vikingsfan73

I forgot about the WWF VCR Wrestlemania game! I had that too. May still be in my parents' basement.

I've played Filsinger's Champions of the Galaxy since its' inception in 1986. I've been involved with the wrestling stats side of Legends of Wrestling since the first set. I know of one other board member not mentioned so far, but that's for him to share. I haven't actively played in over 10 years, but I enjoy being involved on the creative side. I think the game Winged Eagle is mentioning is the Superstar Pro Wrestling Game. It came out of New York in the early 80s through 1988, when the NWA edition was the last to be released. They originally did full sheets of paper with wrestlers names on it. As legal issues began, they moved to cardstock half sheets for the wrestler cards. At first, they used goofy names like "Nikita Kooloff" and "Terry the Tailor", then they left the names blank so "you and your friends can become wrestlers". Based on the movesets, it was pretty easy to figure out who was who. Their last set was a NWA set with pictures of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, etc., so they must have struck up some agreement with JCP. I've never found a big online presence for SPW, aside from a few articles on Board Game Geek and a computer simulation. I played it religiously before the Filsinger products, and I still have all of my sets. There's a guy named John Harwood on eBay who sells a copy called the "Original" Superstar Pro Wrestling Game, but it's not the same gaming system and I've never checked it out. I have a friend who plays Face to the Mat. I've never played it myself. He has a hybrid gaming system made up of the Filsinger games, Face to the Mat, and another game whose name escapes me. Kind of gives me a headache.

With Will's permission, I put this in my WON template. PM me your email address if you'd like a PDF copy and I'll send it to you. If anyone knows how to attach a PDF here, please let me know.

My earliest memories of wrestling are in the early 80s watching the AWA. By this time, Verne had retired for the first time, but would still be featured during promos as the promoter. The AWA was the only wrestling I knew for the first 5 years or so of my fandom, so Verne was the man. In 1999, I was able to meet him at the first Thesz/Tragos HOF induction in conjunction with a CAC banquet. I've met lots of wrestlers since, but Verne was the only one who seemed larger than life to me, because of the esteem he was held in on those early AWA TV shows. When I was in junior high, some of us were going to see an AWA show in southern Minnesota (I lived in northern Iowa, about 10 minutes from the border). Our history teacher said, "Oh, like Verne Gagne?" This was in the late 80s, but his name was still remembered. Seeing his decline at the first few Thesz/Tragos inductions was sad, especially after his wife passed away. I'm glad his suffering is over. RIP to the first legend I knew.

It definitely expanded what one could see, especially when you didn't have cable. I was exposed to AWA TV growing up, which then switched to WWF in mid-1985. I remember renting the heck out of the PWI Lord of the Rings tape, and was actually able to see Ric Flair, Kerry Von Erich, and some of the other territorial wrestlers I had only read about in the Apter mags. I remember waiting for what seemed like forever for WrestleMania III to come out on tape so we could rent it and see what happened. That was a great article, Loss!

Good luck! My 14 year old is a fan of the current scene, both RAW and indies, but he tells me older stuff is "boring". For some reason, he did enjoy a War Games match, so I bought him the War Games blu-ray WWE put out. He did like that. I think he dislikes classic wrestling due to the slower pace. Never tried showing him 90s lucha or NJ jr heavies. I'd be interested to hear what ideas others may have.

Received the "Wrestling Record Book - Houston Programs 82-83" book for Christmas. Pretty quick read, but I recommend it if you're a fan of author Mark James' other projects. Starts off with an intro by James Beard, and a foreward by Tom Pritchard. I knew Houston was kind of an island when it comes to booking, similar to St. Louis, but this project really reinforces it, at least for the era covered. I didn't realize how much Boesch booked Nick Bockwinkel as AWA champion during this time. I knew Bock was a partner in Houston, but I thought Boesch recognized the NWA champion too. There's no shows with the NWA champion booked in 82-83, lots with Bock as champion, and at least one show with Backlund defending the WWF title. Not sure if Boesch didn't participate as a NWA member at this time, didn't want to use Flair, or felt that he had to use Bock. One thing that took some getting used to is the layout of the program. This was the program sold at the matches, but the cover story and most of the info inside is hyping the next show, not that evening's show. There's usually a small column with that night's lineup, but everything else is built to draw you into the next show. It makes sense, but since it's not how a lot of traditional programs I've seen were put together, it throws you at first. There is a column where Boesch (who usually doesn't address the fans in the program) talks about the "Undisputed World Championship" tournament that Southwest Championship Wrestling. Without naming names of either the promoters or the wrestlers involved, Boesch does a pretty good job of damage control, letting the fans know he wasn't involved with the tournament, so don't be upset at him if you thought the card was bad! Only compliant is that not all of the programs in the timeframe aren't included. It's pretty much complete, but there are a few holes. I recommend the book if you're into old programs like I am.

