When you think of rarities and the Hidden Gems category on the WWE Network, the rule is generally “the older the rarer”. Well, this week’s offering goes against that rule as it comes from April 2nd, 1999 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Most will remember the name “Stampede Wrestling” from the territory run by Stu Hart that served as a proving ground for many huge stars of the 80s and early 90s (including two of his 12 children Bret and Owen) until its truest form limped to a final end in January 1990. Full episodes from the promotion were briefly added to the Network years ago until a legal impasse with Bret Hart over ownership of parts of the library led to them being quickly removed. Since then, individual matches from Stampede have made an appearance, albeit carefully chosen to not feature “The Hitman”.

Either way, what we’re talking about today isn’t that original iteration of the company. A good decade after the Calgary-based establishment had well and truly closed its doors, there was a full-on attempt to make it rise from the ashes. That attempt led to the pilot episode that is set to be uploaded tomorrow. If I tell you that Tatanka was one of the biggest names on the card (in 1999, no less) and wrestled in a 2 out of 3 falls match, you’ll have a decent idea of why it never really took off. Still, it features an extremely young Mauro Ranallo on commentary and it’s an interesting piece of history that deserves hidden gem status.

As always, here is the official synopsis for tomorrow’s video:

04/02/1999 – Stampede Reboot Pilot [Duration: 38:13] Mauro Ranallo calls the action in this ill-fated Stampede Wrestling reboot featuring Tatanka, Jim Neidhart and more.

As a final reminder, the above episode will be added to the “WWE Hidden Gems” category of the Vault section on WWE Network tomorrow (Thursday, June 13th) between 9 and 10 AM EST/ 2 and 3 PM GMT.