WWF Shotgun (found July to December season of syndicated wrestling show; 1997)
On January 4th, 1997, the WWF (now WWE) debuted a syndicated wrestling show called WWF Shotgun Saturday Night, with matches initially taking place in nightclubs, malls, subways, etc.[1] By late February, due to creative decisions by Vince McMahon and then head-writer Vince Russo, they decided to make the show a mid-card show, so that wrestlers unused on WWF Raw Is War could get exposure and television time.
Part of the reason why the initial theme was discontinued was that it was often a struggle to book shows every week at such venues, as well as having to constantly work and drive in the freezing cold of New York City.
The presentation was very similar in format to that of WWF Wrestling Challenge in the 1980s. It would include a variety of exclusive mid-card feuds, jobber matches, house show promos and main-event storyline buildup. Shotgun Saturday Night was a great inspiration for the 1999 video game WWF Attitude, which featured many of the show's mid-carders and had it as a venue in the career mode.
Debut of WWF Shotgun
During the gradual growth of the Attitude Era, the show began branching out into different syndicated versions across the United States, which were different from each other in terms of content, format and commentary. These included WWF Shotgun Saturday Night, WWF New York and WWF Shotgun Challenge in the Midwest market, most notably in the Wisconsin area.
On August 2nd, 1997, WWF Shotgun Challenge would become WWF Shotgun. Thereafter the 1997 season became identical in presentation and format to its 1998 and 1999 counterparts, with the only difference being the use of the New Generation "block" logo on the bottom left of the screen instead of the more widely known "scratch" logo.
In Wisconsin, WWF Shotgun would air on WLUK-TV Fox 11 around midnight or later. It was initially broadcasted from the Stevens Point/Plover area to the Appleton/Green Bay area, being hosted by Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly. Some would also have Raymond Rougeau or Tom Prichard on commentary.
This version of WWF Shotgun has also been aired in the New York City/Long Island area (WLNY-TV NY 55), Anglophone Canada (unknown channel), Connecticut (WCCT-TV CT 20), and the United Kingdom (Sky TV).
Status
The season has been found, with Al Balog uploading monthly compilations of the episodes on November 27th, 2022. Al's uploads are reviewed manually by the WWE upon uploading, with WWE making ad revenue from his videos.
The only ones missing are the September 6 and December 6, 13 and 20 episodes absent from the compilations. However, single matches from these shows have been found and recovered.
Videos
The compilations from Al Balog's channel:
See Also
- AJ Styles vs Kenny Omega (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2006)
- Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler vs Jack Swagger vs John Cena (partially found master tape footage of untelevised Hell in a Cell match; 2011)
- Awesome Kong vs Melissa Anderson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2009)
- Bill Longson vs Whipper Billy Watson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1947)
- Blood Circus (partially found Santo Gold film; 1985)
- Braden Walker's "Knock Knock" promo (lost original pre-tapes of WWE backstage segment; 2008)
- Bradshaw vs Christian (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2001)
- Bret Hart-Hulk Hogan photoshoot (lost professional wrestling promotional photos; 1993)
- Bret Hart vs Tom Magee (found untelevised professional wrestling match; 1986)
- Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling (lost early BBC televised professional wrestling matches; 1938-1939; 1946-1947)
- Celebrity Wrestling (partially found ITV professional wrestling reality show; 2005)
- Chowdaheads (partially found unaired professional wrestling cartoon show; 1999)
- Collision in Korea (found professional wrestling event in North Korea; 1995)
- Collision in Korea wrestler sketches (lost North Korean pencil sketch portraits of professional wrestlers; 1995)
- Cultaholic (found debut video of professional wrestling YouTube channel; 2017)
- ECW Anarchy Rulz (lost build of cancelled Nintendo 64 port of professional wrestling game; existence unconfirmed; 2000)
- ECW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
- ECW Hardcore TV final episodes (lost episodes of Professional Wrestling Show; 2001)
- FMW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
- The Game (partially found Disturbed cover of professional wrestling theme song; mid 2000s)
- GFW Amped (partially found unaired professional wrestling show; 2015)
- The Giant's moonsault (lost footage of professional wrestling move; existence unconfirmed; 1990s)
- Girls Gone Wild: Live from Spring Break (found WWE/Girls Gone Wild crossover special; 2003)
- GLOW (lost unfinished final season of Netflix comedy-drama series; 2019-2020)
- Goldberg's pre-television debut matches (lost footage of professional wrestling dark matches; 1997)
- Gotch-Hackenschmidt Match Film (lost world championship match; 1908)
- Gotch-Hackenschmidt Match Film (lost world championship match; 1911)
- Jake "The Snake" Roberts DDTs Hulk Hogan (lost Snake Pit segment; 1986)
- Johnny Gargano vs Velveteen Dream (lost footage of alternate finish to professional wrestling match; 2019)
- Kurt Angle vs Owen Hart (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1999)
- The Last Battle of Atlanta (found untelevised professional wrestling steel cage match; 1983)
- Lita's training matches (partially found training videos of professional wrestler; late 1990s-2000)
- Low Ki & Mercury vs Ric Blade & TCK (partially lost footage of hardcore wrestling tag team match; 2000)
- Mark Jindrak in Evolution (partially found unaired vignettes of professional wrestling stable; 2003)
- Pat Tanaka vs Rocco Rock (lost footage of "Body Count" professional wrestling match; 1993)
- "Plane Ride From Hell" (lost photographs of drunk wrestler incidents; 2002)
- Radio WWF (lost professional wrestling radio show; 1993-1994; late 1990s-2000)
- Screwed: The Bret Hart Story (lost unfinished wrestling documentary film; 2005)
- Sex University (lost WWE webshow; 2006)
- Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Gekitou Densetsu (lost build of unreleased Virtual Boy wrestling game; 1995)
- Strange Kentucky People (lost recording of Chris Jericho "tribute"; 1994)
- TNA Impact! 2 (lost build of unfinished professional wrestling game; 2009)
- TNA International and TNA Wrestling Collection (completely lost pro-wrestling TV shows; 2006)
- TNA Xplosion (partially found TV series; 2002-2016)
- WCW 2000 (lost work on unfinished PlayStation 2 game; 2000)
- WCW All Nighter (partially lost professional wrestling compilation show; 1994-1995)
- WCW Classics (partially found professional wrestling compilation show; 2000-2001)
- WCW Internet-only Special Events and PPVs (lost audio streams; 1997-1998)
- WCW/nWo Live (lost build of cancelled PlayStation professional wrestling game; 1998)
- WWE 24x7 (lost professional wrestling compilation show; 2007)
- WWE Brawl (lost build of cancelled fighting game based on professional wrestling; 2012)
- WWE Crush Hour (lost build of cancelled Xbox port of vehicular combat game; 2002)
- WWE SmackDown vs Raw Online (lost build of cancelled online professional wrestling PC game; 2010-2011)
- WWE Wrestlemania 36 (lost footage of alternate finishes to professional wrestling matches; 2020)
- WWF Attitude (lost professional wrestling recap show; 2001-2002)
- WWF Backlash (non-existent unfinished Nintendo 64 professional wrestling game; 2001)
- WWF Excess (partially found professional wrestling talk show; 2001-2002)
- WWF In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog (partially found untelevised professional wrestling matches; 1996)
- WWF Livewire (partially found professional wrestling recap and talk show; 1996-2001)
- WWF No Mercy (lost Game Boy Color games based on Nintendo 64 wrestling game; 2000)
- WWF Xperience (found pay-per-view event footage; 1996)