First mag, first video, first figure. GO!

[Forrest]

My first magazine is tricky, because I seem to have bought it a few years before I really got into wrestling, probably 96/97ish. All I remember is that my dad bought me it from the Shell garage in Temple, Anniesland and it had those big 8-page PPV faatures, where one of the matches was a Flag match. Is there anyone who could pinpoint what PPV that was and end a aeon-long mystery? I do know for a fact that the first one I bought when I really got into it would've been May 1999 with the IYH: Backlash feature in it.

 

My first tape was this:

 

It's probably the only reason I enjoy it to this day. Although, the X-Pac/Shane and Triple Threat matches are fun.

 

First figure was probably one of those weird rubber Austins, although I suspect I got a load of them in a bundle with the old Wrestlemania ring.

[Callum1993]

First Mag:

 

 

I'm pretty sure this was my first magazine back in April 1999. I seem to remember it previewing Wrestlemania 15. I used to love the advert pages in these with all the figures back in the day. Bought it from the Paper Shop in town with my Dad. Good times.

 

First Video:

 

Back in 1999/2000 I was a pretty big WCW fan due to the fact that it was shown on Channel 5 on a Friday. WWF at the time was harder to come by without Sky. I think I bought this video in Blackpool in like Octoberish 1999? A pretty decent show and as a kid I loved the 4 way dance with DDP winning the title. Pretty good.

 

First Figure:

 

 

Yeah Thrasher what of it?. Before I got this I just used to play with Old Hasbros over my Nans house. My Dad took me to Woolworths and out of a choice of Rock, Austin or Thrasher...I picked the Headbanger for reasons unknown until this day.

[Your Fight Site]

First magazine:

 

 

First VHS:

 

 

First figure:

 

[Rickfest]

Not sure if it's the first magazine I bought, but it's the first one I remember.

 

This is the first one my brother had, mine was the 89 Rumble that's already been posted.

 

Had two figures on Christmas to start off my Hasbro collection:

[NEWM]

Great idea for a thread. I like how a vast majority will probably come from a 2/3 year spell at the start of the 90s, but how others will be from completely different times. I've said before, but in my head, everybody got into it at exactly the same time, when clearly, that's not the case.

 

Anyway, first magazine was this beauty:

 

 

What a stunner. Coming off the back of the biggest match in the history of the universe, my Dad brought this home for me one day and I read it endlessly. It had a cracking Mania write-up (obviously), one of Jesse Ventura's last columns for the magazine, a Nintendo DOUBLE PLAY inside and a Mountain Dew advert on the back. I remember it being really American in places, it amazed me that I was getting to even read this sort of stuff. Gradually, the UK edition seemed to move towards references more suited to us, but I guess it wasn't that specified at the time.

 

First video is probably a common favourite amongst many of us:

 

 

It wasn't even mine to start with. My cousin introduced me to wrestling, and it was his. About a year later, he'd moved on fad-wise, and his folks gave me this, and then dug out High Flyers from the Collector's Series too. I always remember my main observation from Survivor Series 88 was that the Boss Man was a right cunt (having started watching in early '90, he was a solid face to me already). That, and I became a massive Powers of Pain fan until it clicked they were both the new big lads in silver helmets and/or antlers. A classic show to me, and a pretty decent one on balance too, I think.

 

I got two figures together for a christmas or birthday, and they've both already come up. They were:

&

 

However, a little bit later, my Sister got me these little sods.

 

Sting and Warrior vs Hogan and Jake (Boss Man as ref with stick) was probably my first big match in the territory.

[Vamp]

My Dad took me to Woolworths and out of a choice of Rock, Austin or Thrasher...I picked the Headbanger for reasons unknown until this day.

 

The Headbangers were cooler than Rock and Austin any day.

