From The Musty Yellowed Pages--WWF Magazine January 1995

Ahhh 1995. The New Generation. A gimmick that I never necessarily bought into, although I did appreciate that so many of the characters and talent that I started enjoying through wrestling were still around. The cover of this magazine featured three of those with King Kong Bundy, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, and Jameson. So despite the '90s being well documented as a time that I least like to remember and have probably written about the least on this blog over the past decade, here we are. Let's take a look at what the World Wrestling Federation was made of during one of its most tumultuous times.

As evidenced by the cover, this is the 1994 Christmas issue. Although magazines are all but a memory now, for those of you who are too young to know, periodicals were usually dated far ahead. We would have purchased this off of the newsstand just as Christmas trees and Kris Kringle were fresh on our minds, thus King Kong Bundy dressed as Santa Claus.

I used the word "tumultuous" above to describe the WWF at this point in time and that was no exaggeration. In front of the cameras the fans were dealing with a constant trade-out of talent in an attempt to introduce new stars and create new superstars. This didn't always work, thus displayed by King Kong Bundy being a lead heel on the roster. Behind the scenes the company was dealing with the fallout of the infamous steroid trial that saw Vince McMahon front and center. In a rare acknowledgement of McMahon as being more than just an announcer, a two page article tells of the trial and McMahon's appearance with Chet Coppock discussing some very real-life situations.

We get a preview of "Caged!," which was the first entry in what was to be a regular series of magazines labeled as "WWF Limited Edition Collector's Series." While there only ended up being two editions, these magazines were to take a look at specific concepts such as steel cage matches and Monday Night Raw. The "Caged!" issue featured glimpses at many matches that were otherwise largely unseen back in the day, seeing as that many of these "blow-off" encounters were either dark matches or limited strictly to house shows. The shot of Rowdy Roddy Piper hoisting both the WWF and Intercontinental Championship belts has always been a favorite of mine.

The magazine had other interesting features that weren't part of the WWF's standard operating procedure back in 1995. There were both "The Informer" and "The Bite" penned "secretly" by Vince Russo. Both offered "rumor and innuendo" of "insider" information that pretended to pull back the curtain in an era where kayfabe still lived in a loose sense. "Rookies to Legends," in this issue featuring George "The Animal" Steele, looked at superstars from the past in an era where only current talent was mentioned 99% of the time. To appeal to the kids, we had video game reviews as well as the merchandise catalog showcasing overpriced (for the time) Hasbro WWF figures at $9.99 a pop, as well as now-coveted items such as the Doink the Clown teddy bear, complete with Dink bear.

Jeff Jarrett got a load of coverage in the magazine. This issue may show why. Double J has always had a relationship with Vince Russo and in this particular spread the writer is even shown speaking with Jarrett. This time Double J has invaded Las Vegas complete with showgirls and celebrity impersonators. A later issue has Jarrett, along with The Roadie, invading Hollywood and hobnobbing with the likes of "Golden Girl" Estelle Getty. Talk about a clash in my interests with me being an unashamed lifelong fan of the geriatric foursome as well as Double J.

This issue also features the second annual "Dubious Achievement Awards." It's a humorous look at the then-current goings on in the World Wrestling Federation. I remember the 1993 version being a bit funnier, but here we do get a rare shot of Heidi Lee Morgan in WWF Magazine (battling Bull Nakano) as well as one of the few mentions of announcer Charlie Minn. Though I was still an avid WWF viewer at the time, I recall not knowing who Minn was. I do believe that he hosted WWF Action Zone at the time, which I did not view or record for whatever reason.

We wrap up with a look at the WWF Holiday Wish tour, Lowdown (a collection of news worthy blurbs), a puzzle game, and "Scoop Sullivan," a largely forgotten back page cartoon. Though I missed many stars of my earlier childhood, at the time I still ate these magazines up. They were what I ultimately wanted to get into then. Thankfully, as an adult, I got to live out that dream albeit briefly. In 1995, I doubt I had many more Christmas wishes other than that...

Christmas In The Squared Circle

Just like Thanksgiving, Christmas was once a major night to head to the matches.  What greater gift than a pair of tickets to see your favorite stars?  Of course, it wasn't so great for the talent who had to be out working instead of home with their loved ones. Today, Christmas themed wrestling events and seasonal stops are instead positioned before and after the actual holiday.  It may be better for the talent themselves, but the events don't have quite the same feeling when pre-taped.

The most famous Christmas wrestling event was undoubtedly the 1982 WCCW Christmas Star Wars event. Ric Flair successfully defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Kerry Von Erich in a cage match. Special referee Michael PS Hayes seemed to be calling the match evenly when the unthinkable happened.  Just as Von Erich was about to exit the cage, Hayes' Fabulous Freebird "brother" Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy sent the steel door crashing into Von Erich's skull.  This event began the legendary Von Erich-Freebirds feud that is credited for making World Class Championship Wrestling one of the hottest promotions of the '80s.

