WWF European Rampage

**WWF European Rampage Tour** was a series of professional wrestling events produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) throughout a number of European countries in the early 1990s. It included many house shows as well as some that were broadcast on local television. The video game _WWF European Rampage Tour_, created specifically for the European market, is named after the tour as a whole.

## WWF events before the Rampage

The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) held its first show in Europe on 23 October 1987 at Bercy Stadium in Paris, France, with a sold-out crowd of 12,000. The main event was a match between Harley Race and Junkyard Dog featuring André the Giant as special guest referee. The show was televised on Canal+. It was the WWF's first attempt at global expansion.

Over the years it would hold numerous more events in Europe. On April 2, 1988 the WWF held its first show in Italy at the PalaTrussardi in Milan. This show was broadcast on Italia 1. In the main event, André the Giant won against Jim Duggan. This was technically the WWF's first European Tour as it took place across three days in Milan, Lugano and Cesena, all in Italy. On 10 October 1989 the WWF held its first show in Britain at the London Arena, in front of a crowd of 15,000, broadcast on Sky One. The main event in this match featured Hulk Hogan (with Miss Elizabeth) defeating Randy Savage (with Queen Sherri).

## UK Rampage 1991

The WWF's first tour of events in Europe (when excluding Italy 1988) was held in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The events were called UK Rampage and was held between April and May 1991. The first Rampage event was aired live and broadcast by BSkyB.
|Date|City|Venue|Main Event|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|24 April 1991|London, England|London Arena||
|25 April 1991|Glasgow, Scotland|SECC||
|26 April 1991|Belfast, Northern Ireland|King's Hall||
|27 April 1991|Dublin, Republic of Ireland|The Point||
|28 April 1991|Manchester, England|G-Mex||
|30 April 1991|Birmingham, England|NEC||
|1 May 1991|Brighton, England|Brighton Centre||
|2 May 1991|London, England|Wembley Arena||

## European Rampage Tour

A second series of events was held in October of 1991. After the success of the previous tour that took place in Britain and Ireland, the WWF expanded to many more countries and this event was now called the European Rampage Tour.
|Event|Date|City|Venue|Attendance|Main Event|Broadcaster|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|3 October 1991|London, England|Royal Albert Hall|5,000||Sky Movies Plus||
|4 October 1991|London, England|Wembley Arena|12,000||||
|5 October 1991|Barcelona, Spain|Palau Sant Jordi|19,000||Telecinco||
|6 October 1991|Brussels, Belgium|Forest National|||||
|7 October 1991|Sheffield, England|Sheffield Arena|12,000||||
|8 October 1991|Birmingham, England|National Indoor Arena|||||
|9 October 1991|Paris, France|Bercy Arena|7,000||||

## European Rampage Again Tour

The WWF held another tour in Europe in the spring of 1992. This one was called European Rampage Again Tour. Following the success of the previous tour, it was expanded further. The events have also been locally marketed as UK Rampage or Deutschland Tour depending on country. The UK Rampage in Sheffield was televised on Sky Movies Plus whereas Deutschland Tour in Munich was televised on Tele 5.
|Event|Date|City|Venue|Attendance|Main Event|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|10 April 1992|Rotterdam, Netherlands|Ahoy Sportpaleis||||
|rowspan="2"|11 April 1992|Milan, Italy|FilaForum|10,000+||
|Brussels, Belgium|Vorst Nationaal Arena|5,500||||
|rowspan="2"|12 April 1992|Kiel, Germany|Ostseehalle|7,000||
|Brighton, England|Brighton Centre|||||
|13 April 1992|London, England|Wembley Arena|11,000+|||
|rowspan="2"|14 April 1992|London, England|Wembley Arena|11,000+||
|Munich, Germany|Olympiahalle|12,345||||
|rowspan="2"|15 April 1992|Belfast, Northern Ireland|King's Hall|||
|Frankfurt, Germany|Festhalle|9,000||||
|rowspan="2"|16 April 1992|Dublin, Ireland|The Point Theatre|||
|Dortmund, Germany|Westfalenhallen|||||
|rowspan="2"|17 April 1992|Birmingham, England|NEC|12,000||
|Glasgow, Scotland|SECC|||||
|rowspan="2"|18 April 1992|Birmingham, England|NEC|12,000||
|Glasgow, Scotland|SECC|||||
|19 April 1992|Sheffield, England|Sheffield Arena||||
|colspan="6"||||||
This was followed by another European Rampage Again Tour in autumn of 1992.
|Date|City|Venue|Attendance|Main Event|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|24 September 1992|Stuttgart, Germany|Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle|8,000||
|25 September 1992|Dortmund, Germany|Westfalenhalle|||
|26 September 1992|Hamburg, Germany|Sporthalle|4,500||
|27 September 1992|Kiel, Germany|Ostseehalle|6,000||
|28 September 1992|Sheffield, England|Sheffield Arena|9,700||
|29 September 1992|Birmingham, England|NEC|12,000||
|30 September 1992|Berlin, Germany|Deutschlandhalle|||
|1 October 1992|Munich, Germany|Olympiahalle|10,000||
|2 October 1992|Aschaffenburg, Germany|Unterfrankenhalle|4,500||
|3 October 1992|Frankfurt, Germany|Festhalle|||

## European Spring Tour 1993

Rampage returned in the spring of 1993 and the tour took place throughout 18 events between 8 April (in Paris, France) to 26 April (in Milan, Italy). The televised events of this tour were

- in Paris on 8 April, aired by Canal+ and the main event consisted of Yokozuna beating Jim Duggan
- in Sheffield on 11 April, aired by Sky Sports and its main event was Lex Luger beating Jim Duggan
- in Barcelona on 24 April, aired by Telecinco and in the main event Bret Hart beat Bam Bam Bigelow.

## Later tours

The WWF hosted another Europe wide tour in late winter/early spring 1994. They took place in Austria, Britain and Germany. All these were non-televised house shows. The first event was in Augsburg in Bavaria on March 7, 1994 - where the main event was Razor Ramon defeating Shawn Michaels. The final events of the tour were on March 31, 1994 in Sheffield in England and in Wels in Austria. The WWF held more house shows in Europe in the following years, many of which took place in Germany.