Shawn Michaels &
Davey Boy Smith & X-Pac vs. Some Thugs from a Bar in Syracuse,
1996
We all know this one. As
the story goes, Shawn got a little too flirty with a female who
was dating one of the military thugs at the bar. Once outside, the
thugs jumped Michaels and beat him silly. Big ol’ Bulldog and
small (but feisty) X-Pac jumped out of the car to help out Shawn
until the thugs ran away. A battered and bruised Michaels appeared
on Raw shortly thereafter and the announcers acknowledged the
legit beating. WINNER: Thugs, and all Canadian fans who hate
Shawn.
Shawn Michaels vs. Ron
& Don Harris, 1996
I think this happened
right before the Syracuse incident. The Harris twins were on their
way out of the WWF, and decided to shake a little fear into HBK in
the locker room before they left. If they really wanted to scare
Shawn, they should’ve threatened him with tapes of their matches
in WCW in ’99. WINNER: WWF fans, who didn’t have to watch the
Harris twins wrestle anymore. And the Canadians again.
Eddy Guerrero vs. Road
Warrior Hawk, 199?
Heard about this one
while listening to “Wrestling Observer Live.” Dave and Bryan
were discussing the Hawk-Savage incident and brought up this
fight. I suspect it happened in Japan. Meltzer said, “How could
anybody beat up Eddy Guerrero? He’s like the nicest guy.”
WINNER: Hawk, but he came off as such an arrogant bully.
Randy Savage vs. Road
Warrior Hawk
Backstage at a New Japan
show back in 1996, words were exchanged between the two men (not
sure about what) but it ended up with a fight where Hawk hit
Savage with a right hook and knocked him out. Heat obviously still
existed between the two because they had another confrontation
three years later in the United States backstage at a Kid Rock
concert at the Sun Dome in Tampa, Fl. Hawk saw Savage coming in
his direction so he put his hand out (probably just out of
respect) but Savage immediately threw a sucker punch that
staggered Hawk. Hawk's wife was then attacked by Savage's then
girlfriend Stephanie Bellars (Gorgeous George) and another female
leaving her badly beaten. Hawk claimed that he would take legal
action against the two women for attacking his wife but not
against Savage since fights amongst wrestlers are usually kept
away from the law. However, no action was ever taken. WINNER:
Whoever got to see this Jerry Springer-like free-for-all lucked
out big-time. (thanks to Rob Harvey and TPPW.net)
Bret Hart vs. Shawn
Michaels, 1997
Tension had been brewing
between these 2 for months. They had a shouting match in the
locker room and Michaels just had to yell out, “What are you
gonna do about it?” Bret punched him, they rolled on the floor,
and Bret left with a clump of Shawn’s hair in his hand. WINNER:
Shawn Michaels, for laying the foundation for the upcoming
double-cross plot.
Bret Hart vs. Vince
McMahon in Montreal, 1997
What did Vince expect?
After the infamous double-cross at Survivor Series, Vince
approached Bret and got a handful of knuckles. A groggy Vince is
seen walking out of the room in the movie, “Wrestling with
Shadows.” WINNERS: A&E, some documentary filmmakers, Bret
Hart, and bookers who plan to use this finish for centuries to
come.
Nasty Boys vs. Ken
Shamrock
This was quite a few
years ago, before Shamrock was a UFC star. They really roughed him
up in a 2-on-1 hotel room brawl. I heard Ken was thrown right
through the hotel room window! Rumor has it that a few years ago
when Shamrock was in the WWF, Rock and Shamrock were walking
through an airport. One of the Nasty's was walking around and
Shamrock spotted him. Story has it that Shamrock immediately went
into the "zone" and Rock had to really calm him down,
before all Hell broke loose. WINNERS: Nasty Boys, although it
wasn’t a fair fight. (thanks to Matt Mazany) UPDATE: Mike
Mooneyham of the Charleston Post and Courier interviewed Ken
Shamrock for his latest column. He recalls a funny story regarding
The Nasty Boys (Jerry Saggs and Brian Knobbs) many years ago in
Charlotte where he claims they blindsided him at a hotel following
a night club argument. "I was sitting with a friend and his
fiance, and one of the Nasty Boys reached over and made an
inappropriate gesture. They did it again. My friend was getting
upset, but he was a small guy and what was he going to do? They
disappeared, but I didn't let it lie because I thought that was
just totally punkish of them. I knew where they were staying, so I
went after them at their hotel. I had a few choice words and told
them they had a lot of nerve. Rumor has it that I got clubbed from
behind with a steel phone, and then they put the boots to
me." That was the last he saw of them until a chance airport
meeting while working for the WWF years later: "You talk
about the biggest wimps you have ever seen... Knobbs ran when he
saw me. The other one (Saggs) thought he'd be funny and walked up
next to me at the counter. I was with Billy Gunn, and everyone
knew the story because they bragged about how they beat me up. I
looked at Saggs and said, 'You know what? I'm going to kill you.'
