Introduction to the Board as a wrestling fan

[Rob Allen]

My name's Rob.

 

I'm 39 and I moved to Brooklyn two years ago. I grew up in South Florida and started watching wrestling as a young kid and then discovered the magazines around 1984. We had CWF and WWF on TV. When I visited my grandmother I was able to catch JCP/WCW, World Class and AWA on cable. I kinda lost interest around the time Hogan showed up in WCW. I would take a look at the TV every once in a while but I really wasn't following it. The WWE purchase of WCW sparked my interest and brought me back to watching. Lately I've been revisiting the past and enjoying the Kayfabe Memories board and the JCP/WCW podcasts that Parv and Chad are doing.

 

Some of my favorites:

 

Ric Flair

Tully & Arn

Great Muta

The Von Erichs

Barry Windham

Randy Savage

Ricky Steamboat

Jerry Lawler

Roddy Piper

 

I've enjoyed reading through the yearbooks and catching up on a lot of stuff that I had missed during my "time away"

[RyanClingman]

Hi Everybody,

 

I am Ryan, and I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. I have been lurking around these parts for a while now, until I finally decided to register the other day. I have been a wrestling fan since I was seven years old, and things have stayed that way ever since. My favourite periods in wrestling history from what I have seen, are late 80s/early 90s All Japan, early 90s AJW, later 80s NJPW, early 90s NJPW, mid 2000s ROH, early 2000s WWF/E, RINGS pro-wrestling era (HUGE Volk Han and Tamura mark), I would like to add current era New Japan to that list, but I can’t really do that without the benefit of hindsight.

 

I would like to post my top five performers, but like with my favourite promotions and eras, my lists change as I am exposed to more. However, on my list are Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Tamura, Volk Han, Tsuruta and Tenryu among others. I really hope to learn and get into more lucha, as I feel that I really lack knowledge in that area, and I guess I will grab the 80s lucha set once I am finished with a couple of other sets I am trying to work my way through.

 

During my years as a pro-wrestling fan I have dabbled in a few things, but over the last couple of years my main focus has been my newsletter, which I will not shamelessly promote here like I do on other sites...at least I will try not to anyone.

 

I look forward to participating on the site.

[Stu]

My names Stu, I’m 32 and live in and small town in North Yorkshire, England.

 

My first exposure to wrestling was watching the dying days of World of Sport and then the show that replaced that for a couple of years, at my grandparent’s house on a Saturday afternoon. The first memory I have of watching American wrestling is when Earthquake was “picked” out of the crowd for the push-up contest between Dino Bravo and Ultimate Warrior. I’d never seen anyone like Warrior before and was hooked on WWF from that moment. Other than a brief period in the mid 90s I’ve been an avid fan ever since, but only really stated delving into stuff outside of the WWF/E and WCW in the last few years.

 

My favourite wrestlers are Jerry Lawler, Dick Murdoch, Jake Roberts, Randy Savage and Terry Funk.

 

I’ve been lurking around here for a few years and hugely enjoyed reading the great discussions that you guys have, but never felt like I really had much to add to any topic. Also, recently I’ve been going through some of the awesome podcasts that members of the board have made and had a great deal of fun while learning a ton of interesting stuff too.

[brainbusted]

Hello my name is Jake,

 

I am 47 years old and my wrestling memories go wayyyyy back. My first memory is being 2 maybe 3 years old wrestling with my grandfather. He would wear a ski mask and pretend to be DR. X and make me cry uncle! I grew up in Oklahoma and my earliest tv memories are from the Leroy McGuirk territory. I've been thinking about this and some of the names I remember are:

 

Cowboy Bill Watts

Killer Karl Kox

Bruiser Bob Sweetan

The Turk Ali Bey

Silento Rodriquez

Argentina Zuma

Dick Murdoch

Dr. X

Jerry Brown and Handsome Ron McFarland (tag team) Jerry also teamed with Buddy Roberts as the Hollywood Blondes

The Masked Medics

Skandar Akbar

Billy Starr and Randy Tyler

Stan Hansen

Frank Goodish (Bruiser Brody)

Buckley Christopher George Robley the 3rd

The Masked Pro

Greg Valentine

Ken Patera (with black hair)

Mr Wrestling 2

Killer Karl Krup

Waldo Von Erich

Mr Fuji and Mr Saito

Ron and Don Bass managed by "Ma Bass"

Jerry Stubbs (Mr Olympia)

Paul Orndorff

Mike George

The Assasin

The Angel (Frank Morell, had nightmares about the guy)

Ernie Ladd

Ray Candy

there are many others that I am sure will come to mind

I remember Ted Dibiase as a rookie being put out by Karl Kox and later coming back and beating Karl bloody with a shoe!

