The start of the year saw an old institution make way for the new. Prime Time Wrestling, which debuted back in 1985, aired for the last time, to be replaced the following week by Monday Night RAW. Airing live from the Manhattan Centre on January 11, the show was hosted by Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and comedian/actor, Rob Bartlett. Bobby […]
1992 was a year of major transition in the WWF. Unlike the previous couple of years, when Vince McMahon struggled to take the ball completely from Hulk Hogan, he was given no choice when ‘The Hulkster’ left after Wrestlemania, apparently never to return. A past hero came back, but by the time the year was up, he and a number […]
The start of a new decade saw the WWF attempt to move on from Hulkamania, the driving force that had largely made the WWF the undisputed leader in “sports entertainment.” As explained in part one of our on-going series, the first whisperings that ‘The Hulkster’ may be moving on to pursue other endeavours caused Vince McMahon to move up another […]
Vince McMahon knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish when he took over the family business in the middle of 1982. To many, it was a grandiose and over-ambitious plan that would see the young upstart go down in ruin. The plan was to take the already strong North-Eastern promotion national, which meant stepping on plenty of toes. However, with […]
On June 19, 2016 at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Dominion 6.19 event in Osaka-jo Hall Kazuchika Okada defeated Tetsuya Naito to capture his fourth IWGP Heavyweight Championship. What followed was a reign that cemented Okada’s position at the top of the company, one of the greatest title reigns of the modern era, both for longevity and match quality. Star ratings […]
As might be expected, the arrival of Hulk Hogan to World Championship Wrestling in the middle of 1994 created a bit of a stir. For years, ‘The Hulkster’ had been at the head of Vince McMahon’s national expansion throughout the 1980s; nobody could ever have envisioned him working for another American-based promotion. However, in the early 1990s came the dreaded […]
It would be the biggest match in WCW’s history, the bout fans had been waiting many months for, during one of the hottest periods in professional wrestling’s history. A match that, despite the epic war on Monday nights, was not rushed or given away for free, but held in place for WCW’s biggest pay-per-view on the calendar – Starrcade 1997. […]
It will forever be known as one of the darkest days in professional wrestling’s history. A date that sounded alarm bells as the reality for promoters sunk in, that Vince McMahon was serious about taking his company national, and he would do anything to make that happen. While it would become common for McMahon to take syndicated television deals from […]
Carl Reiner, an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades, said of the late Andy Kaufman, “nobody can see past the edges, where the character begins and he ends.” Kaufman was a very eccentric entertainer, who enjoyed coming up with elaborate hoaxes for publicity. His range of characters included “Foreign Man” – later to be […]
“I’m sorry, I love you”. The metaphorical gun was cocked, the trigger pulled. An old dog, finally able to find peace. The gun – a super kick. The shooter – Shawn Michaels. And the old dog – one of the greatest careers in the history of professional wrestling, that of Ric Flair. It cannot be overstated how important Ric Flair […]
