Shotgun Saturday Night

[Vader]

This was by far my favorite B show of all time. Probably because it was a conscious attempt to be different. Typically B shows have nothing unique about them and lately have been filmed in the same arena.

If the Saturday Wars were such a thing, then Shotgun clearly edged out over WCW Saturday Night.

For those that don't know or remember, the show was filmed in various night spots throughout New York. The ring was typically smaller and the programming was a little more grittier (Marlena flashing her goods). They also rotated commentators and at one point I remember Austin and Owen Hart commentating during their feud.

It would be nice if the WWE brought this concept back, even for a few seasons. I would love to see an edgier product, with more drunken fan involvement, and some no DQ matches. They could tour cities with bigger night life like NY, LA, Chicago, and even go to the Hammerstein.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

This was the testing ground for Attitude in reality. They tried some different stuff in a relatively safe slot, late night on a Saturday so they could bill it as not a "kid friendly show", what it did do was prove WWE could work as a 2 level product with the kid friendly stuff AND more adult aimed stuff.

It was very much of it's time however and a similar show would struggle today, mainly because the desperation isn't there. Attitude was literally a desperate last throw of the dice for Vince in reality, he had to do it or he could never say he tried EVERYTHING to save his company... he did begin to try on SSN. I don't remember it being a particularly good show, just different enough to show WWE WAS interested in maturing and evolving and it probably bought them some time with the jaded fanbase while they did that evolving. Without that pressure from WCW, any attempt today would be like ECW lite, hollow and forced.

Today their best plan would be to bring back WCW as a legit "TV-14 wrestling company" and keep the WWE brand as it is... Let all the more raunchy, older aimed stuff happen in the new WCW. May as well use that IP while they have it, cos if they don't do this GFW will.

 

[Radical Canadian Goose]

I remember falling in love with The Headbangers on Shotgun Saturday Night. They were the perfect tag team for me. A pair of bald dudes in White Zombie cut offs and kilts, with names like Mosh and Thrash. For a teenager in the 90s they were great. I thought that they were edgy for tv at the time, but that was what I wanted. This was an obvious attempt to take some of the audience from ECW, but as the previous poster stated, it was also the start of the Attitude Era, to some extent. Thank you Vince for giving this show a shot, as it led to bigger things

 

[daddyJ_t]

hells yeah i remember undertaker tombstoning hhh on an esculater in i thing a subway and ahmed johson giving i think d-lo brown the pearl river plunge on top of a car out of the street. i loved that show

 

[Vader]

This was the testing ground for Attitude in reality. They tried some different stuff in a relatively safe slot, late night on a Saturday so they could bill it as not a "kid friendly show", what it did do was prove WWE could work as a 2 level product with the kid friendly stuff AND more adult aimed stuff.

It was very much of it's time however and a similar show would struggle today, mainly because the desperation isn't there. Attitude was literally a desperate last throw of the dice for Vince in reality, he had to do it or he could never say he tried EVERYTHING to save his company... he did begin to try on SSN. I don't remember it being a particularly good show, just different enough to show WWE WAS interested in maturing and evolving and it probably bought them some time with the jaded fanbase while they did that evolving. Without that pressure from WCW, any attempt today would be like ECW lite, hollow and forced.

Today their best plan would be to bring back WCW as a legit "TV-14 wrestling company" and keep the WWE brand as it is... Let all the more raunchy, older aimed stuff happen in the new WCW. May as well use that IP while they have it, cos if they don't do this GFW will.

This what I thought was going to happen when Vince initially bought up WCW and ECW. If it were me, I would have made WCW my PG program, WWE my TV-14 (at the time it was the beginning of the Ruthless Aggression era), and put ECW as a TV-MA show and try broker a deal with someone like FX for a slot. Then it just becomes a matter of scaling your budget proportional to the demand for each.

Basically in Vince logic, he convinced himself that somehow SmackDown meant altogether more than WCW (referring to the roster split).

I think bringing back ECW had potential. WCW coming back wouldn't have the same fervency that ECW did because of ECW's smaller, niche fan base. Unfortunately, he botched up everything that made the company successful in first place.