I am sure that there are many names that I will remember and I have saved Danny Hodge for last as I have a great story about him.

 

I am a mail carrier and am armed with an mp3 player so I have downloaded and listened to all of the Where the Big Boys Play podcasts! Love them and am waiting for some more! (Although I could tell you guys a thing or two some of the early Crockett wrestlers) haha

 

After the Tri State years my weekend was full of wrestling!

 

Saturday was filled with Bill Watts Mid South Wrestling, Joe Blanchard's Southwest Championship Wrestling, Leroy McGuirks final days, Midwest Championship Wrestling, then I would go into town at my dads office and watch Georgia Championship Wrestling and then a bunch of us would go to a friends house and watch World Class with the Von Erichs and Freebirds. Yes my weekend was full and there wasn't a McMahon in sight! Not until BLACK SATURDAY that is...

 

I will say it like this, I go back far enough to have been raised kayfabe, and to this day can still be kayfabed if it is done properly!

[brainbusted]

My names Stu, I’m 32 and live in and small town in North Yorkshire, England.

 

My first exposure to wrestling was watching the dying days of World of Sport and then the show that replaced that for a couple of years, at my grandparent’s house on a Saturday afternoon. The first memory I have of watching American wrestling is when Earthquake was “picked” out of the crowd for the push-up contest between Dino Bravo and Ultimate Warrior. I’d never seen anyone like Warrior before and was hooked on WWF from that moment. Other than a brief period in the mid 90s I’ve been an avid fan ever since, but only really stated delving into stuff outside of the WWF/E and WCW in the last few years.

 

My favourite wrestlers are Jerry Lawler, Dick Murdoch, Jake Roberts, Randy Savage and Terry Funk.

 

I’ve been lurking around here for a few years and hugely enjoyed reading the great discussions that you guys have, but never felt like I really had much to add to any topic. Also, recently I’ve been going through some of the awesome podcasts that members of the board have made and had a great deal of fun while learning a ton of interesting stuff too.

Stu I can so relate! Dirty Dick Murdoch was ALWAYS one of my faves! I can remember back in the 70s when he was Inspirational wrestler of the year in PWI because Skandar Akbar threw ink in his eyes! I recall clearly the interview that Boyd Pierce did with Murdoch dressed in long black coat and sunglasses. Like a real blind man apparently!

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hi, I am Martin and I am a wrestling addict.

 

I am 24 years old. I grew up and still reside in the Boston Metro area (but live closer to Boston than that poseur Cena, who is practically from New Hampshire). My first exposure to wrestling was the week before Luger won the title from Hogan on Nitro in 1997. I was next door at my grandmother's and my uncle was watching I definitely remember Bret Hart. He "ruined" it for me like 30 seconds into watching it saying it was all fake and I was like whatever, this is fuckin cool. I ran next door and said we got to put it on channels 33 and 35. My parents were like why? When my mother saw what was on the screen she just shook her head and my dad said don't worry everyone goes through this phase. O little did they know...

 

The next week the Luger title victory hooked me totally and I can still see Luger racking Hogan and Randy Anderson signalling for the bell. I remember getting Alex Wright and Lex Luger confused (Luger sounded so German)s. I became a huge nWo mark and this is probably thing I carry with me the most to this day is how much I love that group. People can't shit on Nash and Hall all they want, they were fuckin cool. I was definitely more of a WCW fan because they had the nWo (DX was clearly a rip-off), better storytelling and more interesting matches in my mind. The WWF just seemed too teenage to me like as a child I did not like all the angst, anger and general rudeness. I fuckin' hated D-X because of how bratty they were. I really wanted Undertaker to friggin' clobber them. However, as much I want this to be about me choosing WCW, my hand was forced. My mother banned me from watching WWF because of the Dustin Rhodes/Terri Runnels angle and the general raciness. My mother loved the luchadores and thought it was more suitable for a child so that's the way we went. My father did not give a fuck and I distinctly remember watching the Christmas episode of RAW with him including the D-X thongs skit and the Crapper 3:16.

 

My first live event was the Boston Brawl, which was a friggin' ridiculously loaded card from WCW. I saw Jericho, Booker, Goldberg, Valentine, Steiners, Raven, Benoit vs Eddy, DDP/Luger/Larry Z vs Savage/Nash/Hall and Sting vs Hogan in a cage. I shit you not, the Boston crowd was chanting "Bruno!" at Larry Z and I just gotten into wrestling history so I understood why, but holy shit looking back on it, it was the coolest thing ever. It is the only time, I ever got to see my favorite wrestler, Randy Savage live and it will forever be my favorite live show I saw.

