WWE always does a good job giving me all the feels with their Hidden Gems intros – times and places long passed by, seeing the evolution of this crazy business in a 3-minute video package. But this one ending with “And you can’t… teach… that. How you doin’?” was questionable.
This round is fun but the definite weaker link of the Hidden Gems Collections. No real classic here outside of Bill Watts’ Last Stampede, and a lot of these picks seem less Hidden Gems and more TV episodes not yet on the Network.
Still though, lots of fun and variety for the curious wrestling fan. And WCW Saturday Night and WWF Velocity matches!
The basic format here is this: I will start with some history, 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.
The Youth of a Nation – Kid Amateur Wrestling Exhibition (3/6/84)
This is a short segment that sees two young boys having an amateur wrestling match in a WWF ring, back when you could do that sort of thing. It aired on WWF’s syndicated TV show Championship Wrestling in March 1984. There was a taping on 3/6/84 that matches up with a Championship Wrestling show on 3/10/84, but no Backlund segment to be found, so who knows what to think? On the 3/10/84 show, Rocky Johnson had a match and his son Dwayne was shown in the crowd. Considering the Dwayne segment is on WWE.com and it’s just something that aired on TV, I am calling bullshit on this whole “hidden gem” thing.
Backlund had been the WWF’s top guy throughout 1983, but by early 1984 Hulk Hogan had arrived and won the WWF Title. Backlund was being phased out, eventually leaving in August.
One of these boys is from the Odyssey Wrestling Club and one from the Mustang Wrestling Club. Backlund comes to the ring to a mix of cheers and boos, and the kids rub his head for good luck. Vince McMahon and Mean Gene are on commentary and DOCTOR Ed Beyers officiates. I made out the kids’ names as Ken Sampy and Paul Valeans, who did not go on to become the Paul Varelans that worked ECW and tore up their locker room when Missy Hyatt went back on a promise to give him a blow job.
The two tussle around a bit and the bout is eventually declared a draw, 4-4. They’re presented plaques and wrestling trunks by Backlund, who’s interviewed alongside them sitting on the apron, and it’s so over-the-top Leave it to Beaver that you understand why Bobby wasn’t the right guy for the time. A stupid fun little segment, with the tail-end of do-gooder Backlund on full display.
A Diaper for Cornette – If The Midnight Express Loses, Jim Cornette Has to Wear a Diaper: Cowboy Bill Watts & Stagger Lee vs. The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton) w/ Jim Cornette (Mid-South 4/7/84)
This match might be more commonly known as The Last Stampede, a result of one of Mid-South Wrestling’s big storylines in the mid-1980s. Cowboy Bill Watts, Mid-South Wrestling’s founder/promoter and biggest star, had retired in 1982 and was on commentary and interviewing duties. The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette had arrived into the territory causing trouble, and were having their first feud with the young up-and-coming Rock & Roll Express and selling out arenas wherever they want, or so a lot of podcasts I have listened to say.
Jim Cornette threw a celebration for his boys in 1984 after The Midnights won the Mid-South Tag Team Titles that ended with The Rock & Roll Express smashing Cornette’s face into a cake. At the end of the Mid-South TV show, Watts played the footage again, so Cornette ran out ranting about Watts and his family, and then grabbed Watts who turned around and slapped him. Cornette and The Midnight Express then attacked Watts from behind the next week as he did an interview.
Junkyard Dog, meanwhile, had been serving a 90-day suspension as the result of a Loser Leaves Town match vs. Mr. Wrestling II. Watts went down to North Carolina looking for some back-up, and JYD recommended a “friend” – Stagger Lee, a masked man who looked an awful lot like JYD. Watts then announced he was coming out of retirement for a “Last Stampede” and with Lee faced Cornette and The Midnights in a series of matches where if the Midnights lost, Cornette had to wear a dress or diaper.
This was a HOT period for Mid-South, as in 1984 they were beginning to expand nationally while they still had Magnum T.A. around as well as Jim Duggan, Ted DiBiase, Junkyard Dog, The Midnight Express, The Rock & Roll Express, Butch Reed, Dr. Death, the Fabulous Freebirds, and Private Terry Daniels!
This particular match took place at the Superdome in Louisiana in front of over 20,000 people at an MSW Superdome Extravaganza, a super-show Mid-South ran a few times a year. The card featured The Rock & Roll Express, Kerry Von Erich, Terry Taylor vs. Butch Reed, a Midnight Express Tag Team title defense (in addition to this match!), Mr. Wrestling II vs. Magnum T.A. for the North American Title, and Jim Duggan vs. Crusher Darsow in a Coal Miners Russian Roulette Match. It’s listed as a “Lights Out” match in the results I see, though also carried the diaper stip.
I’d never seen this match, but this is a famous angle and pretty easily searchable on YouTube, and the video build-ups to the match are sweet.
No television announcer here, just a hard cam. This is an epic match, and one of those special things in wrestling where all the storytelling and characters culminate in an epic evening of entertainment. This match is 50% the Midnight Express selling for punches an 50% the Midnight Express working over Bill watts, and it is 100% incredible. Bill Watts and JYD throw a ton of right hands early and every single one of them is met with a raucous “OOOH!” from the crowd. The Midnights are bleeding like 30 seconds in and perform a master-class in heel bumping – there’s one moment where Eaton takes a punch and ends up on the top rope, then takes another and falls to the floor.
