What PPV’s have you seen the most?

Ok, you’ve twisted my arm!! This is more my personal experience than any sort of critique of the show.

My first exposure to wrestling would have been in the mid to late eighties, to the World of Sport British Wrestling. A far cry from its peak, it was a shell of its once exciting brand. Fast forward to the beginning of 92 and my family had cable tv installed (I’m from a relatively poor family, so we were in no position to have gotten sky when it became popular in the late eighties). I had just turned 12 and it was like a whole new world had been opened up to me. First show I watched was the Simpsons.

WWF wrestling was popular with school peers at the time, so naturally I was going to check it out. I seem to think that I’d heard of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and King Kong Bundy (though I may be confusing him with the British wrestler King Kong Kirk). The first angle I ever saw was the Rockers on the Barber Shop. I had been told that wrestling was “fake” but couldn’t compute that if it was so fake, why did the blonde guy throw the dark haired guy through a window. Marty was bleeding, so it must have been real. I sometimes wish I’d retained that naivety.

I loved all the weird and wonderful colourful characters. My initial favourite was my fellow “Scottish” person, Roddy Piper. Repo Man made me laugh, The Mountie was a hoot and there were too many to mention but loved the majority of who I saw, mainly bad guys though. Then there was Ric Flair. In the hype for the Rumble, he just seemed boring - plain trunks, no gimmick (I.e. occupation) and looked old. I saw him no different to Dale Wolfe, Jim Evans, Mike Sharpe et al.

In the Rumble match, when Flair came out and Heenan went in to complete meltdown, I became hooked on wrestling. Between Ric’s performance and Heenan frantically worrying about his “meal ticket” was a fantastic match. If you told me The Brains job was really on the line I’d have believed you. Nowadays there are times I put the event on in the background. I’ve seen it so many times that I can picture what’s going on by the commentary without looking.

The Flair flop, Woooo, his interview -tear in my eye and pay homage to the man etc - and general work rate in the ring instantly made me a Nature Boy fan.

Special mention for Vince saying Haku (another favourite of mine). Have so many great memories of the Rumble event. I have butterflies in my stomach just typing this.