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9 days in 1991 WWF (aka "No wonder all that generation were on drugs")


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After a post the other day I wanted to have a look at the insane schedule wrestlers in WWF were on in the 1990's.
Hopefully some of you on here find it as interesting (and insane) as me.

I've decided to pick 9 days for Bret Hart in September 1991 as an example (all info courtesy of historyofwwe.com and Google)

We start Friday 6 September 1991 in Cincinnati Ohio where he wrestles The Warlord.

He would then have to fly over two hours into Boston and drive almost two hours from there to Providence Rhode Island for a matinee show where he wrestles the Duke of Dorchester, Skinner and IRS to win the King of the Ring and then drive an hour and a half to Springfield, Massachusetts to wrestle Ted DiBiase later that night.

He would then have to get from Springfield to London, Ontario (over 500 miles) to wrestle Warlord again the following afternoon. After that he would have to drive 100 miles or so to Hamilton, Ontario later that night and beat The Warlord again.

So that's 7 matches in 48 hours in two different countries - but we are only just getting started.
He would then have to drive over 5 hours/400 miles to Ottawa for a TV taping the next day where he wrestled Warlord in a dark match and Brooklyn Brawler in a TV match.
From there it's a short 100km drive to Cornwall, Ontario for another taping where he wrestles three times - a squash match for TV, IRS for Supertape 1992 and Hercules for broadcast on TV.

After that he's on a plane for two hours to Halifax, Nova Scotia for the obligatory win v The Warlord before another 400+ mile drive down to Bangor Maine to wrestle Warlord again the next night. He would then likely have driven another 200+ miles back to Boston to fly almost 3 hours across the country to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (it seems the most efficient way) where he would again defeat The Warlord. After that it would be another 2 and a half hour flight to Denver, Colorado v The Warlord before yet another two hour + flight to San Antonio in Texas to wrestle Warlord.

After that he would get three days off (two of which would likely be full of travel) before starting again.

That's 17 matches in 9 days - in comparison, some wrestlers don't do that in a year nowadays! 

I'm sure this is not even the craziest schedule but it highlights just how insane the tours were in those days. Different countries, flights over thousands of miles, driving hundreds of miles... absolutely bonkers.

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Bret Hart? House show schedule? Needs the "South Bend, Indiana" story.

On 3/16/2022 at 6:54 AM, air_raid said:

Night of the 23rd is one of Brets favourite road stories. He opens Auburn Hills with The Model then jumps straight on a plane at Detroit to make his way to South Bend, Indiana to fill in for Dusty Rhodes against the Macho King (Rhodes unavailability not explained). This is to save a card so weak that they’ve already seen Brooklyn Brawler and Black Bart WIN and Anvil vs Hammer go broadway, and an in ring confrontation between Sapphire and Queen Sherri has been stalling for time as Bret approaches the building. Hitman is rightfully proud of being a company guy and jumping on a plane at short notice, and also for going straight out and doing a match with Savage cold with no finish given to him. However as well as misremembering that this was when Randy was feuding with Jake, he likes to state that this was an impromptu main event when in actuality the Rude/Boss Man match was also flown in from Auburn Hills, and that went on last.

 

 

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This side of things has always blown my mind. We all know how stressful it is catching flights/checking-in/hiring cars/hotels/places to eat etc... 

How the fuck did jake manage to do it day after day smashed off his head with a python in his hand luggage? 

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It's incredible how anyone managed it. Travelling hours in a car or flying, crossing back or forward through timezones and/or across the border into Canada, trying to fit in the gym and food, working once or twice that day, going out for food and beers, taking some women back to your hotel, taking stuff to get you to sleep, stuff to wake you up, stuff for pain, stuff for muscles. Repeating 5 or 6 days out of 7. 

That's without incidents in the ring, incidents on the road like the bar fights, the crazed fans (someone cut up the travelling Nasties on the road and then stabbed Brian Knobbs), breakdowns, delayed flights, and all the other shit that comes with travelling and staying in hotels. Just an insane existence.

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6 hours ago, TibBo said:

and after all that, once you have done your match and got back to the locker room exhausted, Mr Perfect has shredded all of your clothes and Dynamite Kid punches you in the face....

...and then you get on a plane, fall asleep and wake up with one eyebrow missing and a load of shaving foam on your head. 

In comparison, and I get that it's totally different circumstances etc and this is not to bash the guy, it is just to show the difference - Roman Reigns has wrestled the same number of matches Bret did in 9 days since September 2022... so that's 2 years! Cody, one of the more active guys out there, has worked 17 matches in two months.

Again, it's not a knock or a "harken back to the old days" but it is understandable when the older guys criticise the new guys for not working the schedule they did. I'd be pissed off too if a guy worked the same amount of matches in two years that I did in 9 days AND got shedloads more money for it than I did.

Edited by Snitsky's back acne
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16 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

...and then you get on a plane, fall asleep and wake up with one eyebrow missing and a load of shaving foam on your head. 

In comparison, and I get that it's totally different circumstances etc and this is not to bash the guy, it is just to show the difference - Roman Reigns has wrestled the same number of matches Bret did in 9 days since September 2022... so that's 2 years! Cody, one of the more active guys out there, has worked 17 matches in two months.

Again, it's not a knock or a "harken back to the old days" but it is understandable when the older guys criticise the new guys for not working the schedule they did. I'd be pissed off too if a guy worked the same amount of matches in two years that I did in 9 days AND got shedloads more money for it than I did.

Not for me, you shouldn't have to work 2 matches a day for 9 years to be taken seriously in the business.

Good on the lads of today who can get away with doing fuck all for months and raking in the cash.

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I think the reason why Bret is comparatively normal these days is that he was a top shagger, and instead of going back to his room and banging a load of vicodin up his arse, he was tupping local women who wanted to look after the "lonely" horny bastard most nights.

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18 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Again, it's not a knock or a "harken back to the old days" but it is understandable when the older guys criticise the new guys for not working the schedule they did. I'd be pissed off too if a guy worked the same amount of matches in two years that I did in 9 days AND got shedloads more money for it than I did.

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

Not for me, you shouldn't have to work 2 matches a day for 9 years to be taken seriously in the business.

Good on the lads of today who can get away with doing fuck all for months and raking in the cash.

Agreed with TKOOS here - if they're angry, they should be angry at how exploitative McMahon was.

Sure, mention that the new guys don't work the old schedule, but don't criticise them for it. Most people, from wrestlers to fans, know what the consequences of that schedule have been, from addiction to body count to crimes of all sorts. Nobody shouldn't want that for anyone.

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2 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

I think the reason why Bret is comparatively normal these days is that he was a top shagger, and instead of going back to his room and banging a load of vicodin up his arse, he was tupping local women who wanted to look after the "lonely" horny bastard most nights.

It's amazing Bret was able to do all that travelling and wrestling, yet he still had time to do so much shagging. Truly the best there is, was etc...

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9 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

It's amazing Bret was able to do all that travelling and wrestling, yet he still had time to do so much shagging. Truly the best there is, was etc...

He didn't have time for shagging, he MADE time because he is a dedicated pro. 

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