Pro Wrestling
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Warrior was a terrible wrestler. clearly insane dude. great fucking character though.
That first big WWF era is so fun to look back on. Rampant steroids. Clear recreational drug abuse. But just so fun and over the top. The promos were amazing, and for them alone Randy Savage was the king.
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@canefan said in Pro Wrestling:
@MN5 said in Pro Wrestling:
The roids will eventually catch up with you.
Half of his contemporaries barely made 40. He actually did very well.
As Virgil alludes to there is a school of thought that Hogan was a bit of an arsehole but he changed wrestling. If it wasn’t for him they’d still be in bingo halls.
There was nothing like WWE in the 80s. Larger than life and just amazing to watch. The superstars drastically shortened their lives for our entertainment
Hogan, Savage, Dibiasi, the Harts Foundation. Axe and Smash, Roddy Piper, Rick Rude, Jake the Snake, the Ultimate Warrior. Lots I've missed I'm sure, but what a time to be alive and watching TV as a teenager in 1980s NZ
Mr Perfect, Akeem, Big Boss Man, Brutus the Barber, Greg the hammer Valentine, Honky Tonk Man, Koko B Ware, Dusty Rhodes, Bad News Brown, Warlord and Barbarian…..
Don’t forget the slimy managers…..Jimmy Hart, Slick, Mr Fuji and the absolute GOAT Bobby the brain Heenan.
Getting home from school on a Friday and watching it ( Mum and Dad recorded it on VCR late on Thursday night ) is just one of those magic memories that I’ll never forget.
Being a scrawny fellow I was always worried bigger kids would powerslam, piledrive or DDT me though….. The struggle was real.
They may not ‘have tried the moves at home’ but the school yard was fair game.
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@mariner4life said in Pro Wrestling:
Warrior was a terrible wrestler. clearly insane dude. great fucking character though.
That first big WWF era is so fun to look back on. Rampant steroids. Clear recreational drug abuse. But just so fun and over the top. The promos were amazing, and for them alone Randy Savage was the king.
I just remember watching it late (friday nights?) i would have been 15 or 16 when it first gained popularity over here
And spending lunch breaks on the sports fields re-enacting the moves on my mates. Its amazing no one was badly hurt! -
@Virgil said in Pro Wrestling:
how can you miss out on these 2 local heroes as well..
Yeah their gimmick worked amazingly well.
Much better than Outback Jack who came into the WWE on the back of Crocodile Dundee but quickly got relegated to ‘jobber’ status
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@MN5 said in Pro Wrestling:
@canefan said in Pro Wrestling:
@MN5 said in Pro Wrestling:
The roids will eventually catch up with you.
Half of his contemporaries barely made 40. He actually did very well.
As Virgil alludes to there is a school of thought that Hogan was a bit of an arsehole but he changed wrestling. If it wasn’t for him they’d still be in bingo halls.
There was nothing like WWE in the 80s. Larger than life and just amazing to watch. The superstars drastically shortened their lives for our entertainment
Hogan, Savage, Dibiasi, the Harts Foundation. Axe and Smash, Roddy Piper, Rick Rude, Jake the Snake, the Ultimate Warrior. Lots I've missed I'm sure, but what a time to be alive and watching TV as a teenager in 1980s NZ
Mr Perfect, Akeem, Big Boss Man, Brutus the Barber, Greg the hammer Valentine, Honky Tonk Man, Koko B Ware, Dusty Rhodes, Bad News Brown, Warlord and Barbarian…..
Outlaw Ron Bass, Hercules, Junkyard Dog, Superlfy Snuka and Hacksaw Jim Duggan are a few other notables missed.
And poor old Barry Horowitz, geez he took some hidings
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Anybody who grew up in the 80s and saw the first Wrestlemanias on TV will attest to how enormous Hulk Hogan was. By all accounts a prize fůckwit and compulsive liar but you can't take his legacy away from him.
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I can’t believe no one has mentioned Haku !
https://www.thesportster.com/wrestling/haku-backstage-stories-shocking/
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@MN5 said in Pro Wrestling:
@Bones said in Pro Wrestling:
Has Blue Blazer been mentioned?
He has now, yes
Sad story indeed
Hart wrenching
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@Bones said in Pro Wrestling:
@MN5 said in Pro Wrestling:
@Bones said in Pro Wrestling:
Has Blue Blazer been mentioned?
He has now, yes
Sad story indeed
Hart wrenching
Have you no Hart?
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In all seriousness, Owen Hart was awesome. One of the few genuine good guys in wrestling. Massive tragedy.
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@MN5 not sure about the bingo halls, Bruno Sammartino sold out Madison Square Garden for 15 years straight and Andre was a global superstar well before Hogan.
Vince Jr and Hogan changed the game around TV and PPVs, but pro wrestling was big business before them.
That said, Hulk Hogan is probably the biggest name in pro wrestling history. Agree with the point that Terry Bollea wasn't a good guy, but the character was legendary. Ask anyone who didn't watch to name a pro wrestler, and for decades, the most common answer would be Hulk Hogan.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Pro Wrestling:
In all seriousness, Owen Hart was awesome. One of the few genuine good guys in wrestling. Massive tragedy.
It’s often the ‘heels’ who are the real good guys.
Ted Dibiase as one example said some lovely words about Hogan.
Others who seem ( ed ) like top guys are both members of demolition, both members of powers of pain, honky tonk man, King Kong Bundy, both Rougeau brothers, Haku ( as long as you don’t piss him off ) and the One Man Gang/Akeem
Jake the snake is contradictory and completely full of shit but he’s probably a nice fellow too.
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@Godder said in Pro Wrestling:
@MN5 not sure about the bingo halls, Bruno Sammartino sold out Madison Square Garden for 15 years straight and Andre was a global superstar well before Hogan.
Vince Jr and Hogan changed the game around TV and PPVs, but pro wrestling was big business before them.
That said, Hulk Hogan is probably the biggest name in pro wrestling history. Agree with the point that Terry Bollea wasn't a good guy, but the character was legendary. Ask anyone who didn't watch to name a pro wrestler, and for decades, the most common answer would be Hulk Hogan.
Yeah possibly not entirely accurate.
But the Hulk Hogan character certainly made it easier for others to earn big money
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Reading back through the thread a number of posters mention watching Wrestlemania on TV. I don't remember ever seeing a Wrestlemania on TV, I can only remember them on video and having to book them out. IIRC Wrestlemania was already a couple of years old when WWF Superstars of Wrestling started on TV in NZ. (Looking at Wrestlemania 1 on wiki and not many of the wrestlers are still alive. Mr T is the only one from the main event.
Is my memory faulty or others?
Hart Foundation and Bret Hart were always my favourites, even when they were heels.
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@Nepia said in Pro Wrestling:
Reading back through the thread a number of posters mention watching Wrestlemania on TV. I don't remember ever seeing a Wrestlemania on TV, I can only remember them on video and having to book them out. IIRC Wrestlemania was already a couple of years old when WWF Superstars of Wrestling started on TV in NZ. (Looking at Wrestlemania 1 on wiki and not many of the wrestlers are still alive. Mr T is the only one from the main event.
Is my memory faulty or others?
Hart Foundation and Bret Hart were always my favourites, even when they were heels.
you're right, the only way you could watch those big events was to wait for them to come out on VHS
im not sure if there was PPV back thenThe posts would have meant the weekly show they had on tv here, was late on a friday night from memory
Its why it was great going back to watch Wrestlemania on Netflix earlier this year, alot of that stuff i never watched back in the day.
