Wrestling

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Wrestling

Today, I thought it would be a good idea to have a blog about wrestling, more specifically WWE. I had forgot to put in my Autism blog that this is actually one of my obsessions, I never really thought of it as an obsession though until I noticed the ever-growing collection of VHS tapes and DVDs that I had and thought "Ok, you're a LITTLE obsessed." It's a big topic to cover, so I shall do it in 3 blog posts.

It's hard to say where it all began for me, I've always known about wrestling, I've always known of wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, but it never became an interest of mine until mid-1999. I don't think there's a particular reason that I started watching it, I just liked it.
At the time it was called WWF (World Wrestling Federation), but due to alot of legal hassle with the World Wildlife Fund, in 2002 they had to change their name to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). Personally, I'm all for charity, but the World Wildlife Fund are dicks. Just sayin'.

In 1999, I was 10 years old, alot of people (especially my teachers) said that I was too young to be watching such violent things, my mum never minded so I guess it was cool. At the time, no-one in my class (of 5 people, 9 tops) were into wrestling, so I was on my own with my obsession, unless you count my brother (which I don't, nor ever will).
I can count on one hand how many people that I have met in the last 11 years who have liked wrestling, it's a sad truth but not all that surprising. Here's why...

The Truth.

Professional Wrestling, to me, is like a soap opera. People have said it's "FAKE AND GAY!!" a bunch of times, it's understandable though. Sweaty men in tight pants getting hurt in the ring. Heh, it's almost laughable in a sense, but have you ever thought that perhaps it's not as "Fake" or "Gay" as most would believe?

Let's start with "Gay". To my recollection there have been only 3 people in the WWE that have come out as being attracted to men. One is bisexual (Orlando Jordan), one is very old (Pat Patterson) and the other is dead (Chris Kanyon). If it's not the actual homosexuality of the wrestlers themselves that puts you off, then perhaps it's the close contact...though if that's an issue, then that says something about you rather than wrestling.

"Fake". To address this, I have to start by saying that YES...the matches are predetermined and...YES they're choreographed. Call it acting if you will, it's like going to the theatre, the actors know their lines and they know the ending. Does that make it "Fake"? You can debate it 'till the cows come home, I personally couldn't care less.
The wrestlers DO get hurt, you try falling flat on your back onto what is essentially plywood. It hurts like hell, but they do it anyway. It's all about entertainment, pleasing the crowd...If it gives them and the audience an adrenaline rush then fuck it, go for it.

So yeah, wrestling for me is probrably the most exciting sport there is! There are so many gimmicks, tag teams, personalities, match types, it's endless. I've never took a break from wrestling, I personally don't "wrestle" - I used to, but it was just playfighting really, just two guys trying out moves like chokeslams and hitting each other with as many objects as possible. it was fun, but watching is more fun.

I used to collect all the toys, even had a ring with an entrance way, but I threw it all out at one point...I kinda regret that now. Lisa made me throw away my WWF Championship belt out once...We were cleaning out my room, here's how it went...


"Are you going to use it? If not then it's going!"

"Well, i'm not going to USE it, but..."

"Fine, then it's going in the bin!"


Yeah, she can be evil.

I didn't let her get to my videos though...oh no, she'll never throw those away, even when there isn't one VCR left in the world, I'll still keep hold of them. Believe it or not, I'm more proud of my video collection than I am of my guitar and that's saying something!!

The reason I called this blog "WWE/WWF: '98-'00" is because that is the era which I am most fond of..it's what we WWE fans like to call the "Attitude Era". It is largely what my video collection comprises of, which I shall talk more about in part 2.

I will always love wrestling. The product these days is slipping, but nevertheless, I have my videos to look back on and the future to look forward to. This blog is a great place to talk about hobbies and interests... that's what I made it for, heck, non-wrestling fans can still read this...it's still a big part of my life.

I know this was short, but as I said before, the next blog will contain information about my collection and some other interesting things that I think will appeal more to wrestling fans. I'm doing this so that in 10 years time, I can look back on it and be proud of the fact that I'm a complete geek.

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The Collection.

Ahhh, my pride and joy! The Collection consists of DVDs, VHS and Books. Compared to alot of wrestling fanatics, my collection is piss-poor, but I don't do it for bragging rights so who cares!

It all started in 1999, when I first started watching wrestling. The family and I were in the town centre in Manchester, just shopping, when we entered WHSmith...I had never thought of buying a wrestling video, but I saw 2 on the shelf and just had to get 'em! They were King of the Ring 1999 and Hell Yeah! A biography about Stone Cold Steve Austin. That was the start of my collection and here they are:



I've probrably watched each of these about 20 times, which is only twice a year since I've had them. The King of the Ring was pretty good, had a good match card and although unfortunately the winner of the KOTR tournament didn't really amount to much, it's still good to watch. The main event was a handicap ladder match - Austin Vs McMahons. This exemplified the legendary feud between Austin and Vince and also brought Shane into the light as a credible on-air personality.
The Hell Yeah! VHS is all right, it was just a brief highlight of Stone Cold's career, I don't really consider this as part of my main collection.

