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Professional wrestling is an interesting sport. No matter how popular it gets in the mainstream, it never quite reaches levels of widespread acceptability. It is still seen as something that is mainly for children or adults who have arrested development.
Still, it is capable of delivering extreme moments of emotion. From sheer joy to anger and happiness, few forms of entertainment are able to evoke the type of passionate responses found in wrestling.
This seemed to be especially true back in 1980s and early 90s. Here are five moments in pro wrestling that gave me the feels.
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Thank you for joining us on Leaving a Mark
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Have we got a special show for you tonight. My name is Nathaniel Muir, and I'm the movie editor at AIPT
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I'm also a wrestling fan who knows his stuff. Especially if it gives me the tingles
2:24
This week, I'm going to talk about the moments in wrestling that gave me the feels as a young wrestling fan
2:31
To help the Hulkster, but it looks like it's definitely too late. He's not even moving just yet
2:36
I started watching wrestling in 1985. Since I grew up in Texas, the first promotion I watched was World Class
2:44
Soon after, I started watching Mid-South Wrestling. Both of these promotions were gritty territories with tough-as-nails wrestlers
2:53
When I first saw the more glamorous WWF, I was not impressed
3:00
More accurately, I just didn't care about them. They all looked like a bunch of wimps to me
3:08
When I first saw the NWA, it only reinforced this feeling. My opinion aside, the WWF was the biggest and most popular wrestling promotion around
3:21
This was during its heyday, so when me and the other kids would talk about wrestling at school
3:28
the WWF was the company that we would talk about. And if you were talking about the WWF in the mid-1980s
3:37
it wasn't long before you mentioned Hulk Hogan. I don't remember my initial opinion of Hogan
3:44
I know that there was a time in a few years, not very long actually
3:49
that he was, without a doubt, my least favorite wrestler. Now, when I think about Hogan, I think about what he did for this sport
4:00
and I also love listening to his warped tales about the past
4:06
I can only assume, like every other kid, when I first saw the Hulkster, I probably thought he was great
4:14
Like him or not, there's no denying he has amazing charisma. Well, one Saturday, I was spending the night at a friend's house
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He was a wrestling fan, and Saturday night's main event was on
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I had never seen the show and had never heard of the show
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but it was wrestling, so I couldn't wait to watch it. On this particular episode, Hogan defended his WWF title
4:45
against some big guy I had never heard of named the Magnificent Morocco
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I do not remember any details from the match, but I vividly remember what happened afterwards
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King Kong Bundy came to the ring and attacked Hulk. He hit him time after time in the corner with his running avalanche splash
5:07
and then he squashed Hogan with his flying splash. Hogan was left convulsing, and he was carried out of the ring on a stretcher
5:18
My friend was in tears. I looked at him, and I began to cry
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To this day, I don't remember why. Maybe, maybe the power of Hulkamania took me over
5:36
Perhaps it was just seeing one good guy beat up by two huge baddies
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It could have been that just looking at my friend cry brought me to tears
5:49
Whatever the reason, I cried while Hulk Hogan was taken out on a stretcher
5:54
A few months later, I would cheer when Paul Orndorff turned on the Orange Goblin
6:00
and gave him the pile driver that would make me a wrestling fan for life
6:05
But for that one night, I was a true blue Hulkamaniac. WrestleMania 3 is rightfully celebrated as one of the greatest wrestling cards of all time
6:22
Hogan vs. Andre the Giant was the big draw, but it was the Intercontinental title match that stole the show
6:29
Before I saw Ricky Steamboat beat Randy Savage for the IC Belt
6:34
I never thought about how good wrestling matches were. All wrestling was fun
6:40
There were some wrestlers that I liked more than others, but I never rated anything
6:45
You know, sometimes I wish we could go back to those times
6:49
Wrestling is much more fun when you don't think about work rate
6:53
Eventually, you see enough matches to where you can say you like this one better than that one
6:59
but that's true of everything. With wrestling, some fans reach a point to where they feel the need to rate every single match
7:09
