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By 1986, promoters like Vince McMahon, Jim Crockett Jr., Bill Watts, Fritz Von Erich, and Verne Gagne were looking to expand their product and fan base. It was nice to hold house shows in nearby arenas and clubs. It was nice to tour Europe and Japan. It was nice to promote supercards like Superclash, WrestleMania, and Starrcade. It did promote and gather a fan base. But, the fan base was limited. There was only one way to expand the fan base and exposure: television.  Television helped to make baseball, football, basketball, and boxing multi-billion dollar industries.  Television made stars of the athletes who played those sports. Television opened ...

The first part of the series took a look back at the "wrestling world" in 1984, which included the birth of "Hulkamania", the major regions under the NWA banner, and some of the bad decisions Verne Gagne made when deciding who wore the AWA Title or didn't (looking at you Hulk Hogan).   Pro Wrestling USA As 1985 approached, various NWA regions and AWA decided to merge their operations to form Pro Wrestling USA to compete against the growing WWF threat. Unfortunately, the egos and accusations between promoters were the reasons for the failure of this organization. Gagne accused Jim Crockett of trying ...

If you are a fan of wrestling in the mid-80s or want to see what was the hype with wrestling during this period, there's are videos which were posted by dzmatty (link provided at the end of the article) in YouTube that I highly recommend. The videos posted by dzmatty are 2-8 minute clippings of promos and matches aired by Jim Crockett Promotions on their weekly show "World Wide Wrestling." These videos were dubbed "1984 - A Year of Transition" and reflects what was occurring in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) during this year. These videos is what inspired me to write this article ...

We are nearing the top and will take a look at the next ten wrestlers listed by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) in 2003.   15 - Nick Bockwinkel The Bockwinkel vs. Verne Gagne feud is what brought the AWA to the top of wrestling during the 70s. Bockwinkel ended Gagne's title reign of seven years in 1975, winning his first of four AWA World Heavyweight Championships. He was the face of the organization heading into the 80s and fought top wrestlers like Billy Robinson, Dick The Bruiser, Crusher, Mad Dog Vachon, Jerry Lawler, Otto Wanz, and Mr. Saito. Bockwinkel also was part of a successful heel ...

We are half way through identifying Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 50 wrestlers. For those interested, here is the first and second parts of this series. As a reminder, the list was compiled in 2003 and features wrestlers during the years that the publication was started (mid-70s). I will provide some insight to the wrestlers listed and summarize the achievements. Now onto the list...   25 - Sgt. Slaughter Not a big fan of this wrestler and don't feel he deserves to be rank in the top 50, nevermind sitting in the 25th spot. Slaughter began his WWF experience as heel, feuding with Bob Backlund and Pat Patterson. But once ...

Just a reminder, this list was compiled by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) in 2003 and covers the years that the publication covered pro wrestling. Therefore, you won't see any of the stars prior to the '70s or post-2003. Hope you enjoy.   35 - Davey Boy Smith This ranking is quite high for my liking and probably had more to do with his success with Dynamite Kid than his singles career. Davey Boy Smith returned to the WWF in 1990 as a singles wrestler, but received a lukewarm welcome from the fans of North America. Instead, Davey became the face of WWF in the United Kingdom. He ...

Keiji Mutoh, the current President of All Japan Pro Wrestling, is well known globally as The Great Muta. Mutoh was one of the quickest and most exciting wrestlers to ever compete in Professional Wrestling. After competing in Judo competition, which he would incorporate in his wrestling style, Mutoh made his debut in 1984.  Mutoh had the luxury of learning the ropes by legendary trainer Hiro Matsuda. Matsuda's list of trainees includes Hulk Hogan, Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndoff, Ron Simmons, Lex Luger and the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. After a brief run in New Japan Pro Wrestling, as White Ninja, he decided to head to North America for seasoning. His ...

This ranking is a follow-up to the tag team series that was written in October, which was a pleasure to write and fun to go down memory lane.  Similar to the tag team series, I will list and provide career summary of the top wrestlers in the order which Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked them in 2003. The wrestlers ranked fought during the existence of this fine publication. Therefore, pre-70s superstars like Lou Thesz, Gorgeous George, and Buddy Rogers are not included.  Nor, will Japanese greats like Antonio Inoki, Shohei Baba, and Tiger Mask. I have narrowed the list to wrestlers who mostly fought in North America. I hope you enjoyed this series and look forward to your comments and opinions.   50 ...

Each year since 1972, Pro Wrestling Illustrated has recognized the best match of the year as voted on by the readers of the magazine. Some of the wrestlers who participated in multiple matches of the year were Shawn Michaels (nine matches), Bruno Sammartino (five matches), and Ric Flair (five matches). It's no coincidence that many of the wrestlers selected are recognized as the best in the business. Here, we will list and discuss the ten winning matches during the 1990s and provide a ranking to identify who was the "Best of the Best" to be called the 'Match of The Decade'. By no means does this list identify the top ten matches during the ...

Here's a tribute to the big, large and gigantic men of wrestling. Dating back to the 1950s, gargantuan men were booked to be an attraction as if they worked for the circus. They normally didn't hold titles, yet they were difficult to defeat. Most of their success were due to intimidating their foes with their size (normally 6'5'' and weighing over 400lbs) and strength. Vince McMahon saw these big men as the perfect foe to challenge and push Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Title. These matches help to establish Hogan and his title reign as legendary.Begin Slideshow