 

I am a bit jealous of you guys because I had a very short tenure as a "mark". Not just with Uncle "ruining" it for me because I still rooted for things like the Undertaker beating up DX even when I knew it was just fake. However, I am a huge history buff. There is something about knowing past that is really important to me. I read a ton of history and really enjoy it as a hobby. So when I started watching wrestling, I obviously realized the first week I watched was not the very first week it existed so I was interested in learning more especially title history. So I did what every child in 1998 would do, I connected to AOL and hit up Hisa's wrestling titles site and prowrestlinghistory.com. I purchased the PWI almanac for 1997. To find out that I post with the guy who wrote that timeline is friggin crazy because I have nearly ripped that thing to shreds from how many times I read it. However, it would have been good if I just stuck out there and maybe I could have preserved my markdom. However, I found WrestleLine.com (CRZ, Scott Keith and Rick Scaia etc...) and became a smart mark in 1999 at the tender age of 10. Yes folks a ten year old cared about whether Benoit was being pushed effectively and would roll their eyes at HHH/Steph wedding drama because that was soap opera bullshit (even though I am a total soap opera mark. General Hospital is the best thing on TV right now. ). I still remember Vince Russo's mug on the front Wrestleline when he jumped ship.

 

I know Scott Keith is a punching bag here and rightfully so. He had some real bullshit theories and you should call him out on them. I will refrain ever saying a bad word about him because what he did was so important for me to understand wrestling history. Hisa & prowrestlinghistory gave me the results, but he gave me the context and the action. Unfortunately, until about 2011, I was stuck smart mark cynicism where everything was about workrate and God Forbid you ever use a chinlock. Now, I am able to watch the matches instead of just read his reviews, I can formulate my own opinions based on my own criteria. That being said, he was still an indispensable tool when I was growing up in learning about wrestling history.

 

I only stopped watching wrestling for a stretch of time once when my beloved WCW was bought and Invasion botched (September 2001). I came back for the nWo and that was botched and I had no intention of ever watching wrestling again until my dad got a cable TV scrambler. To show off his new device, he taped Wrestlemania XIX for free and I watched it again fell in love all over again. I have never looked back. I remind him every single chance I get that, Dad you brought it on yourself. You were in the clear and now you in this mess stuck watching Fandango (my Dad loathes Fandango).

 

My favorite promotions are JCP/WCW late 80s and All Japan in 90s with an extremely soft spot for WCW 97-01. It is amazing that anyone ever became a pro wrestling fan in 1999 because both products pretty much suck, but here I am. I really just wanted to point out how in the internet era, it is hard to be a mark. My background is not necessarily a territory bias, but that I have literally been a smart mark my whole life, which pretty much sucks. I just learned how to put the "mark" back into "smart mark" and have been enjoying wrestling a lot more. Now if I can just retrain my Dad and brother...they learned how to discern quality wrestling during my jaded cynical smart mark period now every reverse chinlock is insta-suck match and Kurt Angle is God. My brother is getting better about this, but I think my Dad is a lost cause.

[marrklarr]

I came to this board after listening to the outstanding podcast Where the Big Boys Play, and I've since started listening to the other great podcasts associated with this community. As a wrestling fan, I lack the kind of hardcore bona fides that most of you possess. I almost feel like I don't fit in.

 

I grew up watching WWF, NWA/WCW, and AWA in the late 80s and early 90s, but back then I always preferred WWF. I guess I liked the cartoonishness, and I was too young and unsophisticated to appreciate the superior in-ring work to be found in NWA/WCW. The crappy production values of non-WWF wrestling programs made me look down on them by comparison. But I still watched Flair and the Horsemen (though I hated them, because I wasn't evolved enough to cheer for heels), and I loved Curt Hennig in the AWA. As great as he was as Mr. Perfect, I always kind of resented his WWF career, because I wanted to cheer for the face Hennig I remembered in AWA.

 

Along with Curt, my first wrestling idols were Strike Force and Macho Man (Strike Force won the belts from Hart Foundation on the very first episode of Superstars I ever watched; and Macho's face turn had just occurred at this time). But before long, I became, and still remain, an unrepentant Hogan mark. I had it bad, too. Every time I hear someone say how played-out Hogan's act became and how fed up fans were in the early 90s, I feel like such a philistine, because I ate it up right to the end.

