Author: M. Swift

We’re back with Into the Vault proper with 1996! Kicking off the PPV calendar that year was WWE Royal Rumble 1996. Let’s check out the action from this show! Mid-Tier Weird that there is a WWE show in the 90s with no low-tier matches. That’s because most of WWE Royal Rumble 1996 was mid-tier. Double J losing to Ahmed Johnson wasn’t bad or lousy, it was a decent, middle of the road RAW match or a main event to the B-shows. The WWE Tag Title bout was a successful defense for the Smoking Gunns. As I said before, they were a solid tandem with good teamwork,…

We introduced the American Wrestling Federation as it would be another stop as we head Into the Vault for some First Month Fire. It was an experimental promotion that was operated as if it was a true third major promotion. Their AWF Warriors of Wrestling show tried to present traditional wrestling in a new way. Upon its debut, there was no Big Three in the U.S. It was WWE and WCW, a bunch of indies, and an NWA that was busy sitting on the bench drinking Gatorade. Low-Tier Greg Valentine came out and lumped up on Billy Joe Eaton in a match…

Fatu. The Sultan. Rikishi Phatu. Junior Fatu. Kishi—Rikishi has had many names in wrestling. He’s also had many gimmicks. Who could forget “Make A Difference” Fatu? Did we even really need Rikishi to make a difference? Yes, he became the Sultan after he failed to make a difference but I’m on this gimmick. Rikishi just always seemed like the springboard for creative’s gimmicks. We’re going to get into this. Rikishi The Samoan Headshrinker Fatu is a wrestler I appreciated in WWE. He was really good in The Headshrinkers team with cousin Samu. Now, I never knew Samoans or Polynesians, in general,…

Are you ready for more overused moves? This week’s overused move is the Shining Wizard. In modern wrestling, the Shining Wizard doesn’t get a lot of love, you might see it every now and then however, in the 2000s it was everywhere. What Is The Shining Wizard? This was the new move Keiji Mutoh—better known as The Great Muta—in the early 2000s. See, Mutoh would often finish matches with his Moonsault. However, after over a decade of doing it, it was time to at least put it on the back burner. Now he needed a finisher that could get the job done and was had…

Oof. This is going to be Hornswagglin’ Hillbilly putting on a pair of Zubaz pants rough, folks. This is Eastern Champion Wrestling’s ECW Hardcore TV. We’re talking before extreme but still heading into extreme waters. We’re going Into the Vault for some First Month Fire as we look at the first episode of ECW’s most iconic television show. Low-Tier Easy squash defense of the ECW Tag Titles by Hunter Q. Robbins III’s Super Destroyers. Never cared for the Destroyers but Hunter Q was a good manager in early ECW. He should’ve stayed, really. Tommy Cairo was a decent foil to The Sandman once their…

We’re looking at the first few episodes of WCW Nitro for our Into the Vault: First Month Fire series this month. Also, check out the other First Month Fire entries for the first WWE RAW and AWF Warriors of Wrestling. Lots of interesting first episodes during the 1990s. The first WCW Nitro came to us from the Mall of America of all places on September 4, 1995. WCW could’ve picked an iconic date and location like…any Monday in January 1995 from anywhere in Atlanta or Charlotte but what the hell, let’s run the first episode of a future flagship show from Bloomington, Minnesota. Whatever, let’s get into…

This July for a special Into the Vault series, we’re looking at the first episodes of some of wrestling’s most remembered weekly TV shows. It’s First Month Fire! We’re kicking things off with the longest-running program in the U.S WWE Monday Night RAW—or just WWE RAW as most of us call it. Taking place in January 1993, this was a time of slow business for the WWE but let’s see if the first episode of RAW is one to remember. Low-Tier There’s a bunch of non-match to-do which is some of the more remembered stuff from the first WWE RAW. As you know, on Into…

Paul Alperstein’s American Wrestling Federation popped up in 1994 and ran until 1996. The promotion ran enough shows to make up eighteen episodes but never achieved a PPV or super show. Those episodes were collected in a three-DVD set after several years and we get a look at a pretty weird promotion. Guess what? Most of the episodes are available online in all their early 90s quality. Oh, and the show production? It smacked of “Filmed before a live studio audience” and WCW Saturday Night between 1999-2000. What I’m getting at is that either there was a sign telling the crowd when…

It’s odd how Major League Wrestling ran an episode of MLW Anthology focused on some or a group—Contra Unit—and the next episode will feature them in the best match of the two. Like I understand at least one great match is needed for an episode. This episode goes into the new generation with Ross and Marshall Von Erich. War Chamber: The Von Erichs, Tom Lawlor, & Low Ki vs. Contra Unit  Man! If Major League Wrestling just does a Super Anthology on faction warfare, this match would’ve made that episode. Actually, this match would’ve been the star of the episode! This match was basically…

Let’s catch up on MLW Anthology with episode seven, highlighting Contra Unit. Like most episodes, this one features two matches that you can watch on their YouTube channel via different episodes of MLW Fusion. Contra Unit is currently Major League Wrestling’s most destructive faction.   I would say “dominant” but they’ve only really held the World Title. Plus, Fatu and Samael are the real threats in the faction with Simon Gotch being third. However, when there’s three of them or the whole crew in a match? Extremely dangerous.   That said, let’s go ahead and dive into these two matches!  Contra Unit vs.…