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When I was like 9 watching Russo Raws when I was supposed to be in bed. The only one I remember anything of was the one where HHH drugs Stephanie and marries her in a drive through chapel. One time I couldn't find Raw and ended up watching the Eric Bischoff dunk tank Nitro. For some reason my mom always got me the WCW video games instead of the WWF ones and I was really confused as to why anyone would watch an old guy in a suit wrestle instead of STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN.
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Jul 8, 2014 23:18
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I'm sure I watched a number of matches before this, but the first match I specifically remember watching was The British Bulldogs vs the Rougeau Brothers at Summerslam 88. I also remember Brother Love interviewing Hacksaw Jim Duggan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwq604YllGM&t=81s
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Jul 8, 2014 23:50
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I watched WCW as a kid in the early nineties. Most of my early wrestling memories involve Sting in some way - splashing Paul Orndorff, trying to survive against Vader, getting poked in the eyes by Rick Rude while the ref's back was turned. My dad took me to a show when I was eight because Sting was headlining it against Rude (this was right in the middle of the Vader feud, but Vader was injured or something). The Hollywood Blondes were also there but I wasn't wise enough to appreciate them yet 
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Jul 8, 2014 23:56
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I remember seeing WCW and wondering why Hogan was the bad guy. This would have been around 1996 or 1997. I didn't get into watching it on a regular basis until 1998 because they had a Thunder taping in a nearby city and one of my friends kept going on about Sting.
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Jul 9, 2014 00:37
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My first wrestling in the 1980s wasn't WWF, or the NWA, or even the regional (to the Midwest) fed in the AWA. No, the first rasslin' I ever saw was World Class Championship Wrestling, out of the glorious Sportatorium in Dallas, when it was aired on one of the Chicago UHF stations. I think my brother and his friend turned it on one Saturday shortly after cartoons were over, and I was pretty much instantly hooked.
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Jul 9, 2014 01:14
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Every now and then, my parents and I would go to my dad's cousin's house for dinner. He would always order PPVs and tape them so if you wanted a WWF show from the 90s, he was the guy to go to. Anyway, one of those nights when we went was the same night as the 95 King of the Ring PPV and because he was taping it, it was on. Being the only little kid there, they let me hang out and eat in there instead of at the table so I ended up watching that. So even though the 95 KOTR is not looked at favorably, it'll always be a bit special to me because of it.
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Jul 9, 2014 02:26
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1981. Watching Ronnie Gavin stomp Ox Baker's dentures into little pieces. I thought it was real. I was horrified.
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Jul 9, 2014 05:23
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Royal Rumble 2000, Hardys vs. Dudleys tables match might have been the first match I ever saw. And I distinctly remember the TAKA faceplant from the rumble spot being shown over and over again.
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Jul 9, 2014 06:04
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I remember very vaguely seeing an turncoat Sgt. Slaughter thing and being confused as hell about it when I was very young, but the thing that hooked me was Saturday Morning Superstars on the local Fox affiliate. All my cartoons for the morning finished, and while I was largely ignoring what was on, suddenly they started showing this package of how Bret Hart had been beating person after person with the Sharpshooter, and had just defeated Ric Flair for the title, and my god was I hooked. I never did get to see him live, because my mom forced us to leave a house show right before the Bret/Shawn cage match main event because it was getting too late.
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Jul 9, 2014 06:52
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Primary school in the 80s: Wrestling was huge, but I can only vaguely remember seeing the credits of one WWF show. I did get some merch, though. Fast forward to late high school in the mid-90s, and WCW is on free-to-air television here in Australia. I was glued to it every week, hoping that Sting could defeat that awful nWo. I'm fairly sure Channel 9 stopped broadcasting it just before I found out the results of that particular angle. Now that I know the result, I'm actually almost glad. In 2007, we got Foxtel, featuring WWE! One of the first wrestlers I see is The Undertaker. "He's still around?!" I ask, and I've been hooked ever since.
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Jul 9, 2014 08:53
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My dad sat me down when I was like twelve to watch Rock/Austin at Wrestlemania X7. Starting with one of the best matches of all time is a hell of a way to get introduced
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Jul 9, 2014 10:05
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pressedbunny posted:I watched the 2001 Royal Rumble and Backlash so many times I wore the tape out within the year. I played WCW Mayhem and Smackdown 2 so much the discs broke. In turn, this pretty much happened to me too (though I don't think I ever broke them). Strangely enough, I was enticed by the first Smackdown game because I saw the advert for it... straight after the WCW show. It was the "Pancakes, Rock! Pancakes!" one. That should be enough to remind people. I know folks have talked about Mayhem in the WCW thread before. Still think it's pretty funny how you can unlock Mean Gene, who introduces himself by saying, "Now on his way to the ring... me!".
