The lets all point and laugh at Fin Martin thread

[Chili]

2 hours ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

From Fin's excellent Power Slam years book.

 

Well at least Rob Butcher was a real bloke unless I kept meeting Fin doing some Bischoff at the gay wedding deal.

[blackholesun85]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2025 by blackholesun85
Incorrect info

[Browser Brady]

Picked up the 1996 year book issues as an Xmas present to myself.

 

God i am having such a blast reading them. Talk about a trip down memory lane, it’s amazing how much i remember…

 

Like i remember some of the sentences nearly word for word and the pictures bring the memories flooding back.. Most likely because i re-read each issue many times as a kid.

Even some of the names in the letters page i can recall. 

Also, the actual content for the most part holds up surprisingly well when you consider that this existed in the realm between kayfabe and the complete openness of the workings of the business which would come later. 
 

 

Lastly , nearly in full mid-life mode, i am considering purchasing these when(if) they come back in stock. I suspect i’d never wear them outside the house mind…..

 

https://hitek-webstore.com/shop/sunglasses/flip-up-sunglasses/hi-tek-unisex-round-metal-flip-up-sunglasses-model-ht-006-screwyou/

[davertfnewman]

What do you get in the yearbooks? Are they edited or just straight reproduction of each issue?

[Browser Brady]

12 hours ago, davertfnewman said:

What do you get in the yearbooks? Are they edited or just straight reproduction of each issue?

Straight reprint. Fin Martin has a little updated intro at the start.

 

The actual print quality is a bit iffy in places but it’s perfectly legible. 

 

https://powerslammagazine.com/#buy

Edited December 31, 2025 by Browser Brady

[Wretch]

Picked up a few of those yearbooks too, they're great. The only slight issue is that due to the photocopying process I'm guessing, the photos are a bit darker than in the original mags. There's one from a 1995 yearbook of Undertaker that's almost impossible to make out. Slight niggle aside, I'm having a blast reading them and going down memory lane. Highly recommended!

[herbie747]

Confused about the title of this thread. Why should we "point and laugh at Fin Martin"?

[Chili]

4 minutes ago, herbie747 said:

Confused about the title of this thread. Why should we "point and laugh at Fin Martin"?

It was amusingly about how the then still running Power Slam magazine was a bag of old shite or something similar from the look of the first page or so.

[DCW]

Auld Fin's bitterness about the wrestling business was really apparent towards the end, but he was also a huge workrate fan. So PS was basically all negative on anything WWE/TNA and praising the indie types for falling on their necks in front of 30 people. Pretty sure he was writing all the letters in the letters to PS section himself too. It got a bit tiresome.

Still, was a great magazine before the internet sorta killed the market for it. I looked forward to getting it every month and reading about the backstage gossip and the interviews were generally decent too. 

[AnotherCrapUsername]

He's having a proper laugh at those prices though!

[NeverYield]

Ive bought the past 5 issues of Inside the Ropes, currently having a flick through of the one that came out today, its not bad, definitely seems more neutral nowadays in terms of reporting on WWE.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

This thread is 15 years old. If it stays around for another year Jerry Lawler wouldn't look twice at it. 

[TV Time Remaining]

I have every issue of SOW and Powerslam in the loft. It did become a bit of a chore towards the end but always enjoyed my trip into town on the last Thursday of the month (?) to grab the latest issue 

[herbie747]

5 hours ago, DCW said:

Auld Fin's bitterness about the wrestling business was really apparent towards the end, but he was also a huge workrate fan. So PS was basically all negative on anything WWE/TNA and praising the indie types for falling on their necks in front of 30 people. Pretty sure he was writing all the letters in the letters to PS section himself too. It got a bit tiresome.

Still, was a great magazine before the internet sorta killed the market for it. I looked forward to getting it every month and reading about the backstage gossip and the interviews were generally decent too. 

I stopped buying it around 2004/2005 so i guess I missed the later years but it does ring a bell now

[simonworden]

I bought myself a suite of wrestling mags in whatever Smiths is before departing back to Vietnam (where I live if you've forgotten). 

 

I like that Inside the Ropes is a spiritual successor to Powerslam and does include some old bits. But the print quality seems to have gone down hill. Powerslam used beautiful glossy paper much like what I get SEA Wrestling magazine printed on. Now it seems to be that stuff they gave you to wipe in the school bogs.