This is an incredible Bill Watts performance too. Guy times every punch well, sells his fist, bleeds from his fist, and he’s got a big old bald spot to boot. It is so perfect. He’s great at selling the Midnight beatdown – witness genius in action with Watts’ SHAKY FOOT as Eaton holds him in a chinlock. The crowd is with Their Guy every step of the way. Nice hot tag teases, and when it’s time to eat shit The Midnight Express does it better than most. Plus, and perhaps most importantly, the heat on this thing DOES. NOT. STOP. The finish gets a classic jump-up-and-down reaction too.
The crowd is ON THEIR FEET for Cornette getting put in a diaper post-match, with Cornette surrounded by Watts, Stagger Lee, and a young Magnum T.A. Cornette trips around like a jackass and gets a kiss from Lee. The babyfaces all high-five and it is such wonderful stupid bullshit. Tons of fun. ****1/4
Blood and Guts – UWF Heavyweight Title Tournament – Final: Terry Gordy w/ Michael PS Hayes (c) vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan (finish only; UWF Power Pro Wrestling 5/30/86)
Mid-South Wrestling had gotten popular enough that Watts re-launched it as the Universal Wrestling Federation in hopes of national expansion. It didn’t reach Crockett or WWF levels, and while it did solid business its’ top stars continued to leave – JYD, The Rock & Roll’s, The Midnights, DiBiase, Duggan, One Man Gang, Sting, The Freebirds, Rick Steiner, Eddie Gilbert, Dr. Death, and others. The UWF would eventually be sold to Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988, and Watts would end up with a couple unsuccessful top positions in the WCW and WWF in the early-to-mid-90s.
This match is the finals of a one-night tournament to crown the first UWF Heavyweight Champion, a new title introduced after Mid-South renamed to the UWF. It replaced the Mid-South North American Title, which holds a lineage back to 1969. Michael Hayes vs. Terry Traylor and Buzz Sawyer vs. Chavo Guerrero both went to draws in the first round, so Jim Duggan and Dr. Death got byes into the semi finals, where Duggan beat Kamala and Gordy beat Dr. Death. I haven’t seen this on tape before, but seems like tape from Mid-South’s weekly TV.
Duggan had been one of Mid-South’s top stars for a few years, and was the Mid-South North American Champion before it was retired in place of the new UWF Heavyweight Title, though he’d leave later in the year to head to the WWF, exiting in a Loser Leaves Town match with the guy he brawls with here, One Man Gang. Terry Gordy, along with Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts, were journeymen at this point, splitting time between UWF and WCCW and other territories. Duggan and Gordy had their fair share of matches outside of this one.
This is more an angle and video package than a match… actually, I think it might be the cold open of UWF Power Pro. Hacksaw and Gordy are gonna rassle in the finals of the UWF Title Tournament, but One Man Gang shows up, cuts a promo on Hacksaw, and they brawl. And so proceeds like 5 minutes of Joel Watts just non-chalantly calling a bloody fight. “The referees are powerless to stop this” is said with all the emotion of third-tier golf tournament commentary. Meanwhile, the Freebirds just pace around, waiting for their turn at Duggan. It’s all nice and gritty and the heat’s there and Boyd Pearce is sitting alongside all of it rocking a white jacket and red pants but it’s still not quite classic stuff.
Then the tape cuts to JR who runs down the hour-long show – a statement from Duggan, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams in action, a Terry Gordy montage, highlights featuring the UWF Heavyweight Championship Tournament, and The Missing Link and The Fantastics in action!. Plus, Jim Duggan vs. Kamala from the tournament. WHAT A LINE-UP.
Then Duggan cuts promo on the tourney, and it cuts back to Duggan in the ring, where Ted DiBiase, Grizzly Smith, Joel Watts and Dr. Death are checking on him. Duggan cuts another pretty incredible promo over the footage, and they cut to Duggan’s comeback after the match with Gordy has finally started, complete with a bandage hanging over his face and a big Terry Gordy bump off a Duggan right hand. Duggan then narrates him being counted out due to PS Hayes interference: “But somehow I end up outside the ring, and Michael Freebird PS… Percy Sissy Hayes, runs my head into the turn post… throws me back into the ring and Gordy just finishes me off… well it’s not over, it’s not over by a long shot, tough guy!” Weird low-rent presentation with crap sound, but a cool little deal and fun look at Duggan before he became Mr. 2×4. N/A
Cowboy Justice – If Watts Wins, He Gets 5 Minutes with Gilbert, If Sting Wins, Gilbert gives Watts 5 Lashes with Watts’ Belt: Cowboy Bill Watts vs. Sting w/ “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert (UWF Power Pro Wrestling 6/24/86)
This is a 90-second Cowboy Bill Watts squash of a young Sting, who had only around 6 months in the business at this point. It also has a young Jim Ross on commentary, with a pretty awesome call, first loving Billy Watts and talking up his University of OK football past, then just FLIPPING OUT at the post-match angle, where the Fabulous Freebirds beat the Cowboy bloody.
