Magazine Mayhem!

[Johnnyreggae]

Wrestling magazines!

 

We have all owned one or two over the years.

 

Often I would pop to the local John menzies or fourboys to pick up the latest edition of the wwf magazine, Powerslam or PWI. 

Occasionally the man on the market would sell mags, 5 for £2 and I'd find the latest inside wrestling or The Wrestler.

Even a trip to the local seaside I'd stumble upon a unknown newsagent selling, Wrestling Eye, Wrestle America or some unknown magazine that couldn't be found anywhere else.

What was everyone ones, Go to mag? 

And favourite covers? 

And do people still buy them?

Recently I saw the latest edition of Pro Wrestling Illustrated selling for 7 pounds! 

I even saw another profile mag for £11!

[NeverYield]

I used to read Fighting Spirit Magazine and Power Slam, which was my favourote. Occasionally I'd buy PWI, and nowadays I pick up Inside the Ropes now and again.

People on markets selling back issues of Power slam is a core memory for me haha! 

[SuperBacon]

Some wrestling mag chat here.

Buying that naked Shawn Raw magazine was probably my most embarrassing moment ever, excruciating for a 12 year old. Bought it in the gaff I did my paper round for as well.

[Matthew]

Was always a fan of the Kayfabe WWF magazine over the Raw one. Loved the “Informer” section.

My first cover stands out, was the pullout with the “prison” style lineup including Big Show, Taker, and Hardcore Holly I believe, among others.

Think I once had a shoutout in Powerslam for a wrestling related sign I once brought to a Big Brother eviction, and getting seen on TV

Edited May 13 by Matthew

[herbie747]

I bought WWF and RAW magazine to collect. Never read them because they were shite for actual insight.

I bought Powerslam to read.

I also used to buy the odd random one I'd see on newsstands (Inside Wrestling, PWI, etc) because I sort of like that half kayfabe writing style of the Apter mags. 

I got rid of all my magazines in 2011 except my WWF magazine collection, and since then I've collected every issue up to 2003. Filled in the gaps. 

Edited May 14 by herbie747

[TheScarlettChad]

Power Slam for me. It was my first look into smarky bullshit. Reading about TNA, Fin hated Jericho if I recall. I also liked fsm though not as much as PS. WWE Magazine when it turned into Maxim was bizarre. 

[BomberPat]

I bought any wrestling magazine I could get my hands on as a teenage fan. I've always had a soft spot for magazines in general, and there was one shop in Jersey that got in a bunch of stuff that nowhere else did, a lot of more niche music magazines, some odd lifestyle stuff, and most of the wrestling mags on and off. #

When you're really obsessed with something, it's usually really disproportionate to how much time you actually spend on that thing - I was only watching Smackdown at first, and maybe sometimes Heat, so only catching two or three hours of wrestling TV, but I wanted to know everything there was to know about it and bought every book and every magazine I could.

I loved the PWI 500 and almanac, and PWI was probably the first magazine I got really into, but will always remember odd little bits from WOW, and from the official WWF magazine, like a prediction that Raven was going to form a new Flock with Papa Shango in it. Powerslam was the first magazine I was going out of my way to buy every issue of, and which opened my eyes to the British indie scene, and to the independents and companies beyond the big three in general. Later on I moved to FSM, which still feels like the gold standard of wrestling magazines for me.

FSM once had my favourite ever typo, though, in an article about gimmicks and showmanship. There was a photo of The Undertaker, and underneath it, the caption read, "The Undertaker never fails to put on a shoe".

[Lorne Malvo]

Was never that into the WWF/Raw magazines. I think maybe I missed the heydey of them and by the time I was buying magazines they were on the wane.

I loved the glossy-style magazines like WOW and FSM, but could never get on with Powerslam. I thought the actual paper-esque feeling of the magazine in comparison to WOW was really cheap, and it was a lot more 'smarky' (as in they just moaned constantly) which just got my back up. Wayne Stately Manor was utter shit too. 

WOW also regularly had April Hunter posters to put up, which was another reason 13 year old Lorne preferred it.

I do really miss buying magazines though. Going to the shop on a Saturday morning and coming back with WOW, a Playstation magazine, a Spider-Man comic and some sweets was when you knew you were in for a good weekend. 

[BomberPat]

I hate that Stately Wayne Manor was shit, because it's one of the all-time great gimmick names.

[SuperBacon]

I would walk about an hour from Isleworth to Hounslow (not a mad distance but for a magazine?) to one small corner shop that sold PWI etc, and because they were import issues, there was absolutely zero guarantee they'd actually be there. Often I'd just walk back home without anything.

I loved Powerslam as well, but the yank import mags were class, and felt really "important" as well. 

