WRESTLING ON THE INTERNET NOT FROM THE NOW

[Hamhock]

2 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

watching the Muta video, they had to have done the "Muta mists Sting as he's jumping for the Stinger Splash" spot at least once, right?

That's the finish to their 1991 match in the Tokyo Dome (I can't embed Dailymotion here, and it's not on YouTube).
 

2 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

also, love the early 1989 typo "The Great Mota".

I think that derives from Gary Hart's initial interviews where he pronounces it that way, but it soon gets corrected after that.

Edited March 5 by Hamhock

[odessasteps]

Should add bonus track of The Pearl match

[Cobra Commander]

one of these Thursdays will see an hour long video from the WCW YouTube of dudes that showed up for a month in 1990 WCW

[Curt McGirt]

On 3/1/2026 at 5:55 PM, Cobra Commander said:

"what if Quentin Tarantino was a high school teacher"

Brings up the thought that Tarantino would have most definitely been a college film teacher if he completely washed out of the business instead of doing what he did. 

EDIT: I definitely think "Great Mota" could have been a pot joke on Gary's part

Edited March 6 by Curt McGirt

[Cobra Commander]

The Great Mota, what Manny Mota did after baseball.

and today on the Vault, 2 1/2 hours of Ken Shamrock

 

Edited March 6 by Cobra Commander

[Dragon]

AJP

Hideki Suzuki first appearance in AJPW

AJPW Dynamite Series 2014

Hideki Suzuki and KENSO vs Hikaru Sato and Suwama 

 

[Cobra Commander]

Watching Vader/Shamrock in the NHB match. Some of the reviews I read mentioned how the WWF crowd didn't quite know what to do with the match. While a % of every WWF crowd only watched WWF, it's worth mentioning that this match was in Richmond, VA. The WWF did run a lot of TV in Richmond during the mid-90s but it's not the Northeast.

So, there's more JCP/WCW style fans there than most 1997 WWF markets and the concept of Shamrock lifting Vader did get pops (imagine how dead a crowd would have to be for "this smaller guy just lifted up a 400 pounder" to not get a pop. It was a fun match even within the restraints of the time. I didn't realize that Shamrock getting fucking pasted by a strike happened directly before the finish of the match.

Also, the Lion's Den Match from Summerslam 98 is still lots of fun.

Edited March 6 by Cobra Commander

[Cobra Commander]

Lots of Vault stuff today

14 minutes of hardcore title defenses

Hardyz/Lita vs Test/Albert/Trish

A March 1998 house show from Anaheim

Vader vs Cactus from The Main Event in March 1993

The March 98 house show has this match list.

Spoiler

Aguila vs Brian Christopher

Steve Blackman vs Farooq

Cactus Jack vs Billy Gunn

Marc Mero vs Chainz

Stone Cold vs Triple H

Godwinns vs Harris Brothers in a country whipping match

Shamrock vs Rock

Headbangers vs Quebecers

Undertaker vs Goldust

Possible some of those matches are not in the upload

[Dragon]

Muto and man erased from time and space in action 

 

[Cobra Commander]

this week's WCW episode is Super Towns on the Superstation

various matches on the same shows as STotSS matches that probably aren't on film but would be awesome to see..

• Jimmy Garvin vs Brad Armstrong, Texas Death Match (Philadelphia)
• Big Bubba vs Ron Garvin, Louisville Street Fight (Inglewood)... which is a rematch of Starrcade, so..
• Ric Flair vs Barry Windham for 55 minutes (St. Louis)... sure we have multiple long Flair/Windham matches from this time but..

[Cobra Commander]

notes from the March 1998 WWF House Show posted on the Vault today

Spoiler

Crowd getting loud for Aguila/Brian Christopher. Guessing there's several matches where Brian just does his USWA stuff in front of WWF crowds and gets reactions. Imagine all the fun Brian matches in front of 750 people in the USWA lost to time. Shooing away a ringside guy to sit in a chair was a fun Brian spot. Quite a bit of Brian Christopher bullying a guy around with offense. One botchy looking moment. Aguila wins with a sunset flip and then a postmatch heel beatdown.

Farooq prematch cheap heat mic work to get people juiced up for Farooq vs young studly white boy Steve Blackman. Farooq has Mark Henry, Kama, and D-Lo with him but Blackman wins with a small package. It's a thing that happened. Main takeaway from this match is that the WWF ring is absurdly stiff. Farooq argues with Kama and pops D-Lo and the Rock comes out because they're gonna be running a Farooq face turn within a month of this. Rocky in a shirt with a giant R on the front.

