The Nightclub Shotgun Episodes

[cawthon777 0]

I just recently got tapes of the infamous nightclub Shotgun episodes. Since info from these shows is so hard to come by on the Net, I thought I'd post what I have thus far. 4 down, 2 to go.

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Mirage Nightclub - January 4, 1997

 

Shotgun Saturday Night - debut episode of the nightclub series that ran exclusively on Channel 55 in NYC; hosted by Vince McMahon and Sunny; included Todd Pettingill visiting with Rocky Miavia, Goldust, and Marlena in the VIP area, with Bob Backlund taking offense to Marlena's clevage; included Sunny announcing that the following week she would provide one of her own personal sex tapes to counter Marlena's flashing and to prove that Sunny was the sexiest woman in the WWF:

 

The Flying Nuns - Sister Angelica & Mother Smucker (the Headbangers) defeated Henry & Phinneas Godwinn (w/ Hillbilly Jim) at around the 12:30 mark when Angelica pinned Phinneas after Brother Love hit Phinneas in the head with his book of love; during the match, the crowd chanted "Holy shit" and "Go to Hell" towards the Nuns; at one point in the contest, Pettingeil interviewed Hillbilly at ringside about the Nuns; mid-way through the bout, Brother Love made a surprise appearance at ringside to manage the Nuns; after the bout, Todd Pettingiel interviewed Brother Love and the Flying Nuns in the ring, with Brother Love renaming them the Sisters of Love (Brother Love's first appearance in over a year)

 

Goldust (w/ Marlena) defeated the Sultan (w/ Bob Backlund) via count-out at 9:31 after Marlena climbed on the ring apron, as Goldust was about to be caught in the Camel Clutch, and flashed Goldust's opponent; following the incident, Backlund threw his jacket on Sultan so that he wouldn't see and the two left ringside; during the bout, Pettingill interviewed Backlund at ringside regarding his comments about Marlena's clevage earlier in the show; late in the contest, Backlund went to the commentary table and berated Vince McMahon, Sunny, and Pettingiel

 

Ahmed Johnson defeated Crush (w/ Clarence Mason, D-Lo Brown, and other members of the Nation) via disqualification when D-Lo interfered as Ahmed attempted the Pearl River Plunge; during the bout, Pettingiel interviewed Mason at ringside; after the bout, the Nation held Ahmed for Crush to hit him over the head with a steel chair; moments later; Goldust, the Godwinns, and Hillbilly cleared the ring and, after he regained his senses, Ahmed led the chase outside of the areana onto 56th St. where he eventually hit the Pearl River Plunge on D-Lo on the hood of a car

 

Mascarita Sagrada Jr. pinned Mini Vader at around the 6:30 mark with a missile dropkick; prior to the bout, footage was shown of Jim Cornette picking up Mini Vader at the Port Authority Bus Terminal after Mini Vader was driven in from Mexico; before the match, Sunny danced the Macarana as Pettingill sang "Mascarita" to the tune of the dance song; Jim Cornette did guest commentary for the bout before going ringside; after the match, Cornette verbally berated Mini Vader before both minis stripped Cornette of his pants

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - All-Star Cafe - January 11, 1997

 

Shotgun Saturday Night - included an opening segment of Marc Mero & Sable arriving to Times Square in a limo; featured footage of the Sisters of Love being arrested outside of the Disney Store at 42nd and Broadway for solicitation; included Sunny's sex tape featuring someone in a life-size Elmo costume named Fondle Me Elmo; featured Todd Pettingill and the Honktyonk Man singing a duet; included Pettingill outside in Times Square in which Nikolai Volkoff was unexpectedly seen living in a pile of boxes; featured the announcement by Vince McMahon that Goldust was pregnant and would give birth the following week on Shotgun:

 

Diesel II pinned Marc Mero (w/ Sable) with the powerbomb at around 13:30 after Mero became distracted by the Honkytonk Man who was talking to Sable on the floor; during the bout, Todd Pettingill interviewed Sable at ringside after Diesel attempted to confront Sable on the floor and she responded by throwing cake in his face; later in the bout, Razor Ramon II came ringside and attacked Mero on the floor before Rocky Miavia make the save; during the contest, Pettingill interviewed the Honkytonk Man who was watching the match; after the contest, Mero blamed Sable for the loss; after Mero left ringside, Honky came back to the ring as Sable was crying, with Miavia coming back out to rid Honky from the ring; moments later, Mero returned ringside, took exception to Miavia helping Sable, and the two came to blows