[The Reverend]

I love wrestling mags, mainly because at one time that's pretty much all I had. We didn't have Sky, and so between the occasional VHS copy of a PPV or a TV show from school friends (or the 2 or 3 shop bought vids I had) magazines were the only way to indulge in my love of wrestling back in 1990. Growing up we always had a delivery of a comic with our newspaper - my brother had 2000AD and I had the Beano. Come 1990 it was goodbye Dennis the Menace and hello WWF magazine instead.

On top of this I would buy with my pocket money - Pro Wrestling Illustrated (which I classed as the premier title in the Apter mags line-up because it had the annual 'Year in Review' and had a pull out poster), The Wrestler, Inside Wrestling, Sports Review Wrestling, the WWF specials such as Spotlight, Wrestling USA and pretty much anything else I could lay my hands on, including Wrestling Eye and Superstars of Wrestling which were strange USA mags which seemed to feature a lot of Indy stuff (I recall DC Drake and Ox Baker featuring regularly) but also had adverts for busty, bikini clad apartment wrestling women - as a 10 year old they were pretty exciting. 

It's amazing thinking back that in that first UK boom period of 1990 -1992, you could go in Smiths, John Menzies or independent newsagents and there would be at least 8, if not more, wrestling titles on offer.  

I bought WCW magazine when it came out, the good thing about this was because of the difference in time between mags getting released and the TV show on ITV, they almost matched up timewise. When the UK Superstars of Wrestling came out I bought that, followed by Powerslam, then RAW magazine too. 

From 1990 to around 2001 I bought a steady stream of mags (we also had a market with a magazine stall where you could get 6 mags for £2) and then stopped until I saw the first issue of FSM. I got my interest for wrestling back around 2012 and bought WWE magazine, PWI and Powerslam again. 

Today I still buy the remaining titles - PWI, Inside the Ropes, Wrestletalk - mainly because of nostalgia, and also because I guess if these fold there won't be an industry anymore. I'm a bit of a collector of them, I buy off Ebay and have about 4,000 to 5,000 of them. I sometimes think I'll start selling them on, but instead just buy more.... I probably need professional help!  

  

[Lorne Malvo]

18 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

I would walk about an hour from Isleworth to Hounslow (not a mad distance but for a magazine?) to one small corner shop that sold PWI etc, and because they were import issues, there was absolutely zero guarantee they'd actually be there. Often I'd just walk back home without anything.

 

Completely unrelated to the discussion at hand, but I used to walk about the same distance to go to a small rock/metal record shop. Just a tiny crammed shop full of pretty much every metal CD you could think of, and if they didn't have it they could order it in and get it within a week. It had been going since 1984 and was a bit of a rite of passage around these parts for young greebos to buy their first records.

I only found out this morning that the place is still going and hasn't changed at all! Proper made me smile. To keep a small independent business going 40+ years, especially with all the Brexit/Covid shite we've had to deal with the past few years, is remarkable really. I'm going to make a visit down there this weekend for old times sake.

The shop is ST Records in Dudley for anyone arsed.

[Chico Torres]

I used to get so many wrestling magazines every month.

Obviously Superstars of Wrestling and then Powerslam. Every month would go PWI, Inside Wrestling, The Wrestler, Sports Review Wrestling and occasionally would find the less-available Apter mags like Wrestler America or Wrestling Bad Guys. 

Would also get a lot of the Napolitano mags although weirdly I don’t actually the names of them, possibly things like Wrestling Superstars and Wrestling Heroes and Villains. They were all basically the same, mainly tons of great photos from around the world.

New Wave Wrestling was one I was always happy to find. A lot of interviews with lesser known names and in general things that couldn’t be covered anywhere else.

The best magazine I ever got was “Wrestlings Main Event” which showed up for a while in a newsagent in 1993 and 1994 and had incredible features but sadly was able to get it for a few months and then it disappeared.

Every now and then would find a wrestling mag that only showed up in the newsagent for one issue and then was never seen again. I think one of them was Wrestling World which also featured Stately Wayne Manor.

I would get the WWF magazine from around 1990 to 1995, would also get the awesome WCW magazine in the early and mid 90s. I’m sure there were others, I’m sure it was around 10 mags a month.

I stopped buying them around 1998 but I think they’re all still packed up boxes somewhere in my parents attic. Reading on the bog hadn’t been the same since those glory days.

[Johnnyreggae]

Always rememeber being slightly embarrassed by the val venis cover of the wwf magazine. I had to buy it though because it was obviously wrestling related.

I still get flashbacks of being alone in Martins the newsagents wondering how I was going to approach the good looking lady behind the counter with this dirty looking mag. She looked at it, looked at me, looked back at it and shook her head in disgust. 

[Sheffbag]

I had to travel to Burton (from Sheffield) for college once a week in 91-95 and the local WH Smith there had PWI, Wrestling Main Event and The Wrestler. Still got most of them in the loft from that period