WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XIX (January 1989)

Original Airdate: January 7, 1989

From Tampa, Florida; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XVIII (November 1988)

Original Airdate: November 26, 1988 – airing just two days after the ’88 Survivor Series, though taped a few weeks before – making this both a wrap-up and go home show.

From Sacramento, California; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XVII (October 1988)

Original Airdate: October 29, 1988

From Baltimore, Maryland; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XVI (April 1988)

Original Airdate: April 30, 1988

Formatting note – with the expansion of our coverage to… covering… wrestling TV programs like this one, you’ll notice that there is now a nifty new index on the top of each page: one for the WWE/WWF pay per views, WCW/NWA, and a separate one for TV programming from all promotions. Locate whatever you are looking for, and read in order if you wish to do so. There is also a search bar in the upper left corner of each page – good for searching a particular show, wrestler, match, or just how many times I’ve used the word ‘fuck.’ This should clear up any future organizational issues, as many of these shows will likely be posted out of order.

From Springfield, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XV (March 1988)

Original Airdate: March 12, 1988

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF The Main Event (February 1988)

Original Airdate: February 5, 1988

After achieving unparalleled ratings success with their Saturday Night’s Main Event broadcasts (held a few times a year, in SNL’s usual late night slot) NBC decided to give the WWF a one-hour special – this time in primetime, and on Friday Night. And the WWF delivered – promising the highly anticipated WrestleMania III rematch between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant – drawing the largest audience ever for a wrestling television program (a ratings record that still stands today) with some 30 million people tuning in. For pro-wrestling, this is the equivalent of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

From Indianapolis, Indiana; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XIV (January 1988)

Original Airdate: January 2, 1988

From Landover, Maryland; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XIII (November 1987)

Original Airdate: November 28, 1987 – airing just two nights after the first Survivor Series, though taped a few weeks before.

From Seattle, Washington; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event XII (October 1987)

Original Airdate: October 3, 1987

From Hershey, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event X (March 1987)

Original Airdate: March 14, 1987

From Detroit, Michigan; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura. A testament to the WWF’s drawing power at this point: they pack over fifteen thousand people into an arena for a TV taping a month before running essentially the same town (Pontiac – about a half hour away) for WrestleMania III – and still drawing enough to fill the Silverdome.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event VIII (November 1986)

Original Airdate: November 29, 1986

From Los Angeles, California; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura – with Jesse wearing a special toupee for the occasion, as they’re in Hollywood.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event VII (October 1986)

Original Airdate: October 4, 1986

From Richfield, Ohio; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

During the opening roundup, we get perhaps the most disturbing promo of all time (wrestling, or otherwise), as Jake Roberts shows us his snake while taking a shower.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event IV (January 1986)

Original Airdate: January 4, 1986

From Tampa, Florida; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan – since Jesse Ventura is wrestling.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event III (November 1985)

Original Airdate: November 2, 1985

From Hershey, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event II (October 1985)

Original Airdate: October 5, 1985

After the success of the first Saturday Night’s Main Event in May – with the WWF still running wild in the thick of the Golden Age – they came back for another late night special on NBC that fall.

From East Rutherford, New Jersey; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Saturday Night's Main Event I (May 1985)

Original Airdate: May 11, 1985

With the WWF reaching unparalleled levels of success and mainstream exposure with Hulk Hogan, the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection, and the first WrestleMania, they secured a deal with NBC to air 90-minute specials throughout the year, in place of a Saturday Night Live rerun. It was a tremendous ratings success – a win for both the WWF and NBC – and would run until 1992, when a general slump in the wrestling business resulted in cancelation.

From Uniondale, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura.

WCW SuperBrawl (May 1991)

In 1991, WCW introduced a new pay per view to their lineup in an effort to create a non-NWA associated flagship show: SuperBrawl. Over the next few years, WCW would push to establish SuperBrawl as its flagship blowoff show – turning Starrcade into a non-blowoff concept card for ’91 and ’92 – and even releasing a videogame named after the event.

The first SuperBrawl was less this structure of a new flagship program (as WCW had just run Starrcade a few months earlier), but built around a rematch between WCW World Champion Ric Flair and NWA World Champion Tatsumi Fujinami – after Flair had lost the latter title to Fujinami in a WCW/New Japan cross promotional event in March.

From St. Petersburg, Florida; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes.

WCW / NJPW SuperShow (March 1991)

The SuperShow was an interesting cross promotional, east-meets-west event held in Japan by WCW and New Japan in March 1991 – though it wouldn’t air in North America until the next month, and in edited form. It took place in front of over 60,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome, and was actually promoted as ‘Starrcade’ in Japan. I’m covering it today as an introduction to the upcoming SuperBrawl series, as this card is the catalyst for the main event of the first SuperBrawl.

From Tokyo, Japan; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone in North America – though my copy is the full Japanese version of the show, with Japanese announcers.

WCW Spring Stampede 1994

For 1994 WCW decided to add a new pay per view to their calendar, for the first time producing an event for the month of April, to bridge the gap between SuperBrawl in February and Slamboree in May. It was an interesting period for WCW, as this was one of the last shows produced before their fateful signing of Hulk Hogan in June, changing the direction of the entire promotion.

I wasn’t a WCW fan yet when the event was first held (in fact, only becoming a wrestling fan at all a few months before), but I did acquire a VHS copy of the show in the late 90s (from Amazon.com!), based on good word of mouth, and the reputation of Ric Flair v Ricky Steamboat matches.

From Chicago, Illinois; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.

WWF Over the Edge 1999

Over the Edge ’99 is, without a doubt, the WWE / WWF’s most infamous show. For me, as a fourteen year old hardcore WWF supporter, it was one of the most surreal, visceral moments in my wrestling fandom.

