The Glory of 1991

[Chico Torres]

WCW was on BSB before the Sky merger. ITV in 1990 and 1991 was mainly International Pro and then became Worldwide around April 1992 until 1995. Up until later in 1991 (around September) it was inconsistent and sometimes they would have shows from 1990 shown in 1991. It wasn’t always late night either pre 1992, I definitely recall it being shown on Saturday afternoons sometimes in 1991, specifically remember Steiners winning titles from Freebirds.

 

[Chico Torres]

Apologies for the double post (albeit days apart) but a slight correction that in 1991 WCW International Power Hour was on Sky Sports (not just previously on BSB) and WCW International Pro was on ITV. Both shows were versions specially for non-US markets, cutting out promos and event centers etc. And both shows were hosted by the great Lance Russell.

Based on some listings I’ve seen International Power Hour was on Sky Sports until at least July 1991. Screenshot of WCW on Sky Sports below from 1991 (not when they started showing old Worldwide in the 2000s), One Man Gang and Kevin Sullivan team up to destroy JYD.

[gmoney]

1 hour ago, Chico Torres said:

Apologies for the double post (albeit days apart) but a slight correction that in 1991 WCW International Power Hour was on Sky Sports (not just previously on BSB) and WCW International Pro was on ITV. Both shows were versions specially for non-US markets, cutting out promos and event centers etc. And both shows were hosted by the great Lance Russell.

Based on some listings I’ve seen International Power Hour was on Sky Sports until at least July 1991. Screenshot of WCW on Sky Sports below from 1991 (not when they started showing old Worldwide in the 2000s), One Man Gang and Kevin Sullivan team up to destroy JYD.

Do you happen to know if International Power Hour was appreciably different from the US version? I'm about 80% certain this was the first wrestling I ever saw, but I can only locate the US version. Not much point scouring through it if it's all different matches and angles. 

[The King of Old School]

On 8/11/2026 at 11:20 AM, Snitsky's back acne said:

Was it Sky or ITV Late Night?

My family didn't get Sky until about 93 so you could be right but I seem to remember WWF being on Sky Movies and WCW being on ITV Late Night around 1991-1992.

 

1 hour ago, Chico Torres said:

Apologies for the double post (albeit days apart) but a slight correction that in 1991 WCW International Power Hour was on Sky Sports (not just previously on BSB) and WCW International Pro was on ITV. Both shows were versions specially for non-US markets, cutting out promos and event centers etc. And both shows were hosted by the great Lance Russell.

Based on some listings I’ve seen International Power Hour was on Sky Sports until at least July 1991. Screenshot of WCW on Sky Sports below from 1991 (not when they started showing old Worldwide in the 2000s), One Man Gang and Kevin Sullivan team up to destroy JYD.

Yeah this is what i remember, glad I'm not going nuts!

[Snitsky's back acne]

3 hours ago, Chico Torres said:

Apologies for the double post (albeit days apart) but a slight correction that in 1991 WCW International Power Hour was on Sky Sports (not just previously on BSB) and WCW International Pro was on ITV. Both shows were versions specially for non-US markets, cutting out promos and event centers etc. And both shows were hosted by the great Lance Russell.

Based on some listings I’ve seen International Power Hour was on Sky Sports until at least July 1991. Screenshot of WCW on Sky Sports below from 1991 (not when they started showing old Worldwide in the 2000s), One Man Gang and Kevin Sullivan team up to destroy JYD.

I remember WCW Pro on ITV Late Night in 1991. It was hosted by Eric Bischoff and DDP and I remember them plugging a UK tour in late 1991 (which was basically 3 nights at the Olympia in London I think). I don't remember Lance Russell but we definitely got Axl Rotten, Cactus Jack v Arachnaman and other such beauties.

I remember them pushing Halloween Havoc 1992 and the "Chamber of Horrors" and "Thundercage 91" - The York Foundation v Big Josh, Z-Man and Dustin Rhodes. First ever cage match I saw. Great times.

[Chico Torres]

4 hours ago, gmoney said:

Do you happen to know if International Power Hour was appreciably different from the US version? I'm about 80% certain this was the first wrestling I ever saw, but I can only locate the US version. Not much point scouring through it if it's all different matches and angles. 

It appears to be a different show from the US version of Power Hour, on one of the episodes I saw recently the show had matches from World Championship Wrestling (Saturday Night) but it just went straight from match to match with Lance Russell commentating even though at one point it showed JR and Paul E arguing on commentary (Lance explained this by saying they were broadcasting the show to the US audience).

Because I’m sad like that, I’ve seen some matches on the International shows that I can’t find any record of existing in any listings of the US shows. No idea why that would happen other than “because it’s WCW”. Feels like they cobbled together matches from different shows and “exclusives” and repackaged them into the international versions. I know in the US there were specific versions of WCW Pro New York and WCW Pro Chicago which had local segments, different commentary.

@Snitsky's back acne that change in ITV showing Pro (more like the actual version not the international version) was around September 1991 I believe and it was the full show with promos and event centre updates and was shown consistently week to week, felt like the first time WCW was shown in a linear fashion here. Thundercage 91 was on one of the first shows, a 6 man cage match on tv…with blood! It got there right in time just ahead of the Dangerous Allinace glory period and was shown until around April of 1992 when they switched to Worldwide and the Tony and Jesse era.

