Just watch the introduction to this collection and try to not get all the feels.
Piano playing, black-and-white grappling footage, Ed Whalen saying “Bye bye, now!” A cut from a suplex demonstration from 1972 to Brock Lesnar suplexing Batista almost 30 years later, a cut from clips of Chris Jericho, Edge, and Ric Flair to Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose. Black-and-white footage of a 6-man tag from a show in 1966. Footage of the Dallas Sportatorium from 1952 and 1992. All the different snapshots of different eras and styles and presentations – arenas, studios, warehouses. It’s our history, man. These are what the common wrestling people were doing years ago.
Much like the first Hidden Gems Collection, there is all kinds of great, cool, and weird stuff here. Again, most everything you can count as being fun or interesting. This set doesn’t have a match as epic as Flair/Windham, but it does have prime Bruno Sammartino, matches fascinating on paper like Bill Watts vs. Terry Funk or Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen, and footage long thought hidden forever like the only known footage of Nature Boy Ric Flair vs. Nature Boy Buddy Rogers and WCW’s ill-fated Lucha Libre pilot, Festival de Lucha.
Unlike the first Collection there are quite few matches here that aren’t things you absolutely have to go out of your way to see, but every situation is unique – even if The Funks vs. Brian Pillman & Bruce Hart, Festival de Lucha match, and Batista vs. Brock aren’t much, it’s still The Funks in Stampede, Chris Jericho trying to make the most of a bad situation, and two future mega-stars doing crappy wrestling in front of nobody.
The basic format here is this: I will start with some history (more for the really old stuff), then review the match. The star rating at the bottom has little bearing on how awesome or weird the thing was. Read the review for that.
A Killer Challenge – Handicap Match: Killer Kowalski w/ George Preston vs. Mr. Moto & Duke Keomuka (Texas Rasslin’ Sportatorium 4/29/52)
This is a Handicap Match and along with Thesz vs. Gunkel from the previous set among the earliest footage available on the WWE Network. Like the Thesz/Gunkel match, everything here suggests it is from the old Texas Rasslin’ show, basically the pre-precursor to World Class Championship Wrestling. It’s held in the famous Dallas Sportatorium and promoted by Ed McLemore (owner of the Sportatorium), with Ves Box on commentary.
As with anything before 1970, this is certainly a Hidden Gem… who knows all the crazy stuff WWE got when they got the World Class library. Footage like this is so wild, like watching an old black-and-white movie – even if it isn’t any good your mind might fleet to the lives of these humans on tape, what the people in the crowd were thinking about… Korea, steel, Truman, Ike, Ellison, Hemingway… just under a decade removed from all-out World War.
This was the main event match on a card that also featured mostly local Texas talent, highlighted by a young George Scott (who went on to book for Jim Crockett promotions and became influential in the early careers of Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat) vs. Ray Gunkel, the local Texan discussed in the Network Reflections on Hidden Gems Collection (Part 1). George Bollas, the original Zebra Kid, worked the semi-main and gets involved in this match too.
Duke Keomuka was a headliner throughout the 50s and 60s in Texas and Florida. He might be better known as the father of Badd Company’s Pat Tanaka. Throughout the 50s he teamed with Hiro Matsuda, winning the NWA Florida World Tag Team Title 4 times. He also won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Southern Tag Team Title with Mr. Moto (his partner here) twice. In a not-so-fun fact, before all this Keomuka was held at a Japanese internment camp during World War II.
Mr. Moto AKA Tor Kamata wrestled throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s all over the world. He won the PWF World Title (eventually part of All Japan’s Triple Crown) by beating Giant Baba in 1978, and held singles and tag titles in AWA, Cental States, Mid-Atlantic, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Stampede, Puerto Rico, and New Zealand. He was one of the original “bad Japanese guy” wrestlers – salt and judo chops for everybody. He also had a brief stay in the WWWF in the mid-70s, managed by Freddie Blassie and feuding with Bob Backlund as Backlund was being built up to take the WWWF Title from Superstar Billy Graham.
Killer Kowalski debuted in the 1940s and though he was more known as a ruthless heel he was a babyface here, as he’s managed by George Preston, a long-time ring announcer at the Sportatorium. Preston is dressed like a British aristocrat with a black tuxedo, tails, top hat, etc. and from what I gather he was having a dispute with Keomuka and Moto in the Texas territory so brought in Kowalski to even the odds… Kowalski didn’t stop in the Texas territory often and when the footage starts he’s signing autographs for fans in the ring, a trope that stayed with World Class Championship Wrestling into the 80s. According to ol’ Wikipedia, Kowalski actually had a somewhat infamous 2/3 falls match with Mr. Moto in the late-50s when he defended one of his many Heavyweight Titles, where Kowalski was blinded by someone throwing something into the ring. Moto had already pinned Kowalski for the first fall and didn’t know what to do, so he just bumped into Kowalski and fell to the mat to set up the Claw. The ref rang the bell and both guys left to boos. This is interesting because they do the exact same “Kowalski is blinded” spot in this match too and it also gets pretty awkward and messy at the end. SOMETHING IS AFOOT! Kowalski eventually headed to the WWF in the 60s and 70s, then began life as a trainer where he made his name to more current fans as the trainer of Triple H as well as Chyna, Damien Sandow, Saturn, and others.
This is a pretty bad match but a completely fascinating mess and it is wild to see a young Kowalski, still mobile and looking like a superhero. All sorts of hijinks here surrounding the actual in-ring work … Mr. Moto wears glasses to the ring, Preston’s in the top hat and tassels. George Bollas (wearing a black tank top and black pants, a true 50s fat man wrestler outfit if I ever saw one) jumps in the ring before the match and challenges Kowalski, then attacks Kowalski who fights back with a flat back dropkick, then lightly smashes Bollas’ head into the bottom turnbuckle as the match gets started. Moto rocks the tights Toru Yano now wears while Duke just has plain back trunks. Kowalski is all gangly but super over and has big mannerisms, while Moto sells like a crazy man – just wobbling around as the crowd goes nuts. Moto taps to a hammerlock five minutes in and I think he’s eliminated but Kowalski keeps attacking and they do an intermission as commentary explains that the first fall has no affect on the outcome, except that it “vanquished” Moto….. who apparently could’ve stayed in but doesn’t want to. I DON’T KNOW. Preston then grabs a mic and tells Moto HE’LL SEE HIM NEXT FALL!!!
