Sharing the Same Building with Your Heroes

One of the things I miss about my pro wrestling fascination as a child is the thrill that came with attending a live event. I grew up in Michigan, but far enough from the WWF's most frequent mitten stops (such as Flint and Detroit) that convincing my mom to take us to those shows wasn't happening.

Luckily, though, I hadn't been a wrestling fan two years when I got to experience my first live event. It was October 1991 and though my then-hero Hulk Hogan wasn't on the card, I got to see my second favorite star Bret Hart successfully defend his Intercontinental title against the beastly Warlord.

While digging through a box of my old stuff the other night, I came across some of the match listings included with the programs from events I attended in the '90s. The scanned listing at the top of this post is the actual one from the second show I ever went to.

Honestly, I don't remember much about it, other than it being a last-minute plan. A friend came to school earlier in the day insisting that his dad had bought tickets for some WWF show in town that night. Even though he invited me, I wasn't sold. This was the same kid who'd delivered some of the finest fabrications I'd ever heard at that point in my life. As it turned out, he was telling a rare truth.

The show paled in comparison to my first live event. Even looking at the match listing, I can scarcely remember what happened, other than Bret Hart was a no-show. The only really notable thing to come of that evening was my friend's father purchasing both of us pairs of the Hitman's shades. I made sure to take those to school the next day and convince anyone who would talk to a kid wearing pink sunglasses that Bret himself had bestowed those upon me. Never mind we had sat what seemed like a mile away from the ring. Regardless, they became one of my more prized possessions, even if Bret had never been within 500 feet of me. I still have them today.

What are some of your earlier live wrestling event memories?

Coming Down the (Toy) Aisle

If you're like me and grew up a wrestling fan, chances are you had at least an experience or two with wrestling figures. You may have fond memories of the Jakks Bonecrunching figures during the mid-to-late 1990s. Or maybe you've even got some recollections of Remco's AWA collection from the early-to-mid 1980s.

Regardless, most people who enjoyed wrestling in their youth had some good times with the wrestling figures of the time. For me, it was Hasbro's figures for the WWF. Though the LJN series came to represent my all-time favorite wrestling figure line, I got my start with the colorful little plastic offerings from Hasbro.

Thankfully, my interest in pro wrestling really took off just as Hasbro was unleashing its inaugural series of figures. Fans of the time will no doubt remember a clean-cut Jesse "The Body" Ventura hyping this initial collection. How could we not want to collect them all? All of our favorites were there. Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Heck, there was even Akeem for the six people who actually enjoyed that character. And best of all, these figures boasted "real wrestling action." Why use your imagination of holds when these bad boys came equipped with built-in moves such as bodyslams, punches, and headbutts?

So take 30 seconds out of your day to enjoy this little stroll down the memory toy aisle.

Back to Business

With the New Years confetti now all swept up, there's not much to do other than get back to business as usual. Hopefully everyone enjoyed their holiday season and is now ready to tackle any goals they've put out there for the fresh decade.

After a week off from adding new inventory, you can expect to see new items cropping up in our eBay store very shortly. We'll also resume our Item of the Day posts, focusing on specific items we all think you should have in your collection. Stay tuned.