Indie nightmares with big stars

[Deleted]

Remember this one, when the booker didn't have a ring for Bobby Fulton vs Nikolai Volkoff?



Here is another classic: Sandman passes out drunk during match.




Got to keep these memories alive soldiers! We owe it to our countrymen. What else? 

[James Fabiano]

You know what I say, but I got a sig for that now.

[魔界5号]

Heroes Of Wrestling.

The whole thing.

[The 1Watcher Experience]

Extreme Reunion 4/28/12. You'll never see a bigger audience that hungry for ECW ever again. There were a ton of loyal fans that came out for that show and they got shafted hard that night. What a horrible mess.

[Joe Neglia]

Legacy Wrestling Enterprises' one and only show, December 5, 2002. Held in Fort Worth, TX, the show looked really good on paper. Had a little bit of everything - bunch of the hotter local talents (Mike Foxx, Samir, Gabe Roach, Jared Steele, etc), AJ Styles and Paul London as a tag team, nostalgia matches with Hacksaw Duggan vs. Krusher Kong (aka King Kong of the Colossal Kongs in WCW) and Mil Mascaras vs. Manny Fernandez. To cap off with a little extreme flavoring, the main event was to be Candido (w/Sunny) vs the Sandman to crown the first LWE champion.

The card went okay until the main event. At the time of the main event to start, none of the three had arrived to the building, running super late due to a snowstorm in Philly. In a bid to keep the show going, the promoter booked an impromptu battle royal to crown a new champ. During the battle royal, Candido, Sunny and Sandman finally arrived...

And they were completely shitfaced.

The originally-rebooked finish, now to have AJ Styles win the battle royal and the title, was re-rebooked on the fly as Candido and Sunny interrupted the match in progress and Chris eliminated the final others. Then Sandman made his entrance through the crowd of 450 and during their "match" Sunny passed out on the side of the ring. The festivities continued as Sandman, outside the ring, lobbed an unopen can of beer at the in-ring Candido, nailing him in the head. Candido thought it was a fan who threw the can and proceeded to lob it right back into the crowd (it didn't hit anyone). Mercifully, the match ended with Candido leg-dropping Sandsy through a table for a pin.

[Joe Neglia]

Since this seems to be as much about big stars being the nightmares on the card as much as the card itself being the nightmare, here's a fun little one that took place just two months ago:

Legendsfest in Dudley GA today was a financial bloodbath for promoter Greg Greene and a nightmare for the talent The fanfest and wrestling event both took place as scheduled but not without a visit from the local law enforcement.

Multiple reports from the show state Greene didn't have the money to pay the legends or the wrestlers. Greene claimed that 120 VIP tickets ($12000 worth) were sold through Eventbrite but the money never showed up in his account.

Del Wilkes made sure he got paid in cash. Others got checks. The sheriff told talent a warrant for Greene's arrest would be issued if the checks bounced. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, some like Nikita Koloff and Ted Dibiase likely left without a dime. Ricky Steamboat got a heads up call from Tully Blanchard before he got there.

Reported attendance for the wrestling shows was 130. The wrestler that stayed to work the show split the gate.

original article

Scott Hudson's take on the ordeal:

I got to the Millville Alumni Association Complex (a/k/a the old Millville High School) in Dudley, Georgia, at 11:45am. To say it was off the beaten path is to do a disservice to beaten paths worldwide. This building was literally a quarter mile from any other structure of any kind (and that was a quaint farmhouse down the road). Regardless, when I arrived I spent the first 30 minutes hanging out with Dutch Mantell and Ole Anderson. It was everything you could imagine. Both are still sharp as a tack and full of great stories (also, please catch Dutch’s comedy act when it hits a club near you – it is hysterical). Eventually, almost everyone on the flyer showed up with a couple of exceptions. Here are those that were in attendance:

Arn Anderson
Ole Anderson
Tully Blanchard
Barry Windham
Larry Zbyszko
Sabu (with Melissa Coates)
Tracy Smothers
Tammy Sytch
One Man Gang
Paul Orndorff
Tom Prichard
Ted DiBiase
Nikita Koloff
Ron Simmons
Dutch Mantell
Raven
Bill Eadie
Joel Deaton
Teddy Long
Del Wilkes
B. Brian Blair
Curtis Hughes
Buff Bagwell
Johnny Swinger
Del Wilkes
Joyce Grable
Tessa Blanchard
Velvet Sky
Rachel Ellering

