Lost WWE WrestleMania Prototype Event - "WWF Grand Stage"

Disclaimer

Nothing in this story is real, or actually happened.

What We Know

The logo for "WWF Grand Stage".

"WWF Grand Stage" is a very obscure piece of wrestling history. In 1984, a year before "WrestleMania" took place, a special, unaired event took place that was basically a concept as to what "WrestleMania" could be like. The event would take place on March 28th, 1984, a little over a year before "WrestleMania" would actually take place. The event was organized by WWF/E chairman Vince McMahon to conceptualize what it could be like. Since the event was unaired, and did not air on television, or anywhere else, the event was seemingly lost to time, kept away in the WWE archives for almost 4 decades. Recently, however, something happened. It was found. After almost 4 decades. Wanna know how? Keep reading.

The Story

Hello, folks. My name is David. And I am a huge wrestling fan. I have been a mega-huge fan of the WWE for over 2 decades. I have attended several "WrestleMania" events over the course of my lifetime, including "WrestleMania X-Seven", which in my opinion, is and always will be my absolute favorite one out of all of them. The thing is, when it comes to pro wrestling, I will always love it. But, as far as "WrestleMania" goes, I have one hell of a story to tell all of you. It's about the days before "WrestleMania", and a very rare and obscure concept event that actually took place.

Enter "WWF Grand Stage". Little has been known about this event for a very long time, due to no info on it existing anywhere online for decades. In fact, this might as well be the rarest WWE event ever. So, a bit of background. In 1984, Vince McMahon and a few other WWF board members conceptualized "WrestleMania" and slated it for the next year, 1985. They were bouncing around ideas and whatnot as to what "WrestleMania" could be like. And as such, to help set the standard for what it could be like, the WWF held a very rare in-ring promotional event called "Grand Stage", the working title for what would become "WrestleMania". Instead of tickets, or anything, it was instead free admittance to attend. Of course, you had to at least be over the age of 18, or had a parent or guardian by your side. The event was scheduled to be held in an unknown venue of which no one actually knows the name of anymore. I even spoke to a few people that have allegedly went to "Grand Stage" recently, and they said they are unsure of the name, but they know for a fact it was a venue in New York City that is no longer in operation. The event was to be scheduled for March 28th, 1984, at roughly 2:30 in the afternoon. Pretty standard for an event like this.

Folklore stated that the event did not go according to plan, and something happened on that day that the WWE refuses to talk about. Every time it is brought up by anyone, the WWE shrugs it off like it never happened. In fact, it nearly tarnished the reputation of the WWF at the time, and almost caused the entire company to go under. The thing is, something happened at "Grand Stage" that they didn't want to discuss. Well, now, the cat is out of the bag, if you will, because I have just found the event. Let's just say I never felt the same after I saw it.

The story goes like this. In the Summer, I was visiting a friend in Ohio. Pretty nice guy. He was also as big of a wrestling nerd as I was, maybe even bigger. The guy had and probably still has multiple connections with multiple different people. He even had (maybe still has) a contact with someone from the United Kingdom, quite possibly somewhere in London. My friend would often talk about what happened on the recent episode of Raw or SmackDown constantly. I mean, I talked about it too, but not that much. He might as well be a bigger nerd than me when it comes to that.

One day, one of his contacts had stated he had gotten a hold of something extremely rare. A very rare DVD, in fact. He stated that it contained some lost event that the WWE held back in the day, and he was wondering if we were interested in it. My friend wasn't very interested, but I was. It was kind of strange to see him not be interested in something wrestling related. Either way, I definitely was. His contact was in Arizona, so it would take a bit for the DVD to actually arrive at my friend's house. But when it got there, trust me, I was so excited to see some lost WWE media finally recovered for, quite possibly, the whole world to see. I was as stoked as can be.

The DVD cover was nearly blank. The color of the background of the cover was jet-black. I turned the cover around to find the old WWF logo from 1982 imprinted on the front, as well as some text underneath it. "WWF Grand Stage, 03/28/84 - Full Event". I had no idea what I was in store for. This, right here, was obviously the working title for "WrestleMania". And I knew it right then and there. I was excited. I had absolutely no idea an event like this ever took place. Well, it's because it was never aired. You get the idea. I was very excited to see what this "WrestleMania" prototype would look like, and what would be featured in it. My friend even got curious. And as such, we put the DVD in the DVD player, and began to watch it.

