WRESTLING ON THE INTERNET NOT FROM THE NOW

[Cobra Commander]

a fake Yoshi Kwan teaming with the New Breed, but only if it's an actual Asian and not a white guy in yellowface... so no Mark Starr as Yoshi Kwan

I guess Sean Royal would have been the less available of the two, so team Paul Diamond, Pat Tanaka, and Chris Champion... Diamond/Champion for an excellent "tag team that people don't realize are Commonwealth subjects that pretend to be Asian" (Diamond from Canada via Croatia, Champion from the UK)

Edited May 10 by Cobra Commander

[odessasteps]

Diamond was also in American Force with HBK in Texas All Star. 

you could have done Three Faces of Champion with someone as Yoshi Kwan and a third person as Cowabunga. 

Edited May 10 by odessasteps

[Cobra Commander]

Cowabunga and the Toxic Turtles (Duane Gill and Barry Hardy) for King of the Trios before Champion died

assuming Champion got the suit back after having to explain that he couldn't get an erection while wearing a turtlesuit or whatever

[zendragon]

I was at this show, the match was supposed be Sandman & Terry Funk v Warbeast but Terry Funk pulled out so I never got to see him wrestle live

[Cobra Commander]

Today on the Vaults

Wrestling Grudge Matches

Slamboree 95!

One Nasties/Harlem Heat note

Spoiler

Jerry Sags punching Sherri to knock her off the apron - clipped out

Brian Knobbs slamming Sherri as she comes of the top rope and throwing her to the outside - in the match

Sherri bumping forcing 2026 vaults to make hard decisions

 

[Dragon]

NJPW Battle Formation In Tokyo Dome 29 04 1996

Macho Man vs Tenzan 

 

[AxB]

Big Van Vader vs Don Frye

[Dragon]

NOAH Global Tag League 2016 

TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) vs Akitoshi Saito and Mohammed Yone

 

[Curt McGirt]

Super Nova/Texano Jr. vs. Ray Mendoza Jr. (Villano V)/Villano IV vs. Cassandro/Hijo del Pirata Morgan

One team fights the winner of the first match, loser has hair/masks removed. This is the cool shit you can find on Segunda digging through pages from 15 years ago if the link isn't broken. 

[Dragon]

WCCW  Fritz Von Erich Retirement Show June 4, 1982

NWA American Heavyweight Championship

Falls count anywhere match

Fritz Von Erich VS King Kong Bundy (c)

 

[Guest lounging]

Hey how come nobody told me there is an FMW vault channel? I'm tired of mainstream wrestling! 

 

[Corwo]

Black Terry Jr. has begun uploading matches from his archives. The first is Skayde vs. El Apache (DTU, 4/18/2010):

 

[Cobra Commander]

Vault unleashing 90 minutes from a 1996 Kuwait show

my notes on the matches

Quote

The switches between camera angles is so seamless that it feels like cuts. Bushwhacker Butch vs Aldo Montoya in a face vs face match is certainly a way to kick off a card in 1996. It looks like Butch has more hair than PJ. Also Butch works like he's drifting towards heel tactics while having to remind himself that he's a babyface being cheered because Kuwaitis are a hot crowd (this is the 4th or 5th consecutive night of shows so they're really hot if they didn't get killed by 1996 WWF). Aldo wins with a backslide. It's no wonder that PJ was about to shave his head entirely because he looks like the youngest bald man at this time. I guess they could only afford one Bushwhacker unless we're getting Luke in a singles match (checks the results: oh man, we might just get Bushwhacker Luke in singles match on this video). The Bushwhackers actually kinda benefit from these house show matches since you can hear how ridiculously over they are even if they don't do anything in the ring because they're old and the ring is hard as a rock. Work smarter, not harder and do your verbal chant after every move.

It's Yokozuna and he's fucking gigantic in May 1996. Bob Backlund and Isaac Yankem are waiting to wrestle Yokozuna and Savio Vega. This is a fucking weird matchup. Bob Backlund's weird man gesturing towards Yokozuna is hilarity though. Like you know Bob Backlund would wanna try one of his ridiculous strongman moves on 1996 Yokozuna before good sense prevailed. The referee for this one looks like a Nascar driver (bowl cut and mustache) or 1980s Sonny Bono. It was certainly a decision to put Isaac Yankem in the comfiest looking pants they could find for this gimmick. Bob Backlund runs out to the crowd to taunt some Kuwaitis. This feels like the clips of Dick Murdoch working Kuwait in the 80s. Any Kuwaitis wanting an autograph from Mr. Backlund will have to recite the Kuwaiti emirs in order. Savio working in a Puerto Rico flag top when he's teaming like 700lb Yokozuna is certainly a level of body non-positivity. If Yoko can work without a shirt on. Bob Backlund's exchanges with Yokozuna are so much fun. Like Backlund can't fathom a man who is that huge. Neat release cradle suplex by Backlund on Savio. Yankem's hair is very "white guy playing in the NBA in 1981" hair, which made him a good fake Shemp for Kevin Nash. Yoko wins with a Samoan Drop and Banzai on Yankem.

