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JoeDirt

Old school upsets...

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What other big "upsets" happened in WWF, WCW, and ECW history? I'm wondering if there are any surprising ones out there that most of us forgot about.

 

I know Austin lost some matches via DQ in 1996, one to the future Joey Abs, but that's not a REAL upset I suppose.

 

PJ Walker over IRS is a good one, to set up Razor/IRS at the 1994 Rumble...

 

But there have to be some better ones than that out there. Anybody?

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Austin took a forfeit loss to Aldo Montoya after winning the KOTR in 96.

 

Prince Iaukea over Steven Regal to win the TV Title was pretty unexpected as was Mark Henry pinning The Rock at Judgment Day 1998.

 

Bob "Sparkplug" Holly pinned Jeff Jarrett to win the IC Title in 1995 although due to Jarrett getting his foot on the rope (I think), the title was vacated.

 

Barry Horowitz's "first win" over Skip

 

No matter what kind of mini-push the Stallions were getting at the time, them and The Killer Bees surviving their SurSer87 match was a shocker.

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Guest jm29195

Los Conquistadores staying in right til the end at the 2nd Survivor Series tag elimination match was a major upset....granted they got smashed soon afterwards but still....

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I always thought Tatanka beating the Warlord on Prime Time Wrestling was a big upset. Mind you, this was really early in Chavis' WWF career, so there was no way to know they were building to that undefeated streak he had for so long.

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It's funny but people thought it was nuts in 94 for them to have Backlund win the title at age 43, even though that's really not THAT old for a pro wrestler. I think more than sheer age with Backlund it was that he was so insanely out of date, having not been a notable player for a decade.

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I remember back in 92 around the time that Sgt. Slaughter was doing that...thing he was doing around that time (something like a Commissioner but...not. You know?) there was a match between the Nasty Boys and some jobbers where the Nastys got DQ'd because they kept pulling their opponent up from the pin. They played it as Slaughter's beefing up on the rules or something along that line.

 

Also, there was the Kid and Marty Jannetty going over the Quebeccers for the tag belts prior to Rumble 94. And even they telegraphed it, Kid and Holly winning the belts at Rumble 95.

 

Smoking Gunns beating Bulldog and Owen for the belts surprised me as well.

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It's funny but people thought it was nuts in 94 for them to have Backlund win the title at age 43, even though that's really not THAT old for a pro wrestler.  I think more than sheer age with Backlund it was that he was so insanely out of date, having not been a notable player for a decade.

yea probably more that, I guess it was shocking that they made Backlund a major player again after 2 years of being a JTTS in his WWF comeback.

 

and btw Owens partner when he lost the titles to the gunns was Yokozuna, but no biggee

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I'll go a bit further back with a couple of upsets that stand out.

 

1985-"Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal and Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin upsetting the Road Warriors for the AWA World Tag Team titles...there was no way anyone saw it coming as Animal and Hawk had steamrolled all competition for over a year.

 

1987-Ronnie Garvin defeating Ric Flair for the NWA World Title in the cage in Detroit, Michigan. No real major threats at that time to Flair's title...but the "Hands of Stone" shocked the world.

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Tom Stone over Jake Roberts by dq after Rick Martel interfered on Superstars in 1991.

 

Moondog Spot over Terry Funk by countout at the Wrestling Classic.

 

Brutus Beefcake ending Mr Perfects winning streak at Mania VI

 

Shane McMahon beating X Pac for the Euro title.

 

Aldo Montoya over IRS on Raw

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Barry Horowitz over Hakushi was a huge shock as Hakushi only had one loss before in the WWF and that was to Bret Hart.

 

Bob Holly over Mantaur was shocking as well.

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Bob Holly over Pillman, I believe during the dress phase.

 

Bob Holly over Owen Hart in Holly's hometown, simply because Owen was a nice guy.

 

For some reason Hogan put Jacques Rogeau over at an untelevised Canadian show.

 

Brooklyn Brawler winning that MSG Battle Royal to win a shot at Shawn Michaels.

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Yeah as far as the Owen/Bulldog thing goes, I believe they beat the Gunns for the belts at the Mindgames PPV. Isn't it interesting that their careers improved tremendously once Clarence Mason signed them away from Jim Cornette? Not that Mason was anything great, but it seemed like being associated with Cornette was the kiss of death back then.

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Jericho over Malenko at Uncensored 98

 

Snitsky over Kane at Taboo

 

Davairi over Michaels on RAW (Granted, it was cheating, but still :P )

 

If we're talking about big name upsets, how about

 

Mysterio over Guerrero at Havoc 97

 

Hart over Nash at SSeries 95

 

Benoit over Sid at Souled Out 2000

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1985-"Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal and Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin upsetting the Road Warriors for the AWA World Tag Team titles...there was no way anyone saw it coming as Animal and Hawk had steamrolled all competition for over a year.

 

^ Was the first one that popped into my mind.

 

Rick Steiner winning the TV belt off of Rotundo when he first broke from the Varsity Club was the second.

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Didn't Val Venis beat Mankind after he took the sock? That would have to be a shock

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refresh my memory, who did the Patriot and Marcus Bagwell beat for the tag titles (it was Patriot and Bagwell right? For some reason I keep thinking of 2 Cold Scorpio and Bagwell)? Also, didn't Bagwell and Riggs upset someone for the tag titles as the American Males? I would say any title win by Bagwell prior to his Buff phase would be considered an upset...

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2 Cold and Bagwell beat the Nasty Boys for the belts only to lose them the next night at Halloween Havoc 1993.

 

IIRC, Patriot and Bagwell (Stars & Stripes) beat Pretty Wonderful for the belts only to lose them back to Orndorff/Roma at . . . Halloween Havoc 1994.

 

The American Males defeated ?Harlem Heat? for the straps before losing them shortly after back to Harlem Heat. I'm thinking they won them on Nitro and lost them 5 days later on Saturday Night.

 

Not really sure on the last one.

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1989-Michael Hayes upsetting Lex Luger to win the NWA United States title. They were booking Luger as a monster that eventually was to become the man...so Hayes beating "The Total Package" at that time, considering where they were at that stage of both of their careers was a surprise.

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Guest MikeSC

Gotta agree on that. Also, HTM over Steamboat came completely out of left field.

 

And why the hell didn't they include the Warriors AWA Tag Title loss on their DVD? I have never seen it and am more than curious.

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Guest stylz

The American Males beat Harlem Heat in their first match together, IIRC, on one of the first Nitros.

 

J

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