A Month after the unforgettable debut of the Big Red Machine at Bad Blood, the deranged in his own right - Mankind becomes Kane's first opponent at Survivor Series '97. While this may have been Kane's first official match, for those first few weeks since arriving in WWF Kane was leaving carnage in the ring every time he showed up.
Fun fact: Kane was given a special "eerie" red light during his first few appearances much like Sin Cara's, well, Sin Cara botch lights.
Last week a bearded man won two matches in one night to overcome the odds and become new World Heavyweight champion. Daniel who? I'm talking about Eric Young!
Whether of not TNA are blatantly saying "fuck this, lets just copy our favorite TV Show" (which isn't GoT), giving the title to someone who has been working hard for the company since his first appearance in 2004 is always a good strategy to keep your company alive. Granted, they hot potatoing the title off to Chris Sabin last summer (another deserving TNA veteran), I doubt that the good folks behind TNA will make the mistake of making Young a transitional Champion. Especially not one that will lose it to the leader of the next "rogue team looking to take over Impact Wrestling".
Then again, We will just have to wait and see how Daniel Bryan fairs with the Authority. Until then, here's to TNA doing something right!
While I would normally honor the new WWE World Heavyweight champ (for more than 24 hours this time), Daniel Bryan for his glorious victory over not one but three former champions last night, I have decided to give the debut of the day to Brock Lesnar... the beast who conquered the Undertaker's Wrestlemania undefeated streak.
I'm not going to say if I enjoyed last night's match or not, but the streak ending was the last thing I thought would happen at Wrestlemania. But it is what it is, "The Next Big Thing" Brock Lesnar is now the 1 in 21-1 among all those other accomplishments he has over the years from Amateur Wrestling to Pro Wrestling to Foot-- to MMA.
Anyways, here's Brock Lesnar's first official WWF/E televised match at Backlash 2002 against Jeff Hardy - winner gets Lita's thongs. Excuse me, I mean the "2014 Hall of Famer" Amy Dumas's thongs.
Razor Ramon vs. Paul Van Dow - WWF Superstars (1992)
In honor of Scott Hall getting clean thanks to DDP and his yoga system and can now be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Looks like they'll be renaming it the Scott Hall of Fame... or, more accurately, the Thank You DDP for Saving Jake Roberts and Scott Hall of Fame.
Anyways, here he is as "the Bad Guy" Razor Ramon, oozing machismo for the first time ever on WWF TV.
John Cena vs. CM Punk - Viewer's Choice WWE Championship match - Raw (2010)
The first big match between the WWE champ, John Cena and then masked CM Punk gets hijacked on Viewer's Choice Raw by The Nexus, an eight man gang featuring young upstarts from WWE's developmental territory, FCW as well as all being original contestants on the first NXT program.
While it was not totally chaos, the NXT rookies of the first season really shook things up for a pretty stale product that was WWE at this point. I remember watching this episode of Raw and thinking that something new was upon us. Of course, nothing really happened. The ring gets stripped, Bryan gets fired for chocking the timekeeper with his own tie, and then for weeks John Cena does that thing he always does; he overcomes the odds.
Still, the damage that the Nexus created from their ambush on Raw was pretty impressive for WWE standards. To bad they were pretty much destined to fail once they started feuding with Super Cena.
Theme results
Ring Destruction: Apron skirts ripped off, mat gets exposed, padding torn loose, and the ring ropes are loosened and taken down.
For weeks a guy named Montel Vontavious Porter appeared on Smackdown to boast that he was the greatest free agent on the planet. When he finally stepped into the squared circle at No Mercy, it was obvious this guy was just heeling it up. So, JBL on commentary did his best at giving the Most Valuable Troller as much criticism as humanly possibly. Granted MVP did come out through a blowup tunnel, had a blue bodysuit on and was cocky as all get out, I think the multiple comparisons to Power Rangers, Battlestar Galatica, and William Shatner (I honestly don't see that one) were a bit over the top. Still, it got MVP over as a guy fans could easily rip on for the rest of his tenure in WWE.
So, who was MVP's first (televised) opponent in WWE? Why it was Marty Garner, of course. Commentary might have forgotten who he was, but the internet has not. Marty Garner is that guy who took the craziest looking pedigree from Hunter Hearst Helmsley back in '96. Garner was also trained by The Hardy Boyz and one of the other guys from OMEGA, a promotion started by The Hardy's and their friends around North Carolina. Coincidentally, MVP would go on to have a rather amusing feud with Matt Hardy some time after this match which saw Hardy and Porter perform all sorts of challenges to see who was the better man. These challenges included a football throwing contest, an arm wrestling match, a pizza eating contest, and a beer drinking contest.
In 2005, "The Alpha Man" Monty Brown was being stalked by an unknown man who may or may not have possessed supernatural powers. This mystery man was eventually revealed as "Trytan", a man who may or may not have had supernatural powers. So, as all storylines should go, this stalking of sorts by Trytan led to him getting a match with Monty Brown at Destination X.