 

I stopped being a serious wrestling fan in 1991 with one last gasp when Flair jumped over to Titan. The last ppv I watched was the '92 Rumble. It was amazing, but I was basically done after that. When the boom happened in the late 90s, I ignored it completely, which was hard to do, because wrestling was everywhere. I didn't watch, but I still knew about Hogan's heel turn, the NWO, Montreal, Tyson & Austin, Foley's Hell in a Cell match. Didn't care. I thumbed my nose at all of it.

 

From time to time, I'd still get nostalgic about the old days, but it wasn't until about a year or two ago that I really gave a shit about wrestling. What pulled me back? I got netflix and started watching all the WWE docs. All of them. I couldn't get enough. Also, I LOVED the Dead Wrestler of the Week series at Deadspin. I know a lot of people here hate Shoemaker's Grantland work, which I won't defend. But Dead Wrestler of the Week was exquisite, and I will powerbomb anyone who says different!

 

After that, I started seeking out podcasts about old school wrestling. It was still just a nostalgia kick. I don't think I took it all that seriously, but then I stumbled on Wrestlespective and finally Where the Big Boys Play. I was hooked! I could listen to Parv and Chad rhapsodize about Tully and Flair all day long. They mention PWO quite a bit, and after months of listening, I decided I'd better come see what the fuss was about. I'm glad I did.

 

I do not possess the kind of scholarly zeal for studying and analyzing matches that many of you have. And as much as I loved wrestling growing up, I never developed into a smart mark. Even basic smark stuff is new to me (I know literally nothing about Japanese wrestling. And don't laugh, but I didn't even know who Meltzer was until a few months ago!) But it's been great reading your posts and learning about the finer points of bumping, selling, working body parts, "telling a story in the ring," and all of the other elements that make up a great match. And I am trying to watch more matches. (I've been seeking out Bockwinkle footage, in particular, because I can't believe how much I failed to appreciate him when I was an AWA fan. I feel legitimately guilty about it.)

 

Anyway, I really like it here. I am eager to be a part of these great discussions. I just hope I don't embarrass myself too much.

[seaburn]

I’m Chris, 31, from the north east of England. Been a long time lurker and reader of the site but have finally registered. Started watching wrestling in the early 90s, which was largely the WWF through Coliseum Video. I must have worn out my Royal Rumble 1990 and Summerslam 1990 copies (and those two are still my ‘go to’ events). After building up my CV collection, plus a few WCW videos (WrestleWar 92 was well watched; I could watch that years War Games on a loop), I lost interest around 1993 until the family finally gave into my constant pestering and got Sky Sports installed around 1998. This coincided with the attitude era and suddenly from one or two people interested in wrestling, it was suddenly a full schools’ worth. The Raw Report, printed out on a Tuesday morning, was passed around the classroom like answers to that afternoon’s maths exam. It was a real test to try and avoid the results sheet if you wanted to watch Raw on the Friday ‘as live’. Those were the halcyon days of my wrestling fandom, every Raw watched, every PPV recorded. I also discovered that TNT was showing Nitro a couple of hours before Raw so it was a bumper night of wrestling.

 

But as you grow older you discover different things. Leaving school for college, it wasn’t ‘cool’ to watch wrestling, so football, girls and many other things took precedence. To be honest it wasn't that hard to leave wrestling behind. I checked in now and again, but there were too many new faces, and nobody I could particularly relate to. And as time went on I honestly thought I’d never watch wrestling again. It just didn’t register at any level. However some tough times in my life made me re-evaluate some things and I wanted to re-connect with times past to get me through. One of these was wrestling, so I found my copies of Royal Rumble and Summerslam and fired up the VHS. This in turn led to me finding writers such as Scott Keith and those on 411 and reading about past PPVs with an aim to understand wrestling history and what I had missed, which was a lot. I didn’t even know WCW had been bought by Vince which did surprise me. From there I started to source footage from different places and it has snowballed from there. My favourite period is 88-92, primarily WWF and WCW but I am sticking my toe in the water with regards to AJPW and NJPW. Modern day wrestling I must admit, leaves me cold.

 

I wouldn’t know how to classify myself as a wrestling fan, possibly just that, a fan. I would even go as far as saying I’m more interested in listening and reading about wrestling than I am about watching it. And that’s why I come here and listen to the excellent podcasts by Chad, Parv, Will and Charles et al. So I will try and contribute where I can whilst watching bits and pieces along the way.

[SpecialK]

Hello, my name's Paul. I've lurked here a long time, but have finally decided to sign up.

I'm from London, but have been living in Tokyo for some years.

 

My wrestling fan history:

I first got into the pro-wres in 1991, purely because all the kids in school kept going on about WWF. Shortly after ITV started showing WCW Worldwide. I would remain a fan of both promotions.