Kowalski hits Keomuka, then does the bit where he sells being blinded and Preston gets on the mic to admonish the crowd to not throw things into the ring. A physician gets in the ring to make sure Kowalski’s good to continue, then Duke goes to work. A man in a suit jacket comes forward from the crowd and screams at Kowalski to get at Duke, then gets backed off by an attendant. Kowalski busts out a pretty awesome front facelock roll-through towards the end that has a lot of speed to it. He throws elbows at Duke which Ves Box points out are “legal – under Texas wrestling laws you can get away with about everything… except flat-knuckle blows.” Bollas, who has changed into a suit, comes in and repeatedly splashes Kowalski, so Duke gets DQ’d and Kowalski wins. Again, I DON’T KNOW. Again, very bad but a fascinating mess. *1/2
Legends of Texas Rasslin’ – Joe Blanchard, Cowboy Bob Ellis & Duke Keomuka vs. Bob Geigel, Gary Hart & Waldo Von Erich (Memorial Auditorium 11/8/66)
This is another match from the Dallas territory and promoted by Ed McLemore, though this time it’s from Memorial Auditorium and not the Sportatorium. This venue was eventually renamed the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center and is still in use, hosting Axxess and TakeOver: Dallas prior to WrestleMania 32. There are all kinds of names here, some well-known and some not so much, but all made their mark on the BUSINESS back in the day.
Joe Blanchard is probably best known as the father of Tully Blanchard, though he was a major deal back in the day as the promoter of Southwest Wrestling out of San Antonio. He made his wrestling debut in 1953 and found success in Hawaii and Texas, then retired in 1978 and went on to run Southwest. All kinds of greats stopped through the Southwest territory, and Southwest actually had the first TV show on the USA Network, but after they pissed off the brass by airing a bloody match involving Tully and couldn’t pay the weekly fee to keep the time slot, Vince McMahon came in and bought them out, leading to WWF All-American Wrestling and eventually Monday Night RAW. He also served as the President of the AWA from 1989 to 1991.
“Cowboy” Bob Ellis worked through the 50s and 70s after serving in the Korean War and was initially promoted as a protege of Ed “Strangler” Lewis. He was named 1959 Wrestler of the Year and worked a lot of big names… Dick the Bruiser, The Sheik, Pat O’Connor, The Destroyer, and even Buddy Rogers in a match for the NWA World Title. He also worked for AWA, forming a tag team with Verne Gagne to battle Larry Hennig and Harley Race, and retired in the late-70s… to his ranch. He’s also known to be the inventor of the bulldog.
Duke Keomuka appears once again here, and it is just tremendous that the award-winning WWE Network has two matches featuring Duke Keomuka. This time he’s a babyface, so he’s billed from Hawaii instead of Japan.
Bob Geigel was a champion amateur wrestler recruited into pro wrestling in 1950 in Texas. He was from Iowa but had the gimmick of a Texan. He worked as a heel in the 50s and 60s and held multiple tag team titles. He also teamed and feuded with Talk is Jericho favorite “Bulldog” Bob Brown. He started promoting in the 60s and continued wrestling into the 80s. He ran NWA Central States from 1963 until 1986, when it was bought out by Jim Crockett Promotions. He was also President of the NWA from 1978 to 1980 and 1982 to 1987.
Gary Hart has got to be the most well-known of the fellas here and this is a rare appearance of him as a wrestler on the Network, though he is all over WCCW and WCW footage as a manager. He debuted in 1960 and wrestled in the Midwest and Texas, but became a manager in the late-60s where he found his most success. Fritz Von Erich’s feud with Hart’s stable of wrestlers in the early 70s had the Dallas territory hot. In 1976 he became booker for World Class and oversaw the classic Von Erichs/Fabulous Freebirds feud. He was in the corner of a ton of guys… Great Kabuki, King Kong Bundy, Gino Hernandez, Chris Adams, Nord the Barbarian, Abdullah the Butcher, and others. He joined Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW in the late-80s where he managed the J-Tex Corporation (mainly Terry Funk and Great Muta) against Ric Flair and Sting. He mostly worked for Texas independents throughout the 90s, though he made a brief managerial comeback with Major League Wrestling in 2004.
Waldo Von Erich was billed as the brother of Fritz, but wasn’t related. He debuted in 1950 in Stampede Wrestling and wrestled throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s, finding most success in Stampede, Georgia, and the WWWF, where he worked with Bruno Sammartino.
Also on this show was Gene Kiniski vs. Fritz Von Erich, Bearcat Wright (the first black wrestler to win a World Title), Dick the Bruiser, and Wilbur Snyder, who supposedly invented the abdominal stretch.
This is another fairly messy match but some of the performances are really fun. It’s a 6-man tag with a lot of guys just randomly walking in and fighting- it’s hard to follow but the crowd is into it. It’s classic wrestling where guys are working hard heel and face – heels are cowards who beg off and sell big, faces just fire off punches and are total badasses. Waldo Von Erich and Gary Hart in particular are impressive. Waldo does a bunch of fun heel shtick… as soon as the bell rings he tries to escape from the babyfaces but gets surrounded. Any time he gets trapped his mannerisms are pretty hilarious, just a total coward of a man. When Ellis puts him in a full nelson he milks it for all its worth, desperately trying to escape and kick away at his opponents. Towards the end they run a criss-cross spot where Waldo eventually tries a shot on Blanchard and misses, then takes a shot himself and sells wildly. Hart (who has a full head of hair and I swear commentary calls Gay Hart) meanwhile is a big tall guy who moves well and takes some massive bumps… he’s got that Barry Windham thing going where every fall is that much more impressive because he’s so damn tall. Ellis rocks him with a right and he takes a BIIIG flat back, waving his arms in the air before the fall. Towards the end he has an AWESOME punch-off with Blanchard that riles the crowd up, eventually ending when Hart just goes down swinging. Match ends when Duke chops Hart and Blanchard drops a splash… Geigel comes in but is pushed away and they awkwardly clip at a 2-count to the good guys raising their hands. Surrounding this all is the black-and-white, old time VCR type feel, with 2 referees in their white v-necks and khaki pants… this isn’t old school in a Georgia or Memphis way, this is old school in a my dad was a child at this point way. Not the best match but super interesting and a look at six notable fellas from the 60s. **1/2
Bruno Battles a Caged Animal – Steel Cage Match – WWWF World Heavyweight Title: Bruno Sammartino [c] vs. George “The Animal” Steele (WWWF Philadelphia 7/25/70)
This is a Steel Cage Match with Bruno Sammartino seven years into his first WWWF World Title run defending against a heel George “The Animal” Steele. It looks like they have the wrong date and location here, as the Network lists it as 7/29/70 at MSG, but it actually took place on 7/25/70 in Philadelphia. MSG actually didn’t run a Cage match until December when Bruno defended against Ivan Koloff. Not much to the undercard here… Johnny Rodz vs. Chief Jay Strongbow and a Toru Tanaka/Karl Kovacs vs. Victor and Jose Rivera tag are probably your highlights. The Black Demon is also in a match, his identity that of WWWF 70s regular Jose Luis Rivera. I don’t think this was on any of the WWE Cage Match DVDs or 24/7, so it’s certainly a Hidden Gem. No commentary here.
Bruno had been the top dog at this point for years – debuted in 1959, joined Vince Sr.’s Capitol Wrestling Corporation in the early 70s, won the WWWF World Title from Buddy Rogers in 1963 in 48 seconds and reigned over the WWWF’s New York and Philadelphia territories for much of the 60s and 70s.