 

Farooq (w/ PG-13, D-Lo Brown, Clarence Mason, and other Nation members) pinned Savio Vega with a spinebuster after Savio hit the corner at around the 8-minute mark; during the bout, Pettingill interviewed a fan about who he thought would be in Sunny's sex tape; the match saw interference mid-way through from PG-13

 

Rocky Miavia pinned Razor Ramon II at around the 7:30 mark with the shoulder breaker, despite interference from the Honkytonk Man who was at ringside during the bout

 

Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon defeated the Headbangers (sub. for the Sisters of Love); only about 8 minutes of the match aired as the show ended before the conclusion of the contest

 

WWF @ San Antonio, TX - Denim & Diamonds - January 18, 1997

 

Shotgun Saturday Night - included Jim Ross doing commentary alongside Vince McMahon; featured Sunny leading the crowd with the Macarena; included the Honkytonk Man cheating to beat Mini Mankind and Histeria in a game of blackjack; featured George and Adam at the AlamoDome waiting for the next day's show; included Todd Pettingill conducting a surprise in-ring interview with Terry Funk in which Funk said he wanted to be #1 in the Royal Rumble so he could be in there the whole night, said there was no one in WCW that wanted a piece of him, called Pettingill's mother a whore, said Vince was a Yankee bastard, said the word asshole, and then urged Steve Austin to fight him in the ring, which they did briefly:

 

Rocky Miavia defeated WWF IC Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley via count-out in a non-title match at around the 12-minute mark after Goldust and Marlena came ringside and Helmsley ran off, with Goldust chasing him; on his way to the ring before the match, the champion was was interviewed by Todd Pettingill; during the bout, Jake Roberts made a surprise appearance and cleared the ring with his pet snake before joining the commentary team for the rest of the match

 

Mini Mankind & Histeria defeated Mascarita Sagrada Jr. & Venum at 12:00 when Histeria pinned Venum with a sit-down powerbomb after Venum missed a leap off the top; before the match, Vladimir the superfan could be seen in the front row; Pettingill attempted to interview Mini Mankind before the bell but the mini didn't speak English; during the bout, Steve Austin joined the commentary team

 

Farooq (w/ Crush, D-Lo Brown, Clarence Mason, & other Nation members) pinned Jesse Jammes at 1:55 with the spinebuster and Dominator

 

Steve Austin defeated Goldust via disqualification at around the 5:30 mark when Terry Funk interfered and attacked Austin; after the bout, a brawl ensued involving the Headbangers, Rocky Miavia, the Godwinns, Farooq, and several others; the show went off the air as Hunter Hearst Helmsley choked Goldust with a pool cue while Funk and Austin fought their way around the ring

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Webster Hall - January 25, 1997

 

Shotgun Saturday Night:

 

Bret Hart defeated Mankind (w/ Paul Bearer) via disqualification at around the 13-minute mark when Owen Hart - who was doing guest commentary for the bout - interfered and attacked Bret as Mankind was caught in the Sharpshooter; prior to the bout, Todd Pettingill interviewed Paul Bearer at ringside; before Hart's entrance, Mankind was attracted to the female dancers and cornered them until Bret made the save; after the bout, Bret battled Owen to the back

 

Savio Vega defeated Rocky Miavia via count-out at around the 14:30 mark after Miavia injured his leg after being thrown to the floor; prior to the bout, Todd Pettingill interviewed Savio about turning on Ahmed earlier in the day at Madison Square Garden, with Savio apologizing - blaming his latin temper for the incident - and denied the rumors that he had joined the Nation; mid-way through the bout, Farooq and Crush came ringside, prompting Savio to be more aggressive in the ring; after the contest, Savio continued to attack Miavia's leg, with Crush and Farooq joining in triple teaming Rocky

 

Jake Roberts pinned Salvatore Sincere with the DDT at 3:05; WWF IC Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley did guest commentary for the bout; after the match, the Nation was seen looking on from the balcony; after coming back from commercial, footage was shown of Triple H hitting the Pedigree on a dazed Salvatore Sincere during the break

 

Crush defeated Psycho Sid via disqualification at around the 8:30 mark when, after hitting the powerbomb on Crush, Sid grabbed a steel chair and swung it at Farooq and Savio Vega - before they could interfere - and then hit Crush over the head with it; Farooq and Savio arrived ringside mid-way through the bout

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Thanks! Good read indeed.