 

Around 1994, I got into the tape-trading scene and started spending all my pocket money on Puroresu and ECW tapes.

A couple of years later I drifted away from Puroresu completely and US wrestling partially, but got back into WWE in a big way around 1999/2000 and have been into it ever since.

 

Oh yeah, and as I said, I'm living in Japan so I've got back into Puro. I have to fess up and say I'm a huge fan of Dragon Gate - which I know is a promotion a lot of people dislike. I usually go to 1 or 2 shows a month in Tokyo - either DG, NewJapan, AllJapan, DDT or others. In a few hours I'm going to NJ's Sumo Hall which I suspect will make some of you rather jealous.

 

I can't promise I'll be a hugely prolific poster, but hopefully I can contribute something.

[Karl]

Hi,

 

My name is Karl, I am 40 and am from a town called Bedford, about 40 mile north of London (UK).

 

I have been a wrestling fan since the late 70's/early 80's (give or take), watching British wrestling on ITV's World of Sport. I can remember the very first American wrestling match I ever saw...it was the Hart Foundation vs British Bulldogs from (I believe) Boston, shown in place of the British wresting one Saturday afternoon.

 

It wasn't until the late 80's when my family got Sky through Satellite TV that I became fully exposed to WWF and there was no turning back! Although WWF was the king of TV wrestling in the UK, we were lucky enough to get some NWA, AWA, USWA and Global thanks to Screensport.

 

The next real turning point for me was WCW TV starting on ITV and AAA on Galavision in the early/mid 90's and then WCW PPV's being shown on German satellite channel DSF. This exposure to Lucha and greater coverage of WCW in partnership with magazines like Superstars of Wrestling (later Powerslam) wheted my appetite to what else was out there and eventually lead me to UK tape trader, Rob Butcher and my addiction to AJPW. I spent small fortunes on any Japanese wrestling I could get my hands on, but AJPW was the be all to me, followed by AJW and then NJPW.....FMW and W*ING lagged behind.

 

Anyway....I waffle on. As with most good things, they come to an end eventually, and by 2000 my interesting in wrestling as a regular viewer and buyer waned. The end of WCW had a role to play in reducing my viewing....I always preferred that to WWF, despite its often very obvious flaws. Getting married put the nail in the coffin....no more £££ to spend on Puro and everything else. From there, I just drifted away.......kind of.

 

I would still read books about wrestling, occasionally sign up to WON to see what was going on and every now and then watch WWE TV, but that was about it. Then I found this forum via the podcasts and my interest has been re-ignited....we shall see where that takes me.

[Stu]

Stu I can so relate! Dirty Dick Murdoch was ALWAYS one of my faves! I can remember back in the 70s when he was Inspirational wrestler of the year in PWI because Skandar Akbar threw ink in his eyes! I recall clearly the interview that Boyd Pierce did with Murdoch dressed in long black coat and sunglasses. Like a real blind man apparently!

That must have been really cool stuff to grow up with. Often it’s the wrestling that I watched as a kid that’s the most vivid in my mind, while the more recent stuff kind of blurs a bit.

 

It’s great to see a fellow fan of Captain Redneck. While the guy does have a decent amount of people bigging him up, I still feel he isn’t held is as high regard as he should be.

[Jordan]

My name's (shocker) Jordan from Columbia, South Carolina and I am 20. I've been a wrestling fan since 2003. I actually prefer to lurk boards like this and use them for information on things I'd like to view and had been doing so for quite a few months now, but a few weeks ago the yearbook forums were shut off from me for some reason so that scared me into making an account.

 

I was already aware of wrestlers like The Rock or Stone Cold and had even seen parts of Velocity from the prior year, but what fully drew me in to Pro Wrestling was oddly the RAW in the summer of 2003 that had Kane vs. Triple H WHC Title Match where if Kane lost he had to unmask. For some reason that caught my attention, and I started to follow Smackdown! and Velocity not long after along with RAW of course.

 

I mostly remained a WWE fan mainly until 2006 when I got a laptop for my birthday and started using the internet to follow wrestling, joining some boards. I got a few ROH shows around this time and became a pretty big Samoa Joe and Homicide fan, along with Danielson as well. '06 Smackdown also stands out a lot in my memory because when Finlay came on the scene I really became a fan of him. His viciousness just stood out to me. Also remember latching on to Mark Henry pretty hard as well.