An early version of the WWF's classic signature intro from 1985 was shown first. "The recognized symbol of excellence in sports entertainment". That statement literally defined a generation. It then cut to a shot of the venue the event was being held at. It looked like a pretty small venue, and boy, it showed. It then fades into a slideshow of various WWF wrestlers at the time, but something was off about this. Some wrestlers' pictures were fine, but others had marks on the top of them. It was very subtle, but spooky. And most notably, the wrestlers that had these marks on them were people I have never seen before. It was super strange and spooky to see wrestlers I have never heard of be in this event, let alone be suspiciously marked as if it was intentional in some way. And then, the logo for "Grand Stage" faded in. It definitely looked like an early version of the "WrestleMania" logo, right down to the font. And after all of that, we finally get to see the inside of the venue. It was very dull, and didn't have a lot to offer. But hey, this was a concept event, it was obviously going to be like this.

As the event started, Vince McMahon gave his opening remarks about the event in a pretty long statement to the attendees who were at the event. "Hello to everyone who took time out of their days to come witness this spectacular sports spectacle of epic proportions. Welcome everyone, to Grand Stage! This event is a concept event for a pay-per-view we are currently working on here at the World Wrestling Federation, and we will have more to share about it soon. Until then, this is what we believe our event will feel like when it happens next year. We are excited for you to see what we have in store for you tonight. Once again, thank you all for coming, and enjoy the show!" The first match of the night was a typical one-on-one match. Two unstoppable giants looking to cause as much pain to one another as possible. It was King Kong Bundy vs. Andre the Giant. It was nicknamed “The Match of Two Giants”, as described internally by WWF/E in various promos and news articles about the “Grand Stage” event at the time. You might be wondering how I know about this. Well, one of my friends picked up a lot of promotional material and news articles about “Grand Stage” from old 1984 newspapers, most of them being stuff about ‘reserving a seat’ and nothing else.

The match went on as a normal WWF match did. The two giants traded blows at the start, and eventually Andre got the upper hand and started getting some major attacks on King Kong Bundy. The pure strength of Andre the Giant was something that had to be seen to be believed. He lifted King Kong Bundy, another gigantic wrestler at the time, with relative ease multiple times. If he were still alive today, there is no doubt that he would be able to pick up most current WWE wrestlers up easily and not lose his footing even once.

Near the middle of the match, Andre put King Kong Bundy into a submission hold. The crowd was very likely this was the end of the match. But alas, no. With incredible strength, King Kong Bundy not only managed to get back up out of the hold, but also lifted Andre on his head and drove him onto the mat with a power bomb. The crowd lost it. And King Kong Bundy was now ready to do whatever he pleased to Andre the Giant. He picked him up and threw him into the ropes, and then went for a clothesline, landing it successfully. In fact, he had the upper hand for a while, doing all sorts of things like repeated punches on Andre while he was on the floor, a jump from the top rope into the iconic Frog Splash, and a whole host of other stuff.

King Kong Bundy wore out Andre so much that he was ready for the cover. So, he lifted the giant’s leg up with great strength, and the referee began the count. One. Two. Nope! Andre gets out of the cover, barely moving. The crowd went nuts! They just witness a giant take a beating from King Kong Bundy, and still be able to fight. It took a while for Andre to get his footing, but Bundy made sure it wouldn’t happen. He continued to attack Andre, and went for another cover only for Andre to again break out at a two-count. King Kong Bundy looked at Andre, in shock. He wondered how in God’s name he is still even able to move, let alone fight!

Once again, King Kong Bundy was determined to make sure that Andre the Giant did not get back his footing this time. Andre was once again struggling, but still being able to move in some form. Bundy tainted him, and even told him: “This is the end, Mr. Giant!”. King Kong Bundy was looking to finish this off. He started to pick up Andre where he would lift him on his head for a final blow. Imagine the surprise on his face when that didn’t work out! Andre the Giant got into a reversal and lifted himself over the other giant. The crowd could not contain its excitement. He just reversed Bundy’s attack! Now, Andre was back on his feet. Bundy looked at the giant, completely stunned in disbelief. “He is still able to fight? How?”, Bundy said under his breath.

But nonetheless, King Kong Bundy was not looking to give up. Even though Andre the Giant was back on his feet, he would still find a way to finish him off. He was getting ready to kick Andre in the chest, but the giant picked up his foot with ease, performing yet another reversal. Instead of King Kong Bundy drop-kicking Andre, Andre drop-kicked Bundy instead! Andre was back in control of the match, and the crowd was going wild.

Andre was getting ready to finish off Bundy with a new set of attacks. Andre jumped from the top rope a few times, elbowed King Kong Bundy’s right arm, and even threw him out of the ring, all the while also performing usual attacks. Bundy was immobilized, lying on the floor, as the referee counted down from 10. Andre the Giant was confident that this was the end of the match, so he just taunted Bundy a lot. Somehow, by sheer luck, King Kong Bundy went back into the ring, looking to quickly perform a spear on the giant. It didn’t really work in Bundy;s favor, though, as Andrre quickly dodged the attack. Therefore, Bundy was right back on the floor, just like he was a few minutes ao.