I didn’t order the show live, as the monthly pay per view wars were too pricey for my family to compete in, but I heard about the death of Owen Hart that same night, on the local news. It was indescribably devastating, as Hart had always been one of my favorite Superstars – and, in fact, one of the reasons I turned on to the product to begin with in early 1994. I was heart broken not only as a fan, but thinking of how his family must be feeling – especially parents Stu and Helen, and brother Bret. I stood in front of my bedroom television set shocked – it couldn’t be true – and in an era before DVR, I couldn’t go back to make sure. Unfortunately, the internet quickly confirmed what the newscaster had said.

The next day at school, classes happened to be put off for an end of the year field trip to a local amusement park. It was the first opportunity I had to talk to my ‘wrestling buddies’ about what had happened. Everyone was shocked, not at all in the mood to go on rides, or have any real fun. I remember talking of the incident, and general Owen memories, at the picnic table lunch over our peanut butter sandwiches. It was very overwhelming – and maybe more so for me than some of my friends, as I had recently lost a close family member, and Owen’s death brought on a flood of memories. Fittingly, it rained all day.

Watching Over the Edge ’99 is not a part of the usual process, especially for review. Obviously, it isn’t the type of show we watch for the purpose we usually tune into wrestling: enjoyment and escapism. To suspend disbelief. Watching Over the Edge is the wrestling equivalent of watching the Zapruder film. Of watching a Holocaust documentary. It isn’t entertainment… but it’s a major part of the pseudo-sport we love – one of the most tragic.

From Kansas City, Missouri; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WCW Slamboree 1996

After taking a look at the nWo‘s formation, I thought we should pull back and take a peek at the last WCW pay per view to take place before Scott Hall’s fateful appearance on Nitro the next week.

For 1996, WCW scrapped the ‘Legends Reunion’ theme from Slamboree – instead digging up Dusty Rhodes’ BattleBowl/Lethal Lottery concept (not used since November 1993) to advance some angles without having to pay them off, as well as push Diamond Dallas Page.

My interest in the show was minimal, as I had become a WCW fan after Hogan and Savage’s entrances in 1994 – but only to a point. Everything from fall 1995-nWo invasion blends together, as I was mostly watching the WWF – almost every week of which I remember vividly.

From Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes.

WCW Fall Brawl 1996

With the nWo running wild, the annual Fall Brawl seemed like a perfect place for WCW to get some revenge – booking a hot War Games main event. However, since the nWo only had four active members at that point (and one – The Giant – was busy wrestling in another match), it led to another promise of a mystery partner, as well as the introduction of Sting as the lead foil for Hollywood Hogan, and the nWo.

From Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes.

WCW Hog Wild 1996

Hog Wild 1996 was an interesting show for many reasons. It was WCW’s first effort at programming an August pay per view into their increasingly competitive schedule, which they decided to hold outdoors at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, with tickets given to bikers for free in the midst of the hottest angle they’d ever stumbled onto with the nWo. The result led to a disinterested crowd (many of whom actually sat on their bikes for the duration of the show) filled with non-fans who grabbed free tickets to a random wrestling show on their vacation, but had little/no knowledge of the participants or angles presented.

From Sturgis, South Dakota; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes – trying their best to fit in, and not recreate Altamont.

WCW Bash at the Beach 1996

Ever since Memorial Day 1996, when Scott Hall showed up unannounced on Nitro as an ‘invader’ from a rival promotion – the wrestling world was abuzz. At The Great American Bash, he (and fellow ‘Outsider’ Kevin Nash) attacked WCW’s Eric Bischoff – powerbombing him through a table – and spent the next month reeking havoc on the entire roster, running in during matches, and attacking everyone in sight. The angle was extremely hot, turning all heads to WCW (and Nitro – which would dominate the WWF’s RAW in the ratings for over 80 weeks), and the first ‘blowoff’ to the angle was scheduled for Bash at the Beach, where the Outsiders (along with an unnamed third man), would do battle with three of WCW’s foremost stars.

As a kid, this was big. Everyone knew who Razor and Diesel were, and seeing them show up on Nitro, destroy sets and punk out wrestlers was like a bizzaro world. It didn’t have the same feeling as seeing Barry Windham or Dustin Rhodes show up in the WWF with a new gimmick – it felt real, and was extremely well done. The ‘who is the third man’ question also plagued us for weeks going into this – with all sorts of rumors of who was going to come over from the WWF next.

From Daytona Beach, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes

WCW The Great American Bash 1996

The Great American Bash 1996 is remembered as one of the primary steps in WCW’s quest to transition from ‘that wrestling on the other channel’ to the undisputed #1 promotion in North America. The card on paper going into the show certainly didn’t imply such (it was essentially stranded WCW fare for the period), but the events that would unfold drove forward a storyline that would, for the first time, not only make WCW a contender against the WWF (which they first truly achieved with the signing of Hulk Hogan (and, to a lesser extent, Randy Savage) in 1994) but the premier wrestling promotion in North America.

From Baltimore, Maryland; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes

NWA (WCW) WrestleWar 1989

WrestleWar ’89: Music City Showdown! (a showdown in Music City!) isn’t one I saw live (I was four), but in the late 90s, after ‘smartening up’ about the wrestling business and becoming more interested in the art of wrestling, it was one I sought out – as it featured the legendary showdown (in Music City!) between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat that was heralded as one of the greatest of all time.

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Bob Caudle.

WCW Starrcade 1997

Starrcade 1997 is one of WCW’s most famous, and certainly their most notorious show. It broke all previous pay per view commercial figures for the company (breaking Hulk Hogan’s debut show – Bash at the Beach 1994’s record), and – aside from multiple feuds promised to be paid off on the biggest blowoff show of the year – was the culmination of the Sting v nWo angle that had been the focus of WCW programming throughout 1997.

In addition, Bret Hart – fresh off of his rocky departure from the WWF after the Montreal Screwjob – was set to make an appearance. The signing of Bret Hart – one of the WWF’s biggest international stars of the 90s – was a huge triumph for WCW, and with the WWF reeling, his addition to Starrcade only added to the level of intrigue. It was certainly big bait for me, as Montreal had turned me off of the WWF completely for a while, and I was eager to see what WCW would do with my hero, the Hitman.