Of course, WWE has been no stranger to holiday themed events, even in recent years.  The company has received a lot of positive press for its annual Tribute To The Troops event.  Although in the past few years it has become more of a USO-style variety show taped in the U.S., original incarnations of the event were actual wrestling cards taped at overseas military bases.  While any version of these events are a wonderful holiday gesture, those first events were extra special, playing to an audience that needed such an escape brought directly to them.  It should be noted that Vince McMahon and a group of WWE Superstars and Divas still personally visit the troops overseas each holiday season.

Closer to home, wrestling can be part of your Christmas motif right along with Rudolph, Frosty, and Snoopy. WWE regularly rolls out a full line of Christmas decor featuring all of your favorite WWE Superstars.  In the late 1990's WCW produced a line of ornaments featuring the best of WCW and the nWo including "Santa With Muscles" himself, Hulk Hogan.  But perhaps my favorite Christmas themed wrestling items are the various publications with grapplers "enjoying" the holidays.  Bundy Claus?  It happened!  And what better holiday gift than Jameson Winger?

From my heart to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We'll see you in 2015 where all of January the blog will be celebrating the silver anniversary of a retro wrestling favorite!

House of Nuts: Meeting the Crazies of Wrestling

Each year at this time I come to the same conclusion: pro wrestling is one giant Halloween party. Sure, since the 1980's that has become more and more true, but the industry has always had more than its share of colorful characters. Let's not forget that names like Pampero Firpo, The Sheik, and Abdullah the Butcher all originated more than 50 years ago!

Most wrestling fans would be lying if they told you that at least one of these outlandish, colorful, and many times untamed characters wasn't among their favorites. The matches that most of these men produce aren't exactly "Funk-Brisco classics," but I've always found that the happiest wrestling fans are those that can find enjoyment in all aspects of the sport. Like a connoisseur of music that appreciates the differences in genres, the best wrestling fans appreciate each and every style presented on a particular wrestling card.

Meeting these men can be an equally wild and crazy experience. What fan watching wrestling on a Saturday morning all of those years ago could ever imagine standing next to "The Ugandan Giant" Kamala or grappling with George "The Animal" Steele over just exactly whose friend "Mine" really is?

In actuality, many of these men who chewed anything from raw meat to turnbuckles are among the nicest and most down-to-earth gentlemen that you would ever want to meet. As one of the most memorable characters of 1980's WWF action, Steele barely spoke more than a handful of words. Although it was always the rumor of the schoolyard that "The Animal" actually taught school, it is not until you meet the man himself that you truly grasp the idea. And how about Kamala? The jungles of Uganda were actually the shrubs of Jerry Jarrett's backyard and the gibberish-speaking headhunter is in reality a well-spoken southern gentleman.

That isn't to say that meeting these men destroys the illusion. On the contrary, seeing just how gigantic Kamala actually is would probably surprise most fans. Other crazies of the ring such as Ox Baker barely change outside of the ring with growling, yelling, and even...singing.

Of my encounters with the various screwballs of the squared circle, it's one of the most recent that stands out like no other. Although he never actually had a match, fans of late '80s and early '90s WWF action will clearly remember Jameson. Beginning as a character on the short lived "Bobby Heenan Show" and later "managing" The Bushwhackers, Jameson was an unkempt poindexter who for the time was the go-to guy for comic relief in the World Wrestling Federation.

The man who portrayed Jameson, an actor by the name of John DiGiacomo, has made several wrestling convention appearances this year, most recently at Legends of the Ring in New Jersey. While some fans may question why a character such as his would appear at a wrestling convention, I've mentioned in previous entries that these shows always strive to book "fresh" guests to keep fan interest. Jameson fit that bill perfectly. Any fan who still had reservations about meeting a side "character" such as this was put at ease as soon as Jameson entered the room...and also put into stitches. Jameson's quirky antics were funnier in person than they were twenty years ago on Prime Time Wrestling. Just like George Steele and Mine or Kamala in his full makeup and costume, Jameson rekindled the magic of wrestling's zany best just one more time.

Still yet, there are some crazy characters of wrestling that shock the fans of today in another way. While many assumed that the "Wild Bull of the Pampas" Pampero Firpo was long gone, fans that attended the 2011 NWA Fanfest in Atlanta were proven very wrong. Although he looked quite different from his glory days from the 1950's through the 1970's, Firpo seemed as happy to meet the fans as they were to meet him. Equally as amusing was hearing his colleagues marvel at how shocking it was to see the wildman without his trademark hair and beard.

Though characters such as the Boogeyman still occasionally pop up today, the days of the truly crazy, offbeat, and zany in professional wrestling are all but gone. They'll be back. Fans will only be able to take so many cookiecutter overly muscled types before they're yearning for facepaint, bald heads, and back hair resembling a brillo pad.