On Newsstands Now: Wrestling Magazines and the Portal to A Whole New World

Brian Damage

Being a young wrestling fan nowadays, seems to offer them every imaginable aspect of the wrestling business like never before. From the “dirt sheets” to websites, to streaming services and everything in between…a fan can access anything and everything. Growing up in the 1980’s, it was a much different era. The internet was in its infancy and cable TV was a luxury that most couldn’t afford. To be a wrestling fan back then, meant you usually watched just one promotion and really weren’t familiar with much else. It was the wrestling magazines that invited the reader into a whole other world outside of their one territory.

Kicking Out of Finishers: A Fuss over Nothing?

Craig Wilson

There’s been a lot of discussion, and criticism, recently, as there often is after big events, about superstars kicking out of opponent’s finishing moves. For me it just seems like the natural progression, but that doesn’t necessarily make it right.

Great Ideas That Didn’t Last: Pro Wrestling This Week

Brian Damage

Throughout the history of pro wrestling bookers and promoters have always tried to come up with new, creative and innovative ideas to generate interest in their product. Some ideas have not only succeeded…but flourished. Others were DOA from the get go. Then there are those ideas which initially were innovative…but for various reasons….faded away. Those are the focus of this latest series of posts titled ‘Great Ideas That Didn’t Last’.

The Joke Is On You: Wrestling’s Inside Jokes

Brian Damage

It is not uncommon for a promoter or someone from creative to amuse him or herself and their cohorts by bestowing an “inside joke” on one of their wrestlers. Some jokes are blatantly obvious while others may make you stop and think for a split second. Some wrestlers have even made a career for themselves being the pawn of such jokes. This piece will examine such parodies and why some were done.

Vince McMahon for years had a thing for ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes. Dusty was the booker for the WWF’s main competition in the 1980’s…the NWA. Vince never missed an opportunity to stick it to Rhodes every chance he got.