Wrestling shows you've been to

[westlondonmist]

I wish I'd kept a list of shows I went to, I've probably been to 50 odd in total. 

Promotions Ive been to (Japanese and American ones all UK shows)

WCW

WWF/E

TNA

NJPW

ROH

NOAH

Dragons Gate UK

FWA

RPW

IPW-UK

WAW

All Star

Chikara

ICW

[LEGIT]

First show I ever went to was in 99 and headlined by Yokozuna. It was a local show at the leisure center near me (the Magnum in Irvine), no idea who promoted the show. There's a pic that some may have seen of Drew Galloway as a kid with Yokozuna, which is taken from that show. I was aged 9, I enjoyed the show but with hindsight it was a bit of a mess, think there were a few turns and non finishes and fans were confused. Yoko teamed with Fatu, who I thought for years was a post Sultan/ pre Rikishi Fatu but subsequently heard that was incorrect, it was some other member of the family. 

Didn't got to another show till 2004. Saw on TWC forums Marty Jannety was coming was coming in with BCW. I would've been 13 or 14, wanted to go to the show but couldn't make it. Me and my mate looked out for the next show, which had Steve Corino. Had a great time and went to every BCW show for the next few years. It was such a great part of my teen years. Was lucky to see the likes of Drew, Wolfgang, Lionheart and others from basically their debut. Also great imports like Foley, Nash, AJ Styles, Raven, Dlo Brown.

Not been to a show in more than 10 years. Grew out of it and tbh other things have put me off. If my son ever gets into wrestling like I did it would be nice to attend local shows again, with him.

[BomberPat]

3 minutes ago, LEGIT said:

Yoko teamed with Fatu, who I thought for years was a post Sultan/ pre Rikishi Fatu but subsequently heard that was incorrect, it was some other member of the family. 

Cagematch and Wrestlingdata both have "Fatu" as Rikishi for a BWF show in Walthamstow, teaming with Yoko in 99, but no other UK matches for him that year. Rikishi was working Memphis most of that month, so it's unlikely he would have popped over to the UK for one or two random matches, so I think you're right about it not being him.

I found this flyer from an Isle of Wight show, and it looks like it's Sam Fatu (Tonga Kid/The Samoan Savage):

 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

That's one hell of a flyer. Can anyone please share everything they know about the guy in the bottom right corner who I assume is Karl "The Bull" Anthony because that is a very strong look. 

[LEGIT]

34 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I found this flyer from an Isle of Wight show, and it looks like it's Sam Fatu (Tonga Kid/The Samoan Savage):

Yeah that's right mate that's who it was. I don't recall much about the show, other than it was confusing who were the baddies and the goodies and it took a long time for the main event to start. I think Yoko had genuine trouble getting into the ring as the steps wouldn't hold his weight. 

[Statto]

20 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

That's one hell of a flyer. Can anyone please share everything they know about the guy in the bottom right corner who I assume is Karl "The Bull" Anthony because that is a very strong look. 

My assumption is he was the promoter or paid for the flyers to be printed or something cos there's no other logical reason to have him pictured on that flyer given that every other name mentioned is either more recognisable or just looks more like a wrestler than your man there. 

[BomberPat]

Probably not the promoter - depending on which iteration of the "British Wrestling Federation" it is, that could be Orig Williams or Shane Stevens/Palmer, or Martin Newman, though I know nothing about the latter.

Orig never booked James Mason under that name (he was always "Jesse James" for Orig), so I'd hazard a guess it's Stevens promoting, and that, based off of how Stevens advertised his shows in the Channel Islands, Karl 'The Bull' Antony is a local Isle Of Wight wrestler. I can't find anything about him beyond this flyer.

[Frankie Crisp]

Very fortunate to have been to two Wrestlemanias; 22 and 35.

22 was nuts. At the age of 27 I thought I was too old and cool to be caught up with the shouting and chanting, so went in thinking I’d just have a quiet night watching the lads. Got a couple of pints and ended up losing my shit when RVD won MITB.

Fast-forward to the main and I realised this kid in front of me was obsessed with John Cena. Had the full gear and was beautifully engaged. Cheering when his man came out and almost boo-cried when HHH hit the ramp. That was the thing back then, but he got so upset by the booing that him and his old man left before the show finished. I felt really bad when the bell hit as the kid missed seeing his hero win.

35 was brilliant. Older, so I was a lot more wound down for it but still very excited. Met a mate for a pint. Saw a weirdo who thought he was Brock Lesnar.

Had a really good seat but after the pre-show crap when Alexa Bliss introduced Hogan, a few others snarled at me for not standing or applauding. Sorry about that, you daft racists.

Cena coming out to the thuganomics tune was brill. I missed Samoa Joe murdering Rey as I assumed it would go long enough than the time it took me to have a burst.

The Kofi/Bryan match was the highlight.

The place was electric and it went nuts at the finish. I think the night peaked then because as good as it was to see Becky win, everyone was done in after being there for about 8 hours. The bus service being shit in the pouring rain didn’t help. 

Also, I ran into an arseholed Mick Foley, just off Bleeker Street.

He looked and sounded like he’d been thrown off a big cage.

Edited February 18 by Frankie Crisp

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

53 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Karl 'The Bull' Antony is a local Isle Of Wight wrestler. I can't find anything about him beyond this flyer.

There must be hundreds of flyers up and down this country with wrestlers on that no one ever heard of outside that one show. 

