Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

The first card you ever attended


Swift

Recommended Posts

Someone posted the first card they ever attended in the Omnibus thread, and I figured it'd be a fun thread.

 

Mine:

 

WWF @ Dublin, Ireland - Point Depot - April 21, 1993 (4,000)
Virgil defeated Terry Taylor
Doink the Clown (Keirn) defeated Tito Santana
Rick & Scott Steiner defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Ted Dibiase & IRS via disqualification
The Bushwhackers defeated the Beverly Brothers
Tatanka defeated Papa Shango
The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna via disqualification
Bret Hart defeated Bam Bam Bigelow

 

I barely remember much. I ran to the front of the crowd at ringside after the last match, and was just inches from touching Bret's hand. That was my claim to fame for years as a kid. Wrestlers were gods back then. Now of course I happen to live in Calgary, and have seen Bret Hart at a Chapters and Lance Storm queuing up for his flu shot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie

Here was my first one:

 

WWF @ Hampton, VA - Coliseum - November 23, 1997 (8,236)
Brian Christopher pinned Taka Michinoku with a powerbomb at 5:27
Mark Henry pinned D-Lo Brown with a powerslam at 8:03
Crush, Chainz, Skull, & 8-Ball defeated Savio Vega, Miguel Perez, Jesus Castillo, & Jose Estrada at 13:54
Kane pinned Vader with the tombstone at 6:06
Dude Love (w/ Steve Austin) pinned Rocky Maivia (w/ the Nation) in falls count anywhere match at 10:06 after Austin interfered and hit the Stunner on Rocky
Marc Mero pinned Flash Funk with a low blow and the TKO at 9:08
Ken Shamrock pinned Kama (sub. for Jim Neidhart) with a belly to belly suplex after 8 seconds
WWF Tag Team Champions Legion of Doom defeated Billy Gunn & the Road Dogg at 5:30 when Road Warrior Animal pinned Road Dogg
The Undertaker defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (w/ Shawn Michaels & Chyna) in a casket match at 13:42

 

I had wanted to go to some indy shows in the area prior to this (New Dimension Wrestling ran ten minutes from my house a few months before this, but I wasn't allowed to go).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was mine:

 

NWA @ Norfolk, VA - Scope - August 12, 1989 (5,000)
The Ding Dongs defeated Al Greene & Lee Scott
Brian Pillman pinned Norman
Sid Vicious pinned Scott Hall
Ron Simmons pinned Curtis Thompson (White Angel in Puerto Rico)
Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Jack Victory & Rip Morgan
Sting fought the Great Muta to a draw
The Road Warriors defeated the Samoan Swat Team
NWA US Champion Lex Luger pinned Tommy Rich
NWA World Champion Ric Flair pinned Terry Funk

 

I was only five years old (almost six) but I still remember seeing Great Muta, he was my favorite wrestler.  Sting and Muta fought in the crowd and they went right by us.  That's literally all I remember from the event.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WWF @ Toronto, Ontario - Skydome - January 31, 1997 (25,628)

Rocky Maivia pinned the Sultan

Monday Night Raw - 2/3/97 - featured Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, & Dok Hendrix on commentary:

Vader defeated Steve Austin via disqualification at 8:13 after Austin kicked the referee and hit the Stunner; before the match, Bret Hart attacked Austin

Savio Vega (w/ the Nation) pinned Flash Funk at 4:21 after Funk missed a moonsault

Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith via count-out at 14:30 after Owen seemingly injured himself after Smith accidentally backdropped his partner over the top to the floor; late in the bout, LaFon pinned Owen with a DDT but the referee immediately ordered the match to continue as Owen's foot was on the bottom rope during the cover; as Owen was being counted out of the ring, Smith dropped LaFon with the running powerslam; after the match, Smith argued with Owen over the loss

Crush (w/ the Nation) pinned Goldust (w/ Marlena) with the heart punch after Savio Vega interfered and hit a spin kick on Goldust as Goldust prepared to hit the curtain Call

WWF IC Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley pinned Marc Mero at 13:57 after using a foreign object; this was mentioned as Mero's last shot at Helmsley's title; both Sable and Mr. Hughes were banned from ringside for the bout

The Undertaker & Ahmed Johnson defeated Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer) & Farooq (w/ the Nation) in a No Holds Barred match at 10:29 when Taker pinned Mankind with a tombstone onto a steel chair after Vader's interference backfired; moments earlier, Ahmed chased Farooq and the Nation to the back

Dark match after the taping: WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart and Psycho Sid at 11:25 by pinning Hart with a crossbody off the top as Hart attempted to apply the Sharpshooter on Sid; late in the bout, Hard had the Sharpshooter on Sid only for Steve Austin to come out and jump Hart until he was knocked to the floor by security

