The Fan-Cam Files

We’re back with another Fan-Cam Files, and unless I’m missing a document, I think this is my first time diving into a show from 1997 (not like there’s TOO many options out there to begin with). We’re just a little more than a week away from the 4th Annual King of the Ring PPV, and there’s absolutely no shot that they were running B-Tours at this point (unless special circumstances), so there are no other results to see what else might be going on with the company.

Welcome, all! It feels like it’s been a while, but I’m feeling motivated again, and what better to cover than a random old fan-shot wrestling show from the mid 90’s?! If you’re new to the Fan-Cam Files, we cover fan-recorded live events, usually in that sweet period of 1992-96 when such recordings were more prevalent, and in varying quality of camera work and battery preservation (we covered one show from January ‘96 that was constant “oh crap, the battery…” and missing finishes.

We’re just 8 days away from the 3rd annual (PPV version) King of the Ring, and to my surprise, the WWF was running two tours, with one overseas, with the following results from Zeltweg, Austria; Jean-Pierre Lafitte def. Duke Droese, Men on a Mission def. The Headshrinkers (Fatu and Sionne version, STILL THERE), Alundra Blayze def. Bertha Faye to retain the Women’s Title, Adam Bomb def. King Kong Bundy, The Smoking Gunns def. Jacob & Eli Blu, Bret Hart def. Hakushi, Shawn Michaels def. I.R.S., and The Undertaker def. Kama.

It’s time for another dive into the Fan-Cam Files. I’ve hit a few of the “major” shows that have been captured by dedicated fans in the audience, but held off on this one for a bit for whatever reason (probably because I dipped into 1994 a little too much at one point), but time to cash this one in as the What the World Was Watching series has hit this part of the WWF timeline.

The WWF ran their B-Tour at the London Gardens in London, Ontario, with the following results… Duke Droese defeated The Brooklyn Brawler, The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly went to a Draw, the Smoking Gunns defeated the Heavenly Bodies, Women’s Champion Bull Nakano defeated Alundra Blayze, Jim Neidhart defeated Doink, Owen Hart defeated Adam Bomb, and Lex Luger defeated Tatanka. Not the strongest star power, but I’d be happy to check out half this card, so not too bad for quality wrestling. As for the card at Madison Square Garden, it looks like we won’t get to enjoy The Bushwhackers vs. Well Dunn. Oh darn.

Welcome back to another edition of the Fan-Cam Files. Last time, we took a trip to Dortmund, Germany to get a look at the unofficial Hulkamania Farewell Tour, as Hogan and other names associated with the Golden Era worked some of their last matches for the company as we transitioned to the New Generation. I swear, it’s not intentional, but we’re returning to Dortmund just 6-months later as we are officially on the road to WrestleMania X. The WWF ran a 2-week tour overseas, hitting Austria, Israel, Germany and Switzerland, while still running tours in North America (mostly Canadian stops) with lineups typically featuring Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Title, Randy Savage vs. Crush, Alundra Blayze vs. Heidi Lee Morgan for the Women’s Title, Tatanka vs. I.R.S., Sparky Plugg vs. Rick Martel, Bart Gunn vs. Owen Hart, and Mo and Doink (Lombardi Version) vs. The Headshrinkers. Huh. Can someone dig into the archives and find that one?

After doing a deep dive into the final months of Hulk Hogan’s (most notable) WWF run, it seemed like the perfect time to dig into the files for the next fan-cam, and from the looks of things, we have no less than THREE of the shows of the European tour that covers the last week of July and first week of August of 1993 to choose from, with July 29th in Vienna and August 1st from Munich. The Vienna and Dortmund shows seem to be more “complete”, so a coin toss lands us here with Dortmund.

Welcome to another edition of the Fan-Cam Files (and more than likely the last of 2025 unless I feel extra-inspired next week). Last time, we jumped to WCW for their 1991 Great American Bash Tour, with WarGames headlining their stop at the Meadowlands Arena. We’re back with another WWF card from Johnstown, PA (which brings our total to three shows from this location, leaving one more before I’ve exhausted all available options from the venue), and if you’re not familiar with the stop, it’s a standard C-Tour stop, which means we’re not going to get much star power and will get a healthy dose of prelim junk (I’m looking at you, Nikolai Volkoff!). The WWF ran an A-Tour in Baltimore (headlined by Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Title against Harley Race) and a B-Tour in St. Paul, MN (headlined by Ricky Steamboat defending the IC Title against Randy Savage inside of a Steel Cage).