[Devon Malcolm]

5 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Cagematch and Wrestlingdata both have "Fatu" as Rikishi for a BWF show in Walthamstow, teaming with Yoko in 99, but no other UK matches for him that year. Rikishi was working Memphis most of that month, so it's unlikely he would have popped over to the UK for one or two random matches, so I think you're right about it not being him.

I found this flyer from an Isle of Wight show, and it looks like it's Sam Fatu (Tonga Kid/The Samoan Savage):

 

"PLUS 2 OTHER TOP AMERICANS" has just sent me for some reason.

[Mr_Danger]

100% one of those is a  star spangled lucha masked wrestlers under some ‘Patriot’ gimmick. Extra indy points if they’re the UK American Patriot under a star spangled lucha mask.

Edited February 18 by Mr_Danger

[air_raid]

5 hours ago, LEGIT said:

First show I ever went to was in 99 and headlined by Yokozuna. It was a local show at the leisure center near me (the Magnum in Irvine), no idea who promoted the show. There's a pic that some may have seen of Drew Galloway as a kid with Yokozuna, which is taken from that show. I was aged 9, I enjoyed the show but with hindsight it was a bit of a mess, think there were a few turns and non finishes and fans were confused. Yoko teamed with Fatu, who I thought for years was a post Sultan/ pre Rikishi Fatu but subsequently heard that was incorrect, it was some other member of the family. 

5 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Cagematch and Wrestlingdata both have "Fatu" as Rikishi for a BWF show in Walthamstow, teaming with Yoko in 99, but no other UK matches for him that year. Rikishi was working Memphis most of that month, so it's unlikely he would have popped over to the UK for one or two random matches, so I think you're right about it not being him.

I found this flyer from an Isle of Wight show, and it looks like it's Sam Fatu (Tonga Kid/The Samoan Savage):

 

5 hours ago, LEGIT said:

Yeah that's right mate that's who it was. I don't recall much about the show, other than it was confusing who were the baddies and the goodies and it took a long time for the main event to start. I think Yoko had genuine trouble getting into the ring as the steps wouldn't hold his weight. 

WrestlingData has the Yoko/Fatu tag at a BWF show in Gillingham on 5th May (and credits it as Solofa/Rikishi) - 6 days before his next match in Memphis. A quick Google unearths a local news story placing them in Crawley the night before. Furthermore my best mate went to one of the shows - I’d be lying if I said I remembered where but a weeknight somewhere in the Wolvo/West Midlands area… I want to say Walsall. He got autographs from both and knowing Tom and the length of time we watched wrestling together, if it hadn’t been the former Headshrinker, he’d have known. He chatted to him after the show and asked Fatu if he’d be heading back to the WWF any time soon and he said that actually yes in a couple of months time - which came true. Tom told him “Whatever you do, don’t come back as The Sultan.” At first Fatu looked a bit taken aback, he says, as though he genuinely didn’t think anyone knew it was him under the mask, then laughed it off and said “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

More likely that poster is a screw up. I bet Chuck Norris didn’t show up either.

Edited February 18 by air_raid

[SaitoRyo]

The first show I went to was what I am assuming was an All Star presentation at Newcastle City Hall in 2000 or 2001. There was a table match and a fake Kane and I'm pretty sure my dad bought me a programme and a foam finger. 

First 'proper' show I went to was Insurrextion 2003. Had decent seats not too far back from one of the ring posts. The pyro was really loud. Got to see RVD wrestle, which was the main thing for me at the time as he was my absolute favourite. Watching the show back years later, the Highlight Reel with Jericho, Austin and Bischoff was the most entertaining thing on it by miles.

I went to at least WWE house show in Newcastle every year after that until maybe 2010. They were always decent. I also went to a TNA IMPACT taping in the summer of 2006 and have seen NOAH and Dragon Gate in the UK, plus various local indies. 

[BomberPat]

2 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

There must be hundreds of flyers up and down this country with wrestlers on that no one ever heard of outside that one show. 

I'm just speculating that he would be a local talent, but it rings true with how these shows were run in the Channel Islands, and I wonder if it would be similar in the Isle of Wight. I dug out the programme from the Shane Stevens-run show in Jersey I mentioned earlier, and there's an insert page for the local talent there. 

Almost all of them are described by comparing them to World of Sport era wrestlers, despite it being 2011 and an audience of kids. One of them had a sort of Abyss knock-off gimmick - huge 20-something stone bloke in prison jumpsuit and a mask - and they just printed a photo of him out of gimmick, no mask and a t-shirt!

9 minutes ago, air_raid said:

More likely that poster is a screw up. I bet Chuck Norris didn’t show up either.

Definitely occurred to me that they could have used the wrong photo on the poster, that wouldn't be a surprise at all, and Wrestlingdata placing Rikishi in the UK on 28/4 and Cagematch on 2/5 makes it more likely he was around for a longer tour, whereas just the Cagematch data makes it look like he popped over for one show and was in Memphis less than a week later. Not out of the question, but far less likely at the time. Though obviously the data is hopelessly incomplete either way.

On the other hand, neither site has Sam Fatu working in the UK at all, and his only match in 1999 being at the Heroes of Wrestling PPV, but some newspaper ads from April 1999 list him as "Fatu The Tonga Kid".

[The Dart]

I've seen some videos from that Yokozuna tour and the person he was in the ring with was definitely not Rikishi, but was announced as Fatu.   But that doesn't mean it wasn't Rikishi on some of the shows of the tour, who knows.