Wwe Wrestling Action Figures

The day my love for professional wrestling died

Four years ago this week, my love for professional wrestling was silenced.

I grew up with a very healthy appreciation for the sport of professional wrestling.  Yes, I know it’s about as scripted as an episode of The Bachelorette, and yes I know that the matches are predetermined 98.3% of the time, but for me it was always the excitement of seeing the good guys – the faces – the heroes – winning against all odds and defeating the heels – the bad guys – the villains.  Who didn’t cheer the day Bruno Sammartino finally defeated Larry Zbyszko in the steel cage match at Shea Stadium?  Or the time when “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat battled to one of the greatest matches ever in Wrestlemania III?

My love for professional wrestling survived many challenges.  I watched it in college – sometimes there were WWF matches at the Clinton Arena, and it was amazing sight to see one of the college drama professors sitting in the front row of the match, screaming and cheering as then-WWF champion Bob Backlund completely destroyed Greg “The Hammer” Valentine.  In the 1990′s, I would have “Monday Night Wrestling” parties over at my house, where I and some of Vicki’s friends and cousins would order pizza and watch WCW Monday Nitro and then – thanks to a working VCR – watch WWF Monday Night Raw.

I kept watching pro wrestling – even the times when the independent shows played in Schenectady at the IUE Hall.  I still remember a match at the IUE Hall between King Kong Bundy and Primo Carnera III.  It was supposed to be a “best two out of three falls” match, but after Bundy jumped off the second rope for a kneedrop, the force of the 500-pound behemoth hitting the ring mat actually snapped one of the bottom ring supports, and the mat sagged under the collapse.  No, the ring wasn’t gimmicked – it just broke.  Great stuff.

I kept watching pro wrestling – and, over time, I interviewed several professional wrestlers for magazine articles.  Bret “Hitman” Hart was a willing participant in an interview for Hockey Digest, where we talked about his ownership of a junior hockey team.  Chris Jericho discussed his metal band Fozzy as part of an interview for the music magazine Goldmine.  RoadKing magazine featured one of my articles about wrestling reunion fanfests, in which I interviewed, among other stars, Mick Foley and Bruno Sammartino.  And Toy Collector Magazine was the beneficiary of an article I wrote on professional wrestling action figures – and yes, I spoke with everyone from Luna Vachon to Ted DiBiase Sr. to Tammy Sytch.

Wwe Micro Action Figure | Action Figures

Feeling that the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) remained the only wrestling product on U.S. national television was not healthy to the industry, Jeff Jarrett launched the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA Wrestling.) The rest is then history. TNA becomes one of the most successful wrestling show in cable, internet and mobile video in the history. TNA Wrestling Micro Impact!

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