I used an Amazon Fire TV Stick last night to view the PPV, and it was the best reception I've had thus far for a live event, between trying a laptop, iPad, and PS3. No buffering issues at all, and I have pretty slow internet at home.

I am 41, started watching wrestling when I was around 8 years old. We'd go over to visit my great-grandfather after church, and AWA All Star Wrestling would be on. I remember Bockwinkel being champion, but I really started paying attention when Rick Martel won the belt. Two of my good friends were also interested in the AWA, and they would buy the Apter mags. The first one I picked up was a Sports Review Wrestling, featuring a recap of SuperClash '85. We started renting the VHS of Wrestlemania I and Lords of the Ring, which was my first exposure to seeing non-AWA wrestlers in action. In the summer of 1985, WWF started on TV in our area. That October, I attended my first show ever, headlined by Valentine and Beefcake vs. the British Bulldogs. That really hooked me. I remember stalking the video store in town until the tapes of Wrestlemania 2 and III showed up those years. My friend had a dish, so we'd watch the MSG and Boston Garden house shows. The AWA TV moved to late Sunday night, which made it hard for me to see, it disappeared for awhile, and reappeared late Saturday nights during the Curt Hennig title reign. I lived on an acreage in the country, so I only saw WCW when I'd visit my friends who had cable or dishes. They would tape the Clashes for me, so I always got to see them. When I went to college in 1991, I had cable, so I was finally able to view WCW programming regularily. A year later, I started getting the Observer, and then ordering tapes from RF Video and a supplier in California that I found in the Observer want ads. I think the first tapes I got were TWA's Autumn Armageddon and a Best of Jushin Liger comp. I soon started getting New Japan and FMW tapes, with the occasional All Japan tape, based on Meltzer's Japanese TV Rundown column in the Observer. That brought me what is still one of my top 5 favorite matches, the May 1992 Furnas and Kroffat vs. Kobashi and Kikuchi battle. I remember also being into the New Japan vs. Dojo feud, which revolved around some NJ undercard guys battling some karate guys over the dojo's sign. Along the way, the UFC started and I began watching with UFC 2. I enjoyed the Observer coverage at the time, which is ironic, because I hate all of the MMA coverage in the Observer now. Kept getting tapes and reading the Observer throughout the 90s. I'd pick up tapes of SMW and ECW, along with the Japanese stuff I liked. During the Monday Night Wars, I'd watch Raw and tape Nitro. There was a group of people who would gather to order the WWF and ECW PPVs. Even though we all watched WCW, we never discussed getting one of their PPVs. I guess the main events all looked bad to us. I read the Torch for a year or so at the time, and subscribed to the Figure Four Weekly during the Frank Gotch column days. In 1999, the Thesz/Tragos HOF had their first induction, in conjunction with a Cauliflower Alley Club event. I've attended all of the HOF inductions since, and have become involved with the HOF weekend event scheduling. I got divorced in 2002 and became a single dad. For budgetary cutbacks, I dropped cable, but would still get the occasional tape from different traders, eventually switching to DVDs. I kept up with the scene through the Observer and my brother would get the big WWF PPVs and would send me the tapes. I didn't want my son to watch wrestling, due to the language content, but he went to visit his mom's family, and became an 8 year old John Cena fan. I got remarried and we got DirecTV, so I would like him watch Raw with my supervision. In 2010, we started going to 3XW shows, based on a recommendation from board member CodySave. We attended those shows monthly for about three years, until my son's sports schedule got in the way. One of the kids I watched wrestling with growing up, started his own indy promotion in Iowa about 15 years ago, so now my son and I attend IPW shows as much as possible. We would get the Wrestlemania PPVs annually with a group of friends, and now get together monthly with the PPVs on the WWE Network. There's a running joke that I will nap through any main event involving Cena, Orton or the Rock, and it's pretty much true. I now have a 14 year old and 5 year old twins. My twins started chanting "Feed Me More" when they were 3. My time to watch wrestling is pretty limited, but I'll keep an eye open when my son watches Raw. I'm more interested in watching older footage these days, so I really enjoyed the Chicago Film Archives stuff that was released a few months ago. I've never let my Observer subscription lapse, so I used that to keep up with what was going on even when I wasn't viewing every week. I never had the lapse in viewing that some have mentioned. I definitely enjoy the time traveling to shows with my oldest son. He's attended the Thesz/Tragos HOF inductions with me the past four years, and we have a great time. One final note and then I'll shut up. I became involved in the wrestler stat creation process for the Legends of Wrestling game when that began, around 2000 or so. Going back to watch footage to research a wrestler's card is something I really enjoy, because it gives me a chance to revisit or learn about lots of wrestlers. That has helped keep the "wrestling bug" going for me, even when the current product isn't always as entertaining.