The show was poised to become WCW’s knockout blow to the staggering WWF, but is now remembered as one of the turning points in the Monday Night Wars, as WCW mishandled and blew the potential of this show so badly, it began the downward spiral that would not only help the WWF overtake them in ratings and revenue by 1998 – but lead to their eventual demise only three years later.

From Washington, D.C. – Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Dusty Rhodes.

WWF Survivor Series 1998

By 1998, the WWF was resurgent – finally finding the overarching storyline they needed to overtake WCW with Steve Austin v Mr. McMahon – and in the fall, Mr. McMahon won a major battle in his endless war against Stone Cold, getting the WWF Title off of him. Unfortunately for him, his plan (kayfabe) to put the title on The Undertaker or Kane had failed when Austin interfered – leaving it vacant – and compelling the formation of a fourteen-man single elimination tournament (known as, The Deadly Games) to declare a new champion. McMahon lined up his troops – determined the night end with the title on Corporate stooge Mankind – while Steve Austin and newly christened ‘People’s Champion’ The Rock prepared for the obstacles McMahon would throw on their way to the title.

From St. Louis, Missouri; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WWF Survivor Series 1996

As an eleven year old mark, I have very fond memories of watching this show on pay per view. The WWF was getting killed financially by WCW at the time, and they built this card nicely, with the blowoff to the Mankind/Undertaker feud, Shawn Michaels defending the WWF Title against Sid, and, probably most intriguing of all, the return of Bret Hart – after eight months of absence, and worries that he would also jump to WCW – to finally face off with Steve Austin, and his mouth.

From New York, New York; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Jim Ross.

WCW Starrcade 1996

1996 was a return to form for Starrcade, as WCW promoted the card back to flagship status, after spending most of the 90s either running concepts shows, or promoting it as just another event in their ever expanding lineup.

With the nWo storyline in full swing, I had become a somewhat devoted WCW fan by the end of 1996 – Nitro getting about a 50% share with RAW in the channel surfing battle. The WWF was, unquestionably, still my main source of wrestling programming – but even a loyal eleven year old mark superfan would be hard pressed to turn a blind eye at what was going on over on TNT.

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes – along with Mike Tenay (he knows Cruiserweights!) and Lee Marshall (he knows Women!) for a couple of matches.

WCW Starrcade 1995

1995 once again saw WCW running Starrcade as a concept show – which they had previously attempted with BattleBowl in the early 90s – this time holding a ‘World Cup of Wrestling,’ though the only two countries competing were ‘Japan’ and ‘WCW’ – which, to be fair, did have the budget of some smaller countries at that point. The concept was not entirely unlike the Iron Man tournament they ran on the show in 1989, or the Pat O'Connor Memorial International Cup Tag Team Tournament (try saying that five times fast), held in 1990 – though the promotion for it was strange. Because of the time difference, WCW’s main American television platform – Nitro – was not the primary way to sell Starrcade to the Japanese audience, and episodes of Nitro building to Starrcade placed very little focus on the World Cup – which dominates this card. Most of the build took place on WCW’s scarcely watched syndicated programming – which aired at more convenient hours for the Japanese – to help market Starrcade.

Other than the tournament – which, as noted, was fairly irrelevant to American audiences due to WCW’s promotion – there would also be a match for the WCW World Title, featuring champion Randy Savage defending against the winner of a Triangle Match between Ric Flair, Sting, and Lex Luger. This angle was properly promoted for American audiences. My personal, ten year old interest in the show was limited, as I had been following WCW as an occasional WWF alternative since Hulk Hogan’s signing the previous summer, but the fact that he had decided to take time off – sitting Starrcade out – left me numb on the buildup, and I didn’t even bother to ask my parents about ordering the show.

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes.

WCW Starrcade 1994

By 1994 – after a return to form in ’93 promoting Starrcade as its flagship event – WCW had once again demoted its longest running series to filler status. Having blown their Hulk Hogan/Ric Flair dream match load in Hogan’s WCW debut back in July – and already drying up all of the opportunities for rematches to the point that Hulk had put Flair ‘into retirement’ at the previous pay per view – the buildup going into Starrcade mainly focused on Hogan battling the evil Dungeon of Doom, specifically former best friend/member ‘The Butcher’ – best known for their WWF relationship, where he wrestled as Brutus Beefcake.

As a kid, WCW didn’t exist to me until Hulk Hogan signed with them in the summer of ’94, and I started tentatively tuning in – though mostly only whenever the Hulkster was on – as the dream match with Flair was a good lure, and he was one of the few stars they had I was familiar with. My local video stores stocked very little WCW – mostly sticking to more popular WWF shows – and I wasn’t familiar with them other than occasionally coming across Saturday Night while channel surfing, and realizing it wasn’t WWF programming. Going into Starrcade, I wasn’t intrigued by any of the matches (the Dungeon of Doom storyline didn’t even do much to captivate the imagination of a nine year old), but very interested in the news that Randy Savage would make an appearance – promising to either ‘shake Hogan’s hand, or slap his face.’ Savage jumping ship is what effectively legitimized WCW as an alternative to the WWF for me, and was a crucial signing for them in what would become the Monday Night Wars.

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.

WWF Survivor Series 1995

Survivor Series 1995 is one I never actually saw live, but I did hear live – sitting in front of our ten-inch kitchen TV, listening in to all the pay per view action – back in the days when that was still something you could do. You’d think three hours of listening to McMahon, Ross, and Perfect prattle on by medium meant primarily for visual enjoyment would be tedious – but as a ten year old mark – I was in heaven. Occasionally, the picture would even descramble, and I’d get a five second glimpse of the action – while my mother worried it was getting too close to bedtime on a school night. Listening in was plenty exciting – but it was the results of the main event that truly left me near hysterics. 

From Landover, Maryland; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Mr. Perfect – making his return to the WWF.