A search of results online show this match as being taped 6/22/86 and aired 6/28/86 on UWF TV #15. Also on the show was UWF TV Champ Terry Taylor defending against The Lybian (yes), UWF Heavyweight Champ Terry Gordy vs. Steve “Dr. Death” Williams going to a double countout (they’d form a legendary team in Japan a couple years later), and Koko B. Ware and Missing Link squashes. Watts had been wrestling here and there, mostly feuding with Eddie Gilbert and his heavies – Korsita Korchenko, Bladerunner Rock (Warrior) and Sting, and sometimes The Russians (Ivan and Nikita Koloff) on loan from Crockett. He’d officially stop wrestling later in the year.
Eddie Gilbert, decked in a Hawaiian shirt and blue sunglasses, cuts a promo pre-match about Watts taking out all his guys. Sting has got black lipstick on a decade before Crow Sting. Watts hits a shoulderblock, ties Sting up in the ropes and splashes him, punches Gilbert, and powerslams Sting for 3. Gilbert dives right before the 3, misses Watts and hits Sting, then immediately starts begging off from Watts. The crowd is going WILD as Watts busts Gilbert open, rips off his clothes, and whips him with a belt as Sting looks on, slightly disappointed. The Fabulous Freebirds run in and Watts valiantly tries to fight them off, but Sting runs in and they take Watts down. JR freaks as Gordy hits an Oriental Spike on Watts, and Chavo Guerrero, Terry Taylor, Jim Duggan and Dr. Death run out for the save, looking over Watts who is kneeled over and bleeding for the mouth. Iconic. **
A Texas-Sized Confrontation – Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah the Butcher w/ Gary Hart (WCCW 7/20/87)
This match took place at the Mesquite Rodeo Arena and aired on WCCW TV on 8/29/87. Also on the show was Tony Atlas vs. Al Perez for the Texas Title and a couple squash matches. The WWE Network has a ton of World Class TV up, but only one show under 1987, so I guess this will remain a hidden gem until they upload the TV from that year. WCCW was in a downswing in 1987 – David was dead, Mike had just died, Kerry was recovering from his motorcycle accident, and business was down. Outlaws like Brody, Abby and the Freebirds were still around, but not a lot of talent was available as the WWF was a giant.
In the mid-80s, Bruiser Brody was anywhere that wouldn’t tie him down – WCCW, AJPW, NJPW, various territories, Florida, Puerto Rico. He booked for WCCW when he was there as well, and had earned a reputation all across wrestling as being both a proven draw and difficult to work with. He’d tragically die the next year while working in Puerto Rico, stabbed by another wrestler. Abdullah the Butcher was in a similar place to Brody, though with around 15 more years of experience. He was a classic journeyman, even moreso than Brody, working throughout the 60s and 80s in Canada, Detroit, Texas, Europe, Japan, the Caribbean, Australia, Africa, and Puerto Rico. Though he had brief stays in WCW and ECW in the 90s, Abby was another outlaw who liked to brawl and bleed.
This match, to the surprise of no one, is a brawl around the arena with a lot of blood. It’s OK. What got me the most about it was the atmosphere – it’s in a big bright rodeo stadium, with a raucous crowd on the floor but big swaths of empty seats. The crowd brawl includes state police and a guy in a Van Halen shirt looking on, surrounding two guys’ who’s faces are covered in blood. Lots of clawing at each other, lots of parts where Brody is just hammering on Abby who’s either laying down or holding the ropes. It’s nothing fancy but is a solid brawl with two classic characters, and it ends with both guys just brawling into a black hole: “They’re over there next to one of our cameras up on a platform, I hope they don’t knock it down, they’re right into it… we’re not gonna be able to pick up any more of this, so we’re gonna get out before it gets worse!” Abby backs away, Brody grabs a chair and yells HUSS, and we fade out. **3/4
The Best of Both Worlds – The British Bulldogs vs. The Rock & Roll Express (JIP; AWA International Bash ’89 2/23/89)
This is a match that I didn’t even know existed, offering a rare match between two of the top tag teams of the 1980s who had not yet crossed paths. It took place on a card called International Bash ’89 in Kansas City, co-promoted between the AWA, Bob Geigel’s Central States, and All Japan Pro Wrestling. Verne Gagne owned part of the Kansas territory while also running the dying AWA, while Central States had withdrawn from the NWA and been making an attempt to go national under the “World Wrestling Alliance” banner, but it didn’t work.
This pretty historical event was barely promoted and the weather was terrible, so only 300 fans showed up for a card that had Mitsuharu Misawa as Tiger Mask, The Funk Brothers, Genichiro Tenryu, The Bulldogs vs. The Rock & Roll’s, and Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu beating Stan Hansen & Steve Gordy to win the International Tag Team Title, which is the only title change in All Japan history to take place outside of Japan. The main event saw WWA Champ Mike George beat Stevie Ray, because promoters gonna promote.
The American companies that promoted this were in a clear decline, ravaged by the consolidation of the territory system and the popularity of the WWF and WCW, while All Japan was doing just fine and about to start pushing Misawa & Friends.
