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TEN YEARS AFTER: WWE WrestleMania 23
WWE: WrestleMania 23
April 1, 2007
Detroit, MI
Ford Field
The current WWE champions are as follows:
WWE Champion: John Cena (9/17/2006)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Umaga (2/19/2007)
World Tag Team Champions: John Cena & Shawn Michaels (1/29/2007)
WWE Women’s Champion: Melina (2/19/2007)
ECW World Champion: Bobby Lashley (12/3/2006)
World Heavyweight Champion: Batista (11/26/2006)
WWE United States Champion: Chris Benoit (10/13/2006)
WWE Tag Team Champions: Paul London & Brian Kendrick (5/21/2006)
WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Chavo Guerrero (2/18/2007)
From the Figure Four Weekly dated April 9, 2007:
Between pay-per-view revenue, live attendance and merchandise, this show should gross in the neighborhood of $46 million. WWE claimed 80,103 fans from 24 countries paid $5.38 million to attend. The gate is legit and it is a new company record. I cannot confirm the attendance, but they had sold all 70,000 available tickets in the weeks before the show and more were released in the final seven days. I believe the building was set up for 75,000, but they were also selling SRO (standing-room only) tickets, so that number may be legit. It likely broke the attendance set at WrestleMania III of 78,000 fans, which the company inflated to 93,173 and has since become part of legend. The most-attended WWE show in history remains the 1992 SummerSlam at Wembley Stadium, which drew 80,355. The biggest gate in wrestling history remains the Antonio Inoki retirement show in 1998 which made over $7 million at the Tokyo Dome. WrestleMania XXIII will likely do around $1 million in merchandise, and the expected 740,000 domestic buys would net the company $22 million. It should be noted that it still falls below the December 30, 2006 Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz fight both in the gate ($5.4 million, which is actually fantastically impressive because that show only drew 1/6 the attendance) and the domestic buyrate (1.05 million buys). Worldwide, WWE should pull in 1.2 million buys.
They replay Vince McMahon’s introduction of Aretha Franklin from WrestleMania 3 as she returns to sing the National Anthem.
Your hosts are Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole & JBL, and Joey Styles & Tazz.
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NWA: Big Time Wrestling (February 1975)
NWA: Big Time Wrestling
February 1975
London, ON, Canada
London Gardens
On the intro video, Bob Finnegan describes this show as having the greatest wrestlers in the world and yet all they show is the Sheik throwing fireballs in wrestlers faces! Not showing us a ton of variety there.
Your host is Lord Layton.
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NWA: Big Time Wrestling (Summer/Fall 1979)
NWA: Big Time Wrestling
Summer/Fall 1979
Detroit, MI
Your host is Terry Sullivan.
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NWA: Big Time Wrestling (02.14.76)
NWA: Big Time Wrestling
February 14, 1976
Detroit, MI
Cobo Hall
Your host is Bob Finnegan. Chuck Allen is the ring announcer.
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NWA: Big Time Wrestling (November 1978)
NWA: Big Time Wrestling
November 1978
Detroit, MI
Your host is Chuck Allen.
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NWA: Big Time Wrestling (12.29.72)
NWA: Big Time Wrestling
12/29/1972
Detroit, MI
Your host is Chuck Allen. He tells us this will be a documentary on the Sheik. More like a compilation on the Sheik. We’ll see one Bobo Brazil match, but not a Sheik-Bobo match. The reason being is because they are squaring off TOMORROW NIGHT at COBO HALL.
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NWA: Big Time Wrestling (October 1978)
NWA: Big Time Wrestling
October 1978
Detroit, MI
Your hosts are Chuck Allen and Terry Sullivan. WHY ARE THEY INSIDE OF A CAGE? We’ll find out at some point tonight.
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NWA: Big Time Wrestling (1977?)
NWA: Big Time Wrestling
Sometime in 1977
Your host is Bob Finnegan. No studio action this week. He tells us we will be traveling around the country to watch various NWA wrestlers currently part of Detroit wrestling or who will be coming to the area in the near future. Read the rest of this entry
NWA: Big Time Wrestling (October 1978)
NWA: Big Time Wrestling
October 1978
Detroit, MI
We are entering new territory here at PDRwrestling because I am absolutely in no way an expert on the Detroit NWA territory ran by Ed “The Original Sheik” Farhat. There are at least a dozen different episodes from the 1970s circulating around the internet and I thought I would give them a look. I do enjoy watching unfamiliar wrestling from time to time. However, even if you don’t know the angles or feuds, this is still an NWA territory and you should see some familiar faces of the era. I don’t even know the name of the TV studio they are wrestling in because there is so little amount of information available on this company! Someone help me. Let’s hope this will be an interesting read if nothing else.
PDRwrestling 