Strummer Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 I think we've been through this before but why was there a boom in The UK with WWF wrestling in the early 90s when the company was falling apart domestically? I've always been intrigued by this. Was the TV not available during the "proper" boom in the 80s? Was it all Bret? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Short answer: cable TV wasn't a big deal here, satellite TV became much more widespread from 1989 (the first time you could get it with a dish small enough to mount on a wall) and WWF was among the most popular programming on satellite. The specific boom of 91-2ish was very much a case of it being a fad among teenagers that passed quite quickly. Long answer may be following in a different form in a few weeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 I still find the timing of the UK boom a little odd. In New Zealand, the WWF took off from '88 with the absolute peak being in '89. It was so popular that they even released a whole bunch of local merchandise like NZ exclusive trading cards. By '91 it had been taken off the air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 It's not really odd, it's just down to the whole TV thing. The WWF was on over here in the early/mid 80s, but hardly anybody could see it. It wasn't until the arse end of the 80s/very early 90s that more people got access to it, which coincided with Davey Boy Smith returning. Hogan doing stuff like Suburban Commando helped for publicity too. Everyone I was at school with was massively into it in 91/92 (not just teenagers as John mentioned, we were all 7/8 years old at that point), SummerSlam was the peak, then it dropped off incredibly quickly. By the end of 1992, Gladiators had supplanted the WWF as the cool new "thing" amongst my age range, though it didn't hurt that it was on terrestrial TV in prime time on a Saturday while the WWF was still on Sky, making it hard for kids whose parents wouldn't get a dish to see it. By about 1994, most of the same kids had turned their attention to Premier League football and Merlin stickers, and by 1995 there were very few kids left willing to even publicly admit they watched wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overbooked Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 why was there a boom in The UK with WWF wrestling in the early 90s when the company was falling apart domestically? I think the two parts might be linked. The UK was essentially a new market to exploit while business was down domestically. The UK product had been off-screens for a while, and so there was a gap in the market for wrestling - and wrestling with far higher production values, larger-than-life characters etc. The growth of Sky meant more people could discover the WWF and the flood of merhandise (action figures, trading cards, magazines) meant even if you didn't have Sky, if you were in the playground between 1989 and 1992 you knew about the WWF. It was certainly a bit of a fad, like the Ninja Turtles or Gladiators or whatever, but also there was a general openness to US sport at the time - American Football became really popular in the UK in the 80s once it was shown on TV. The push of Davey Boy Smith certainly didn't hurt. I remember going to a signing he had in Croydon's Woolworths in the early 90s. The place was full of near-rioting 10 year-olds and the place got trashed as everyone climbed up the shelving and displays to catch a glimpse of him. And this might be a minor point, but the growth of VHS must have helped. There were the Silver Vision releases to buy if you didn't have Sky, but also I watched a lot of WWF because friends taped shows for me, and VHS recorders were for the first time relatively cheap enough to buy two, hook them together and make some money dubbing the latest WWF PPV. I remember one friend making a killing on Royal Rumble 92, going home every lunchtime to swap the tapes around. I look forward to a long Lister post that answers the question far better than I have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSR Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 It's not really odd, it's just down to the whole TV thing. The WWF was on over here in the early/mid 80s, but hardly anybody could see it. It wasn't until the arse end of the 80s/very early 90s that more people got access to it, which coincided with Davey Boy Smith returning. Hogan doing stuff like Suburban Commando helped for publicity too. Everyone I was at school with was massively into it in 91/92 (not just teenagers as John mentioned, we were all 7/8 years old at that point), SummerSlam was the peak, then it dropped off incredibly quickly. By the end of 1992, Gladiators had supplanted the WWF as the cool new "thing" amongst my age range, though it didn't hurt that it was on terrestrial TV in prime time on a Saturday while the WWF was still on Sky, making it hard for kids whose parents wouldn't get a dish to see it. By about 1994, most of the same kids had turned their attention to Premier League football and Merlin stickers, and by 1995 there were very few kids left willing to even publicly admit they watched wrestling. Thinking back now, it's pretty amazing how big it was over here and how quickly the popularity dropped (from memory it had plummeted by the start of 1993). I don't know what led to the drop, but I would guess that over-saturation may have been another factor. My first live event was a UK Rampage show in Birmingham in 1991, then I attended the European Rampage tour, the European Rampage Again tour and finally Summerslam (at which point I was 14) and all these events were well spread apart. There was another tour over here almost straight after Summerslam and me and my group of friends decided not to go purely because of how close it was after Summerslam and we just couldn't afford it. I'm guessing that we weren't the only ones who felt like this, and what at once was considered a treat or a pretty special night to see the WWF live, wasn't what it once was a year and a bit earlier. The magazine situation over here also changed rapidly. In the town where I lived in mid-92 you could get the WWF Magazine, the WCW Magazine, all the Apter mags (PWI, Sports Review Wrestling, Inside Wrestling, The Wrestler), Superstars of Wrestling (predecessor to Powerslam) and a bunch of others like Wrestling's Main Event, New Wave Wrestling and Wrestling Eye. Fast forward to the start of 1993 and you were just left with the WWF Magazine, PWI and a UK produced effort called Wrestling Big Shots (which I liked purely for the ridiculously detailed results section). Even Superstars of Wrestling had disappeared off the radar and didn't show up again until the Powerslam relaunch in August 1994. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 The same thing happened in New Zealand only a few years earlier, presumably because it aired on terrestrial TV. Wrestling was everywhere. Trading cards, postcards, weekly posters and a two page spread in the TV guide and local tabloid, clothes, all the toys. I remember I had an Ultimate Warrior hoodie, but wouldn't wear it after the tabloid ran a story claiming that he'd been a call boy. We got shafted on the tours, though. I mean check this out: WWF / Arena Wrestling Alliance @ Auckland, New Zealand - Mt. Smart Supertop - April 8, 1990 Jim Powers defeated Abbudaa Dein Tom Magee defeated Royal Viking The Pitbulls defeated Steve Strong & Mando Yanez Don Muraco defeated Haku Norman Smiley defeated Bob Orton Jr. The Bushwhackers defeated Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zhukov We got all the Apter mags as well, but strangely there wasn't a lot of NWA. A few of their commercial tapes, but mainly our exposure was through the Apter mags. WCW Worldwide began airing later on in the mid-90s on our version of Sky. Oddly enough, I have vague memories of renting a Mid South VHS tape when I was a kid and not appreciating it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 It's not really odd, it's just down to the whole TV thing. The WWF was on over here in the early/mid 80s, but hardly anybody could see it. It wasn't until the arse end of the 80s/very early 90s that more people got access to it, which coincided with Davey Boy Smith returning. Hogan doing stuff like Suburban Commando helped for publicity too. Everyone I was at school with was massively into it in 91/92 (not just teenagers as John mentioned, we were all 7/8 years old at that point), SummerSlam was the peak, then it dropped off incredibly quickly. By the end of 1992, Gladiators had supplanted the WWF as the cool new "thing" amongst my age range, though it didn't hurt that it was on terrestrial TV in prime time on a Saturday while the WWF was still on Sky, making it hard for kids whose parents wouldn't get a dish to see it. By about 1994, most of the same kids had turned their attention to Premier League football and Merlin stickers, and by 1995 there were very few kids left willing to even publicly admit they watched wrestling. Thinking back now, it's pretty amazing how big it was over here and how quickly the popularity dropped (from memory it had plummeted by the start of 1993). I don't know what led to the drop, but I would guess that over-saturation may have been another factor. My first live event was a UK Rampage show in Birmingham in 1991, then I attended the European Rampage tour, the European Rampage Again tour and finally Summerslam (at which point I was 14) and all these events were well spread apart. There was another tour over here almost straight after Summerslam and me and my group of friends decided not to go purely because of how close it was after Summerslam and we just couldn't afford it. I'm guessing that we weren't the only ones who felt like this, and what at once was considered a treat or a pretty special night to see the WWF live, wasn't what it once was a year and a bit earlier. The magazine situation over here also changed rapidly. In the town where I lived in mid-92 you could get the WWF Magazine, the WCW Magazine, all the Apter mags (PWI, Sports Review Wrestling, Inside Wrestling, The Wrestler), Superstars of Wrestling (predecessor to Powerslam) and a bunch of others like Wrestling's Main Event, New Wave Wrestling and Wrestling Eye. Fast forward to the start of 1993 and you were just left with the WWF Magazine, PWI and a UK produced effort called Wrestling Big Shots (which I liked purely for the ridiculously detailed results section). Even Superstars of Wrestling had disappeared off the radar and didn't show up again until the Powerslam relaunch in August 1994. It's still buried in that GOAT thread, but if you look at the data I pulled out on this, there's no discernable drop in attendence in 93, even as late as August where Hogan vs. Yoko is still selling out arenas. Like everyone else, anecdotally, I had the decline pegged before that -- it's almost like wrestling became deeply uncool overnight -- but the numbers haven't dropped off yet. Thinking about it, the summer holidays of 1993 would be where the big shift happened in the playground. Going back to school in September 93, it was yesterday's news. I recall Wrestlemania 9 being talked about quite a lot by the other kids. I'm also not sure I'd peg Gladiators as being the thing that killed WWF. That's not how I remember it and it didn't seem like an either / or choice. Gladiators was big for a bit too though. Mods - this might be an opportune moment to move all that stuff into this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 I think the absence of stars was the reason for the mainstream drop off in popularity. Major players were no longer featured: Warrior, Bulldog, LOD, Hogan... It would be like if Jet, Wolf etc left Gladiators. The Summer of 92 was such a special time for UK fans. I saw a bunch of newspaper scans the other day from that time period - pretty mind blowing stuff that I still remember the articles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Only thing I can add to this is when I visited Ireland and the UK in 2000 I was shocked to discover, while in an HMV in Dublin, that you could BUY copies of late-80s/early-90s WWF PPVs and CHV's, whereas in Canada you could only RENT these videos and would never find them for sale in any stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 I think evidence of how big it was in 1992 or so was Sky's regular showing of an advert for a Wrestling chatline which had a Tom Zenk promo on screen dubbed over by a V/O artist who was British which was plugging the service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 There was a Warlord hotline. A premium rate number solely for people who wanted to hear the latest news and interviews from the Warlord. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 The UK seemed to trend towards short lived fads in the teenage market during the 80s and 90s. There was one year where YoYos were inexplicably popular, to the point where every single kid at school would have one and be doing the tricks and obscenely expensive models were coming on the market. Then there was the WWF boom from 99-00 that just suddenly dissipated, one month it was cool to watch the next month wrestling had become a total social faux pas. Pokemon cards were another trend that lasted a few months. The Tamagochi. Pogs. Live & Kicking. Spice Girls. It doesn't seem to happen as much anymore but back then trends would come and ago without much rhyme or reason, ending just as suddenly as they had begun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheapshot Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 WWF got onto Terrestrial TV in 2000 yet never reached the heights of the '91-'92 craze which is quite surprising when you think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Were there He-Man/Transformers/GI-Joe/TMNT booms in the UK? TMNT in particular killed the interest in wrestling in NZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 There was a Warlord hotline. A premium rate number solely for people who wanted to hear the latest news and interviews from the Warlord. If that was still going today the odd folks that comment on squashes on youtube ("Wow, look at that muscle bear crush that pretty boy jobber. Look how his tights ride up his arse") would make it very very popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Were there He-Man/Transformers/GI-Joe/TMNT booms in the UK? He-Man, Transformers and TMNT (HERO Turtles here), definitely, plus Thundercats and Ghostbusters. All at different times. I don't recall GI Joe being a big thing, but MASK was relatively at one point. Don't want this to get too off-topic, but a few years ago I did some essays on some of these shows. Looks like the site has changed, gone really slow, and the pics have gone but still ... Thundercats Critical Retrospective, Thundercats Season Two (Part 2), TMNT, The Real Ghostbusters, MASK. There were other fads: the football sticker albums, Top Trumps, "Pogs", Tamagotchi, "Tazos", I remember a spell where loads of people were into Anime stuff. I do wonder if the UK market was particularly fad-based at this time, or whether everywhere is prone to fads in the same way. I recall my idea that JYD was essentially a fad in New Orleans being shot down by some, accepted by others ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Thundercats got taken off the air when I was a kid because it was too violent. There's probably fads in every generation, we just remember more vividly the ones we were a part of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 WWF got onto Terrestrial TV in 2000 yet never reached the heights of the '91-'92 craze which is quite surprising when you think about it. I don't have any data to back it up, but as a nine/ten year old in the boom years every single person I knew watched WWF, and even your parents would know characters like The Rock and Steve Austin. It was crazy popular around that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 WWF got onto Terrestrial TV in 2000 yet never reached the heights of the '91-'92 craze which is quite surprising when you think about it. I don't have any data to back it up, but as a nine/ten year old in the boom years every single person I knew watched WWF, and even your parents would know characters like The Rock and Steve Austin. It was crazy popular around that time. It depends where you were -- in your life I guess. I was 17/ 18 in 2000 and while I was watching again, it was hardly big for most people. Raw was shown on Friday nights. I'd either go over my friend's to watch it before going out, or stay in and watch it with my brother ... probably before going out. MOST people just went out on a Friday night. I recall if ever I'd bring up wrestling with someone around that time it would quickly beeline into "ha ha remember Dino Bravo?" sort of territory. Could just be my year in my town -- others who were my age at that time may tell you different -- but my memory of it is that most people didn't care and still thought of wrestling in that childhood nostalgia sort of way. What I'd be interested in is if that was paralleled in 1991-3. That's when I was 10 and it seemed like every single person watched WWF. Were 18-year olds watching then? My guess is probably not. My guess is that if you'd asked an 18 year old in 1992 about wrestling chances are he'd bring up World of Sport. Likely most of them didn't care and just wanted to get smashed and fuck and do all the other things 18-year olds do. Maybe Lister or someone else who is a bit older can testify? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 There was a Warlord hotline. A premium rate number solely for people who wanted to hear the latest news and interviews from the Warlord. Just Davey Boy Smith then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherwagner Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 WWF / Arena Wrestling Alliance @ Auckland, New Zealand - Mt. Smart Supertop - April 8, 1990 Norman Smiley defeated Bob Orton Jr. I want to see this match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.