As we approach WWE Clash At The Castle today at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro – the first-ever WWE PLE / PPV event in Scotland – famous historian Richard Land wrote a piece for ‘Inside The Ropes’, reflecting on WWE’s extensive history with the country, which began in 1991.
WWF/E’s debut show in Scotland took place 33 years ago at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow on April 25th, 1991, as part of the ‘WWF UK Rampage’ tour. It was headlined by two future Hall of Famers, with ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper defeating Ted DiBiase during their intense feud. Despite not being Scottish, Roddy Piper adopted Glasgow as his hometown, representing Scotland throughout his illustrious career by wearing a kilt and using traditional bagpipe music for his entrance.
The inaugural show in Glasgow also featured one of Andre The Giant’s final WWF matches, where he teamed with The Rockers to defeat The Orient Express and Mr. Fuji. Andre’s last televised WWF match took place a year earlier, in the spring of 1990, which is why it comes as a surprise to many, that he actually got in the ring and wrestled some untelevised house show matches for the World Wrestling Federation in 1991, a fact that hasn’t been talked about much before.
Here are the results from the WWF/WWE’s first ever event in Scotland, according to ‘The History Of WWE’:
– Jimmy Snuka defeated The Brooklyn Brawler
– Kerry Von Erich defeated the Warlord by DQ
– Jake Roberts defeated The Berzerker
– Andre The Giant & The Rockers defeated Mr. Fuji & The Orient Express
– Jim Neidhart defeated Haku
– Davey Boy Smith defeated Earthquake by count-out
– The Barbarian defeated Greg Valentine
– Roddy Piper defeated Ted DiBiase
In the following years, WWF shows in Scotland were part of their regular European tours, featuring top stars and future Hall of Famers like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Legion of Doom, Davey Boy Smith, and The Undertaker. Hulk Hogan even wrestled one of his last original WWF matches at the first show in Edinburgh in August 1993.
The WWF was notably absent from Scotland from 1995 to 2001, during the end of the New Generation Era and the entire Attitude Era, before returning to Glasgow on May 2nd, 2002, with a sell-out crowd featuring top superstars from RAW, including Stone Steve Austin, Triple H, Ric Flair and Eddie Guerrero.
Since then, WWE has regularly toured Scotland, with the televised events beginning to take place over there in 2016.
In addition to Clash At The Castle in Glasgow, WWE Friday Night SmackDown was also held at the OVO Hydro yesterday on June 14th 2024, which was the first televised WWE event in the arena since Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown were held there in November 2016, leading up to the Survivor Series 2016 PPV.
Tonight marks WWE’s second-ever Clash At The Castle PLE. The first was a huge success in Cardiff, Wales, in September 2022, where Scotland’s Drew McIntyre unsuccessfully challenged Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event. Tyson Fury was also a part of that show.
Almost two years later, McIntyre is again in the main event, this time returning to his home country to challenge Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship, seeking revenge for Priest’s Money In the Bank cash-in on him two months ago at WrestleMania 40.
Also Read: Big Name Is In Scotland Ahead Of WWE Clash At The Castle (Photo)
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