Welcome to only the 2nd edition of the Fan-Cam Files dipping into WCW waters. With WWE Survivor Series featuring Wargames and AEW running Blood & Guts this month, it seemed like the best time to scratch this one off the list (not like I have a ton of WCW to select from, especially shows that have much of a draw). 1991 WCW seems to get a negative reputation, but I like it more than others probably because it was one of the few times in my childhood where I was paying decent attention to their weekly television and ordering their Pay-Per-View offerings.

Welcome back to the Fan-Cam Files! Last time (way back in AUGUST?!), we took a trip to Johnstown, PA in the Summer of 1987, which could best be described as your typical C-Show lineup. Ignoring the soon-to-be-retired Bruno Sammartino showing out for the Battle Royal, the card is filled with prelim syndication jobbers and a handful of singles matches featuring the mid-level tag teams, like the Rougeau Brothers and the NEW Dream Team. This time around, it’s the Summer of 1992 and the location is the Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA. We’re about 4-weeks away from SummerSlam, which saw some drastic changes to the original (projected) lineup as the show switched from the Capital Centre in Landover, MD to Wembley Stadium pretty late in the game, with certain pre-existing angles being put on ice or dropped completely to adjust to changes in plans.

Welcome back to the Fan-Cam Files! Last time on the series, we took a look at what a live event looked like during the Attitude Era, stopping off in Montreal a few weeks ahead of WrestleMania XIV. We’re going way back to the golden era of Hulkamania, but don’t get your hopes up, Hulk Hogan is coming nowhere close to this one. We’re in the Cambria County War Memorial from Johnstown, PA. We’ve covered a show from this location before (May 21st, 1988) and the quality of the video is pretty good (minus the tinting), but the show itself was one of the rare, if not the only, time I’ve handed out an F for overall quality. The good news tonight is the entire card is here, so we won’t be robbed of creative editing/dead batteries!

Welcome back to the Fan-Cam Files! Last time we dipped into the vault, we looked at a WWF B-Tour from Rancho Cucamonga in the Summer of 1994. Today, we’re skipping over the New Generation and jumping into the ATTITUDE ERA, from the Molson Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As far as the fan-cam library goes, it’s safe to say that a good chunk of it was recorded between 1992-1996, so it’s always interesting to find stuff outside that window, and until now, I’ve never had much interest in looking at a show from this particular period. I’d normally list other shows the WWF ran on the same date, but we’re barely able to put together one card, let alone two. It’s easy to forget how thin the roster was entering 1998. If you’re unfamiliar, just peek at the results of the 1998 Royal Rumble and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect.

Welcome to another edition of the Fan-Cam Files! This time we’re coming from the Epicenter Stadium, home of Minor League Baseball team the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (a Class A affiliate at the time of the San Diego Padres, and a team currently under the Los Angeles Dodgers system). The stadium capacity is listed around 6,500, but you can bet that not every seat is filled on this night, while the Quakes themselves were a hot ticket, quickly breaking the California League record for attendance. (In all seriousness, the crowd is a decent size here, considering the set-up and the fact it’s on the baseball field).

Taped from the World’s Most Famous Arena(™) in New York City, NY. We’re just a couple of weeks away from SummerSlam, where Lex Luger is fighting for all Americans to take the WWF Championship from the Japanese menace, Yokozuna (ethnicity may not be accurate). If you take a look at some of the goings on at the time, there’s a lot of new faces making their way to TV as we officially leave the Hulkamania era in the rear view mirror and start on the road to the New Generation. I know, I can hardly contain my excitement!

Welcome to another edition of the Fan-Cam Files, where we randomly pull a fan-recorded show from the archives to peek into the window that was. For today’s show, we’re on the Road to WrestleMania XI, which I consider near the bottom when it comes to ranking the worst WrestleMania of all-time (but the top honor probably goes to 15). It’s the IN HIGH GEAR Tour (we’ve covered this before, but the WWF started naming their tours for whatever reason, maybe to give them a little more identity than “The WWF in Your Area”), and we’re just two weeks away from the granddaddy of them all! This record features all but one match that took place, that being Henry O. Godwinn def. Barry Horowitz.

WWF Fan-Cam Files: 1986 Grab Bag Edition

It’s been a while, but welcome to another chapter in the Fan-Cam Files. We typically look at full cards, most of them from eras where large events were scarce for television audiences, and were windows into how the product was for a given period (at least for the WWF. WCW’s house show stuff has always been very meh because they were so poorly booked and advertised that you’re lucky to get TV storylines featured in high profile matches). Lately, I’ve watched and recapped a ton of cards from 1986 featured on the typical regional sports networks, and came across several incomplete fan-cam shows from late in the year. Since I wouldn’t dedicate a full column to one of these shows with only 2-3 matches featured, we’re getting our first Grab Bag Edition. It could be the first of one, it could be the first of many. Only time will tell.