[PunkStep]

First mag I can't be 100%. I used to have my neighbours old WWF and PWI mags once he'd finished with them so I can't be sure of the first one I had myself. I have a feeling it was this one, because I remember the Flair/Liz pics:

 

 

My first video arrived on Christmas Day 1991, what a great Christmas it was, certainly in terms of presents. My first WWF video, my first WWF wrestling ring and Ultimate Warrior figure and my first Arsenal shirt- the beautiful yellow zig-zag effort. Beautiful. Anyway first video was Survivor Series 88, a show I really enjoyed but was confused by. Why did Mr Perfect look shit? Why were Hawk and Animal called the Powers of Pain?

 

 

I won't post the figure, it's the same as Ian's. The fingers snapped off very easily.

[Chest Rockwell]

Yeah Thrasher what of it?. Before I got this I just used to play with Old Hasbros over my Nans house. My Dad took me to Woolworths and out of a choice of Rock, Austin or Thrasher...I picked the Headbanger for reasons unknown until this day.

 

 

So... don't leave us in suspense - what are the reasons?

 

This is an odd one for me. When I was a wrestling fan as a kid I mostly didn't live in this country, so although I watched it on satellite, I didn't get any magazines or videos when I was young. Also, I never owned any wrestling figures but that was out of choice because there were other toys I preferred.

 

So my first video was probably some ROH tape from Outcast Video and my first magazine was an issue of Powerslam, both from when I got back into wrestling much later.

[spotlightmagnet1]

Wow, it's pretty hard to remember but I'll try:

 

First tape (definite)

 

 

You may pity me.

 

First Mag (that I can remember)

 

 

This looks familiar and seems to strike a memory, honestly the only one I really remember getting was a powerslam in nov 96 with Taker on the cover and in your house buried alive covered.

 

First figure (very hard)

 

 

It had to be Undertaker, though I think I was a little bit spoilt and got two but it was a toss up between Bret Hart, Owen Hart or Shawn Michaels.

[Vegeta]

 

Im not sure if this is the first magazine I bought, but it is the earliest one I can remember

 

 

The Rock Know Your Role VHS, how many times I watched this was unreal.

 

 

These were my first figures along with the old Attitude Monster Ring and the old titantron, loved when I got these.

[air_raid]

First video

 

 

It may not have produced the finest Survivors or best Survivors match, but it certainly produced the best Survivors team of all time. The fans go insane for Jake, then the Demos, then our dad hero Hulk Hogan. I actually think the best performance in that match is The Body on commentary, at the peak of his Hogan-hatred. Plus you get to hear what the superstars are thankful for. Polka dots, for example.

 

The show is one of the best examples of everything that made the "Hulkamania Era" the favourite time for a lot of us : big, well-defined characters, vivid colours, cracking entrance themes (All American Boys is a forgotten classic), simple yet effective storylines, patient building of stars, hardly any unnecessary bullshit and on the big stage your heroes come through.

 

First figure

 

 

As a reward for a particularly painful trip to the dentist, father said he would buy me a wrestling figure from John Menzies, where I also bought my tapes. He was probably fed up of the living room floor being covered in wrestling figures I'd borrowed, and it would be better if I had my own. I bought the Anvil instead of one of the "bigger stars" because until I saw his figure on the shelf, I didn't know he'd got one, and the Harts had been my favourite tag team. That's all that matters when you're a kid. For a week or so Jim did nothing of note, then when I got my pocket money I bought The Model, and thus began the feud that never ended. Until birthday came, when I got the ring with Hulk Hogan off mama and father, and Papa Shango off a mate. Every show I put on for a while featured a main event of Hulk Hogan {O} & The Anvil vs The Model & Papa Shango {X} (Hulkster Hug).

