It's been a while since I last put fingers to keys & described how I got into the wrestling business as a fan (I'm not actually in the business, but I needed an opening that can draw the reader in...), and having not long watched the latest pay per view put out by the WWE, I feel compelled to write a further blog about the wonderful world of wrestling.
In "My take on Wrestling - Part 1", I wrote that I got into wrestling in 1988, specifically around the annual Thanksgiving extravaganza that was Survivor Series. Once I watched it, I was hooked. My life suddenly became wrestling. It's not that I was overly obsessed, I was just an energetic & excitable 9 year old. As I've advised previously, one of my friends had access to SKY and was able to video all the shows & pay per views possible - for a fee - so for the first couple of years I was able to keep up-to-date with the Tuesday Night Titans (the old-school fan will get that).
Unfortunately, in 1990 I ended up going to a completely different school to my friend, and he ended up moving out of the area and we lost touch for a number of years (I actually heard from him about 3 years ago, & he's happily married with 3 kids & not into wrestling anymore). A plus point at this time was the emergence of a Blockbuster Video at the top of my road. At the time, I was not a fan of having it there, as my mates dad owned Supervideo, which was also at the top of my road, & was a good family run store that would always give away free posters, as well as book films in advance (there was never more than 1 copy of a film at any given time). However, Supervideo didn't stock WWF videos. Blockbuster did. Every tape released in the UK was available there from the 1st Wrestlemania onwards. I ended up getting a membership & devouring all of them. They also had WCW but to me they were just an inferior product.;
From 1990 to 1993 I brought anything I could afford that had something to do with the WWF (this included a sticker album - the only sticker album that I ever completed - and the innaugural WWF Superstars album that contained Slam Jam (an awesome song)). Then it happened. Wrestlemania 9. The worst ending to a PPV ever as the old-and-boring Hulk Hogan effectively stole the WWF title. Don't get me wrong, as a 9 year old I was a Hulkamniac but, having added another 5 years to my life I realised that he was what was wrong with the business - the same tired moves & refusal to be beaten, Its weird that as a 14 year old I could see that Hogan was ruining the business, yet people kept (and still keep) hiring him. I admire his charisma & the way he works a crowd but come on, the man can't wrestle no more! I was into the more technical wrestlers at this time - Ric Flair, Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels were guys I looked up to, so I was shocked that Bret lost to Yoko who then lost to Hogan. It was obviously his way of becoming champ without beating one of the best in the business.
Following this horrible upset I quit watching wrestling. I went to school & carried on with my life, feeling good about things. I met girls, and we did a lot more than wrestle. I matured from that energetic wrestling fan (who at one point had heckled Pat "The Bomber" Roach at a live event in Southend that also featured Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks & Geoff Capes) into a well-rounded individual. Granted, a perverted individual, but I at least had morals & no longer watched wrestling.
In January 1999, I started working at Demon Internet. After an interim few months getting to know people, a friend tried to get me to watch wrestling again. I explained I used to be a fan but time had passed & I doubt I would be interested again. My interest was piqued though when I watched some video clips of Raw on the WWF site. As I was moving into a flat with one of my workmates & we had Sky Sports, I decided to give it a watch. So it was with great trepidation that I stayed up til 1am & watched Over the Edge in May 1999. Those of you that are in the know will remember that this is the PPV during which Owen Hart died. I aim to go into a blog about dead wrestlers at some point, so I won't go into detail about Owen at this time.
I was amazed at how risque wrestling had become - it really was full of sex & violence at this time (this was during the amazing attitude era) so I became hooked again, though not in a fanboy way. I took the time to go back & watch everything from Wrestlemania 9 onwards, using E-Bay as a way to obtain all the old tapes. In the past 13 years since my return to wrestling I've seen a lot, enjoyed a lot & - more often than not - been disappointed a lot. I don't confess to being a great fan these days, but I do enjoy the odd PPV from time-to-time, as long as there's some good booking and a good feud in there.
I would try to put together a list of the finest matches I've ever been privvy to see, but that is a daunting job, and a definite possibility for another blog...
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