The new "holy grail" of wrestling footage?

[Joe Neglia]

Some time back, WWE released the long-lost Last Battle of Atlanta match between Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich, and now the Bret Hart/Tom Magee match has surfaced. What now is the most important, mythical or otherwise hightly-notable match to be believed lost to time and no longer exist?

My choices:

For actual WWE footage: The Snake Pit where Roberts DDT'ed Hogan.

For WWE-owned footage (at least in theory if ever found), I have to go with the WCW Spring Stampede '94 dark match between Danny Bonaduce and Christopher "Peter Brady" Knight.

For non-WWE-owned footage, I'll go with the KISS and Darth Vader gimmicks from late '70s Memphis. I don't think either have ever turned up.

[Deleted]

Has the complete Inoki/Saito island Deathmatch ever been released in full?

[Deleted]

I never knew I wanted to see Peter Brady wrestle Danny Bonaduce until I read this.

[petef3]

In the "may or may not have been taped" category, Backlund vs. Flair from the Omni. I would have dismissed this one entirely but the turning up of the Last Battle of Atlanta has me thinking there's a possibility that it was out there, even though it was a couple of years earlier.

[Spider2024]

Was Kurt Angle's tryout match from May 1999 vs Owen Hart even taped? Also, a lot of people seem to demand a Randy Savage vs Undertaker house match that once happened. Was that ever released?

[Fundertaker]

Apr 29, 2019 16:25:25 GMT -5 @returnofthestryker said:

Has the complete Inoki/Saito island Deathmatch ever been released in full?

Nope. I don't think it even aired in full.

[cjh]

Apr 29, 2019 17:32:57 GMT -5 Spider2024 said:

Was Kurt Angle's tryout match from May 1999 vs Owen Hart even taped? Also, a lot of people seem to demand a Randy Savage vs Undertaker house match that once happened. Was that ever released?

The OH/Angle match happened before a live Raw, so it likely was taped.  Angle was in the Memphis developmental territory at the time.

Undertaker/Savage was a dark match where Savage substituted for Ultimate Warrior.  WWE showed clips of it on a YouTube video a few years ago.

WWF @ Portland, ME - Civic Center - July 30, 1991 (7,756)
Wrestling Challenge taping:
Randy Savage (sub. for the Ultimate Warrior) pinned the Undertaker

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Bret v. Perfect from Alaska. Apparently their best match ever. Bret says it wasn’t filmed.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Apr 29, 2019 16:18:31 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Some time back, WWE released the long-lost Last Battle of Atlanta match between Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich, and now the Bret Hart/Tom Magee match has surfaced. What now is the most important, mythical or otherwise hightly-notable match to be believed lost to time and no longer exist?

My choices:

For actual WWE footage: The Snake Pit where Roberts DDT'ed Hogan.

For WWE-owned footage (at least in theory if ever found), I have to go with the WCW Spring Stampede '94 dark match between Danny Bonaduce and Christopher "Peter Brady" Knight.

For non-WWE-owned footage, I'll go with the KISS and Darth Vader gimmicks from late '70s Memphis. I don't think either have ever turned up.

I want the Snake pit most than anything in life. Jake is a liar, but he claims that the people cheered when he dropped Hogan with the ddt and that’s why he never worked with Hogan.

My pick is the original pilot that ecw shot for TNN, apparently it was so bad and shitty that Heyman decided to can it and instead send RVD vs Jerry Lynn.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Oh also if the wwe shot anymore of the Blonde Bytch Project skits. I would like to see the complete saga.

[J. Hova]

Snake Pit one is what immediately springs to my mind. I think Flair talked about some lost tapes of him and Steamboat circa 1978 that would put 1989 to shame.

As far as what I hope never gets leaked and hopefully is either destroyed or under lock and key and takes three McMahon family members to unlock....Owen's fall.

[wildojinx]

Not exactly essential, but apparently there was a Mr. Perfect vs John Tenta match a few months before the Earthquake debut. That sounds like a marvelous clash of styles that I'd love to see. On that note, the Mr. Perfect dvd includes a picture of Perfect giving Bam Bam Bigelow a perfectplex, that needs to see the light of day as well.

[James Fabiano]

Andre poops on Bad News???

Yeah, I don't always have the highest standards.

