Grapplers Delight

 I'm what one would probably refer to as a casual fan of professional wrestling these days.  I was a massive fan as a child, what with Vince McMahon's national expansion of the WWF hitting at just the right time during my childhood (I was 10 in 1984), but by that time I was already watching whatever NWA/AWA syndication package was being broadcast to the Cincinnati market pretty religiously due to my grandparents' (Dad's parents) interest in it during weekend  Saturday morning visits to their house.  That, and my mother's stepfather's (who would be my....Step- Grandpa?  Mom's family has always been confusing) interest in attending local indie wrestling promotions' events every weekend in the Lucasville, Ohio area, in which I would tag along with.  We also attended a lot of co-ed roller derby that was put on there, too....in a dancehall/bar/roller rink located next to a double screen drive-in movie theater.  The establishment was basically two metal Tecumseh pole barns merged together at the sides with a bar located dead center in the middle where the barns met, with one barn serving as a dancehall and the other a roller rink.  On Friday nights, they'd run wrestling in the dancehall, and on Saturdays it was roller derby in the rink.  Step-Grandpa was a bar band guitarist who played every drinking establishment on the Ohio side of the River from Higginsport east to Portsmouth and Ironton, which is how he was aware of the events being held.   Step-Grandpa was a pretty fun guy to hang out with.

An amusing 1970s marquee from the  Scioto Breeze Drive-In

I couldn't find any contemporary photos of the dancehall/roller rink, because I believe it may have been torn down at some point in the 1990s, which also would've been around the last times I would've watched a movie at the neighboring Scioto Breeze Auto Theater.  It was double feature of Robert Rodriguez's DESPERADO and Clive Barker's LORD OF ILLUSIONS.

As for why I took an interest in pro wrasslin', it's kind of a no brainer...I was a young comic book nerd, and the mixture of kayfabe soap opera melodrama, theatrical personalities, and colorful ring attire translated to my brain as "real life superheroes".

I was definitely more of a fan of Jim Crockett Promotions syndication package when it finally hit the above-mentioned Cincinnati television market around the same time as McMahon's expansion.  Through it I discovered and became a huge fan of Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, the Road Warriors, the antics of Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen....and the Midnight Express and their manager, Jim Cornette.  It was my love for it that later contributed to my decision to swear allegiance to Ted Turner's WCW, of which I was a HUGE fan.   I joke all the time that I'm a veteran of the Monday Night Wars, and our side lost....

The reason why I consider myself a "casual fan" of the sport these days is due to the outcome and aftermath of the Monday Night Wars.  I haven't actively followed the WWE or any other national promotion that's cropped up since, due to simple lack of interest in the product.  It's sad that one of the few moments the WWE has held any interest for me was the "SOUTHPAW WRESTLING" parody segments they produced about a decade and a half ago...I kinda wish they would've ran with that a little bit longer.  I tried TNA/IMPACT/whatever they called themselves really early in their game, back when they were running it as a weekly satellite cable pay per view, and admittedly I was getting it for free due to "burnt" dish box access cards.  AEW sounds like a trainwreck from the start that I thankfully avoided.   Recently, though, I have gotten back into the swing of things by watching Billy Corrigan's NWA after they secured their Roku Channel deal and watching it regularly....and I'm enjoying it immensely.  Not all the angles and gimmicks work, but it reminds me of the product I enjoyed in my youth, only with slightly better production values.  I also love watching local live indie shows...the cheaper the promotion, the better.  The goofier the angles and gimmicks, the better....and NWA POWER reminds me of that,,,,again, only with slightly better production values.

I have, however, remained nostalgic for the sport as it was presented during my youth even if my interest in the contemporary product has waned.  One of my personal wrasslin' sweet spots was Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling (produced from 1992 to 1995).  I spent way too much time and effort creating homemade DVD-Rs of the entire show (taken from YouTube rips) just so I could revisit it any time I wanted to.  I've bought a ton of WWE documentaries featuring promotions and stars of my youth.  I watch a lot of DARK SIDE OF THE RING.  I buy a lot of vintage merchandise (action figures, promotional items, comics books) I find amusing.

I took an interest in Jim Cornette as a kid due to that old rule of thumb:  He's a guy that I loved to hate.  I applied the same philosophy my paternal grandfather did with people he inexplicably liked:  "There's something wrong with that sonuvabitch, but goddammit, I like him."  Later in life, I came to discover we shared some mutual interests:  comic books and superheroes.  Part of my nostalgia driven interest in the sport involves listening to about a half dozen podcasts produced by former wrestling icons, and the best of which IMO are Jim Cornette's two entries in the category:  The Jim Cornette Experience and Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru.  I find him to be a genuinely funny guy who just happens to be very passionate about professional wrestling.  And, I get a kick out of listening to him wax nostalgic about comics...

Rawhide Kid #114 (Marvel, August 1973)

I recently acquired a copy of Marvel's RAWHIDE KID #114 because I had learned that, like me, a young Jim Cornette had some letters published in comic book letter columns.  I had about a half a dozen letters printed in my youth...for those below the age of 30 who might be reading this: the letters column of a comic book was pretty much a combination of social media and message board forums for comic book fandom prior to the existence of the internet.  The one thing Jim received out of the deal was something I coveted as kid and was never awarded:  the infamous Marvel No Prize, basically an empty envelope, potentially autographed by creators, which was awarded to readers for being...well...really obsessive fans of Marvel Comics.  As silly as it sounds, these were very much in demand amongst fans...and some graded autographed examples of them have commanded some ridiculous prices on the secondary collectors market.

This thing is selling for around $8,000.

Edit:  Submitted for the reader's pleasure:  The Jim Cornette action figure I recently ordered directly from JIMCORNETTE.com that Jim personalized for me.

Be sure to check out Jim's website by clicking the banner at the bottom of this page for all kinds of fun Cornette-centric stuff (my good deed for the day: free advertising).