The above photo is a picture of the very thing that got me hardcore into wrestling. On my eighth or ninth birthday, a friend gave me that issue of WWF Wrestling Spotlight. It detailed his career from his entry into the WWF, to his surprise Intercontinental title win. through his feuds with Hercules Hernandez, the Heenan family and others.
I was aware of the WWF of course well before that. I used to catch swaths of the saturday morning cartoon, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling, and I was familiar with the feud between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper. In the years that followed, I caught glimpses of the Snake Pit as I would change channels, and I would see my father coming home with a rented VHS copy of Wrestlemania 2.
I was not allowed to watch the product, even though it was incredibly family friendly. I eventually just let it be, only catching the odd glimpse of Hillbilly Jim and Ricky Steamboat matches on USA.
Until this magazine.
I read it cover to cover, back and forth until the damn thing fell apart. I brought it to school, and read it during my lunch times. My teachers noted that I would spend my time reading this one magazine issue over and over again, rather than do my school work, and it damn near got me in serious trouble.
I was a wrestling fan, yet I had NEVER seen an entire match all the way through, much LESS a whole wrestling show.
It was shortly after my tenth birthday in 1990 when everything changed. My little eyes caught a glimpse of the advertising for Wrestlemania VI. Seeing Hulk Hogan and this guy that I had only read about for almost 2 years advertised as going up against each other REALLY piqued my interest BIG TIME. Finally, the dual combo of seeing Warrior as champ, and Hogan being attacked by Earthquake on the Brother Love show was the straw the broke this fat camel's back, and I've been watching ever since.
Warrior the person since then has turned out to be something of a... well... nutjob according to most accounts. He was ultra right wing, with his catch phrase seemingly swithing between "Always Believe" and "queering don't make the world work." I also moved on, becoming more interested in Hogan's carreer, and later in more obscure stuff. Nonetheless, I was always impressed with no matter how intense he was in the ring, he was just as intense in his personal life.
And while I do not respect his beliefs, and NO ONE has to respect this garbage even if the man has died...
... I still am grateful for him ramping up my interest in this industry.
And it all started with a single magazine.
- Chris "Sledge" Douglas