The Bulldogs had made a name for themselves since 1985 as a major tag team in the WWF, but left in late-1998 over a fight that probably could’ve been avoided if everybody wasn’t doing so many steroids and bumps of coke, and headed back to Stampde Wrestling, as well as All Japan. They’d break up a year later when Bulldog returned to the WWF after withdrawing from the AJPW Tag League and lying to the All Japan office that Dynamite had been in a serious car accident. Additionally, Bulldog trademarked “The British Bulldog” and didn’t allow Dynamite kid to use the name in the U.K. – yeesh. Dynamite eventually retired in 1991 (just an 8-year career!) while Bulldog went on to a solid run throughout the 90s, working for both the WWF and WCW. Now, Bulldog is dead and Dynamite is in a wheelchair. Because wrestling.
The Rock & Roll Express were in a similar post-peak purgatory, leaving the NWA in mid-1998 over pay disputes. They went to work mostly in the Central States area, then returned to WCW in 1990, before leaving again after a lengthy Gibson injury and an angle where Morton turned on Gibson. They reunited and worked all across the independent scene throughout the 1990s, most notably in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and continue to team on a limited basis to this day.
This is a 30-minute draw clipped down to like 5 minutes, and it doesn’t seem that great. It has a poorly sounding American commentary dub over what sounds like a Japanese feed, and you can barely hear the crowd, so that doesn’t help. It joins in progress heading into the finish, and all four seem exhausted and don’t exactly have the crowd with them. The Bulldogs work holds, Ricky takes a beatdown, Robert gets the hot tag. Davey kicks out of a double dropkick, which I bet would make David Crockett so mad. The bell rings and no one is a better person for it.
Then we get a Badd Company promo, thanking their manager DDP (who doesn’t appear) and running down the crackling AWA 1989 tag team division – Greg Gagne and Tom Zenk, Greg Gagne and Wahoo McDaniel, The Top Guns, The Guerreros. So we got 5 minutes of the Bulldogs/Rock & Roll’s, and 3 minutes of a freakin;’ Paul Diamond promo that fades out on this line: “The only belts they’re gonna have, is the belts that hold up their pants!” as Diamond does an evil laugh. Interesting for curiosity-sake, and I guess Ricky Morton’s goatee, but not much here. N/A
Controversy in a Cage – Steel Cage Match – PWF Heavyweight Title: Dusty Rhodes (c) vs. The Big Steel Man w/ Sir Oliver Humperdink and Diamond Dallas Page (JIP; PWF Florida 5/13/89)
This match is from the PWF – the Professional Wrestling Federation (yes, seriously), a company based out of Florida that Dusty Rhodes started from the ashes of Championship Wrestling from Florida, an NWA-affiliated territory where he was based before his success in Jim Crockett Promotions. Dusty was fired by WCW in late 1998 after an infamous angle where he bled a ton after Road Warrior Animal jammed a spike from his shoulder pad into Rhodes’ eye. This took place just a month after Ted Turner had bought WCW, and did not go over well with the new bosses.
Dusty spent the first half of 1989 doing a few appearances for AWA and being the top guy in the short-lived PWF. The Nasty Boys, Larry Zbyszko, Terry Funk, Mike Graham, Scott Hall, DDP, Steve Keirn, Mike Awesome, and Bam Bam Bigelow were some of the names that spent time in the PWF. In 1990, NWA Florida would be started, and the legacy of the Florida territory continues to this day, as the WWE Performance Center and NXT evolved out of the WWF’s FCW, or Florida Championship Wrestling, developmental territory. Dusty, of course, continued to play a big part.
Fred Ottman had been working Georgia and Texas territories since his debut in 1985, eventually coming to Florida as a babyface called U.S. Steel, then a heel called Big Steel Man. He started doing dark matches with the WWF soon after this match, and debuted in early 1990. Dusty himself joined the WWF very soon after this match as well. I’d assume this footage comes from the CWF Florida tape library purchase.
My first reaction to this match was – WHAT IS THIS AND WHY IS IT HAPPENING? Mickey Jay is the ref, Gordon Solie is on commentary. Steel Man works over Dusty with a greco roman knucklelock, Dusty comes back. Steel Man bleeds. Dusty is over but it all feels super indy. Gordon Solie lays claim that the two competitors had been going “hammer and tong since the match’s inception.” Dusty drops an elbow and Humperdink knocks him out with a towel, and then we cut to a PICTURE of Steel Man as champ and Solie continuing commentary. “But then all of a sudden, we see Steel Man’s hand raised in victory, what’s the story with that?” I mean WHAT? Randy “RC” Roberts proclaims that the title has been held up, somewhat due to the Humperdink interference but mostly because both guys head to the WWF like a month later. It is 5-minutes and weird as hell, another real curious one but very not good. *3/4
Of Monsters and Icons – Sting vs. Bruiser Mastino (Kane) (WCW Saturday Night 3/6/93)
This match was kind of a legendary “hey guys, this match actually happened” in the early days of the Internet when every single thing wasn’t readily available and there was still a little mystery and curiosity left in the world. It also has the Sting anti-gravity somersault spot, a pretty famous GIF that has been posted on Reddit and Twitter a billion times. It took place on a jam-packed WCW Saturday Night on 3/6/93, featuring squashes by Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell, British Bulldog, Maxx Payne, Johnny B. Badd, The Wrecking Crew (twice!), Dustin Rhodes (vs. Rip Rogers), and Paul Orndorff. It also has a match featuring Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs. Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash) & Big Sky, who would go on to play Sabretooth in the first X-Men movie and Michael Myers in the Halloween remakes. It’s not exactly a Hidden Gem as it has been available all over the Internet for a while and is just a part of WCW TV, but seeing WCW Saturday Night on the WWE Network is A-OK with me.