The third match on the show is not sanctioned by the WWF because Cactus Jack vs Billy Gunn is part of a heated feud (not sarcasm). The NAO theme with no Road Dogg intro is the instrumental track of a popular song. Arena spotlight gonna try hard to follow this one. Not sure if baking sheet shots to the head are in fashion anymore. Jack takes a suplex on the floor because of course he does. Both guys gear caked in dust quickly. Hiptoss through a table in the corner, high concept for 1998. Huge pop for salad tongs to the balls, a move so violent the ref tried to break it up. Jack no-selling a toss into the stairs that we didn't see on the camera. Chairshot to an unseen Jack. Cameraman struggling with this one. Billy breaking a broom over Jack's back and tossing away the larger half of the broom. I think the gimmick here is that Billy Gunn doesn't know how to use weapons in a match. That Billy Gunn piledriver sounded hard. Billy misses the jumping whatever and gets hit with a chair. We're doing last man standing rules suddenly? Jack wins with the Double Arm DDT, which Tony called a "double arm suplex" in the March 1993 match uploaded today, Tony, you've been watching Jack do this move for 18 months, it's not a suplex. I know it's the Main Event, a show that only barely got taped but really. Jack holds the baking sheet up in victory.

Thankfully this Chainz vs Marc Mero match has a 20 minute time limit. So, Mero is the heel here, Sable is a face, Brian Lee is maybe a face but it's not like anybody gave a crap about Chainz. Most of the crowd appears to only care about Sable here. Two dudes audibly talking in the background for this one. Marc Mero working as Carlito's Way Al Pacino if the look is any indicator. Cameraman here for shots of Sable leaning over next to the apron. Mero wins with the TKO. Oddly enough, Rena Mero married to two different wrestlers with eerily similar finishers (The TKO and the F-5)

Audio man almost completely fucked up the easiest part of his job (hitting Austin's music). Austin obviously super-over. Austin doing a little bit more than some of his early comeback matches where he was probably rushed back into action. They ran a ton of these Austin/Triple H matches leading up to WM14 and I get the sense they all were very similar. The bleach blonde dude in the front row looks like Steve-O from Jackass. Guess we're gonna do some Triple H working to build Austin's cardio for WM14. Crowd popping for Austin's offense and then another cutoff. Ref bump, Chyna takes the stunner, crowd explodes, HHH takes the stunner, Austin wins.

Pretty sure DOA was subbing for the LOD in this Country Whipping Match with the Godwinns as the LOD was out for a gimmick tweak that didn't work. Man, this is sinister sounding fiddle middle. That's a long fucking mic cord for the ring announcer. Take your pick between 1998 LOD and 1998 Harris Twins for match quality. This is of course the natural feud between rednecks and white supremacist bikers. A country whipping match where every person is wearing a shirt is really a situation where the stip adds nothing. Slop Drop ends this one and nobody in the audience seemed to care.

It really didn't take long for Rock to be the most over heel in the Nation, did it? That pyro hitting off-camera was startling. Also, guess they had to test the pyro with the main event coming up later. With this being Rock/Shamrock, having seen their KOTR98 match again recently, perhaps HHH sucked on commentary for that one but not the part of the DX/Nation feud in mid-98 that aged the worst. Hopefully the one attractive woman working on the arena crew for this card did not get sexually harassed by wrestlers all night. Rock taking Shamrock nearly half around ringside to find a spot to throw him into the rail. Possible these Rock/Shamrock matches are way better than they should have been considering the experience levels of these two. Ken Shamrock might have been doing a form of the Scott Steiner Frankensteiner a bit after Steiner stopped doing them that way. There's probably a freak athlete out there able to hit the 1990 "drop a guy on his head with your legs" Frankensteiner in 2026. Rock nearfall after interference broken up by one ref running in to stop the count. Shamrock wins, but it's by DQ, not by submission, so he's holding the IC title belt but he doesn't actually win the belt. It's the finish that makes the face seem stupid, although they sorta did it in a way to make people think it was a submission and not a DQ but it was a DQ because literally one ref pulled the other ref away from making a count.