Andre was confident that this was the end of the match. He therefore got ready to do a cover on King Kong Bundy, with a smile on his face. The referee got on the mat to perform another count. One. Two. Nope! Bundy’s shoulder lifts up. The match continues. King Kong Bundy was tripping and wobbling all over the floor trying to get back up. It doesn’t work, as Andre lifts up Bundy, and plows him onto the mat. It was over for sure. One. Two… Three. Andre just won the match. He may have took a severe beating during the match, but he pulled through, defeating King Kong Bundy at his own game. The entire crowd was loving it, and they were super eager to see what the next match would bring to the table. So far, the impressions of “Grand Stage” were very positive from the crowd.

Then, the second match started. With the crowd loving the first match between Andre the Giant and King Kong Bundy, expectations were high for the second match. And soon, our next wrestlers entered, ready to battle. The Iron Sheik would be taking on Wakanda. Wakanda? How have I never heard of this wrestler before? He doesn’t show up anywhere in the official WWF 1984 roster, either. The only one I even knew was The Iron Sheik. Maybe Wakanda was on the official roster beforehand, but was secretly and silently removed somewhere later on? Well, this next match would answer that question.

When Wakanda made his entrance into the ring, he seemed… off. No, not like ‘off’ in their personality, just completely off in general. Wakanda looked like he just went crazy, as he was turning his head constantly as if it was the first time he ever entered a ring. According to some, this was not normal in Wakanda’s usual behavior, He would usually enter the ring as if he were some sort of demonic being from another world. He even acted like one in his personality. On this specific day, on this specific night, in this specific event, Wakanda looked like he was just completely zooted out of his mind. He was super dazed, and acted like he had no clue where he was even at. It seemed super odd for him to be acting this way.

The Iron Sheik even was concerned about this. Wakanda looked completely stoned out of his mind, and it was strange. Nevertheless, the match started with the usual bell ring. The Iron Sheik easily got the upper hand at the start of the match. But sooner or later, Wakanda definitely seemed like he was in a bad state. Wakanda tried to attack Sheik, but he was attacking… nothing. Like, literally nothing. The crowd was super confused and concerned about what was happening, and why Wakanda was acting the way he was.

Like usual during the match, The Iron Sheik got control of the match again, and started to beat up Wakanda to a pulp. Usually, Wakanda would try to fight back, but not even once did he even try to do such a thing. It seemed so weird and very unsettling. The match was over in about 4 minutes, which was the shortest match in WWF history at the time. And no, it didn’t end in usual matters; it was determined a ‘;no-contest’ for the safety of both Sheik, and Wakanda himself.

We thought that Wakanda’s strange state was over, but then, out of nowhere, Wakanda got up and started attacking nothing again. It’s as if he thinks the match hasn’t even ended yet, and some people in the crowd started to wonder if Wakanda was hallucinating. Wakanda even jumped from the top rope, landing on the mat to hit nothing. But Wakanda didn’t know that. He was still completely lost and thought he was attacking Sheik, his opponent.

Sooner or later, Wakanda screamed. He looked all around the arena at nothing. Even jumped into the crowd to attack people, which scared the daylights out of people. Wakanda said: “SHEIK IS EVERYWHERE!!!”, and just completely lost his mind. The crowd was sure that Wakanda was hallucinating at this point, because he jumped in the crowd, thinking that everyone was Sheik.

He continued to scream for dear life like it was his last days on Earth. His mind raced and he was about ready to completely go berserk. Just then, Wakanda fainted on the mat with a loud thud. He was completely out, not even moving an inch. The referee was checking on Wakanda’s condition, and determined that he completely fainted. A few minutes later, the paramedics arrived and escorted Wakanda out of the ring. People were wondering what just happened and why Wakanda was acting the way he did. It was not normal in his behavior and it was very worrisome for the crowd. The next match afterwards further strengthened the worry in the crowd, and this is where things start to get completely crazy, and not in a good way.

This next match was already brought on with concern. The previous match did not end in a good way, so there was already concern inside the crowd. But still, the crowd sort of looked forward to it, hoping it was just a weird coincidence. Rowdy Roddy Piper was going to be taking on Kadus in a full-on TLC match. This was, once again, another unknown wrestler that did not show up in the roster at the time. It started to get very concerning for me, as if all of the unknowns are having bad things happen to them, while all of the more known wrestlers are perfectly fine in their mental state.

Just like the last wrestler, Kanos came into the ring completely dazed and confused. He looked like he was completely drugged out as he constantly remarked about ;pretty colors’ and other random things. Again, completely out of character for the wrestler. As stated by a few people at the time, Kanos took on the identity of a masked Luchador wrestler similar to Sin Cara or Rey Mysterio. It looks like the idea of masked Luchadores entering WWF/E rings was experimented with even then. His character came from the Caribbean islands just east of Mexico. It would make sense that he would come from somewhere in the middle of North and South America.