My earliest VHS is the 1997 Royal Rumble:



This VHS is a sign of it's time. The shitty fireworks, the crappy entrances, bad storylines, these are the things that actually made it good and it was at this time that WCW was beating the WWE in the ratings by quite a bit. The Royle Rumble match itself led to Stone Cold Steve Austin becoming a top tier star...although it would be over a year until he would actually win the major gold. The main event was a solid match between Psycho Sid and HBK with an excellent build-up.
This was a good example of the WWE at a time in which they were experimenting with the idea of "Hardcore", there was not alot of weapons or anything, but there were stairs, a table and a 2x4.
All in all, it was a good PPV and a great way to start the Road to Wrestlemania.

My main collection is PPVs from January 1998 to December 2000. These were the best years in WWE history as many fans would agree. The "Attitude Era" was a turning point for professional wrestling and is always looked back on as the years that gave rise to such superstars as "The Rock" "Stone Cold" "Kane" "HHH" amongst others...it also helped the WWE beat WCW in the ratings war.

Here is my main collection...





I even have the ones that were filmed in the UK and weren't available in the USA, but barely any titles ever change and they never make a difference to storylines, certainly a good addition to the collection though.
The bulk of it was bought from Ebay, as they stopped selling them in the shops, that's good though because they were cheap as fuck at £4-£5 each, that includes Postage+Packing. There are a few that are somewhat rare however, they cost me around £10-£20, so it's still a relatively cheap hobby to have I would say.

My Favourites.

Alot of people can't pick their favourites as they see their collections as their "children". Fuck that I say...There are some really bad PPVs out there, but there are some really good ones, here's my Top 3:

No.3: Summerslam 98'

I remember when I bought it, I was in HMV with my mum, I must have only been 12-13 and the guy at the checkout till was very friendly. He was a wrestling fan so we got talking and we both agreed that the ladder match between HHH and The Rock was one of the best matches ever. Heh, the customers behind us got a little pissed off I think.
The matchcard was pretty solid, shame about those retarded rapping clowns in the entrance of the Odditties though. This PPV definitely encapsulated what the WWF was putting across at the time...Attitude.




Highlights:
Undertaker legdropping Austin on the Spanish announce table.
Kai En Tai getting squashed by The Oddities.
Jeff Jarrett getting his head shaved.
The Rock Vs Triple H...that whole match was tremendous.



No.2: Wrestlemania XIV '98

Not only my 2nd favourite video of my whole collection, but also one of my favourite Wrestlemanias of all time. I don't really have a recollection of buying this, other than I went to McDonalds with the family afterwards...heh, the shit I remember eh? This Wrestlemania was the last event for over 4 years that HBK wrestled and Undertaker got some awesome revenge on his brother. This Wrestlemania was the start of Stone Cold Steve Austin's reign as WWF Champion and the end of a very "gimmicky" era. From now on things were very different, less kid's stuff, more ass kicking.




Highlights:
Kane getting Tombstoned 3 times.
Tyson knocking the shit out of HBK
The D-X band covering "America the Beautiful"
Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie being INSANE


No.1: Backlash '00

This PPV defines everything about Professional Wrestling and the WWE. Every match had a purpose with brilliant build-up and excellent storylines. I feel that this is one of the most underrated PPVs in the history of the WWE and is also the only one of my Top 3 that happened while I was a wrestling fan. It also featured a surprisingly excellent match between Dean Malenko and Scotty 2 Hotty, also underrated. This event was slap-bang in the middle of what was known as the McMahon-Helmsley era, where HHH and Stephanie McMahon had all the power of the WWE.




Highlights:
Dean Malenko and Scotty 2 Hotty surprise everyone
The Rock finally winning the gold
The hardcore match was entertaining, shocking and funny.
The Showster.


I can't say it enough that it really is a shame that the WWE has become what it is today. The PG rating, lack of JR on commentary and of course John friggin' Cena. It's all well and good that they have decided to change their target audience, but to neglect the diehard wrestling fans by having 5 minute matches and 10 minute backstage skits is a kick in the balls. One day I really do hope they improve their product, it's no coincidence that they toned it down when Linda McMahon started doing her political thing. She wants a clean-cut image so that she can get more votes, simple...but her image will always be tainted by the amount of wrestlers that have passed-on due to WWE's neglect. She has alot of explaining to do and so does Vince.

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The Rest of my Collection.

It all started when I began watching the WWE (1999) and it's never ending. I never intended to start a collection, let alone the one as big as mine. Most of it is tucked away in the closet, because we simply don't have enough bookshelves and/or room in our 1 bedroom apartment. I've never done a count of how many VHSs I have, or how much money I've spent over the years. Luckily, I've never gone crazy over it, the collection I have is built up over 11 years so it could be worse.

Let's start with the rest of my VHS collection:

I can't say that I watch these that often, as good as they are, they're still not "Attitude Era" material. My favourite would most likely have to be Royal Rumble '97, which I blogged about last time. The rest, eh, I could take it or leave it...the WWE had the talent, but they really couldn't do a lot of good with it. Dumbasses. I will obviously update this side of my collection one day, but I'm thinking it will be in DVD format, the WWE have been releasing old stuff lately, so it's a good idea to start that up.