Quebecers getting some music that Jim Johnson randomly created from scraps of other songs. Jacques' hairline looking like Dan Spivey's around this time. Jacques tries prematch micwork about the Winter Olympics that nobody cares about. The Headbangers are the NWA Tag Team champions at this time. I think it's possible a ponytail makes Jacques hair look shittier. Eventually the fans start a "USA" chant for the Headbangers. Bleach blonde front row dude really angry at Jacques Rougeau. Pierre gets crotched off camera to prevent a move. Bangers win with the Stage Dive. By this point, they probably could have done NWA title changes at WWF house shows and barely anybody would have noticed.

Man, this version of the Goldust theme sounds like a fucked up mp3 that risks destroying your computer due to a glitch. Had the Undertaker appeared on WWF TV between Rumble and WM14? IIRC, didn't he make most of his appearances through magic before WM14? Either way, nice of him to fulfill commitments in the leadup to this match. The fans trudged through the post-Austin matches for a chance to pop for the Undertaker and they are ready. Goldust only mildly fucked up looking gear for this show with silver, a faux nightie, and FU facepaint. Didn't go full Marilyn Manson. Fans really wanting to see Undertaker choke slam Luna because these are fans at a wrestling show in 1998. Taker about to hit a Tombstone and the lights go out for Kane, which honestly, probably a really cool experience at a March 1998 house show. You see, you can't just Tombstone Goldust and pin him as Kane takes a minute to make his entrance because the ref can't see anything anyways. Okay, Kane's first move involving hot-shotting Undertaker while not on the Apron is not a common Kane move. Fans red hot to see Undertaker fighting Kane. Ref's not about to run the main event by calling for a DQ. Goldust wakes up, takes the Tombstone and Taker wins. So, thanks for showing up, Kane.

My match rankings from favorite to least favorite: Jack/Billy Gunn, Christopher/Aguila, Austin/HHH, Rock/Shamrock, Undertaker/Goldust, Headbangers/Quebecers, Farooq/Blackman, Mero/Chainz, Godwinns/DOA

honestly the May 98 Anaheim show (Rock/Austin, Undertaker/Kane, HHH/Owen, NAO/LOD 2000) sounds better on paper than this show.

A certain amount of 1998 WWF is more appealing when your balls have only barely dropped and your porn is sized like pixels are taxed extra. I think 9 matches in under 2 hours turned into the custom for WWF around this time. Only those 9 matches averaged 2 minutes each on Raw.

[Cobra Commander]

Memphis Wrestling, WMC Edition (3/8/1986):