Some kept their hopes up about this match, just stating that it would be completely fine and nothing would go wrong. Maybe Kanos was just doing it as a joke because of his attire. Well, that question was quickly answered as soon as Kanos got into the ring. Immediately, in a blind rage, Kanos attacked Roddy before the match had even started. No one from the crowd could have expected that. Kanos was immediately broken up by the ref and told to wait for the bell. Obviously Kanos didn’t listen because he was completely zooted out of his mind and just continued his assault on Roddy.

The ref broke him up again, and was told to quit and wait for the bell to ring. Kanos would not listen to the referee, and just continued to attack Rowdy Roddy Piper until he couldn’t stand up. The ref tried breaking up Kanos from his attack, but in a fit of blind rage, he attacked the ref, knocking him out cold. The ref did not stay down for a short period of time. In fact, he was down for over 30 minutes. This gave Kanos a huge opportunity even though the match still hadn’t started yet and was just laying waste to Roddy, He did everything he could to hurt Roddy as much as possible, and just relentlessly attacked him. Still, the bell didn’t even sound yet, but in Kanos' eyes, itt was fair game for him.

The crowd was not impressed by Kanos’ relentless attack. They were the complete opposite and told him to get out of the ring numerous times. It got way too far when he actually listened to the crowd. He jumped in, attacking a lot of the people inside of the crowd for seemingly no reason. The crowd was in mass panic as Kanos just attacked whoever he pleased. This caused a lot of the people in the crowd to be injured. A few people were even escorted out of the arena by stretcher as they were taken into medical care at the hospital. Kanos just went into a relentless rage as he attacked a lot of people in the crowd before he was stopped by security.

Kanos went way too far at this point. He started to attack the security who was actively trying to stop him from injuring more people. Kanos just did a horrible thing, and yet this was deemed okay by his standards. The crowd was at this point not cheering for Kanos, they were instead cheering for the security to get rid of him from the venue. Kanos actively wrestled the WWF’s own security, and during this, he was saying: “YOU PEOPLE BULLIED ME IN MIDDLE SCHOOL! YOU ALL WILL PAY!”. Of course, the WWF’s security weren’t the people who bullied him in middle school, and neither was the crowd. It was at this point determined that something was up with this event. Two wrestlers back-to-back who had no clue where they were at; one of them who fought nothing, and one of them who attacked a wrestler before the match even begun, as well as the crowd and security.

Kanos screamed as loud as possible for no explained reason a few minutes afterwards. He then, all of a sudden, plumped down onto the mat, just like Wakanda did earlier. The security did all of the usual check-ups before they came to the conclusion that he passed out. He was taken into an ambulance where he was going to receive medical care from the hospital, and then once he got out, he would be faced with a 3-year prison sentence for attacking the crowd and the security. The crowd was happy that was the way that match turned out because of Kanos’ behavior. But, some worried that these events were all linked to one another, and this could be something even worse than a simple coincidence. The crowd was sure that two wrestlers back-to-back having similar experiences was not just a weird coincidence. They were afraid it could be something much, much worse.

The response to “Grand Stage” at that point had been mostly negative. The crowd was very concerned about this affecting their safety as one of the wrestlers literally jumped into the crowd to attack people. This was not normal for an event, and this sure wasn’t normal for an event of this scale, let alone one hosted by the WWF. The crowd was actively booing and some were even threatening to leave the venue for their safety. It went from a great event to a disaster really quickly, and the WWF was in complete shambles while this happened. The ref eventually finally got back on his feet, completely dazed as he was trying to get back on his feet. Vince McMahon stepped in to assure people that everything would be okay.

“I am so sorry about the things that have gone down so far. Please note that when we organized this event it was absolutely not our intention to cause harm to our wrestlers or our fans. This is quite possibly just a weird coincidence that two wrestlers had both acted like they were not sober. It may not seem like it to you right now, but the point of the WWF is to entertain you, and we always put your safety first, no matter the cost. I know, it’s very strange that this has happened to two wrestlers back-to-back, and we can assure you that this is not the work of the World Wrestling Federation or any of its employees. So therefore, “Grand Stage” will continue and the show will go on. Everything is going to be alright from here on out. Again, we are so sorry about everything that’s happened thus far. Please, stick around and enjoy the show, we have a lot more matches to come.”

Everyone’s concern died down when the next match started. Two well-known wrestlers would make their entrances into the ring. First to enter the arena was Big John Studd. He was a powerhouse of a wrestler and a big man in every respect. He was looking ready for his competition, which would soon enter the ring. And then, the crowd erupted when Hulk Hogan made his entrance into the ring. If you are unaware, Hulk Hogan was a very well-known WWF superstar back in the 80s, and he was even WWF Champion at the time before this event. He would be given the title on January 23rd, 1984, roughly 2 or 3 months before the “Grand Stage” event would take place, and he would hold onto it, until he would lose the title to Andre the Giant at “The Main Event” on February 5th of that year. Later on, he would actually leave the WWF for WCW, where he would eventually form NWO (New World Order).

