Live from Orlando, FL
Airdate: January 21, 1990
Attendance: 16,000 (sold out)
Hosted by Tony Schiavone & Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Who will win the Rumble this year? Could it be a Perfect Rumble? Read on!
–A limousine pulls into the backstage area and Pamela Anderson walks out. She goes to her locker room as WWF wrestlers, led by Dink of all people, hoot and holler. What? You expected respectful manners out of a group of wrestlers?
As a side note, when you have been watching tons of television tapings from Liberty, New York in a high school gym for weeks on end it really makes you appreciate the bigger venue that this show is in and it makes everything seem more important.
–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are on the mic and they are live from Tampa, Florida. What is hilarious about the opening is that Vince tries to introduce the Spanish announce team and Hugo Savinovich just stays seated with his back to the camera.
With a few work-related obligations out of the way for the immediate future that absorbed the last month of my time, we return to the WWF in 1995. We are less than twenty-four hours away from the Royal Rumble in Tampa, Florida, but before we get there we have “go home” broadcast of Wrestling Challenge.
–Gorilla Monsoon and Ted DiBiase are in the booth and are still in Liberty, New York.
Monday Night Raw
Date: October 21, 2002
Location: Gaylord Entertainment Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re past No Mercy and the big story on the red side is the potential murder/necrophiliac did NOT win the World Title, meaning the Intercontinental Title has ceased to be. That means we’re in need of a fresh challenger and I’m terrified to think of what HHH is going to do to them. Let’s get to it.
Taped from Nashville, TN
Airdate: December 27, 1989 (taped 12/12)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
So how did the WWF round out 1989? With a movie and a match! Read on!
Monday Night Raw
Date: October 14, 2002
Location: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
I’m going to get straight to the point on this one: we’re in the Katie Vick era. No Mercy is in six days and the big story is HHH claiming that Kane killed someone named Katie Vick ten years ago. Now if you know your wrestling history, you know what we’re coming up on in the next few weeks and you know how bad this is going to be. Let’s get to it.
Taped from Topeka, KS
Airdate: November 25, 1989 (taped 10/31)
Attendance: unknown
Hosted by Vince McMahon & Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Can Hogan retain the WWF title against Genius? What is Mr. Perfect’s involvement? Read on!
Monday Night Raw
Date: October 7, 2002
Location: Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’re in Las Vegas for a special show as WWE continues to fight (in vein) against Monday Night Football. This week it’s Raw Roulette, meaning every match is Spin the Wheel, Make the deal. I was always a fan of that gimmick back in WCW but having a full show built around it could be a mess. Let’s get to it.
Monday Night Raw
Date: September 30, 2002
Location: Compaq Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We’ll wrap the month up here with less than three weeks to go before No Mercy, which hasn’t even been addressed yet. All I know is we’re going to be seeing a lot more of Ric Flair and HHH because HHH is in charge and wants Flair to feel special again or something like that. Let’s get to it.
Live from Rosemont, IL
Airdate: November 23, 1989
Attendance: 15,294
Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
Who will survive? The Dream Team or the Enforcers? The King’s Court or the 4x4s? The Hulkamaniacs or the Million Dollar Team? Rude’s Brood or Roddy’s Rowdies? The Ultimate Warriors or the Heenan Family? Let’s find out!
Monday Night Raw
Date: September 23, 2002
Location: Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, California
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s the night after Unforgiven and the big story on the Raw side is Ric Flair joining forces with HHH to form….well to form nothing at the moment but that’s the only noteworthy thing that happened last night. I’m worried about what we’ll be getting going forward but that’s so often the case around here. Let’s get to it.
–Todd Pettengill is live from Tampa, Florida from the location of the Royal Rumble. Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon are in the booth calling the taped matches which are still from Liberty, New York. As long as it gets Todd out of the booth it is fine with me.
–Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler are doing commentary and they are still taping shows in Newark, Delaware.
Monday Night Raw
Date: September 16, 2002
Location: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
It’s the go home show for Unforgiven and that means a lot more from HHH and his REALLY COOL SLEEPER. Yes HHH is currently trying to get the sleeper over as a finisher in 2002 and….well he’s probably not wondering why people are booing him because he probably doesn’t notice. Let’s get to it.
–The intro video package has the old Star Trek theme playing since William Shatner will be in Bret Hart’s corner when he faces Jeff Jarrett in tonight’s main event.
–Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels are doing commentary and they are still in Houston, Texas. This is the “go home” show for the Royal Rumble.
Taped from Cincinnati, OH
Airdate: October 14, 1989 (taped 9/21)
Attendance: 14,000 (12,000 paid)
Hosted by Vince McMahon & Jesse “The Body” Ventura
What can DiBiase do to win the WWF title from Hogan? What’s new with Savage? Can Piper be any zanier? Read on!
–Gorilla Monsoon and Ted DiBiase are in the booth.
–After a bunch of rehashed Action Zone matches we get a video package about Hakushi. At house shows around this time Hakushi’s manager Shinja was told to cut promos against the crowds so that they would not cheer for the Japanese talent.
Monday Night Raw
Date: September 9, 2002
Location: Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
So there’s a new World Champion and that means we get to hear about how amazing HHH really is. That’s been the case around here for a long time but you can feel it cranking into a much higher level around this point. We’re a few weeks away from Unforgiven and the only match that seems to be coming up is HHH vs. Rob Van Dam for the title. Let’s get to it.
–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are doing commentary today and they recap the WWF Tag Team Championship Tournament semi-finals, which were held on WWF Superstars. They still appear to be in Liberty, New York in a high school gymnasium. Although this was not a great financial period for the company I have to envy some of these people that got to attend these smaller shows. I would have loved for the WWF to come to my small community during this time period.
–Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler are doing commentary and they are still in Newark, Delaware.