Most of the wrestlers I've met have been at the Thesz/Tragos Hall of Fame inductions and the CAC in Vegas. From that group, Danny Hodge, Dick Hutton, Butcher Vachon (spent about 5 minutes talking to my then 10 year old son about school, athletics, etc.), Ivan Koloff, Baron Von Raschke, Larry Hennig, Sir Oliver Humperdink, Kenny Jay, Jake Milliman, Adam Pearce, Gerry Brisco, Jim Ross, and Rock Riddle all stand out as super friendly and very willing to interact with fans like myself. As far as "randomly running into a wrestler", I was in the Vegas airport around 2010. My wife had sit down at the gate while I grabbed a soda, and when I got there, she had (unknowingly) saved me an empty seat right next to Daniel Bryan. I asked for an autograph for my son, and took a picture with him. He was very gracious, and even laughed when my wife said "Should I know who this is?" I told him that she was a wrestling fan by marriage. I thanked him and told him I'd quit bothering him, but he continued our conversation for another 5-10 minutes, asked what brought us to Vegas, etc. When his flight was called, he wished us safe travels. Super nice guy!

Been stalling out all night. I've subscribed since day one and it get worse every PPV. I may throw in the towel on this thing.

Me and my brother legitimately laughed our asses off. It was so great. So did my son and I.

Subscriber since Day 1. I rarely watch it, except for the monthly PPVs, but my son watches it quite a bit. If they added AWA, I'd be all over it.

Cedar Rapids isn't across the river from Omaha, Council Bluffs is. Cedar Rapids is in the east central part of Iowa, which would probably made it part of the Central States promotion. The AWA promoted both the eastern (Davenport) and western (Sioux City) part of Iowa, while Central States promoted the central (Des Moines, Waterloo, and I guess Cedar Rapids) part of the state. I looked online and there's a "Cedar Park" in Texas. Given the names that are headlining with Murdoch, are the results really from there?

That physical therapist was awful. My 14 year old son was commenting on what a bad actress she was.

Sorry, Hollinger, missed that response!

Yes, and I create many of the card stats for the LOW series. Cory or Chad? Chad

I tried to do that a couple of times with the obits, one of them being Randy Savage's. It was a damn near impossible task which gave me a headache. After reading Meltzer's stuff for awhile, you just get used to it.

Not sure about his credentials, but "Atomic Freestyle Karate Champ" is the coolest championship name ever.

Received my copy of this yesterday. You can find it at http://www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com/awa60s.html. It was put together by Mark James and George Schire. Pretty basic layout, with the results chaptered by year. There's an image of an arena program from that year to start the chapter, and a recap of the title changes of the year, but otherwise it's the results. I'm a big AWA fan from the 80s, so I found this pretty cool. If you're into results, I think it would be up your alley. If you're looking for stories or tales of the AWA, this isn't the book for you.

Best crowd sign so far, "If Bray loses, we Wyatt!" That opener was crazy.

Watching the Arrival on the PS3 and the picture has been great. Loved the Zayn/Cesaro match.

I did that on Monday, and received only a link to him as WCW Commissioner.

Was finally able to get signed up during my lunch break. First stop, Starrcade '83!