George “The Animal” Steele had started wrestling in the mid-60s and early on was managed by Gary Hart under a mask as The Student. Bruno Sammartino scouted Steele into the Pittsburgh territory and Steele became one of the many bad guys looking to beat the champ. During this time he invented The Animal character, a total wild man of a wrestler who also told interviewers of his teaching background which made him seem like a total nutcase. He had several matches with Bruno throughout the 70s – Texas Death Matches, Stretcher Matches, hour-long draws, and this Steel Cage Match. Steele went on to ride the wrestling boom of the 80s as a dim-witted babyface… it was this run that has him as one of the more well-known wrestlers in the world. I swear, every time I talk 80s rasslin, Hogan, the Warrior, Macho Man, Jake the Snake, and George “The Animal” Steele will come up. So this has got to be a pretty interesting watch for anyone who knew Steele from the 80s, as this is prime time dim-witted but dastardly heel George Steele. There is an awesome recap of a Bruno/Steele match told by Steele himself on his website HERE.
This is nothing fancy as per your usual Bruno match but it’s really awesome with both guys just perfectly accessible characters, Steele as the mean cowardly oaf and Bruno as the guy your grandpa would respect. Steele is just an all-time great character – his entrance here is great, with his hairy body and mouth agape, just bewildered by this cage setup. Footage starts with extended footage of the cage being put up, complete with a fat Italian guy in a white tanktop running the show. No commentary here, and it’s oddly mic’d, with the sound going up and down. The announcer runs down the old school cage rules (must escape under their own power, no ref in the ring unless called by a wrestler) and the referees themselves get booed. Bruno is all fired up – stomping, kicking, clobbering. Steele meanwhile is tremendous, looking so desperate to get out of this weird setup, and pulling out all the tricks – chokes, low blows, eye gouges, looking at the crowd any time he gets extended offense. There’s a really well-timed spot by Steele early when Bruno tries to leave and Steele hammers him from behind, raising his arms just long enough before bringing them down to get the crowd buzzing. After an eye poke Bruno wildly swings away at Steele and Steele’s avoidance and reaction to it is tremendous. Any time Bruno gets in a shot the crowd loves it, and he eventually throws Steele into the cage a couple times and escapes. So simple, so good. ***3/4
A Moving Demonstration – Danny Hodge, Harley Race, Chavo Guerrero, and others demonstrate wrestling maneuvers (CWF 6/15/72)
I believe this is from Championship Wrestling from Florida, though I have no clue if the airdate is right or when it was taped – no Florida result lines up with the talent in this, and I’m not even sure why this was aired. BUT! It’s a pretty neat little segment. It’s basically a workout display, with a variety of guys performing basic wrestling moves while Gordon Solie and another guy explain them. Featured here are Les Thornton, a guy who I THINK is a super young Iron Sheik, Bob Roop, Danny Hodge, Tony Charles, Harley Race, Chavo Guerrero, and possibly The Spoiler. Everything feels legit as there’s no strikes, just suplexes (as Solie says, soo-plays) and chain wrestling, and some moves get the slow-mo treatment which is really awesome. Moves featured are a variety of bridges, a belly-to-back suplex, gutwrench suplex, headlock takeover, fireman’s carry, backbreaker, monkey flip, and from Race an atomic drop and slow-mo diving headbutt which looks awesome.
The Cowboy and a Texas Bronco – North American Heavyweight Title: Cowboy Bill Watts [c] vs. Terry Funk (Tri-States 11/27/75)
This match took place at a TV studio in Shreveport for Tri-States Wrestling, which eventually became Mid-South. Tri-States started as an NWA territory founded by Leroy McGuirk in the 1950s, running in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In 1979, Bill Watts bought out Tri-State and re-named it Mid-South Wrestling. I’m not sure on the date here – it might be the airdate, as 11/27/75 was Thanksgiving night and all I bring up from that date are two big cards: one in Greensboro with Funk defending the U.S. Title against Paul Jones along with Wahoo McDaniel vs. Jack Brisco for the World Title (No DQ!), and one in Virginia headlined by a 6-man tag with Andre the Giant leading a team against The Andersons & Superstar Graham.
The WWF got the Tri-States/Mid-South library with the WCW library and this is a rare (for the WWE Network) look at a young Bill Watts in action and a young Terry Funk right before he won the NWA World Title. Funk is announced as the International Champion (which eventually became part of the Triple Crown), though he never actually held that title – working the marks, these boys were. Watts is the Mid-South North American Champion. Watts had debuted in 1962 and made a name for himself working all around the U.S. – San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis, All Japan, and challenging for the NWA and AWA World Titles. Just a month after this match, Funk would beat Jack Brisco for the NWA World Heavyweight Title and hold it for 424 days, traveling all over world and defending against the likes of Dusty Rhodes and Giant Baba, before losing it to Harley Race. Before this, Funk had worked for his pop in Amarillo, the Championship Wrestling from Florida territory where he really made a name for himself, and All Japan Pro Wrestling where The Funks became major names.
This is a really short match (like 5-6 minutes) but super interesting to watch as its’ a youngish Watts wrestling a youngish Terry Funk in a TV studio. The work is snug and credible, Terry sells like Terry sells, and Watts has good fire and looks like a quarterback ready to beat some ass. The tiny crowd pops for Funk’s shtick like the spot where he teeters over the second rope. Funk tries a piledriver, Watts powers out and whips Funk into the corner, then hits a powerslam(ish) for the clean 3-count. Guess Funk was putting over the hometown cowboy before he went onto the big NWA Title run. Funk does the Curly floor spin post-match as he sells his arm because Funk has to do at least one or two awesome things every time you see him. **1/4
Inoki Faces The Lariat – Stan Hansen vs. Antonio Inoki (Stampede Wrestling 8/17/79)
This match took place at the Grand Victoria Pavilion in Calgary and was on a card that featured some guys from New Japan coming in. Stampede had a working relationship with Japanese companies throughout the 70s and 80s, first working with IPW/IWE and then New Japan. Also on the undercard is a 20-minute Dynamite Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami match, which I want to see way more than this. This was a transition period for Stampede, with guys like Bret, Owen, Bulldog, Dynamite, Pillman, and Neidhart all either rising up the ranks or about to debut. As per usual for Stampede, Ed Whalen is on commentary.
Hansen was only around six years into his career here but already feels like a grizzled vet. He worked mostly in the Tri-States territory as a partner of Frank Goodish, who became Bruiser Brody. He started with the WWWF in 1976 and famously broke Bruno Sammartino’s neck early in his tenure. He also feuded with Bob Backlund. Soon after this match Hansen joined New Japan Pro Wrestling, but then jumped to All Japan Pro Wrestling where he had a big run and his most famous matches.
Inoki at this time is the WWF World Martial Arts Champion, a title awarded to Inoki by Vince McMahon in 1978 and one he held for a decade, only losing it once (and then regaining it), before the title was retired. New Japan and the WWF had a working agreement from the 70s to the mid-80s. Inoki started wrestling in 1960 and had founded New Japan in 1972. As he rose up the ranks in wrestling Inoki was an aggressive sonofabitch, a power player who didn’t like being in fellow wrestler Giant Baba’s shadow, tried to shoot on Bruno Sammartino in a tag match, and got fired from the the Japanese Wrestling Association for trying to stage a takeover – which led to him founding New Japan. He actually briefly held the WWF World Heavyweight Title in November 1979 (a few months after this match) by beating Bob backlund in Japan, though it is not recognized in the WWF Title lineage.