It becomes this workman-like reconstruction that sometimes takes the fun out of the sport
7:17
It's not something that you do consciously, it's just something that happens to some of us
7:22
Let's face it, wrestling is a whole lot more fun when you don't really care
7:27
So, Steamboat and Savage was the first time I saw a match and I thought
7:31
wow, this is really good. The pace they worked, all the close counts, the tension, the excitement
7:41
I was riveted by it. I would watch the match over and over again
7:48
To this day, I still talk to people about how amazing it was
7:54
I was young and I wasn't at the age yet where I had to hide I was a wrestling fan
8:00
But, I wouldn't talk to everyone about it. I mean, of course if someone asked me what I liked, I would say wrestling
8:08
Otherwise, I only talk to other wrestling fans. Except when it came to this match, I would tell anyone who would listen about it
8:19
It was more exciting than any show or sport that you can watch on TV
8:24
When the match was over, I was proud to be a wrestling fan
8:29
History beckons the macho man indeed. He fell back. He can't hold him. He's got flair
8:36
Steamboat is rightfully recognized as a legend. If he did nothing else in wrestling after the WrestleMania 3 match
8:45
that would have been enough to enshrine him in any hall of fame
8:49
But, not only did he continue to perform at a top level
8:53
he went on to participate in the greatest trilogy of matches ever
8:59
In 1989, Steamboat and Ric Flair faced off in three of the greatest matches of all time
9:07
The trilogy set a bar that'll probably never be matched, much less exceeded
9:13
Picking the best match between the three is incredibly difficult. As you may have guessed, I love all three of those matches
9:23
But, I only saw one of them as it was happening. And that one made me react in a way I never had
9:32
The Clash of the Champions 6 rematch between Steamboat and Flair is an amazing test of endurance, will, and stamina
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It's also the first time I had ever seen a wrestling match that tells a story
9:48
The first fall establishes that Ric Flair learned from their previous encounter at Chi-Town Rumble
9:56
In that first match, Steamboat countered a figure four into a small package to win the NWA world title
10:03
When the same sequence happens in the first fall at Clash 6
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Flair has the counter to Steamboat's counter and picks up the win
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In the second fall, Steamboat completely dominates. This is the first time that I had ever heard about Flair's back injury due to the plane crash
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So the Dragon worked the Nature Boys back over the entire fall
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At the end, he locks them in a flying double chicken wing and he gets the submission
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Again, first time I had ever seen this. The third fall is tremendous
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As the hour time limit is about to expire, Steamboat locks in the chicken wing again
10:47
I thought this was going to go to an hour draw, but what ends up happening is Steamboat's knee gives out and he buckles under the pressure
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Because of the way the move works, Flair fell back and was on top for the pin
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Now Steamboat knows Ric Flair so well that he knew that Flair would be working on his knee the entire match
11:10
So knowing that Flair will be working on his knee, Steamboat has planned for this
11:15
And he turns this into a controversial pinfall victory. So in other words, Steamboat had a counter to a potential counter that Flair could not have planned for
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A true game of human chess, as the great Gordon Soley would say
11:36
After the match was over, I stood up and applauded. I was by myself and it just seemed like the right thing to do
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I still think that is the greatest wrestling match of all time
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Here's a fun fact. When the two concluded their trilogy with another candidate for greatest match of all time at the first Wrestle War
11:59
Flair finally regained the NWA title after reversing a Steamboat body slam
12:06
It was the same way Steamboat had beat Savage two years prior
12:15
As I mentioned, my first memories of wrestling are from World Class Championship Wrestling
12:21
I would watch them every single Saturday. They were never my favorites, but I thought the Von Eriks were some of the best wrestlers in the world
12:30
I'm guessing it's because they never lost. In the wrestling promotion that I ran using Star Wars figures and GI Joes
12:39
all the most popular wrestlers were related to the Von Eriks. Luke Von Erik was my top face, for example
