– North American Tag Team Champions, Bob Geigel and Bob Brown beat Mongolian Stomper and The Ox by dq
– Jerry Miller beat Jim Grabmire 2 falls to 1
– Bulldog Plechas drew Thor Hagen
– Corsica Joe beat Paul Caruso
1966
Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
– AWA Champion Mad Dog Vachon went to a double countout with Wilbur Snyder
– Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat Doug Gilbert & Billy Red Cloud
– Chris Markoff drew Ron Reed
– Dale Lewis beat Joe Tomasso
– Jim Raschke beat Johnny Kace (Raschke’s professional debut)
1967
Chicago, Illinois:
– AWA Tag Team Champions Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat Dick the Bruiser & the Crusher
– Wilbur Snyder beat Angelo Poffo
– Johnny Valentine beat Moose Cholak dq
– Dr X beat Rene Goulet
– Dr Moto beat Bob Boyer
– Blackjack Lanza beat Al Kashey
1972
St. Louis, Missouri:
– Harley Race defeated Pak Song in a tournament final to become the first ever NWA Missouri Champion
St. Paul, Minnesota:
– AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Larry Hennig & Dusty Rhodes 2/3
– Wahoo McDaniel beat Ivan Koloff dq
– Dr X beat Higo Hamaguchi
– Rene Goulet drew Don Muraco
– Ramon Torres beat Big K
1978
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
– WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeated Superstar Billy Graham in a Stretcher Match
1982
Oakland, California:
– Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens drew AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell
– AWA Champion Otto Wanz beat Nick Bockwinkel
– Rick Martel beat Ken Patera dq
– Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke
– Adrian Adonis beat Buck Zumhofe
1994
Knoxville, Tennessee:
– SMW Tag Team Champions The Rock N’ Roll Express defeated The Gangstas. However, New Jack & Mustafa would later threaten to sue SMW, saying tape of the match proves that they should have won the belts. As a result, Smoky Mountain Wrestling awarded the titles to the Gangstas
1995
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
– The Pitbulls defeated Raven & Steven Richards in a two out of three falls Dog Collar match to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship
– Rey Misterio Jr. (now Rey Mysterio) defeated Psicosis
2002
Tokyo, Japan:
– Low Ki defeated Spanky on a Zero-One event to win the NWA International Light Heavyweight Title
2003
Raleigh, North Carolina:
– Eddie & Chavo Guerrero defeated Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle in a 60-minute Ironman match to win the WWE World Title, 5 falls to 4
2006
New York City:
– The Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli defeated Austin Aries and Roderick Strong to win the ROH Tag Team championship
2007
– At the Unforgiven PPV, Batista defeated the Great Khali and Rey Mysterio Jr to win the World Title
– Randy Orton defeated WWE Champion John Cena by dq
– The Undertaker defeated Mark Henry
2010
– Jay Lethal defeated Doug Williams to win the TNA X Division Title
2012
At the Night of Champions PPV in Boston, Massachusetts:
– Daniel Bryan and Kane won the WWE Tag Team Championship from R-Truth and Kofi Kingston
– Eve Torres defeated Layla to win the WWE Divas Championship
This is one of the few episodes of TNT that feels really modern, like it could have been shot today or in the last few years. Maybe it’s the live Las Vegas crowd, or just about the time McMahon felt comfortable enough to be himself, but he’s in full Mr. McMahon mode here, yes more than a decade before this man and the character would merge on national television.
For starters, he’s wearing an off-white suit, a dramatic change from the purple, red and orange jackets he typically wears. It’s a good color for him, definitely less game show-hostish.
There really is a live crowd this week, not a make-believe one like the every other episode of TNT. Our first guest is Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Man this guy was freakin’ amazing during this time. No one could have ever predicted that he would become a governor one day, and get recognized as one of the most prominent pop culture icons of our time, but it is clear here that he has something extra.
This is the Ventura at the height of his glam phase. He’s wearing red Lady Gaga glasses, a tan jacket, tie-dyed shirt and tight black jeans. Ventura gets booed as he walks out and McMahon says “somewhat of an unfriendly welcome, but you are accustomed to that.” McMahon is such a jerk, even trying to play a face.
Ventura takes the CM Punk approach to his A-holeness and says “I don’t care.” McMahon continues the bullying: “What about your sunglasses? That’s unusual even for you.”
Ventura is done with McMahon games and goes into business for himself.
“I am a new idol for the kids,” Ventura says. “You look at Rock ‘n’ Roll today and you got all these rock stars who think they are big, tough guys, like David Lee Roth and Billy Idol and all these little pipsqueaks who don’t weigh 150 pounds soaking wet. “
Ventura I believe was injured around this time and his time in the ring was about to come to an end, so McMahon and the WWE were thinking of ways to keep him around, rather than send him back to the AWA. So he became this rock star character, complete with a song and video, that actually didn’t sound that bad.
