July 3, 20232 yr comment_6006644 4 hours ago, Cien Caras said: Doug Gilbert in Royal Rumble 96 REPRESENT Im assuming Takao Omori too. Considering all the collaboration between WWF and USWA, Gilbert is a little surprising.
July 3, 20232 yr comment_6006647 Brian Pillman wrestled on exactly one AWA show, against Ric Flair in an NWA title match in May, 1990. To make this even more strange I believe this match came about because WCW borrowed the Destruction Crew for a few shows, to wrestle the Steiner's under masks as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew II, and this is what AWA received in return
July 3, 20232 yr comment_6006648 22 hours ago, SirEdger said: Did El Generico have multiple dark match/tryouts in TNA or was it just one? He had two, against Amazing Red and against TJP in 2011. 7 hours ago, Cien Caras said: Doug Gilbert in Royal Rumble 96 REPRESENT Im assuming Takao Omori too. Takao Omori in TNA as well, came in to work Shamrock as a one off in 2002.
July 3, 20232 yr comment_6006650 Bart Gunn/Mike Barton in TNA. Actually had a good little hidden gem of a match with Perry Saturn. Saturn would also face Kenzo Suzuki in his only TNA match a few weeks later.
July 3, 20232 yr comment_6006653 Kris Statlander made a one-off appearance on Smackdown, teaming with the future Electra Lopez to put over the Iiconics.
July 3, 20232 yr comment_6006658 The six-man at WK9 is Jeff Jarrett's only match in New Japan, which came as a bit of a surprise to me. I figured he would have had a couple when they were working with TNA.
July 4, 20232 yr Author comment_6006724 On 7/2/2023 at 8:48 PM, Al said: Considering all the collaboration between WWF and USWA, Gilbert is a little surprising. Heck, I'm surprised Eddie Gilbert never showed up (he was in USWA between late 1993 up to his death in 1995), would have been interesting to see him have a WWF stint or even a one-off appearance.
July 4, 20232 yr comment_6006725 Eddie Gilbert was in the WWF in the early 80s as Bob Backlund's protege. He was part of an angle where Masked Superstar broke his neck with a swinging neckbreaker to set Superstar up as a challenger for Backlund.
July 4, 20232 yr comment_6006726 Takeshi Ono in RINGS, he only had one match against Wataru Sakata in 1994. Takeshi Ono vs Wataru Sakata 12/24/1994 RINGS I personally like shoot-style, the holds, the suspense and the kicks of course. Takeshi Ono is one of my favourite shoot wrestlers ever, his work in Battlarts is sublime and I recommend his 2010 run to everyone, I decided to do a deep dive in his career starting from his second match ever against Wataru Sakata in RINGS Fighting Network one of the most critically acclaimed shoot-style promotions in history with a roster full of recognizable names like Kiyoshi Tamura, Volk Han and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka to name a few. Wataru Sakata was a regular in the midcard of RINGS shows during his career, he had matches against the big names of the company like in 1998 when he faced Kiyoshi Tamura in a losing effort, around this time Sakata was a newcomer, he had more experience than Ono at this point in time having wrestled 3 matches before this one while Ono only wrestled once before against Minoru Tanaka in PWFG. The match was fun nothing out of the ordinary, Ono jumped at him when the bell rang but Sakata being the more calmed and collected competitor was able to get a favourable position but he couldn’t finish him because the bell had sounded it was the end of the first round, the second was more of the same with Sakata getting top mount but not being able to finish him, the third was another story entirely with Sakata getting the armbar for the win by submission.
July 6, 20232 yr comment_6006815 I think Abdullah the Butcher only had one match in ROH at Night of the Butcher in 2002. Seemed like an odd choice especially that early in the company's history. Jeff Hardy at Death Before Dishonor 2003. There's a bunch in early ROH especially from their short term partnerships with Zero One, AJPW and NJPW but those are probably more guest appearances for big shows. I swore Mick Foley only had 1 match in FMW on 05/05/96 but then it looks like he was in a 6 man match on 04/29/97. That's really weird to bring him over for a random 6 man since he was fully with WWF at that point. Curious if anyone knows why...it was with Funk so maybe they granted it as a favor as perhaps it was part of Funk's '97 retirement??? Similarly I thought Sabu had only 1 match in Michinoku Pro vs Jerry Lynn. But it looks like he had 1 more in '93 vs Terry Boy the very next night. Close but no cigar I guess. I wonder why since his style seems like a good fit.
