Worst Wrestling Show Ever (Bad Local Indie Show Thread)

[StuntGranny®]

Fair warning: This is going to be long. So just skip all of this and post your horrible experiences if you'd like. I don't blog or tweet, so I had to get this off my chest here. We'll consider this therapy as we share our horrible local independent show memories.

On Thursday night in the *ahem* big city of Ringgold, GA, I attended a show so bad that it would end the professional wrestling business if something else out-shitty'ed it.

The event? WrestleJam V. Here's the poster for this bad boy.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

My cousin discovered the event and called to tell me about it. I thought, "Hey, Steamboat and Vader? Mr. Wonderful? Teddy Long? The Boys!? Sure, sounds like fun!" I'm an idiot.

Here's a run through of the "highlights" of the show:

- Show starts with the "AWF Hall of Fame induction". Paul Orndorff, Tracy Smothers, and some local guys are inducted. A crowning achievement in their careers, no doubt.

- After that, we are told that "AWF actually loves America!" so we are asked to stand for the national anthem. The crowd frantically searches for a flag. There is no flag. However, a good brother in the front has everyone covered and pulls up a picture of the flag on his phone and turns it so everyone can see. He is serious as a heart attack when he does this. I laughed until I peed a little.

- We got one of the most awkward "segments" I've witnessed live. Teddy Long comes out (He's the GM of the show, naturally) and mentions that Ryback (Who was advertised to wrestle) can't wrestle due to surgery on his shoulder. Ryback promptly comes out and gives a speech about how he "Just had surgery" and "Would love to wrestle for the fans, but just can't do it!" Folks in my section are rightfully pissed. The promoter (Ric Flair rip-off Paul Lee) knew the surgery didn't "just happen", Ryback knew it, but they still pulled the ol' bait and switch. Where it got REALLY awkward was when Ryback (For whatever reason) pivots to telling Teddy Long that he watched one of his shoot interviews online and "Teddy said he couldn't believe that I walked away from a $1.5 million contract." Then follows that up with, "Well Teddy, you're right. I didn't walk away from a $1.5 million contract. It was a $1.65 million contract!" Then says he's a "Man in a business full of boys." Ric Flar impersonator Paul Lee then comes out and Teddy Long looked like he wanted to murder Ryback. He went over and talked to Ryback like your dad talked to you when he wanted to quietly inform you that you're ass was getting whipped when you got home. If Teddy Long wasn't legit pissed, he's the greatest worker in the history of the business. Teddy then tells everyone again that Ryback won't wrestle and Paul Lee will face a mystery opponent (Buff Bagwell who was very visible throughout the show). Also, maybe I misunderstood and he was saying it to someone else, but I'm pretty sure Paul Lee told Teddy Long to "Go back to the jungle." People cheered. I wanted to die.

- There was a six-man (yes, SIX) battle royal. Tracy Smothers won it. It was one of the worst thing I've laid my eyes on and meant nothing. If video ever surfaces of this, do NOT watch it. If you do, you will die in seven days.

- The house mics worked about 10% of the time. If you weren't at ringside, you probably didn't hear shit. However, the mics that the commentary team used to do commentary DID work and it was awful. One guy kept yelling, "HAM YEAH!" or "GIMMIE A HAM YEAH!" I f***ing don't know why. Same guy also basically made up names for moves. I'm still trying to figure out what a single-leg DDT is.

- I'll be shocked if Vader makes it two more years. This isn't meant to be funny or anything like that. He looked TERRIBLE and seemed to be in horrible health. To say I felt sorry for the man is an understatement. He worked a match. It was awful but I'm glad I didn't witness him die in the ring.

- Buff Bagwell wrestled Paul Lee. It was also very, very bad. I'd never watched a Paul Lee match before and I was better off for it. As I said, it's basically a dude doing a poor Flair impersonation. Buff has lost quite a few steps, but at least he tried to put on a good match.

- Finally, there was a turd in the urinal. A fitting metaphor for this show.

Again, sorry it was such a long, rambling post. I had to get this shit off my chest. Needless to say, I will not attend WrestleJam VI.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Man, I really wish I could have seen the National Anthem being given to a picture of a flag on a phone.

[Ultimo Gallos]

I wish footage was online of the worst show I have been too.

