Your first memory of Pro Wrestling

[BruiserBrody]

I was around 3 when I started watching, so I only have vague memories of Hogan, Piper, Capt. Lou, Andre, Cyndi Lauper, etc.

 

Definitely remember pics of a bloody Bundy at Mania 2 and my mother scoffing and telling me it was ketchup or makeup or whatever.

 

I can remember arguing with my neighbors when I was 4 and a 1/2 years old over who would win between Hogan and Andre at Mania 3.

 

As far as the other leagues go, I have a random memory of Dusty Rhodes fighting a russian in a chain match, but I have no idea who or when.

 

I was watching the AWA too, but my first real memory that stuck was when Col Debeers piledrove Snuka on the concrete. I am one of the few Greg Gagne supporters on the net, since he was chasing Hennig when I was little, thus I saw him as equal to the other big stars elsewhere. Al Perez being on top of World Class over the Von Erichs gave me a similar lasting impression of him.

 

I also have a random memory of Soldat Ustinov or Boris Zukoff fighting a bear and then cutting a promo with Sheik Adnan with bandages from the claws. This may be some sort of false memory though.

[khawk20]

I first remember The Sheik terrorizing squash opponents on Superstars of Wrestling in the 70's...one of Cannon's outfits. They had an hour on Saturday afternoons most weeks. Only George Cannon could get Sheik to break the camel clutch when it was locked on by getting up from the announce desk and moving towards the ring.

 

That promotion also featured El Santos I and II as the main heel tag team, with faces like Gino Brito, Domenic DeNucci, Arriba Luis Martinez and even Spiros Arion as a face. Never showed arena clips that I could recall.

 

My most vivid memory and the one that hooked me was Greg Gagne beating Nick Bockwinkel in June of 1979 in a non-title match on AWA TV. Bobby Duncum tried to make the save for Bock when he was trapped in the sleeper and Wally Karbo stopped him as he tried to climb in. Was amazing to see the World Champion beat at the time, non-title or not. Gagne had a title match in July in Minneapolis off of that win which ended in a DQ. It was as I recall a one-off, so it was likely designed to fill the summer void that the AWA had at times.

 

So I was always interested in wrestling, but first memory and being hooked for life were two separate events for me.

[Icopro]

The famous Hogan vs. Orndorff SNME cage match with the controversial finish. Think I had watched a little WWF before that but this is the first distinct wrestling memory I have. I was now hooked.

[Mrzfn]

Got into wrestling later than many. Must have been 14 when I turned on UPN and was a snippet of the HHH/Jericho feud in 2002. I remember Jericho putting HHH in the Walls on top of the announce table as commentary screamed that Triple H's leg was hanging by a thread, and I remember thinking if it had been hanging by a thread before it would definitely be snapped after that attack. I didn't think it was real at any point, but just in terms of the story. I turned it off and didn't think about it much until about a year later when I got into Smackdown in a big way at the behest of my high school friends.

[iamthedoctor]

Are we talking WWF or British Wrestling?

 

WWF wise Id probably say something like Hogan/Kamala or Bulldogs/Harts given that was what WWF aired in the UK on rare occasions.

[khawk20]

Are we talking WWF or British Wrestling?

 

 

 

First memory of wrestling regardless of what it was.

[Ricky Jackson]

Highlights of Mania 2 on the local sports news. I also have a memory of being intrigued by the VHS cover of Mania 1 in a video store before I ever saw wrestling

[Al]

SNME with Warrior/Dibiase on top

[TravJ1979]

Tojo and co. Beating down young referee Jeff Jarrett, bigelow coming out to jaws theme in Memphis. Hooked permanently after idol v. Lawler hair v. Hair in cage that following April.

[Ricky Jackson]

Highlights of Mania 2 on the local sports news. I also have a memory of being intrigued by the VHS cover of Mania 1 in a video store before I ever saw wrestling

Just went back and realized I posted in this thread the first go round. I'm running out of material

[Shrike02]

 

Highlights of Mania 2 on the local sports news. I also have a memory of being intrigued by the VHS cover of Mania 1 in a video store before I ever saw wrestling

Just went back and realized I posted in this thread the first go round. I'm running out of material

 

 

Face it we're getting old and forgetful.

[Ricky Jackson]

Yeah, I probably couldn't win 5 straight Brainbusters these days lol

[ohtani's jacket]

I had this uncle who was the black sheep of the family. He was living in Australia and nobody had seen or heard from him in 15 years. One day he decided to reconnect with his family and came over to New Zealand to stay for a few weeks. We were all sitting around my grandmother's living room and my uncle suddenly said he wanted to watch WWF Superstars. I had just gotten into comics at the time and was massively into X-Men. My first memory of wrestling was that it was like a comic book come to life. The wrestlers looked like real life superheroes and I was fascinated from the get-go.

 

The episode of Superstars we watched had an Andre vs. Duggan match where Duggan hit the Giant with his 2x4. That was my baptism into wrestling. But the angle that really got me hooked was Outlaw Ron Bass raking Beefcake's face with his spurs. That blew my mind. I remember asking my uncle whether Beefcake could sue. WWF took off at school around this time and was all we would talk about. People would bring the magazines to school and trade the bubblegum cards. I remember sticking some nails in a piece of wood, wrapping some rubber bands around them and having PPV after PPV with my GI-Joes. I started watching during the lead-in to SummerSlam '88. Hogan was off making a movie at the time and the angles mainly involved Savage, DiBiase and Andre. I can still remember the first time I saw Hulk Hogan and watching SummerSlam on TV then over and over again on tape. Wrestling remained huge until WM 6 though the peak was definitely WM 5. After that, we shifted our attention to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was the craze that ended the wrestling boom.

 

I still enjoy wrestling but I'll never recapture those times where it was larger than life. Summer of '88 to Spring 1990. RIP, Uncle Kev.

[OldSkoolNWA]

I remember my dad giving me an article to read about Andre the Giant. Neither of us were wrestling fans, but I was a kid and he figured it would occupy my time while we were in the waiting room of our doctors office.

 

I became fascinated with Andre, and was determined to see him on TV

Shortly thereafter, I tuned into the WWWF and say Larry Zbyszko turn on his trainer, Bruno Sammartino. I was hooked.

[JRH]

First exposure was when my uncle brought over the Wrestlemania NES game. Sure, we know NOW that it was horrible, but I liked it back then, and it made me want to know more about the wrestlers in the game. So i started buying PWI and WWF magazine, and rented old videos (first ones i remember renting were Best of the WWF Vol. 2 and WM4), but my first real exposure (as opposed to older video) was watching the Main Event special from Feb. 1990.