Another week, another slate of hidden gems are incoming. 4 gems, to be exact. This go-around, things are slanted a little more on the modern side (for reasons that will become clear soon). However, old school fans aren’t being entirely left in the cold thanks to a star-studded battle royal from the AWA. Let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?

Going in chronological order, we’ll start with a 1984 battle royal from the AWA. The date given by WWE for this match is 07/15/1984. To be fair, the poor quality footage that I’ve found of this match even shows said date on the screen. However, a little digging would suggest that this 20-man over-the-top affair actually took place on 06/10/1984 at the St. Paul Civic Centre. It features major stars like Dusty Rhodes, Abdullah the Butcher, and Bruiser Brody amongst others.

Next up, we have a Raw dark match from 05/02/2005. This sees Hanson from the War Raiders (or War Machine if you prefer) going up against Brian Black. Reports show that this took place as the first of 4 dark matches that night.

Thirdly, is what WWE is describing as a “full” Velocity episode. Dated 12/17/2005, it’s episode #181 for those keeping score. However, something seems slightly suspect with the confirmed runtime. At 32:57, this seems rather short. Even for the death throes of the C-show’s final months. Now, it should be noted that the provided times for all 5 matches on that episode only come to something like 20:42 or less depending on the source used. So, even allowing for the usual brief entrances, there’s a very slim chance that the full episode may well be that short (finding an intact copy to verify the original length is harder than it sounds). After all, it was a lowly webcast by late 2005, so we may be getting a streamlined online version with less padding. Still, be prepared for the removal of the aforementioned A-show recapping. For those curious, here is the full card for Velocity #181:

Scotty 2 Hotty vs William Regal Jamie Noble vs Tommaso Whitney (Tommaso Ciampa) Arch Kincaid and Scotty Charisma vs Brian Kendrick and Paul London Doug Basham vs Todd Henson (Hanson) Funaki vs Orlando Jordan

Finally, we’re headed to OVW and the year 2007. Not exactly a vintage that most people think of for the Louisville developmental promotion but here we are to see the in-ring debut of Tommaso Ciampa under a WWE-sanctioned contract. Dated 03/10/2007, This comes directly from OVW TV #396 as “Tomasso” faces Jamin Olivencia. It’s effectively a short squash but it’s still a fun bit of history to see unearthed.

You’ve probably noticed the partial trend by now as 3 out of 4 of these upcoming uploads feature one or both of Tommaso Ciampa and Hanson of the War Raiders. The diehard NXT fans out there will be more than aware of looming championship matches for both athletes at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix later this month.

To close things out, here are all 4 official synopses:

AWA 07/15/1984 – Over the Top [Duration: 20:03] An all-star cast of legends including Dusty Rhodes, Abdullah the Butcher, Bruiser Brody, and more compete in an AWA 20-Man Battle Royal.

Raw Dark Match 05/02/2005 – Before the Raid [Duration: 06:36] Before becoming one of the most imposing figures in NXT’s Tag Team division, Hanson took on Brian Black in this rarely seen match from RAW. Velocity 12/17/2005 – Up NeXT [Duration: 32:57] Before dominating in NXT, Tommaso Ciampa and Hanson of the War Raiders look to make a name for themselves on this episode of Velocity. OVW 03/10/2007 – The Road to NXT Gold [Duration: 03:52] Witness the OVW debut of Tommaso Ciampa as he takes on Jamin Olivencia in this rarely seen bout from 2007.

As always, this content will be added to the Hidden Gems category in the Vault section of the WWE Network between 9 and 10 AM EST tomorrow morning.