Body Slammin' into the Next Millennium
By John Powers
5/11/98
The past 15 years have brought great changes to the sport of professional wrestling. I started watching professional wrestling in the fall of 1985, during the height of the Rock-n-Wrestling Era. I was in the third grade and my fellow classmates were talking about how great the Junk Yard Dog, Big John Studd, and Hulk Hogan were. Not wanting to be left out, I started to watch the WWF the next Saturday Morning. It was all new to me and after a couple of weeks I started to know some of the names and know who was "good" and who was "bad." One of the first wrestling matches which I fondly remember was then-champion Tito Santana losing the WWF Intercontinental title to Randy Savage in February 1986. It was that match from the old Boston Garden that truly made me a fan of professional wrestling. Savage grabbed a foreign object out of his tights, clocked Santana with it, kicked it to the lovely Elizabeth who concealed it in her purse. Savage truly laid the foundations for the heels of today.
Through the next several years, Hulkamania ran wild in the WWF with seemingly no end in sight. Hogan had feuded and beat the likes of The Iron Sheik, King Kong Bundy, rowdy Piper, Paul Orndorff, among others. The WWF broke the indoor attendance record in March 1987 at the Pontiac Silver Dome. While Hulkamania ruled in the WWF, Ric Flair was "The Man" in WCW's precursor, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). One of the most memorable feuds that I remember from this era in the NWA was between Ric Flair and Terry Funk. Early in the feud, Funk attempted to suffocate Flair with a plastic bag. Later Funk actually gave Flair a pile driver through a table. This happened about 10 years before the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) came into existence. So contrary to popular belief, moves through tables did not originate in ECW.
But you know what they say about "all good things" Although professional wrestling had achieved its main stream status, the art form had entered a state of stagnation, and by 1991 had become too "fake" and "uncool." With a cartoon-like atmosphere and silly characters, not even the most naive fan coud take professional wrestling seriously. Who could forget a Outback Jack, Saba Simba, the Gobblygooker, and a potential world champion (who will remain nameless) acting like an over grown rooster?
Some may say that this continued until the Summer of 1996, when two events ushered in the beginning of the "Attitude Era" in professional wrestling, which once again pt the spot in the main stream media spotlight. At the WWF King of the Ring Pay-Per-View on June 23rd of that year, Steve Austin coined the term "Austin 3:16." Soon an entire line of Austin 3:16 shirts, hats, posters, action figures, and other items became available in retail stores across the nation. For rival WCW the formation of the nWo (new World order) and the creation of the nWo t-shirt lead to a degree of popularity that that organization had never achieved before.
Regardless of the exact state of professional wrestling, the "psuedo-sport" remains a hybrid of several art forms, mixing Hollywood special effects, theatrical performances, and athleticism into one entity. No other sport or form of entertainment can rightly lay claim to this statement.
With the existence of local independent wrestling organizations, such as Unified Championship Wrestling (U.C.W.) out of Pawtucket, RI, it is almost guaranteed that new talent and increased interest in the sport will remain for some time to come. Professional wrestling has again gone through a metamorphosis in the last couple of years. Only time will tell how long the so-called "Attitude Era" will last. As long as fans of professional wrestling continue to watch the TV shows, go to the arena, order, pay-per �views, and buy the merchandise, one can expect this new vitality in professional wrestling to last well into the next millennium.