Yeah, all of them were there signing autographs and taking photos. 2 Cold Scorpio, Davey Richards, Angelina Love, Bob Armstrong and Rick Steamboat were not in attendance. Everything was going great until about 4:30pm when Eadie walked into the only air conditioned room in the place (where Dutch and Tammy and I – along with a family of fans – were trying to cool off) and told us that the show may be cancelled as the promoter had no money to pay the talent. That led to a rather heated confrontation between the promoter and several of the talent (no doubt you have heard which ones) about the lack of a pay-off. The story I heard (with props to Tammy Sytch who provided eyewitness video evidence) was that the local constabulary had notified the promoter that he was going to pay the talent or the entire show – everything – would be shut down. Thus, began the cartoon.

A legend accompanied the promoter off-site to scrounge up a check book. 45 minutes later, they returned and the promoter began writing checks to the impacted talent (again, thanks Tammy for the evidence and the vivid description of what she intended to do with said check). Upon receiving their checks – almost all of the legends hit the road. Although they made a tidy sum from photos and autographs, their guarantee was specious at best. It was 6:00pm. The show started at 7:00pm.

Francisco Ciatso took the lead in organizing the dressing room, laying out the show and keeping things organized. The cobbled together card did not resemble the one on the flyer, but the 250+ in attendance loved the show. Until the third match.

That’s when the lights went out. I mean – out. We were in an abandoned high school gym out in the middle of a thousand acre farm. It was. Pitch. Black. The guys in the ring kept going full throttle. Bumps, screams, slaps – all of the normal sounds of a wrestling match, but they were basically invisible. After the finish (which, take my word for it, makes it hell on the ring announcer), the lights came back up. The crowd was really, REALLY into the show, having little or no idea about the cluster that preceded it. The show picked back up at a torrid pace and was hot as hell. Until the fifth match.

That’s when the toilets exploded.

Well, not exploded. More erupted than exploded actually. A day’s worth of – usage – came gurgling up. After making sure Bugsy McGraw had not made an unannounced legend appearance, the bathrooms were sealed off.

The show wrapped up with the fans not much the worse for the wear. They got everything they wanted. The legends got nothing. Well, not much, and a dubious check. All in all, it was “one of those shows” and will be a legendary story for years to come.

As a follow-up, the checks the promoter wrote all bounced, as he had stolen his mother's checkbook. Not long after he was committed to a mental facility.

[thegame415]

Balls Mahoney puking.

[Brood Lone Wolf Funker]

Davey Richards taking the money and running

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Buff Bagwell demanding a case of beer as part of his payoff, getting pissed when the promoter wouldn't give it to him until after his match, talking a young local guy into running down to the gas station and getting him one, and getting shitfaced before the card was half over.

[Rave]

Extreme Rising and Hardcore Roadtrip both imploding within the same weekend, with the latter's promoter stiffing talent on pay by faking a heart attack as well as stranding them in Canada. For a while there, I thought Luke Hawx was cursed.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Oct 12, 2016 23:50:10 GMT -5 Rave said:

Extreme Rising and Hardcore Roadtrip both imploding within the same weekend, with the latter's promoter stiffing talent on pay by faking a heart attack as well as stranding them in Canada. For a while there, I thought Luke Hawx was cursed.

Unless something has changed in the past year,Luke Hawx still has the Extreme Rising title.

At least 3 times in the past 4 years John Hedenreich has shown up to shows. Allegedly messed up on drugs/booze. Held the promoter up for more money,then when denied the money told the other wrestlers"I aint sure I got enough gas to get home. Can yall spare some money".

[Mozenrath]

Nowhere neat as bad as some of these, but worth mentioning. Since TNA was in its utter infancy, I will go ahead and classify them as an indie at the time, and mention their Lingerie Battle Royal, with Francine, Daffney, Elektra, Alexis Laree, and a few other notables.

