Bret Hart vs Fatu (WWF, 3-1-1993)

WWF Monday Night Raw, New York, NY

A request! When I was going back over the first year of Raw some years back — again, we’re talking like a decade ago at this point, which is actually Very Funny and not concerning — this was one of my favorite matches on the show for the year.

At the time, I liked this better than the famous early Raw Flair vs Perfect match, but I’ve also probably made clear I’m not as high on that one as some are, probably wouldn’t make my ’93 Raw top 10.

Tito Santana vs Fatu (WWF, 6-5-1993)

WWF Mania, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Look, the ring announcer says “‘El Matador’ Tito Santana,” so I’m calling him Tito Santana.

WWF Mania ran from early Jan. 1993 until mid-Sept. 1996, a studio show hosted by Todd Pettengill, then Todd Pettengill and Randy Savage, then Todd Pettengill and Stephanie Wiand, who for seven-and-a-half years has had her Wikipedia page threatened for removal because she’s not really famous enough to have one. Wiand joined in late ’94 when Savage left the company.

Anyway, usually it had an exclusive match, too, the earliest months featured the great duo of Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes, but Mooney left in the spring of ’93, and here we have Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

TAPE’s Time Travel: This Week in TV Wrestling, Dec. 18-24, 1995

IN THIS SET:

• WCW Prime (Dec. 18, 1995)
• WWF Monday Night Raw (Dec. 18, 1995)
• WCW Monday Nitro (Dec. 18, 1995)
• ECW Hardcore TV (Dec. 19, 1995)
• WCW Worldwide (Dec. 23, 1995)
• WWF Superstars (Dec. 23, 1995)
• USWA Championship Wrestling (Dec. 23, 1995)
• WCW Saturday Night (Dec. 23, 1995)
• WCW Main Event (Dec. 24, 1995)

TAPE’s Time Travel: This Week in TV Wrestling, Dec. 4-10, 1995

IN THIS SET:

• WCW Prime (Dec. 4, 1995)
• WWF Monday Night Raw (Dec. 4, 1995)
• WCW Monday Nitro (Dec. 4, 1995)
• ECW Hardcore TV (Dec. 5, 1995)
• WCW Worldwide (Dec. 9, 1995)
• WCW Pro (Dec. 9, 1995)
• WWF Superstars (Dec. 9, 1995)
• USWA Championship Wrestling (Dec. 9, 1995)
• WCW Saturday Night (Dec. 9, 1995)
• WCW Main Event (Dec. 10, 1995)

TAPE’s Time Travel: This Week in TV Wrestling, Nov. 20-26, 1995

Another new week, and another one with a pay-per-view extravaganza!

IN THIS SET:

• WCW Prime (Nov. 20, 1995)
• WWF Monday Night Raw (Nov. 20, 1995)
• WCW Monday Nitro (Nov. 20, 1995)
• ECW Hardcore TV (Nov. 21, 1995)
• WCW Worldwide (Nov. 25, 1995)
• WCW Pro (Nov. 25, 1995)
• WWF Superstars (Nov. 25, 1995)
• WCW Saturday Night (Nov. 25, 1995)
• WCW World War 3 (Nov. 26, 1995)

TAPE’s Time Travel: This Week in TV Wrestling, Nov. 13-19, 1995

A new week, and this one has a pay-per-view extravaganza from the World Wrestling Federation, one of the old Big Four, AND I’m putting in an ECW supercard that didn’t, technically, in original form, air on TV in full, but whatever. I just want to watch it.

IN THIS SET:

• WCW Prime (Nov. 13, 1995)
• WWF Monday Night Raw (Nov. 13, 1995)
• WCW Monday Nitro (Nov. 13, 1995)
• ECW Hardcore TV (Nov. 14, 1995)
• WCW Worldwide (Nov. 18, 1995)
• WCW Pro (Nov. 18, 1995)
• WWF Superstars (Nov. 18, 1995)
• WCW Saturday Night (Nov. 18, 1995)
• ECW November to Remember (Nov. 18, 1995; I know this wasn’t on TV in full alone but I don’t care)
• WCW Main Event (Nov. 19, 1995)
• WWF Survivor Series (Nov. 19, 1995)

Flyin’ Brian & Z-Man vs Wild Samoans (NWA, 3-31-1990)

NWA Pro Wrestling, Miami, FL

Pillman and Z-Man are your defending NWA United States tag team champions. The Samoans here are Fatu and Samoan Savage, who was formerly known as Tonga Kid, and not Fatu and Samu.

The Steiner Brothers vs The Headshrinkers (WWF, 4-4-1993)

WWF WrestleMania IX, Paradise, NV

I haven’t watched this in years. Always thought it was an OK match if a little flat and less than you might hope, but some lads on the Twitter web site have been talking about it being great. So I’m gonna see if I was wrong, or if this is one of those things people get overly excited about because it’s a pretty good match on a historically hated show.

Kurt Angle vs Steve Austin vs The Rock vs The Undertaker vs Rikishi vs Triple H (WWF, 12-10-2000)

WWF Armageddon, Birmingham, AL

This is a request, a six-way Hell in a Cell match for Kurt Angle’s WWF title in the main event of the only WWE pay-per-view ever held in Alabama. The six-man Hell in a Cell match came from the mind of Commissioner Mick Foley, who decided to bring an end to the absurd chaos of the World Wrestling Federation by just sticking six top guys in a Cell for Angle’s WWF title.

High Energy vs The Headshrinkers (WWF, 11-25-1992)

WWF Survivor Series, Richfield, OH

This is one of my personal favorite shows ever and it’s where I’m at on my Survivor Series rewatch. ’92 returned to the site of the original two Survivor Series, in suburban Cleveland, and it was the first year with basically no actual Survivor Series matches.