The old days thread - WWF's cartoon era

[IANdrewDiceClay]

This for me was the golden generation of the WWF/WWE. You read shit rags like Power Slam and they laugh it off like everything in the WWF's cartoon era was shit, but for me this was when it was at its height. Some of the best outfits, ring music, wrestlers and gimmicks you will ever see. For me that is what wrestling should be. You had the Big Boss Man, Jake Roberts, The Million Dollar Man, Demolition, The Rockers, The Hart Foundation, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, you had a full on heel and face divide, which made the Royal Rumble even better because you could have face vs face or heel vs heel or the Survivor Series when you had a team of heels vs a team of babyfaces. There seemed to be a set of rules which was easy to follow back then. The wrestlers were larger than life and you couldnt wait to get home from school to draw your favourite wrestler on your jotter or play with the figures and watch the videos.

 

Pay homage to the era and its wrestlers, storylines and various shite they used to flog in Woolies.

[Ross]

I remember being instructed by my dad to get a Hulk Hogan film from Blockbusters and being bollocked because I picked up a Hogan wrestling video instead. My mum warned me it'd happen as well. In hindsight, I was probably better off watching a Hogan match than a Hogan film.

 

I also remember having a WWF annual and being particurly interested in Tatanka and The Mountie. We didn't have Sky back then so I guess the most wrestling I saw was probably in annuals/magazines or the odd video rental.

[The Great Muta]

A particularly fond memory for me was the merchandise you could get. The figures, the Bret Hart shades in smarties, the foam Legion of Doom shoulder pads, and the little wrestler cards you could collect which had a little bit of info about the wrestler on them (any one else have them?)

 

Good memories!

[air_raid]

Bop Buddies.

[MoistVaj]

Some of the great merchandise I can remember either owning or seeing included:

 

The bubble gum they sold in Woolies, each one had a WWF sticker wrapped around the packet.

Legion of Doom pencil cases.

Blue Hulk Hogan lunchbox.

Bop buddies, I owned a Jake Roberts one which a 'mate' suplexed outside and it hit a stone and punctured

Ritz renting out PPVs and the Coliseum Home Video Exclusives, 75p per tape.

The Sun doing a Wallchart for Summerslam 92

Obviously, the Hasbro figures

The official WWF Magazine, fantasy warfare and the Superstars answering questions were my favourite sections. The big colourful adverts for the upcoming new tape releases and the next range of figures.

WWF Superstars making appearances on Live and Kicking and other kids saturday morning shows.

The merlin sticker books, particularly the pink one with Bret Hart on the cover being a huge favourite at my school, practically my entire year collected it.

 

In short, WWF 1989-94 was a magical time to be a fan in my eyes, from the gimmicks, to the merchandise all the way to the theme tunes. Just brilliant.

[the_mole]

I fucking loved putting coloured shoe laces round my arms and painting my face Warrior style as a kid.

 

The guys were so over the top it was brilliant, wrestling needs some of that colour back nowadays.

[garynysmon]

There seemed to be a set of rules which was easy to follow back then. The wrestlers were larger than life and you couldnt wait to get home from school to draw your favourite wrestler on your jotter or play with the figures and watch the videos.

 

Pay homage to the era and its wrestlers, storylines and various shite they used to flog in Woolies.

 

Exactly, Jack Tunney was the boss and that was that.

 

I remember collecting the Merlin Sticker Albums (Purple I think) and everyone was swapping them away in school. Used to buy WWF Magazine, PWI and Wrestling Spotlight religiously (The poster specials) from 1992 until 1995.

 

I was 8 years old in 1992, which was probably the ideal age to be fair.

[Fox Piss]

 

 

I tryed to get a pic of Kwang but loads of Japs turned up.

[The Maestro]

I remember wearing a 'Million Dollar Man' Ted Dibiase badge everyday on my school jumper when I was about five or six. If a kid wore a Ted Dibiase Jr badge in this day and age, they'd probably be bullied to hell for it.

[The Great Muta]

It was awesome to be a kid then. My brother though was a fan of the 'baddies' as we called them even at such a young age. I remember going to a WWF house show around this time where I sat next to two older girls who were cheering for Shawn Michaels with a big banner. In my anger I demanded to know why they were cheering for him. They said 'Why not?' I was outraged but my brother immediately jumped on the band wagon. I became a massive Bret Hart fan and mine and my brothers feud lasted all the way through to Montreal!

 

I still remember that vividly thinking 'How can you cheer for Shawn after what he did to Marty?'