Whether or not this Trytan guy had special powers or was some Terminator reject, one thing was more unclear than the rest, and that was: could this guy even wrestle? Well, as it turned out, he could - just not very well. Monty Brown carried the match until it came time to deliver his signature move, a move I'll forever miss, the POUNCE! Unfortunately, as Monty Brown is running the ropes to set up his explosive shoulder block, the lights go out and when they turn back on a man dressed from head to toe in black is in the place of Trytan. Monty Brown then takes this masked person and Pounces him and even gets the pinfall when it clearly wasn't Trytan. As Monty Brown is getting his hand raised in victory for defeating a man that wasn't even his opponent, Trytan appears and then disappears into some smoke back to the locker room.
Despite Monty Brown getting the win but not a victory over Trytan, the storyline, just like Trytan throw the tunnel at the end of this match, disappeared into obscurity. Later that night, Monty Brown would turn heel and aligned himself with Jeff Jarrett after helping Jarrett in his match against DDP, thus giving Brown something to do other than chase around a walking disappearance act.
Trytan apparently stayed with the company for some time after this match but never really did anything worth noting. As for the masked man, well, he was never seen again. At least we know who played him, and that was Dennis Knight - better known as Phineas I. Godwinn, Mideon, or "Naked" Mideon .
Reverend D-von & Deacon Batista vs. Randy Orton & Faarooq - Smackdown (2002)
Obligatory debut match of the day for the returning Batista.
While this wasn't the first time that a man named "Deacon Batista" was seen carrying around a donation box for D-Von Dudley's Reverend alter-ego, this was the first time that this large individual actually stepped into the ring and had a match on Smackdown.
It just so happens that one of the competitors on the other side of the ring would eventually accompany Batista into a much bigger role in the WWE with the forming of the modern-day Four Horsemen stable, Evolution. That individual would be Randy Orton. He's apparently a champion or something right now but I couldn't tell you because I always fall asleep when he's on TV.
Tony Mamaluke vs. Mikey Whipwreck - ECW on TNN (2000)
Taking the name of his former Italian family he managed in WCW, The Mamalukes, post-Tony Marinara made a surprising debut on ECW TV where he quickly joined the ECW mob squad, FBI (Full Blooded Italians) and wrestled Mikey Whipwreck. During the match, Mamaluke decides to take a dive head first into the laps of the front row before getting put away by Whipwreck back in the ring. After the match, Mamaluke gets sidewalk slammed by the blinded giant FBI manager, Big Sal and then thrown once more into the crowd... this time three or four rows back.
Ron "The Truth" Killings & Rasheed Lucius "Consequences" Creed (w/Pacman Jones) vs. AJ Styles & Tomko - TNA Tag Team titles match - TNA Bound For Glory (2007)
If there's one year of TNA that I actually watched and forgot about, it's 2007. I guess that's why I thought it was mighty odd that people were saying that Consequences Creed, now Xavier Woods, had already teamed up with R-Truth before the debut of Woods on Raw tonight. As it turns out, before Lethal Consequences (Creed's tag team with Jay Lethal that I do remember), Consequences Creed was the guy added to the team of Ron Killings and... yep, you guessed it, Adam "Pacman" Jones of American football shenanigans fame in TNA in 2007. Since Pacman Jones was technically still under contract with the NFL (he just happened to be suspended at this time), Pacman was not actually allowed to wrestle, which doesn't sound that bad except for the important and incredibly inane fact that he was one half of the TNA tag champions. I'm not going to say this was a poor decision by TNA; putting the title on someone who has never wrestled and happened to be the bad boy of football that week is nothing new. Titles with more prestige have been put on worse nobodies, but here Pacman wasn't even allowed to wrestle. That's where Consequences Creed came in, however, and thanks to Pacman in a way, Creed made a big enough impact in this match to be called back and eventually had a pretty solid run in TNA until 2010.
So here's to the silver-lining of Team Pacman in TNA circa 2007. Here's to Xavier Woods hopefully getting to stay on the main roster for good.
I should also point out that Pacman returned to TNA two weeks ago. Maybe WWE saw this and remembered Team Pacman for the first time since 2007 as well, and remembered that they have the better halves.
Kassius Ohno, better known by some as indy sensation, Chris Hero, was released from his WWE development contract last Friday. I would say this marks the end of KO, but I have a feeling he'll be back and eventually getting his time to shine in WWE, whatever that may mean nowadays. To reflect on his release, here is the debut, rolling elbow and all, of Chris Hero's transformation into "Kassius Ohno" against Xavier Woods in FCW (now NXT).
AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn, & Low Ki vs. The Flying Elvises (Jorge Estrada, Sonny Siaki, & Jimmy Yang) - first TNA match on the very first TNA show - NWA: TNA PPV (2002)
While technically this is everyone involved's debut match in TNA, since it was TNA's first match seen on the very first TNA show via Pay Per View, AJ Styles won the TNA world title last night and therefore gets the recognition above as part of new champ Debut Monday tradition.
Anyways, here's the genesis of the X division showing what they got to the Nashville crowd and the NWA legends in the back... and whomever heard about TNA and bought the PPV in 2002.
Over 10 years later and AJ Styles is still the future of the company. At least he's the top face again, for now.