Quote

WMC 79 is now a sports gambling themed radio station, kind of a waste of a good frequency. Paul Diamond and Michael Lee will open it up. Dutch! Dundee and Landell! The Mod Squad! The Fantastics! Jos LeDuc! International heavyweight title match highlights. The people in appliance rental commercials are even cutting good promos. So, the guy who preceded Joe Isuzu also looked like a Joe Isuzu. Gung Ho, starring Michael Keaton! (Rotten Tomatoes score of 39%, about what you'd expect for a movie about American/Japanese relations in the auto industry that uses a Chinese phrase in the title). Diamond and Lee are taking on Benny Trailer and the Patriot. No word on if this is the same Patriot who got his ass whipped by Koko Ware. Diamond wins with a Russian Legsweep and a rollover cradle. Let's take a look at Rick Casey vs Abdul Gaddafi from the Mid-South Coliseum. Don't see many "dude caught in the ropes" spots anymore since Andre the Giant died. Abdul Gaddafi wins the International Heavyweight Title. Fans sending flowers for Rick Casey, whose neck was injured. Frank Morrell and Billy Travis talking about Billy's upcoming match with Abdul Gaddafi. Yeah, like they really kept records to figure out winning percentages in Memphis. Yeah, they probably had it right when they decided Frank Morrell cut a better promo than Billy Joe Travis. Man, this life insurance ad is longggg. Dutch joins Lance and Dutch quotes MLK. Jeff and Jerry and Dutch and Jerry won't be satisfied until Bill and Buddy are sent to a Methodist hospital. Dutch Mantel takes on Keith Eric. Dutch wins with a gourdbuster and elbowdrop. Here's some pretaped remarks from Jerry Lawler on his fancy chair in a fancy room. Jerry's bookings made it impossible for him to get up on a Saturday morning for this show, so he's taping this a day early. Literally the doors were broken down at the Coliseum and not just because the building is in bad shape. Jerry with some comments on Bill and Buddy going after Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett's good eye last week. Hey they're doing a Sunday Afternoon show at the Coliseum this week. TCB No Lye Hair Reflexer, puzzle sold separately. Dick Moore Homes, with a truck driver hauling a home. City Finance! Network Dollar Days! The ice capades are in the Coliseum this Monday so the show is at 3pm Sunday. Lance talking up the opportunity for the out of towners to attend the card this time. All GA tickets $3! Pat Rose vs Frank Morrell, Dirty Rhodes vs Tony Falk, Jos LeDuc vs Thunderbolt Hamilton, Abdul Gaddafi vs Billy Travis, The Fantastics vs the Mod Squad, Lawler and Dutch vs Bill and Buddy. Bill and Buddy join Lance. Bill complaining that Jerry Lawler tried to take out his eye at the Coliseum. Bill dropping a "do you remember the last guy who had a dream", which is certainly a line. One security guy looking up disapprovingly as Bill Dundee rants and punches a hole in the set. Lance is angry at Bill Dundee and won't interview him anymore. This ruled. Econo, it can make your car look less shitty. Fleming Fine Furniture guy with a smooth pink blazer. The SEC Tournament final, this afternoon at 1:30 (Kentucky beats Alabama 83-72 and the tournament is broadcast by Lorimar Sports Network shortly before it goes away). Bill and Buddy take on Jim Jamison and David Haskins. Jim Jamison bleeding from the mouth taking a pounding. Dundee pins Jamison with a foot on the throat. Buddy Landel as the accessory to a crime is fresh compared to a lot of Buddy work which is a bit like a joke-y heel type. Dundee working like a man who came to America in 1974 and the first movie he saw in the USA was "Death Wish". TV Guide running commercials for the people who are unfamiliar with TV Guide. 30 weeks of TV Guide in 3 monthly installments of $5.75. The Fantastics are still here (for another week or so) and are still hugging everybody. Fantastics taking on Pat Rose and Tony Falk. Tony Falk insists today is the day he's gonna win. Fantastics win after a splash on Falk. The Jerry Lawler VHS tape! (is probably on YouTube somewhere). Kinda interesting how you gotta send mail to New Jersey for a Lawler video tape. Colortyme, now in Jackson, TN. Arthritis, it's a four syllable word for some. 9.9% finance rate for Chevys at Ellis (is that good?). The Fantastics are sorry that they didn't show up last Monday. Their car just quit and they eventually hitchhiked to the gas station. They couldn't get a guy to fix the car in time. Then the phones were tied up. Holy shit this is an elaborate story for the good guys to tell. Then they had to get affidavits to keep their titles. Out of town action: Jerry Lawler Show tomorrow with Dutch Mantel. Jackson, TN on 3/14. Tickets at the Boot King. Booneville, MS on 3/21. Jonesboro on 3/23. Fleming Fine Furniture, you know the furniture is good because this guy is fat and he's not breaking their stuff. Bill King's Brake-O, they care. Tommy Lasorda for Honda power equipment. Gung Ho, with Gedde Watanbe and George Wendt too. Mod Squad taking on Thunderbolt Hamilton and David Johnson. Mod Sqiad from the Badlands of New Orleans... whatttttttttttt. Cops that were fired due to brutality would be one hell of a gimmick to try in 2026. You think JD still has the Mod Squad rule book in his garage. JD gonna commentate a little mid-match like he's Jim Cornette or something. Mod Squad wins the first fall with their double team. Taco Bell! Champion Rentals! Another reminder of the show tomorrow, you can watch basketball or go to church and then go to the show and not get home late. For any fans reluctant about being in Memphis after dark. JD Costello/Mod Squad promo. Yeah, upon hearing the Jim Cornette story about JD Costello doing ring announcing for JCP in South Carolina, JD looks like he's an upstate South Carolina dude. JD just doesn't believe the Fantastics story. But it's a version of the four flat tires because the Fantastics didn't mention what type of car they had. So we get some Fantastics/Mod Squad brawling. And the interview background that Bill Dundee punched is knocked down. Let's take a look at Jos LeDuc. Man, what year was this "people trying to pull Jos LeDuc's hands together" thing filmed in. So we get the Jos LeDuc sizzle reel in case you're unaware of Jos LeDuc. Let's run down what happened today to finish out the show. Feels like the "summarize what was just on the show" thing is a lost artform for wrestling. 