WCW Starrcade 1993

For 1993, WCW – after spending the last couple of years turning their traditional flagship show into a platform for Dusty Rhodes’ BattleBowl gimmick – decided a return to form was needed for the 10^th Anniversary show. As in the old days, they booked Starrcade as the capital blowoff event of the year – focusing on building feuds, and a major main event.

From Charlotte, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

WCW Starrcade 1991

1991 was an interesting year for Starrcade. WCW had recently disassociated itself with the NWA for 1991 – as well as lost its biggest star, Ric Flair – though the two are somewhat unrelated. Traditionally, Starrcade was considered NWA/WCW’s ‘WrestleMania’ – their flagship blowoff show – but for 1991 they decided to run a concept show. Devised by Dusty Rhodes, wrestlers names were entered into a lottery (the ‘Lethal Lottery!’), and drawn at random (though actually rigged) to set up ten tag matches throughout the night. The winners of the matches would then advance into a two ring battle royal (BattleBowl!), the winner of which… wins. And that’s it. No blowoff matches, no undercard – just the Lethal Lottery and BattleBowl for the biggest show of the year.

In reality, after the break from the NWA, WCW initially sought to shift the flagship banner away from Starrcade – associated so closely with the NWA days – to SuperBrawl. They would waver on that decision many times in subsequent years – in ’93 using Starrcade as the flagship for its 10^th Anniversary – until finally settling back on it in ’96, by which time they were in fierce competition with the WWF, and no one but wrestling geeks gave a shit about their history with the NWA anymore.

From Norfolk, Virginia; Your Hosts are Jim Ross, and Tony Schiavone – along with Eric Bischoff, Magnum TA, and Missy Hyatt doing the drawings.

WWF Survivor Series 1994

For 1994, the WWF – perhaps noting that the return to the standard series format in ’93 did nothing to effect the commercial response to the show – decided to mix things up again, taking the familiar elimination match format, and the well received changes made in ’91 and especially ’92 – and creating a hybrid, with two cogent main events, as well as several elimination matches to both settle, and advance angles.

As a nine year old kid – just under a year into my blissful markdom, and completely unaware of anything going on backstage, let alone buyrates and format changes – I was beyond pumped for this one. My grandparents had agreed to order the show, and while I was into all the angles (yep – all – even Doink/Lawler… I was that much of a mark), nothing compared to my enthusiasm for Bret Hart defending the WWF Title against the deranged Bob Backlund.

From San Antonio, Texas; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Gorilla Monsoon – in his last appearance calling a WWF pay per view event.

WWF Survivor Series 1993

This is one that took place just before I officially became a fan, when I would check Superstars out once in a while (I still wasn’t allowed to stay up for RAW!), but hadn’t gotten ‘sucked in yet.’ I would by early January – with the Hart Brothers angle – which begins with this show.

This year, after taking a much welcome and well received break from the elimination match format in 1992 – but doing poorly commercially – the WWF brought the old standard back in dominant form for 1993. The return to form didn’t help them in terms of receipts, as the show did even lower number than ‘92 (the lowest buyrate in Survivor Series history, to that point), though realistically, the low numbers both years didn’t have as much to do with match format as a general slump in popularity for professional wrestling, post-Golden Era, and pre-Attitude Era.

From Boston, Massachusetts – Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan, along with Gorilla Monsoon and Jim Ross on Radio WWF!

WWF Survivor Series 1992

Survivor Series 1992 saw the WWF reboot the entire concept. This year, instead of adding a standard match to the elimination festivities – they ran a standard card, with only a token elimination match – instead deciding to give fans more satisfying conclusions to ongoing feuds.

From Richfield, Ohio; Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan – because where better to reboot Survivor Series than the same arena the entire concept started out to begin with?

WWF This Tuesday in Texas (December 1991)

As a companion piece to the 1991 Survivor Series, take a look back at the first effort by the WWF to expand the pay per view market to a monthly format – as after using the Survivor Series to set up a number of angles, they promised blowoffs ‘This Tuesday in Texas’ – and the card literally took place the following Tuesday, from, well, Texas – as an experiment to see if their audience was prepared to purchase a half length, budget priced pay per view shortly after buying a major one. It was an idea not unlike their later In Your House series, in the mid-90s, however, This Tuesday in Texas failed to perform at the box office, and the idea was scrapped in favor of a return to the standard pay per view schedule.

From San Antonio, Texas; Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan.

WWF Survivor Series 1991

When the Survivor Series rolled around in 1991 the WWF and its fans alike knew a change was needed. The format of booking elimination matches only had become stale – and while they tried to tinker with it during a few of the previous editions – this time, the fans needed something more than a ‘Grand Finale Match of Survival,’ or showdowns that were sure to end in double countouts, to get them invested in the show. The WWF delivered – for the first time promoting a singles match on the show – with Hulk Hogan defending his WWF Title against The Undertaker, in what was being dubbed his ‘gravest challenge.’

From Detroit, Michigan; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan.

WWF Survivor Series 1990

For 1990 – with business down across the board throughout the year under WWF Champion Ultimate Warrior – the WWF continued to tweak their Survivor Series formula. The matches remained four-on-four contests, though they starting booking them at a more nimble pace – leaving room at the end of the night for a ‘Grand Finale Match of Survival’ – as all the winners of the night came back out for one final Survivor Series match to determine the Ultimate Survivor for the evening. Aside from that, unlike previous years, this time they had no definitive main event to sell the show (outside of the promised ‘Ultimate Match’), and the feuds going in weren’t their most stirring stuff, resulting in fan interest for this show ending up at almost non-existent.

From Hartford, Connecticut; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Roddy Piper.

WWF Survivor Series 1989

For 1989, the WWF decided to tweak their strategy for Survivor Series – realizing that they had a winning formula to drive feuds and build angles on pay per view – but that the five-on-five format was starting to work against them. As was best exemplified in the Andre the Giant/Jim Duggan & Jake Roberts team match from the year before – they could put together interesting psychological battles – but often much of the concept was lost on the audience by having to sit through overlong bouts, not getting to the meat of the match until over twenty minutes in. It served them better instead to pair four against four, providing them the elbow room to run five matches instead of the usual four – and allowing them to book their action in a more succinct manner.

