So, it seems like more than a couple of us go to live wrestling shows, either regularly or irregularly. I’m just curious what promotions/federations y’all have seen live and any notable shows you might have seen?
I’ll start. I’ve been attending live wrestling shows since I was a young teen (late pre-teen?) in the early 80s. I’ll try to keep them more or less chronological:
CWF (Championship Wrestling from Florida – NWA affiliate) – I’m not sure how many, but I’d seen a few of their shows in the early to mid 80s. They usually played high school gyms, national guard armories and the like. Guys I grew up on, Blackjack Mulligan, Harley Race, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, Kevin Sullivan, Mike Graham, and so many more. Notable shows – all of them, they were so much fun.
WCW – Saw more than a couple of their shows over the years. First one was in the Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, right after Turner bought out Jim Crockett Promotions and rebranded it as WCW. The main event in the show was Flair defending his title against Luger; it was shortly after they’d done match on a PPV and the match was almost step-for-step the same match from the PPV, which I found highly disappointing. Other notable shows would have to be, of course, my first PPV event ever, BASH AT THE BEACH 1996, where the nWo was formed, and the first ever WCW Thunder, both of which aired from the Ocean Center. Also saw a few WCW house shows in Orlando, can’t say anything about them was terribly notable, except for maybe seeing Terra Ryzing (Triple H). Oh, yeah, Hogan was at one, too, but meh.
WWF/E – First WWF show was a house show in Orlando, early-ish 90s, I think. I remember Ultimate Buffoon, er Warrior, vs Kamala. Tatanka was there, too, I believe. Not sure whom else. In the earlier 2000s, saw both a RAW (late 2002) and a Smackdown! (2004, I believe). The Smackdown! was more memorable, as it had The Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, and many others. The latter two shows were nosebleed seats, so wasn’t really the best experience.
ECW – Quite possibly my favourite promotion of all time. Saw a lot of their shows in Florida – Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, multiple occasions in each city over the mid to late 90s. Saw the Hardcore Heaven 1997 PPV from the War Memorial in Ft Lauderdale, such a great show.
MLW – early 2000s, Major League Wrestling, billed as a hybrid wrestling company – extreme and puroresu and American and Lucha influences. Saw a couple live shows they did in Orlando. Really enjoyed meeting the wrestlers pre-show at the merch tables. Was amazed how much I towered over Dr Death Steve Williams, whom I loved in the late 80s into the 90s. Really nice guy. Also, Hack Myers and Raven, too. Fun shows, shame company went under. (Now they’re a podcast thing using same name.)
CHIKARA – one of my all time fave companies, they did two shows in Florida, Tampa and Orlando back in 2013. I wrote a couple articles on them for BIFF BAM POP, which I’ll try to link to as comment. Really, truly fantastic shows, great promotion, SOOOOOO much fun.
Vintage Wrestling – caught about 6 of their shows in 2014, really had a lot of fun, and they were only about a 20 minute drive away, which was awesome, since it was a work night. (Also, they didn’t go past 11pm, which also helped.) Good crowd, good stories and in-ring. Small but fun company. Sadly, they went on a hiatus for most of 2015, did one show in September which I attended, and went back on hiatus. Supposedly, something is in works, possibly for this month, but…
Full Impact Pro – been aware of this company for a good 7-8 years, seen a couple of their events from the early 2010s. Caught Night 2 of Fallout 2015 in October in Orlando (night 1 was in Tampa.) Centerpiece was the Six Man Showcase, a tournament of six man/trios teams. The teams were representing companies from all over the US, including Tier1 out of NY, Proving Ground Pro, Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment, WWA4, and others. Oh, yeah, and The Viking War Party. (They’re so cool.) Got to see my Hooligans, briefly, for the first time live, so that was super exciting. I’ve caught a couple of their iPPVs recently, too. They also had a “Kickoff” show prior to Evolve 52, which I saw live (see next entry.) And, then, last month (and later this month), saw them put on a show in a comic book shop! Gods and Monsters So much fun. (Also had a feature match with Kaiju Big Battel, which was just super fun.)
Evolve – I’ve been following this promotion since they started, watching the events when they were released for download. Watched most of the first 20 or so events, then less regularly. Attended EVOLVE 52 in Orlando, November 2015, was a great show, so many stand out moments. In January, for Royal Rumble weekend, they had 3 shows, Friday EVOLVE 53 in Tampa, then Sat/Sun EVOLVE 54/55 in Orlando (Sunday was an afternoon show so people could attend that and the Rumble if they wanted, or go home and watch it on the WWE Network, as I did.) Met Jason Jordan and Chad Gable at a photo op co-promoted with NXT, great guys. The main thing at the Evolve weekend was a tag team tournament to crown Evolve Tag Champs and the matches were crazy good, as were the non-tournament matches. Lots of fun, can’t recommend highly enough.