A young Diana Hart presents flowers to Inoki to start the match. The match is announced as having a 61-minute time limit under “Japanese Rules” – as Whalen explains, when the bell rings at 60 minutes they are allowed an extra minute to “finish off the campaign.” Is this for real!? It doesn’t matter anyways as this is a pretty short match, under 10 minutes, but as with most of these just super interesting to watch. It’s pretty much a showcase for traveling star Inoki, and Hansen is pretty awesome bumping and feeding for him early on. Funny moment early where Hansen slams Inoki’s head on a table outside and a lady with a purse gets up to avoid the madness. Hansen works over Inoki for a lot of this with basic stuff – snapmare, kneedrop, elbow drop, chinlock. Inoki pops the crowd when he manages to lift Hansen for a fireman’s carry. In the middle of the match Hansen puts Inoki in a tree of woe like only Hansen can – kind of recklessly but very awesomely. Pretty awesome spot later on where Hansen sets up a powerbomb, but Inoki uses the top rope for leverage and backflips onto his feet, then back body drops Hansen. Hansen fights back into a powerbomb position, but Inoki slips behind for a backslide for 2. Inoki hits a dropkick and enzuigiri, then heads up top and drops a knee for a clean 3. It’s funny how mythical guys like Hansen and Funk become over the years – when they lose clean (even though Hansen kicks out right at 3 here), it feels so weird. Nothing special, but interesting. The camera zooms in on Whalen, who closes the show: “It’s been interesting bringing in the stars of Japan this week… next week, well it’ll be something else I’m sure. But… in the meantime, in between time… that’s it, another edition of Stampede Wrestling. Bye-bye, now!” Classic. **1/4
Battle of the Nature Boys – Ric Flair vs. Buddy Rogers (Norfolk 11/22/79)
This is an absolute bonafide Hidden Gem, the only known battle of the Nature Boys available on tape. Unfortunately it’s only clips, but is a wild watch for the history surrounding it. It took place in Norfolk, VA and was the last known match between these two, taking place on Thanksgiving Night 1979.
Rogers had debuted in 1939 in Virginia and eventually headed to Houston where he got the Buddy Rogers name. He began a rivalry there with Lou Thesz that would last throughout their careers. When Rogers left the Texas territory for Ohio, he bleached his hair and was given the nickname “Natural Guy” which eventually became “Nature Boy.” This new look, along with his physique and personality, as well as the rise of television, made Rogers a big name throughout the 40s and 50s. He mostly hung around the Midwest, working as a booker and wrestler, selling out arenas. In June 1961 he won the NWA World Heavyweight Title from Pat O’Connor at Madison Square Garden. During his reign, Rogers earned a reputation as difficult. Karl Gotch and Bill Miller once confronted him in Columbus and broke his hand, while Killer Kowalski injured Rogers in Montreal. When Rogers returned from injury the NWA voted to switch the title back to Thesz. On January 24, 1963, the match took place in Toronto. Rogers was hesitant about dropping the title, so promoter Sam Muchnick put three safeguards in place to guarantee Rogers’ cooperation: the match was just one fall not two out of three, Muchnick threatened to give Rogers’ NWA Title deposit away, and Thesz himself – if Rogers refused to drop, ol’ Lou was ready to shoot. Thesz won.
In 1963 Vince McMahon Sr. and Toots Mondt withdrew membership from NWA and formed the WWWF. They billed Rogers as their first world champion. Rogers eventually lost the title in May to Bruno Sammartino in 48 seconds, though put up a stink about that too. Rogers took time off but began working for JCP in 1978 as an occasional wrestler and manager of Jimmy Snuka, Ken Patera and others. During this time he feuded with the new “Nature Boy” Ric Flair and put him over on July 9, 1978. They had a few matches after that, including this one. Rogers then left JCP and acted as a fan favorite manager for Jimmy Snuka in the WWF – during this time he broke his hip and retired from wrestling for good.
Ric Flair meanwhile is Ric Flair. To make a long story short, he debuted in 1972 after being trained by Verne Gagne for AWA. In 1974 he left for JCP and the NWA. He was in the infamous plane crash in October 1975 that broke his back, but resumed working in February 1976. During this time he feuded with Wahoo McDaniel, Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, Mr. Wrestling, Jimmy Snuka, and Greg Valentine. He eventually reached main event status when he began to refer himself as the “Nature Boy” in 1978 leading to the feud with Rogers, who put Flair over. Flair then went on to do quite a bit of stuff in the 80s and 90s and beyond – you might be familiar with it.
The footage here is like super 8 film footage – you can hear the projector running and the sound is trash and it’s clipped and cut up a lot, like you’re in someone’s basement and looking at old home movies. It reminds me of the Carousel scene in Mad Men – I want to hear Don Draper narrating over this match. Flair’s rocking the pink robe and briefly signs autographs, then there’s a brief clip of a in-ring Flair promo. Bill Apter may or may not be on the outside. The crowd is hot… Flair is working babyface and hyping up the crowd while Rogers is working heel, bumping big for the young Nature Boy and bleeding. Flair does a Flair flop, then it cuts to Flair delivering an atomic drop which Rogers jumps up and takes a flat back bump for. Rogers begs off as Flair puts the dukes up. Cut to each guy on their knees trading punches, then Rogers pushes Flair into the ref, who takes a MASSIVE bump to the outside. Cut to Rogers reversing the figure-4, cut to Rogers punching at Flair, cut to Rogers outside, cut to the bell ringing and Rogers’ hand being raised. Sounds like Flair was counted out. A return match was announced for 12/6 with two referees and Rogers was scheduled for a few more matches with Flair but they never happened, with Rogers replaced by Masked Superstar or Ray Stevens. Rogers basically disappeared after this and headed back to the WWF. Match did look like a lot of fun and the crowd was into it – back in the day not the most incredible thing, but for historical purposes pretty awesome.
Big Cat vs. Modern Day Warrior – NWA American Heavyweight Title: “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd [c] vs. Kerry Von Erich (NWA Big Time Wrestling Star Wars 6/7/81)
This match took place in NWA Big Time Wrestling – which followed Texas Rasslin’ and preceded World Class Championship Wrestling – at their Wrestling Star Wars event. The Internet says 6/4/81 while the Network says 6/7/81 – who to trust, the WWE’s archivists or the entire Internet? Only 2 matches are known to have taken place on this show – this one, with Ernie Ladd defending the NWA American Heavyweight Title (which eventually became the WCWA World Heavyweight Title) against young Kerry Von Erich, and Bruiser Brody vs. Great Kabuki in a Texas Death Steel Cage Match.
