One Match From Each of the First 10 WrestleManias

Today is WrestleMania. Well, tonight is the first part of the 40th WrestleMania, which now comes in two parts, because there is no greater master than money, and they can sell out two nights in a stadium with ease, or come so close that it doesn’t matter they didn’t; the point is these things make a lot of money for a company that could, just once, sacrifice bonus money for something special, but obviously they will not.

I don’t watch wrestling much anymore. This will change sometime, in one way or another; I have increasing doubts I will ever follow current wrestling the way I have in the past, though I did watch ACTION’s DEAN~!!! show on Thursday and the Ring of Honor show on Friday, and enjoyed both other than simply not having the desire to spend four hours watching wrestling shows anymore. It’s actually not that I have a lot else to be doing, but I do have other things I could do.

Mr. Perfect vs Terry Taylor (WWF, 1-18-1993)

WWF Monday Night Raw, New York, NY

A request! This is a good match from my memory of watching ’93 Raw again some years back, and by “some years back” I’m pretty sure I now mean nine or 10 years and that time is really starting to escape me, and I really would advise all of you to make the most of your life unlike me.

In fact, to go back to the less terrible part, I remember thinking this was better than the overrated Perfect vs Flair match from January ’93 Raw.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Royal Rumble Match (WWF, 1-15-1989)

WWF Royal Rumble, Houston, TX

A request! The first Royal Rumble match to air on PPV, as it became the last of the WWF’s original Big Four PPV shows following the debuts of WrestleMania (1985), Survivor Series (1987), and SummerSlam (1988). The first Rumble does pre-date the first SummerSlam, but aired on USA Network to take a further shit on Crockett’s Bunkhouse Stampede PPV.

It’s also the first 30-man Rumble, as the inaugural ’88 edition featured 20 men, and was won by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, featuring entirely midcard (however popular or whatever) wrestlers.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Tito Santana vs Mr. Perfect (WWF, 5-19-1990)

WWF Superstars, Austin, TX

Taped on April 23, aired on Superstars in May, and also is on the “Battle of the WWF Superstars” Coliseum tape, which is where I’m watching it now because whenever my brain frazzles a bit, I like to watch some Coliseum Video action.

This tape has Sean Mooney in Army fatigues and camo face paint doing a Marlon Brando impression while air raid sound effects go off between matches.

This is for the vacant Intercontinental title, which went up for grabs when Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan to win the WWF title at WrestleMania VI.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Mr. Perfect vs Ronnie Garvin (WWF, 12-12-1989)

WWF, Nashville, TN

This is the “Fan Favorites” request match from the “Supertape” Coliseum Video. It’s from a Wrestling Challenge taping at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

TAPE’s YouTube Wrestling Travels: Vol. 2

I’m back, and better than sometimes.

Let’s watch some wrestling on the magical internet site, YouTube.

Curt Hennig & Scott Hall vs The Long Riders (AWA, 4-20-1986)

AWA WrestleRock ’86, Minneapolis, MN

The passing of Scott Hall came this past Monday, on what was also my 40th birthday. Someone on Twitter, probably close to my age, said that Scott Hall/Razor Ramon was not a lot of peoples first favorite wrestler in that age group, but he was next up for many. I think that’s true. For me, he was a big part of that “second wave” of my wrestling fandom, if you will. I got into wrestling the way a lot of kids my age did, Hulk Hogan was a monster mainstream star. A lot of kids eventually moved on to other stuff that wasn’t wrestling, as Hogan couldn’t be that big forever, and kids bounce from interest to interest. But those of us who hung around developed new tastes. Yeah, Hogan got me in, and then it got into my blood. I didn’t just watch the WWF, I watched the NWA/WCW on TBS, I watched any other thing that would pop up on TV now and then. I hung through the lean years of 1991-95, and in that period, Razor Ramon — whom I’d first seen as The Diamond Studd in WCW — became a top tier favorite with Bret Hart and a lot of other guys, and when he went back to WCW in ’96, he sparked another wrestling boom.

He had his ups and downs from there, obviously. Sometimes he was still great. Often he was not. But Scott Hall could pop up after any amount of time away and come off like a star, and he always seemed cool. As Kevin Nash said, you cannot teach someone to “be cool,” they either have that in them or don’t. Hall did. Even in the ill-fated WWE comeback in 2002, even when he’d pop up in TNA — maybe he didn’t have a ton left in the ring, the years had worn on him from any number of directions, and maybe it was always something short-term, but he was always Scott Hall, if only for a moment, and you would remember something he’d done that took you back to when he was one of the best.

Mr. Perfect vs Kerry Von Erich (WWF, 8-27-1990)

WWF SummerSlam, Philadelphia, PA

The thing here is that Perfect got short notice for this match, accepting the Tornado’s challenge for the show less than 10 days ago. Kerry Von Erich is still pretty new to the WWF and they’re pushing “The Texas Tornado” big, but it’s a weird in-between where that’s not the name they call him exclusively, but it’s also clearly meant to be more than a nickname. This is also the second SummerSlam out of three to this point in history to have Brutus Beefcake advertised for an Intercontinental title shot, only to be injured and replaced, though this one was a serious legitimate injury from his parasailing accident, not just “Ron Boss busted him open recently” like in ’88.

Brutus Beefcake vs Mr. Perfect (WWF, 1-23-1989)

WWF on MSG Network, New York, NY

This is before Hennig got his singlet so he’s still in the blue trunks, but he is fully going by “Mr. Perfect” so we’re past the “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig stage. Historically, Curt is one of the only guys who could get good matches out of Beefer once Bruti became a barber.

Shawn Michaels vs Mr. Perfect (WWF, 8-30-1993)

WWF SummerSlam, Auburn Hills, MI

This match is regarded as kind of an all-time disappointment. Perfect wasn’t quite “prime” in ’93 but he was still capable of great matches with the right opponents, and Michaels had all the talent in the world in the ring, even if he was still a year or two away from getting really consistent with his output. But maybe THIS is the time I’ll watch this and think it’s good!