Memories of when you thought wrestling was real

[Maikeru]

Started watching when I was 6 years old in 1991 and believed EVERY bit of it. This included:

 

- Believing the Ultimate Warrior was actually summoning help the Heavens for help during his WM7 match

- The Mountie was actually shocking the *** out of the Bossman with his prod (traumatized me that one)

- The Warrior was actually forced into an air tight coffin and nearly died

- Sid Justice was actually hospitalizing all those poor jobbers by ramming their stretchers into the post

- Papa Shango actually put a genuine curse on the Warrior which forced him to vomit

 

Even fairly mild stuff like the Warrior getting smashed over the head with a scepter and Jake getting tombstoned on the concrete used to make me feel so bad for the wrestlers and worry greatly for their well-being.

 

But it was a magical time, and I feel quite fortunate to have grown up watching wresting at that time in the pre-internet days when not a lot of people (at least in the UK) were talking about how it was fake - that started here in around 94 as far as I recall. Not sure if many kids grow up watching these days with a full two years thinking it's the real deal? Even if they do, there aren't many of the larger-than-life characters around to make the experience extra special. It truly was a fantasy world come to life - cartoons and movies were made up but (oddly) wrestling wasn't.

 

I think the best part of it all was actually thinking anything could happen. I remember watching a Rick Flair vs Jim Brunzell match a few days before WM8 and Brunzell actually seemed to be giving him a good run for his money. I was so worried Flair was going to lose the title and the main event for WM would be ruined. Was so relieved when he finally got the fall. I also remember believing titles could also potentially change hands when the WWF had house shows in Belfast.

 

The experience was just on a whole other level.

 

Would be keen to hear who else thought it was real when they first started watching and any special memories from this time. Or if anyone knew what the deal was right from the get-go and still managed to develop a passionate interest.

[PowerButchi]

I pretty much always knew it wasn't on the level, it just didn't bother me as Saved By The Bell and Des Barnes weren't real either and they were my other favourite things on telly.

[bono]

Ill always remember around 92-93ish i went to a live show and i could of sworn i saw a nat fly out of papa shangos mouth. I started to 2nd guess all the voodoo shit including the curse on the warrior

 

The undertaker scared me when he first came in the wwf

 

When jakes snake bit macho man, that was some scary shit

[Undefeated Steak]

Fond memories of being at school and not knowing that the key was to help your opponents execute moves. Many a time schoolmates would narrowly avoid a life in wheelchair when they sandbagged me when I tried such safe moves like piledrivers.

[bono]

Fond memories of being at school and not knowing that the key was to help your opponents execute moves. Many a time schoolmates would narrowly avoid a life in wheelchair when they sandbagged me when I tried such safe moves like piledrivers.

 

Our play ground was awash with kids doing real wrestling moves :-) i remember breaking this kids arm not once but twice in primary school. :-) both times while trying to execute moves

[Maikeru]

Fond memories of being at school and not knowing that the key was to help your opponents execute moves. Many a time schoolmates would narrowly avoid a life in wheelchair when they sandbagged me when I tried such safe moves like piledrivers.

 

Our play ground was awash with kids doing real wrestling moves :-) i remember breaking this kids arm not once but twice in primary school. :-) both times while trying to execute moves

 

My older brother was very good at executing shoot wrestling moves, including power bombs on the floor, chicken wing cross faces, camel clutches, figure of fours and sharpshooters. Nearly passed out on a few occasions. Oddly the only time my parents ever intervened was when I screamed (to tell me to shut up).

 

Remember the most painful move ever was actually a ''paint brush'' (Gorilla Monsoon speak for slaps to both cheeks with the same hand in quick succession).

[air_raid]

Or if anyone knew what the deal was right from the get-go and still managed to develop a passionate interest.

 

This was me. I went round a mate's house and he had the wrestling on. I didn't pay it any attention and when I was in the car on the way home I told my parents about it and my old man scoffed "Wrestling? That's all fake." I didn't really give it much thought.

 

So a few months later I was round a different mate's house. He had trading cards and Hasbros and there were tapes always around because his sister ran a video store. I laughed at him one day and said "Wrestling?? What do you watch that for, it's fake." The lad just put the tape of WrestleMania VI in my hand and said "Just watch it and make you own mind up." Definitely the wisest thing a 9 year old has ever said to me.

 

I was hooked by the time Demolition had won the tag belts from "Andre The Giant and Harpoon" and by the end of the tape I knew that Hulk Hogan was a hero, and the best tag team in the WWF were clearly "Bret Hitman Hart and The Anvil Nige Hart." Although I shared Jesse Ventura's outrage at why Dusty & Sapphire were allowed to break the rules so much, and thought Duggan was a cheating bastard for whacking Dino Bravo with his plank.