In 1966, Fritz Von Erich and Ed McLemore bought the Dallas/Fort Worth wrestling territory and broke away from the Houston territory, which was ran by Paul Boesch. McLemore died in 1969 and Fritz took full control, as well as ownership of the Sportatorium. In the mid and late 70s, Fritz’s sons (David, Kerry, and Kevin) started wrestling, and in the early 80s Big Time became World Class.
Kerry had debuted in 1979 after being a successful college athlete. He held tag team titles early and became American Heavyweight Champion in 1980, defeating Gino Hernandez. He then held the title on-and-off again, before losing it to Ladd in May 1981 to set up this match a month later, which is promoted on commentary as Kerry making a “comeback.”
What you need to know about “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd is that he was awesome, a tall swaggering drink of water who was a total dick in-ring and used his long legs for maximum effect. Ladd was a former football star who started wrestling in 1961 before going full-time in 1969. He became a big time heel in the 1970s and was one of the first black wrestlers to play heel – his interviews and shit-talking got him over big. He famously used a taped thumb, which he claimed was because of an old football injury, and would frequently desert matches by getting counted out. He found most of his mainstream success in the WWWF, feuding with Andre the Giant and Bruno Sammartino. After the WWWF, he went to Mid-South where he wrestled, managed, and booked – it was Ladd who played a big part in the rise of Junkyard Dog in the Mid-South territory. He retired in 1986, so this match took place around the tail-end of his career.
Kerry was on his way up and Ladd was on his way out, but this had some good work. Quick, crucial point: Kerry’s back muscles are just transfixing. This has more of what I love about Ladd, how he uses his size to frequently escape holds by hooking the ropes with his legs. Bulk of the match is an excited young Kerry taking it to Ladd, and Kerry’s offense is all fired up if not a little bit awkward, while Ladd is all big with his reactions, just a gangly sonofabitch. Fun spot in the middle here where Kerry grabs Ladd’s hand and has him punch himself a few times. All of Ladd’s comebacks involve him using his size to overpower Kerry… Kerry clearly has the athletic tools but never really makes the most of his openings. Finish sees Ladd get in a shot to the throat as commentary goes on about how Bronco Lubich is being lenient with the rules – what is legal, what is not legal – it doesn’t matter anymore! Kerry runs into a big boot and Ladd goes for a big splash but Kerry moves, then hits a sunset flip from the top for 3. This is a good match – nothing more, nothing less. ***
The Size of a Giant – Andre the Giant visits Mid-South Wrestling with Bill Watts (Mid-South 9/1/83)
I mean everyone knows Andre the Giant, but if you want a primer it’s in the Network Reflections – Hidden Gems Collection (Part 1). Vince Jr. had bought the WWWF from his dad in 1982 and as he started go national, he required his wrestlers to be exclusive. Andre was signed to that type of deal in 1984, but before that in 1983 he stopped by the Mid-South territory. By 1983, Bill Watts was in charge of Mid-South, after buying out Tri-State Wrestling and re-naming it.
This is a quick promo for Andre the Giant stopping by the territory for a shot or two, though the Mid-South TV listings I see have him showing up in February for a Handicap Match and Tag Titles match with Tony Atlas against Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne, and then an angle in August where he gets slammed by Kamala. He also beat Kamala in April at a Supershow. It starts with the camera zooming in on two boots, one big and one smaller. Cut to Bill Watts wearing Andre’s oversized jacket, saying one of those boots was his and one was Andre’s. Andre joins him for a pretty laid back interview – I hear ya lost weight Andre! Yeah.. I’m down to 485 pounds HAAA HAAA HAAA. They talk travel and how some hotels keep a bed just for Andre, Andre’s adventures in Hollywood working with Lee Majors, and a Sports Illustrated article on Andre. Watts brings up a rumor that Andre has 180 teeth because he’s a giant which Andre dispels. This is more interesting just to see Watts as a producer… he breaks in the middle and says “just keep recording,” and then at the end they have footage from after the cut, as Watts motions to his cameraman – “Jerry you could take a lot of that from there. Thanks Andre. Let’s do something now with a bath robe.” Then Watts sets up another shot. Bill Watts: Wrestler, Booker, Filmmaker.
Cruiserweight Pioneers – 2/3 Falls – GWF Light Heavyweight Title: The Lightning Kid [c] vs. Jerry Lynn (GWF 1/6/92)
This match took place at the Dallas Sportatorium, which is so cool as the WWE Network has footage from the Sportatorium from 1951 through the 90s. It was aired on GWF’s TV show and I believe was a part of the ESPN run. Craig Johnson and Bruce Prichard, taking a brief absence from WWF, are on commentary. This was a pretty buzz-worthy set of matches, like the Low Ki/Bryan Danielson or Ricochet/Will Ospreay of the early 90s – young lightweight guys just blowing everybody’s minds. Lightning Kid is of course Sean Waltman/X-Pac, and playing heel here. He had beat Jerry Lynn for the Light Heavyweight Title in a tournament final in July 1991, then lost it briefly to Chaz Taylor (not Mosh as I had thought), before winning it back and finally losing it to Lynn in December 1991 – which is this match. This card was all 2/3 title matches – the other matches were Eddie Gilbert defending the GWF TV Title against Terry Garvin, The Patriot defending the GWF North American Title against Scott Anthony (Raven), and a GWF North American Tag Team Titles match. The Kid/Lynn series has been around tape trading circles for years, but it’s fun to see it on the Network.
GWF had kind of picked up the slack in the Dallas area after WCCW had slowed down – eventually a lot of WCCW guys came in, and it was the GWF where Waltman, Lynn, and eventually Steve Austin got their start. A TV deal with ESPN got them airing nationally, but after a brief upswing the local business slowed down and was not good, leading to GWF’s closure in 1994.
Jerry Lynn had debuted in 1988 working independents around Minnesota and Michigan. He stopped by the AWA and was actually the last challenger for the AWA World Heavyweight Title, held by Larry Zbyszko, before Zbyszko left for WCW. He worked in Japan briefly and then headed to Memphis to work for the USWA, as well as the GWF in Dallas. It was in GWF that Lynn made a name for himself feuding with The Lightning Kid. He worked in Japan and Mexico as well, then headed to WCW in the mid-90s as Mr. JL and finally ECW where he made a name for himself.
Waltman debuted in 1989 after training with the Malenkos. He got some buzz as a talented light heavyweight, teaming and feuding with Lynn on the independents including GWF. In early 1993, he got a WWF tryout and eventually came in as a bunch of different variations of “The Kid” before settling on 1-2-3 Kid and becoming the crazy nutjob we all know and love today.