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the first full show that I can remember. I had been going on and off since 79, but I was five then:

 

January 28, 1983  Harrisburg, Pa.  Zembo Mosque
Ray stevens vs Jimmy Snuka
Afa, Sika the Samoans vs Curt Hennig, S.D. Jones
Magnificent Don Muraco vs Charles Fulton
Mr. Fuji vs Rocky johnson
Big john Studd vs Mike Feliciano
Baron mikel Scicluna vs Salvatore Bellomo

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was a WWF house show in Victoria, BC. I looked on Cagematch and it must be the 05/03/94 one even though I have absolutely no memory of Luger and Bret vs Owen and Yoko and that's the only match listed.

Edit: except Goldust wasn't in the company until the following year. But him vs Sid isn't on the other cards Cagematch lists. Mayhaps my mind is failing me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first live card:

 

WCW - Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadelphia PA, 4/1/95 (900)

 

Alex Wright defeated Diamond Dallas Page

WCW World Television Title - Arn Anderson © defeated Johnny B. Badd via DQ.

The Nasty Boys defeated Harlem Heat

Jim Duggan defeated Steve Austin (subbing for Vader)

Sting and "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeated Avalanche and Big Bubba.

 

 

My second card a month later was equally awesome:

 

ECW Enter the Sandman @ ECW Arena, Philadelphia PA 5/13/95 (875)

 

Hack Myers defeated Tony Stetson

911 & The Tazmaniac (w/Paul E. Dangerously) defeated Hiroyohi Iekuda & Tsubo Genjin

Barbed Wire Baseball Bay vs. Barbed Wire Chair - Axl Rotten defeated Ian Rotten

Raven & Stevie Richards (w/ Beulah McGillicutty) defeated Tommy Dreamer & Mikey Whipwreck by DQ (Bill Alfonso's debut)

ECW World Television Championship - Eddie Guerrero © and Dean Malenko went to a Time Limit Draw

ECW World Heavyweight Championship - The Sandman © (w/ Woman) defeated Cactus Jack

ECW World Television Championship - Eddie Guerrero © defeated Marty Jannetty

ECW World Heavyweight Championship - The Sandman © (w/ Woman) defeated Shane Douglas

ECW World Tag Team Championship Double Dog Collar Match - The Public Enemy © defeated The Pitbulls (w/ Stevie Richards)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Estimating around July/August 1987. I was nine years old living in small-town Northern Michigan at the time, a few hours drive from any town that WWF or NWA was coming to. But I still remained glued to the TV on Saturdays for WWF Wrestling Challenge, NWA Worldwide, NWA World Championship Wrestling, and more.

 

When my father wanted to talk to me about serious stuff, or just needed to get out of the house to sort some things out, he would go for a drive and take me with him. The slang term he used to describe these drives was "going crazy". One Sunday evening he pulled me out of my bedroom to go for one of these drives, and he picked up a couple of his drinking buddies that lived down the street.

 

He drove to a town that was about an hour away from ours. The drive seemed like nothing out of the ordinary, until he pulls into the parking lot of Ogemaw Heights High School in West Branch, MI, a school off of Michigan Highway #33 surrounded by nothing but trees and fields. The letters on the sign of the high school simply said "WRESTLING". I got super-excited, and at first my father and his friends tried to rib me by saying "nah, that's tomorrow night, we're going to bingo tonight!" But sure enough, once we're inside the school we head into the gym and there's a wrestling ring in there. My dad frigging surprised me on a random summer night by taking me to a wrestling show.

 

I don't remember a lot of specifics. I think the league was called Michigan Championship Wrestling. It had some of the guys that I found out years later were part of the final days of the Sheik's Detroit territory, guys like Irish Micky Doyle and Ricky Cortez. And a young Al Snow was part of a heel tag team calling itself the Fantastics (which confused me a little since I had seen the Fulton/Rogers version on World Class TV by that point) against a tag team called The Flying Tigers. The Fantastics cheated to win their match, but sure enough there was a battle royal at the end of the night, with the final four being the Al Snow version of the Fantastics and The Flying Tigers, and the Tigers got their revenge by winning the battle royale.

 

But the biggest actual name of the show was a very long in the tooth by that point Bobo Brazil, once again defending a belt that was billed as "The United States Championship." Bobo was into his sixties by then, but I had read his name in grocery store magazines as a legend of the sport enough to know that he used to be something back in the day and that I was seeing a legend in the ring that night.