From Chicago, Illinois; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF Survivor Series 1988

For the second Survivor Series, the WWF continued their ‘Teams of Five Strive to Survive’ gambit, only this time without any major, box office busting feud heading into the show to carry it – as they had the year before, with Hogan v Andre. Instead, they took some perfunctory feuds, and instead decided to develop new angles during the show – trying to develop a ‘can’t miss’ atmosphere for their pay per view events. Unfortunately, the card itself was relatively lackluster on paper, and they drew 8,000 people fewer to the same arena that the event emanated from the year before.  

I first saw this one on VHS, a good six years after the fact, in my endless quest to see every WWF and WCW tape I could get my nine year old hands on. My local video store didn’t carry it, but a trip to one of the next towns over led me to finding it tucked away in the corner of their grocery stores video department – along with a bunch of other early WWF-stuff I had never seen. I was never a tantrum throwing type, so it took some significant work (see: begging) to convince my parents why this tape featuring Hulk Hogan teaming up with the Macho Man was worth renting, and then having to drive twenty minutes in each direction to return it the next day. Luckily, I have the best parents.

From Richfield, Ohio; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura.

NWA (JCP) Starrcade 1983

With Starrcade, the NWA made the first real attempt at producing a wrestling event for a pay per view market. It was still a primitive version of pay per view, as it couldn’t be ordered in your home, but rather, on closed circuit, and shown in arenas and theaters around the country – or in this case, within the NWA’s territory. It was an outstanding success – drawing well within their market – and cementing Ric Flair’s place as a superstar in the wrestling business once, and for all.

Taking place on Thanksgiving, 1983 – it predated my birth, though I have seen a few of the matches since – mostly from a ‘Best of Starrcade’ set WCW issued in the late 90s, which featured the Dog Collar Match, and the main event.

From Greensboro, North Carolina; Your hosts are Gordon Solie and Bob Caudle, along with Tony Schiavone, doing interviews from the locker rooms, which come off as a brilliant representation of the time – as they’re less formal promos, and more groups of heels or faces gathered around couches in their respective locker rooms, shooting the shit, with Tony checking in with them for thoughts regarding their upcoming or just contested matches. The whole thing would be at home as a lost scene from Boogie Nights.

WWF King of the Ring 1998

By the Summer of 1998, the Attitude Era was in full swing, with Steve Austin enjoying his newly won world title, and the WWF finally winning a few battles in the Monday Night Wars against the inordinately dominate WCW.

I, too, was starting to fall back in love with the WWF, after our falling out following the Montreal Screwjob – and this was one of the first shows in a long time I remember being very excited to see. Wrestling was red-hot again that summer – hotter than I could ever remember it before, with Diamond Dallas Page, nWo, DX, and, especially, ‘Austin 3:16’ t-shirts so prevalent, you couldn’t walk down the hallway of my middle school without spying one – and from the perspective of a thirteen year old, semi-smartened up mark, the WWF was the hottest ticket in town.

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WWF King of the Ring 1996

For 1996 the WWF decided to revamp the King of the Ring format – still holding a full sixteen-man single elimination tournament – but this time, only putting the semi finals and finals on pay per view – that way allowing them the air time to book a more well rounded card.  The idea left me numb, as after the 1995 show, I was a bit turned off by the whole gimmick, and the field going into the pay per view (Steve Austin, Marc Mero, Jake Roberts, Vader) wasn’t exactly enough to lure me back in.

I did have some interest in seeing The Undertaker finally square off with Mankind after months of build up, as well as the blowoff to the Shawn Michaels/Davey Boy Smith feud – as Shawn was my favorite Superstar with Bret Hart away for the year. Even so, my interest in this show as a graduating 5^th grader was tepid – though it would turn out to be quite a historically significant one for the WWF.

From Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Owen Hart – who spends the night proving that had he not tragically died in 1999, he would have had a brilliant career as a color commentator once he retired from in-ring competition.

WWF King of the Ring 1995

I first saw this show live, on pay per view – and was very pumped up for it as a ten year old mark. While the main event didn’t particularly intrigue me, the concept of the King of the Ring did, as I loved the first two shows – renting them from my local video store repeatedly – and was excited for the 1995 edition. Around the schoolyard I was sure Shawn Michaels would take the whole thing easily, and was excited to see Bret Hart finally get his revenge on Jerry Lawler.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix (Michael Hayes).

WWF The Wrestling Classic (November 1985)

The Wrestling Classic was the WWF’s second foray, after WrestleMania I, into the pay per view market – putting on a one night, sixteen-man single elimination tournament. Though, really, the show was about capitalizing on the super-hot feud between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper – who would be meeting for the WWF Title – as the tournament itself was meaningless, with the winner not receiving a title of any sort, or even a token title shot. They do give away an actual Rolls Royce to a fan as part of a sweepstakes during the show, which you’d think would be the obvious prize for the tournament, but no. That would make too much sense, and stuff.

I wasn’t even one years old when this show took place, but did see it on VHS about ten years ago - and not since. I don’t remember being particularly impressed with it at the time – but let’s take a look.

From Chicago, Illinois – Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura, along with Vince McMahon, Lord Alfred Hayes, and some poor, ill-fated blonde who run down the brackets and offer 'analysis' - which consists mostly of gross sexual harassment from Hayes, Mad Men-style, right in front of the owner of the company, no less.

WCW World War 3 - 1995

World War 3 was – other than a confusing name for a show, as all subsequent versions would also be called ‘3,’ as opposed to ‘4’ or ‘5’ – the latest addition in the ever expanding pay per view battle between the WWF and WCW during 1995, that had both companies going to a monthly format by the years end.

