Every fan knows that Hell in a Cell first entered the WWE Universe on Oct. 5, 1997, when Shawn Michaels survived a vicious match against The Undertaker. However, the sinister bout began taking shape 33 years ago in arenas across the South.
Fans tuning in to TBS each Saturday night in 1983 had the date and time pounded into their heads: Sunday, Oct. 23 at 8:30 p.m. Two of Georgias biggest stars would collide for the final time. To ensure that the fight stayed in the ring, officials declared the ring would be fully enclosed in a steel cage with a roof.
After tearing the South apart with chaotic brawl after chaotic brawl for nearly two years, Wildfire Tommy Rich and Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer would be locked inside the hellacious structure to settle the score once and for all. The brutal battle that ensued inside The Omni set the stage for the Superstars of today. WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels recalled the vicious encounter and came up with the idea that evolved into one of WWEs most dangerous bouts: Hell in a Cell.
In the three decades since, tales of Rich and Sawyers war had reached mythic proportions, in part because no footage of the match was thought to exist, until now. Originally thought to be lost in time, complete video of the steel cage showdown was discovered in the WWE vaults and made available to the public for the first-time ever as a part of WWE Networks Hidden Gems collection.
Originally, there was no way of proving their tales true, as very little, if any, video footage of The Last Battle of Atlanta was thought to exist. There were rumors that a Georgia Championship Wrestling official may have erased the footage by mistake. Every now and then, rumors popped up online of a mysterious tape trader who got hold of the footage, only for nothing to ever come of it. All we had that confirmed the match took place are a few photographs.
That is, until now.
In 2001, WWE purchased longtime competitor WCW and its video library. WWEs video team admitted to WWE.com that WCWs library arrived in very unorganized condition. But thats part of the fun, they said. Its a tedious process to transfer and log all this footage, but were able to unearth some real gems.
Gems like The Last Battle of Atlanta.
In 2016, a group of reels from the WCW library, simply labeled Omni Live Events were digitally transferred and logged. During the process, Eric Stefanowicz, Producer and Researcher/Historian for WWEs Legacy Content team, discovered what many have referred to as the holy grail of wrestling video: The Last Battle of Atlanta. The video was in pristine condition. No restoration was required before it was uploaded to WWE Network, fulfilling the dreams of a generation of fans.
Now that everyone from those who were there on that fateful October night in 1983 to fans who grew up on the Hell in a Cell Matches it inspired can finally see just how Rich and Sawyer changed the wrestling industry.