 

When it came to getting into puro, it was again a bit of a random situation. Somebody on a CAWs forum made a Toshiaki Kawada CAW and proceeded to link to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucxYW1QOH4c which I clicked on and was subsequently blown away by. The highlights, the Holy War variations all for some reason made me go "this guy looks like the coolest wrestler ever" so I had to seek out matches. He made me think of Finlay with how he worked. It was from there that I started to get into 90s AJPW via a friend online who had a lot of stuff uploaded and saved. From there I just fleshed out to more and more main promotions like NJPW, NOAH, and even found my way to shoot style eventually.

 

For some reason not until like 2011 movements into areas such as Lucha, European Wrestling, or even territories never really came for me. I guess I just got content with following WWE, Puro (moreso for older stuff), ROH (until Danielson left), and TNA for at least 2006 anyway. I even fell into some weird period in late 2009 and a good part of 2010 where I just...stopped watching stuff from anywhere. Luckily I shook that in 2011. Not sure why boards like this, DVDVR, or a few others kinda never came into view for me, since they would have been very helpful to keeping me active and looking for more stuff.

 

But yeah, I guess that covers a good bit about my life as a pro wrestling fan so far. Gonna say again that this place is really helpful for me, and I'll definitely try to be active and contribute where I can.

[murko]

Hello my name is Mark , I am based in Manchester uk. I started out as a casual wrestling fan, my older and younger brothers being far bigger wwf fans than me. I have fond memories of listening to WWF PPVs with them , which aired on one of the Sky channels with the picture decoded , a particular favourite was the 92 Royal Rumble .

But my real interest took off when one Saturday afternoon I discovered lucha Libre on Galavision the Masks, Midgets and Excoticos it was like a transmission from another planet, I was hooked . Soon after Eurosport started showing New Japan Ring warriors shows from this point on my interest accelerated spending most of my money on poor quality, over priced video tapes from traders. Watching mainly Puro, lucha and Joshi .By early 2000 my interest had faded and it was'nt till 2010 I got Interested again and tracked down stuff I had missed and started attending uk wrestling shows. My Interests lie mainly in classic Puro , lucha , Battlearts , Michinoku Pro and also have soft spot for PWG .I think the current UK scene is lot of fun with a flow of good imports and some promising homegrown workers I Keep track of what's going on in WWE but Only watch the occasional recommended match .

[Art Machine Love Barr]

Ian here, living in Chicago. I started watching as a little kid hooked on the Steiners and Sting, Hogan and Warrior. I fell out of wrestling until the Monday night wars started while I was in high school, then fell out again for awhile after WCW folded. I thought very little about wrestling until getting into ROH around 2005 and following Lucha a couple of years later. I watched around 3-4 hours of Lucha a day while unemployed in 2010 and something it my brain snapped/popped into place so I connect with that on a deeper level than most US or Japanese stuff.

 

As far as current shows, I watch about 90% lucha with the rest being hyped WWE, NJPW, and odds and ends. For old stuff, I'm making my way through piles of discs accumulated over the years; watching the 90 yearbook and 80's Lucha set right now.

[topropepodcast]

Mike here, living in the midwest.

 

I've been watching off-and-on since about 91, mostly on with a few periods where I gave it up. I've always been more of a WCW guy, but as a youngster very much devoured any wrestling I could find on TV.

 

I watch way too much right now, probably the most since I was a lonely teenager, but a lot of it's watched for my podcast, which in time I'll pimp.

[KRNFLX]

What's up guys, Christian here.

 

I'm 24 years old, born and raised in good ol' Germany. I've been a fan since about early 1999 when I saw a Monday Nitro on DSF.

I can't remember all the details, all I remember is that I saw an unmasked Rey Mysterio in a Cow jumpsuit and I thought that was the coolest sh*t ever.

 

Since we didn't get WWF at the time I was a WCW fan growing up. I remember hearing that Kevin Nash beat Goldberg and thought that Nash must be the most badass guy since he beat Goldberg (never seen Kevin Nash before, just heard about the match). When I finally saw him on TV I was wildly disappointed, because he sold for some guy who I didn't even know.

 

Now I'm mostly watching all of the stuff I have missed, which means mostly 80's and 90's stuff. The current stuff WWE, TNA etc. put on doesn't interest me anymore. If anything worthwhile happens I watch it, but it's mostly reports for me now.

 

Anyways I'm just happy to have found this place, and please go easy on me, I'm not an expert on old wrestling but I'm trying to learn

[cheapshot]

What's up guys, Christian here.

 

I'm 24 years old, born and raised in good ol' Germany. I've been a fan since about early 1999 when I saw a Monday Nitro on DSF.

I can't remember all the details, all I remember is that I saw an unmasked Rey Mysterio in a Cow jumpsuit and I thought that was the coolest sh*t ever.

