My First Live Wrestling Show

This is repost from June 4, 2015.  On this day 37 years ago I attended my first ever live wrestling event.  Since that time I have attended 386 more!

I have always been a wrestling fan, I can’t remember not watching wrestling and that’s thanks to my Dad who was also a fan.  I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I am a much bigger fan than he ever was, but I still have him to thank for my love of wrestling.

It was my Dad who took me and my Cousin Chrissy to my first ever World Wrestling Federation show on June 4, 1989 at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.   Now I don’t remember all the fine details but I will tell you what I do remember.

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Actual tickets stubs that were ripped on opposite sides and I lined them up to reform a single ticket

We bought the tickets at the back of a department store from Ticketron, I believe it was Sears, my Dad didn’t tell me what we were doing and when I heard him order them I got so excited.  During Superstars they would always have a segment talking about WWF On Tour and whenever they mentioned Maine, which was more often back then, I would beg to go and finally he relented.

My brother was jealous that I was getting to go to the show and he wasn’t so our stepfather took him and they sat in a different section on the floor.

At the souvenir stand my Cousin Chrissy and I both got a poster and a t-shirt, she got the Hulk Hogan Teddy Bear T-Shirt and I believe she got a Mrs. Elizabeth poster but she can’t recall.  I got an Ultimate Warrior poster and a No Holds Barred t-shirt that I still have.   My brother got the Hulk Rules rip off shirt.

This is the same poster that I got that day

What was peculiar about the No Hold Barred shirt was the fact that Hulk Hogan signed it, in fact he signed all of them, but some reason mine was signed twice one on above the other.  A couple other kids walking by pointed it out as they also had No Holds Barred shirts that were signed, but only once!

My son Canaan wearing my No Holds Barred T-Shirt I got at this show

The double autograph

Canaan wearing my brothers Hulk Rules shirt from this show, the bandana is mine from another time

My dad has taken photos, however I had never seen them and he lost them.  I recently asked Phil Laine if he had any photos of the show as he goes to every wrestling show practically.  Of course he was front row and he had doubles and gave be the second set.  He mostly has photos of the Hogan match but there were a few others. 

The Results:

Paul Roma defeated Boris Zhukov

Tim Horner defeated Barry Horowitz

The Warlord defeated Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart

Dino Bravo pinned Hercules special guest referee “Rugged” Ronnie Garvin

“American Dream” Dusty Rhodes (sub for Jake “The Snake” Roberts) defeated “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase

Bret “Hitman” Hart fought Mr. Perfect to a 20 minute time limit draw

Tag Team Champions: Demolition: Ax & Smash defeated Twin Towers: Big Boss Man & Akeem the African Dream

“Macho Man” Randy Savage with “Sensational” Sherri Martel defeated World Champion: Hulk Hogan via count-out

I remember being disappointed that Jake wasn’t there as he was one of the guys that I was looking forward to the most, but Dusty Rhodes was an amazing substitute.   My dad used to rent all the tapes and I had seen Dusty Rhodes in classic battles with Tully Blanchard and Ric Flair, he hadn’t even debuted in the WWF on TV yet so it was so excited to see a wrestler the NWA unexpectedly.

So cool to see Demolition in person!  I still remember the Bret Hart vs. Perfect match being one of the best matches I have ever seen.  Even at almost 10 years old I was able to appreciate it for how magnificent it was.

When Hulk Hogan came out the crowd was the loudest and everyone was standing and jumping.  Hogan was the only guy I couldn’t see until he was elevated on the ring apron.  At that time I was a huge Hogan fan so when he lost I was really disappointed.  I realized that he was still the Champion, but he still lost.  

Phil's Photo's:

Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. Mr. Perfect

Dino Bravo vs. Hercules with special referee "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin

Demolition vs. Twin Towers

"Sensational" Sherri & "Macho Man" Randy Savage

Hogan hulking up

Famous pose sending the fans home happy

What was your first WWF/WWE show?

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Later Readers!

 

Why is Athena Still Champion

I don't normally complain about the Tony Khan's booking, I know many others do, I say let them  As a lifelong wrestling fan I am not at all a fan of the WWE's presentation, and love AEW, many people feel the opposite.  One of my good friends admits he's a WWE loyalist and feels they can do NOTHING wrong, I thoroughly disagree with his assertion.

As I said I typically don't complain about Tony's booking, but I CANNOT stand his booking of Athena as the Ring of Honor Women's Champion.  The "forever" champion is old and the recent comparisons to Bruno Sammartino is infuriating to me!