The concept came about when The Giant won the WCW World Title from Hulk Hogan in an overbooking nightmare at Halloween Havoc, but was stripped of it, so WCW decided to hold a battle royal to declare a new champion. All good so far – that one’s been done hundreds of times in wrestling history. Then, they decided not twenty, not thirty, not forty, not even fifty, but sixty men would compete. Okay, sounds cool. More intrigue. Oh, and it would take place in three rings simultaneously. Actually, still sounds good – to ten-year-old-Ben that was making it EXTREME!! and I was definitely into the idea. Unfortunately, the execution is where it fell a little short of the concept – but we’ll get to that later.

From Norfolk, Virginia – Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan for the main portion, joined later on by Eric Bischoff and Dusty Rhodes, and Chris Cruise and Larry Zbyszko to help call the battle royal – all from an arena that’s set up with the atmosphere of an auto show, with three rings on the floor space.

WWF King of the Ring 1993

The 1993 King of the Ring was actually a major show for the WWF, as they added a fifth pay per view to their yearly roster, as well as made a drastic change of direction – with what would effectively be Hulk Hogan’s last WWF appearance until his second run, post WCW merger.

As a kid, I absolutely loved this show – a one night tournament to showcase Bret Hart, plus Hulk Hogan! – and must have rented it from our local video store a dozen times on VHS. I always enjoyed renting VHS to the DVDs that are available today – they felt more substantial, and the box always had that great plasticy smell you’d get whiffs of while pouring over the cover art.

From Dayton, Ohio – Your hosts are Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1996

This comes from a period where WCW started getting this right. They had a red-hot angle, with the nWo, solid undercard players with their cruiserweight division, and deep bench, and were quickly building into not only the more interesting of the big two promotions, but possibly the only major promotion – as Vince McMahon was getting pushed closer and closer to bankruptcy. Five years later, they would cease to exist all together, but if you would have told any wrestling fan that on the night of this show – they’d be right to call you crazy.

From Las Vegas, Nevada – Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes – with Mike Tenay popping in for some matches.

WWF In Your House - No Way Out (of Texas) (February 1998)

At the ’98 Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels had taken a (legitimate) career ending back injury in a match with the Undertaker. However, this time, no one was going to buy the ‘surrendered title’ bit, and he would have to go out there and put Steve Austin over properly. That wouldn’t come until next month, however, and this show was more or less filler to sell WrestleMania, without so much as a real title match booked.

 
My interest in the show in the time was so little that I don’t even remember it. I was firmly ‘off’ of the WWF after Montreal, and watching the brilliance that was WCW – though that was really only an exercise in punishing myself.

From Houston, Texas – Your hosts are Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler, who announce right off the bat that Shawn Michaels is injured, and won’t be competing in the advertised main event tonight. Which is nice of them to let you know. You know, after they’ve securely stashed your pay per view dollars.

WWF In Your House - Degeneration X (December 1997)

This show marks – aside from when I gave up on following the product regularly altogether in 2001 – my absolute low point as a fan. The WWF had just given Bret Hart the boot with the infamous ‘Montreal Screwjob’ at Survivor Series the month before, and though I only had a very limited knowledge of what went on backstage (AOL chatrooms and an e-mail subscription to a dirtsheet. Good times) even the WWF wasn’t hiding that they had screwed my favorite wrestler out of the world title, and rewarded his nemesis with his own, themed pay per view.

At this point, I was only watching RAW during Nitro’s commercial breaks, and it would take them a while to win me back over. Much can – an has – been said about the Montreal Screwjob, but from a personal standpoint I’d add that to a twelve year old wrestling fan, it didn’t seem like ‘Attitude’ or make me want to watch the next show – it seemed like stabbing the back of one of the only guys who always stuck with their promotion while everyone else was busy jumping ship, and only made me want to tune in to WCW to see what Bret would do there. I might have stuck with them, too, had they not botched his run so badly, and the WWF not shot into the stratosphere during 1998.

From Springfield, Massachusetts – Your hosts are Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House - Badd Blood (October 1997)

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WWF In Your House - Mind Games (September 1996)

I saw this one on pay per view at a wrestling buddies (to be clear, a buddy who I watched wrestling with) uncle’s house, who also let us order WrestleMania that year. While I don’t remember much of the show other than worrying whether or not Shawn Michaels (our de facto hero, while Bret Hart was away from the WWF) could defeat the monstrous Mankind, it was a really fun night, and my friends uncle even got us McDonalds at some point during the show – and when you’re eleven, that pretty much makes it the best day ever.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Mr. Perfect – who is actually a third person, not Vince’s ego.

WWF In Your House - Season's Beatings (December 1995)

This one is pretty much only remembered for the main event, which is pretty much remembered for Bret Hart pulling a horror movie gory bladejob, and causing Hershey Pennsylvania’s chocolate rivers to run crimson. Oooh, hope you’re having pizza!

From Hershey, Pennsylvania – Your hosts are Vince McMahon, and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House - Good Friends, Better Enemies (April 1996)

This is one I have never seen – live, or otherwise – but have always heard fantastic things about the main event since the next day at school, when everyone (well, not everyone – but the four or five other kids who were into wrestling) were raving about it. Over sixteen years later, we finally find out if it was truly worth the wait to see!

Formatting note - you’ll notice that there is now a nifty new index on the top of each page, organizing every review by organization, and then breaking them down by year, so that you can locate whatever you are looking for, and read in order if you wish to do so. There is also a search bar in the upper left corner of each page – good for searching a particular show, wrestler, match, or just how many times I’ve used the word ‘fuck.’ This should clear up any future organizational issues, as many of these shows will be posted out of order.

From Omaha, Nebraska, your hosts are Vince McMahon, and Jerry Lawler.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1991

Filling in a bit of a gap, with one of the missing Halloween Havoc rants, though we’re well past Halloween at this point. Hey, it’s hard to find shows from twenty years ago, especially when company that produced them went out of business – give a guy a break! Or a blowjob. But… not at the same time.

This was during a very down period for WCW, shortly after Ric Flair left the company (with their title belt in tow, for fun), and showed up in the WWF.

From Chattanooga, Tennessee your hosts are Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone, with Eric Bischoff on various interview duties. Hey, you gotta start somewhere.