The crowd was already looking forward to this next match because of how the previous two matches went down. It was a lot more light-hearted than the previous two matches, and both wrestlers were looking forward to the battle. All worry was thrown out of the window when it was time for this match. The bell then sounded, and the match began.

Big John Studd looked confident as ever because of his opponent. He had a big grin on his face, as if he was thinking it would be an easy win for him. Studd quickly took control, and started his attack on Hulk Hogan. He started off just slamming him into the turnbuckle, and began to punch him over and over again. It didn’t work for him, as eventually Hulk Hogan reversed the attack and was looking to clothesline him into the turnbuckle, only for Studd to move out of the way, causing Hulk Hogan to run into it face-first.

Once again, Big John Studd was looking confident as Hulk Hogan was on the floor. He quickly gained the upper hand and started his attack. He would be seen throwing Hulk Hogan into the ropes to where Studd would either clothesline him or do some other wrestling move, punching him repeatedly on the floor, or suplexing Hulk Hogan. At one point in the match, however, Big John Studd made a fatal mistake when he tried to jump from the top rope. He assumed that Hulk Hogan would stay down, allowing him to do a Frog Splash. As he was in the air, however, Hogan got back up from the floor, and so, Big John Studd landed on the mat, which resulted in him completely missing his target.

And at that point, Hulk Hogan gained control of the match. A look of determination filled his eyes. He was ready to lay waste to Big John Studd. And so, his attack began. He was attacking Studd in every way he knew how at the time, such as drop-kicking him, doing the iconic Neckbreacker, and even a few jumps from the top rope. All of the jumps landed successfully into Frog Splashes. Big John Studd was trying to get on his feet, but Hogan then put him into a submission to ensure he wouldn’t get out. Studd tried desperately to get out of the hold, but to no avail. He then dragged himself to one of the ropes, to where he would reach for the bottom rope. He grabbed onto it, and Hulk Hogan let go.

But Hulk Hogan wasn’t done with Big John Studd yet. He wanted to inflict more pain on him. He thought of every move that hurt, and eventually, Hulk Hogan threw him out of the ring, and Hogan himself would soon step out. Both of them would face a count from the ref as he was getting closer and closer to the 10-count for a disqualification. Big John Studd managed to counter one of Hogan’s attacks and rammed his face into the turnbuckle pole. Hulk Hogan was on the floor as the ref got closer and closer to 10. Thankfully, Hogan recovered, and he got back into the ring at an 8-count. And right at that moment, he was quickly attacked by Big John Studd, who then would regain control of the match.

It was the middle of the match at this point. Once again, confidence filled Big John Studd as he looked at Hulk Hogan, who was immobilized on the floor. The big man lifted Hulk Hogan on his head, and then slammed him onto the mat. He was feeling confident that this was the end of the match and that he had defeated Hogan. So, he got down on the floor, and lifted Hogan’s leg up for the pin count. The ref then got on the floor and began to count. One. Two. No! It turns out that Hogan is still alive, and still kicking. The crowd was cheering, especially since this is the first good match they’ve seen since the first match with King Kong Bundy and Andre the Giant.

Hogan was desperately trying to recover from the pain that was inflicted on him, but Studd wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t recover. He began to relentlessly attack Hulk Hogan by repeatedly throwing him into the ropes to either clothesline or suplex him, jumping from the top rope, this time landing successfully, and even attacking Hogan while he was down on the floor. Studd even felt fury in his eyes, and so, Studd used Hulk Hogan’s own weapon against him - a submission hold. And boy, did he lock it in tight. He wanted to make sure Hogan wouldn’t get out of it. The crowd was sure that this was the end and Hogan would have to tap out. But no! With pure strength, Hogan started to break out of the hold and lift up Big John Studd. At that point, the entire crowd was going ballistic. While he was struggling to lift him, Studd was having trouble keeping him down. The struggle worked out in Hogan’s favor, as he eventually overcame the strength of Big John Studd and, eventually, suplexed him. The crowd loved it. They just witnessed an example of pure strength.

Hogan wanted to make sure that this was the end of the match. He got ready to perform his finisher as Big John Studd struggled to get back up. When Studd finally got his footing again, Hulk Hogan performed his finisher, and the crowd knew it was over. You don’t just get out of Hogan’s finisher easily like that. They were sure it was over. And so, Hogan got ready to pin Big John Studd, and the ref began the count. One. Two. No! Studd, out of breath, breaks out of the cover. The crowd was shocked at what they just witnessed. They were so shocked Studd got out of Hulk’s finisher despite the beating he took so far! Studd was struggling to regain his footing, but once he did, Hogan wanted to make sure he was back down on the ground, just like he was a minute ago. But Studd performed an excellent counter, as he punched Hulk Hogan directly in the gut. Entire crowd lost it at this point. How did he recover so easily?

