will prove Hogan's last WWE appearance for nine years.

 

29 March 1994: Men on a Mission defeat the Quebecers for the WWE tag titles, the first title change at a British WWE house show.

 

14 September 1994: Fans of Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano are left disappointed at Wembley Arena after confusion over local authority licensing means the women's title match is cancelled at the last moment. It's bad news for Earl Hebner too: he breaks his hand when Yokozuna falls on it during the tour

 

22 June 1995: Fans at the Royal Albert Hall are confused when IRS announces the resignation of Prime Minister John Major. They later discover the technicalities of Major vacating his Conservative party leadership to flush out would-be challengers proved too complex to fully explain in a pre-match promo.

 

28 November: 1996: The UK Express tour proves aptly-named in Birmingham when Sid beats Farooq in a main event lasting just two minutes and twenty-eight seconds.

 

20 December 1997: In the first UK-only pay-per-view, One Night Only, Shawn Michaels stuns the crowd by beating Davey Boy Smith for the European title. Smith had dedicated the bout to his sister, who was suffering from what would prove terminal cancer. He only did so as he was originally scheduled to win before a late change of heart on the part of Michaels.

 

4 April 1998: Two years before adopting his American Bad Ass persona, the Undertaker is forced to wrestle in street clothes, apparently after a problem at baggage control.

 

6 December 1998: During the Capital Carnage pay-per-view, Vince McMahon concludes an anti-British promo by threatening that the country will one day be governed "by a Prime Minister of Pakistani extraction." The undercard features one of the more blatant excesses of the Attitude era, with Sable stripping Jacqueline of her top, exposing her bosom in full view of the hard camera. 

 

16 May 1999: The UK version of No Mercy proves one of the worst pay-per-views in history, at one point offering Steve Blackman vs Drox, Kane vs Mideon and Nicole Bass in succession. Home viewer 64-year-old Nora Cuthbert phones 999, though not to complain about the poor line-up. Instead she demands that police attend the scene to protect Steve Austin from an assault by a sledgehammer-wielding Triple H. She later tells the BBC that "People say it is not real and it is all staged, but I knew it was real and he was hurt and I wasn't going to stand by and watch it happen."

 

3 November 2001: An Edge vs Christian bout at the Rebellion pay-per-view in Manchester is the last televised bout in the traditional WWE thick-barred steel cage. Although WWE had been using the mesh cage for a couple of years at this point, it's likely the barred cage was still in storage in the UK after being used at the Rebellion 1999 show.

 

May 2002: The WWE hardcore title changes hands 12 times in the space of three days as crowds in Glasgow, Birmingham and London witness the 24/7 rule in full effect. 

 

5 May 2002: The Insurrextion pay-per-view is the last televised event under the WWF name. Following the show, many in the WWE crew drink heavily on a journey home that is later dubbed "the plane ride from hell." Lowlights include an impromptu grappling match between Brock Lesnar and Curt Hennig, Michael Hayes fighting Bradshaw and later losing his ponytail at the hands of Sean Waltman, Goldust serenading his ex-wife Terri Runnels over the crew intercom, and Ric Flair strutting around in a robe and nothing else.

 

12 October 2003: Following their victory over Brock Lesnar & John Cena in Manchester, Kurt Angle leaves the crowd perplexed by grabbing the house microphone and threatening to kiss the Undertaker during the flight home.

 

28 May 2004: Ric Flair beats Edge in an upset in Manchester, the pair having reversed their traditional babyface-heel roles after the crowd opted to cheer the Nature Boy. It later emerges the pair changed the planned finish of Edge winning in response to the crowd reaction.

 

11 October 2004: WWE tapes Monday Night Raw in the UK for the first time at the Manchester Evening News Arena. It kicks off a tradition of holding two sets of TV tapings in the UK each year. 

 

26 April 2005: Following tapings in Birmingham, the WWE crew finds itself sharing a hotel lobby with competitors and supporters from a kickboxing tournament. With several from the kickboxing side apparently worse for wear after drinking, a brawl breaks out. Most reports suggest the combination of the WWE crew's size and grappling ability is enough to take the advantage before police defuse the situation.

 

15 November 2006: WWE goes low-key for a series of meet and greet sessions, with some of the least glamorous bookings involving Carlito and Mickie James at Asda in Nottingham, John Cena and Maria also in Nottingham but at Woolworths, and Johnny Nitro and Melina visiting a Spar store in Aberdeen.

 

23 April 2007: Shawn Michaels beats John Cena in a London bout that takes up 55:49 of television time. Reports from the venue suggest the match, taped for Raw, is an extremely rare case of a bout being longer on television than in reality thanks to careful editing of the action during commercial breaks.

 

14 October 2007: The Smackdown tour follows in the footsteps of many British promotions by running Butlins at Minehead, the first of a series of annual visits. Although it's a holiday camp, it does have a pavilion that can be transformed into a 5,000 seat venue, with Butlins including entry to the WWE show as part of a special weekend accommodation package.

