Wrestling MarketWatch: More Of What The World Was Watching!

While not the very first edition of Wrestling MarketWatch, it was well over a decade ago that we looked at items that “The World Was Watching.” These were figures, magazines and other collectibles that emanated from the time period that many consider to be “the golden era” of the World Wrestling Federation. Seeing as that this year is the 35^th anniversary of one of the prime shows of the era, WrestleMania IV, I’m sure that we’ll be discussing this period more in the near future. As for now, let’s look at what classic items of the day recently sold for at auction. As always in Wrestling MarketWatch, prices are for unsigned items even if the photo shows otherwise.

*Seeing as that it is in fact the “coral jade” anniversary of WrestleMania IV, we may as well kick it off with an item from that show. I’ve been pleased to see that more and more people have admitted loving the show in recent years. For a long time, it felt as if I were the only one. I’m sure that I’ll rant more about that in the coming months. None the less, I would say that this show really has the most branded items of the first few WrestleMania events. With both the WWF and the Trump marketing machines behind it, it isn’t hard to understand why. One of the focal points of the show was “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and his somewhat underhanded quest to become WWF Champion. After all, he was the catalyst for the tournament happening to begin with. The WrestleMania IV branded promo photo of DiBiase, along with bodyguard Virgil, recently sold for $30.

*WrestleMania IV had the perfect follow-up with WrestleMania V. While you could throw a few other duos into the argument, I would say that no two WrestleMania events are better connected than these two. Not only does the title story begin and end between the two shows, but the overall look and feel of the shows are forever intertwined with both being held at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. The WrestleMania V program has a wide range of recent selling prices going anywhere from $20 to $75. Even the difference of the newsstand edition against the one sold at the event (the photo included illustrates) has zero effect on price. Condition is usually key, but even that seems to have gone by the wayside. I can recall a time when the early WrestleMania programs sold for little more than common magazine issues of the day. Not so much now.

*One item shown in the first MarketWatch under the “The World Was Watching” theme is the LJN WWF Wrestling Superstars Vince McMahon figure. Here he is again and boy has that price changed. At the time it was rather surprising that the figure was selling for nearly $100 carded. The price has now gone up to between $300-$600. I’m still grateful that, nearly thirty years ago, I picked one up for $25 as part of a “warehouse find.” Even loose examples are skyrocketing. The man who took wrestling to places it had never been, especially in this era, still holds clout. The huge shoulders and cleft chin remain a staple in anyone’s LJN collection.

*In the tag team ranks I’m not sure that any twosome is better remembered from this period than Demolition. Ax and Smash are my own favorite tag team and around these parts we don’t even entertain the notion that they’re some sort of ripoffs of the other guys. May they have started that way? Possibly. But the advantages of Demolition over the Road Warriors can be seen by any knowledgeable fan. Everyone should respect what the L.O.D. did, but Demolition did their own thing and didn’t overstay their welcome. One of their drinking glasses recently sold for an average of $25. The prices of wrestling cups and glasses are definitely on the rise. In this particular one you can fill it with your favorite fruit juice and get your daily act of…nutrition.

*You can’t talk “What The World Was Watching” without mentioning The Hulkster. In fact, one of the many ways that fans could watch him and the rest of the WWF Superstars was by laserdisc. For a short time, anyway. Coliseum Video released four of their titles on the long defunct platform and one of which was the first released titled “Hulkamania.” Many of you will be familiar with it from its VHS release, but the laserdiscs are so much cooler to collect. It’s both a blessing and a curse that only four saw print. The Hulkster recently sold for $50 in this format. This is a nice set of early home media relics that can be quickly completely.

Monday Night Raw may be coming up on its thirtieth anniversary, but that just doesn’t hold the nostalgia for me that the ‘80s stuff does. I know many of you are the same way. It isn’t even our ages. There was just simply a magic in that Hulk Hogan – Randy Savage – Andre the Giant era that could never be duplicated. Even watching the shows back now, it’s evident that perhaps the world had become two cynical for magic like that. The grandeur was replaced by grit, or at least a manufactured version of grit. The company evolved as the tastes of the world changed. I’ll stay back when life was fun, thank you…