Big John Studd looked at Hulk Hogan with fury in his eyes. He thought the match would be easy for him, but Hulk Hogan made it much harder for him. The rage took over, and he started to severely attack Hogan as much as he could. The pure rage inside him was taking control of him and making sure that Hulk Hogan would not be able to make a recovery this time. The crowd started to boo Studd for his actions, but Studd could care less. He looked at Hulk Hogan, who was lying on the floor, then looked at the crowd, who was actively booing him from every single angle. He then began to get ready to perform his finisher to finish off the job.

The determination in Hulk Hogan’s eyes was very noticeable. From Studd’s perspective, he couldn’t tell. He just assumed that he was struggling to get his footing. So, Studd got him in the hold, and started to perform his finisher to end the match. Turns out this was Hogan’s plan the entire time, and he quickly turned the tables on Studd and hit him with his own finisher! The crowd erupted! They just witness a legendary reversal, straight into a finisher. From that point forward, Studd was knocked out cold. He lied on the floor, not moving an inch. And therefore, Hogan looked to put this one away. He got into the pinning position, and the ref began to count. One. Two. Three. It was over; Hulk Hogan won the match. The crowd could not contain its excitement as Hulkamania looked all around the venue, proud of what he accomplished. Big John Studd then got up, with a red face and his blood running cold. He was furious. He stomped out of the ring while Hogan continued to be proud of himself. It looked like it might have just been a coincidence, and that the event was just going to go on normally.

Excitement roared back into the venue, and the crowd’s response to the event became positive once again. The two instances beforehand were likely to be just pure coincidences and that it was just going to be a normal event from here on out. The crowd was cheering, whistling, and a lot of other stuff and were looking forward to the next match, which was soon to come. So far, it seemed things were going just as the WWF had planned. It seemed like everything was going to be alright, just as Vince had said earlier. That is, until the next match started.

Pat Patterson was scheduled to take on Maxim Yamamoto for this next match, What is with all of these unknowns? And why have I never heard of them before? These unknowns do not even show up in the official rosters, so why were they even on here? Well, the most likely reason is because they all were officially on the rosters at one point, and then were removed for reasons the WWE refuses to talk about. Yamamoto was seen as some sort of sumo wrestler. He was a big man who would come out in a sumo-like costume similar to Yokozuna, with the character originating from Japan, as some sources say.

This guy was even more crazy than the previous two. He was absolutely zooted out of his mind and spazzed out as he made his entrance. He would be seen spitting out random gibberish and literally doing the randomness of things, like mimicking animal noises. Usually, according to a few, he would enter the ring as if it was a sumo arena. So, this was completely out of character for the wrestler and only kicked back up speculations amongst the crowd, who were beginning to think that these incidents were all linked to one another and more than just a flat-out, simple coincidence. Some people started to think that these events were systematic and not random. Something had to be up with the event. There was no way this was happening just randomly like it was nothing. Someone, or something, had to be causing this.

When the match began, for some odd reason, Yamamoto began beating his chest like an ape and let out an ape-man cry similar to Tarzan. He then got on the floor and spun around while kicking his feet and making a sound which was blatantly Curly from The Three Stooges. The crowd either was looking confused, or worried. They knew something was up. These incidents have been happening all throughout the entire event. Pat Patterson looked in disbelief, not understanding why he had to battle someone who was blatantly not sober and acting very strangely. So, he didn’t. He just let them go crazy and didn’t attack them once. Yamamoto just got even more and more crazy as time went on, though.

At one point, at around 15 minutes later, Yamamoto had a severe stroke in the middle of the ring. He was speaking random, unintelligible gibberish, and his body was moving in very strange and uncomforting ways, which freaked out the crowd. Eventually, he started gagging as he fainted right on the mat. The crowd was horrified at what they just witnessed. Yamamoto was then taken out by stretcher, just as the previous two. The crowd then realized all of these events were linked in some way. Three wrestlers, all of them not sober, all fainted and taken to the hospital. This was no longer just pure coincidence. The crowd was thinking that this could be something far, far more sinister. Why would three wrestlers act not sober and faint in the middle of the ring? The answer of ‘pure coincidence’ no longer added up. It had to be intentional. Or there was some other dark meaning. Either way, the ‘coincidence’ theory was thrown out. The crowd did not have a reaction to the next match. Just black, blank stares at the action that was happening. The match in question was Bret Hart vs. Sgt. Slaughter. They were two well-known wrestlers, but the crowd did not care. The crowd was more interested in finding out what was going on, and why all of these other wrestlers were acting super weird. But, the thing is, the crowd came to the theory that it was not sheer ‘coincidence’, but something far more sinister. So, the crowd remained silent throughout the entire match.