The Unofficial Collection.

Unofficial is a bit of a shit word really, as the VHSs I'm talking about are genuine WWE material, they're just taped off the TV. Back in the day, I couldn't stay up 'till 1am to watch the PPVs live, so we had to timer record everything which was REALLY annoying, as I would usually have school the next day, so I could only watch it after that. It was a pain in the ass! I don't have pictures of these because quite frankly, I couldn't be bothered, they're in the closet and yeah, I'm too fat and old to be climbing over things to find shit. They're just blank videos with the name of them taped to the top and side anyway, nothing special, believe me.


DVDs.













As you can see, it's quite small compared to my VHS collection, but where it lacks in quantity, it makes up in quality. On some of these there is 6 hours of footage! It's great watching some wrestling in high quality sometimes, although watching in video format is nostalgic, it can be tedious. Here's a complete list:

• Wrestlemanias 17-24
• Tombstone: The Undertaker
• Mick Foley's Greatest Hits and Misses
• The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin
• McMahon
• The Rise and Fall of ECW
• The Best of Raw
• Raw Awards Show
• Hardy's Unofficial Interviews

I didn't list the one between Hardy's and Raw because I want to talk about it in greater detail here.

Over the Edge '99.

I actually have a pretty interesting story for this one. I purchased one of my VHS's from eBay, in the description it said that there would be a little something extra to anyone who bought it. So anyway, I received it and I couldn't believe it...that "little something extra" was a DVD of the unreleased WWF Over the Edge '99. It was unreleased because tragically, Owen Hart had died at this event under horrible circumstances. However, the show went on through the night for another hour or so I believe after he had died. The DVD is actually a videotaped recording of the show the night it aired, they somehow transferred it to DVD format. Anyway, this is the only one in my collection that I didn't have at the time, so inadvertently, the person who sent this helped me complete it. Not only that, but there was also another disc, "Raw is Owen", which was the Raw the night after the tragic event happened, dedicated to Owen Hart. Bit soppy for my taste but hey, the guy died.

I have seen plenty of Owen Hart matches and he was a superb athlete, it's a shame what happened to him, but for the rest of us, life goes on. RIP.

Well, that was depressing...onto something less depressing.

My Favourite DVD.


Okay, Wrestlemania 20...what an awesome show!! I did actually watch this in my living room at 1am the night it was broadcast. This event symbolised what the WWE was about at the time, fresh talent, WRESTLING and terrific angles. Let's get into what I didn't like about the PPV.

• I was a huge Brock Lesnar fan before this event...can't say I had the same feeling after it.
• It took 1 tombstone to finish off Kane, even though 6 years earlier, it took 3.
• The Rock and Foley getting beat by Evolution. Shit match.

Those aren't deal breakers though, there was enough good stuff to keep this PPV awesome...like:

• John Cena beating the Big Show, I liked him a lot here, I thought he had talent and hoped he'd achieve a lot in his later years and it wouldn't get to his head. I was wrong, but the match was pretty good.
• Guerrero V Angle. Great ending.
• Undertaker returning with Paul Bearer.
• Jericho V Christian. Two great Canadians.
• Benoit winning the gold.

Yes, this event will always be tainted by the events that unfolded in 2007, but as a wrestling fan, it was a great PPV and was a brilliant way to start off a new era, even though the new era is shit.

The last thing I want to talk about in these blogs is what inspired me to write them in the first place. I've always had the urge to write about my experiences with watching wrestling and this blog has been a great way to do that, even though most of my friends and family aren't too keen on it, it wasn't for anyone's benefit but mine. Selfish? Meh, not really, my blog. Lol. If anyone got any kind of joy from reading these wrestling blogs, then hey it's a great bonus, but the reason I have written about wrestling in the first place is because of one man. His name is Mick Foley.


Back in 2000, I purchased Mick Foley's Autobiography "Have a Nice Day". This one book taught me almost everything I knew about wrestling and writing. It's a wrestling fan's dream, as is his equally awesome "Foley is Good". I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for these books, I have read them about 4 times each and they never get old. I can't give it a good enough review, his way of writing things changed the way I wrote things, it's hard to explain how one person who you've never met can inspire you in so many different ways.
I learnt so much about the wrestling industry from reading these books and thus Mick Foley is my favourite author of all time. Fuck JK Rowling, as much as I love the Harry Potter novels, nothing compares to Foley. I'm sure technically, he's not on the same level as her, or someone like Stephen King, but he writes on my level, I understand his writing more than i will anyone else's.

Well, I think it's time to end the 3-part wrestling series here. I had a blast doing this, I don't care if no-one reads it, all I wanted to do was look at my collection from a different perspective and document it, I achieved that goal therefore, I am extremely happy with how it went. No-one can take away my love of wrestling, I can't say I love the current product, but that's not the point. Hopefully I will keep building this collection and look forward to many more years of good wrestling.
Thank you for reading, it's been a pleasure.

'Till next time....