 

But the major punchline of the night came when Bobo Brazil came down to the ring. My dad never watched WWF wrestling with me, and would always talk about how phony Hulk Hogan was. He never did it in a mean way because he knew it was something I loved watching, would always be more in a joking manner. But that night, when Bobo came to the ring, my Dad pulled me aside and said the following words..."I used to watch him wrestle when it was real!"

 

It would be ten years before I would witness another wrestling show live again (that would be the ECW debut in Detroit where Pee Wee Moore offered to sell me ECW tickets for weed, but that's another story for another thread), but thank you Dad for that awesome night.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ECW Enter the Sandman @ ECW Arena, Philadelphia PA 5/13/95 (875)

911 & The Tazmaniac (w/Paul E. Dangerously) defeated Hiroyohi Iekuda & Tsubo Genjin

 

Man, watching The Tazmaniac just squash both of these guys with suplexes on the tape of this one of of my favorite "guilty pleasure" watches during my '90s tape-trading days!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10/14/1972 Elizabeth (NJ) Armory

 

Pedro Morales - Toru Tanaka WWWF title

Mr. Fuji - Sonny King

Chuck O'Connor (young boy John Studd) - Gorilla Monsoon

Spoiler - El Olympico

Buddy Wolf - Joe Turco

Blackjack Slade - Bull Pometti

 

I had my program signed by Chuck Richards then and signed again by his grandson Chris Candido 20 some years later.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites


I never got to go to shows as a kid cause my dad hated pro wrestling, so I didn't go to my first show til I was 21.

 

1/25/98 CoreStates Center - Philadelphia, PA

 

Tag Team Match







Singles Match




Six Man Tag Team Match





Singles Match




Singles Match

Kane defeats 8-Ball



Six Man Tag Team Match


 

 

Fairly uneventful, unlike the second show I ever went to, which was the Raw that broke Nitro's 88-week winning streak...and I'm still kicking myself for not going out to Pittsburgh with friends to see the Taker/Mankind HIAC...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clint's story up there reminds me of some whole experience story someone wrote that I read about his experience going to a show in Texas in the 80's, awesome reads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine was probably 1975 Mid-Atlantic at the Norfolk Scope.  I remember my future cousin-in-law Tommy drove us at 100 mph in his thoroughly bad ass purple Challenger.  All I remember of it was going down to the front for the final match and touching Ricky Steamboat's back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WWF @ St. Louis, MO - Arena - March 22, 1993 (3,600)

Skinner defeated Koko B. Ware after using his alligator claw as a weapon
Typhoon defeated Gary Jackson (sub. for Repo Man)
Tito Santana defeated Terry Taylor
The Nasty Boys fought the Headshrinkers to a double disqualification
Crush defeated Papa Shango (sub. for WWF IC Champion Shawn Michaels)
The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna via disqualification when Yoko used the salt bucket as a weapon
WWF World Champion Bret Hart & Mr. Perfect defeated Razor Ramon & Lex Luger when Hart pinned Razor with a small package


-----

Talked to Gary years later at a local indie show; he said they needed someone to fill in and he had his gear, so he got to work the show.  Woo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Despite being a wrestling fan since the early 90s, my live wrestling show attendance is still in the single digits

 

Monday Night Raw, December 27, 1999 from Greensboro, NC-

There were a few dark matches featuring Tracy Smothers, Essa Rios (before Lita debuted with him), and Steve Bradley (who was being touted as the next big thing).  I was really looking forward to this as after being a fan for almost a decade I was finally going to see wrestling live, and man this was like the worst bits of the attitude era.  The pink slip on a pole match and everything leading up to it were godawful. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty Sure this is it, being a day after my birthday and 2 days before my friend Jim's birthday.

WWF @ Baltimore, MD - Civic Center - May 4, 1985 (7,800)

Tony Atlas defeated Bob Bradley

David Sammartino defeated Matt Borne

King Kong Bundy defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Ricky Steamboat defeated Steve Lombardi

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Leilani Kai

Ken Patera defeated Ivan Putski

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Jimmy Snuka defeated Roddy Piper & Bob Orton Jr.

More importantly, first nwa show

JCP / AWA @ Baltimore, MD - Civic Center - February 20, 1986 (13,000+; sell out)

Battlestar 86

Scott Hall pinned Boris Zhukov at 10:15

Tully Blanchard pinned Jimmy Valiant in a lights out match at 8:55

NWA US Champion Magnum TA pinned Baron Von Raschke at 12:10

Larry Zbyszko defeated Nick Bockwinkel via disqualification at the 45-second mark

NWA Tag Team Champions Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey defeated Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson at 19:45 when Condrey pinned Gibson

AWA World Champion Stan Hansen fought Sgt. Slaughter to a double count-out at 15:32

NWA World Champion Ric Flair defeated NWA National Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes via disqualification at 28:34

The Road Warriors defeated Ivan & Nikita Koloff in a steel cage match at 10:25 when Road Warrior Hawk pinned Ivan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I honestly don't remember much about this one, but based on the date, it has to be right. I vaguely remember Hennig flopping around like only he could for old man Harley Race.