This would be a stupid match idea, regardless, but the execution was shockingly bad. They sent out all of the women in what looked like asylum pajamas. If that was a theme or anything, maybe that'd be fine, but it seemed to just be something NWA:TNA bought up in bulk, and it made the already cheap match idea look particularly low rent.

About halfway into the match, Francine gets eliminated, getting angry. She seduces some fat guy, maybe he's important, f*** if I remember, into giving her his belt, which she uses to hit him repeatedly, rather than make any attempt to leave or cover up, if she's so bothered. This is PROFOUNDLY important, apparently, because the cameras focus on it entirely and miss a good half of the eliminations in the match. Maybe Daffney, Alexis Laree(Mickie James), and some others demanded they be eliminated off-camera, but I highly doubt that. By the time the cameramen remember there's a match going on,it's just the final two. One more elimination, and it's mercifully over, and they are declared Miss TNA or something, I guess, and everyone can go back to wondering why they shelled out money to watch this.

It's a skeevy match to begin with, but if you're going to do it, actually maybe film it and put anything resembling effort into the idea. It'd be like if there was a ladder match between four guys, one took a bump to the outside, and we just watched him tie his shoes in a close up, his mumbling as he tries to remember which step comes first, until the bell rang, and the cameras caught the rest of the wrestlers getting into their cars to drive home.

[James Fabiano]

Oct 12, 2016 21:28:00 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

Balls Mahoney puking.

If it's what I think it was, I wish certain people were around to be used as buckets.

[hargh]

Oct 13, 2016 3:37:49 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Oct 12, 2016 23:50:10 GMT -5 Rave said:

Extreme Rising and Hardcore Roadtrip both imploding within the same weekend, with the latter's promoter stiffing talent on pay by faking a heart attack as well as stranding them in Canada. For a while there, I thought Luke Hawx was cursed.

Unless something has changed in the past year,Luke Hawx still has the Extreme Rising title.

At least 3 times in the past 4 years John Hedenreich has shown up to shows. Allegedly messed up on drugs/booze. Held the promoter up for more money,then when denied the money told the other wrestlers"I aint sure I got enough gas to get home. Can yall spare some money".

I always thought Heidenreich just did his walk wherever he went, with his theme song following him around.

[Deleted]

Oct 12, 2016 17:55:27 GMT -5 @itiswrittenkjv1611 said:

Enter Sandman

[Mozenrath]

Oct 14, 2016 0:38:08 GMT -5 hargh said:

Oct 13, 2016 3:37:49 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Unless something has changed in the past year,Luke Hawx still has the Extreme Rising title.

At least 3 times in the past 4 years John Hedenreich has shown up to shows. Allegedly messed up on drugs/booze. Held the promoter up for more money,then when denied the money told the other wrestlers"I aint sure I got enough gas to get home. Can yall spare some money".

I always thought Heidenreich just did his walk wherever he went, with his theme song following him around.

He Heiden-hikes.

...


HEI-DEN-HIKES.

[Rave]

Oct 13, 2016 3:55:29 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Nowhere neat as bad as some of these, but worth mentioning. Since TNA was in its utter infancy, I will go ahead and classify them as an indie at the time, and mention their Lingerie Battle Royal, with Francine, Daffney, Alexis Laree, and a few other notables.

This would be a stupid match idea, regardless, but the execution was shockingly bad. They sent out all of the women in what looked like asylum pajamas. If that was a theme or anything, maybe that'd be fine, but it seemed to just be something NWA:TNA bought up in bulk, and it made the already cheap match idea look particularly low rent.

About halfway into the match, Francine gets eliminated, getting angry. She seduces some fat guy, maybe he's important, f*** if I remember, into giving her his belt, which she uses to hit him repeatedly, rather than make any attempt to leave or cover up, if she's so bothered. This is PROFOUNDLY important, apparently, because the cameras focus on it entirely and miss a good half of the eliminations in the match. Maybe Francine, Alexis Laree(Mickie James), and some others demanded they be eliminated off-camera, but I highly doubt that. By the time the cameramen remember there's a match going on,it's just the final two. One more elimination, and it's mercifully over, and they are declared Miss TNA or something, I guess, and everyone can go back to wondering why they shelled out money to watch this.

