WWE Vault Appreciation Thread

[wandshogun09]

14 minutes ago, air_raid said:

In other circumstances, I think he'd have jumped at the chance to put Austin on the spot. He held him in the highest regard.

Yeah you have to think that’s where it was naturally gonna lead to. Austin winning the title and finally beating Bret would’ve been tremendous. Then eventually, Bret joining forces with Vince to try to take Austin down would’ve been perfect and would’ve given the Austin vs Bret feud another twist and some more mileage. They could’ve feuded on and off for a couple of years. They were magic together.

Corporation Bret vs babyface Mankind in 98 could’ve been a lot of fun as well. Plus PPV matches with The Rock and Ken Shamrock wouldn’t have gone amiss. 

Edited April 9, 2025 by wandshogun09

[davertfnewman]

If Bret's gone and Brian Pillman's still alive, I have Pill as the guy who goes to Vince and proposes himself as the man to take down Austin/take his title because he's the man who knows him the most, working with McMahon but also working his own angle until McMahon's next guy works him out and flattens him. Austin then teams up with Pillman to take on the next heel challengers, which works until Pill decides to switch back and get him again.

[SuperBacon]

You know its funny, but I've seen their matches at SS96, WM13 and even the angle the night after IYH 14 more times than is healthy, but I don't think I've seen the actual match at IYH 14 more than maybe the once when it aired.

Know what I'm watching tonight.

[tiger_rick]

17 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

You know its funny, but I've seen their matches at SS96, WM13 and even the angle the night after IYH 14 more times than is healthy, but I don't think I've seen the actual match at IYH 14 more than maybe the once when it aired.

Know what I'm watching tonight.

It's OK. I think it's my least favourite match they were both part of (that I've seen) after Mania 13, Survivors 96, Final Four, Canadian Stampede, Raw Street Fight and the 97 Rumble.

[davertfnewman]

The Revenge of the Taker match shows that even for a handful of times on TV (doubtless more on the road) that Bret and Austin were perfectly in sync with one another. Doing that Sharpshooter/get bashed over the head with the brace/reversal into an Austin Sharpshooter could be clunky as fuck, but they perfectly roll with it while not making it look choreographed.

[WyattSheepMask]

Yeah, the Revenge of The Taker: In Your House encounter is still a very good match, but when it comes after the other two which were so great they for their own reasons, it’s easy to see why it gets forgotten about.

I hadn’t even thought about what could’ve been between them had Bret remained in the WWF, but man them going one on one again for the belt at WM14 would’ve been magic wouldn’t it?

Edited April 9, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[The Gaffer]

The Undertaker/Mankind match from Revenge is the bollocks as well. Probably their best encounter - not saying much, I know, because most of those 1996 gimmick matches were pure drudgery - outside the one we're obviously not counting. 

[SuperBacon]

15 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

The Undertaker/Mankind match from Revenge is the bollocks as well. Probably their best encounter - not saying much, I know, because most of those 1996 gimmick matches were pure drudgery - outside the one we're obviously not counting. 

I dont mind the Boiler Room one but the bit that always makes me start laughing uncontrollably is when it cuts to the arena and the audience are watching the action on what appear to be 16" TVs around the ring.

Amazing.

[The Gaffer]

Just now, SuperBacon said:

I dont mind the Boiler Room one but the bit that always makes me start laughing uncontrollably is when it cuts to the arena and the audience are watching the action on what appear to be 16" TVs around the ring.

Amazing.

Always noticed that too! 

Reminded me of the TV being wheeled into class last thing on a Friday so we could watch Michael Collins. 

Used to always sympathise from afar as well with what a strain it must have been to watch the hardcore matches etc from the seating section on the arenas ceiling TVs as a lot of the PPVs right up until 99/00 done away with the big titantron Raw would have (though watching at home I always liked it as it made the shows feel unique). 

[TheScarlettChad]

They just uploaded this classic. 2016 being almost a decade ago is still insane, and how  good Smackdown Live was back then, from July to April. The nicknames too, "The face that runs the place" and "The Kingpin". Was nice to see this. 

[tiger_rick]

I've unsubscribed from the vault channels. There is too much content going up that was filling up by Subscriptions tab and annoying me. I still check it out though and ended up watching this tape that I've no memory of seeing before. It has a Koko B. Ware (Ugh) vs. Tito match that is an unusual babyface vs. babyface match for one of their undercards. There are some high-profile face/face matches in that era, like Hogan/Warrior (obvs), Bret/Piper and the Harts/Rockers phantom title change but I can't recall seeing it too often on house show cards or this sort of tape where there are plenty of heels and faces to work each other in random matches. It's interesting to see because Ware (Ugh) just works full on heel from a couple of minutes in. Tito's the ultimate good guy, isn't he?   

 

[air_raid]

4 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

There are some high-profile face/face matches in that era, like Hogan/Warrior (obvs), Bret/Piper and the Harts/Rockers phantom title change but I can't recall seeing it too often on house show cards or this sort of tape where there are plenty of heels and faces to work each other in random matches.

There's another one on WrestleFest 91 - Hart Foundation vs Legion of Doom. Actually taped before the Harts lost the belts at Mania VII but they knew that the video would come out afterwards so Bret and Jim come out without the belts and aren't announced as champions.

Mind you, LOD worked anyone regardless of heel/face alignment. The last televised match The Rockers had before The Barbers Shop was challenging and losing to Hawk & Animal on the last WWF Superstars of 1991.

While we're at it, there's a Rockers vs Harts match on (IIRC) SuperTape 2 - if thats the one with the Rockers profile? Think it went 1 - Bushwhackers, 2 - Rockers, 3 - LOD, 4 - Boss Man. It's taped either 1 or 2 days after SummerSlam 89 and has the identical fuck finish to their SNME match except instead of Demolition interfering, it's the Rougeau Brothers.

Edited May 7, 2025 by air_raid
Rock and roll, strut and stroll, slam and jam

[Snitsky's back acne]

Used to love me a Supertape and the like when I was a kid. Loads of unique matches. I still have them gathering dust on a shelf in my spare room. 

[SpykeDudlei1]

The Coliseum Home video ‘Fan Favourites’ segment was always my favourite.

”Danny from Roswell, New Mexico has written to us and would love to see Hillbilly Jim take on Boris Zhukov”

Either you’re shitting us, Sean Mooney, or “Danny” needs his bumps felt.

I think we all know the actual answer ?

Edited May 8, 2025 by SpykeDudlei1

[air_raid]

6 hours ago, SpykeDudlei1 said:

The Coliseum Home video ‘Fan Favourites’ segment was always my favourite.

”Danny from Roswell, New Mexico has written to us and would love to see Hillbilly Jim take on Boris Zhukov”

Either you’re shitting us, Sean Mooney, or Danny needs his bumps felt.

The letters were pure fiction. The “UK Fan Favourites” tapes were released in the US with different names/addresses associated with the matches. Fair play for the Koko B Ware vs Brooklyn Brawler match from the 89 tape though, at least Koko actually winning a match with the Ghostbuster made it to home video.

My favourite bit of nonsense was a “German Fan Favourites” tape that never got repurposed for Silver Vision - it included a couple of high stakes matches from TV that fairly obviously hadn’t happened just because Fake Hans from Bremen had asked for them e.g Tatanka vs Crush KOTR qualifier, Razor/Diesel ICT switch, and a bunch of matches recycled from old releases including an Undertaker vs Bam Bam match over a year old. Lazy bastards.