 

From http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw97.htm

 

 

WCW @ Kansas City, MO - November 7, 1997
Ernest Miller defeated Brad Armstrong
Ray Traylor defeated Dave Taylor
Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Juventud Guerrera
Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael defeated the Barbarian & Meng (sub. for Scott Norton & Buff Bagwell)
Eddie Guerrero defeated Dean Malenko
Rick & Scott Steiner (w/ Harley Race) defeated Harlem Heat
Ric Flair defeated WCW US Champion Curt Hennig via disqualification; after the bout, Harley Race came out, repeatedly punched Hennig, and shook Flair's hand

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WWF @ Warwick, RI - Musical Theatre - August 12, 1994 (1,000)

 

 

Adam Bomb defeated Kwang

Ted Dibiase's Undertaker defeated Sparky Plugg

Bob Backlund (sub. for Yokozuna) defeated Typhoon

Owen Hart defeated the 1-2-3 Kid

The 1-2-3 Kid defeated Owen Hart

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Virgil

The Smoking Gunns defeated the Executioners

 

 

In addition to what's on TheHistoryofWWE when I got it, I know that there had to be more on this show in particular- I remember seeing here the question of how Randy Savage never fought Shawn Michaels, but while cleaning up, I happened across pictures I took at this event that showed Savage and Michaels in the ring together for a match (there's no other allies on the card anywhere there, and I know it had to be 1994 since my parents took me to this card after being unable to get tickets to the 1994 Royal Rumble closer to my birthday.) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WWF @ Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Arena - February 3, 1991 (matinee)

The Barbarian pinned Koko B. Ware

The Nasty Boys defeated the Bushwhackers

The Undertaker pinned Tugboat

Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty defeated Demolition when Shawn Michaels pinned Smash

Roddy Piper defeated WWF IC Champion Mr. Perfect via disqualification

The Big Bossman defeated Haku

The Ultimate Warrior & Jim Duggan defeated WWF World Champion Sgt. Slaughter & Gen. Adnan (sub. for Randy Savage) when Warrior pinned Adnan

I'd been a fan for quite awhile at that point, but it took years of begging to get my mom to take me to a show. I remember Piper/Perfect being a good match and just being blown away at how huge guys were. Bummed that I never got to see Savage live, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even though I have been a wrestling fan since I was about 5 years old or so, my parents never took me to any live shows, and as a result I didn't see wrestling in person until I was in college, around 1995 or 96, which would put me at 20 or 21.  It was an IWA Mid South show that me and a few of my college friends went to.  After that I would go on to go to TONS of indy shows, WWE, ECW, TNA, etc.  Then I got into the business in 2004. 

 

My point?  That very first live wrestling show I ever attended.....the main event was Madman Pondo vs Ox Harley in a thumbtack deathmatch.  And just two weeks ago, at the age of 40, I wrestled (and pinned) Madman Pondo in a bloodbath of a match to retain my LSC Hardcore Championship.  It was an awesome and humbling night for me.  I've known him for a few years, but that was the first time I got to work with him, and he went out of his way to be gracious and make me look good. 

 

And as a footnote, we have a rematch next month. :)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was 4 years old:

 

UWF @ Ft. Worth, TX - Cowtown Coliseum - February 7, 1987

 

UWF Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Matches:
Ted DiBiase & Steve Williams def Bill Irwin & Eli
Terry Taylor & Sam Houston def Terry Gordy & The Angel of Death
Sting & Rick Steiner (w/Eddie Gilbert & Missy Hyatt) def Chavo Guerrero & The Missing Link (w/Dark Journey)
Chris Adams & Iceman King Parsons def Michael Hayes & Buddy Jack Roberts (w/Sunshine)
UWF Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-final Match: Chris Adams & Iceman King Parsons def Ted DiBiase & Steve Williams. Adams & Parsons split up after the match. Adams won a coin toss and was allowed to continue on with a new partner.
UWF Television Champion Savannah Jack def Mike Boyette
UWF Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Final Match: Sting & Rick Steiner (w/Eddie Gilbert & Missy Hyatt) def Sam Houston & Terry Taylor
UWF Tag Team Title Tournament Finals: Chris Adams & Terry Taylor def Sting & Rick Steiner (w/Eddie Gilbert & Missy Hyatt) to win the titles

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...