Each guy didn’t have it all together at this point but damn was the potential fun to watch… both Lynn and Waltman were super athletic and wise beyond their years already. The match was 2/3 falls, with the stip that Kid must win with his Lightning Strike (tombstone) finisher and Lynn with the sleeper – any pin not preceded by a finisher didn’t count. All the tricks you know and love/hate from modern day independent and cruiserweight wrestling were being worked out here… chain wrestling, backflip off the top rope to release a wristlock, springbooard armdrag. Adding to the presentation is that Kid had great dirtbag charisma, rocking the mullet, flexing his muscles, and just coming off as a complete turd. Nice spot where Kid asks Lynn for an amateur lockup – Lynn obliges and Kid puts his foot on the ropes – and then Lynn asks for the same, and Kid kicks him. Lots of highlights here… Kid doing a spin kick plancha, Lynn doing a middle-rope baseball slide followed by a springboard crossbody to the outside, Kid taking a nice bump off the turnbuckle. They do some fun teases with each other’s finishers as they head to the finish and the crowd’s way into it. Scott Anthony (RAVEN!) then runs in and tries to hit Lynn with a chain, but Kid gets hit instead and Lynn puts on the sleeper to win the title. Prichard interviews Lynn as the show credits roll and Lynn comes across as such a polite good ol’ boy… until he drops “I know all the shit that the Lightning Kid’s been pulling” and they bleep it. Hilarious! Really fun match, high-end cruiserweight indy wrestling in 1992. ***1/2
The Funks Make Bad Company – Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bad Company (Brian Pillman & Bruce Hart) (Stampede 12/15/95)
This match took place at the Stu Hart 50th Anniversary Show at the Stampede Corral in Calgary, Alberta. As a tribute to the Hart Family patriarch, the event featured Stampede Wrestling alumni and talent from WWF and WCW. Given that Monday Nitro had debuted in September, this was a big god damned deal. Ed Whalen was on commentary, and Angelo Mosca, Leo Burke, Tor Kamata (MR. MOTO!!!), and other members of the Hart family all appeared. The original main event was supposed to be Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF Title, but Michaels was still recovering from a concussion – OR WAS HE – so he was replaced by Davey Boy Smith. Also on this card was Makhan Singh, Rhonda Singh (Bertha Faye), and Dan Kroffat in dark matches, Chris Benoit vs. Rad Radford in a WCW vs. WWF match, 1-2-3 Kid vs. Keith Hart, Razor Ramon vs. Owen Hart for the WWF IC Title, the Hart/Bulldog WWF Title match, and this match here. Let’s get the entire damn card on here, Network!
Pillman started his wrestling career in Canada training under Stu Hart and his sons in the 80s. He debuted in Stampede in 1986 and started tagging with Bruce Hart as “Bad Company” – the same team wrestling here. They held the Stampede International Tag Team Titles but Pillman eventually left in 1989 to go work for New Japan and eventually WCW, where he found success as a light heavyweight and then tag team wrestler, teaming with Steve Austin as the Hollywood Blonds. After a brief stint in ECW, Pillman returned to WCW in January 1995 and eventually joined the Four Horsemen with Flair, Arn, and Chris Benoit. Around the time of this match, at the end of 1995, Pillman was working on his “Loose Cannon” gimmick and eventually left WCW in early 1996 to head to the WWF.
Bruce had debuted in 1972 and is of course one of the many Hart brothers. He worked mostly for Stampede – wrestling, promoting, and training. In 1984 Stu accepted an offer from Vince McMahon to sell Stampede for a million dollars and 10% of all WWF gates in Western Canada, and send several Stampede talents to the WWF, namely the British Bulldogs and Hart Foundation. A few months later though, Bruce assisted a rival promotion in the area, violating the terms of the agreement and causing McMahon to end it. Stu then re-opened Stampede in 1985 with Bruce running most of it (blood first, maaan). Stampede did OK – and Bruce won quite a few titles, including the tag titles with Pillman – but closed its’ doors in 1989.
Terry at this point was doing IWA Japan, King of the Death Matches, and ECW. Dory was laying low, doing some independent shots, and a few years out from opening the Funking Conservatory.
This match has a good Terry Funk performance but is a pretty crap basic tag with an even crappier hot tag guy (Bruce). Pillman didn’t seem into it either. Funk is all fired up early on, talking crap to Pillman and distracting him. Pillman throws some HARD chops to Funk, who wobbles around and bumps over the top. He gets his head slammed on a table and swings around wildly at ringside. He grabs a cameraman’s camera to hit Pillman which had to piss the camera guy off. Most of the match is Pillman getting worked over and Bruce being kind of sort of not happy about it. When Pillman finally gets the tag, Whalen calls Bruce MR. EXPLOSION! and he’s kind of sort of fired up, though the crowd’s pretty silent. Pillman then does the actual hot tag, running in and getting the quiet crowd jamming with a 10-count punch in the corner. Bruce throws so many clotheslines here that Whalen has to point out that “Bruce loves those.” Tremendous cheesy performance by Ed Whalen here actually – yelling “You’re pretty stupid!” at Mankhan Singh who’s at ringside helping the Funks, calling Terry a wing-a-ding-dong, yelling NELLY! for a Dory back elbow. Terry finally hits Bruce with a chair for a DQ, and then everybody brawls and nobody cares that much. Pillman finally bodyslams Dory on the floor and the folks seem to like it. Neat footage post-match of Terry yelling at the ref backstage as well as Bruce ignoring a kid asking for an autograph – nice. Completely mediocre, worth it for the post-match footage but among the weakest of the Hidden Gem offerings. **
Festival de Lucha – Konnan, Rey Mysterio, Hector Garza & Silver King vs. Chris Jericho, Norman Smiley, Johnny Swinger & Lenny Lane (WCW Festival de Lucha 1/27/99)
Talk about a Hidden Gem – I don’t think anybody thought this was ever coming out. Lucha back in the day was kind of like UK indies now – that’s not a perfect analogy, but as far as buzz and major companies willing to take advantage of it, it kind of makes sense. Ever since Konnan started with WCW in early 1996, WCW had been showcasing a ton of Luchadors in their cruiserweight division. WWF meanwhile had been running their own Lucha show, Super Astros, and with the resources they had WCW decided to give their own Lucha show a try. They titled it Festival de Lucha. Word has it that this was going to air on Telemundo, and they taped a pilot in late-January. Apparently the pilot did air in late-February with Konnan on commentary, Nitro recaps, and some of the 6-mans that were taped, but it never went anywhere after this. Regardless, we get this footage of what was the semi-main event on the show, though this match didn’t actually air on the pilot.
Taped for the show were a variety of 6-man tags with a variety of Lucha stars – the Villanos, Super Calo, Halloween, Rey Misterio Sr., Blitzkrieg, Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, and others. A few guys worked twice. The pilot itself aired La Parka/Blitzkrieg/Super Calo vs. Ciclope/Villano IV/Villano V in a Captain’s Rules match, Kidman vs. Kaz Hayashi for the WCW Cruiserweight Title, Mysterio/Benoit/Malenko vs. Psicosis/Smiley/Silver King, and Scott Steiner vs. Konnan for the WCW TV Title.
The match here is Konnan, Rey Mysterio, Hector Garza & Silver King vs. Chris Jericho, Norman Smiley, Johnny Swinger & Lenny Lane, with an obvious Mexico vs. America theme. Konnan was a major name in Mexico before WCW, a big time draw nicknamed the “Mexican Hulk Hogan.” He had a stop in the WWF as Max Moon before coming to WCW in January 1996. During this run he helped bring in a ton of Mexican talent to build up the cruiserweight division, and he had a fairly successful singles run, winning the U.S. Title and TV Title (along with holding the AAA Title and defending it in Mexico). Konnan famously joined the nWo in 1997 and eventually the nWo Wolfpac, staying with WCW until it was bought by Vince McMahon.
