Professional Wrestling 1985ish - 1992ish

[M.S.G.]

I have you buy 10 years so these may pre-date you, but WWF was fantastic in the '80s.

Great personalities like the Macho Man, Jimmy "Super Fly" Snooka Jake the Snake, Paul Orndorf.

Great villains like Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Ric Flair, Adrian Adonis, The Iron Sheik, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.

Even better were the managers. Jimmy Hart, The Grand Wizard, Lou Albano and my favorite was Classy Freddy Blassie.

It was also the golden era of Tag Teams too. Saito and Fuji, Tony Garrea and Rick Martell, the Moon Dogs, British Bulldogs, Strongbow Brothers.

And don't forget the referee Danny Davis, banned for 99 years! LOL!

Great post! Another huge observation is how intensitive or downright inappopriate some of the gimmicks or things that were said in interviews during this time. Holy moly, in hindsight.. The 80's were a MUUUUUUUUUCH different time

 

[Deepster]

It had to be like 1983/84, WWF came to the Civic Center and my friend's dad got us good floor seats. Maybe 10 rows back but right on the velvet rope where they'd enter in from the corner, so they all walked right by us.

When Andre the Giant came out, it was an absolute spectacle. Seeing a human that big? I was maybe 14? We were awestruck. And then, across the aisle, this little elderly Italian woman flipped him off with a double bird, then SPIT ON HIM. She was maybe 5'1", 100 lbs and he literally could have eaten her in one bite.

 

[B1GEast]

A cousin of mine fought Sargent Slaughter, he was never a well known fighter. We were shocked when they announced his name. My mom cried when Sarg put him in the Cobra Clutch.

 

[dvegas]

Recently was talking to someone and they said that Hamden was the place to see the 80s guys because the WWE trained guys in that area.

World Gym East. Pretty sure it was in the industrial park where Space Ballroom is now, and was owned by Mike Katz. If MSG is the mecca of professional wrestling, World Gym was the mecca of steroids.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

If you subscribe to the Peacock network app which I think is $5/month, it includes pretty much every Wrestlemania ever. I used to go to shows at the New Haven Coliseum every once in a while and watched it every Saturday morning when I was a kid. Now my son it into it so we went to the Raw 30th anniversary show in Philly a few months ago. It still is a big adrenaline rush in person even though I’m getting over the hill.

Later than 1992 but Pete Gas (of the Mean Street Posse) is a friend of mine and is a super nice guy. Played football at UConn and got into wrestling by way of his neighbor who he was best friends with…Shane McMahon.

 

[Waquoit]

I remember Bob Backlund

That guy was strong. I went to the same gym as he did for a cup of coffee. He was good at putting those butter churns with handles in motion for a long time at a stretch. One time I came in and he was doing those step-ups. I did my workout, showered and he was still doing them as I was leaving. He would also do those sit-ups while hanging from the bar with ankle clamps for what seemed to be an half-hour. Too bad he was kind of boring in the ring. Except when he wrestled The Hammer. Those were good matches.

 

[Waquoit]

If you folks ever get the chance, watch videos on YouTube of the old territory system that lasted until the early 90's. All those loser leaves town matches were designed as exit matches to go to the next territory.

I did that during COVID. At @August_West suggestion, I went with Mid-South wrestling from the early-80's. It was so much better than what we were getting up here at the time. My favorite quote came from the Junkyard Dog, "Y'know, it's just not right to tar and feather a man!"

 

[August_West]

I did that during COVID. At @August_West suggestion, I went with Mid-South wrestling from the early-80's. It was so much better than what we were getting up here at the time. My favorite quote came from the Junkyard Dog, "Y'know, it's just not right to tar and feather a man!"

My man, so good weekly. I love the internet age when we can do that. in the early 80's WWF was like 6th place on this stuff. The heat down south was so beautiful

 

[August_West]

I'm 44, so I grew up in a unique time of sports entertainment. Does anyone remember when WCCW (the precursor to WCW) was on ESPN in the afternoons? It boggles my mind that it was allowed, it was SO BLOODY, barbed wire matches like crazy..

I tapped out of WWF/WCW when I went to college in the mid 90s, and many would say the peak happened after that, but I disagree.