It's a skeevy match to begin with, but if you're going to do it, actually maybe film it and put anything resembling effort into the idea. It'd be like if there was a ladder match between four guys, one took a bump to the outside, and we just watched him tie his shoes in a close up, his mumbling as he tries to remember which step comes first, until the bell rang, and the cameras caught the rest of the wrestlers getting into their cars to drive home.

You honestly make this entire saga sound better than it actually was.

Elektra blamed Francine for ECW going bankrupt in the hype for this. It was awful.

Jeremy Borash f***ed up the ring announcing on the first few women then stopped announcing them altogether, so hardly anyone knew who was in it.

Fat dude was Ed Ferrara, who ended up with a handful of boob both that show and the next. (Lucky bastard.)

Hardly anyone in that match would stick around. Francine had two more appearances, winner Taylor Vaughn had about three.

This led to that damn horrible Bruce intergender thing that plagued quite a few of the earlier shows.

Early TNA was an indie nightmare in itself, if you think about it. Stupid gimmicks, stupid storylines, little people, and Cheex.

[Deleted]

Oct 14, 2016 4:09:13 GMT -5 Rave said:

Oct 13, 2016 3:55:29 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Nowhere neat as bad as some of these, but worth mentioning. Since TNA was in its utter infancy, I will go ahead and classify them as an indie at the time, and mention their Lingerie Battle Royal, with Francine, Daffney, Alexis Laree, and a few other notables.

This would be a stupid match idea, regardless, but the execution was shockingly bad. They sent out all of the women in what looked like asylum pajamas. If that was a theme or anything, maybe that'd be fine, but it seemed to just be something NWA:TNA bought up in bulk, and it made the already cheap match idea look particularly low rent.

About halfway into the match, Francine gets eliminated, getting angry. She seduces some fat guy, maybe he's important, f*** if I remember, into giving her his belt, which she uses to hit him repeatedly, rather than make any attempt to leave or cover up, if she's so bothered. This is PROFOUNDLY important, apparently, because the cameras focus on it entirely and miss a good half of the eliminations in the match. Maybe Francine, Alexis Laree(Mickie James), and some others demanded they be eliminated off-camera, but I highly doubt that. By the time the cameramen remember there's a match going on,it's just the final two. One more elimination, and it's mercifully over, and they are declared Miss TNA or something, I guess, and everyone can go back to wondering why they shelled out money to watch this.

It's a skeevy match to begin with, but if you're going to do it, actually maybe film it and put anything resembling effort into the idea. It'd be like if there was a ladder match between four guys, one took a bump to the outside, and we just watched him tie his shoes in a close up, his mumbling as he tries to remember which step comes first, until the bell rang, and the cameras caught the rest of the wrestlers getting into their cars to drive home.

You honestly make this entire saga sound better than it actually was.

Elektra blamed Francine for ECW going bankrupt in the hype for this. It was awful.

Oh yeah, Elektra was once a thing. I can't believe they thought she would contribute to the show in any meaningful way.

Hardly anyone in that match would stick around. Francine had two more appearances, winner Taylor Vaughn had about three.

At least I remember Elektra. I have no idea who Taylor Vaughn is. And I'm a pretty big wrestling fan.

Early TNA was an indie nightmare in itself

Correction: The entire 14 years of the promotion's existence has been a nightmare.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

"Indie Nightmares" sounds like a reality show where Jim Cornette goes around to various indies screaming at them in hopes they get their shit together.

and I would pay good money to watch this show, BTW.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Oct 12, 2016 19:40:18 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Since this seems to be as much about big stars being the nightmares on the card as much as the card itself being the nightmare, here's a fun little one that took place just two months ago:

Legendsfest in Dudley GA today was a financial bloodbath for promoter Greg Greene and a nightmare for the talent The fanfest and wrestling event both took place as scheduled but not without a visit from the local law enforcement.

Multiple reports from the show state Greene didn't have the money to pay the legends or the wrestlers. Greene claimed that 120 VIP tickets ($12000 worth) were sold through Eventbrite but the money never showed up in his account.