Mysterio is Mysterio – he debuted at 14 years old in 1989 and got serious buzz as an amazing high-flyer in AAA, using that buzz to move to ECW, then WCW, and finally WWF. Mysterio was one of WCW’s top cruiserweights for years and won the Cruiserweight Title multiple times. He’d be unmasked later in the year and eventually head to WWF where he became a major star, highlighted by his win of the Royal Rumble and the World Heavyweight Title, as well as his constant utterances of “my kneeeees.”
Hector Garza was born into a wrestling family and started wrestling in 1992, eventually joining CMLL in 1995. He jumped to AAA in 1996 and worked a couple matches for WWF (including the 6-man Lucha tag at Royal Rumble 1997) before going to WCW for their cruiserweight division. He didn’t find much success there, mostly used as an enhancement guy. He eventually returned to AAA and was most famously a part of Perro Aguayo Jr.’s Perros del Mal stable, before passing away from lung cancer in 2013.
Silver King is the son of Dr. Wagner and brother of Dr. Wagner Jr. He debuted in 1986 and began working for UWA before losing his mask to El Hijo del Santo in 1987. He formed a team with El Texano known as Los Cowboys, who competed at Clash of the Champions XIX in the NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament. King moved on to CMLL in early 1994 and won the CMLL World Heavyweight Title in July 1994, then won the CMLL World Tag Team Title as pat of Los Cowboys. Silver King came in to WCW in 1997 as one of the many Luchadors they signed and made a little name for himself doing crazy stuff in 6-man tags on Monday Nitro, eventually challenging Juventud Guerrera for the WCW Cruiserweight Title at Fall Brawl 1998. He left WCW in late-2000 and went on to work for New Japan as Black Tiger III, and continues to work in AAA today.
Jericho was on his way out of WCW at this point – he held the Cruiserweight and TV Titles but outside of a brief one-sided feud with Goldberg, never broke out to the main event scene, leading to him leaving for the WWF later in 1999. Smiley had found a niche as Black Magic in Mexico in the early 90s before joining WCW in 1997 and becoming known for his Big Wiggle dance. This match is only a couple weeks removed from the infamous angle where Smiley put Chavo Guerrero Jr.’s hobby horse mascot, Pepe, in a wood chipper. Later in the year he’d find some success in the WCW hardcore division and is now known as a trainer at the WWE’s Performance Center. Johnny Swinger had debuted in Canada in 1993 and did some enhancement matches for the WWF in 1995 before signing with WCW in 1996. He worked there 3 years and didn’t do a whole lot, though he did appear on the Goldberg/Hogan Nitro, losing to Chavo Guerrero Jr. He mostly made his name in ECW in a tag team with Simon Diamond, then had a small run in the WWF as Johnny Parisi in 2005 and 2006. He now trains wrestlers with Rick Steiner. Finally, Lenny Lane had debuted in 1995 and first appeared in WCW as an enhancement talent and Jericho lackey. Later in 1999 he got a little run in a tag team with Lodi as The West Hollywood Blondes, and he actually defeated Rey Mysterio for the WCW Cruiserweight Title at one point. After another run with Lodi as Standards and Practices, Lane wrestled sporadically throughout the 2000s and now apparently hates wrestling.
So this was a weird mess of a match, I’m not quite sure what the deal was here. There’s two refs and they do the Lucha thing where any time a guy exits the ring, another can come in. Jericho is hamming it up, getting chants from the crowd and yelling at people and the ring girls – “Get these girls out of here! This is my show, I’m the star – you shut up fat boy!” Finlay is on the outside in Jericho’s team’s corner, looking beefy. Konnan and Jericho start, Jericho backs up and tags out to Swinger, but Konnan tells him to come in … so he does. Then he tags out to Lane, who was rallying the Jericho chants, which I guess works for the gimmick but is a weird thing to encourage on a TV pilot episode where you’re the bad guy. Konnan looks on in disgust and tags in Rey. Muscular Lenny working Lucha spots with Rey feels kinda weird, though Lenny does take a sweet bump in the corner leading to the Bronco Buster. Garza and Swinger have an exchange ending with Garza doing a sweet somersault flip off the rope and hitting a superkick. The crowd begins chanting Jericho Sucks as Smiley works over Garza. Swinger seems consistently confused by the rules, reluctant to tag in. Smiley works over King and hits a big bodyslam, and then – BIG WIGGLE! King catches Smiley with a DDT and Jericho rallies his troops to attack King. Swinger and Lane throw King into Finlay’s big ass body. King does a 619 on the ropes to reverse an Irish whip and Lane just kinda stands there and waits for a spin kick. Rey does a baseball slide head scissors, Konnan hits the X-Factor on Swinger and sets up Tequila Sunrise but Jericho stops it. Jericho then locks a Liontamer on Garza and he taps. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS WAS. It was not as good as you’d hope, but was also fascinating in one of those classic inept WCW kind of ways. Nobody seemed to be on the same page but there’s some fun wrestling if you look for it. *3/4
An Ultimate Encounter – Edge & Christian vs. Nova & Frankie Kazarian w/ Looney Lane (UPW It’s On 4/25/01)
This match took place on UPW’s It’s On show, main evented by Samoa Joe vs. Tommy Dreamer for the UPW Heavyweight Title. UPW had a developmental relationship with WWE around this time and would get talent on their shows, so this match happened. Edge & Christian were only a few weeks removed from TLC. Nova & Kazarian were making a name for themselves as a tag team called Evolution (yes). Nova already had almost 10 years under his belt, working for ECW throughout the 90s. A year after this match he started working for WWE in Talent Relations. Kazarian had been working since 1998 and joined UPW in 2000, quickly forming the team with Nova. Kazarian had a little buzz going for him around this time as an up-and-coming indy guy, and was one of the UPW chosen one’s along with John Cena and Samoa Joe. This is only a few months away from Christian turning on Edge, so after all the bumps and bruises and tables and ladders and chairs and 5-second poses, these two were on the tail end of their team together.
Also on this show were The Ballard Brothers vs. The Urban Outlaws (Marshall & MIKE KNOX), Hardkore Inc (Hardkore Kidd & NXT agent Adam Pearce) in a tag match, a 3-way tag match featuring the Los Cubanitos (Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero), The Ultimate Army (John Heidenreich & Nathan Jones) in action, Donovan Morgan & Super Destroyer 2000 vs. The Big Time (Horshu – Luther Reigns – and Tom Howard), and Victoria vs. Molly Holly.