Bret Hart and Sgt. Slaughter were looking forward to giving one another a beatdown. And when the bell rang, it was on. The two wrestlers would gain control over one another frequently during this match, and it was the most thrilling match of the whole event. But, the crowd remained silent untimely. Not even one single cheer or boo emitted from the crowd. They were just looking to find out why all of these other wrestlers were acting so strangely.

At the end of the match, Sgt. Slaughter emerged victorious. But, the crowd remained silent. And Sgt. Slaughter was confused why no one was cheering for his victory over Bret Hart. He looked at the crowd in disbelief, unsure as to why they were so silent and not looking to utter a word. So, Sgt. Slaughter started to talk to the crowd directly, demanding some sort of answer from either the crowd, or some of the staff.

“Okay, lemme ask you this. Why are you all so silent? Usually when I win, y’all would be cheering for me from end to end. I'm not hearing a single word from any of you maggots. What the hell is wrong with you guys? Is something seriously up? Up to the point where you don’t even wanna cheer for your favorite wrestlers? Please tell me, by God I am curious to know. If not you, I’ll just ask the staff at this godforsaken entertainment organization instead. You have always been told to answer your sergeant when they speak to you, is that right? Well, then why aren’t ya doing it? I need to know what is up, because something seems to be up since you don’t wanna say a word to me. You know what? That’s fine! Don’t answer me! Just keep your secrets, ya damn maggots! Boy, if this is what the World Wrestling Federation is shaping up to be, then by God it’s gonna be bad. If I was in charge, I’d make ya all answer to me! I’d be in direct charge of this whole damn crowd and would demand an answer from all of you. Because right now, this whole damn crowd is silent! I dunno what is going on because y’all won’t say anything! But, you know, I can’t make you do something you won’t do. But if I was in charge of the WWF, I’d make it mandatory for you to answer to me! Whatever. I’ll be seeing myself out now. Have a good damn day, ya silent maggots!”

Throughout the entire speech, as well as the aftermath, the crowd remained completely silent. Not a single word came from the crowd. The whole crowd knows that something is definitely up. With the past incidents of Wakanda, Kanos, and Yamamoto, there is something that is more than likely going on that the WWF is keeping silent about. Something much darker is going on behind the scenes, and the company is refusing to address it. This refusal to be transparent is what is getting these wrestlers hurt. Maybe the WWF was secretly in on the whole ordeal and that is the reason? Either way, the crowd wasn’t pleased. Three wrestlers, and all of them have ended up acting crazy and being carried away in stretchers. This has to be something far more darker. And the crowd realizes it. There is no longer any sort of coincidence discussion in the crowd. The crowd is now aware that something much darker is happening and the WWF is refusing to say what is going on. If it was some sort of setup, then it must have maybe been planned from the start. Whatever it may have been, the crowd could feel something was going on and not normal. Three incidents with three wrestlers makes it more than just a pure coincidence. Something weird is going on, and the WWF is refusing to be transparent about it.

Either way, “Grand Stage” continued with the next match. It was another well-known wrestler vs. another unknown. Steve Lombardi would be taking on Douglas Kareem for the next match. Douglas came from the West Coast area of America, specifically somewhere in Nevada. He is known to be someone who is very into gambling, and before his wrestling days, he would take usual trips to casinos in Las Vegas. At least, that is what some sources say about him. But, we don’t have any evidence to back this up, so for now, consider it speculation from the very few sources on this wrestler we have left.

When Douglas made his entrance, he was considered completely lost. Man looked so drugged he was about to lose his whole mind. The strangest thing that Douglas did when he entered the ring was showered himself in his own money as if he was stealing it. He made wacky hand movements and did very strange stuff that the crowd couldn’t seem to comprehend. His state got even worse when he entered the ring to supposedly face his opponent, Steve Lombardi.

The man just straight-up lost his entire mind when the bell rang. He acted like he just won the lottery. Man was shouting and acting like a crazy rich man and making weird noises and other weird stuff. Just then, the WWF came to do a drug test on Douglas. He was determined to be drugged right on the spot. The security went to take Douglas out, but he actively refused to leave. Instead, he ran through the crowd and darted out of the venue, and sped off… right into a tree. It killed him instantly, right on the spot due to the sheer speed he was going at and the sheer force of the impact on the tree. Cameramen filmed video of the wreckage as Vince was talking to the crowd and wondering what the hell was happening.