August 2012
Brookhaven Mississippi
Last Rites Championship wrestling's first show.

Show started 30 minutes late. They had set up for 200 people and there was at most 80 people there.

Opening match was a 20 man Royal Rumble style battle royal. But the ring crew had forgot to secure the ring mat down. So it starts sliding all over the place. Cause of this we see that instead of padding under the mat they have put a dirty old quilt and the mats from the locker room. After the match someone got on the mic and asked if anyone in the crowd had some rope or something to tie it down with.

Now this was Last Rites first show ,but all but two of the matches were for titles. The Last Rites Extreme title was a weight lifting belt with automotive decals all over it. The Tag titles were replica TNA X-division belts. And the women's title was a Captial City Midgets belt.

Every match ran long. So by 10pm,the show started at 7:30pm,it was intermission. During intermission most of the crowd left. By the time the next match started there was at most 20 people left in the crowd.

At 15 minutes to midnight the main event starts. Faroh of Phunk vs Superkick Frankie Thomas,winner becomes the first Last Rites World champion. Faroh walks out and stage whispers to Frankie "hey they want us out of here by 12:30 so go home quick" The crowd of 20 heard this so the entire match the crowd chanted GO HOME GO HOME. After a 15 minute match Faroh wins. Grabs the mic cuts a 15 minute promo on how we are the best crowd he has worked in front of and how they would be back the next month with a Lincoln County street fight.

Last Rites ran 3 more shows,each at baseball fields. The next show they had drew 30people. The next two were lucky to draw 15.

[Ted Sheckler]

Paul Lee is the epitome of a "money mark". Guy is practically in the business because his wife has tons of money and he wants to hang out with wrestling legends and put himself over regardless of the cost.

Here he is with Ric Flair in what looks to be a bar:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-5uH0td7_M

---

As for my worst show, I have to remember the time I went to a show as a teenager and quite literally fell asleep during one of the matches. The company in question would run our town as apart of a three show circuit during their hottest period. This would result in many international talents literally appearing twenty minutes from my home. Got to see the likes of Al Snow, Chris Masters, Dragon Gate wrestlers, Sabu, Sinn Bodhi and Sonjay Dutt all in my town for a pretty reasonable fifteen dollars.

Eventually they found a local guy and trained him up, decent worker who got some TV fame for a commercial so they'd run shows here with their locals with him on top. A lot of their top local talent left so he had a lot of rookies, I liked the company and continued to support them.

Shows would feature very silly gimmicks so he'd have a Scientist wrestler, A Fireman, A Spaceman, Vampire, Lifeguard, Traffic Cop (Who was a heel), clown, cricket captain and of course the promoter who much like Paul Lee always put himself over. You all get the picture.

Anyway, pretty boring show, very average and green wrestlers having poor level matches and then we get to I believe the man playing a Scientist taking on the man who was playing a Fireman. For some reason they decide to go 20+ minutes with this match and it got very very boring very very quickly. I fell asleep in my seat for maybe a minute or two and woke up. It was the first and last time I ever fell asleep during a live pro wrestling match.

This was 10 years ago, their current champion is the same guy who was 10 years ago (The promoter, surprise surprise). Their last show I attended (2011 I believe) featured the promoter toppling the evil heel group after being injured for a year and being in his late thirties. Terrible company who these days can't draw unless they have an international people want to see.

[Mozenrath]

...wait, does that poster seriously say "STEAMBOT"?

[Sigma: Current SRW Champ!]

May 28, 2017 0:49:32 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

...wait, does that poster seriously say "STEAMBOT"?

It did! Dear goodness, that show looked all kinds of bad. Haven't had a bad experience at a local indie show.

[nm]

I was reading the OP and thought to myself "I bet this show was ran by the Ric Flair impersonator guy" and as soon as that thought entered my mind I got to the sentence that said it

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

May 28, 2017 1:10:46 GMT -5 nm said:

I was reading the OP and thought to myself "I bet this show was ran by the Ric Flair impersonator guy" and as soon as that thought entered my mind I got to the sentence that said it

And not even the good one!

[pegasuswarrior]

OP didn't describe the worst wrestling show ever. That's pretty much any Thursday night show anywhere in the South. I have a lot of fond and not-so-fond memories and still more to be made across this country at shows like that. But no, not even close to the worst. That description is just straight up repping what's normal in no-name indies.

