Favorite Apter mag/PWI stories

[The Great ML]

[Technico Support]

OH MAN Wrestling Superstars' dream matches were the shit.  I remember they did a tag team tournament where the gimmick was the current teams were all mixed up and picked out of a hat, so you ended up with something like Eaton & Morton vs Lane and Gibson in a semifinal.  They also had an issue where the dream match was Hogan vs Tyson.  I loved all that as a kid.

[MADCAP]

The Dream match between Luger and Savage, which stemmed from Luger stealing Elizabeth from Savage. Funny how that ended up irl. I know Luger didn't really steal her, but I was amused when I first heard they were dating.

[MADCAP]

I've got one more: there was a story about Victor Rivera turning heel in the WWWF in the late 70's. It's not so much the story that I remember, but rathe the pictures...those bloody pictures. I was scared shitless of Rivera because he looked insane as he was sticking his foreign object in Davey O'Hannons head. I just remember seeing the whites of O'Hannons eyes filled with terror through his proverbial "crimson mask". Man, the things that stick with you...

[johnnynoname]

All I I'll say is "Dream match: Randy Savage vs Lex Luger" from "Wrestling Superstars"

 

 

spooky how it was written that Elizabeth left randy for lex in that story

[offspring515]

One of the magazines had a Shawn Michaels vs. Sabu dream match. They wrote out this whole.scenario where Sabu traveled to India and trained with a religious leader and learned some deep form of meditation.

So the match starts and Sabu is just meditating...Shawn hits him, kicks him, nails him with a chair...no force will move Sabu. If I remember correctly after Shawn wore himself out beating on Sabu, Sabu comes out of the trance and wins the match.

[PuroresuFan]

Two more I remember: 

 

One where Wahoo McDaniel learns from an Indian Chief what it is to be a man after winning, losing and going to a draw with Greg Valentine during their feud.

 

The second was a fly on the wall account of a locker room conversation with Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez after they had their heads shaved by the Von Erichs. It ends with Hernandez shaving his head again, much to the surprise of Adams, so he can use his anger to justify all the bad things he intended to do to the Von Erichs.

[odessasteps]

There was a wrestling superstars where they graded all the top stars in ten different categories ans thw winner was

Brody. Dont tell Matt.

[Shane]

Though I don't recall the article, per se, my favorite headline was the "Sew Me Up Doc, I've Got A Match Tonight!" article on Steve Williams. I still have a ton of these in my garage, ranging from the mid-80s through the early 90s. 

Favorite cover was probably from '87 or so. It was a UWF cover where I guess PWI was sponsoring some sort of tournament. It was a whole bunch of the main faces/heels battling to grab the trophy. I just remember Gang towering over everyone. 

[odessasteps]

[Zakk_Sabbath]

OH MAN Wrestling Superstars' dream matches were the shit.  I remember they did a tag team tournament where the gimmick was the current teams were all mixed up and picked out of a hat, so you ended up with something like Eaton & Morton vs Lane and Gibson in a semifinal.  They also had an issue where the dream match was Hogan vs Tyson.  I loved all that as a kid.

 

I think they reprinted the Hogan/Tyson dream match story in the '90s. I vividly remember It started with Hogan getting off an elevator somewhere, and being greeted by Vince saying "Monster!"

[Spritenaut 32]

\

i wonder if anyone in that pic besides Terry Taylor didn't regret their hairstyle a short time later?

 

Also, put me in the "Kostya Kennedy is real?" category.  I was amazed when he went to work for SI. 

 

I've read two of his books (DiMaggio and Pete Rose) and they were both quite good.

[Cristobal]

\

i wonder if anyone in that pic besides Terry Taylor didn't regret their hairstyle a short time later?

DiBiase's has barely changed since, albeit the dyejob is a bit lamentable.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Why would Hayes or Gang regret their fucking awesome hair?

[Cristobal]

And it's not like Gordy's hair was ever exactly stylish.

[IpponDropkick]

Hogan And Savage: Forget Elizabeth, Just Wrestle! - April 1989.

 

"The fact that Hogan is married with a baby daughter means nothing to savage. All he can remember is the sight of Hogan hugging Elizabeth at the end of the Survivor Series. It is an image that burns in his mind, a sight that torments him at night. Hogan on the other hand probably has no romantic interest in Elizabeth but he is not the kind of man to back down when challenged, especially with the WWF World Title on the line. The 'Hulkster' prizes the belt the way Savage prizes Elizabeth; Savage's challenge - whether a product of Hogan's own imagination or not - gives him an opportunity to regain it."

 

The apter mags started sucking when they stopped being like pro wrestling. Pretending to be about a sport while making the whole thing all about big old themes and theater. 

[lostinube]

My family had subscriptions to a bunch of magazines because we would read them and then my mother would take them to her high school (she was a librarian) after we were done. Time, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, some other sport magazine I can't remember now, and some other stuff that I didn't read that much.

 

My lone contribution to the pile was my one (or maybe two) year subscription to Pro Wrestling Illustrated. I think there are still issues in the house somewhere.

[Technico Support]

PWI's ratings back in he 80s were solid, too.  The Road Warriors were ranked as the #1 tag team in the world forever, even though they didn't hold the belts most of that time.  Pretty good gimmick.

[bobholly138]

I remember some "interview" with Harlem Heat from back when Sherri was managing them. Whoever did the interview strongly hinted that when he arrived at the hotel to meet Harlem Heat,he heard them double teaming Sherri in the room.

[Peck]

I remember some "interview" with Harlem Heat from back when Sherri was managing them. Whoever did the interview strongly hinted that when he arrived at the hotel to meet Harlem Heat,he heard them double teaming Sherri in the room.

 

Definitely remember that too. Hair messed up, makeup smeared, that type of thing.

[Pete]

 

 

i wonder if anyone in that pic besides Terry Taylor didn't regret their hairstyle a short time later?

 

You think Doc would give two shits what people thought of his hair. You're cute. 

[cwoy2j]

Why would Buddy Jack Roberts regret his fucking awesome hair?

 

Fixed that for ya

[Overly Critical Man]

 

I remember some "interview" with Harlem Heat from back when Sherri was managing them. Whoever did the interview strongly hinted that when he arrived at the hotel to meet Harlem Heat,he heard them double teaming Sherri in the room.

 

Definitely remember that too. Hair messed up, makeup smeared, that type of thing.

 

Well, Sherri was a tough chick. I'm sure Harlem Heat would need to double team her if they thought they stood a chance of beating her in a fight.

[CanadianChris]

I think the RNR v MX was the finals, with Gibson turning heel in the finals.

IIRC, the Roadies stayed together but lost in the semis.

[sydneybrown]

I think the RNR v MX was the finals, with Gibson turning heel in the finals.

IIRC, the Roadies stayed together but lost in the semis.

 

It was the Hart Foundation that stayed together.

 

But that gives me an excuse to bring up my favorite dream match:  Hawk vs. Animal, where Paul Ellering devised a point system to see which man was better with the winner getting a rare car which led to both men crippling every man in pro wrestling to try to win it.

 

That or Sting vs. The Ultimate Warrior which ended with one of the guys destroying Tom Cruise's face with an errant punch.