So, perhaps we won't see Bushwhacker Luke vs Leif Cassidy and Duke Drose vs Marty Jannetty or the match order is different from HistoryOfWWE (which had Butch beating Aldo in the results)

Next up is Bret Hart and Undertaker vs Owen and Davey Boy. Which got released on a DVD that you likely didn't buy (Attitude Era Unreleased Volume 3). Undertaker is super over, as one would expect. Love the rug that's just past the ringside mats. That's a cool look. Bret Hart is wearing a headdress and shades during his Muammar Gaddafi phase. There is so much milking of the crowd and stalling before this gets going. This crowd is making this all work. These guys have been here for a few days and they know that they can pretty much bullshit around and the crowd is gonna be hot for it. It took little over 5 years for people in this crowd to go from being in the middle of the Gulf War, to getting to see this tag team match. This crowd just rules so hard. I think Owen blowing a snot rocket towards the crowd got an audible response too. The basic outline of the match should be obvious: Bret stays in there and any attempts by the Undertaker to step in are hindered until the right time. The basic formula for a tag match works so much better with an audible live crowd too. Finally Bret tags Taker and the crowd goes wild. Taker tombstones Owen and the good guys win. There's a "See You Again, New Generation" sign with Razor Ramon on it (we're about a week from Hall/Nash leaving the company). Bret certainly writing in his book about how over he was with Kuwaitis.

Next up is HHH vs Ahmed for the Kuwaiti Cup. This match was actually on TV somewhere during a week when the WWF needed to fulfill contracts with the people that weren't preempting Raw for the Dog Show (the 9/2/96 Raw). Jerry Brisco filmed at ringside probably running the show. This crowd loves them some Ahmed Johnson. It looks like Jerry Brisco's shirt is in the same colors as Aldo Montoya's ring gear. Also a lot of stalling before this one got going. Ahmed refusing to let go of a side headlock. The ringside carpeting makes it look like this card is taking place in a really fancy ballroom. This match is a bit of a slog but the crowd loves it because imagine how bad you'd have to be to not get crowd responses in 1996 Kuwait. Kuwait feels like the South Carolina of the Middle East with this hot wrestling crowd. This feels like a match that would actually benefit from 1996 WWF Commentary purely so that you don't space out watching it. Ahmed with a gnarly spinebuster. This feels like the kind of match that would get Ernie Ladd yelled at for putting JYD in a 20 minute match in Mid-South. Ahmed finally hits the Pearl River Plunge to end this match.

and our match event is Stone Cold vs Shawn Michaels. You can just imagine for yourself if you're missing anything from Luke/Al Snow or Marty/Duke Droese. You likely aren't. Stone Cold wearing pink bicep tape/wrist tape with his black gear and we're days away from Ted DiBiase being gone (Ted's not here). This match also got a DVD release and I'm pretty sure it was uploaded on the Vault on it's own. Kuwaiti ringsiders are into Shawn Michaels. It would be awhile before Austin really got the rocket strapped to his ass but they figured out early that Austin could put on good matches with the faces in this company because he was working with Michaels before WM12. Loved that "distract the ref so you can boot Michaels in the balls" spot. The lights go out and apparently this really is happening in South Carolina and we are watching "In Your House: Beware of Saddam". The natural lighting looks pretty neat though. And the lights are turned back on a minute or so later. Not sure when Austin stopped doing the jawbreaker when his finisher was the Stunner. Michaels really milking the fuck out of the pre-SSC stomping and Michaels beats Austin with the Superkick

Since I don't do star ratings, my sentence ratings for the matches

• Butch vs Aldo - Not bad but also nothing extraordinary
• Backlund/Yankem vs Savio/Yoko - Bob Backlund doing most of the memorable things in the match
• Owen/Davey vs Bret/Undertaker - fun match with the tag match formula
• Ahmed vs HHH - Agonizing
• Austin vs HBK - a good fun time

Edited May 12 by Cobra Commander

[Dragon]

WWF Jan 1992 28

Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs Jake Roberts and the Berzerker

 

[Hamhock]

16 minutes ago, Dragon said:

WWF Jan 1992 28

Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs Jake Roberts and the Berzerker

 

That's the only Jake/Hogan in-ring in existence as well, I assume.

