Terry Funk on Shotgun Saturday Night

[Bob-O]

I came across this today...

phpBB [video]

...and I absolutely do not remember it at all. I remember Shotgun Saturday Night, but not like this. Small venue? Tiny ring? Stone Cold on commentary with Vince McMahon!? Obviously pre-Mr McMahon, but post KOTR Austin... so... late '96? It doesn't seem scripted either, the whole exchange with Austin seemed improvised by Funk. Fun stuff!

Anyone remember this?

[Bob-O]

They're in Texas, I think this might be where ROH did State of the Art back in June! Ya?

[XIV]

Yellow ropes... dark mat... small venue... fans closer to the ring...

NXT long before NXT ever truly existed.

[Bob-O]

I also might be failing as a fan, but I don't recall Terry Funk appearing in the 90's. Just ~shudder~ "Chainsaw Charlie"...

[cero2k]

This is January 97, right before the rumble. I think this was just a one off for the rumble since this is around when Funk is having his 'last chance' feud in ECW. When did chainsaw debut?

[DHRainmaker]

This is January 97, right before the rumble. I think this was just a one off for the rumble since this is around when Funk is having his 'last chance' feud in ECW. When did chainsaw debut?

Chainsaw Charlie debuted in late December 1997

[Bob-O]

This is January 97, right before the rumble. I think this was just a one off for the rumble since this is around when Funk is having his 'last chance' feud in ECW. When did chainsaw debut?

Wikipedia says Funk was in that Rumble, but I don't remember it for the life of me. It makes sense though, this is the one Cornette talks about, building a show around an arena instead of booking an arena for the size of the show. The show wasn't selling so they wound up giving away half the seats...

But, after reading over the show, man they tried! 2 luchador 6 man taggers on the undercard, a "mini" match featuring mini luchadors (LaParkita lol), then putting Terry Funk, Latin Lover, Cibernetico, Pierroth, and Mil Mascaras in the Rumble itself and Micheals in the Main Event. Austin, who was white hot and also a "Texas Guy", was promoted heavily as the favorite to win The Rumble. They basically partnered with AAA (without giving them credit) for this show and still couldn't sell it out!

It's probably not fair to blame that all on Shawn, but it's really telling as to how the brand was doing at that point (a year before the Screwjob).

But... back to Shotgun Saturday Night!
It was aired live, they make that very clear. I guess they only did it like this for a few months, but how cool is that!? THIS is the sort of thing that would sell me on The Network. PPV's are nice, but I can live without those, especially these days. Live broadcasts of smaller shows like this would talk me into it.