 

Since we didn't get WWF at the time I was a WCW fan growing up. I remember hearing that Kevin Nash beat Goldberg and thought that Nash must be the most badass guy since he beat Goldberg (never seen Kevin Nash before, just heard about the match). When I finally saw him on TV I was wildly disappointed, because he sold for some guy who I didn't even know.

 

Now I'm mostly watching all of the stuff I have missed, which means mostly 80's and 90's stuff. The current stuff WWE, TNA etc. put on doesn't interest me anymore. If anything worthwhile happens I watch it, but it's mostly reports for me now.

 

Anyways I'm just happy to have found this place, and please go easy on me, I'm not an expert on old wrestling but I'm trying to learn

Living in England, we could get WCW via DSF on analogue Sky on the ASTRA channels. I could never get the DSF WCW PPV schedule correct and I always missed them. As hard as I tried, I could never find a reliable source for listings, no matter where I looked and when I did find a TV guide-mag which had listings, they were never correct, as stupid as that sounds now.

[Muracofan]

Anthony here, 46 years old from New York and found out about the board from listening to the The Titans Of Wrestling Podcast.

 

I started as a casual fan in the 70's after discovering WWWF Championship Wrestling on WOR from NY. During that period I remember watching the Valiants with Lou Albano, Superstar Billy Graham, Bruno, Ken Patera, and Backlund. I also remember seeing the Blackjacks, Bruno, Strongbow, Garea, DeNucci, and Johnny Rodz on TV too. I became really "hooked" after watching the Slaughter vs Patterson Alley Fight on USA Network with my Dad...after that I watched everything I could and my Dad began taking me to live shows at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany.

 

Our cable system was great back then and we received not only the local WRGB Channel 6 WWF broadcast, but WLVI 56 Boston & WSMW 27 from Worcester Mass, and WOR from NYC. Those shows, along with the MSG & Capital Center Shows on USA had my attention. It was all WWWF, as we didn't receive WTBS 17 on our system. The greatest part of the WWWF was the local interviews with Albano, Blassie and the Wizard!! Muraco became my all time favorite after watching his interview for a upcoming Boston Garden cage match vs Backlund, just a great time to become a fan. I bought every Wrestling magazine I could find at the local news room which I still have to this day in my basement.

 

When my family would go on vacation I would always ask my mom to buy the TV Guide so I could find the local wrestling. I remember watching Championship Wrestling from Florida with Dusty Rhodes when we went to Disney World, and each summer we would go to Wildwood New Jersey and wrestling would be on PRISM Channel from Philly. Back in the 70's and early 80's Gorilla Monsoon would promote the weekly shows at the Wildwood Convention Hall on the Boardwalk. There I met Monsoon during the day on the Boardwalk as he sold tickets for that evenings card. I remember seeing Garea, Muraco, The Samoans, Jimmy Snuka, Putski and Mr. Fuji walking on the Boardwalk. Those shows in Wildwood were FUN!!

 

My first exposure to non WWWF was Southwest Championship Wrestling on USA network, after that point Vince began the invasion and I was able to see Pro Wrestling USA, NWA Mid Atlantic, World Class and AWA on ESPN. I stayed a fan all through high school and eventually becoming a subscriber to the Observer after finding Meltzer's address in Wrestling Eye Magazine in the spring of 1986. I began tape trading through the Observer fan page and started seeing everything from everywhere including Japan. I could not believe what I was watching when I saw Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 2 of 3 falls, nothing I had seen before would even compare. I've been an Observer subscriber for 27 years.

 

After college I moved to Florida and lived there through the late 80's & 90's where I saw my first live NWA show in Daytona with Dusty vs. Flair. I went to as many indy shows as I could and had the chance on several occasions to see the matches at the famous Tampa Sportatorium, however at this point the building where Championship Wrestling from Florida was filmed now housed indy shows featuring Jimmy Backlund, The Cuban, Frankie Lancaster, Lou Perez, and the biggest name Dick Slater. During this period I watched NWA/WCW and WWF, while getting tapes of Smoke Mountain and ECW. Eventually we got ECW on Sunshine Network, and I attended many of the Florida ECW shows.

 

Eventually moving back to NY in 1997, I continued to watch, however not as religiously and was never a fan of Nitro and WCW during the Monday Night Wars. I do watch RAW more often than not (on HULU) and only buy two PPV's a year, Wrestlemania & Royal Rumble. My time is consumed, rightfully so, with my two children, my wife and work! However, I make time to watch old wrestling on YouTube and currently I'm enjoying the Portland Buddy Rose Tapes. I do really enjoy listening to Podcasts when traveling in the car for work. That's my story....

