Has Anyone Been to see the WWF/WWE in Edinburgh at the Royal Highland Centre?

[britboy_93]

I’m just curious as there’s never been much media, photos or attendance figures known about these events, I’m unfamiliar with the Venue and what the Setup would have looked like?

 

Was it all floor level seating? Was it similar to SECC WWF/WWE Events? If anyone could share any memories of the how the venue looked and if there’s a a reason the WWE hasn’t been back to Edinburgh since 2005?

 

If you have any photos or media of the events please share.

 

Any information with a good description would be appreciated, attendance, seating, merchandise stalls, Bars etc. I’ve listed a few events at the Edinburgh Royal Highland Centre Below. Hulk Hogan even made an appearance in 1993, however never seemed to appear at the Glasgow shows at the SECC.

 

WWE WrestleMania Revenge Tour 2005 - Edinburgh Royal Highland Centre. 

 

• Tajiri & William Regal (c) defeat La Resistance (Robert Conway & Sylvain Grenier) to retain the WWE World Tag Team Championship
• Chris Masters defeats The Hurricane
• Christy Hemme defeats Victoria(Special Referee: Jonathan Coachman)
• Viscera defeats Val Venis
• Chris Benoit defeats Tyson Tomko
• Shelton Benjamin (c) defeats Chris Jericho and Christian in a Triple Threat Match to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Kane defeats Edge
• Shawn Michaels defeats Muhammad Hassan
• Batista defeats Ric Flair & Triple H in a Two On One Handicap Match

 

 

The WWF Summer Tour 1993 - Edinburgh Royal Highland Centre

 

• El Matador defeated The Predator
• Brutus Beefcake defeated Terry Taylor
• Tatanka defeated Bam Bam Bigelowby Count Out
• The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) (c) defeated The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu) to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship
• Owen Hart defeated Papa Shango
• Jim Duggan defeated Bastion Booger
• Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna (c) (w/ Mr. Fuji) by DQ. Yokozuna retained the WWF Championship.

Edited May 19, 2025 by britboy_93

[CleetusVanDamme]

I was at the 2005 one. It was a really ugly building, literally just a big car boot sale hall. It was all floor seats. I like to think the reason they never came back was because a fire alarm went off during Michaels/Hassan* and didn't shut off for fucking ages, but it's probably just them choosing not to hold a show in a car boot sale hall when there's proper arenas to run in Glasgow and Aberdeen instead.

*Daivari faking panic and running about screaming "IT'S TERRORISTS!" was hilarious and great thinking on his feet. I really can't remember much else about the night. A standard house show. No surprise they never came back.

Edit: I'm shit at guesstimating crowds, I'd have said about 1500 max, This link says 4000 but I really, really doubt that.

 

Edited May 19, 2025 by CleetusVanDamme

[Snitsky's back acne]

2 hours ago, CleetusVanDamme said:

I was at the 2005 one. It was a really ugly building, literally just a big car boot sale hall. It was all floor seats. I like to think the reason they never came back was because a fire alarm went off during Michaels/Hassan* and didn't shut off for fucking ages, but it's probably just them choosing not to hold a show in a car boot sale hall when there's proper arenas to run in Glasgow and Aberdeen instead.

*Daivari faking panic and running about screaming "IT'S TERRORISTS!" was hilarious and great thinking on his feet. I really can't remember much else about the night. A standard house show. No surprise they never came back.

Edit: I'm shit at guesstimating crowds, I'd have said about 1500 max, This link says 4000 but I really, really doubt that.

 

This was the same tour they ran the Hull Ice Arena for the final time. Another ugly building (and tiny by WWE standards). It is so small that the merchandise stand was outside. Wrestlers would stand on the top rope and be able to almost touch the ceiling. 

Very surreal. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

1 hour ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Wrestlers would stand on the top rope and be able to almost touch the ceiling. 

Very surreal. 

I love a small venue where stuff like that can happen. The Winter Gardens at Cleethorpes was like that before they knocked it down. The wrestlers had to be very careful when diving to the outside over the top rope or they would kick the chandeliers. I remember Paul Travell spraying the audience with glass after one particularly ill thought out dive. 

[WyattSheepMask]

11 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

This was the same tour they ran the Hull Ice Arena for the final time. Another ugly building (and tiny by WWE standards). It is so small that the merchandise stand was outside. Wrestlers would stand on the top rope and be able to almost touch the ceiling. 

Very surreal. 

I remember when that show got announced and it seemed really bizarre they were running it again after not being there since 1995, and even that show was part of a random 2 date stop over on its way to a tour of Germany.

But yeah, terrible venue for pretty much anything

Edited May 20, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[tiger_rick]

11 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

This was the same tour they ran the Hull Ice Arena for the final time. Another ugly building (and tiny by WWE standards). It is so small that the merchandise stand was outside. Wrestlers would stand on the top rope and be able to almost touch the ceiling. 

Very surreal. 

That's the only (main roster) WWF/E show I've ever been to. We go to the Ice Hockey a lot and I'd never realised how low the ceiling is until you put a wrestling ring in it.

7 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

But yeah, terrible venue for pretty much anything

It's fine for Ice Hockey, surprisingly. Ever been to a gig there? Some pretty big acts played it in the 90s. I remember a Robbie Williams gig that it seemed like everyone was going to but I didn't. I don't know what the setup would be for music but I imagine it'd be pretty great being so small and loud. 

[WyattSheepMask]

20 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

That's the only (main roster) WWF/E show I've ever been to. We go to the Ice Hockey a lot and I'd never realised how low the ceiling is until you put a wrestling ring in it.