I mentioned this in another thread, but I recently went down the rabbithole of Prime Time Wrestling, which was the show before Monday Night Raw was created. I enjoyed the 80's more than the 90's, as Gorilla and Heenan would just send us out to grimy matches from house shows. What a time to be alive, relived the rise of Hulkamania and saw stars like Macho Man, Jake Roberts blow up..

My biggest takeaways were: Ted DiBiase was actually an incredible technical wrestler - and Honky Tonk Man was the greatest IC champion of all time.

Share your memories, start debates, let's talk about that time period!

Back up my friend. 80-85 way better than 85-00. And im a huge fan of 90's monday night wars, and attitude era. But you are missing the best by not looking at 80-85. It was regional growing into cable era. and its glorious.

also WCCW was NOT the precursor to WCW in any way shape or form. JCP became WCW

 

[August_West]

Growing up, wrestling was on Saturday mornings. Great times. My boys were Roddy Piper, Super Fly, Adrian Adonis, Ultimate Warrior and Macho Man. Killer Khan scared me.

Recently was talking to someone and they said that Hamden was the place to see the 80s guys because the WWE trained guys in that area.

Stopped watching when The Rock and Stone Cold ebbed.

shut up dove

 

[August_West]

That guy was strong. I went to the same gym as he did for a cup of coffee. He was good at putting those butter churns with handles in motion for a long time at a stretch. One time I came in and he was doing those step-ups. I did my workout, showered and he was still doing them as I was leaving. He would also do those sit-ups while hanging from the bar with ankle clamps for what seemed to be an half-hour. Too bad he was kind of boring in the ring. Except when he wrestled The Hammer. Those were good matches.

Bob Backlund was an awesome worker.

 

[Waquoit]

SD Special Delivery Jones
The Unpredictable Johnny Roz

Two palookas.

Looking back, I remember the jobbers more fondly than the stars. Johnny Rodz and Jose Estrada was my favorite tag team (outside Fuji-Saito).

I remember this one guy named Frankie Williams. He looked like an old-time bartender with a handlebar mustache and a powder blue unitard and would get beat up weekly by whomever was the new heel in town. We went to a show at Glastonbury High, Williams wrestled the first match and was pinned after being pretty much abused for 5 minutes. Now I guess there was a no-show because Frankie comes out again in the 4th match against a high-ranking guy. I'm thinking great, another 5 minute match. But no, it was 15-20 minutes of high-level wrestling. Williams had all the moves, delivered plenty of punishment and the heel had to cheat to beat him. That match blew my mind real time.

 

[August_West]

Looking back, I remember the jobbers more fondly the the stars. Johnny Rodz and Jose Estrada was my favorite tag team (outside Fuji-Saito).

I remember this one guy named Frankie Williams. He looked like an old-time bartender with a handlebar mustache and a powder blue unitard and would get beat up weekly by whomever was the new heel in town. We went to a show at Glastonbury High, Williams wrestled the first match and was pinned after being pretty much abused for 5 minutes. Now I guess there was a no-show because Frankie comes out again in the 4th match against a high-ranking guy. I'm thinking great, another 5 minute match. But no, it was 15-20 minutes of high-level wrestling. Williams had all the moves, delivered plenty of punishment and the heel had to cheat to beat him. That match blew my mind real time.

Remember when Piper beat the crap out of him on Pipers pit while Piper was mocking an Italian accent? That crap would never fly today politically.

All those jobbers were better at their craft than 75% of the guys they had to put over. Especially in WWF whrer first Vince Sr. and then Vince Jr. only cared about "monsters" and "look" . Rodz ran a wrestling school.

 

[August_West]

Looking back, I remember the jobbers more fondly the the stars. Johnny Rodz and Jose Estrada was my favorite tag team (outside Fuji-Saito).

I remember this one guy named Frankie Williams. He looked like an old-time bartender with a handlebar mustache and a powder blue unitard and would get beat up weekly by whomever was the new heel in town. We went to a show at Glastonbury High, Williams wrestled the first match and was pinned after being pretty much abused for 5 minutes. Now I guess there was a no-show because Frankie comes out again in the 4th match against a high-ranking guy. I'm thinking great, another 5 minute match. But no, it was 15-20 minutes of high-level wrestling. Williams had all the moves, delivered plenty of punishment and the heel had to cheat to beat him. That match blew my mind real time.

