Here Comes the Pain: These Wrestling Events Were Taped in El Paso

To say that El Paso, Texas loves wrestling is an understatement. Whenever we see ANY wrestling event come near us, we get excited. We get even MORE excited when we know that event will be taped for the world to see. We've seen several wrestling organizations film events in El Paso that made it onto people's TVs.

NOTE: These are not house shows; these are events that were recorded and taped for television broadcast.

WWF Superstars of Wrestling (1989)

The first time that WWF came to El Paso was actually at a house show at the El Paso Civic Center (now the Convention Center) on March 12, 1988. The Convention Center would be the location was the very first televised wrestling event in El Paso; WWF Superstars of Wrestling on March 25, 1989. The Superstars of Wrestling would return on April 8 & April 15 of the same year.

Our very own Steve Kaplowitz even attended that March 1989 taping; names like Hulk Hogan, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, The Rockers (Marty Jannety & Shawn Michaels), Tito Santana, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, were just a few names that made their El Paso debut.

WCW Monday Nitro (February 9, 1998)

El Paso's Don Haskins Center would see WCW Monday Nitro during the 90s on Feb 9, 1998.

A total of 11 matches were shown that night; some highlights included:

• "Macho Man" Randy Savage taking on Hollywood Hogan,
• The Steiner Brothers (Scott & Rick) defeating The Outsiders (Kevin Nash & Scott Hall) for the WCW World Tag Team Championship
• and we would see some hometown heroes face off against each other: Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero would defeat Chavo Guerrero & Dean Malenko

The whole Nitro episode was looked in depth by the wrestling channel, Wrestling Bios, so you can see everything else that happened that night.

WWE Smackdown/Velocity (August 2003)

Yes WWE would return to El Paso, this time to the Don Haskins Center in August of 2003; they would tape Smackdown that aired on August 28th & Velocity on August 30th. This was the same year that Eddie Guerrero won the US Championship and he would return home to a HUGE pop from the hometown crowd. Seeing Eddie come from the crowd & hearing the cheers from the fans when he made his way to the ring still gives me goosebumps...

Eddie would defeat John Cena to retain the U.S. Championship; other matches included Rey Mysterio defeating Nunzio for the Cruiserweight Championship & the Undertaker beating Brock Lesnar and the Big Show to become the #1 contender for the WWE Championship title.

Velocity also showed its share of matches; a total of 4 appeared on tv:

• Doug Basham vs Billy Gunn
• Shannon Moore vs Y.D. Gates
• Tajiri vs Billy Kidman
• and Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas vs The Acolytes

You can actually see the entire episode on YouTube.

AEW Dynamite & AEW Rampage (February 2023)

After nearly a 20 year wait, El Paso would again be shown on tv; The El Paso County Coliseum would be the location for AEW Dynamite & Rampage on February 8 & February 10, respectively.

It was a long wait but it was WORTH IT; fans got to see such wrestlers like Bryan Danielson, Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Rush, The Gunns, and several more show off their talents in the Sun City. You can find a playlist that has all the clips from AEW's 2023 shows in El Paso on YouTube.

This event even became the topic for a video titled "A Neglected Wrestling City: El Paso is All Elite" by Tranquilo Club; a video that basically reviewed those AEW tapings. Living in El Paso, I agree...the crowds ARE amazing.

Let's hope to see El Paso appear more on wrestling tapings in the future; let's keep showing the world just how passionate the wrestling fans are here.

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