Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 (edited) Diverting from a discussion in the NXT thread, a space to chat about something that pops up pretty regularly anyway - the Tribute Shows of yore! The land of UK Undertakers, 5'10" Kanes, and singular Dudley Boys. What are people's memories of these shows? How many of us have attended, or even worked on, one? What vestiges of them still exist today? I know there's a guy doing a Cena tribute working some family shows, and someone told me that there was basically a CM Punk tribute act on a Premier Promotions show not too long ago. Rick Masters dusted off the UK Undertaker gear as Gravedigger as recently as last year. Edited January 12 by BomberPat Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 (edited) I went to one at Fairfield Halls Croydon back in the day that had The UK Undertaker. His entrance music was "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" by Shania Twain for some reason. They also had a UK Stone Cold who I'm not sure if he was actually a trained wrestler or they just picked the nearest bald bloke with a goatee off the street. He was fucking useless. All through the match all the kids were shouting "Do a Stunner!" but he never did one. Presumably because he didn't know what a Stone Cold Stunner was, who knows. Edited January 12 by LaGoosh Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 To this day, the best thing Trent Seven has ever done is his appearance on Chris Jericho’s podcast, where he hilariously described a tribute show that featured, “The Dudley Boy.” ”All he had was cammo trousers!” Quote
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 7 minutes ago, Supremo said: To this day, the best thing Trent Seven has ever done is his appearance on Chris Jericho’s podcast, where he hilariously described a tribute show that featured, “The Dudley Boy.” ”All he had was cammo trousers!” Probably was actually from Dudley though. Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 12 Author Paid Members Posted January 12 31 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: I went to one at Fairfield Halls Croydon back in the day that had The UK Undertaker. His entrance music was "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" by Shania Twain for some reason. This is incredible. 26 minutes ago, Supremo said: To this day, the best thing Trent Seven has ever done is his appearance on Chris Jericho’s podcast, where he hilariously described a tribute show that featured, “The Dudley Boy.” ”All he had was cammo trousers!” A friend of mine has told me about seeing a UK Dudley Boy do a leg drop off a steel cage, then being on the same bus home as him after the show! I think single wrestlers playing a tag team gimmick is my favourite part of tribute shows - the UK Dudley Boy, the UK Bushwhacker (Frank Casey, who might be the only tribute act to have actually teamed with the real wrestlers he was ripping off), UK Nasty Boy, Bret Rico as DX, and of course The Legend of Doom. On the latter, a friend of mine remains adamant that he saw Road Warrior Hawk wrestle in a hotel function room in Jersey in the mid-90s, and cannot be convinced otherwise. Despite the fact that the actual Dynamite Kid wrestled on that show, he always leads with having seen Hawk whenever he tells a story about it. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 33 minutes ago, BomberPat said: the UK Bushwhacker (Frank Casey, who might be the only tribute act to have actually teamed with the real wrestlers he was ripping off) That's a weird one considering that a) the Bushwackers aren't some top line act that are fondly remembered by most wrestling fans and b) the Bushwackers seemed to be on All-Star tours for years so you could see the real thing incredibly easily if you wanted to. Quote
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 16 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: That's a weird one considering that a) the Bushwackers aren't some top line act that are fondly remembered by most wrestling fans and b) the Bushwackers seemed to be on All-Star tours for years so you could see the real thing incredibly easily if you wanted to. The Bushwackers were massively over with kids though, like they were almost a top line act in that respect. I can easily see why that act would be such a common one in the world of tribute shows. That and the fact that any old bloke with a dirty vest and a pair of combat pants could put that look together. Quote
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 (edited) For my sins, I had matches with a UK Undertaker and a Doink the Clown. The Doink one was a passable comedy match. The match with "Taker" was dire. He was doing the early 90's gimmick of plodding about and chokes, which given he was face was riveting. No-selling all offence, besides going "ooof!" occasionally in John Shuttleworth's accent. I refused to lose via the tombstone (that don't work for me, brother) because I had no confidence that I'd have a neck afterwards, his lifts were too big and he kept tripping over the bottom of his kick pads. Tribute act adjacent: my double duty lucha gimmick, Mr Mexico, which involved me wearing a knockoff Mil Mascaras mask and shouting "Arriba!" after each move. Edited January 12 by Gus Mears Quote
TheScarlettChad Posted January 12 Posted January 12 Its truly amazing how both hot wrestling vwas and how dead UK wrestling was, that instead of showcasing British wrestlers, they had someone called "Brett Rico" perform as "D.X" I assume he came out in different attires throughout the show, Hope he had a prostetic nose for HHH. Quote
Paid Members Statto Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 16 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said: The Bushwackers were massively over with kids though, like they were almost a top line act in that respect. I can easily see why that act would be such a common one in the world of tribute shows. That and the fact that any old bloke with a dirty vest and a pair of combat pants could put that look together. Plus the fact that Frank Casey was doing the gimmick concurrent with their peak in WWF - remember seeing it a bunch in 90/91 sort of time. Point of order though - he was British Bushwhacker, for the alliteration. He's the one my old man will always refer to first when reminiscing about taking me to shows at that time, due to how hilarious he found the routine (likely ripped off from Les Kellett or someone) of this exchange whilst he was in a hold: BB: Ask him ref! Ref: Ask him what? BB: Ask him to let go! Quote
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 I think being in the wrestling bubble, we can have a skewed idea about who the general public actually remembers from late 80s/early 90s WWF. When I speak to normals about 'the old wrestling', The Bushwhackers name comes up much more than names you might expect. It's always Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker first, then Million Dollar Man, Bushwhackers and the Nasty Boys, weirdly. People like Rowdy Roddy Piper and Andre The Giant don't get a look-in. Quote
Paid Members Carbomb Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said: I went to one at Fairfield Halls Croydon back in the day that had The UK Undertaker. His entrance music was "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" by Shania Twain for some reason. Knowing wrestlers, either he or the production crew did it as a rib to pop the boys in the back. Quote They also had a UK Stone Cold who I'm not sure if he was actually a trained wrestler or they just picked the nearest bald bloke with a goatee off the street. He was fucking useless. All through the match all the kids were shouting "Do a Stunner!" but he never did one. Presumably because he didn't know what a Stone Cold Stunner was, who knows. This reminds me of BritWres and Shitarse Fifty stalwart, Gangster. Quote
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 4 minutes ago, Carbomb said: Knowing wrestlers, either he or the production crew did it as a rib to pop the boys in the back. It would 100% have been a rib. Fond memories of doing this before a crumble once, so instead of Let the Bodies Hit the Floor everyone walked out to I Am What I Am by Gloria Gaynor. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 12 Paid Members Posted January 12 45 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said: The Bushwackers were massively over with kids though, like they were almost a top line act in that respect. Yeah that's all well and good but this show was in the year 2000! Pretty sure most of the kids there were not familiar with their act. Quote
TheScarlettChad Posted January 12 Posted January 12 6 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Yeah that's all well and good but this show was in the year 2000! Pretty sure most of the kids there were not familiar with their act. Did they lick anyone's heads? Never understood that part of the act. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.