July 7, 20232 yr comment_6006820 4 hours ago, G. Badger said: I think Abdullah the Butcher only had one match in ROH at Night of the Butcher in 2002. Seemed like an odd choice especially that early in the company's history. Jeff Hardy at Death Before Dishonor 2003. There's a bunch in early ROH especially from their short term partnerships with Zero One, AJPW and NJPW but those are probably more guest appearances for big shows. I swore Mick Foley only had 1 match in FMW on 05/05/96 but then it looks like he was in a 6 man match on 04/29/97. That's really weird to bring him over for a random 6 man since he was fully with WWF at that point. Curious if anyone knows why...it was with Funk so maybe they granted it as a favor as perhaps it was part of Funk's '97 retirement??? Similarly I thought Sabu had only 1 match in Michinoku Pro vs Jerry Lynn. But it looks like he had 1 more in '93 vs Terry Boy the very next night. Close but no cigar I guess. I wonder why since his style seems like a good fit. Jeff would return 14 years later for the Hardyz ROH Tag Title run in 2017 just before returning to WWE Mention of Michinoku Pro made me think of Undertaker's one off there against Hakushi in 1997.
July 7, 20232 yr comment_6006825 11 hours ago, G. Badger said: I think Abdullah the Butcher only had one match in ROH at Night of the Butcher in 2002. Night of the Butcher: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1fb41137Qg?p=11 It isn't good but it happened.
July 7, 20232 yr comment_6006827 On 7/1/2023 at 6:41 PM, Migs said: Savage in TNA Nick Gage in AEW AEW already has a handful of one-off matches: Gage, Juvi, Warhorse, Glacier. Mance Warner had two matches and disappeared, what was up with that? Also, one-off appearances from Greg Valentine, Homicide, Raven, Erick Rowan and Gangrel.
July 7, 20232 yr comment_6006830 Here's an obscure one. Journeywoman Malia Hosaka had one match in the WWF, a dark match before Raw at the Meadowlands in 1999. A show I just happened to attend.
July 8, 20232 yr comment_6006845 Rowan had two matches in AEW (plus a run-in on the Brodie Lee tribute show). Other AEW one-offs of note or at least semi-note: Dragon Lee, DDP, Deonna Purrazzo, Holidead, Fallah Bahh, Tully Blanchard, LuFisto, and Kalisto/Samuray del Sol.
July 11, 20232 yr comment_6007022 Wasn't there the story of Strongbow in Japan, where he started doing his tomahawk schtick, got chopped for real, then the sound of a slamming door, squealing tyres, and an airplane taking off?
July 11, 20232 yr comment_6007046 That sounds apocryphal given that Strongbow wrestled previous Japanese tours as Joe Scarpa. Given how prevailent the native american gimmick once was in wrestling though, I could see a similar story with a different wrestler.
July 11, 20232 yr comment_6007066 Strongbow was part of the 1978 MSG League (the predecessor to the G1), so that story can't be true. As an aside, my favorite semi-apocryphal Strongbow story involves him telling Owen Hart to knock it off with the high flying because none of that stuff would work in a real fight. Owen replied that if it was a real fight, he'd do a war dance. A couple more examples: Okada in CMLL and Iron Sheik in UWFi.
July 12, 20232 yr comment_6007098 Brian Jr.'s departure from AEW reminded me that Brian Sr. only had one match with ECW in 1994 (a tag with Shane Douglas vs. Ron Simmons and Scorpio). He never officially wrestled a match in ECW as the "Loose Cannon" persona in 1996.
July 15, 20232 yr comment_6007317 Andrew "Test" Martin only had one TNA match - Hard Justice 2007. He main evented tagging with Sting and Abyss vs AJ Styles, Christian and Tomko.
July 26, 20232 yr comment_6007956 Al Snow working shoot style in Kitao Dojo against Ishinriki JJ Dillon at MSG against Tito Santana
August 2, 20232 yr comment_6008362 On 7/1/2023 at 8:57 PM, JRH said: On a January 2000 Nitro, Jeff Jarrett wrestled George Steele, Tito Santana, and Jimmy Snuka. Tito and Steele only worked for WCW for that night (Snuka did have matches for GCW/MACW which is part of the WCW lineage). Tito debuted in Florida, hit Mid Atlantic for a year, then Georgia twice. In fact Georgia was his last stop before the WWF years.
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