Article on Chikara Tampa show – https://biffbampop.com/2013/03/20/guest-blogger-terry-willitts-on-chikara-tampa-just-shadows-in-the-fog/
and the Orlando show – https://biffbampop.com/2013/04/04/guest-blogger-terry-willitts-on-chikara-orlando-the-watchmaker/
Here’s a roughly chronological rundown of what I’ve seen live:
> A tiny indie show held in the parking lot of a local restaurant as a promotional gimmick <
This was really my first introduction to wrestling (I never watched it as a young kid because I was pretty sheltered and moralistic and the Attitude Era aura of excess scared me off). I ate at the restaurant after the show, and so did some of the wrestlers. I saw two guys who’d just chased each other across the parking lot swearing vengeance eating side by side and sharing a bottle of ketchup. Kayfabe never had a chance with me.
> Some kind of indie show put on during Dragon*Con one year <
This seriously disappointed me, as it started off with a dastardly heel basically squashing the righteous face who confronted him and facing no consequences for it (on a one-off show for a convention audience), followed by a second squash, and then a “hardcore” match that featured ridiculously flimsy “weapons” like those disposable aluminum foil baking pans. I think me and my dad walked out after that, because there were better things to do at the con.
> Two WWE main roster house shows (both the Smackdown / B-Team) <
I am somewhat ashamed to say that I saw Daniel Bryan live at my first WWE show and my young mark heart was far more impressed by Justin Gabriel. (To be fair, this was when Bryan was playing coward heel against Big Show, but still.)
At the second house show I attended, I was someewhat disappointed because Big E, who I was most excited to see, had a so-so match, but The Miz and Cesaro both delivered (in separate matches), so it was still a good experience in the end.
> Three or four shows from Revolution Championship Wrestling (the one in south Georgia), a promotion small enough that all its titles were replica WCW belts <
I have actually seen Rick Steiner get involved in a feud with the staff of a local car dealer (who were playing heel).
That said, RCW’s shows were always a lot of fun, and I’m sorry that it’s seemingly folded now. Special shout-outs to Da Fireman (a great arrogant heel who demanded that the crowd “CHEER 4 ME”), The Mighty Henrich (basically Hulk Hogan except Slovakian and charmingly endearing), The Game Changers (a tag team which included a guy who was probably actually the most skilled wrestler in the promotion), and Oz (who I saw come back from a scary injury to become a solid face authority figure).
RCW also gets props for being the only Georgia indie I know of in which the obligatory effeminate/ambiguously-gay character was a face rather than a heel.
> Two NXT house shows (and a third on the way) <
The two I’ve seen were both among the Florida small-venue shows. The first card was missing about half the top names, and the second didn’t have any of them, but both were really fun… probably the most enjoyable wrestling shows I’ve seen live, thanks to combining most of the upsides of a WWE show and a small indie show.
Doing Enzo and Cass’s intro schtick with them live, alongside a crowd that knows and loves them, is an absolutely wonderful experience, and I’m really glad I got to see them shortly before their main roster call-up. No Way Jose is also great fun to see live… I was skeptical about his gimmick going in, but he’s a great entertainer, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where he goes from here.
Overall, I’d say wrestling is almost always more captivating live than on television. The crowd and the whole atmosphere of it just really adds to the experience. Great fun.
Chris Coleman Very cool, thanks for sharing. I really dug the stuff you shared re: RCW. (Also, you had me at Rick Steiner.) And very cool re the ambiguously gay character being a face – pretty rare in the South!
I’ve yet to make an NXT show yet, and I really, REALLY need to remedy that.
I’d seen No Way Jose in several indie feds leading up to his signing with NXT, and enjoyed his in-ring work. I really dig his NWJ character and the enthusiasm he brings to the show, so I imagine he’d be great fun at a live show.
Chicago is lousy with great wrestling right now. AAW is on the high-profile indy circuit (tonite’s show features Tommaso Ciampa vs. Sami Callihan for the title, plus a Fenix vs. g’dam Pentagon Jr. grudge match!) There’s a company called Freelance that’s more local, is actually in the city (as opposed to the suburbs), and has a more punk rock vibe. They are fun but moved from the bar 12 minutes from my house to one half an hour away, so I haven’t been in a bit. Between those two I go to maybe 6 or 8 shows a year?
Plus I’ve seen Chikara three times, NXT when they came through earlier this year, WWE Payback last weekend (my first live WWE main roster/big arena show!), Lucha Va Voom (technically my first indy show, in 2009)
ROH/Global Wars is running outside the city this weekend (but I’m not going), theres Revolution Pro that I haven’t been to at all, there’s a bunch of lucha libre within driving distance that I’m just starting to find out about.
My very first live show was a Smackdown taping in Boston in 2005 or 2006. It was fun! All I remember is how dope Rey Mysterio was, and there was an unannounced Undertaker appearance at the end of the show, with full deadman/druid entrance. That was amazing.
Writing the game got me way more into going to see wrestling shows over the last 3ish years, though. Also I have a crew of great wrestlebuds that I’ve met through going to see wrestling live. Without those two factors I probably wouldn’t go to nearly as many, honestly.