Your 1st Live Show Card?

I’ve have had the luck to witness many all time greats wrestle live. Two of the men I never got to see live were Savage and Bret. Very jealous.

So my first live show was kind of bittersweet.

As everyone on here knows, I am a huge "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel fan, so suffice to say....

WWF @ London, Ontario - London Gardens - November 26, 1994
Duke Drose defeated the Brooklyn Brawler
Bob Holly fought the 1-2-3 Kid to a draw
The Smoking Gunns defeated the Heavenly Bodies
WWF Women's Champion Bull Nakano defeated Alundra Blayze
Jim Neidhart defeated Doink the Clown
Owen Hart defeated Adam Bomb
Lex Luger defeated Tatanka

That's a pretty solid show, right??

Well, on that same night in New York City....


WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - November 26, 1994 (7,300)
Diesel (sub. for Bret Hart) pinned WWF World Champion Bob Backlund in a No DQ, no count-out, no time-limit match to win the title at the 9-second mark following a boot to the midsection and a powerbomb; Diesel's involvement in the match was not announced until WWF Superstars aired that morning; it was announced on local TV during the Nov. 5-6 weekend that Randy Savage would be the guest referee for the originally scheduled Hart vs. Backlund match but that announcement was never mentioned again


So on the night I watched Lex Luger defeat Tatanka in London, Ontario, the New York fans got to see Diesel win the WWF Title from Bob Backlund.


Talk about bittersweet.... ugh.

Saturday Night Main Event at the Meadowlands.
The one where Uncle Elmer got married. The main Event was Piper vs Mr Wonderful.

As far as my memory goes, it was not long after King of the Ring ‘95 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Still the only WWF/E wrestling event I’ve attended. I was 14 and went with a friend and his older sister.

Jean Pierre LaFitte pinned Duke the Dumpster Droese with a leg drop from the top rope. Was disappointed he didn’t do the Cannonball. Droese got a huge pop as the first face to appear.

Alundra Blayze pinned Bertha Faye with a German suplex, which impressed me as I thought Bertha would be too heavy for such a move.

Adam Bomb pinned King Kong Bundy with a schoolboy roll-up. Bomb was quite over.

Men On a Mission beat the New Headshrinkers when newly crowned King Mabel laid his big body over Sionne’s chest with his feet on the ropes for a three count. During the entrances, I was able to reach out and touch Mabel’s massive arm as he walked down the aisle and luckily I was out of reach seconds later when he flung his arm up to shake off all the other guys who were grabbing at him. I managed to touch Sionne too when he walked down. He was going quite slow and I was able to put my hand on his arm and across his shoulder and was slightly surprised at how oiled up he was. You can see it on them, but you can never imagine how noticeable it must be during a match.

During the intermission, I went to the merch stand and bought a Diesel baseball cap and some Bret Hart glasses. Wish I still had them.

The Smokin’ Gunns had a match next. That’s all I can remember.

Shawn Michaels pinned I.R.S with the superkick after a lot of stalling.

Undertaker pinned Kama with the tombstone. Paul Bearer was the only manager that made an appearance.

Finally, Bret Hart beat Hakushi with the sharpshooter in the best match of the night.

Afterwards, we waited outside and saw them getting on their coach. I noticed Taker went to the back and sat with Kama (B.S.K 4 Life, of course) while Paul Bearer was sat more near the front. I knew wrestling wasn’t real, but I still found it interesting.

That’s as much as I can remember.

WWF UK Rampage, Glasgow April 1991

Main event was Roddy Piper vs Ted Dibiase

First match was Jimmy Snuka vs The Brooklyn Brawler

Best matches of the night were The Rockers vs The Orient Express and Texas Tornado vs The Warlord.

Was such a fun night and a great memory. I remember being so excited before the show wondering who would be there, I was so excited to see The Ultimate Warrior.... I had no idea there were different levels of "town" back then and there was no way in hell that in 1991, The Ultimate Warrior was going to be at a Glasgow house show. Still, I realljoyed my evening and got a couple of awesome t-shirts and a program too.

May 24, 1985
Chicago, IL
UIC Pavilion
- Bret Hart beat SD Jones...
- Ken Patera beat George Wells...
- The Spoiler beat Rick McGraw...
- Jesse Ventura beat Ivan Putski via count-out...
- Tito Santana & Junkyard Dog beat Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake. (This was one of the first times where Beefcake said he was from San Francisco instead of "parts unknown")
- WWF Champion Hulk Hogan beat Don Muraco.

Oprah Winfrey was the ring announcer for the main event and a few of these matches were shown on her show "AM Chicago". It was before she became OPRAH!

LOL in fact.  Here is the show!  

WWF @ Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum - December 5, 1992 (5,500)
Lance Cassidy pinned Terry Taylor with a backslide
The Berzerker pinned Tito Santana when the momentum of a flying bodypress by Santana put Berzerker on top
Tatanka pinned Damien Demento with the Samoan Drop
The Undertaker defeated Razor Ramon via disqualification when Razor used the urn as a weapon
Crush defeated Papa Shango via submission with the head vice
Bob Backlund pinned Kamala with a roll up after Kamala accidentally hit Kimchee on the apron; after the bout, Kamala and Kimchee fought until Harvey Wippleman intervened
The Nasty Boys defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Ted Dibiase & IRS via disqualification when Dibiase broke up a cover after IRS sustained Saggs' flying elbowsmash

After years I finally convinced my dad to take me to a wrestling event, cause my favorite wrestler of all time Bret Hart was WwF champion. I was so excited and as you see above didn’t get to see Bret.

WWF @ Biddeford, ME - Biddeford Ice Arena - September 17, 1988
Lanny Poffo vs. Iron Mike Sharpe
Paul Roma vs. Barry Horowitz
Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty vs. the Conquistadors
Ken Patera vs. the One Man Gang
Jim Duggan vs. Dino Bravo

It still blows my mind that the WWF ran Biddeford of all places even with a C-show.

Man, I wonder how I'd research it. Was in the late 80s. Either in Atlanta or Mississippi. House show. All I remember was the Midnight Express. So had to have been a Jim Crockett show. Sting mayyyyy have been there. That's a long time ago to make my brain work.