WCW was in a weird spot at this point, after being purchased by Turner five years earlier. The talent was there, but the executives and booking committees kept screwing everything up. Ric Flair had jumped to the WWF in the fall of 1991 after inexperienced WCW President Jim Herd pissed him off. Bill Watts came in in 1992 to head the place and he pissed everybody off too, banning top rope moves and trying to take WCW back into the past. Eric Bischoff became WCW’s Executive Producer in early 1993, WCW would officially split from the NWA later in the year, and a whole lot of hijinks ensued throughout the year – Spin the Wheel Make the Deal, White Castle of Fear, Cactus Jack’s amnesia. Business was in the tank and the company lost $23 million. Through all this, Sting was the top star, feuding with the Horemen and Vader and holding the WCW World Title a few times. Ric Flair would return to WCW just a few weeks after this match, and Hulk Hogan would debut there the next year.
Anyways – ROOKIE GLEN JACOBS!! WCW SATURDAY NIGHT!!! This is like 5-minutes and fun as hell, a high energy squash that the crowd is going crazy for. Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura are on commentary. Sting gets massive shrieks on his entrance and the crowd is all raucous for him early, and Bruiser is NOT happy. There’s a shoving contest, Bruiser shoulder tackle, a nice sell by Sting getting caught off guard by Bruiser’s power. Sting does the somersault tackle where he defies gravity, then tries a bodyslam but gets bodyslammed himself, and Bruiser poses. Sting easily bodyslams Bruiser and then applies the worst ever chinlock, Bruiser throws some super light shots in the corner (got to protect the top guy, bay-bee), the camera gets a great face-first shot of Bruiser running into the corner, Stinger Splash, Scorpion Deathlock, #OVER. So wild to see KANE as enhancement guy. A beautiful early 90s squash match. **3/4
The Bad Guy in ECW – Scott Hall vs. Justin Credible w/ Dawn Marie (ECW 11/11/00)
It’s always fun flipping through Hidden Gems in chronological order, as you can go from 1993 WCW to 2000 ECW and you’re just like WHAT. HAPPENED. There’s like three TV-MA warnings before this. This took place during a strange period for Scott Hall. He had left WCW and wouldn’t go to the WWF for another couple years, so he made a pit stop in ECW and worked a couple New Japan tours, including a match with a young Hiroshi Tanahashi.
It was also a weird time for ECW, as the bloom was off the rose from its’ mid-to-late-90s heights, and their TV deal with TNN did not do them any favors, with TNN wanting a toned down product and not liking that top stars like Taz were jumping ship. Heyman, being Heyman, turned it into an angle and made “The Network” essentially ECW’s top heel. The TNN show had been cancelled a month prior to this match, with WWF RAW replacing it. Most of their top stars had left for WWF or WCW, and an attempt at making Justin Credible the centerpiece of the company didn’t exactly work. Credible himself would leave for the WWF just a few months later. ECW continued to struggle and would go out of business just a few months later as well.
This match is from a fancam of an ECW show that took place in Poughkeepsie, NY. I assume there would have been a preference to air some of this show on TV if the show had not been cancelled. Also on the card was Hall working Big Sal, Tajiri/Mikey Whipwreck/Super Crazy in 6-man action where Tajiri and Crazy turned on each other, Tajiri vs. Super Crazy right after that, Steve Corino vs. Jerry Lynn (with Credible caning both guys and blinding Lynn), Corino vs. Sandman, Rhino vs. Kid Kash, The Baldies vs. Balls Mahoney & Chilly Willy, and a 6-man pitting Tommy Dreamer, Christian York and Joey Matthews (Mercury) vs. Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger and CW Anderson ina Falls Count Anywhere bloodbath.
Hall does some cool stuff here – works an armbar with some PURPOSE, does a great babyface sell out of a chinlock, but the match is mostly just Scott Hall fucking around on the indies. It’s also got some impressive corner work from Dawn Marie – “He can’t hang, he’s out! RING THE BELL!” as well as the stupid-ass ECW crowd chanting Show Your Tits. Credible takes a table bump that they actually do a decent job building to. Then Dawn breaks a cover from Hall, so he grabs her and sets up the Razor’s Edge, but not before looking down her pants, lifting up her thong, and spanking her. Credible misses a kendo stick shot and Hall hits Outsider’s Edge for 3. Gross ECW, uninspired work, but some OK stuff here and there. **
The Destroyer and a Fallen Angel – Loser Leaves UPW – UPW Heavyweight Title: Christopher Daniels (c) vs. Samoa Joe (clips; UPW 3/14/01)
I hope somebody writes about Ultimate Pro Wrestling someday. It was started in 1999 by Rick Bassman, who was basically a talent agent for sports stars who got a whole lot of work done in the 80s and 90s. He ran a security guard company that did services for The Clash and The B-52’s, won an Emmy writing for Disney, represented (or was head of a team that represented) Lou Ferrigno, Tito Ortiz, and Roddy Piper, was talent manager for Mark Coleman, Butterbean, and Tank Abbott, discovered, trained and managed Sting and the Ultimate Warrior in the mid-80s, and after all that started a wrestling company in 1999 called UPW, where The Miz, Samoa Joe, and JOHN CENA got their starts. I am also pretty sure Rick Bassman wrote his own WikiPedia page.
