Randy Savage vs Repo Man (WWF, 1-25-1993)

WWF Monday Night Raw, New York, NY

A request! This match stems from the prior week’s Raw, where at the top of the show, Repo Man blindsided Randy Savage, a commentator for the show, and stole his toy cowboy hat. This put Savage into a pit of psychic chaos, as he was forced to sit ringside and call the show with that ridiculous hat head he’d get when he took that stupid thing off in this period.

Honestly, Savage had a worse reaction to that than Undertaker ever did to losing the mystical urn.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Royal Rumble Match (WWF, 1-15-1989)

WWF Royal Rumble, Houston, TX

A request! The first Royal Rumble match to air on PPV, as it became the last of the WWF’s original Big Four PPV shows following the debuts of WrestleMania (1985), Survivor Series (1987), and SummerSlam (1988). The first Rumble does pre-date the first SummerSlam, but aired on USA Network to take a further shit on Crockett’s Bunkhouse Stampede PPV.

It’s also the first 30-man Rumble, as the inaugural ’88 edition featured 20 men, and was won by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, featuring entirely midcard (however popular or whatever) wrestlers.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

40-Man Battle Royal (WWF, 5-18-1992)

WWF, Cincinnati, OH

A request! This is from a Wrestling Challenge taping in Cincinnati, and is on the “Bashed in the USA” Coliseum Video. Mike McGuirk, under Jim Ross yelling, announces that this is a first in WWF history, a 40-man battle royal.

“40?!?!” Bobby Heenan asks, as checked out of being here anymore as he can stand. 40 whole men??? Wh-wh-WHAT? There is also a 40-man battle royal that took place on June 1 and is on the “Rampage ’92” tape. No idea why they got horny, with a thinned-out roster, to do 40-man battle royals in the spring of 1992.

Now I also hear you saying: “But TAPE, you handsome scientist, Jim Ross did not work in the WWF until WrestleMania IX in 1993.” Yes, but this tape didn’t come out until he worked there and it’s just him and Heenan doing half-awake commentary about a year later or whatever. Like, duh! Haha! How could you even be so silly as to pause on this idea for a minute when you wanted to be sure about the date? OBVIOUSLY studio recorded commentary recorded later! Hello!!

Oh, Randy Savage is also here on commentary.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Gimmick Battle Royal (WWF, 4-1-2001)

WWF WrestleMania X-Seven, Houston, TX

A request! Among the glitz and glamour, the big matches and the great WWF Superstars of the day, when the WWF had fully vanquished WCW and ECW had finally run itself out of business, there was also the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven, the WrestleMania people who are wrong continue to insist is the greatest ever.

A bunch of old farts in Super Silly gimmicks such as “Former WWF Champion The Iron Sheik” LMAO and “Jim Cornette”! LOL!!! Who came up with this CRAP back in the day?

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

TAPE’s YouTube Wrestling Travels: Vol. 1

Hi! I have had trouble motivating to do “match reviews,” and who knows how long that will stick? I also don’t want to watch full shows. But I do want to watch and talk about some wrestling so let’s do a compilation. You and me. Together. Let’s go on this ride, this journey.

Royal Rumble (WWF, 1-19-1992)

WWF Royal Rumble, Albany, NY

Request via Ko-fi. There’s a chance I’ve watched this match more than any other match in history. When people say, “What wrestling match would you show friends who don’t like wrestling to get them into wrestling,” my answer is, obviously, “I would not show them wrestling. They have lived however long having made the correct choice to not let this ridiculous shit into their veins.” But sometimes people will suggest a long, epic match, one that we dorks largely agree is great, and people will say, “Ugh! Look at me, pay attention to me, I am extremely smart and I would not show them that match. All wrestling matches should be 18 seconds long and not have anything good, because when you think about it, that is good!” But this is a 62-minute match I might show someone if I were forced to try to get them to like wrestling, because in this one hour, you see 30 various personalities and one of the all-time great performances.

Demolition vs Hart Foundation (WWF, 8-27-1990)

WWF SummerSlam, Philadelphia, PA

This is two out of three falls for the Demolition’s WWF tag team championship at the SummerSlam. At this point, the Demolition are three members — Ax, Smash, and the Cousin Oliver ass, Seven Bundy ass Crush. The Hart Foundation are fully back together after a start-and-stop Bret singles run that lasted from about the start of ’89 into March of ’90, with him still teaming with Neidhart here and there. Mostly worked a lot of house shows with Curt Hennig, Honky Tonk Man, Dino Bravo, and Bad News Brown, never took off despite some promises. Bret would have to wait until ’91 to finally get the real green light as a singles.

Demolition vs Hart Foundation (WWF, 8-29-1988)

WWF SummerSlam, New York, NY

The first-ever tag team title match in the history of the SummerSlam, and the king Bret Hart’s first-ever appearance at the SummerSlam. Demolition have the belts and the Hart Foundation want to get them again, pretty recently turned babyface and split from Jimmy Hart, who joins Mr. Fuji in Demolition’s corner.

Strike Force vs Demolition (WWF, 3-27-1988)

WWF WrestleMania IV, Atlantic City, NJ

Request via Ko-fi, and the last non-tournament match at this show. Strike Force are defending the WWF tag team championship against the fast-rising and intimidating Demolition, the WWF’s Road Warriors knockoff who actually wound up carving out their own place in wrestling history much more than the Powers of Pain, who were more an in-house NWA Road Warriors knockoff before bouncing to the WWF a few months after this show, ever did.

Demolition vs Powers of Pain (WWF, 2-3-1989)

WWF, Milwaukee, WI

This comes from a show in Milwaukee with the newly babyface Demolition defending their tag belts against the newly heel Powers of Pain, now managed by Mr. Fuji after the big switcheroo at Survivor Series ’88.