Welcome back to another edition of the Fan-Cam Files. Last time, I suffered through a show from early 1996 that I didn’t bother to quality check before covering, and was left with a bunch of incomplete matches because someone didn’t bring a fully charged battery to the show. This is another show I wasn’t familiar with as part of the fan-cam library, but this time I made sure I had enough to work with before committing to covering it.

Based on the results available on TheHistoryofWWE.com, this is the complete card, and a matinee, with an evening show with the same lineup running at the Capital Centre in Landover, MD. A second tour ran in New Orleans, LA, but no card was available, just the generic advertisement of Bret Hart and Virgil. Based on results surrounding that date, Bret vs. Warlord and Virgil vs. Dibiase were likely, as was The Rockers vs. Nasty Boys. Other matches that could have taken place that were part of the loop were The Dragon vs. Skinner and The Bulldog vs Col. Mustafa. This is all speculation on my part, but unless a travel issue comes up, this feels like a strong guess.

We’re back with more Fan-Cam excitement. I’m not going to lie, this wasn’t my first choice for the next show to cover, but in 10 reviews, I’ve covered shows from 1994 four times, and the show I intended to cover was from… you guessed it, 1994. So the coin toss was between 1992 and 1996, and here we are, just two weeks away from the Royal Rumble.

This card taught me a lesson that if I’m unfamiliar with a show, I should watch through it once so I know what to expect, because this is one of the most poorly recorded shows I’ve ever come across, with a match missing, a match missing the entire second half and finish, and some that just randomly cut from the midway part of a match to the finish. This was a show I stumbled across by chance and never saw it listed from my usual sources of available fan-cams, and decided to dive in blindly. I made that mistake covering a WrestleMania X Revenge Tour card expecting Earthquake vs Yokozuna, and this was even more of a let-down because of a lack of preparation.

Probably one of the more well known fan-cams, not for anything controversial, like the Curtain Call from May 19th, 1996, but for running a unique gimmick match typically reserved for Pay-Per-View. Just days before the 6th Royal Rumble to broadcast on Pay-Per-View, the WWF ran a Royal Rumble Match to headline a loaded show at the world’s most famous arena. Living in the New York area, it was unbelievable to hear this advertised on their Face-to-Face/Live Event News segments… and just as soon as the date approached, it was pushed to the back of the mind, because at the end of the day, nothing about that match mattered for the television audience. However, another match featured on this card WOULD be addressed for the television viewers.

After suffering through a mostly blah WCW Fan-Cam from October 1990, we’re back with the World Wrestling Federation, and we’re taking another trip to a less frequently visited location. Going through the archives of available “Fan-Cam” shows, Johnstown, PA only pops up a few times, and all from 1987 and 1988, with lineups that are likely to settle in the territory of a “C” Tour. This is one of three (known) cards the WWF ran on May 21st, all with different lineups. Cape Girardeau, MO got Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase, Demolition vs Strike Force, Bam Bam Bigelow vs. The One Man Gang, Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules, and George Steele vs Jim Neidhart (results unavailable), and the Philadelphia Spectrum got Jake Roberts def. Rick Rude, Don Muraco def. Greg Valentine, Andre the Giant def. Jim Duggan, Bret Hart and Bad News Brown going to a Time Limit, Haku, Chief Afi, and Heenan def. The Bulldogs and Koko, The Rougeaus def. The Young Stallions, and Jerry Allen def. Steve Lombardi. I guess that doesn’t leave much for available talent, but we’ll cross our fingers and hope for the best…

We’re changing up the formula this time around, taking a break from the WWF and checking out some of what WCW had to offer for the house show circuit. There’s not nearly as many WCW fan-cam shows as there is the WWF (and of course neither touches ECW since that was a lot of their side hustle, so it only makes sense there’s a ton of them available). For the first WCW show, I’m making my selection for a unique, but completely uninteresting reason: It’s one of the few shows I don’t have saved on my laptop (or storage device) via mp4 format, so I’m dusting off a burned DVD from years ago. I’ve only watched this one all the way through one time, and it was really a background noise viewing as I had it on during one of the evening threads of random conversation.

When I dive into the archives of hand-helds or “Fan-Cams”, Madison Square Garden is represented well in that library, so while I would love to keep digging into the MSG well, I’m trying to pace them out so I don’t look too much like a New York homer. Without going into detail, between the years 1993 and 1996, there’s probably somewhere around 15-20 shows recorded from the World’s most famous arena.