“I regret to inform you that we have just lost Douglas Kareem, a wrestler of the World Wrestling Federation. Douglas has been seen fleeing from our security to avoid an arrest and rammed his car directly into a tree. It has been determined that this wrestler was not sober when he entered the ring. Wakanda, Kanos, and Yamamoto were also not sober as well. I do not know what the hell is happening, but trust me, I will find the culprit and they will get hell unleashed on them. These wrestlers were fairly new when they signed with the WWF, and all of them have met similar fates tonight. I don’t know who, or what is causing this, but this is a major code red and this is not the type of night we were planning for. We have also found out that the three other wrestlers that were not sober on this night have also died in the hospital while undergoing some treatment. Whoever is doing this will be found, and they will experience-”

Just then, the feed is hijacked and a live camera feed is seen. This is a video feed that is being broadcasted from the WWF locker room. It shows a man sneaking inside of the locker room, and recording video footage of the cause of the incidents. A former WWF executive, Dave Douglass, is seen with another unknown WWF wrestler, Juan Kama. The character Juan plays is a spanish mariachi\ from Mexico. Dave is speaking to Juan directly, telling him about these amazing performance-enhancing drugs. Of course, Juan allows the former WWF exec to inject him with these drugs. For a while, it seems like Juan is acting normal. He loves the drugs and wants to try more. He obviously did not realize that these drugs were likely the cause of all of the other incidents and agreed to be injected with these drugs. Juan’s performance skyrockets, and he becomes a lot more agile than he was before. And then, Douglass leaves the locker room, snickering as he does. Of course, the spy is caught filming Dave, and so, Dave chases after him, likely attempting to destroy the footage.

And later, when Juan entered the arena, he was just as drugged as the rest of the other three wrestlers was. For the crowd, it all made sense. His opponent was supposed to be George Steele, but as soon as Jaun made his entrance he was already determined to be drugged as soon as he started acting strangely. He collapsed halfway through the ramp leading to the ring, and fainted. Vince, and the crowd looked in complete shock.

“Ladies and gentlemen… we got him.”.

Vince is seen confronting Dave Douglass directly, and fires him on the spot. He also swears that Dave Douglass will never be allowed to work in wrestling again, and also calls up the police. Dave was given a 10-year prison sentence for drugging the wrestlers, and was also given a hefty fine of $650,000. The event also ended prematurely with the 2 final matches completely canceled for the safety of the wrestlers. And also, Vince talked to the crowd for the very last time in the event before it was all over.

“I am sorry, but we have no choice but to end “Grand Stage”, our prototype event, prematurely for the safety of our wrestlers. We were going to host two more final matches tonight, but with everything that has gone down over the past hour, we are no longer able to do so. It has been noted that Dave Douglass has been drugging some of our lesser-known wrestlers with drugs that supposedly improve your in-ring performance. We all know that is not the case. The only thing these drugs have done is resulted in the deaths of 4 wrestlers, soon to be 5. We don’t know how the planned event will go down, but it will be nothing like this now. We are going to be working on the event in the background, and we will let you know about any information in the future. We are sorry this is how this night went down. Dave Douglass has been fired and he has been faced with 10 years in prison and a $650,000 fine for drugging the wrestlers. We are still planning for our main event to happen next year, in 1985. Thank you all for coming. Please stay safe out there, and enjoy yourselves.”

And that is where the DVD ends. We cannot believe what we just witnessed. That DVD held some dark things and we won’t be able to unsee them. We ripped the whole DVD and uploaded it to the internet and went back to destroy the disc later on. I cannot believe that this is what the WWE was trying to hide from us! They were trying to make it obscure, so no one knew what happened on that night besides the people who actually attended the event in person. If you watch it, you won’t believe what you will see. It’s pretty hard to say how it happened, but here’s what I believe.

The reason those wrestlers don’t show up in the official 1984 WWF rosters is because they were killed after drugs entered their body. Dave Douglass was secretly giving those 5 wrestlers performance-enhancing drugs while the event was going on. It is highly likely that the reason the wrestlers were circled during the intro was because they were symbolism from Dave. It was a foreshadowing of what was to come later. Of course, the WWF never authorized Dave to edit the title sequence of “Grand Stage”. The reason the WWE wanted to cover this up is because it was a dark moment in WWE history that the WWE didn’t want people to revisit. And most likely, the reason that the wrestlers were drugged was because they were new wrestlers that only got signed fairly recently at the time the event took place. All of the other ones during the event were signed with the company for a while at that point, and Dave Douglass wanted to get rid of the newbies so the only remaining wrestlers were long-time wrestlers. Of course, this didn’t work out in Dave’s favor. Besides, if Dave were still there at the company, he would’ve single handedly ruined the Attitude Era by drugging wrestlers like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H. The WWE wanted to make sure that he would not ruin the future of the company, so they fired him on the spot to ensure he would not ruin the company’s reputation.

And that is why “Grand Stage” was kept in the WWE archives… until now.