Post by hbkjason on Jul 30, 2020 6:06:31 GMT -5
Wrestling Memories WWF European Rampage Again 1992
Today I am sharing with you guys a very special wrestling memory and that is the back to back nights I got to see the WWF live in April of 1992. I have said it many times, but the WWF was white hot here in the UK in the early 90s. 1992 for me was the real peak of this and that is most evident by the fact that the WWF not only held SummerSlam here in August, but also did a full tour with many parts of the country getting two shows. Glasgow in Scotland got back to back nights and I was lucky enough to attend both. The WWF would actually do a similar format in 1993 with many parts of the UK getting back to back nights of wrestling with different line ups, but during that tour I only went to just one of the Glasgow shows I went to the one headlined by Bret Hart in 1993.
The dates in question were April 17th and April 18th. My parents bought me tickets for the first show as soon as they went on sale. We actually had great seats, we were only three rows back from ringside and the side we were at was just where the wrestlers would make their entrance so I had a great view. When my parents bought the tickets, we did not know who would be there, we just knew that it was the WWF so my parents took a chance on the first night.
Here in the UK, we had a monthly WWF poster magazine called Sporting Superstars, this magazine was great, you would always get a giant poster (sometimes 2) and there were always competitions. One month the competition was to win two tickets to the WWF European Rampage. I remember you had to say who your favorite wrestler was and why. At this time Bret Hart was a favorite of mine so I said “Bret Hart was my favorite wrestler because he was a bad dude who wore awesome pink glasses” that right there was what won me a set of tickets! My parents panicked a little as they thought that they might give us tickets for the first night, even though we already had a pair. After a phone call though, they were more than happy to make sure we had seats for the second night.
You might think that the tickets I won would be ring side seats, but they were not. They were in a section of the arena that put me right at eye level with the ring. It really was the perfect place to view the action and I found out that everyone in my section had won tickets, not just from the contest I entered, but other ones too.
As the event got closer, a newspaper here did a big article on the events and had the match lineups. The WWF was so popular at this time they would often feature in the daily newspapers. Each night featured a completely different lineup of wrestlers so I was so glad that I managed to win those tickets as in all honesty, the second night had the better line up.
The first night was not a bad show, it had a main event featuring Undertaker vs Sid Justice. I also got to see Texas Tornado, The Big Bossman, British Bulldog and Tatanka. However, the second night featured the WWF Champion Macho Man Randy Savage who for the life of me I cannot 100 percent remember who he faced, but I think it was The Mountie. And this show also had two block buster matches, first one being Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels and the main event which was The Legion of Doom vs The Nasty Boys. My mum took many photos during this second night and thankfully over the years two have survived of the main event. I also still have my Bret Hart shades which I purchased on the first night of the tour. I have kept most of my programs from WWF shows I have been to over the years, but I had a flood in 2003 and this along with a few others and some other stuff was destroyed.
These two shows are some of my most cherished childhood memories. Even if I had been able to just go to that first night I had the tickets for I would have had an awesome time. However, being lucky enough to win tickets and go to two WWF shows just 24 hours was great. Even back then as a kid I knew how lucky and fortunate I was to be able to do this. My parents also took me to SummerSlam that August so I was certainly a very lucky kid and now as a parent myself I realize just how fortunate I was that my folks were willing to do this for me.
This was the biggest European Tour the WWF did at the time and come to think of it, I am not sure if they have ever done one that had as many dates as this since. I would love to know if any of you guys went to any of these shows or if you have won tickets to a WWF event before.