WWF In Your House - Final Four (February 1997)

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WWF In Your House - It's Time (December 1996)

This was one I never saw back in the day, and my interest in the build-up was mainly in whether or not Bret Hart would be able to recapture the WWF Title from Sid. Outside of that, the period between Survivor Series and WrestleMania – aside from a few bright spots – was, even through the eyes of an eleven year old super mark, some of the worst stuff they have ever produced. And if the kid who even bought into the fucking Karate Fighters tournament (a fucking tournament with action figures, and I bought into it) they were holding around this time is starting to lose interest, you know it’s time to change things up – which you’d think is where the tagline for this show comes from, but no. That’s actually a mark on the state of disarray the WWF was in at the time, as they had penciled Vader into winning the WWF Title by this point, even going as far as to title the December pay per view with his catchphrase. They ended up going with Sid instead, and teased a Shawn Michaels heel turn – two decisions which went over like taking a dump on the pastor’s head in church. 

WCW was killing them in the ratings with the red-hot nWo angle – with no end in sight – and problems on top of the card (Shawn Michaels’ ‘knee injury,’ Sid being booked to multiple world title reigns, bait-and-switches, world title vacancies, the worst WrestleMania of all time, Sid’s presence in general) weren’t helping anyone. If Ray Liotta were narrating this section of WWE history, ‘these are the bad times.’ Also, then Pesci would put a bullet in Sid’s head, and everyone would have pasta.  

From West Palm Beach, Florida, your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House - Buried Alive (October 1996)

I was quite pumped for this one, as a kid. It was one of the few pay per views I got to order during 1996, and despite the fact that neither Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart (my two favorite grapplers) were scheduled to perform, eleven-year old Ben was pretty excited for this one, as the Undertaker/Mankind storyline intrigued me, and to that point I had only seen them battle via highlight packages or brief interactions on TV to set up pay per views I wasn’t allowed to order. I can still remember walking the two blocks home from the school bus the Friday before the show, imagining what the WWF had in store for us that Sunday, and excited to make some predictions of my own with my action figures as soon as I got home.

From Indianapolis, Indiana, your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross – doing his ‘evil’ JR gimmick. Which is basically code for ‘telling it like it is, but hitting a little too close to home for Vince until they scrapped the whole thing.’

WWF In Your House - International Incident (July 1996)

From Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House - Beware of Dog (May 1996)

Well, speaking of storms. I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Basically, the WWF was holding a pay per view, but a biblical storm knocked out power to the arena – and pay per view feed – after the second match, leaving everyone in the building watching the guys restructure the show as a house show in the dark, and everyone at home with no signal. They rescheduled the show a couple of days later in a town a couple of hours away, and aired the matches that they managed to shoot before the power outage on pay per view – then ran the rest of the card for all the buyers who were, understandably, outraged. It was quite a clusterfuck, and I’m pretty sure if Vince McMahon could have fired God over it – he probably would have. In fact, that pretty much explains his feud ten years later, with none other than this pay per views headliner, and the big man himself. McMahon would have his revenge on not only God, but on the man who headlined this crappy show – all at once. And they say he doesn’t hold a grudge…

From Florence, SC (night one), and North Charleston, SC (night two), your hosts are Vince McMahon, and Jerry Lawler (night one), and Jim Ross, and Mr. Perfect (night two).

WWF In Your House - Rage in the Cage (February 1996)

I remember seeing this one as a kid, and – even as an eleven year old super fan mark – being pretty bored with it. That does not bode well for a re-watch, over sixteen years later – but we’ll see.

From Louisville, KY your hosts are Vince McMahon, and Jerry Lawler. It would be truly careless of me to forget to mention Sunny, near naked in the opening of the show, warning viewers that the following program contains ‘graphic content.’ Oh, 1996-Sunny. The things you did to an eleven year old mind – and penis. She was so hot back then that, even as fucked up and broken down (she goes in a lot of directions…) as she is now, I’d still do her, given the chance. Which is to say, if I had a twenty, and happened to run into her. It’s like when you find porn you jerked off to in your youth time. Sure, you’ve found other porn (better porn!) since – but the erections you get with that porn have sentimental value – like sensory memory. Also, it’s stained with your cum.

WWF Survivor Series 1987

With the first Survivor Series, Vince McMahon made an effort to expand further into pay per view after the massive success of WrestleMania III, and also to fuck around with the competition, as the NWA was planning to its annual Starrcade supercard. McMahon, ever the ruthless business man, booked the first Survivor Series the same night as Starrcade, promising Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, and threatened any cable provider who offered Starrcade on their lineup the loss of future WWF business. The result was blockbuster numbers for the WWF, and a big disappointment for the NWA.

The concept of the show was that ‘teams of five would strive to survive,’ in five-on-five elimination matches – and that’s it. No focus on title matches, hot grudge matches, or anything else – while Starrcade was offering just that. And the WWF was still the hotter ticket, because guys like Hogan, Andre, and Randy Savage were just that big of draws at the time.

From Richfield, OH, your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura.

WWF In Your House - Great White North (October 1995)

I never actually saw this show as a kid, as the monthly pay per view war had not only taken its toll on the WWF and WCW – but on my parents’ wallets, and they refused to keep buying two monthly pay per views any longer – leaving me listening to this one at our kitchen TV like a radio broadcast, back when pay per view audio still used to come in with a scrambled picture. I feel that kids today miss out on that part of growing up with wrestling due to the digital age of pay per view.

From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House - Triple Header (September 1995)

What better way to follow up the 2^nd In Your House than with… the 3^rd In Your House. Actually, there are many better things, but you’ll take it, and you’ll like it – much like anyone who ordered this show back in 1995. 

From Saginaw, MI, your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House - The Lumberjacks (July 1995)

With the second In Your House, the WWF gave us the re-match exactly no one wanted to see: Diesel/Sid II. So, of course, they did what you always do when you have something no one wants to see – force it on the South! Unfortunately, they did not continue to give away free houses with purchase of the show. 

