I’ve said this before and I’ll undoubtedly say it again but the weekly Hidden Gems focus on WWE Network is at its best when it truly digs deep into the archive and offers up content that wouldn’t easily fit elsewhere on the service. Just days away from WrestleMania, tomorrow’s uploads are another perfect example of the section at its best.

Firstly, we have the full press conferences for WrestleMania 2, 3 and 4. Each is at least over 30 minutes in length and featuring such icons as Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and the recently-passed King Kong Bundy among many others hyping their matches for the annual super cards. While perhaps not the most exciting content for those interested in the in-ring aspect, they’ll be a great addition for most historians. Especially due to how relatively difficult the early press conferences are to find, let alone in full.

Next up, we have the highly requested WrestleMania IX dark match pitting “El Matador” Tito Santana against Papa Shango. As if unearthing the match itself wasn’t enough, WWE’s description cites this as the very first WWF match called by the legendary Jim Ross.

But we’re still not done as this week’s Hidden Gems selection will be rounded off by what appears to be a pair of unaired Superstars segments that could have had a major impact on their respective WrestleManias. The first is from a 02/22/1994 Superstars taping and sees Lex Luger gain possession of the WWF Championship belt from Yokozuna before having Vince McMahon announce Luger as the new Champion. It goes without saying why this wouldn’t have aired. Interestingly, this segment was recently referenced on the WrestleMania X edition of the Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast. During the episode, Prichard snarkily suggested that the announcement was filmed to screw with Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.

The second seemingly unaired segment also has an interesting story to it. Taped on 02/20/1996 (once again at a Superstars taping), it sees Razor Ramon ask then-WWF President Roddy Piper to put him in a Hollywood Backlot Brawl with Goldust at WrestleMania XII. In reality, Scott Hall wasn’t comfortable with the homoerotic undertones of the Goldust character, (alongside him declaring his intention to leave for WCW and a dubious suspension) thus Piper took his place in the aforementioned match. And so, the announcement for this version of the bout would no longer be needed.

With the explanatory infodump out of the way, here are the official synopses for all 6 gems:

03/04/1986 – WrestleMania 2 Press Conference [Duration: 00:45:36] Hulk Hogan has words for King Kong Bundy, while ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper delivers an important message to Mr. T on the road to WrestleMania. 02/27/1987 – WrestleMania 3 Press Conference [Duration: 00:33:53] The tension between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan comes to a fever pitch just weeks before WrestleMania III. 02/03/1988 – WrestleMania 4 Press Conference [Duration: 00:33:22] Hear from Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan, Ted Dibiase and more as they prepare for WrestleMania IV. WrestleMania IX Dark Match 04/04/1993 – Under the Shadow of Darkness [Duration: 00:10:06] Papa Shango faces ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana in this rarely seen bout from WrestleMania IX featuring the WWE debut of Jim Ross on commentary. Superstars Taping 02/22/1994 – Luger’s Golden Opportunity [Duration: 00:04:23] Lex Luger looks to put Jim Cornette in his place and imagines what life would be like holding WWE Championship gold before WrestleMania X. Superstars Taping 02/20/1996 – From Miami to Hollywood [Duration: 00:10:03] Razor Ramon demands that WWE President, Roddy Piper, let him end his heated rivalry against Goldust in a Miami Alley Fight at WrestleMania XII.

As a final reminder, the above content will be added to the Hidden Gems category of the Vault section on WWE Network tomorrow (Thursday, April 4th) between 9 and 10 AM EST.