Such a 2001 independent presentation here… overhyped ring announcer, dark lighting. Seeing Edge & Christian’s music and lighting in this environment is a trip. E&C are pretty hilarious here, looking like stars but doing basic indy heel stuff… they tease a 5 second pose, then Edge quickly goes “Ah on second thought you don’t deserve it” and raises his arms like a douche. This is a solid match, totally basic stuff but everything clicks and they manage some decent drama for the finish. Working holds, running ropes, Kazarian spots, E&C working over Kazarian’s arm and doing heel shtick i.e. Edge doing a fake tag. Nova eventually gets the hot tag and Edge collides with Christian leading to a 2-count. Looney Lane hops off the top rope with a hurricanrana on Edge for a nice near fall. Edge spears the ref by mistake, then low blows Nova. E&C set up a Conchairto but Nova ducks and gets a visual 3 but the ref is down. The Ballard Brothers of early-00s SoCal fame then run out to help the ref up and Christian hits the Unprettier on Nova for 3. The Ballards and Evolution have a pull-apart brawl post-match as Edge & Christian waltz out to their millions of dollars. **3/4
The Beast Meets Leviathan – Brock Lesnar vs. Leviathan (Batista) w/ Synn and Connie Swail (OVW 7/28/01)
Here airs a match that could probably main event any modern day WrestleMania but in 2001 was taking place in front of no more than 100 people. OVW had been acting as the farm territory for WWE since 2000 and at this point was being led by Jim Cornette before he got fired for slapping Santino Marella (and being kind of insufferable) and got replaced by Paul Heyman. Batista was just a couple years into his career here – he had initially tried to train at the WCW Power Plant in 1999 but was told he’d never make it (god damnit WCW), so he went to the WWF who sent him to Afa Anoa’i at the Wild Samoan Training Center. He debuted in OVW in 2000 as Leviathan, where he became a member of the Disciples of Synn and beat pretty much everybody he wrestled outside of Kane at OVW’s Christmas Chaos earlier in 2001. The gimmick with Leviathan was that Synn (his manager) had summoned him from the Ohio River. He also won the OVW Heavyweight Title (and lost it to John Cena, who lost it to NOVA!!) before heading to the WWE main roster in 2002, where he managed D-Von Dudley for a bit and quickly became a star when he, Triple H, Randy Orton and Ric Flair formed Evolution.
Lesnar was scouted into the WWE in 2000 after a crazy successful NCAA amateur wrestling career at the University of Minnesota, where he was the roommate of and coached by Shelton Benjamin. He teamed with Benjamin in OVW as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew and was called up to the WWE main roster around the same time as Batista, though his success was a lot more immediate – just over a year after this match took place, he beat The Rock for the WWE Heavyweight Title.
My GOD to see these monsters before they hit it big. Both look like a million bucks and it’s amazing to think they were ever so clunky and green. This is like 5 minutes but completely fascinating to see BROCK basically squashed and these two working a totally basic WWE-style match in a sub-independent show environment. Power spots, awkward rope-running, Batista doing some weird “arms out” pose in between moves that would eventually become the “thumbs down” pose when he learned to really milk it. There’s a mandatory couple of chinlocks and the crowd chants “Go, Brock, Go!” Batista hits a big clothesline basically to Brock’s gut… Brock comes back with some impressive overhead belly-to-belly suplexes, then hits a MICHINOKU DRIVER before Synn sprays Brock in the eyes leading to a spear for 3. Like, not good at all, but totally worth checking out. *1/2
Gold Before Justice – FCW Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Triple Threat Match: Leakee vs. Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose (William Regal on commentary) (FCW 2/5/12)
This is from about 6 months before the NXT re-boot. Rollins was a year and a half into his developmental run after an ROH/IWA-MS/Midwest independents run as Tyler Black and had already held the FCW 15 Title as well as the FCW Tag Team Titles with Richie Steamboat. In the summer of 2011, Rollins began feuding with newcomer Dean Ambrose over the FCW 15 Title in a series of 20-30 minute matches. Ambrose had debuted in 2004 after training with HWA and made a name for himself under the Jon Moxley name in CZW and Dragon Gate USA. In April 2011 he joined FCW under the Ambrose name and went right into the feud with Rollins. Around this time Ambrose was beginning a feud with William Regal, who did commentary for FCW, that would lead to a series of matches, and later in the year had a one-off match in FCW with CM Punk. Reigns was the son of Wild Samoan Sika, and his life as a college football star and wrestling blood made him a natural. Trained by Afa and Sika, Reigns came in to FCW in the fall of 2010 as Roman Leakee (later just Leakee – pronounced LAY-AKI) and after a lot of tag team action, this match was his first real feature match.
Also on the card was Kaitlyn & Audrey Marie (Tyler Breeze’s wife) vs. Raquel Diaz (Shaul Guerrero) & Sofia Cortez (Ivelisse), Corey Graves & Eli Cottonwood vs. Brad Maddox & Briley Pierce (Dolph Ziggler’s brother), Bo Rotundo (Dallas) vs. Nick Rogers, and Richie Steamboat vs. Damien Sandow. All of these matches were under 5 minutes.
Quick observations from this match – Dean had the character down, Reigns was a big guy with potential, and Rollins was athletic. It all turned out that way once they came in, didn’t it? This is for a shot at LEO KRUGER’S title. All 3 guys wore black trunks, Reigns had only part of the tattoo sleeve going. Ambrose stares down Regal before the match, with Regal just looking amused. Regal says he likes Dean because he hasn’t felt hatred like that in many years – this angle was awesome, Regal played it up so well. He continues to endorse the shit out of Dean on commentary here, saying he will have a wonderful career of wickedness. When Ambrose applies a Regal stretch he chuckles, when Ambrose lowers his kneepad for the knee trembler he lightly applauds. Regal and Byron Saxton are on commentary.
This is a pretty good match… they kept things moving and everything flowed well into the next thing, they just didn’t have it all together yet… timing was a hair off, execution not perfect, mannerisms in between each move not meant for the big arenas they were headed to. Some real fancy exchanges here though… Ambrose and Rollins hit back-to-back running elbows on Reigns, Rollins kicks Reigns and hits the ropes, but Dean clotheslines him over the top and inside cradles Reigns for 2. Ambrose goes for the knee trembler but Rollins ducks and hits an enzuigiri, then charges Dean with a jumping elbow. Rollins hits a savate kick, goes for the curb stomp but Dean avoids it and tries a reverse cradle – Rollins holds on, Dean ducks down and Rollins hits the ropes, Dean wildly swings for a clothesline but Rollins ducks and charges right into a tope on Reigns, all while the spoiled small crowd doesn’t flip out as they should. Finish sees Dean hit the knee trembler followed by a big clothesline and big bump by Seth – he then tries the Midnight Special on Reigns, but Reigns impressively lifts BOTH Dean and Seth up and drops them with a double Samoan drop. CRAZY. He clotheslines Seth over the top and bulldogs Dean for 3. FUN!!! This is interesting of course to see these 3 future superstars working in front of big ass pics of Justin Gabriel and Alex Riley, all for a shot at Adam Rose’s title. As Reigns raises his hands, Regal says he will be a big, big star in the next 12 months – mmmm hm. Rollins (not Leakee) would eventually defeat Kruger later in the month to become the new FCW Champ, and later in the year all 3 came in together and got pretty famous. ***