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Jul 9, 2014 12:45
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First wrestling stuff I saw, and this dates & places me horribly, was crap with Chief Wahoo McDaniels, Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, etc. on Saturday - straight up Mid-Atlantic Wrestling time! Didn't get why these guys in weird underwear were hitting each other &/or yelling at the interviewer about how they were going to wipe the floor with whoever they had a beef with, but danged if I didn't love it. Fast forward some years and I'm watching the whole WCW / WWF feud go down in real time. Stayed true to my Southern roots and stuck with WCW while poo-pooing WWF but fell out of watching anything really past 2000 or 2001, so at least I got to miss the WCW ship sink in the end.
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Jul 9, 2014 13:00
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My first exposure was between Fully Loaded 98 and Summerslam 98. I can't find the exact Raw, but I remember it was the lead up to the HHH v Rock IC ladder match.
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Jul 9, 2014 13:01
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I don't remember the specifics of how I first started, but I suspect it was a combination of getting sucked in by friends at school and seeing Superstars come on at noon on Saturday once cartoons were over. The first concrete memory I have is Survivor Series 91. Undertaker beat Hulk Hogan for the title and I cried.
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Jul 9, 2014 15:17
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The first thing I ever saw was the Invasion PPV with my dad. I never regularly watched it. Even now I haven't paid any attention to it since around April. But it's always been something I just come back to whenever I catch it coming on.
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Jul 9, 2014 18:23
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Checking the gif. thread made me remember my first expouse to weekly wrestling, I started to watch the evening repeats of Nitro and the first thing I saw was a hardcore match between Norman Smiley and Jimmy Hart for WCW's Hardcore Title. Jimmy Hart came down to the ring in a full suit of steel plate armour. It was a 2000's Nitro if you couldn't tell, but I loved it and was thought Norman Smiley was the bee's knees. I also thought Ernest 'The Cat' Miller was the bee's knees as well.
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Jul 9, 2014 18:26
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Backlash 99, more specifically the Mankind/Big Show boiler room brawl and the Tag title match between the NAO and Jeff Jarrett/Owen Hart. That's as far back as I can remember, watching it on a VHS one of my sister's friends had recorded. Watched the Chris Jericho debut in a similar way.
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Jul 9, 2014 18:56
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First thing I remember was a Vince coked out preview for a Saddledome house show for Maple Leaf Wrestling including Bad News Brown, The Red Rooster (specifically Vince saying "Cock a doodle doo it's the red rooster", Bret Hart (Obviously), the Bushwhackers and at the top, in full Vince scream, "IT'LL BE THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR!!!" It was actually the from a tape I used to record the pilot for Rescue Rangers but I had a hockey game in the morning so couldn't catch it, ergo it started recording about 5 minutes beforehand. My parents hated wrestling so that was the closest access I had until sneaking downstairs in the late 90's.
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Jul 9, 2014 19:06
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My first strong wrestling memory is the British Bulldog being strangled by the Repo Man's rope, I think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKv5SA0jNto It was pretty messed up, at the time. I had watched stuff before then but this really stuck out to me.
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Jul 9, 2014 19:12
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My earliest wrestling memory is like 5th grade when someone was using the classroom computer, checked the WWE site, and everyone freaked out and panicked because there was just a picture of a middle finger on the splash page. 12 years later I got into wrestling.
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Jul 9, 2014 20:08
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Jake the Snake in the mid 80s hitting the DDT on some dude dressed like a barbarian or something and the announcers acting like it literally paralyzed him. Then he drops a live python on his twitching body and taunts him. Little sean10mm is just  at the TV.
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Jul 9, 2014 20:42
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Sometime in the late 80s. I don't remember much about it because I was really young, but I know I went with my dad to his buddy's house, and his kids who were older than me were watching Wrestlemania IV so I watched it with them. I was aware of wrestling via pop culture with Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T and all that, but had never seen it. Sometime after that I started watching whatever their regular weekend shows were at the time (Wrestling Challenge/Superstars), and then my parents let me rent the earlier Wrestlemanias. Seeing WM4 first explains a good deal of why I was always into Savage and Dibiase more than Hogan, but for whatever reason I really latched onto Jake Roberts as my #1 favorite.
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Jul 9, 2014 22:38
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When I was a kid, we had three video tapes about wrestling. One was of Bash at the Beach, but I'm not sure which year. It was probably either 95 or 96. The second tape was some sort of documentary thing about the Undertaker, which went into his feuds during the Attitude era. The final tape was of the Royal Rumble 2001, which I always remember as the Rumble with Drew Carey. I don't think that was the first time I watched wrestling, because my grandfather always liked watching it, and I didn't watch it on TV often until sometime in 2002.
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Jul 9, 2014 23:15
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I know I was watching wrestling earlier than this, but the farthest back I can remember was the infamous voodoo angle where Papa Shango put a curse on the Ultimate Warrior. I don't remember what got me into wrestling as a little kid, but I know I loved any chance I could get to watch it, since my parents weren't big fans of it and didn't want me to watch it.
