WWF '80s Cover Boys (& Girl)

What were you doing a decade ago this week? If you were a reader of this blog back then, and I hope that you were, you may have been reading about Pro Wrestling Illustrated. It was ten years ago here on the blog that I chose my five favorite covers of everyone’s favorite then-33 year old (now 43!) wrestling magazine. A magazine that’s slightly less aged yet just as classic is the official WWF Magazine. I can proudly say that I’ve long chronicled the history of the now defunct publication, even garnering the attention of WWE itself. No matter what their official take is, the first in-house publication was the WWWF Wrestling Action Magazine. All five issues have been displayed and discussed here on the blog and probably will be again. The two issues of WWF Victory Magazine from 1984 are what WWE considers to be their first and those two editions certainly hold a value similar to that of the earlier Wrestling Action titles. No matter how you look it at, the publication that eventually became WWF Magazine in its longest incarnation was bound for success. I’m sure you have some favorite issues and often that’s determined by the cover. So just as I did with PWI ten years ago, here are my top five favorite covers from the 1980s… 

*Who personified the ‘80s wrestling boom better than Hulk Hogan and Wendi Richter? Certainly had the latter stayed with the company longer she would be even better remembered, but don’t discount the impact of Miss Richter. Managed by Cyndi Lauper, Wendi Richter was a household name around the time of the first WrestleMania. Her cover appearance on the October/November 1984 WWF Magazine, teamed with The Hulkster himself, reflects just how popular women’s wrestling had grown. Was it the first women’s wrestling revolution? It absolutely was. Nearly forty years later and we’re actually able to recreate this cover in action figure form. Hmm… 

*He’s cool, he’s cocky and he’s bad. You know he’s The Honky Tonk Man and in September 1987 he proudly displayed his newly-won Intercontinental Championship on the cover of the WWF Magazine. This isn’t just a nice cover, it’s a striking cover. Between Honky’s expression, the hair and of course that legendary championship belt (complete with the beloved red WWF logo), this photo is a work of art in my opinion. This is the type of photo that would be featured if some hoity toity magazine were doing a fluff article on pro wrestling. Instead it’s here in a magazine for wrestling fans as opposed to putting down wrestling fans. 

*I’m a Christmas guy. There have been several great Christmas wrestling magazine covers over the years but the one that makes my list is the December 1984/January 1985 WWF Magazine featuring Sgt. Slaughter. The Rowdy Roddy Piper cover of a year later comes ever so close, but something about the Christmas card-quality of the Slaughter design just wins out for me. It’s also interesting to think that Slaughter was gone from the company by the time that the cover date came around with his last recorded match being in early December. I miss when holidays were celebrated more publicly like this. 

*Flying up to March 1989 we’ve got a purely 1980’s cover featuring my all-time favorite tag team, Demolition. It may also be notable that three of my five favorite covers shown here feature championship belts in addition to the stars that held them. Demolition was in the midst of their first of three WWF Tag Team Championship reigns and were undoubtedly the hottest tag team going. I respect The Road Warriors, but Demolition carved out a legacy all their own. In addition to being able to have great, entertaining matches with any style of team, the boys also didn’t overstay their welcome. Bill Eadie and Barry Darsow are also two of the nicest guys in the business. Let’s just say that with Demolition the best part of the match wasn’t limited to their ring entrance. 

*The early years of the magazine certainly produced a lot of memorable covers. October/November 1985 featured an absolutely dramatic scene with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Though the exciting superstar had torn through the NWA over the years, Steamboat was still relatively new to the WWF and “The Dragon” persona. Evoking thoughts of Bruce Lee was always a goal during Steamboat’s time in the WWF and that is certainly evident here. Though he would get a few program covers, including a very memorable one featuring the Intercontinental Championship belt, this would prove to be his only solo appearance. 

Well, that was certainly a bit of a “who’s who” of ‘80s WWF talent. I guess in another decade we’ll go with a different magazine. The Wrestler? Wrestling Revue? Championship Wrestling Magazine from Memphis? For the latter we’d only have six issues to pick the five from so it certainly wouldn’t be too difficult. In the meantime, keep flipping those pages of the past!