“I got the power, I got the speed. You want to trouble you’ll be sorry if you mess with this body. I got the body, the body rules tonight. “
Ventura sounds at least as good as John Cena, and The Rock, but not quite as good as Lillian Garcia. He’s playing the role well, even if he is technically talking and not singing.
Later in the video he says: “I got the fist, made of iron, I got the body that never tires.” McMahon back in the studio says, “I think you wrestle considerably better than you sing.”
Ventura was never as witty as Bobby “The Brain” Heenan when he was insulted. He typically just barked back, like he did here: “I gave you the opportunity to debut this rock video right here on TNT and this is the kind of shabby treatment I get?”
McMahon cuts him off and says, “We thank you very much for joining us and we wish you well in your career.” Ventura looked stunned that McMahon ended the segment, and McMahon, the ultimate heel, says to Ventura: “What do you want to talk about?”
Ventura responds: “I am the greatest broadcaster in the world today. I tell it like it is. I don’t play favorites.” That’s pretty funny considering Ventura pretty much hated on Hulk Hogan and most of the other good guys as a color commentary.
McMahon then abruptly asks Ventura if we can see “the body.” Ventura popped up and walked off the set, saying “you pay to see the body.”
The live crowd, by the way, booed Ventura with every word, which was Ventura’s greatest gift. He was the ultimate heel and played it well.
Up next is Lisa Sliwa, the Guardian Angel who tried to become a WWF wrestler. We met Sliwa a few weeks ago. Clearly McMahon had big plans for her, but she eventually just sort of disappeared. She was also a fashion model.
McMahon takes us to the gym and Sliwa training with jobber Mario Mancini. God Bless Mancini. Sliwa was demonstrating her wrestling skills and flipped Mancini with a snap mare that looked about 99 percent Mancini and 1 percent Sliwa. Mancini’s lucky he didn’t permanently injure his neck with this botched hold.
Mancini did walk out of the ring after the move, leaving Mean Gene Okerlund to interview Sliwa, who said she had a black belt in karate and jiu-jitsu. Okerlund, always excellent at straddling the line between seriousness and absurdity, asked her what the differences between the martial arts and professional wrestling. Sliwa said she would be disqualified in a second if she performed some of the jiu-jitsu karate in the wrestling ring.
From the brawn we go to the beauty and Sliwa’s modeling shots. Did McMahon think that associating with Sliwa would bring the WWF positive national exposure or did he just see something in her and wanted to try to make her a star.
When they return to the couch and the live crowd, Hayes said “Wendi Richter is going to have to look out.” Maybe Moolah got ahold of Sliwa and scared her away, or Sliwa realized the WWF was not for her, but she disappeared after this.
From one major push to another and Bruno Sammartino as a guest on TNT. Sammartino is appearing the show yet again not to promote himself, but to try to get his son David over as superstar. The problem was that the fans cared more about Bruno than David. But good for Bruno for trying. Bruno sits down and McMahon doesn’t waste a lot of time: “Your son is attempting to follow in your footsteps,” and Bruno takes over.
“For a young fella, he’s really strong,” Bruno says. He claims that David can bench press 545 pounds.
Bruno came back to the WWF to get his son over and even took part in several tag team matches with David against Brutus Beefcake and his manager “Luscious” Johnny Valiant.
We go to Madison Square Garden and the tag match and the crowd is going crazy for Bruno as he’s pounding on Valiant and Beefcake. This was supposed to be a segment that got David over, but it’s not happening. Even the announcers are confused.
“David hasn’t been in the ring yet,” Lord Alfred Hayes says.
“I don’t know if his dad is going to let him in or not,” Gorilla Monsoon says. “He certainly doesn’t need the help.” Just as Bruno finally makes the tag to David, they cut back to the TNT studios, in what certainly must have been a rib on Bruno and David.
Luscious Johnny Valiant them came out on the set wondering why McMahon didn’t show the part of the match where Valiant allegedly threw Bruno into the audience. As Valiant creeps toward Bruno calling him an old man, Bruno says “This old man would have taken you 10 years ago and this this old man would wipe the floor with you today.”
Valiant then throws a blow and Sammartino who blocks it and then throws a John Cena-like right hand that connects on Valiant’s shoulder, sending Valiant over the TNT chair in somewhat of a sloppy bump. Guess it went with the Cena-like right hand.
Valiant was supposed to clear the chair like Capt. Lou Albano did when Rowdy Roddy Piper hit him, in a the same exact segment, but he didn’t sending the chair down with him. McMahon had nothing to say, except “We’ll be back with more TNT.”