[King Pitcos]

I don't remember ever thinking it was real, or caring that it wasn't. I remember my parents talking about it being fake and that they used to watch it and had friends that did it etc. That might have been before I was really into it. My best mate was a fan before I was (he had Sky), so I collected the cards for a while before we ever got cable, I think.

 

Even knowing it was fake, Nails beating the tar out of Bossman hit me harder than anything I'd ever watched on TV before.

[Reznor]

I was a bit of a weirdo kid; bright in some ways but thick as mince in others.

 

I vividly remember dreading Challenge the week after the snake bite, half expecting a Savage obituary. Although I was happy to buy that doing irish whips, being knocked unconscious about half a dozen times in as many minutes and being punched in the face repeadly whilst their hands stayed by their side could be legit, being into venomous snakes even at that age, I was well aware that king cobras were mean fuckers, and you probably weren't surviving one of them buggers chewing away for that long and blowing its wad into you. There wasn't even any hope that it had been devenomised when he started lapsing in and out of consciousness. I thought he'd had it. What a dick

 

Watching it back then, it was amazing how effective PPV squashes were your opinion of wrestlers or teams. Nowadays, most folk would feel sold short seeing minute long squashes on the biggest show. Back then, things like that didn't half make you sit up and take notice. One minute wins were the shit, it was those 'mania matches that made me love LOD and the Harts initially, and I imagine it would've been the same with the Warrior had I been a few years older. Grown men knocking those type of matches want to catch a grip.

[JNLister]

I never understand people who found out because their mum/brother/schoolmates revealed it was fake. Why would you believe them when they were obviously lying?

[Kaz Hayashi]

I didn't ever have a real or fake thought process about it, when I first starting watching I didn't have any idea what I was supposed to think. I assume it was some child like wonderment / wow.

Real or fake was never a question, until people start to bang on with the term 'fake'

[Arch Stanton]

I seem to remember that from the very beginning of me taking an interest in wrestling my mum and dad were all over the 'fake' thing. They never ever got on board with it. Plus, I think I was sharp enough even as a child to notice how hokey most of it looked, so I don't think there was ever a time when I thought it was 'real'. However, I certainly was not sure at all about the extent to which it was a work. I think I just believed that the wrestlers sort of allowed themselves to do the moves to each other but were still somehow actually trying to win the matches. A bit like how you would play it with your mates or siblings when you're that age. I know that doesn't make sense at all, but I just had no clue about how it worked until I was much, much older to be honest.

[King Pitcos]

I didn't ever have a real or fake thought process about it, when I first starting watching I didn't have any idea what I was supposed to think. I assume it was some child like wonderment / wow.

Real or fake was never a question, until people start to bang on with the term 'fake'

That makes sense, actually. I don't think I ever questioned it at all because (like air_raid above), my other favourite programmes were "fake" as well so it wasn't a consideration I approached TV shows with. If I'd only ever previously watched documentaries and boxing, maybe I'd have wondered or cared. But going from the legit world of Hero Turtles to the WWF, I didn't find my "it's a work!" radar relevant. "I'm sure that kick never touched that foot soldier really." I only remember ever feeling a bit nonplussed by people saying it was false, like what difference does it make? It didn't make sense to me that it was a distinction people found necessary to make solely with wrestling.

[textonly]

I honestly can't remember how much I bought into the actual action as real - I have a memory of Summerslam '91 where my mum said it wasn't real and I had that kind of eye-rolling, "you're missing the point" reaction - but one thing I definitely wasn't alive to was how the business worked, so when Savage lost his career-ending match to the Warrior at WMVII I was gutted. He was my favourite and now, obviously, he could never, ever wrestle again. I really hated the Ultimate Warrior for that.

[Grecian]

My first PPV was the 1993 Rumble, I was 13 and it took my grandparents being the first in the family to get Sky TV for me to start watching.

 

What completely gave it away as being 'fake' back in the day was two days before, there'd been a scrap at school, some kid had been belted in the face and his nose pretty much exploded. I worked out pretty quickly when Razor Ramon punched Bret and Bret's nose remained intact that somethign wasn't quite right.

 

I went to a house show in Cardiff about 5 years ago. Opening match featured Kane against Shelton Benjamin. Opening moves of the night, and Shelton took a bit of an exaggerated bump from a mistimed kick. Kid sat beside me looked at his Dad and said 'Why did he fall over when Kane didn;t hit him, Dad?'.

 

The father's answer was genius, yet a typical Dad answer - 'it's taken the best part of two hundred quid for you to work that out?'