As of this posting she's been the ROH Women's Champion for 1,260 days, which is about 3 weeks longer than Bruno's second reign as WWWF World Champion and about 1,200 days less than his first reign.  She has had 37 successful defenses of her title in that time.  In Bruno's first reign I can find a record of 709 and in his second reign 214, and you know they are missing matches.

WWE states that Bruno sold out Madison Square Garden 188 times, while Cage Match only lists 160 matches for Bruno at the Garden.  Athena had 3 listed matches at the World's Most Famous arena. 

While I'm not a fan of Athena, she does have many people that are fans of her, but it is laughable to think that Athena is anywhere near as great as Bruno Sammartino.

I don't understand why she is still the champion, there have been more than on instance where timing was right for her to lose, most recently at Supercard of Honor 2026.  What should have happened at the beginning of Survival of the Fittest is that everyone should have ganged up on Athena and quickly eliminated her first.  It gives her an excuse for the loss, and makes her an immediate contender for the new champion.  

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

Wrestling Matches the Day I was Born

My buddy Brandon was born on November 24, 1983 which is the same day as the inaugural Starrcade event.  I've known about this for a long time and I've wonder from time to time what wrestling shows, if any, were happening the day I was born, I mean there's no way it was as good as Starrcade 1983, but I was born on a Sunday and there had to be a show or two going on that day.

So I took to Cagematch and searched June 24, 1979 and found 7 shows across the US, 1 in Canada and 1 in Japan, let's take a look.

IWE Big Summer Series 1979, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan

Main event saw Alexis Smirnoff & Ox Baker defeat Great Kusatsu & Isamu Teranishi

Maple Leaf Wrestling, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario Canada

7 match card with a huge double main event, other matches featured Ernie Ladd, Ricky Steamboat, Paul Orndorff, Jim Brunzell, Jay Youngblood and more

NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion: Dino Bravo defeat NWA United States Champion: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair by disqualification WWF Champion Bob Backlund defeated Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.  

AWA: American Wrestling AssociationTelevision Taping, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Matches featuring Jesse Ventura, Billy Robinson, The Blonde Bombers: Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens in tag team action, and Greg Gagne defeated AWA World Heavyweight Champion: Nick Bockwinkel

AWA: American Wrestling Association, Minneapolis Auditorium, Minnesota

select matches from the card that night include

Pat Patterson defeats Doug Gilbert

Jesse Ventura vs. Paul Elering - Draw

Greg Gagne defeats Ray Stevens by DQ

Billy Robinson & Verne Gagne defeat Bobby Duncum & AWA World Heavyweight Champion: Nick Bockwinkel

NWA Western States, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Dick Murdoch & Giant Baba defeat Blackjack Mulligan & James J. Dillon

NWA Big Time Wrestling, Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas

main event: Andre The Giant & Bruiser Brody defeated Gary Hart, Mark Lewin & The Spoiler

GCW: Georgia Championship Wrestling, Cobb County Civic Center, Marietta, Georgia

Genichiro Tenryu wrestled on the show and other matches included:

Wahoo McDaniel defeating The Masked Superstar

Ivan Koloff & Ole Anderson vs. Stan Hansen & Tommy Rich wrestled to a no contest

WWF: World Wrestling Federation, Civic Center, Wheeling, West Virginia

matches included 

Ted DiBiase defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna by DQ

WWF Tag Team Champions: The Valiant Brothers: Jerry Valiant & Johnny Valiant defeated Haystacks Calhoun & Ivan Putski by Count Out

Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling: Roanoke Civic Center, Roanoke, Virginia

this Jim Crockett Promotions card featured matches with Pedro Morales, Johnny Weaver, Len Denton, and title matches

Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion: Ken Patera defeated Rufus R. Jones

NWA World Tag Team Champions: Baron von Raschke & Paul Jones defeat Jimmy Snuka & Tony Atlas

Of all the shows that happened on my birthday that I found on my birthdate the Maple Leaf Gardens card is the show I would want to see the most.  We got both a Ric Flair match as well as Bob Backlund defending the WWF Championship and it was at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens. 

I remember when my daughter was born I was watching WWECW on Sci-Fi when her mother alerted my that her water had broken, however Addison was born the next day.  I looked up my 3 kids and the number of shows on one of them was shocking

Canaan January 18, 2006: 6 shows

Addison May 13, 2009: 6 shows

Wesley March 21, 2015:122 shows...122!!

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!