Now for something completely different - Wrestling History

Nikklos

had a chance to sift through some of my old wrestling mags and programs over this fine 4th of July weekend. Stumbled across one item in particular that I think a few of you will appreciate.

On its face, it is a WWF program circa October 1983 featuring Masked Superstar on the cover. He was later to become Ax or Smash I forget which. But at the time, he was a scary adversary to Bob Backlund, breaking Eddie Gilbert's neck and all.



My Dad reassured me that Masked a Superstar would not beat my idol Backlund for the title because he wasn't enough of an antihero. Boy my Dad was smart.

But what is really intriguing about this program is that it is from October 17, 1983. Madison Square Garden. The historic Steel Cago match between Jimmy Snuka and Magnificemt Muraco. This was the match that inspired Mick Foley to become a wrestler. As a few of you may know.

I was among the 20,000 fans who screamed in disbelief when Snuka head butted Muraco out of the cage. And then cried with joy when he climbed the Steel Cage and delivered his famous Superfly.



Other things of note about the lineup card:

* this was pre-babyface turn Sgt Slaughter. But he had finished his title shot run and was kind of irrelevant at this point.

*. They would always send out the Samoans individually to do jobs at MSG by this time.

* My favorite wrestler by far was SD Jones. Just don't remember if they made him job for Tiger Chung Lee that night.

jrboles

S.D. Jones was my all time favorite as well. As wrestling's perennial "opening band" it's kind of appropriate he is first on the card.

Dpeck100

I can't imagine the excitement of seeing the famous Super Fly leap and splash off the top of the cage. WOW such a cool story.

On a side note this is one of the early WWF programs after Vince Jr. severed his ties with Norman Keitzer and The Wrestling News who made their programs for many years. The begining of the end for that magazine.

Nikklos

Not as exciting as having drinks with Ric Flair but it was pretty thrilling! I still remember the emotions and excitement at MSG when it was happening.

BostonAmericans

Those were some great wrestlers. I loved Putski when I was a kid.

gregmo32

Wow. That match was legendary by 1985. One of the best executed match concepts from start to finish in wrestling history.

BigMK

I remember watching that on TV when I was a kid. I can remember the anticipation leading up to the Snuka /Morocco match and hoping Snuka would jump off the top of the cage. He lost the match but delighted all the fans when he jumped off the top of the cage. I remember talking about it at school the next day and the buzz it created, I was in the 6th grade at the time. Funny, the things I remember. Wrestling was big at that time where I grew up and on the verge of even bigger things when Hogan won the title shortly after. I always used to look forward to the big wrestling matches at Madison Square Garden each month where it was televised live. From what I remember, we only had wrestling on Saturday mornings for 1 hour where they had all the crappy matches and then once a month where they would have the big card with all the title matches at MSG. I grew up on Long Island, and I guess depending upon where you lived determined what wrestling programs were on TV that was local to your area. For us it was the WWF as it was known back then, and we never go to see the other wrestling alliances like the NWA or AWA unless it was in a magazine. Lost interest in wrestling a few years later as I got older, but always remember that cage match in particular. Cool to see the program for that event.

PMKAY

Iron Mike Sharpe was on TV a lot in Canada when I was a kid. He referred to himself as "Canada's Greatest Athlete" which drove me nuts as I could not fathom how he was a better athlete than my hero Wayne Gretzky.

Dpeck100

Here are some auto's that relate.

The Masked Superstar turned into Ax from Demolition.















Snuka was so jacked at the time. I probably have watched the clip 50 times on Youtube.















Snuka Leap

PMKAY

My wrestling card collection pales in comparison to those of several members here but this may be my favorite of the ones I own. Still a POP 1. These were my 2 favorite wrestlers when I first started watching as a kid. Edited to add that I like the OPC version that DPECK has pictured above better than the Topps. My first crack at getting one of those graded did not go well (5) but I have a few more at PSA right now.

Dpeck100

One of the first MOC figures I bought to bust out and display. Jimmy Snuka from the 1984 Series 1.

Tabe

That MSG card was awesome. And Superstar was great. A really great wrestler. Watch the documentary "The Good Old Days" to see lots of footage of him without the mask.