[JHawk 0]

You mean people watched that?

 

Outside of Funk's tirade, I'm not sure I'd ever want to see those shows.

[cawthon777 0]

Yeah, I understand what you mean. It's an odd combo of ECW-like rabid fans / poor lighting and complete wrestlecrap.

 

The atmosphere reminds me a lot of the old Manhattan Center shows. Small crowd, but they all REALLY want to be there.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

IIRC, they even would dedicate one segment on Sunday Morning Superstars to showing highlights of Shotgun Saturday Night. Looked really interesting since it looked like chaos/anarchy every week in comparison to Raw or Superstars.

[JHawk 0]

I think they were forced to dedicate a segment of Superstars to it since they hyped the hell out of that show and the fact it was live every week, but most of the markets that did pick it up only put it on smaller stations or at insane time frames instead of live.

 

I remembered being pissed at the time because I couldn't get the show. Doesn't look like I missed much from a wrestling standpoint.

 

Reading some of the non-wrestling stuff they included, does anybody else think Russo was booking at least part of the show?

[cawthon777 0]

Fondle Me Elmo has Russo written all over it.

[spman 0]

Here in conencticut, we didn't get Shotgun untill a few months into it's run. It aired on our local UPN affiliate on Saturdays and midnight. It would always be sandwhiched in between an episode of Highlander, and a Don Wet Shop at Home Show. Man, that was some quality TV.

[Guest Staravenger]

Who thought a 12 minute MINI'S MATCH was a good idea?! The crap gets boring in 3:00 after the 76th god damn version of a motherfucking arm drag.

[Guest news_gimmick]

Wow, those recaps bring back lot's of memories. I remember watching those show's and enjoying them for at least being original back then. I had not seen ECW at that point, nor could I since it was not available around here. Heh, segments like "Fondle me Elmo" were good for a cheap laugh. It was definatley odd seeing matches like a rare Bret Hart / Mankind match occur in a STRIP CLUB, but overall I give them credit for at least trying new concepts, which they needed badly at that time.

[cawthon777 0]

Who thought a 12 minute MINI'S MATCH was a good idea?! The crap gets boring in 3:00 after the 76th god damn version of a motherfucking arm drag.

They had Austin doing guest commentary so ... while the match wasn't much, it was definately an entertaining segment.

[cawthon777 0]

And the final 2 ...

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Mirage Night Club - February 1, 1997

 

Shotgun Saturday Night - during the broadcast, Todd Pettingill was shown backstage trying to get to know the Headbangers, with Mosh at one point throwing up during an interview:

 

Ahmed Johnson defeated Vader (w/ Paul Bearer) via disqualification at around the 8:30 mark after Mankind interfered with a chair, which Vader eventually used on his opponent; Mankind did guest commentary for the bout, despite Sunny's objections; after the match, Ahmed cleared the ring with the chair

 

Mankind pinned WWF Tag Team Champion Davey Boy Smith at around the 9:15 mark after Vader twice dropped Smith across the ringside barrier before rolling him back into the ring; prior to the bout, Mankind remained at the commentary table, refusing to wrestle until Smith pulled him out of his chair, dragged him to the ring, and stripped him of his overshirt; during the bout, Todd Pettingill attempted to interview Savio Vega but Vega told him to go away; Paul Bearer and Vader joined Mankind at ringside mid-way through the match; after the contest, Vader and Mankind double teamed Smith until Ahmed Johnson cleared the ring with a 2x4; following the bout, Pettingill interviewed Paul Bearer about his tag team as Smith and Ahmed argued in the ring

 

Saivo Vega pinned Jesse Jammes with a spin kick at 8:35; Phinneas Godwinn did guest commentary for the bout

 

Henry & Phinneas Godwinn fought the Headbangers to a no contest at around the 9:30 mark when all four men began fighting into the crowd and through the bar as the show came to a close

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Penn Station - February 8, 1997

 

Shotgun Saturday Night - included an opening segment in which the Undertaker was seen driving an Amtrack train into the station Saturday Night; featured Todd Pettingill interviewing the founder of the Guardian Angels:

 