A lot of guys made a name for themselves in UPW, from early indy hopes B-Boy, Frankie Kazarian, and Mike Modest, to brief WWF monsters like Heidenreich and Nathan Jones, to notable U.S. indy guys who made names for themselves in Japan like Bison Smith, Tom Howard, and Sylvestar Terkay. It was also indeed where John Cena, as The Prototype, began his wrestling career.
UPW also had a working relationship with WWE, and for a brief while in the early to mid 2000s was a place where WWE would go to scout talent and send guys they saw potential in for training. That working relationship also meant appearances on their shows from WWF stars Triple H, Edge & Christian, William Regal, and Naked freakin’ Mideon. UPW also had a crazy working relationship with ZERO-ONE in 2004, acting as a feeder system of sorts to them, and sending Terkay (as The Predator), Tom Howard, Kazarian, Spanky (Brian Kendrick) and many others. This also included at one point Rick Bassman working Shinya Hashimoto one-on-one at Korakuen Hall.
This match is from UPW When Worlds Collide, held at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, California, where UPW held most of their shows. UPW would usually have a big show each month – this show, from March 2001, had The Blue Meanie, Evolution (Frankie KAzarian & Nova), Hardkore Inc (Hardkore Kidd & WWE road agent Adam Pearce), Bison Smith, Horshu (Luther Reigns), Roadkill, Keiji Sakoda, Mike Modest and Donovan Morgan, Prototype (Cena) beating CW Anderson, Heidenreich & Nathan Jones as a tag team, ROB VAN DAM, and a Loser Leaves Town match for the UPW Title pitting Samoa Joe against UPW Champ Christopher Daniels.
Daniels was in an interesting spot, a guy who made his name on the Chicago indy circuit in the mid-90s and had the attention of both the WWF and the WCW, though not quite a LOT of attention. He signed a brief WWF developmental deal in 1998 but would only be used as a jobber in he late-90s to early 2000. He DID act as one of the Los Conquistadores during their brief feud with Edge & Christian in 2000. Throughout this, he’d journey around – to Japan as Curry Man, to ECW briefly, to winning titles all across the indies. He had an infamous match on Nitro with Mike Modest in January 2001, where WCW gave two “indy” guys a shot at doing their style on WCW TV. Unfortunately, Daniels botched a Lionsault and landed on his head, and then both got beat up by Scott Steiner. I’m not quite sure why Daniels was leaving town in March 2001, but he did show up in ROH a year later in the awesome Prophecy angle, and was pretty much with TNA since it started in 2002.
Samoa Joe meanwhile was a baby at this point. He debuted in December 1999 and at the start of 2000 signed with UPW, feuding with young John Cena. Through the UPW connection he appeared on WWF Jakked vs. Essa Rios and went to Japan to work for ZERO-ONE. He was a rising star in UPW, but didn’t get the call-up to WWE, so he went and made a name for himself as the greatest ROH champion of all-time, holding it from March 2003 to December 2004, and eventually went on to questionable success in TNA. After an 18-year journey, he is currently whooping ass weekly on Monday Night RAW.
Love the shit video of the UPW library. This is clipped and like two minutes long. Daniels and Joe counter a couple submissions, then it cuts to a ref bump, Daniels hitting Angel’s Wings, and UPW stalwart Mikey Henderson coming out to count 3. Daniels claims he’s won, Joe hits an enzuigiri and Island Driver for 3, I am confused. Commentary explains – Mikey made Daniels THINK he won so Joe could take advantage and get the real count. Much like a joke, a wrestling angle isn’t very good if you have to explain it. This is just a few clips, has crap quality and a bad finish, but it’s young male pattern baldness Chris Daniels vs. shitty blonde dye job Joe. Joe does a promo backstage after the match and it’s fun to see him do a similar shtick, just younger and cockier. He’s like modern Joe with a little bit of Jonah Hill. N/A
A Battle from Down Under – No DQ Triple Threat Match – WWE Undisputed Title: The Rock (c) vs. Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman (WWE Global Warning Tour Melbourne 8/10/02)
This match was the main event from the signature show of the WWE’s Global Warning Tour in Australia. The WWE hadn’t been to Australia since 1986, and ran a successful tour in 2002 that was capped off with an event in front of over 56,000 people at the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne. I recall it being released on VHS and DVD when it took place, so it’s been around.
Also on the card was Rikishi vs. Rico in a Kiss My Ass Match, Mark Henry and Young Randy Orton vs. D-Von Dudley and Young Batista, Jamie Noble vs. Hurricane for the Cruiserweight Title, Chavo & Hardcore Holly vs. Billy & Chuck, Kurt Angle vs. Test, Lance Storm & Christian vs. Rey Mysterio & Kidman (!), Edge vs. Jericho, Torrie Wilson vs. Stacy Keibler in a Bra & Panties Match, and this match.