Also, The Flying Elvises, the team of Sonny Siaki, Jorge Estrada, and Jimmy Yang (Later known as Akio or Jimmy Wayne Yang in WWE) are not to confused with the skydiving Elvis look-a-likes who jumped out of the airplane with Nic Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas. Being that early TNA had a lot of leftover WCW talent that didn't get picked up by Vinnie Mac, it's no surprise that they would have a Nic Cage gimmick on their program!
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels - first Hell in a Cell match - WWF Bad Blood: In Your House (1997)
The match that started it all: the very first "Hell in a Cell" match. The main differences between a Hell in a Cell match and a regular WWF/E cage match is that the cage is wider with room for the wrestlers to go outside the ring, there's a roof on the cage, and you can't win via escaping the structure.
While this match between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels marked the first Hell in a Cell match, the match is probably remembered more for its ending. The ending goes like this: Just as Undertaker is about to finish off a bloodied Michaels after blasting him over the head with a blue steel chair, the lights got and from the darkness appears Paul Bearer, Taker's former manager, following a large figure clad in black and red from head to toe. After weeks of Bearer mentioning that Taker has a long lost brother, it is finally confirmed that he is still alive and looking for his brother. As the large individual walks to the cell, Vince McMahon from his headphones reveals, "that's gotta be... that's gotta be Kane!" before ripping the cage door right off its hinges. The two brothers of similar height then square off in the middle of the ring until Kane makes his move and takes out Taker using the Phenom's own tombstone piledriver and forever cementing his legacy as the Big Red Machine!
This match also features a fair amount of brawling outside the ring and on top of the cell, Michaels abusing cameramen, and a bump off the cage that will forever be overshadowed by the legendary bump that Mankind takes in the next Hell in a Cell match.
Epico vs. Sin Cara - Friday Night Smackdown! (2011)
I'm really curious where Epico went. These new Los Matadores characters could give the Puerto Rican team of Epico and Primo a serious run for their money.
Anyways, here's Epico's 2011 debut against the one and only, Sin Cara.
Diamond Dallas Page vs. The Machine - WCW Thunder (2000)
In 2000, WCW debuted one of their least remembered one-hit wonders in the form of a big masked strongman named, The Machine. Apparently, this masked man was brought in as the next big thing by Jimmy Hart... but after one match against the veteran, pre-yoga DDP, he disappeared without a trace.
The man behind the mask was the late Emory Hail, who exactly had a few jobber matches previously in WCW. As for the "Machine" gimmick, Wikipedia says that the mask he wore was apparently inspired by a mask worn by a sadist character in the snuff film mystery flick starring Nicolas Cage, 8MM. Yep, you read that right: a wrestler was based off a Nic Cage film!
Daniel Bryan vs. The World Heavyweight champion Chris Jericho - NXT debut show (2010)
In good fashion like the other Mondays following a new champion crowning, here is Daniel Bryan's debut match in WWE.
Despite Bryan being no stranger to the WWE ring as seen just last month in the callback to the Danielson/Cena match on Velocity in 2003, this was Bryan's first match on WWE not only after becoming an indie sensation but also as "Daniel Bryan", the NXT contestant and rookie. He wouldn't be a rookie very long though, that's for sure.
This match was also the first main event on the very first NXT episode. Double debut.
Also, check out that bump Bryan takes on the side of the announce table after Jericho "catches" him in mid-air after the suicide dive.
The Blackhearts vs. Dave Hart & Mike Winner - WCW Saturday Night (1993)
The Blackhearts were a mysterious team to say the least. You may notice that these guys look a lot like another forgettable character that only appeared maybe once or twice in the 90's - The Black Phantom. If you did notice this, I'm really impressed and as it turns out, you would be correct - at least with one of them. See, The Blackhearts were a team made up of Tom Nash and David Heath AKA The Black Phantom AKA Gangrel. I have no idea who's who, but apparently Heath was called Apocalypse and Nash was Destruction. Of course, Jesse Ventura had no idea what their names were here during their debut on WCW television, so they were just referred to as Blackheart #1 and #2.
As legend has it, The Blackhearts, who started in Stampede Wrestling, were the bastard sons of Stu Hart. As for the screeching and weird hand gestures they would do, well, that's all apart of the mystery that was The Blackhearts.
The fitness guru, Simon Dean battles the newcomer to WWE, Bobby Lashley in his first PPV match at No Mercy. Bobby Lashley had already fought and defeated Dean in his debut match on SD!, but this time around Dean added a little stipulation to the match; Dean, being the heel health-nut he was, decided to poke fun at the crowd for being from the fattest state by bringing out twenty double cheeseburgers... and then thought it would be a good move on his part to make the stipulation that if Lashley beat him, he would eat all twenty of the burgers.
Simon Dean then lost the match in less than three minutes. And although Lashley only stuffed one cheeseburger down Dean's throat in the end, the tray of burgers was carried to the back where the squashed Dean, being the good-sport that he was, eat the rest and threw up (all speculation, of course).
As for the match itself... It was as sloppy as the cheeseburgers.