Fuji/Tanaka> Fuji/Saito

Just like

Jay Strongbow/ Peter Maivia (the rocks grandfather) > Jay and Jules Strongbow

 

[August_West]

That guy was strong. I went to the same gym as he did for a cup of coffee. He was good at putting those butter churns with handles in motion for a long time at a stretch. One time I came in and he was doing those step-ups. I did my workout, showered and he was still doing them as I was leaving. He would also do those sit-ups while hanging from the bar with ankle clamps for what seemed to be an half-hour. Too bad he was kind of boring in the ring. Except when he wrestled The Hammer. Those were good matches.

so @Waquoit for most of the Backlund era Vince SR. was still in charge and the WWF was actually still a member of the NWA. So there are champion vs. champion matches there with Backlund against Harley Race (NWA champion) and Ric Flair (NWA Champion).


The ones against Race are particularly good. Seek them out.

 

[billythekid]

Very fun thread. When I was a kid in the late '70's, my best friend and I would try so hard to stay up until midnight on Saturday night to watch Championship Wrestling (WWWF) on WOR-TV, Channel 9. Don't think we ever made it through an entire show before falling asleep. My favorite was Ivan Putski, the Polish Hammer. A few years ago, my friend had the opportunity to travel through Malta. He kept asking folks if they knew Baron Miguel Sicluna. Nobody got the joke.

I remember attending wrestling matches at Stamford Catholic and Stamford High School. We got to see Don Muracco, Baron Von Raschke, Chief Jay Strongbow and even the Fabulous Moolah win a seven-woman over-the-top match. In later years, we moved on to Hulk Hogan and Macho Man and continued watching through the Attitude Era. I used to get a kick out of Stone Cold and the Rock. By that point, I enjoyed their work on the mic as much, if not more, than their skills in the ring.

 

[M.S.G.]

Speaking of staying up late - it was a badge of honor for me to stay up to watch Saturday Night's Main Event. Which I still think is such a great product, the theme song was AWESOME.. You would get a free pay per view on network TV once a month, so awesome.

 

[B1GEast]

There were kids in my neighborhood that always wanted to play wrestle. I hated playing, they were bigger and stronger and always wanted to try moves on me.

Those games always ended with an apology of some sort. Not fun

 

[TGW93]

Great thread. My favorite heel - perhaps across any era - was The Magnificent Muraco:

 

[Deepster]

Throw your political views against him aside and check out the Joe Rogan Podcast with Ric Flair from this last week. Lots of good stories about those old days on the road with Harley Race, Haku and wrestling hour long matches, then rolling into a townie bar, getting wasted, getting in a bar fight, banging chicks until 4 am and hitting the gym to work out at 6 am every day, week after week.

 

[Waquoit]

Fuji/Tanaka> Fuji/Saito

Tanaka was just before my time. But my racing buddy and I loved Saito because he really looked like he enjoyed dealing out the punishment. I saw that double heel kick in person a couple of times and it looked pretty devestating to me. And he did go to prison for beating up a McDonalds.

So there are champion vs. champion matches there with Backlund against Harley Race (NWA champion) and Ric Flair (NWA Champion).

The ones against Race are particularly good. Seek them out.

Thanks again. I actually remember reading about those back in the day.

 

[August_West]

Tanaka was just before my time. But my racing buddy and I loved Saito because he really looked like he enjoyed dealing out the punishment. I saw that double heel kick in person a couple of times and it looked pretty devestating to me. And he did go to prison for beating up a McDonalds.


Thanks again. I actually remember reading about those back in the day.

Don’t get me wrong saito a way better performer than Tanaka . Loved him and his black socks . Just that Fuji was past prime then, the era with Tanaka was nasty.

And yeah saito and Ken patera busted up that Mickey d’s

 

[August_West]

Great thread. My favorite heel - perhaps across any era - was The Magnificent Muraco:

The best

 

[dvegas]

@August_West , what about boney Tony Garea?

 

[August_West]

@August_West , what about boney Tony Garea?

Family connect, obviously