thewrestlingpress.com nostalgia

to show the rich variety of talent, matches and downright excitement and entertainment that each promotion or territory had to offer.

And where better to start than the big one?

THE WWF

The WWWF had officially changed its name to the WWF in 1979, and with Vince Jr forming Titan Sports in 1980, the decade of the 1980s really was the biggest decade of change in the WWF’s history. Vince Jr expanded the North Eastern territory, buying up and taking over other territories, and becoming a worldwide promotion. TV stations began broadcasting more and more WWF programming, the wrestling stars in the company became mainstream celebrity performers, and the WWF began to expand beyond even the boundaries of the United States.

It’s a story we as wrestling fans know all too well. The birth of Hulkamania, the ‘Rock n Wrestling connection’, the controversies, the ‘three ring circus’, the marketing of wrestling to families and, in specific, to children. But have we really taken the opportunity to examine just how much the WWF in the 1980s had to offer? It wasn’t all Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior wrestling beanie buddies!

Let’s have a little perusal of some of the Death Valley Driver’s top 20 matches from the WWF 1980s set and see just what it can reveal to us about how much the promotion had to offer:

SGT SLAuGHTER V IRON SHIEk (bOOTCAMP MATCH)

Yep, even before Hulkamania ran wild, the WWF had some good stuff to offer. Sgt Slaughter’s bootcamp matches are legendary, and for good reason. Solid brawling using some great psychology and blood aplenty that would appease even the most hardcore of the ECW or CZW lovers, this was the type of bout that neatly transitioned from the more adult-oriented WWWF to

the cartoonish WWF of the later 1980s.

RICky STEAMbOAT V RANDy SAVAGE

One thing that the WWF can really be proud of is its rich history of great

Intercontinental

champions. The Intercontinental title was ‘the wrestling belt’. While the WWF title in the 1980s was the belt that the top stars (and that usually meant ‘the bigger guys’) fought over, the Intercontinental title allowed the WWF to bring in solid technical wrestlers who could put on tremendous wrestling bouts. This match also is a demonstration of the crowds that the WWF drew. And that’s another thing you cannot deny, especially when it comes to Wrestlemania. A large, loud crowd can push a good match to a great match. And for that the WWF was second to none. How many of us as kids were riveted to what were fairly dull and ‘samey’ Hogan matches that seemed ten times more exciting to us because they took place in front of a huge crowd?

ADRIAN ADONIS/DICk MuRDOCH V THE bRISCO bROTHERS

Another sometimes overlooked aspect of the 1980s WWF was the tag team division. The WWF brought in many great tag teams, from the Briscos to the Brainbusters, and it made the division as strong as it ever was. Adonis and Murdoch also demonstrated another aspect of 1980s WWF wrestling that is often forgotten. They had a load of terrific heels. And it was as much the heels that made the crowds turn up to the arenas as it was the beatings they wanted the faces to give them.

bRET HART V RANDy SAVAGE

Aside from a one year title run for the Macho Man, neither Savage or Bret had major runs with the top belt during the 1980s. Yet both are remembered far more fondly by fans than the bigger stars such as Hogan and the Warrior. And that is another key to the WWF’s success in the 1980s. The sheer depth of talent really made the WWF ‘something for everyone’. Savage and Hart weren’t the archetype performers that you associate with 1980s WWF, but both were integral additions to the promotion, and additions that would spearhead the promotion into the next decade.

tWP WoRlDWiDe WReStlinG MAGAZine 13 Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48