It was probably treated like a weekly show because of the Roar Power tour at the end of 1991, first time they came over here

[garynysmon]

On 8/10/2026 at 9:36 PM, wandshogun09 said:

A kid who loves wrestling now has access to everything immediately, and there was me in the early 90s studying and scrutinising pictures of matches that happened months ago in the magazine, hoping my old man might see the tape in a shop one day on his travels and bring it home. 

1991 was a little early for me, given I started watching WCW and the WWF in ‘92.

But this is bang on.

I remember seeing brief clips or photos of Wrestlemania 3, for instance, and it looking like this other wordly event that I wanted to sample somehow.

But how? It all seemed so unobtainable if you only got Silver Vision tapes for Christmas or birthdays

Mad to think anyone can just load up Netflix now and watch it within seconds.

Edited August 12 by garynysmon

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, garynysmon said:

It all seemed so unobtainable if you only got Silver Vision tapes for Christmas or birthdays

The days of them Mega Mail leaflets coming through the door and having to carefully whittle it down to only the small number of tapes your Christmas/birthday money would stretch to. Then after you put your order in, it felt like it took years for them to arrive in the post. None of this Amazon Prime next day/same day delivery. None of this Network/Netflix shite. We paid our dues back then brother. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

19 hours ago, Chico Torres said:

@Snitsky's back acne that change in ITV showing Pro (more like the actual version not the international version) was around September 1991 I believe and it was the full show with promos and event centre updates and was shown consistently week to week, felt like the first time WCW was shown in a linear fashion here. Thundercage 91 was on one of the first shows, a 6 man cage match on tv…with blood! It got there right in time just ahead of the Dangerous Allinace glory period and was shown until around April of 1992 when they switched to Worldwide and the Tony and Jesse era.

It was probably treated like a weekly show because of the Roar Power tour at the end of 1991, first time they came over here

Yeah that will be it. I didn't start watching wrestling until September/October 1991 so that timeline matches up.

I don't remember ever seeing Lance Russell but DDP stood out because he was a big character and always had a "Diamond Doll" with him.

Two other things stick out from that time - Cactus Jack and Abdullah the Butcher's birthday celebration for Sting, where Cactus gets cake all over his face and Abdullah throws a fireball. '...bur Cactus it's not Sting's birthday" 'I know that! However it's very important that we celebrate it now because Sting's last birthday was Sting's LAST birthday!! Bang bang!!".

I thought he and Abby were two of the scariest guys my 9 year old self had ever seen.

The other was Missy Hyatt and Paul E Dangerously's search for the Chamber of Horrors. They were building the match up like crazy and Paul E and Missy were tasked to find out what it looked like. Paul E took Missy to an abandoned warehouse where he said it was being built. He said "I think it might be being built upstairs" so she goes up to a dark room upstairs. He smiles, puts a scary rubber-face mask on and goes upstairs after her, makes a growling noise, she screams, end of clip 

Odd the things you remember. 

If anyone can find those clips and post them on here I will buy them a KitKat Chunky. 

 

 

 

[gmoney]

1 hour ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Yeah that will be it. I didn't start watching wrestling until September/October 1991 so that timeline matches up.

I don't remember ever seeing Lance Russell but DDP stood out because he was a big character and always had a "Diamond Doll" with him.

Two other things stick out from that time - Cactus Jack and Abdullah the Butcher's birthday celebration for Sting, where Cactus gets cake all over his face and Abdullah throws a fireball. '...bur Cactus it's not Sting's birthday" 'I know that! However it's very important that we celebrate it now because Sting's last birthday was Sting's LAST birthday!! Bang bang!!".

I thought he and Abby were two of the scariest guys my 9 year old self had ever seen.

The other was Missy Hyatt and Paul E Dangerously's search for the Chamber of Horrors. They were building the match up like crazy and Paul E and Missy were tasked to find out what it looked like. Paul E took Missy to an abandoned warehouse where he said it was being built. He said "I think it might be being built upstairs" so she goes up to a dark room upstairs. He smiles, puts a scary rubber-face mask on and goes upstairs after her, makes a growling noise, she screams, end of clip 

Odd the things you remember. 

If anyone can find those clips and post them on here I will buy them a KitKat Chunky. 

 

 

 

I stumbled across these while trying to find the stuff I first saw as a kid (unsuccessful), so they were basically to hand so here you go. Sound panned to left is as per source and I couldn't be bothered to try and fix. 

The third clip in the video is just an extended version of the first, but they say it's in Dallas instead of California. WCW. 

 

[Chili]

TV taping Casket Dark March just got uploaded to the Vault for the Hulkamania Attitude Era heads here.

 

[tiger_rick]

47 minutes ago, Chili said:

Hulkamania Attitude Era heads here.

We pretending this is a thing? There are about 4 people on here under 45 who weren't a fan of that era. 

[Chili]

13 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

We pretending this is a thing? There are about 4 people on here under 45 who weren't a fan of that era. 

It's just a amalgamation of it being the Hulkamania era where things got a bit dark and risque, it's not to be taken negatively or anything.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Hulkamania Attitude Era only conjures up one thing to me

[Chico Torres]

Recent talk led me to rewatch the Summerslam Spectacular 1991 the other day. It’s obviously wonderful and the whole saga of Jake locking Warrior in a room with snakes in his serial killer cabin and then delivering him to the Undertaker was quite something. Did they ever explain how Warrior escaped from this predicament and make it to MSG?