 

Favorite Matches - No rhyme or reason...

Slaughter Patterson Alley Fight

Sheik & Abdullah vs. The Funks AJPW

Windham vs Flair Florida Battle of the Belts Orlando

Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask Sayama - NJPW Two of Three Falls

Choshu & Yatsu vs Tsuruta & Tenryu - AJPW Match where Choshu has broken ribs

Backlund vs Patera MSG Texas Death

Idol vs Lawler - Hair Match Memphis

Adonis vs Backlund MSG

DeNucci & Victor Rivera vs. Blackjacks - WWWF TV

Killer Kahn vs Terry Gordy - Reunion Arena bloody bath

[shoe]

Welcome to the board Muraco fan. Hope you enjoy the board. Plus thanks for giving Titans of Wrestling a listen .

[kayfabe1984]

Hi everyone. Adam here and I'm from Cincinnati.

 

Been a fan since the fall of 1995 when I stumbled upon Monday Night Raw on TV and saw Avatar of all people coming to the ring. I've been hooked ever since. I heard about this board from a fellow board member and decided to join up.

[ajsmith_7]

Hey guys, my names AJ, I'm 26 and I live just outside London, England.

 

My earliest wrestling memory is flicking through channels and seeing Doink the Clown vs Lex Luger, I can't remember exactly when this was but I'm guessing around 93/94 when I was 6/7 years old and I was instantly hooked by the characters.

 

From there it was WWF all the way, the first PPV's I vividly remember staying up and watching were the '96 Royal Rumble and WM12 (I can't explain to you how excited 9 year old me was by the return of the Ultimate Warrior). Even at that young age I was always fascinated by the past and wanted to know everything about the older wrestlers of the 80's, all my bday and xmas presents were always old WWF VHS tapes of the past, that was always much more exciting to me than what was going on presently. My favourite was WM8 that I watched over and over, Flair/Savage is still one of my favourite matches of all time.

 

I was a teenager during the attitude era and had also branched into WCW and a bit of ECW by this point, always looking to seek out new promotions and new wrestlers.

 

Then around 2004 whilst browsing on Kazaa or Limewire for old NWA matches I came across a file called 'ROH: American Dragon vs Low Ki vs Christopher Daniels', I had no idea what ROH was or who any of the wrestlers involved were but I downloaded it and watched 3 guys I'd never seen before wrestle the most incredible and innovative match I'd ever seen in a high school gym infront of a few hundred people and I was instantly hooked!

 

I didn't watch WWE again until 2010 and became a huge ROH and indy wrestling mark.

 

Nowadays I mainly watch my wrestling on YouTube, got massively into puro 2-3 years ago and am trying to watch as much of that as possible, mainly using this forum to find out the best matches. I haven't watched ROH since 2009 though I still try to keep up with whats going on. I follow WWE again on and off mainly to see how my old faves Punk, Bryan, Claudio etc are getting on although I mostly dislike the current product a great deal.

 

So that's me, nice to meet you all...

[y2stump]

Hey everybody I'm new to the forum (obviously), I'm Paul from New York. I'm 33 & have been watching wrestling since 85. I was lucky to get into it as Mania 1 was ramping up. I've been a steady watcher ever since. WCW/NWA was my go to promotion & my love for it prompted me to start a WCW podcast. I grew bored with the current product, thought it would be fun to go back & start WCW from the 1st Nitro and it's been an absolute blast. Thanks for having me here!

[Cornette]

Hi guys. Name is Ben. New to the forum. I'm 31 and have been a fan since about 87. Remember being in the barbershop and the barber had a signed pic of Sammartino and always had wrestling on the tv.First real memory was of Andre ripping off HOgans chain. Also remember my parents taking my brother and me to the video store and renting old Coliseum videos and getting to buy issues of Inside Wrestling and PWI. was mainly a WWF fan but still watched WCW. I'm interested in watching and learning about as much as I can and this sight has been a huge help. Also see that people keep talking about sets and projects and I would be extremely interested in buying any of these if anyone could provide any info on that it would be great. My favorite matches are Bret Hart vs Bulldog at summers lam 92. Hart vs Austin WM 13. Blanchard vs magnum I quit match and any of the original war games matches. Favorite wrestlers are Hart, Austin, Blanchard, Flair and Gordy.

[Matt D]

DeNucci & Victor Rivera vs. Blackjacks - WWWF TV

I've never heard this one talked up before.

 

Is it worth tracking down?

[Ricky Jackson]

Yeah. It's one of most surprising wild brawls I've ever stumbled upon. But that's how DeNucci rolled.