Farooq & Crush (w/ Clarence Mason, D-Lo Brown, and the Nation) defeated Henry & Phinneas Godwinn at around the 11:30 mark when Crush pinned Phinneas after Farooq interfered behind the referee's back and hit a clothesline as Phinneas attempted the Slop Drop; during the bout, Mason did guest commentary; mid-way through the contest, Savio Vega came ringside

 

WWF IC Champion Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated the Undertaker via disqualification at around the 10-minute mark when the challenger stole the title belt away from Helmsley, who tried using it as a weapon, and hit it against the title holder's head; prior to the bout, the champion arrived to Penn Station in a limo and was interviewed on his way into the building by Pettingill; during his entrance, Helmsley did a short soundbyte for Entertainment Tonight, who was on hand doing a piece on Sunny; after the bout, Taker hit a chokeslam on Helmsley, chased the champion up the stairs, and hit the tombstone on the top of the escalator, with Helmsley going all the way down until he was assisted from the area by referees

 

Savio Vega, Farooq, & Crush (w/ Clarence Mason, D-Lo Brown, & the Nation) defeated Aldo Montoya, Henry & Pinneas Godwinn at around the 9:30 mark when Savio pinned Montoya with a spin kick; the match was originally Savio vs. Aldo but turned into a 6-man tag when the Godwinns appeared at ringside at around the 10-minute mark; during the bout, Mason did guest commentary; as the show came to a close, Phinneas attempted to slop D-Lo in the production area but accidentally slopped Pat Patterson instead

[nl5xsk1 0]

These shows look golden ... this was in one of the eras that I didn't watch wrestling, so I've never seen any of these shows. I'm sure the actual wrestling sucks, but a lot of the angles look entertaining. Even if it might be in a 'so bad that they're good' kind of way.

[Guest RickyB]

Bret/Mankind sounds good, as does Davey Boy/Mankind.

[Kapoutman 0]

My area only started airing Shotgun once it started being inside of real arenas. It's a shame I missed so much comedic gold. Sure, it looks cheesy, but that's why I love Wrestlecrap. I bet these shows were entertaining as hell.

[JHawk 0]

Saivo Vega pinned Jesse Jammes with a spin kick at 8:35; Phinneas Godwinn did guest commentary for the bout

 

They actually showed this one on Superstars the next day, and I remember it not sucking. They might have used the Superstars broadcast team in a voiceover though, because I don't remember Phinneas' commentary. Which is probably a good thing.

[Guest ian.]

Good stuff.

 

I didn't get those shows around here, either in the night clubs or in the arenas. The funk stuff looks great.

[Jericholic82 0]

i remember when it first came on, i didnt know if I got it or not, but one night (the night before royal rumble 97, when I was sick as a dog with the flu) at 1 am i found it on. this was the ep where terry funk went crazy, also had steve austin get in a fight with funk after his match with goldust

 

good stuff

 

by post wm, the show was taped in the arenas of raw and became lame

[Mecha Mummy 0]

... Okay, you know what, I really want to see these shows just because they look so damn insane. Where'd you get the tapes?

[Si82 0]

WWF @ San Antonio, TX - Denim & Diamonds - January 18, 1997

 

Shotgun Saturday Night - included Todd Pettingill conducting a surprise in-ring interview with Terry Funk in which Funk said he wanted to be #1 in the Royal Rumble so he could be in there the whole night, said there was no one in WCW that wanted a piece of him, called Pettingill's mother a whore, said Vince was a Yankee bastard, said the word asshole, and then urged Steve Austin to fight him in the ring, which they did briefly:

That's gold!

 

Didn't he call Jim Ross an "Okie Asshole" as well?

[cawthon777 0]

... Okay, you know what, I really want to see these shows just because they look so damn insane. Where'd you get the tapes?

Bought this tape as well as some great compilations on Backlund (pre 93), Muraco, and Superstar Billy Graham when I was at the NWA Fanfest last weekend. Spent most of yesterday going through the remainder of the tapes and they were well worth the combined $30 I spent.

 

The guy that sold them to me is a regular on eBay. I don't know his username but he has over 1000 or so positives and a lot of rare footage.

[JJMc 0]

"Where's Vince McMahon? You Yankee BASTARD! How about Good Ol' J.R.? You Okie ASSHOLE!" (announcers trying to cover it up by talking over him.)

 

"Hey Pettengill, your mother's a whore!"