[BlackoutCreature]

The main event to November to Remember 1993, Sabu and Road Warrior Hawk vs. Terry Funk and King Kong Bundy. I've seen pieces of this match but never the entire thing. I figured it didn't exist in its entirety anymore, but then the WWE put on the Network the Jim Neidhart vs. Sandman match from the same show, so I wouldn't be surprised if it existed in their vaults somewhere.

Ric Flair's first NWA Title win over Dusty Rhodes in 1981. The ending to the match is out there but I've never seen the whole thing. It wasn't on any of the Ric Flair DVD's that WWE put out.

Also Ric Flair losing the NWA Title to Harley Race in 1983. Once again, the endings out there but the full match isn't.

I also remember once reading an article that said that in late 1988 Flair and Bam Bam Bigelow had a very brief program that was killed quickly because it wasn't selling. As near as I can tell their only one-on-one match though during that time was at a late-November Main Event taping that never aired. I'd love to see that (if it actually exists).

[James Fabiano]

The main event of the Kerry Von Erich memorial from 1993: Kevin and Chris Adams vs. the Freebirds. Don't think GWF ever included it on their weekly TV of the time.

[chazraps]

2007 match during a WWE tour in Mexico: Paul London vs. Jeff Hardy which both called the greatest match they've ever had.

Apparently the crowd was as hot as any crowd was at the time, pure magic just clicked, and when both got backstage and Dean said to them "That was good, but here's what you could have done better" the locker room all railroaded him saying "There is nothing that could have been done to improve that match. That was a classic."

[chazraps]

Apr 29, 2019 20:35:43 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Oh also if the wwe shot anymore of the Blonde Bytch Project skits. I would like to see the complete saga.

They were shot and they were shown in full to the live audience before the first Smackdown (not the pilot but the first regular episode) in August 1999. Wouldn't surprise me if that's a Hidden Gem this August.

Apr 29, 2019 20:31:39 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

My pick is the original pilot that ecw shot for TNN, apparently it was so bad and shitty that Heyman decided to can it and instead send RVD vs Jerry Lynn.

One match from this has surfaced on one of the Pioneer released ECW DVDs. A flaming tables match with Spike and Balls against the Dudleyz, but the lighting is absolutely abysmal and I can see why they wouldn't air it.

[wildojinx]

Apr 29, 2019 22:08:30 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

The main event to November to Remember 1993, Sabu and Road Warrior Hawk vs. Terry Funk and King Kong Bundy. I've seen pieces of this match but never the entire thing. I figured it didn't exist in its entirety anymore, but then the WWE put on the Network the Jim Neidhart vs. Sandman match from the same show, so I wouldn't be surprised if it existed in their vaults somewhere.

I heard some rumor that Bundy refused to let it air due to royalty reasons. Speaking of 1993 ECW, I heard that right before Kerry Von Erich's death he had a handful of matches for ECW, do any exist on tape?

[Mozenrath]

Apr 29, 2019 20:31:39 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Apr 29, 2019 16:18:31 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Some time back, WWE released the long-lost Last Battle of Atlanta match between Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich, and now the Bret Hart/Tom Magee match has surfaced. What now is the most important, mythical or otherwise hightly-notable match to be believed lost to time and no longer exist?

My choices:

For actual WWE footage: The Snake Pit where Roberts DDT'ed Hogan.

For WWE-owned footage (at least in theory if ever found), I have to go with the WCW Spring Stampede '94 dark match between Danny Bonaduce and Christopher "Peter Brady" Knight.

For non-WWE-owned footage, I'll go with the KISS and Darth Vader gimmicks from late '70s Memphis. I don't think either have ever turned up.

I want the Snake pit most than anything in life. Jake is a liar, but he claims that the people cheered when he dropped Hogan with the ddt and that’s why he never worked with Hogan.

My pick is the original pilot that ecw shot for TNN, apparently it was so bad and shitty that Heyman decided to can it and instead send RVD vs Jerry Lynn.

I'd be more shocked if they *didn't* cheer. Even if people hadn't turned on Hogan yet fully or anything, I'm sure a contingent had their issues with him, and even those who did like him, the DDT was over as hell, and wrestling fans tend to pop for "holy shit, this is happening" spots when when it isn't them rooting against the injured party of the whole thing. I get why Hogan wouldn't want to roll the dice on that feud.

[mrpeacock]

Col DeBeers vs Kerry Von Erich where DeBeers accidentally removed Kerry’s prosthetic foot. Also the AWA Tag Challenge Series in full.