Bruno and David would stick around a little while longer, but David never went anywhere, and Bruno would spend much of the next 20 years badmouthing Vince McMahon and the new era of the WWF, including a memorable segment on the Phil Donahue show, until Triple H greased his palm and finally convinced him to forgive and forget and join the WWE Hall of Fame.
Next up is Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Big John Studd. Poor Studd Heenan just overshadowed everyone he managed and here, the 6 foot 11 Studd just faded into the background. Heenan sits down and McMahon says “you hold the distinction of being the first manager in the World Wrestling Federation ever to be fired.”
Heenan kills it with a response of “Had Orndorff stayed out here on TNT another 30 seconds I would have fired him.” The Orndorff turn was no small feat. He was a natural heel, but Heenan was so good that he made the face turn work.
Heenan says he showed Orndorff how to comb his hair and how to work out and took a “ham-and-egger” and turned him into “Mr. Wonderful.” Without him, Heenan says, he’s now “Mr. Pitiful.” Around this time, Heenan put a $25,000 bounty on Orndorff for anyone who “puts Paul Orndorff out of wrestling for good.”
Orndorff would spend the next few months teaming with Hulk Hogan against the Heenan family, setting up the ultimate heel turn, when he turned on Hulk Hogan.
His heel run against Hogan probably wouldn’t have worked as well without Heenan success and turning him face. The show ends with an odd segment held up only by Heenan and Ventura. Heenan and Studd stood on a stage ready to gong anyone from the audience whose questions they didn’t like.
Ventura and Valiant roamed the audience asking questions, but not really. Valiant’s whole schtick was to cut off any of the audience members from actually asking the questions. Ventura was just there to insult the audience.
Ventura asked one guy where he was from and when he responded “New York” Ventura asked if it is as “filthy” as everyone says. The guy didn’t know how to respond and he got the gong from Studd.
The live show really boosted TNT’s relevancy. For the first time, it made the show feel like an actual wrestling talk show, not a staged fake WWF talk talk show.
It’s amazing to watch the WWF in 1985 and 2015. In 1985, the crowd is 100 percent behind the faces and against the heels. If this show were happening in 2015, the live crowd would have been 100 percent behind guys like Ventura and Heenan. Bruno and David would have been booed out of the building.
The WWF in 1985 was a time, as odd as it sounds, of a bit of wrestling purity. The internet had not yet killed every angle before it played out. The fans followed the storylines and generally rooted for the good guys and booed the bad guys.
Lisa Sliwa is cheered here, but would have been absolutely destroyed in 2015. McMahon, however, is still the thread between 1985 and 2015. As much as everything else has changed, McMahon has been the glue behind it all.
– AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Ivan Koloff & Krusher Khrushchev dq
– In a Texas Death match, Manny Fernandez beat The Barbarian
– Black Bart beat Ron Bass
1991
Dallas, Texas:
– Chaz defeated The Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) to win the Global Wrestling Federation Light Heavyweight Title
1993
New York City:
– The Quebecers defeated the Steiner Brothers to win the WWF Tag Team Title
Memphis, Tennessee:
– Tatanka defeated Jerry Lawler to win the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title. On the same show, Tommy Rich defeated Jeff Jarrett for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title and The Dogcatchers defeated The Moondogs for the USWA Tag Team Title.
Oakwood, Virginia:
– The Smoky Mountain Wrestling “Beat The Champ” Television Title changed hands twice on one television taping as Robert Gibson defeated Jimmy Del Rey for the belt, only to lose it later that night to Tony Anthony.
1999
Winston-Salem, North Carolina:
– Diamond Dallas Page won a War Games match in which it was every man for himself
– WCW Cruiserweight Champion Juventud Guerrera defeated Silver King
– Chris Benoit defeated Rick Steiner to win the WCW Television Title
2007
Detroit, Michigan:
– ROH World champion Takeshi Morishima defeated Erick Stevens
– ROH Tag Team champions The Briscoes defeated Matt Cross and Austin Aries
2008
Japan:
– Bryan Danielson defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title
– Nigel McGuinness retained the ROH World Title against Jimmy Jacobs
TNA No Surrender
– Sheik Abdul Bashir defeated Petey Williams and Consequences Creed to win the TNA X Division Title.
– Beer Money defeated LAX to retain the TNA Tag Team Titles.
– Samoa Joe retained the TNA Title over Kurt Angle and Christian Cage.
-Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat the Crusher & Bill Watts
-Billy Red Lyons beat Big K
-Chris Markoff beat Mike Bowyer
1970
– Bepo Mongol (aka Nikolai Volkoff) defeated WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino via countout at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1974
– WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeated Killer Kowalski in a Stretcher Match in the Boston Garden in Massachusetts.