The WWE had been in a boom period for a few years, but around 2002 it was starting to calm down. Austin was gone, Rock was ready to leave, WCW was out of business, The Invasion stunk, the McMahons were getting annoying. The crowd’s were still hot but things were starting to calm down from the WWE’s late-90s re-awakening. This is just a few months after the brand split, too, and features the SmackDown crew with a few cameos from RAW guys.
Brock Lesnar had debuted four months before this with Paul Heyman at his side and was getting the push of a lifetime. He wrecked The Hardy Boyz, won King of the Ring, wrestled RVD for the IC Title and lost by DQ, and took out Hulk Hogan so bad he bled from the mouth and couldn’t make the tour. Just a couple weeks after this match, he’d beat The Rock for the WWE Undisputed Championship.
Triple H was around eight months into his return from a a quad injury that kept him out of action for most of 2001, after a 2-year run as the top heel. He had returned as a babyface at the Royal Rumble and went on to win the WWE Undisputed Title from Chris Jericho that March. Triple H lost it to Hollywood Hogan a month later, then Hogan lost it to Undertaker a month later, and The Undertaker lost it to Rock a couple months later, because McMahon was trying any damn thing to cling on to the glory. Triple H had also just turned heel a few weeks before this, teasing a DX reunion but turning on Michaels, which led to their Unsanctioned Street Fight at SummerSlam, and Triple H continuing his heel run on top as the leader of Evolution.
The Rock had won the title just a month before this from The Undertaker and Kurt Angle in a Triple Threat Match. He was the biggest star in wrestling but was getting closer and closer to Hollywood, starring in The Mummy Returns and Scorpion King in 2001 and 2002. He’d eventually drop the title to Brock, then left for the rest of the year to act. He returned in 2003 as a heel, leading to Stone Cold’s final match at WrestleMania and a feud with Goldberg. Starting in 2004 his relationship with WWE was relegated to cameos, outside of the Cena stuff.
This is a fun match that we’ve seen a hundred times. Tazz and Cole are on commentary – Tazz says Heyman can make chicken salad out of chicken crap, Cole calls Rock the most popular sports entertainer in WWE history, a blazing hot shot at Austin. The Rock is on another planet of charisma as he enters and tells Brock to bring it. This thing just kept moving, a fun WWE 3-way sprint. They hit signatures, they throw punches. Rock sells his ass off, and Brock eventually bumping around for him is crazy to see. Brock kicks out of a People’s Elbow AND Pedigree, and Triple H goes down to a Rock Bottom. ***1/4
Helllooo Punk! – Val Venis vs. CM Punk (WWE Sunday Night Heat 5/9/05)
WWE says 5/9/05, Internet says 5/15. Considering 5/9/05 was a Monday, I’m going with the Internet. It’s from Sunday Night Heat, which wasn’t much at this point – squash matches from RAW guys that weren’t being used on RAW that much. Also on this show was William Regal vs. Antonio Thomas.
The story of this match is it’s the second appearance of CM Punk on WWE TV, after teaming with Chad Collyer and losing to Maven & Simon Dean a few weeks earlier. Nobody remembers that match though. Punk at the time had a ton of buzz – he had helped take Ring of Honor to prominence, had dropped his “indy” basketball shorts look, and was finally getting a real look by WWE. He’d sign with them and head to OVW just a couple months later. Venis meanwhile had seen better days, and was acting as a jobber to the stars at this point. He had some Internet credibility at this point as a good solid wrestler who was also a mark for Kenta Kobashi. He was also clearly a good opponent for CM Punk.
It was wild at the time to know this match was actually happening, and it is honestly an almost perfect squash match. Vetern Val Venis and Indy Scum CM Punk work the mat, Venis claps for him and looks impressed and offers his hand, Punk takes it, then attacks Venis’ leg when he turns around. Punk works the leg, Val sells it big, the crowd is fired up and Venis gets a comeback and takes the win as he continues to sell the leg. Venis seemed stoked to GO with somebody, and did Kobashi chops and a Blue Thunder Bomb. Coach and Grisham plugged John Cena’s CD, but they also explained Punk as “a little more seasoned than a lot of guys you haven’t heard of, so to speak” – witness WWE’s new philosophy on accepting what is outside their universe shift before your eyes. Earl Hebner is the ref and got canned just a few months later. Match was successful in making Punk look great and someone to watch out for, and Venis once again proved he could use even 6-minutes well. ***1/4
On the Fringe – MNM (Joey Mercury & Johnny Nitro) w/ Melina vs. Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose) & Brad Taylor (WWE Velocity 1/15/06)
While Sunday Night Heat was the RAW C-show, Velocity was SmackDown’s. At this point the WWE Universe had turned on Cena, Eddie Guerrero just died, and Edge was about to win Money in the Bank and do live sex shows. Sylvan Grenier vs. Scotty 2 Hotty for a spot in the Royal Rumble was also in this show, so things were going great.
