WWF Not WWE! Part 1

The growth and decline of my love of wrestling
On
August 16, 2010
Ok you will note this is an arcticle my favorites and no one elses. If there are no Hogans or Flairs in here its because they are overrated and I don't like them. Now on to my personal fascination with the WWF not the WWE.


My favorite wrestlers of all time are The Undertaker



and Stone Cold Steve Austin



I got my first taste of the sport back around 92 and 93. A childhood friend of mine lived across the street from me and he first introduced me to WWF. Back then it was about Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior few others but these were the top dogs. I was not as into it until I got my first glimpse of the Deadman. He instantly became my favorite.



It was Christmas of 1992 and I asked for a wrestling game for christmas. I didn't care which one just as long as it had the Undertaker on it. Wehn Christmas morning came I opened up all my packages Including a Ninja Turtle Sewer Playset along with a bunch of action figures but the one that got my attention was the game bax that fetured Undertaker on the cover art. I was happy and very excited. I ran straight to my room and popped it in. So for about two or three years I was playing WWF Steel Cage Challenge on my NES...



I was always The Undertaker it never failed. If I did the Tag Team challenge I was Undertaker and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. That was my favorite NES game that I had.

Everyday that is wasn't raining or snowing outside I was outside wrestling wiht my friends. We would choose who we wanted to be and I was always again The Undertaker. I went as far as having my mom make me an Undertaker costume just to wrestle in.

In 1994 that was a rough year for me. My grandmother passed away and I moved away from my friends to a new town. I was having a pretty rough go of it. I quit watching WWF and lost track of it. I had a new group of friends, I was turning 13 and my mind was on other things.

Around about January 1998 I was in my local video store and I rented a few videos. I happened to walk by the Special Intrest section and I seen some old wrestling tapes. Next thing I knew I had put my movies back and grabbed about 2 or 3 of the wrestling video's. They were

and Wrestlemania 8 which I couldn't find a picture for.

My dad noticed me watching them and he told me that a friend of his had some wrestling tapes. He said he would borrow them for me so I could watch them. Now the fun begins.

The next day my dad brings in some videos taped off of TV. The were old Raw is War episodes from back December of around 1997. in school I heard some of the guys talking about a guy named Stone Cold Steve Austin. Well to me his name sounded like crap and I figured he was just a Shawn Michaels rip off... Boy was I ever wrong!



I proceeded to watch the tapes my dad had brought for me. This was my first viewing of Stone Cold. I didn't like him at first. I thought he was a guy who came out ran his mouth and never backed it up... Now keep in mind I had lost track of the WWF for about 3 or 4 years now so I had no clue what this guy was really capable of. He was runnin his mouth at Mr. McMahon (I was kinda confused because the last time I seen this guy he was an announcer and now he was the boss? What gives?) and he through the Rock's Intercontinental Title over a bridge and these were the first times I seen him.

I watched those tapes over and over and over. I was fascinated again. There were alot of guys I didn't recognize and only a few that I did one of them being The Undertaker. Undertaker had been dealing with trouble from his brother Kane who had shown up and joind forces with Paul Bearer.

I got in tune in time for Wrestlemainia 14 Stone Cold vs Shawn Michaels with Mike Tyson as the Special Enforcer...



Austin would go on to win his very first WWF Title at Wrestlemania 14 on March 29, 1998.

Stone Cold by now had become my favorite wrestler over even the Undertaker who ran a close second. The months passed as Stone Cold battled Dude Love and Kane. He even went on to win the Tag Team titles with the Undertaker which was a dream team for me.

Well its SummerSlam August 1998 and my dream match is here. The match that would lay to rest my speculation of who the best really was... Undertaker VS Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Championship Stone Cold went on to retain the title and dominate most of the popularity.

Now jumping back to July 98 I was turning 16 and WWF was coming to town with Stone Cold vs Mankind for the the main event. It was a house show so there were no fireworks or pretty stuff. I was just as excited though. DX was run by HHH at this time and they were doin pretty good runnin over top the Rock whom had assumed control of The Nation of Domination. They were also there. The only thing I can remember from them was HHH getting a chick in the crowd to flash everybody.



The only two matches I can really remember were Kane vs Vader and Stone Cold vs Mankind for obvious reasons. When I heard the glass shatter in that arena for the first time you had thought someone had lit a fire under me I jumped to my feet and began screaming for Austin. He won the match and I went home after spenind about $150 on Stone Cold merchandise.

One of the things I bought was a video that recapped Austin's entire career up to 1998 when I started watching again. As soon as I got home from the show I popped it in the VCR and began to fuel my brain with knowledge.

To Be Continued...
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