He looked at me and said, 'Chill out, man, that was a long time
ago.' I said, for you it was, but it feels like it just happened
and I haven't forgotten about it." Shamrock says that Gunn
pulled him away but he eventually caught up with Saggs: "I
jumped up, pulled him around and told him I was going to knock him
out right there. He turned his shoulders away from me, and said,
'If you hit me, it's a felony offense.' At that point and time all
the anger left my body. He was totally sickening. But all the boys
saw it. All the bragging about how he whipped my ass once... It
was kind of satisfying at that point. I think I got the last
laugh." (this came straight from an interview with Ken
conducted by Tim Brown)
Kevin Nash vs. Roddy
Piper, 1997
On the very same night
that Michaels and Hart were fighting backstage at Raw, Piper and
Nash were doing some of the same at Nitro. After a match that
ended up being a complete mess between Scott Hall & Nash
against Piper & Ric Flair, Nash stormed backstage, booted
Piper's dressing room door open and leveled Piper with a punch to
the head before the pair were pulled apart by various backstage
personnel. Nash went unpunished (which became the theme for WCW
later) and nothing further came of the fight. WINNER: Nash, but he
picked on someone half his size. (thanks to Rob Harvey and
TPPW.net)
Buff Bagwell vs.
Ernest Miller
Bagwell's parody leading
up to Road Wild of Miller didn't go down too well. Right before
the live PPV match, Miller approached him about it. Bagwell
slapped him. Miller immediately responded with two punches, and
Bagwell fell, cutting his elbow badly. Bagwell backed off before
more damage could be done, and the match went ahead as planned.
Bagwell won, and neither man was disciplined. WINNER: Miller. How
many times you think he has bragged about this one? (thanks to
HB2KBuzzsaw)
Kevin Nash & Scott
Hall vs. a Bunch of Stupid, Drunk Kids, Spring Break Nitro, 1997
Kevin Nash, Scott Hall,
and Syxx (Sean Waltman) were guests on stage as a part of MTV's
annual spring break coverage. The three were there to punish
losers of a talent contest I think and to build up the annual
Panama City Nitro that Monday. Anyway a drunk guy in the crowd was
causing trouble and threw something at the stage. The NWO guys
asked security to get a grip on the rowdy crowd, but were blown
off. When the guy threw something else the NWO guys astonished
their MTV hosts by leaping off the stage, grabbing the guy
themselves, and turning him over to security. They then threatened
to walk out if security didn't get the crowd under better control.
MTV usually shows the footage annually as a "wildest ever
moment" while building up spring break coverage. (thanks to
Tamalie, wrestlingclassics.com, & the Meatball)
William Regal vs. Bill
Goldberg, 1998
Regal had the moment with
Goldberg where he did a little unscheduled mat wrestling. I think
the only reason why this is considered, is because Goldberg didn't
know what was going on. Regal could lead a dead man through a
believable sequence, and I believe that is what he was trying to
do. But Goldberg flopped around, and ended up looking like an
idiot. I remember watching this live on Nitro, and didn't know
about it, but it sure looked like something was wrong. (thanks to
Chris & codytheimpaler.com)
Undertaker vs. Shawn
Michaels, 1998
Austin, McMahon,
Undertaker and Michaels were in a meeting with other officials
planning the WWE's strategy going forward. Apparently, leading up
to WMXIV, the idea was for HBK to drop the strap to Austin, which
HBK initially rejected. At this point Undertaker began to tape his
fists methodically. The Deadman told HBK that it was advisable
that he, HBK, change his mind about doing the job by the time that
he, Undertaker, finished taping his fists or he will MAKE HBK
change his mind the hard way. WINNER: WWE and WWE fans because
Austin went on to become one of the biggest stars in wrestling
history during the Attitude era. (thanks to Geoffrey Joseph)
JBL vs. Steve
Blackman, 1999
WWF was in between shows
at the local airport, and the wrestlers were waiting by the
baggage collection bay and Bradshaw decided to dick about trying
to push Blackman onto the moving luggage belt. Blackman turned
around unflustered and planted a crescent kick flush on Bradshaw's
jaw, knocking him clean out, picked up his bag and walked on. Both
shook hands when it was done. UPDATE: a reader saw an interview
with the Blue Meanie which says Bradshaw was pissing Blackman off,
calling him allsorts of stuff. Blackman just turned around and hit
him in the face and body a dozen times then went to finish him off
with a kick but got his foot caught in a luggage bag. This gave
the guys watching a chance to separate the two. Bradshaw
apologized straight after. If only other legit tough guys would do
the same to Mr Layfield. (thanks to Steven, Chris, and John)
