One of my favorites wrestling television series returns Wednesday night as MSG presents WWE's At The Garden. I'm especially psyched because tonight's installment features what I believe was the very first wrestling event I ever attended at the Garden.
Ahh, I can remember it like it was yesterday (insert harp music.)
It was July 1, 1991 and I was just 13 years old. Back then, WWE played the Garden about every other month. With WWE only offering four pay per views a year back then, the Garden shows were pretty big deals, with angles taking places, feuds being established and blown off, and, occasionally, titles changing hands.
And although I had already been a fan of wrestling for about 10 years and had attended a few shows at the Nassau Coliseum, I had never begged my dad much to take me to a Garden Show. That was until this night - because on this night The Ultimate Warrior was taking on the Undertaker in a body bag match.
Over my many years as a fan, I have had various wrestling heroes - everyone from Ric Flair to Shawn Michaels to Barry Windham. But, as ashamed as I am to admit it today, never was I a bigger fan of any wrestler than I was of the Ultimate Warrior. I mean I was absolutely obsessed with this man. My walls were plastered with posters of the man from parts unknown, and it was not unusual to find me on any given Saturday lounging around my home in facepaint.
What did I know about little things like workrate, selling, and performance enhancing drugs at the time? The Warrior was the coolest. His tights were colorful, his entrance music was rockin', and he usually destroyed his opponents in about 30 seconds.
But never had I seen my idol face a challenge like this one. The Undertaker was unbeaten since debuting in the WWF about seven months earlier. And weeks before this match - in one of the more compelling angles at the time - the Undertaker nearly killed the Warrior when he locked him inside an airtight coffin for several minutes during an installment of Paul Bearer's "Funeral Parlor" interview segment. I remember being on the edge of my seat as WWF officials frantically used drills, hammers and crowbars to try to open the coffin and free the Warrior. When they finally did, he appeared lifeless inside.
I wasn't exactly sure what a "body bag" match was, but I knew it sounded pretty ominous and could be the perfect forum for these two men to settle their score. So my old man bought us a couple of tickets in the nosebleeds. I don't entirely remember what happened, but I remember boarding the Long Island Rail Road out of Penn Station pretty happy that night.
My tastes in wrestling may have changed a bit over the years, but truth be told, I still smile whenever I see an old Warrior match. As much as Vince McMahon has tried to bury the Warrior over the years - including with that hatchet job DVD a couple years ago - the reality is that, for all his flaws, the Warrior really was something special.
Incidentally, some of you may have heard that the Warrior is coming out of retirement next month to wrestle his first match in ten years for the European-based New Wrestling Evolution. You can see the angle to set up the match between the Warrior and former WWE midcarder Orlando Jordan here.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't check out the cost of a roundtrip flight to Barcelona over that particular weekend in June. I decided against it. But I will be glued to my TV set tonight - taking in a healthy helping of nostalgia, perhaps with my face painted.
Comments (9)
Who won the match?
Tune into find out!
I think the Warrior did, but I don't completely remember.
Wow, I'm surprised to hear that are you only two years older than I. For some reason, I've always pictured the creative team being filled with most people over the age of 30. Considering I've been a fan all my life and have blown several chances to get into the business on the creative aspect, I'm very intrigued about a story about the hiring process and/or your interview.
Damian
When I first started watching Wrestling at around like 91-92, I was deathly terrified of the Undertaker back then and to some portion I am still today when I watch old clips of the chilling attire. To me really, I was a little Hulkamaniac back then and really never got into the whole Ultimate Warrior craze. I dug his music but I was still a Hulk Hogan fan. Ultimate Warrior though back then was ....meh......but I dug back in the day Rowdy Roddy Piper, Macho Man Randy Savage, Jake The Snake Roberts, Hulk Hogan and others.
Sincerely,
Nick Malone
From Over The Ropes at www.overtheropes.mypodcast.com
It's so interesting, the Warrior thing.
Even as young as I was when I got into wrestling, my favourites were people I don't feel ashamed of supporting now: Flair and Arn, Mr. Perfect, Sting (when he wasn't fighting Flair), the Hart Foundation/Bret, the Rockers/Shawn... I was never a Hulkamaniac, never bought into Sid or El Gigante, so in some way I guess I must have recognised proper talent. Even so, I was every bit as obsessed with the Warrior.
Even to the extent that I supported his ill-fated comebacks. Yes, that bad.
I guess this must be a common complaint across wrestling fans roughly our age.
Damian - wrong guy. Seth Mates is the former creative team member, Alfonso's an actual journalist. Wait for the next post about how terrible the current WWE product is and post your question under that.
For the record, Seth - who also works here at Newsday - is also very much an actual journalist.
Don't know if anyone else looked at the footage on the NWE website, but it looked a little sad to me. I loved the Warrior as a kid and I want to remember the Warrior as the insane, adrenaline rush who cut unintelligible promos and flew around the ring with some semblance of speed. That looked like my 60 year old Uncle Gary trying to do a Warrior impression to make us laugh at the family reunion. Those wrestlers had to slow down a full step and a half so that Warrior could do his rope routine and that weak double clothesline that my grandma could have avoided. I hope he can get back into fighting form for his match so his body doesn't look as bad as Flair's.
For the record, Seth - who also works here at Newsday - is also very much an actual journalist.
Didn't mean any offence by that, I was just halfway through a "this guy is x, that guy is y" construction and needed a "y".
I was about 6 years oldduring that time, but I remember that funeral parlor vividly.I really thought Warrior was gonna die in there. Back then, I was terrified of the undertaker to the point that I would leave the room any time they showed the funeral parlor or the end of his matches were he would put people into body bags. I was fortunate enough to have followed the Undertakers career since the early days, as he is still my all time favorite performer.
In relation to Warrior, I also had the posters, and his action figure had lengthy titles reigns in my make believe federation. Anyone who tries to deny his impact during those times is only fooling themselves, as he was HUGE and was truly a one of a kind performer. The WM7 retirement match against randy savage is still one of my favorite matches of all time (Eventhough that match was all savage) However, by his WMXII return, I was old enough to notice all his flaws and it wasnt the same, and by the time he rolled around WCW then it was fairly obvious he was going nowhere.