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Jul 10, 2014 00:56
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Ice Man King Parsons. Curt Henning. 1987. That's it. No idea who they were fighting, or if it was against each other, only those two wrestlers and that it was on the same broadcast. 5 years old. Playing with blocks on Berber carpet. Sitting in front of the Magnavox in McAlister. I remember it came on ESPN, so it was AWA. All I remember is watching, and being glued to the TV. Next time we went to Wal Mart I started asking for wrestling figures. I remember playing with thumb wrestlers outside an old country house where all these families made homemade ice cream. I had Big John Studd, Roddy Piper and The Iron Sheik. We made grape ice cream. Then I remember being in a hotel room Lubbock Texas, away with my grandparents as they attended a meeting for Methodist Clergy. We had separate rooms. I was still 5. And I remember watching Saturday Night's Main Event. I believe it was Demolition vs. The Hart Foundation. This wrestling was different. It looked so much better and way more colorful. God Of Paradise fucked around with this message at 10:19 on Jul 10, 2014 |
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Jul 10, 2014 10:15
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It blows my mind and makes me feel old to think about people getting into wrestling anywhere past the Attitude Era.
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Jul 10, 2014 15:29
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I know that I was in first grade or so and I was zapping past Eurosport and Liger was doing a reversal sequence with someone and my mind was blown. I'm pretty sure this is why I gravitated towards the WCW cruiserweight scene and general flippy stuff once I really got into wrestling.
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Jul 10, 2014 23:20
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11 year old J.J. Sefton was channel surfing and stumbled across Superstar Billy Graham complaining about how Bob Backlund had "robbed" him of his WWWF title. After that I made sure to watch every week.
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Jul 11, 2014 00:50
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My first memory of wrestling was sitting in the back of the Green Bay Arena looking down at a wrestling ring. I remember wanting to go down into the ring so I could wrestle, I don't actually remember any matches or anything else from that day. My second memory was obviously later in my fandom however as I cried when the Genius beat Hulk Hogan by count out during Saturday Night's Main Event. I was apparently convinced that the Hulkster never lost and this event simply devastated me. My Ma told me later that Hulk only ever lost 3 times, and this was a mantra I remember repeating for some reason later on. Here it is in fact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwc2Xa9FRHQ The date puts me at 4 years old.
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Jul 11, 2014 11:25
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When we were kids from like 9:00am until Noon on Saturday the TV Schedule basically rotated between 30 minutes of terrible WCW to 30 minutes of terrible WWF. All squash matches and interviews. We would flip back and forth between TBS and USA all three hours. Every now and then the show would end with two "name" wrestlers and we felt like we won the lottery. My first vivid memory is getting so mad in a match I opened the door to the backyard and slammed it closed so hard this speaker on the ceiling fell on my foot and all I could think was "I wish BAM BAM's foot hurt this bad" (Bam Bam was beating someone up and making me mad...talk about heat, I destroyed my foot and all I wanted to do was transfer the pain to loving Bam Bam Bigelow) When Monday Night Raw first started I was 11 or 12 and my brother was 9. Of course we were not allowed to watch it. Every week we would sneak up to the third floor bonus room at 9, turn the TV sound down super low, and sit like 9 inches from it so we could see and hear. We put pillows in our beds and everything! About 8:55 one of us would go in the other's room and say "MNR" and we would creep up. Some of my favorite childhood memories are us sneaking up to watch RAW and having to stay silent when we wanted to run around screaming after something huge happened. Also, when Undertaker first came on TV I really thought he killed the jobber every week and wanted to know why he did not get arrested. oatgan posted:I used to go over to my grandma's to watch the PPVs because I wasn't allowed to watch Raw and Smackdown at home. I think the first one I saw was Summerslam 2000? After TLC I was hooked.
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Jul 11, 2014 11:38
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Although I'm certain I started watching about a year earlier, my first specific memory is watching Goldberg winning the US title on Nitro when I was about 13 or 14 years old. If I recall correctly back then in the UK, Nitro was shown on Friday nights at 9pm on TNT after Cartoon Network went off air. RAW was shown at the same time, but we couldn't afford Sky Sports at the time, so I was a WCW kid. Eventually we got Sky Sports, and switched to WWF permanently around the time of the Fingerpoke of Doom.