This also just makes me shake my head at how Tracy Smothers is still going. I'm not talking physically. I mean, he's at every wrestling show ever that's not an Evolve, Progress, ROH, PWG, CZW show. I love him just for that fact. I can go anywhere in the East and South and he's going to be there. He's a true road warrior. Hats off to him.

[Ultimo Gallos]

The guy with the belt,which is the Last Rites Extreme title,is Max Maverick. He was married at the time to the lady doing video work for Last Rites. But sadly after Last Rites folded she deleted all the footage.

But as yall can see the belt is just a weight lifting belt with a bunch of auto decals on it.


If all goes right in July a group of about 10 of us are going down to Kiln Mississippi to see what has been called "The worst indy fed in the deep south" Southern Championship Wrestling. Run by Chris Black and the Faroh of Phunk. They are running weekly in Kiln and drawing 100 to 150 people each week. Most of the roster is rookies that Faroh and Chris train for 3 weeks then put on the shows. They were at one time running all over the MS gulf coast but have been banned from pretty much every venue in that area. Our plan is to all show up in wrestling masks,sit front row and just heckle the hell out of all the heels.

Last year SCW had a big 3 shows in 3 days event. With the final show being headlined by a barbed wire Hell in the Cell match. The cell was made out of 2x4s. Had no ceiling and only had 3 sides. What sucks is no one is recording the SCW shows so unless you hit one of their shows you can't see how horrible it is.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

About 12 or 14 years ago, I learned about a Knoxville legends show advertising Ron Wright, Robert Fuller, Jimmy Golden, Bob and Brad Armstrong, Mongolian Stomper, and others. The impression that I got was that it was a live card featuring locals and legends plus a meet and greet with the legends.

The first sign of problems was signs at the gate informing us that Robert Fuller would not appear.

The show was outdoors in Chilhowee Park, and the ring was set up on the stage of the amphitheatre, which was some distance from the bleachers. The reason for this appeared to be so they could sell higher priced tickets for the small amount of seats near the stage.

The show started 45 minutes late.

The sound system cut in and out and was plagued with static all night.

The only legends who did signings were the Armstrongs and Robert Gibson. No announcement was made and Bullet Bob had left by the time we found out about it. Brad was awesome, though.

Music would play for a couple of minutes before the guys would come out. Every time, every match.

There would be 5 to 10 minutes of nothing between matches. Every time.

The promoter was working as a heel, facing the Dirty White Boy with special referee Ronnie Garvin. Guess who was all over the show, including a random bit where he took the glasses of a "fan" in a wheelchair and stomped them in front of the guy before pulling him from the chair and putting the boots to him. This led to nothing.

The promoter literally grabbed the microphone away from Davey Rich mid promo because he saw another local promoter in the crowd. He went on a rant about people talking trash on the internet and challenged the guy to come down to the ring, ending with a stupid little rhyme about doing the guy's mom doggy style.

Buff Bagwell took Polaroids in the ring during intermission. This went on for 45 minutes. Not because of a huge line but because they milked it and people slowly trickled in hoping they'd finally decide it was enough and restart the show.

Fans began chanting for the show to restart. They milked it for another 10 minutes or so.

The main event featured the Stormtrooper, with his swastika mask and Aryan nation flag.

[jason1980s]

That pretty much sums up any independent show, sadly. And the companies, promoters etc...don't do anything to deviate from the years of this being the norm.

The worst is when the early matches go on for so long with very little action. It's like 15 minutes before the first match even ends and you're looking for the night to end. And the show generally starts half hour to an hour late because they crowd doesn't get there until a half hour or an hour into the show.

Wait, no, the worst is when the promoter doesn't make enough money to pay the legends. Fans who meet the legends at these shows and the legends are miserable and treat the fans like a dollar sign, don't understand the legends are in a mood like that because they are not getting paid and are counting on the autograph/t-shirt sales to not lose money for coming to the show.

[Deleted]

My experience is in the Rip-Off Wrestlers thread we had. About 90% of the roster was based on somebody else; even the guy playing the company president was a 300-pound Michael Hayes retread.

(But it was a fundraiser for the high school band, and they got a nice check so it wasn't all shit.)