 

April 2010: The WWE Raw crew is stranded in Belfast after the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland and the resulting volcanic ash cloud grounds all flights over Western Europe. Smackdown stars already back in the US are quickly rerouted to fill in on the live RAW broadcast. (TNA X-Division champion Doug Williams is also hit by the travel chaos, becoming the first wrestler to lose his title via volcanic eruption.)

 

12 November 2011: In an odd moment, WWE champion CM Punk is introduced to the Minehead as audience "the sausage king."

 

15 November 2013: AJ Lee passes out during a match with Brie Bella in London. WWE later announces the fainting was the result of dehydration.

 

11 November 2013: The Wyatt Family and the Shield confront one another in the ring for the first time at a RAW taping in Manchester, earning a spectacular crowd response. It's the initial tease at the start of a three-month build-up to their first match.

 

14 May 2014: WWE kicks off its WrestleMania Revenge Tour in Glasgow, marking 20 years since the first series of UK shows of that name. WWE officials remain tight-lipped about what would happen if all rivalries were to be amicably settled at WrestleMania.

[Jazzy G]

I was at some of these. That Angle/Taker kiss thing is also where the fire alarm went off. 

The first Raw & Smackdown taping were good. There was a dark Taker/Heidenreich squash on the Smackdown taping after Heyman and big Jon cut a promo for the episode. Can't find a video of it, but it got a write up in the evening news. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/music/wwe-smackdown--manchester-1125311.amp

[The Dart]

That first Raw in Manchester was wild.  The crowd was on fire for everything.

I was at a show once, Birmingham I think, where Rhyno got on the mic during his match and told the crowd to "shut the fuck up" which was unexpected.

[Liam O'Rourke]

14 minutes ago, The Dart said:

I was at a show once, Birmingham I think, where Rhyno got on the mic during his match and told the crowd to "shut the fuck up" which was unexpected.

That was the Smackdown show in the NEC in October (I think) 2003. It was the start of the show when he wrestled Eddie Guerrero, who was unbelievably over.

[Tommy!]

3 hours ago, JNLister said:

Johnny Nitro and Melina visiting a Spar store in Aberdeen.

Probably just catching up with Gangrel

[2Xtreme_lives]

27 minutes ago, The Dart said:

That first Raw in Manchester was wild.  The crowd was on fire for everything.

I was at a show once, Birmingham I think, where Rhyno got on the mic during his match and told the crowd to "shut the fuck up" which was unexpected.

my first WWE live experience was RAW. Always remember orton flinging his jacket over his shoulder and accidently covering himself in his own coat like a criminal on route to court

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Liam O'Rourke said:

That was the Smackdown show in the NEC in October (I think) 2003. It was the start of the show when he wrestled Eddie Guerrero, who was unbelievably over.

I always need to remember that any show I saw in Birmingham, you were there too.

Yes, Eddy was crazy over. The cheers were almost as loud when he interfered to help Chavo beat Haas. That’s when a mate turned to me and asked if I thought they’d consider putting the big belt on him. I laughed. I was wrong.

[wandshogun09]

9 hours ago, air_raid said:

On 15th September 95 in Montreal, Pierre is booked with then-WWF Champion Diesel. It goes to a double count-out. According to the Observer, podcasts and other sources, Pierre was promised a screwy DQ or count-out win in his hometown to promote a rematch for the next visit. Upon arrival to the show, Pierre gets told the finish is now a Jacknife and clean pin. According to Shane, who (a) was in the building but (b) always had his own anti-Kliq agenda, this was mainly down to Shawn kicking up a fuss about the finish. When they get out there a pissed-off Pierre basically refuses to do the job and walks off, the match ending in double count-out.

The next night in Quebec City, he does the Jacknife finish, no questions asked.

Wasn’t there also claims that Nash shoot beat him up and forced him to do the job clean in the second match? Can’t remember who said it but I’ve definitely heard that in a couple of shoot interviews and podcasts. 

[air_raid]

7 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Wasn’t there also claims that Nash shoot beat him up and forced him to do the job clean in the second match? Can’t remember who said it but I’ve definitely heard that in a couple of shoot interviews and podcasts. 

I hadn’t heard that one. I don’t buy it for a second, half the locker room would have left if people were getting lamped for real. I also can’t imagine it’s the sort of thing that Bret would have left out of his book either.

[wandshogun09]

4 minutes ago, air_raid said:

I hadn’t heard that one. I don’t buy it for a second, half the locker room would have left if people were getting lamped for real. I also can’t imagine it’s the sort of thing that Bret would have left out of his book either.

Yeah it never sounded right and, like you say, Bret definitely would’ve had that in his book. Wish I could remember who else was saying it now but there’s this account from referee Jimmy Korderas;

 

[air_raid]

@wandshogun09

Pierre did a shoot during his retirement where he addressed it all, how it stemmed from him not wanting to lose to Shawn in Montreal in February before his gimmick had even debuted on TV, how most of the locker room was on the phone to Vince trying to get him fired for refusing to job, and how he exaggerated his injury to avoid working his notice period. He acknowledged being young and stupid, I imagine he’d have said that Kev beating him up for real was a factor in leaving, if it had happened.

Edited January 20, 2022 by air_raid