Del Wilkes made sure he got paid in cash. Others got checks. The sheriff told talent a warrant for Greene's arrest would be issued if the checks bounced. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, some like Nikita Koloff and Ted Dibiase likely left without a dime. Ricky Steamboat got a heads up call from Tully Blanchard before he got there.

Reported attendance for the wrestling shows was 130. The wrestler that stayed to work the show split the gate.

original article

Scott Hudson's take on the ordeal:

I got to the Millville Alumni Association Complex (a/k/a the old Millville High School) in Dudley, Georgia, at 11:45am. To say it was off the beaten path is to do a disservice to beaten paths worldwide. This building was literally a quarter mile from any other structure of any kind (and that was a quaint farmhouse down the road). Regardless, when I arrived I spent the first 30 minutes hanging out with Dutch Mantell and Ole Anderson. It was everything you could imagine. Both are still sharp as a tack and full of great stories (also, please catch Dutch’s comedy act when it hits a club near you – it is hysterical). Eventually, almost everyone on the flyer showed up with a couple of exceptions. Here are those that were in attendance:

Arn Anderson
Ole Anderson
Tully Blanchard
Barry Windham
Larry Zbyszko
Sabu (with Melissa Coates)
Tracy Smothers
Tammy Sytch
One Man Gang
Paul Orndorff
Tom Prichard
Ted DiBiase
Nikita Koloff
Ron Simmons
Dutch Mantell
Raven
Bill Eadie
Joel Deaton
Teddy Long
Del Wilkes
B. Brian Blair
Curtis Hughes
Buff Bagwell
Johnny Swinger
Del Wilkes
Joyce Grable
Tessa Blanchard
Velvet Sky
Rachel Ellering

Yeah, all of them were there signing autographs and taking photos. 2 Cold Scorpio, Davey Richards, Angelina Love, Bob Armstrong and Rick Steamboat were not in attendance. Everything was going great until about 4:30pm when Eadie walked into the only air conditioned room in the place (where Dutch and Tammy and I – along with a family of fans – were trying to cool off) and told us that the show may be cancelled as the promoter had no money to pay the talent. That led to a rather heated confrontation between the promoter and several of the talent (no doubt you have heard which ones) about the lack of a pay-off. The story I heard (with props to Tammy Sytch who provided eyewitness video evidence) was that the local constabulary had notified the promoter that he was going to pay the talent or the entire show – everything – would be shut down. Thus, began the cartoon.

A legend accompanied the promoter off-site to scrounge up a check book. 45 minutes later, they returned and the promoter began writing checks to the impacted talent (again, thanks Tammy for the evidence and the vivid description of what she intended to do with said check). Upon receiving their checks – almost all of the legends hit the road. Although they made a tidy sum from photos and autographs, their guarantee was specious at best. It was 6:00pm. The show started at 7:00pm.

Francisco Ciatso took the lead in organizing the dressing room, laying out the show and keeping things organized. The cobbled together card did not resemble the one on the flyer, but the 250+ in attendance loved the show. Until the third match.

That’s when the lights went out. I mean – out. We were in an abandoned high school gym out in the middle of a thousand acre farm. It was. Pitch. Black. The guys in the ring kept going full throttle. Bumps, screams, slaps – all of the normal sounds of a wrestling match, but they were basically invisible. After the finish (which, take my word for it, makes it hell on the ring announcer), the lights came back up. The crowd was really, REALLY into the show, having little or no idea about the cluster that preceded it. The show picked back up at a torrid pace and was hot as hell. Until the fifth match.

That’s when the toilets exploded.

Well, not exploded. More erupted than exploded actually. A day’s worth of – usage – came gurgling up. After making sure Bugsy McGraw had not made an unannounced legend appearance, the bathrooms were sealed off.

The show wrapped up with the fans not much the worse for the wear. They got everything they wanted. The legends got nothing. Well, not much, and a dubious check. All in all, it was “one of those shows” and will be a legendary story for years to come.

As a follow-up, the checks the promoter wrote all bounced, as he had stolen his mother's checkbook. Not long after he was committed to a mental facility.

that reminds me of the story about Mark Waid getting invited to a comic con only to find out it was just a couple of guys who wanted to hang out with him.