Atlanta, Georgia:
– Harley Race defeated Mr. Wrestling II to win the Georgia Heaveyweight Title
1985
Landover, Maryland:
– Junkyard Dog won a 21-man Battle Royal
1996
ECW Arena:
– The Eliminators & Brian Lee defeated Tommy Dreamer, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
– ECW World Heavyweight Champion Raven defeated Pitbull #2
– ECW World Television Champion Shane Douglas defeated Louie Spicolli
1997
Winston-Salem, North Carolina:
– Eddie Guerrero defeated Chris Jericho to win the WCW Cruiserweight Title
– The NWO (Buff Bagwell, Kevin Nash, Syxx & Konnan) defeated The Four Horsemen (Chris Benoit, Steve McMichael, Ric Flair & Curt Hennig) in a WarGames match.
– Lex Luger & Diamond Dallas Page defeated Scott Hall & Randy Savage in a No Disqualification match
1998
– On a live edition of Nitro from Greenville, South Carolina, Billy Kidman defeated Juventud Guerrera for the WCW Cruiserweight Title.
1999
– At a taping of Smackdown in Las Vegas, Nevada, Vince McMahon defeated Triple H for the WWF World Heavyweight Title
2003
-Shane Douglas defeated D’Lo Brown in Belleville, Michigan to win the Border City Wrestling Can-Am Title.
2008
Tokyo, Japan:
– Bryan Danielson defeated ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness in a non-title match
– Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe to retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles.
2009
WWE Breaking Point PPV:
– John Cena defeated Randy Orton in an I Quit Match to win the WWE Championship
– Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes defeated Shawn Michaels & Triple H in a Submissions Count Anywhere match.
– CM Punk defeated The Undertaker in a submissions match.
St. Louis, Missouri: – Cowboy Bob Ellis defeatd Lou Thesz by dq (Thesz was last minute sub for NWA Champ Buddy Rogers, who was injured in a brawl with Bill Miller & Karl Gotch in Columbus, Ohio dressing room) – Johnny Valentine & Bill Dromo beat Rip Hawk & Wladek (Killer) Kowalski – Red Bastien vs Buddy Austin went to a time limit draw – Joe Tangaro beat Hiro Matsuda dq – Rock Hunter beat Tom Phillips – Ray Collins defeatd Thor Hagen
1963
Kansas City, Kansas: – Mongolian Stomper beat Rock Hunter dq – Larry Hamilton and Jack Allen beat John Kace and Harley Race 2 falls to 0 – Enrique Torres beat Bulldog Plechas
1970
Boston, Massachusetts: – WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeated Crusher Verdi in a Texas Death match
Minneapolis, Minnesota (attendance was 5,319): – AWA Tag Team Champions Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon beat Larry Hennig & Lars Anderson in 2 out of 3 falls – Blackjack Lanza beat Edouard Carpentier – Mighty Igor Vodik beat Dave Cox – Paul Diamond drew Big K – Billy Howard beat Frank Hickey
1979
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne by countout – Mad Dog Vachon beat Stan Hansen – Handicap match: Billy Robinson beat Super Destroyer Mark II & Lord Alfred Hayes – Steve Olsonoski & Paul Ellering beat Bobby Duncum & Jesse Ventura – Peter Sandor Szabo beat Fred Peloquin – Ron Ritchie beat George Gadaski
1982
– Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle defeated Giant Baba & Antonio Inoki in a fictitious tournament final for the NWA World Tag Team Titles.
1988
– The Samoan Swat Team (Fatu & Samu) defeated John Tatum & Jimmy Jack Funk (Jesse Barr) to win the World Class Championship Wrestling Texas Tag Team Titles.
1989
Columbia, South Carolina: – At the Clash of Champions, NWA World Tag Team Champions The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) defeated Rick & Scott Steiner – United States Champion Lex Luger defeated Tommy Rich – Sting & Ric Flair defeated Dick Slater & The Great Muta via disqualification
1999
Winston-Salem, North Carolina: – At WCW Fall Brawl, Harlem Heat defeated Barry & Kendall Windham to win the WCW World Tag Team Title – Sid Vicious defeated Chris Benoit to win the United States Title – Sting defeated Hulk Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title.
2003
– Takashi Sugiara defeated Michael Modest in Tokyo, Japan to win the Pro Wrestling Noah Junior Heavyweight Title.
2004
Portland, Oregon: – Triple H defeated Randy Orton to win the Raw World Title at the Vengeance PPV – Chris Benoit & William Regal defeated Ric Flair & Batista – Chris Jericho defeated Christian in a Ladder Match to win the vacant Intercontinental Title
2013
– AJ Styles defeated Austin Aries – Brutus Magnus defeated Bobby Roode – Bully Ray defeated Mr. Anderson in a Last Man Standing match to retain the TNA Title. – AJ Styles defeated Brutus Magnus in a Bound for Glory Series final.