 

[Y2JBL]

I miss everything about wrestling that has to do with the same aspects you're bringing up about Shotgun. I miss when it really felt like a traveling fight club. Even Raw used to just be red curtains and a big titantron. I cannot stand how everything these days is glittering HD screens and over-produced glitz. I miss the shows having some attitude, and no, I'm not even talking about sex, swearing, whatever. But it just used to have an atmosphere to it.

I can only speak vaguely about Shotgun because I honestly didn't see much of it. But I've seen enough to know why you're saying it was your favorite B show. Off the top of my head I know I've seen the episode where it was HHH vs Rock and the crowd was literally standing around the ring. As a matter of fact, next time I am bored I'm going to make sure to pull up some other episodes on YouTube and watch more of it.

So I can't reference a bunch of specific matches or memories but I totally understand what you mean. It's almost an intangible thing that can't be described. It's just the feeling that the program used to have some edge to it. A wrestling show that felt COOL to watch instead of embarrassing. I too dream of the day that we can ever have something like that again.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

This was by far my favorite B show of all time. Probably because it was a conscious attempt to be different. Typically B shows have nothing unique about them and lately have been filmed in the same arena.

If the Saturday Wars were such a thing, then Shotgun clearly edged out over WCW Saturday Night.

For those that don't know or remember, the show was filmed in various night spots throughout New York. The ring was typically smaller and the programming was a little more grittier (Marlena flashing her goods). They also rotated commentators and at one point I remember Austin and Owen Hart commentating during their feud.

It would be nice if the WWE brought this concept back, even for a few seasons. I would love to see an edgier product, with more drunken fan involvement, and some no DQ matches. They could tour cities with bigger night life like NY, LA, Chicago, and even go to the Hammerstein.

Nah... it wasn't bigger than WCW Saturday Night.

Shotgun was syndicated and on at mostly odd hours on the weekend, while WCW Saturday Night was on at 6:05 PM on TBS, a cable network on EVERY TV station in the USA that had one.

The concept was odd and intriguing, but not near as good as WCW Saturday Night.

And it wouldn't work today, because PG. Also there's more than enough live TV tapings for them to go around.

 

[rbv13]

I really enjoyed Shotgun Saturday Night. It was hard to get ECW and this show presented a similar vibe with a WWF twist.

Loved the Bangers as the Flying Nuns.

 

[HBKperfect23]

I didn't watch a lot of shotgun but from what I did see, it was pretty good. I liked how they put some of the bigger stars on the show.

I couldn't agree more about a PG WCW show and TV-14 WWF. I think WCW nitro should have taken the Smackdown time slot when Vince bought the company. Then Vince could rebuild WCW the way he wants, wait out those time warner contracts and do better with the invasion angle. Another option would be to keep those companies completely separate and have the dream matches at mania each year or even have a WWF vs WCW yearly ppv.

 

[Vader]

Nah... it wasn't bigger than WCW Saturday Night.

Shotgun was syndicated and on at mostly odd hours on the weekend, while WCW Saturday Night was on at 6:05 PM on TBS, a cable network on EVERY TV station in the USA that had one.

The concept was odd and intriguing, but not near as good as WCW Saturday Night.

And it wouldn't work today, because PG. Also there's more than enough live TV tapings for them to go around.

It certainly wasn't bigger in ratings than Saturday Night or the impact. I just meant that I enjoyed the show more.

 

[HatchetMan84]

I'm hearing alot of people mention how back then they wanted to try and get away from the "kids show" that much of the product is today.

My question, is do you think that the "kids show" mentality it has today will eventually end up harming the business? I mean right now, Vince has no competitors, but i wonder if it will ever get so silly that mainstream bails out leaving only the kids and their parents.

 

[Vader]

I wouldn't think so. The WWE now reminds me of what the WWF was in say 1995 and 1996 in terms of the maturity of characters and quality of matches. I believe WCW was a superior product as well. The product will change to become profitable before the numbers dwindle.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It will because the kids will grow up and Cena won't engage the next gen of kids... and Reigns certainly won't... Vince knows it is coming but as in 1996-97 he's gonna hold off as long as possible before pushing that button again and avoid pushing it if he can... he only did it then cos he had to be able to say he "tried everything" to save his company. Is he still willing to do anything, including accept it is just a wrestling company? We'll soon find out.