 

[Cobra Commander]

Babyface Anderson Brothers vs evil State Patrolmen

Ole feels like a guy who would loudly ask cops if they have a search warrant

Edited March 8 by Cobra Commander

[Dragon]

Roland Bock's Catch Europa Tournee

Different style fight 

Antonio Inoki vs. Karl Mildenberger

nowadays you got Yota doing Boston crabs for submisson finish in NJPW.

 

Stampede Wrestling 1979

NWF Heavyweight Championship

Antonio Inoki (c) vs. Stan Hansen 

 

 

[Cobra Commander]

WWE Vault doing midday work and uploading Rockers/Demolition from June 1990 (previously on a Shawn Michaels DVD)

 

[Technico Support]

On 3/9/2026 at 4:29 PM, Cobra Commander said:

WWE Vault doing midday work and uploading Rockers/Demolition from June 1990 (previously on a Shawn Michaels DVD)

 

I came here to post about that match!  One of the weirdest (non-squash) match layouts I've ever seen, especially from an earlier era where they mostly stuck to the formula.  There is no shine whatsoever, so there's also no cutoff.  They just go straight to the heat and occasional hope spots.  If they hadn't shown the entrances, etc., I would have assumed the first few minutes were edited out.  It was weird.  So finally Marty gets what looks like a comeback, only to get cut off again.  Very shortly after, the Rockers get their proper comeback, only for Demolition to cut them right off and win via interference.  Really weird curiosity of a match.

I tried to watch Demolition vs LOD & Warrior, but hearing Vince kinda grossed me out and Piper's HYUK HYUK act on color also drove me up a wall in about 30 seconds.

Edited March 12 by Technico Support

[Cobra Commander]

I suspect some of the WWF dark matches that didn’t air for decades didn’t air for a reason. And not because they were too good for a Coliseum video release

[Pete]

On 3/5/2026 at 9:33 AM, hammerva said:

 

I assume it can go hear.  It is a documentary about Jeff Jarrett running a show in 2025 in his home town of Hendersonville, TN.  Very good stuff and probably way too emotional then I thought.   A mix of wrestlers from multiple places like NWA,  AEW, and TNA shown on here

 

 

Point of order: whose heart?

[odessasteps]

 

[Cobra Commander]

Today on the WCW vault: Flair vs Steamboat for 3 1/2 hours in a row

 

[Cobra Commander]

also Hogan/High Flyers vs Jesse/Patera/Heenan

 

[Dragon]

AJPW 

24 year old Kento vs Jun

 

AJPW 2013/1/2 New Year Shining Series 2013 New Year 2 Days

Kaz Hayashi, Keiji Muto and Masanobu Fuchi vs GURENTAI (MAZADA, Minoru Suzuki and Taiyo Kea)

 

[Cobra Commander]

watching the first 89 Flair/Steamboat and would it be correct to think that Flair having his feet on the ropes made it more logical for Steamboat to get his nearside shoulder up because Flair's positioning doesn't place as much weight on that shoulder than usual (with I guess the leverage placing more pressure on the other side). Anybody who has worked or tried to do that in real life could add/debunk that.

[twiztor]

5 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

also Hogan/High Flyers vs Jesse/Patera/Heenan

 

have any of the Hogan/Ventura singles matches ever been released?

[Cobra Commander]

19 minutes ago, twiztor said:

have any of the Hogan/Ventura singles matches ever been released?

my first impression is to just answer No, but as for WWF matches

Dark match at Poughkeepsie in July 84

Cobo in September 84, Manchester NH a day later, Baltimore the next day, and then the next week, Studd starts subbing for Jesse due to the blood clots

Then matches in various parts of 1985 outside of the major major arenas.

So, I'd be shocked if they had any unused footage from 1984 tapings of Championship Wrestling

Probably the best chance would involve Hogan and Jesse in the AWA. There's a guy on eBay selling a 76 disc DVD set of Hogan matches which lists Hogan/Jesse from the AWA. But I don't think that one has had a WWE release.

There was a Hogan/Flyers vs Jesse/Patera/Bobby match released on DVD in 2006. I guess it's possible there is Hogan/Jesse from St. Paul on a random reel.

Edited March 12 by Cobra Commander