It's fine for Ice Hockey, surprisingly. Ever been to a gig there? Some pretty big acts played it in the 90s. I remember a Robbie Williams gig that it seemed like everyone was going to but I didn't. I don't know what the setup would be for music but I imagine it'd be pretty great being so small and loud. 

I have vague memories of seeing Paul Weller play there and the sound being awful, but that could as much on the soundboard rather than the venue itself. Set up was pretty basic, just up on some risers down at the end of the rink. That would’ve been the only time I saw a gig there though. 
I do remember there being a bunch of acts playing there in the 90s though as you mentioned. Looking at the history of gigs at the venue there was some in the 00s that I remember occurring, but from around 2007 onwards there’s a that I don’t have any recollection of hearing about.

Didn’t that Robbie Williams show get absolutely slated (as it should’ve done regardless) because he only played something like 45 minutes? Or at least that was said on the school playground 

Edited May 20, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[Snitsky's back acne]

2 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

I remember when that show got announced and it seemed really bizarre they were running it again after not being there since 1995, and even that show was part of a random 2 date stop over on its way to a tour of Germany.

But yeah, terrible venue for pretty much anything

I wouldn't say that - great atmos AND, added bonus, if you don't want to buy a ticket you can just stand outside and hear the whole event. Result!

[britboy_93]

Some interesting replies, it’s hard to believe the WWE used to hold events in places like Whitley Bay Ice Rink and Hull ice Arena etc…

I missed out on seeing the WWF/WWE at the SECC Glasgow, would be interesting to hear stories of the setup for the SECC. I attended the World Wrestling-All Stars House show in 2001 then the 2002 PPV at the Glasgow SECC but was very young and don’t remember much about the arena set up. 

Regarding the Edinburgh Royal Highland Centre on my initial post, I had a look at the hall they used on Google and it looks like a B&Q warehouse without the equipment lol!!

 

 

[Rockbus2]

On 5/20/2025 at 9:15 AM, tiger_rick said:

That's the only (main roster) WWF/E show I've ever been to. We go to the Ice Hockey a lot and I'd never realised how low the ceiling is until you put a wrestling ring in it.

It's fine for Ice Hockey, surprisingly. Ever been to a gig there? Some pretty big acts played it in the 90s. I remember a Robbie Williams gig that it seemed like everyone was going to but I didn't. I don't know what the setup would be for music but I imagine it'd be pretty great being so small and loud. 

I've lived in Hull since 2013 and I really wish I'd been able to experience WWE there.  I just can't imagine it at all.

[Snitsky's back acne]

2 hours ago, Rockbus2 said:

I've lived in Hull since 2013 and I really wish I'd been able to experience WWE there.  I just can't imagine it at all.

WWE did three shows at the Ice Arena. 1994 with Bret, Undertaker, Diesel, Lex, Razor, HBK and loads more. Probably the most loaded line up they had in Hull 

1995 they had Diesel v Yokozuna and Razor v Dean Douglas as the main matches and 2005 had HHH and Flair v Batista, Kane v Edge, HBK v Muhammad Hassan and Jericho v Shelton Benjamin if I remember rightly. I seem to remember somebody saying they had got there early, seen the bus pull up and saw the look of horror on Edge's face when he saw the arena. 

[tiger_rick]

11 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

WWE did three shows at the Ice Arena. 1994 with Bret, Undertaker, Diesel, Lex, Razor, HBK and loads more. Probably the most loaded line up they had in Hull 

That one is one of my favourite "down street" memories. My friend went with his Dad and brother and got some Bret Hart shades from the merch stand and paraded them around insisting that Bret gave them to him. I had to listen to him re-tell and embellish the story about a hundred times on the estate until his little brother told everyone he was full of shit. 

[WyattSheepMask]

Was a decent little card that 1994 show as well considering where the company was at at the time-

* Irwin R. Schyster defeated The 1-2-3 Kid

* WWF Women’s Championship: Alundra Blayze (c) defeated Bull Nakano

* The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna in a Casket Match

* WWF Tag Team Championship Diesel & Shawn Michaels (c) defeated Lex Luger & Razor Ramon by DQ

* Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Mabel

* Jeff Jarrett defeated Doink

* Bret Hart & The British Bulldog* defeated Jim Neidhart & Owen Hart
 

* Bulldog would be substituted with Randy Savage on the Germany dates of the tour

Compare that to the one in 1995 and it’s night & day-

Man Mountain Rock defeated Rad Radford

• Waylon Mercy defeated Bob Holly
• Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Sycho Sid
• Jean-Pierre LaFitte defeated Aldo Montoya
• Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Henry O. Godwinn
• Owen Hart defeated Fatu
• Razor Ramon defeated Dean Douglas
• Diesel (c) defeated Yokozuna to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship

Edited May 22, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[Snitsky's back acne]

WWF did run some small venues over her in the 90s. They ran the Whitley Bay I've Rink three times in 1993 and, while I have never been there, I know an ice hockey player who has who describes it as "an absolute shithole".

They also ran the Telford Arena? Exeter West point Arena and Peterborough Arena? in 93 and 94 too.

I remember seeing them at the Bournemouth International Centre at the end of 93 too. Small venue but bigger than Hull Ice Arena ( admittedly that's not hard). Decent card with Macho Man v Shawn Michaels, IRS v Razor Ramon and Yokozuna v Undertaker on. 

[Statto]

Yeah I was at Peterborough "Arena" (ice rink) in 94.

Have several memories of the show but the main one is Doink carrying Dink out over his shoulder and absolutely smacking the back of his head on the lintel of the door being used as an entranceway. And seeing everyone getting on the buses at the end of the night, which I think might have been the death of kayfabe for me.