From Nashville, TN, your hosts are Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House I (May 1995)

This is the very first In Your House, as the WWF, feeling increasing pressure from WCW’s growing pay per view lineup, decided to add monthly two hour pay per views to supplement their ‘Big Five’ three hour shows (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam and Survivor Series), and compete head to head – and at a bargain price of only $14.95, which I can tell you went a long way in helping to convince your parents to order these things back in the day. 

To work with the ‘In Your House’ gimmick (which came from the idea that the WWF would be IN YOUR HOUSE!!), they promised to actually give away a house in Florida to a fan, live, on the pay per view.

From Syracuse, New York, your hosts are Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix (Michael Hayes) playing a straight man WWF corporate shill, before those types of characters had any sorts of irony, or were Michael Cole. It also shows just how thin the talent pool was at this point, when Dok fucking Hendrix is co-hosting because Jerry Lawler has a match tonight. Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel. What, Alfred Hayes was too busy?

WWF One Night Only (September 1997)

I literally just fucking told you what this is in the headline. Are you fucking stupid? WWF! One Night Only! I’ll tell you more shit later, fuck. You’re getting to be a real dick, you know that?

From Birmingham, England, your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, from an arena decked out with enough English regalia to make the Olympics blush.

WWF In Your House - Canadian Stampede (July 1997)

This is another one I never saw live as a kid, as I planned on ordering it, but July 4^th weekend family activities got into the way (which is more than a little ironic, considering this is the ultimate Canadian patriotism show), and I never got around to it. So, once again, we play ‘did Ben’s twelve year old self get fucked over in 1997?’ Of course, with this one, it has many times made peoples’ shortlist for ‘greatest pay per view of all time,’ so the likely answer is, ‘yes, little Ben did get fucked over – and good.’ And not even by the girl he had a crush on in Middle school. As 1997 Bret Hart would say, ‘this is bullshit!’

This one took place during the thick of the very hot and innovative USA v Canada angle, as The Hart Foundation were heels in America, but faces everywhere else in the world – particularly Canada (where this show took place), and their main rivals (Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin), followed suit. It was incredibly innovative, as RAW would usually pinball between emanating from the States one week, and Canada the next – and the heat was off of the charts.

From Calgary, Alberta, Canada, your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House - A Cold Day in Hell (May 1997)

This is one I never saw live as a kid (despite being a hardcore WWF fan, I could not have cared less about an Undertaker/Austin program at the time – and no Bret and no Shawn equaled no buys from me), and while I have owned it on VHS for over ten years, this is the first time I have ever gotten around to watching it. 

From Richmond, VA your hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WWF In Your House - Revenge of the 'Taker (April 1997)

Giving a rest to the Havoc series, as I don’t have copies of the ’91, ’95 or ’96 shows, and I don’t really want to pick things up with Halloween Havoc 1997.  Anyway, what do I look like, your little Halloween Havoc slave? You better watch it with that shit. I’ll have Reverend Jackson down here before you can say "doesn't use deodorant." Plus, he will come to your house, and should it be your birthday, he will insist on getting the flower part of your birthday cake, and should you resist, he will play his favorite card... you guessed it... the "birthday card."

So, yeah. Don't let it come to that, 'cause, your birthday could get ruined.

This is an interesting show from a personal standpoint, as it was the first and (to date) only pay per view I have ever attended. I was only twelve years old, but my friend and I were very quick to jump when tickets went on sale – snagging floor seats only a few rows back – which would have been all well and good, if we weren’t… twelve. As we quickly found out, we were so short, our view for 90% of the show became limited to the backs of other peoples’ heads, or any top rope moves. 

From Rochester, NY your hosts are Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1994

Oh, what a difference a year makes. By the fall of 1994, WCW had signed Hulk Hogan, and was in the process of changing the entire direction of their product. The shows no longer looked like dimly lit indy hell (although, they were starting to come around to better production values by that point, anyway), and there are more than twice as many people in the arena than the year before. Or any previous Havoc, for that matter. On the way out were guys like Mick Foley and Steve Austin, while Hogan associates like the Honky Tonk Man, Brutus Beefcake, Jim Duggan, and almost anyone else who worked for the WWF in the late 80s started crowding the roster.

From Detroit, MI, your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Gene Okerlund, as the WWF influence already starts to show.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1993

The Halloween Havoc series continues, with 1993.

From New Orleans, LA (Louisiana, not the one where the celebrities are, dumbass. Well, unless they can pick up some publicity). Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura. Tony is dressed up as Jesse, which needs to be seen to be fully appreciated.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1992

Truck on towards actual Halloween with our Halloween Havoc series, coming up on the ’92 show. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of the 1991 Havoc, however, but I will work to get a hold of one, and fill in that blank eventually.

From Philadelphia, PA your hosts are Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura.

NWA (WCW) Halloween Havoc 1990

Continuing our Halloween Havoc series with the ’90 show.

I always loved the ‘feel’ of this (and many) of the Havoc shows. While it doesn’t have the great, big, overblown sets like the WWE uses today, it has a lot of nice touches that the production teams today miss, such as an orange mat, black/orange ropes and turnbuckles, pumpkins, etc.

From Chicago, Illinois, your hosts are Jim Ross and Paul Heyman, with Tony Schiavone doing interview duties dressed as the Phantom of the Opera – which is somewhat ironic, considering Jim Ross is right there.

NWA (WCW) Halloween Havoc 1989

With Halloween right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to look back at WCW’s old Halloween offerings, starting with the first one, way back in 1989.

Live from Philadelphia, PA, your hosts are Jim Ross and Bob Caudle.

WWE DVD Review - Undertaker: The Streak

The Undertaker – The Streak. The WWE released this DVD set commemorating ‘Taker’s 20-0 WrestleMania streak this year (I believe they also released one a few years back when he was 15-0… look for another one in a few years when it’s time to cash in again!), and I thought it would be worth a look.

This DVD is currently available on Netflix Streaming, for those who want to play along at home.