[Sex Machine Gun]

50 minutes ago, Dragon said:

WWF Jan 1992 28

Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs Jake Roberts and the Berzerker

 

I wonder if that ending was why Hogan counted a three along with the referee for Savage in WCW once.

[Cobra Commander]

Hulk Hogan cutting working against Papa Shango and his curses in 1992 is still the ultimate "thing that would have been amazing but didn't happen" but Hulk Hogan vs the Berzerker would have been an amazing sports entertainment match too

[Dragon]

WWF Prime Time Wrestling - "March To WrestleMania VIII" 1992

Shawn Michaels vs. Roddy Piper

 

[Cobra Commander]

the Hogan/Jake interactions in the Hogan/Savage vs Jake/Berzerker match are amazing.. I know why they never did Hogan vs Jake, but it would have been fun if they had done it

[The Green Meanie]

4 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Vault unleashing 90 minutes from a 1996 Kuwait show

 

This was a really strange event, clothing wise. Granted, I stopped watching after the 1996 Royal Rumble, but I don't remember Aldo ever wrestling unmasked. Bob wearing black for the first time since the 1980's? And why was Stone Cold wearing pink?! At first I thought it was a case of them editing the thumbnail again.

[Cobra Commander]

1 minute ago, The Green Meanie said:

This was a really strange event, clothing wise. Granted, I stopped watching after the 1996 Royal Rumble, but I don't remember Aldo ever wrestling unmasked. Bob wearing black for the first time since the 1980's? And why was Stone Cold wearing pink?! At first I thought it was a case of them editing the thumbnail again.

They ran five consecutive nights at Al Arabi Stadium and this was night 5. My best guess is that some guys were running thin on their gear working five nights in a row in Kuwait. Unless they have footage of the other nights which disproves that. Which they might.

The cards by night in Kuwait were

Night 1: Savio vs Drose, Austin vs Marty, Ahmed vs Aldo, Bushwhackers vs Backlund/Yankem which has to be an amazing comedy matchup if the Whackers and Bob were up to it, Bret vs Leif Cassidy, Owen vs Yoko, Undertaker vs HHH, and HBK vs Davey

Night 2: Aldo vs Luke, Savio vs Backlund, HHH vs Butch which went 12 minutes, Yokozuna and Ahmed vs the New Rockers, Davey Boy vs Drose, Undertaker vs Yankem, Bret vs Austin, and Michaels vs Owen (they put 3 of those matches on World Tour 96, so they have the footage)

Night 3: Drose vs Backlund, Aldo vs Yankem, New Rockers vs Bushwhackers, Undertaker vs Davey Boy, HHH vs Savio, Owen vs Bret, Ahmed vs Austin, and HBK vs Yoko (4 of the matches aired on International Raw in August 96)

Night 4: Drose vs Aldo, Yokozuna vs Yankem, Bushwhackers vs Backlund/Cassidy which is probably even better than Whackers vs Backlund/Yankem, Savio vs Austin in a strap match, Bret vs Davey Boy, Ahmed vs Owen, Hunter vs Undertaker, and Michaels vs Janetty (3 matches on International Raw)

But yeah, I could see some guys working five consecutive nights and not being able to use their usual gear by the end. Maybe Aldo's mask got ripped up or Bob didn't want to wear the same tights five nights in a row.

Also by night 5, there was a certain amount of knowing how to pop the crowd and wanting to get through the card without getting hurt on the last night there

[Cobra Commander]

This was in the big Flair/Steamboat video a few months ago. But here’s the nearly 40 minute WCW Saturday Night Flair/Steamboat match just uploaded by the WCW Vault

 

[SirSmUgly]

Here's a neat 1979 WWF episode (with commercials - did someone get banned because Mr. Cash himself makes an appearance!):

What I find most neat about it springs from a conversation that I had with a couple of people back in my Lucha Underground review thread about the WW(W)F North American Championship, the short-lived precursor to the WWF Intercontinental Championship that was created when Pat Patterson unified the WWF North American (this existed) and WWF South American (this did not) Championships into what we now know as the title that makes one the champion of all the Americas. I looked it up and  Penta (speaking of LU) is currently the King of All the Americas*. Good for him! 

Anyway, Ted DiBiase makes an appearance as champ here, one of only three WWF North American Champions to ever exist. Quite the exclusive club, huh? 

Also, there are Too Many Valiants and a very animated Iron Sheik, among other appearances. 

*Technically, Penta is not King of Central America, as that belt was not unified with the others in that famed Rio tournament.

[Sex Machine Gun]

I never knew that's where "Intercontinental" came from. It never made sense until finding out it was a unifed belt. Man, I kinda wish there was some way they could go back to just North American like NXT has after hearing this story.

[odessasteps]

Young Mark Curtis, is he a doctor yet?