[Juice]

I feel bad for you guys. The indys in my area including the one I train at and work for put on stellar shows. Pennsylvania has always had good wrestling though.

[Honeybear Lyder]

AWO, the fed i used to be with. It's first show drew 700 people, which is the largest crowd ever in Israel so far. Nowdays it draws about 18-20 people a show and half the roster consists of kids in t- shirts, gym shorts and sweat pants.

[eJm]

May 28, 2017 11:41:44 GMT -5 Honeybear Lyder said:

AWO, the fed i used to be with. It's first show drew 700 people, which is the largest crowd ever in Israel so far. Nowdays it draws about 18-20 people a show and half the roster consists of kids in t- shirts, gym shorts and sweat pants.

As an aside, I'd love to find out more about the wrestling scene in places like Israel and how it's growing.

That thread someone is doing about the Hong Kong scene is fascinating.

[Honeybear Lyder]

May 28, 2017 11:44:09 GMT -5 eJm said:

May 28, 2017 11:41:44 GMT -5 Honeybear Lyder said:

AWO, the fed i used to be with. It's first show drew 700 people, which is the largest crowd ever in Israel so far. Nowdays it draws about 18-20 people a show and half the roster consists of kids in t- shirts, gym shorts and sweat pants.

As an aside, I'd love to find out more about the wrestling scene in places like Israel and how it's growing.

That thread someone is doing about the Hong Kong scene is fascinating.

Well currently there are two feds running regular shows, the Israeli Wrestling League and the All Wrestling Organization. The IWL is the youngest and has a more talented roster, while the AWO used to be a leading promotion some years ago, drew decent crowds (250-150 is considered decent here) and brought in guys like Joe E Legend, Carlito and Chris Masters, but currently is not in a very good shape.
In addition to that, this summer there will be sort of a super-show with the likes of Kevin Von Erich, Tatanka, Marty Jannetty and Matt Sydal and other talent from abroad as well as a couple of local guys. The Von Erichs are extremely popular here and the show's getting a lot of hype in the media already.

Sorry for going off-topic.

[eJm]

May 28, 2017 12:03:08 GMT -5 Honeybear Lyder said:

May 28, 2017 11:44:09 GMT -5 eJm said:

As an aside, I'd love to find out more about the wrestling scene in places like Israel and how it's growing.

That thread someone is doing about the Hong Kong scene is fascinating.

Well currently there are two feds running regular shows, the Israeli Wrestling League and the All Wrestling Organization. The IWL is the youngest and has a more talented roster, while the AWO used to be a leading promotion some years ago, drew decent crowds (250-150 is considered decent here) and brought in guys like Joe E Legend, Carlito and Chris Masters, but currently is not in a very good shape.
In addition to that, this summer there will be sort of a super-show with the likes of Kevin Von Erich, Tatanka, Marty Jannetty and Matt Sydal and other talent from abroad as well as a couple of local guys. The Von Erichs are extremely popular here and the show's getting a lot of hype in the media already.

Sorry for going off-topic.

No problem, I asked. Thanks for the post.

[Super Nintenjoe KBD]

There's some funny stuff along these lines on this page www.facebook.com/TrashBagWrestlersTBW/

[Joe Neglia]

May 28, 2017 12:03:08 GMT -5 Honeybear Lyder said:

May 28, 2017 11:44:09 GMT -5 eJm said:

As an aside, I'd love to find out more about the wrestling scene in places like Israel and how it's growing.

That thread someone is doing about the Hong Kong scene is fascinating.

Well currently there are two feds running regular shows, the Israeli Wrestling League and the All Wrestling Organization. The IWL is the youngest and has a more talented roster, while the AWO used to be a leading promotion some years ago, drew decent crowds (250-150 is considered decent here) and brought in guys like Joe E Legend, Carlito and Chris Masters, but currently is not in a very good shape.
In addition to that, this summer there will be sort of a super-show with the likes of Kevin Von Erich, Tatanka, Marty Jannetty and Matt Sydal and other talent from abroad as well as a couple of local guys. The Von Erichs are extremely popular here and the show's getting a lot of hype in the media already.

Sorry for going off-topic.

If Gery Roif involved with either of these? I remember him trying to get wrestling going in Israel some 10-15 years ago, but we haven't talked in a very long time now. I recall one of his workers doing a Soviet gimmick used to post on here in the early days.