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Jul 11, 2014 12:08
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I remember watching a WWF Saturday morning show and seeing Billy Jack Funk and being confused why he didn't use his whip in the match. My mom walked into the room and said "Big Time wrestling huh  "I started watching for real sometime in 1996 as a highschooler, I guess whatever show I watched on Monday nights after Boy Scouts was off for the week so I tuned into RAW. My mom walked in during an embarrassing Goldust segment and said "Big Time wrestling huh " again.edit I knew about wrestling because I had Hogan and Macho Man toys, and the Sgt. Slaughter GI Joe figure. I have a memory of being on the playground during Desert Storm and talking about Hogan vs. Slaughter though I definitely did not see the match at that time or probably understand what I was talking about. Bigass Moth fucked around with this message at 13:48 on Jul 11, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 13:35
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I'm sure I watched with my dad in the 80s, but my first real memory is of an Owen Hart and Yokozuna vs. Razor Ramon and Savio Vega match with an inconclusive ending. Presumably this one. I just had to tune in the next week for the rematch! It was weird coming into wrestling at a down time and ending up ahead of the curve when it got cool again.
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Jul 11, 2014 14:06
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The first thing I ever saw of wrestling was when I was channel surfing and saw some ECW show where RVD was kicking Booker T's rear end with a chair or something. After that, this kid came over to my house and showed me the greatness that was Undertaker & Kane Vs Mr. Kennedy & MVP and all it took was Undertaker's magic powers to make me a fan.
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Jul 11, 2014 14:18
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My first exposure to wrestling was either the Mucha Lucha cartoon or coming to class in elementary school to find one of my classmates just bummed to bits over Eddie Guerrero's death. She was just so sad.
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Jul 11, 2014 14:26
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I was into wrestling for years despite never really watching it. Same with Star Wars - I thought it was cool but had to wait a year or two to actually get videos of it. I guess I just liked cool toys. My first memory of a wrestling match is the WCW Syndicated stuff in the early 90s. Sting had someone pinned and the ref was distracted. The crowd were counting over and over, and I was out of my chair unable to believe that such an injustice could happen. I watched the rest of the series and thought Cactus Jack seemed awesome for some reason, possibly because he was the opposite of the look of Sting which I thought was somewhat stupid, even then. My first WWF memory is seeing a recap of Undertaker's ascent from the coffin at Royal Rumble '94. I thought it was ridiculous, and yet something this silly happening in real time in front of an arena full of people tipped my suspension of disbelief and I still remember it as being creepy. Then my first re-entry to wrestling was seeing the introduction to Backlash '00. I'd heard of this Stone Cold Steve Austin chap and he seemed rather upset about something. Then Scotty 2 Hotty vs Dean Malenko actually got me involved. I stopped watching wrestling in 2005, and then went to an episode of Raw live in London in 2009. I wasn't sure of who some people were, so I have looked up results since (started watching again in 2013) and I am completely baffled that I witnessed CM Punk wrestle live with absolutely no recollection of it. All I remember is my newlywed wife telling me that Edge looked a lot like her ex. This Kofi Kingston guy should sort him out, right? keithy george fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Jul 11, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 14:27
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My first WWF memories are of Tatanka beating jobbers left and right when he had his undefeated gimmick, and the Undertaker being the coolest dude ever. I LOVED Taker as a kid. He was just so badass and huge and the tombtone looked awesome and I'm pretty sure I saw him hit the Repo Man with it or something and my lizard brain just decided that this thing called Professional Wrestling was a new and vital form of food. I have vague memories of Macho Man and the Ultimate Warrior teaming up as the Ultimate Maniacs, and Warrior's weird-rear end naked bodysuit. I was there live when Yokozuna debuted. Then some stuff happened and I wasn't able to watch anymore for a while. I came back just after Mankind beat the Undertaker in that boiler room brawl. My first PPV was In Your House: Buried Alive, and I ate that poo poo up. I have vivid memories of the Austin/Pillman home invasion segment, and I remember HATING Austin. He was just so thuggish and mean. My heart loving snapped in two when Bret Hart started on his anti-US kick. Bret was one of my favorites.
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Jul 11, 2014 18:53
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Soon after I got into it I started buying this wrestling magazine known as 'Pro Wrestling Ilustrated' and its companion 'The Wrestler'. And that was where kayfabe broke for the first time. But that's another thread which I will start posthaste. The point being, I suddenly realized there was this Texas promotion called World Class Championship Wrestling based out of Texas and surrounding this family known as the Von Erichs. It all seemed so cool, especially with Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez heeling the hell out of the place against Kerry and Kevin and Chris and eventually Lance. Eventually got a handful of video tapes on special order, and man, PWI wasn't kidding. That poo poo was off the hook. So awesome and so cool. And now, this many years later, so unbelievably tragic.
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Jul 12, 2014 18:47
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the first thing I watched that I remember was the main event of Smackdown like 2006 at my Great Grandmother's house. The Main Event was a 6 man tag between WHC Batista, US Champion Chris Benoit, and Rey Mysterio against #1 Contender for the WHC JBL, whoever Chris Benoit's challenger was, and Eddie Guerro, who was feuding with Rey.
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Jul 12, 2014 19:15
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