80s professional wrestling

It was the most low-brow, juvenile theater you could imagine... and it was fantastic.

I'm an Attitude Era kid.

Like music, regardless of your age it peaked when you were young.

It was a little too "eye rolly" for me.

Did enjoy the series "GLOW" on Netflix about early days of women wrestling.

bob backlund era was my introduction to pro wrestling. a very underrated performer who was strong as fuck. youtube his match against hulk hogan and you'll see an amazing feat of strength performed.

anybody remember the wrestling magazines at the local news stand where the front cover always had pics of wrestlers bleeding all over? they usually featured the wrestlers from the nwa. i would have to move the tv antennas around on saturdays at 2-3pm just so i could see the nwa guys go at it on some uhf spanish tv station. this was a great substitute in place of the hulk hogan garbage the wwf was promoting.

I didn’t care much for the 80’s Hogan era stuff, but as a kid growing up in the South in the 60’s I enjoyed the antics of Freddie Blassie, the Graham Brothers, the Von Brauners, and similar characters.

The best wrestling match I saw was Ric Flair vs Terry Funk in an "I Quit" match which was televised "around the world" on PPV. They were phenomenal performers. Front row seats on wood folding chairs all for $12

Randy Macho Man Savsge (and Elizabeth), the iron sheik, chief strong bow, Rowdy Piper, The Sarge, the junkyard dog, the Mulkeys. The suplex, the gord buster.
Comical, campy, over the top testosterone, any ladies event on the undercard got stripped to panties. Bong hits, munchables and sometimes WWE was perfect teenager TV watching.

JamesSD is exactly right - and as a child of the 80s I love everything from that decade. The movies, the music, the clothing… even though I was a “teenager” in the 90s the 80s was a far superior entertainment decade for me.

When I look back at my favorite TV shoes like A-Team, Miami Vice, Magnum PI, Cheers, man they are cheesy now and especially wrestling which was even too cheesy for 7 year old me back in the 80s!

I have to say that I just don’t get pro wrestling. I mean really, who wants to see two damn dirty apes engaging in gladiatorial combat without weapons? It might be entertaining if you give on ‘em a sword and shield and the other a trident and net with little hooks or something like that.

But you know what would be even better? Hairless ape vs lion. I’m bettin’ on the lion 🦁 ROAR!!!

I watch Taiho back in the 60's while in Japan.

the mulkey brothers. i heard somewhere that before the first match would start there would be a page with a chart posted up with who was going to wrestle who for the whole card. so imagine what the mulkeys' reaction was when they saw that they would have to be matched up with the road warriors that evening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QArGZ5T_…

^
“Road warriors” sounds like good entertainment.

Imagine this: a bunch a damn dirty apes get all loaded on drivin’ whiskey and have a demolition derby. You could give them all firearms if you want something even more entertaining. But it should be revolvers. Makes the reloading more exciting. ROAR!!!

I recall the wrestling of the 60s and 70s. Gorilla Monsoon; Freddie Blasie; WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino; professor Toro Tanaka; Haystack Calhoun; The flying Frenchman and on and on. The Vicious Moolah was the name given one of my female cousins so her brother, the Flying Frenchman could legitimately drop kick her....

Gorgeous George was the father of TV wrestling. I used to watch him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyGqLSQj…

Skifredo finally says something intelligent! Yes, involving gorillas would make the gladiatorial combat more entertaining. And just imagine my drunken demolition derby with many different kinds of apes driving. But no bonobos. Those freak will just want to lick genitalia rather than engage in crazed combat.

Anyhoo, I’ll just say that now we’re talkin’ about real entertainment. How else would you damn dirty apes suggest modifying the games? ROAR!!!

Jimmy......SUPER FLY.......Snuka.

Top turnbuckle. That is all.

Disregard his questionable personal choices.

PS. George the Animal Steele comes in second. He was a high school teacher.

@rattdog I saw story handful of years ago on one of the Mulkey brothers. As teens watching, they were the perennial punching bags, the near consummate very well known losers. None of us wanted to be them. Now I’m older and reading the article to see Chris Mulkey’s WWE income well into the 8 figures, yea I’d be that well known loser punching bag now

I was watching ann old clip of the ultimate warrior on Arsenio recently. Hilarious stuff. The just don’t make characters like that anymore.

My personal opinion later in the 90’s Stone Cold Steve Austin was the GOAT. Nobody tops him imo. And you had the Rock too. Attitude era was crazy.

The villains of the 80’s were great! Iran Sheik, George the Animal Steele, Macho Man, the Claw, you can name a bunch! The good vs evil tag team match ups were the tops! That would be like tuscl’s version of Shadowcat vs Dugan.

The only time I see any wrestling is when I'm clicking through the channels. and yes. I only have antenna TV.

It's tough for me to pick a

Favorite there are Too many. But Mankid takes the MOAT masochist of all time without question that guy is fucking fearless. I think he deserves to be in the next jackass movie 😆

I loved Professor Toru Tenaka. Not sure what his academic field was.
Mr. Fuji was a fucking creep. He cheated. He threw sleeping powder on opponents but the refs could never catch him! Very frustrating.