After a run in 2004 and 2005 in WWE’s developmental territory OVW, MNM had debuted in April 2005 and were in the middle of an epic tag title reign, that featured sweet matches with The Hardys, Eddie & Rey, Eddie & Batista, Batista & Rey, and London & Kendrick. They’d break-up a few months later after losing the titles to Londrick. Young Jon Moxley meanwhile was just another independent talent who got his start and worked for Les Thatcher’s HWA, which commonly provided talent to the WWE. He grinded on the indies for 5 more years, with notable runs in CZW and Dragon Gate USA, before signing with the WWE in 2011 and being re-named Dean Ambrose.
Josh Matthews and STEVE ROMERO are on commentary.
This is an MNM squash match, which is fine. It’s worth watching for Dean Ambrose’s long ponytail and Dean Ambrose doing kip-ups. Brad Taylor takes the heat while I look up and find out he got signed a year later and was in the WWE system for a year. Ambrose takes a fold-over bump off a dropkick and a Snapshot for the L. *3/4
Who is Better? – Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro (WWE NXT Unaired Pilot 12/7/11)
Oddly enough, this might be the biggest Hidden Gem of the whole collection, the first footage of the secret unaired NXT pilot that I’ve seen anywhere. The pilot was called famously listed on the tape as “Project H.” It was the first event at Full Sail University’s Full Sail Studio, and took place while FCW was still the WWE’s developmental territory and NXT was still some weird shit that aired on WWE.com with Derrick Bateman and Johnny Curtis feuding over Maxine.
WWE was in a clear transitional phase, as CM Punk and Daniel Bryan proved that “indy” talent could become major stars. An initiative was driven to sign more talent like them, which included Tyler Black (now Seth Rollins) and Claudio Castagnoli (now Cesaro). Black had been ROH World Champ for almost a year after beating Austin Aries, before losing it to Roderick Strong in September 2010 and signing with WWE. He debuted as Rollins and went on to become a centerpiece when Triple H’s NXT officially launched, winning the NXT Title. He then of course headed to the main roster as part of the Shield.
A year after Rollins’ signing and just a few months before this, Claudio Castagnoli signed and became Cesaro. He had a tremendous run on the indies that included work in Ring of Honor and CHIKARA, working as both a singles and tag wrestler alongside Chris Hero. Cesaro would debut a lot sooner than Rollins, bypassing NXT and going to SmackDown in April 2012. He’d go on to work in the Full Sail NXT months later, having a legendary series of matches with Sami Zayn. And now he teams with Sheamus.
Also on the show was Big E Langston vs. Xavier Woods. Byron Saxton and Christopher Patrick Russo are on commentary (at ringside!). Brandi announces.
This is a match from a time when both guys didn’t have it all together, but they were quicker and more reckless and a little bit more fun to watch. The match is fast-paced, like 7 minutes, and keeps moving. Seth does a nice tope, Cesaro takes an awesome bump over the top rope. There’s a chinlock. A big European uppercut finishes it. A match that Dusty Rhodes or Bill DeMott probably liked a lot. It’s fun. ***
The Young and the Hungry – Enzo & Big Cass unaired in-ring promo with Ryback (WWE NXT Dark Segment 5/23/13)
This was an after-show dark segment from the 5/23/13 edition of NXT TV. On the actual show was newcomer Sami Zayn vs. Curt Hawkins, Antonio Cesaro vs. Yoshi Tatsu, Sami vs. Cesaro (!), Mason Ryan squashing Enzo Amore, and Corey Graves vs. Bray Wyatt. Around this time, WWE would send a main roster star or two to every NXT taping (they usually taped 4 at a time) to sign autographs and participate in a match or angle. It’s how we got Rob Van Dam vs. Neville and Sheamus vs. Aiden English.
Ryback was coming off a pretty massive babyface run from 2012 that was cut kind of short by him being put in a Hell in a Cell match with CM Punk for the WWE Title, a match that neither guy could really lose. He had lost to Mark Henry of all people at WrestleMania 29, and turned heel on John Cena himself the next night on RAW. He was in the midst of a 3-match feud with Cena, which probably sounded good at a time, but ended up really tanking Ryback’s career to the point where he never quite covered.
Enzo & Big Cass were just a cuppa rookies. Cass debuted in 2010 after being trained by Johnny Rodz and signed with the WWE in mid-2011. Enzo had been signed in August 2012, with no wrestling experience. At this point they were used only as enhancement guys, and hadn’t even debuted on TV as a team – that would happen a couple months later.
This is young, clean shaven Enzo Amore and skinnier Big Cass figuring out how to be Enzo Amore and Big Cass. There’s a lot of overuse of SAWFT, that’s for sure, but Enzo still had the gift of gab – “You’re looking at us like you’ve never seen G’s. Us. G’s like us.” Ryback had just turned heel, but not everybody had completely figured it out yet. He says Enzo & Cass’ parents must be brother and sister, and Enzo gets all wide-eyed – “Hey you don’t talk about my family – HUUUGE MISTAKE!” Ryback eventually disposes of Enzo and Cass, with Enzo taking an ugly bump that was supposed to be onto Big Cass on the floor, but instead he goes over the top, hangs onto the rope so his back hits the apron, his legs hit Cass, and he falls back-first with no protection to the floor.