12:46
But even as a kid who believed everything they saw on a wrestling show
12:52
there was always something a little off about World Class. Now, I was too young to notice or even care that they never had good matches
13:02
And it made sense to me that the Von Eriks were involved in all of the biggest feuds
13:07
By the time I started watching World Class, it seemed like the glory years had already passed, though
13:13
David was dead, and Carey's NWA title reign had come and gone
13:18
There was also this constant feeling of sadness on the show. My first actual memory of World Class is Gino Hernandez and Chris Adams feuding
13:29
It seems like it was literally the next week that they announced Gino's passing
13:35
In other words, my earliest memories of the promotion are about someone dying
13:42
And it never seemed to get better. Gino Hernandez, Mike Von Erik, Carey's motorcycle accident, Kevin's concussions, Chris Adams assaulting people
13:56
Every week made it increasingly hard to watch the show. I reached my breaking point at the end of 1987
14:05
Now, to put things in context, this was the year I really started to appreciate wrestling
14:12
By this point, Mania III had happened, so I was noticing what I thought were really good matches
14:19
I knew what kinds of wrestlers I liked. There was a type, the Ric Flairs and the Randy Savages and the Midnight Express
14:27
And there was wrestlers that I didn't like, like the powerhouses, like Hogan and the Barbarian
14:33
I hadn't gotten into the aftermaths yet, but I would look for wrestling magazines whenever I went to a store
14:41
And through wrestling magazines, I'd find out there was something called tape training that I was contemplating getting into
14:48
In other words, I had one foot in the wrestling bubble, and I was about to dive all the way in
14:54
Leave it to Fritz Von Erik to try to pull me out
14:58
On Christmas 1987, Carey was set to challenge Al Perez for the world-class title in a cage match
15:07
Fritz would be handcuffed to Perez's manager, Gary Hart. Never one to pass the opportunity to exploit a tasteless angle, Fritz faked a heart attack after being attacked in the cage
15:22
Now, there's been some people since then who have used the argument that the words heart attack were never used on world-class television
15:33
To the best of my memory, that's actually true. That being said, the fact is Fritz tried to capitalize on yet another tragedy to make more money
15:47
And for those who don't want to believe that Fritz would ever do such a thing
15:53
look at the winners for the most disgusting promotional tactic from 1985 through 1988 as voted by the readers of the Wrestling Observer
16:04
1985 saw Fritz Von Erik capitalize on his son Mike's near-death. 1986 saw the exploitation of Gino's death
16:15
1987 was the exploitation of Mike's actual death. And 1988 was this fake heart attack angle
16:24
Comparing this belt to Hulk Hogan's belt would be like comparing ice cream to horse manure
16:30
The two biggest names of the 1980s, without a doubt, were Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair
16:38
Every wrestling fan dreamed of the two eventually meeting. Many magazines devoted pages to this ultimate dream match
16:48
Unfortunately, it seemed like the match would never happen. Until 1991. I was sitting at home watching another nondescript episode of Wrestling Challenge
17:02
Not that I cared. I watched any single wrestling show I could get my hands on
17:07
I don't have any idea what happened on that episode until the very end of the show
17:14
This episode had a strange closing that ended in the commentary booth
17:19
Bobby Heenan stood alongside Gorilla Monsoon and Jim Neidhart with a big gold belt that looked familiar to me
17:28
Didn't belong in the WWF though. As Heenan began to speak, my eyes grew wide
17:35
Gorilla and the anvil just exchanged goofy looks. When the brain said comparing the two belts was like comparing ice cream to horse manure, I was shocked
17:48
When he said another wrestling organization, I couldn't believe it. And then came the two words I never thought I would hear on WWF television
18:02
Ric Flair. I was trembling from the news. It remains one of the top three craziest things I have ever seen in pro wrestling
18:15
At that time, I couldn't believe what I had just seen. And I knew wrestling would never be the same again
18:24
Agree with my list? Let me know what you think in the comments below
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I would love to hear about the moments that gave you the feels
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While you're doing that, make sure to like and subscribe. Next week, I will begin my next story arc
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I will look at the career of Magnum T.A. and we'll talk about what could have been
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Thank you very much. We'll see you soon
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