 

First mag

 

I can't find a picture of my actual first mag, the SOW covering Mania IX with a picture of Hogan on the front complete with his black eye. Yes, 10 years old and already buying smark mags (SOW became Power Slam). I was doomed from the start. There was an interesting letter where a reader asked SOW who they thought would win 5 WWF v WcW matches, as a basis for which was the better promotion. I do recall SOW thought Vader would beat Yokozuna and Sting would beat Bret Hart. I forget two of the matches that the WWF won except the answer to who would win Hennig's match was "Unquestionably, Curt Hennig." SOW also referred to him as "Curt Hennig" in their lengthy Mania write-up, even subtitling the paragraph "Curt Hennig VS Lex Luger", which made me think Perfect was now going by his real name on TV. Smarky twats. Anyhoo, the comparison came down to The Undertaker VS Cactus Jack, and I remember SOW saying it was an interesting choice and "what would Undertaker make of a madman like Jack? The Undertaker never loses, so we're going with him." So the WWF won 3-2. There was also a "History of the WWF Tag Team Title" which featured a footnote referring to the Rockers' aborted title win, which I had been unaware of. This was pre-internet, after all.

 

This was my first WWF mag :

 

 

Father definitely thought I was growing up bent. Probably why it wasn't all that long after this purchase that he bought me a Playboy so I could see Jenny McCarthy's tits and bush.

 

Bonus answer to unasked category : first video game

 

 

What a treat this was. Shits on Tetris. Even though there weren't actual "finishers" just fairly random trademark strikes and different moves to jump on your opponent, I still made a point of always pinning after a suplex as Mr Perfect and jumping off the top rope as Macho King. Simpler times. I much preferred this to Super WrestleMania on the SNES.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I was an incredibly late starter when it came to both magazines and videos. I didn't really start buying either until I'd got back into wrestling in a major way following (i) getting digital in '99 and having access to it on TV again, and (ii) the first SmackDown game coming out and getting me up to speed on the major wrestlers around that time.

 

I remember a lot of the covers from 2000 and 2001, after looking through them, and I remember some from '98 and '99 from people bringing them into school, but I can't recall buying one until summer '01. It was this beauty

 

 

which I purchased to read on holiday. Edge and Christian obviously featured, and I also remember a feature on tag teams. I think it was the last issue of the magazine before the Invasion hit properly.

 

Unless of course we can count my beloved and frequently mentioned Ultimate Warrior colouring book.

 

 

With videos, I borrowed quite a few from my friend David before I ever bought one myself, and I tended to record PPVs when they were on so I tended not to need to purchase. That said, I definitely got an official copy of this one:

 

 

I think I later got it signed by Christian at an indy show.

 

 

For figures, it's a lot earlier. I didn't buy any during the Attitude Era (figure money was going towards Buffy ones at that point) and so, although I can't find any , nor can I locate the blue WWF ring with the sound buttons like 'Break It Up!' and 'Rope Break!', I did have some Hasbros. Like many others, the first was Hogan.

 

 

Not because I was a big Hogan fan - Warrior was my guy, then Bulldog, then Undertaker from '91 onwards - but because he looked like a superhero, I suppose. Ultimate Warrior and The Bushwackers (I liked them too, sorry) followed. I may have had Macho Man too, but I sadly can't recall.

[Arch Stanton]

So many people had that Series 1 Hogan! Seems to be a clear winner in the thread.

 

So far nearly everybody seems to have gotten their first taste during either the 89-92 boom or around 99-2000. Was anyone just getting into wrestling during the mid nineties? For me, those were the years where I didn't follow at all.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Those were with big fad years, when you'd have WWF figures in major retailers. From 1994 onwards until the Austin era broke out, I dont think I saw a wrestling figure or a the striker albums anywhere near any of the shops up here. The only thing you could really collect was the WWF Magazines, which one or two shops still stocked. Argos and Woolies even stopped selling WWF stuff. To be a fan of wrestling you really need it shoving in your face, like back in the early and late 90s, or now where their merch is all over the place.

[Arch Stanton]

Yeah, when I first 'grew out' of wrestling after the early nineties boom, I don't think I even heard it mentioned again until my mate on the school bus asked me if I was going to be watching the Royal Rumble in 1998. You just didn't see anything of it through the mid nineties.

 

Anyone on the forum only get into wrestling in the last ten years? I doubt it.