 

This era truly got me hooked it was awesome!

[Taylorslade]

The sticker book with the black cover, that was fucking awesome.

 

Playing as "Yourself" on WrestleMania Challenge for the NES. Then getting fucked off because you couldn't beat Andre, so you stuck Duck-Hunt on instead.

 

Davey Boy Smith Pyjamas....Which I still have. (RIP Big fella).

 

Getting your first WWF Hasbro. Just like losing your virginity, you never forget your first....mine was Rick Rude. On a slightly related note....one of my closest mates had a toy stall in an in-door market type place (for the Mackems who might be able to remember, it was inside where the dredded "Job Lot" mini-market was), he sold all kinds of figures there for years, from He-man to Ghostbusters etc, he done well, but when the WWF Hasbro craze hit, it really took off for him. He got in with a supplier who had a contact in America, and in the days well before internet etc, this was considered a real score. So he drove down to London once a week in his Transit van and pack as much Hasbro goodness into as he could. Everything from the figures, the blue ring, toy belts, wrestle-buddies and even replica damiens. Him having this contact also meant that, on occasion, he would get figures of guys who hadn't been shown on WWF programming over here yet, so he got a lot shit from pissed off housewives who thought that the Kerry Von Erich Texas Tornado figure was a cheap copy based on a make believe wrestler.

 

I'm sure that Ian will remember the infamous "shop" that he had back then, which was just a boxed off section of the nasty mini-market, whos walls were covered, and I mean COVERED with the Hasbro figures in their packaging.

 

Needless to say, he made a fucking killing and ended up opening two fairly sized shops that still sell wrestling goodies now. He even kept a souvenir of the good old days, that he keeps on the shop wall, a MOC Ludwig Borga.

[cobra_gordo]

I got big in to wrestling in about 1990 and was considered the weirdo of the group because I was into WCW when everybody considered it to be shit. I had a WCW ring with a badass red cage. We'd all sit in my mates garden and use his WWF figures and my WCW ring and me getting in to WWF went from there because we didn't have Sky so my knowledge of the wrestlers was limited to the figures he had, the sticker albums and some tapes we'd watch. I remember in about '93 Poundland stocking WWF Hasbro figures which was unheard of becuase they were still massively popular. I think my collection went from 10 figures to 30 in about 2 weeks. My favourites were Taker, The Natural Disasters, Crush, Hogan, Savage and Warrior. I always wanted Papa Shango but never got my hands on him. Everything about that era is captured in those figures, everything is over the top, they've all got oversized arms, the colours are bright. I'm so glad I was a kid when all that was happening

[Big Jock Knew]

The merchandise seemed amazing back then. Even though I'm a grown man, I'm sure there is some tat from that era that I'd still actually want.

 

I hope I'm not alone in recalling this - does anyone else remember Woolies selling WWF chocolate cigarettes? I could have sworn they did - I'm sure they came in a variety packet and had Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Jake Roberts and the Legion of Doom on them.

 

I'd fucking love to be down the pub and whip out a Jake Roberts fag packet these days .

[Bus Surfer]

There seem to be alot of these nostalgia threads popping up recently. Fucking great I say.

 

My first hasbro wrestling figure was Akeem. My Mam went to Woolies on a Hulkster search and came back with The African Dream. Must have been the yellow that drew my old girl in. He wasn't what I was expecting, but I fucking loved him all the same. He beat the hell out of Ghostbuster Ray and He-Man for weeks. Christmas that year came round and top of my list was the WWF ring. I can remember vividly opening my stuff and not finding the ultimate present. As I sat gutted there was a knocked at the door. I opened it up and sat in our porch was an unwrapped goody with my name on. The paper was torn off and I held in my hands my new WWF ring, complete with Gorilla press Hogan, Green suited Ted Dibiase and Bossman. What a fucking Christmas that was.

 

Other fond memories include making T shirts for my Hogan figure out of toilet paper that I loved to rip off, and my dear mother making me my own wrestling buddy from old sheets and cushions which I think I destroyed with a Randy Savage elbow from my chest of drawers onto my bed.

 

EDIT - I realise that last bit isn't exactly WWF merch. I just got a little excited thinking about my childhood.

 

Lovely.

[xXxj-proxXx]

One of my vivid memories is when i was about five. I broke a mates Ultimate Warrior hasbro figure and got bollocked by mum. The following weekend I had to go to Woolworths and buy him another one. I can't remember what my first hasbro figure was, I just remember having Hogan, Warrior, Duggan, Piper, and The Bossman. Great times