Quote:
Originally Posted by Dpeck100
Thanks for checking out my posts. I was born in 1979 so it is a lot of fun to go back in time from an era I didn't get to see when wrestling mattered. A neighbor's parents were in town this week and they saw some of my collection on the wall and went nuts. They are from upstate New York and said that wrestling was just huge in the 1970's there and loved seeing so many of the wrestlers they saw perform. I love the nostalgia of these cards and what they mean to wrestling history.
I have quite a few wrestling DVD's and was watching a match last night between Backlund and Harley Race from the Garden. Man Backlund was strong. It was amazing seeing two real pro's go at it. They did such a great job of making it believable. The moves, the ring psychology all told a story and the crowd reactions from the Garden are just awesome. I love seeing those old matches.
When I looked at that card sheet I said damn that card was stacked. No wonder people turned out in huge numbers to see it.
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I was born in 1972, and I may have written on here before but I grew up going to WW(W)F television tapings every third Wednesday at the Hamburg (Pa.) Fieldhouse and occasionally every third Tuesday at Allentown's Ag Hall when I could talk my father into making the 45-minute drive to Allentown on a work night.
One of my most vivid childhood memories is of my father bitterly complaining when the general admission tickets went from $3 to $4 at Hamburg.
I was a huge wrestling fan when I was in elementary school and used to pore over the various mags detailing far-off territories every month. I would get so excited when a guy like Mil Mascaras, who was hyped to the moon in the "Apter mags," would make an occasional appearance at Hamburg. It was only decades later that I read online how difficult he could be to work with at times and how he often refused to allow his opponent any offense. It is amazing to read online now and in some of the better wrestling autobiographies the back story of various title changes/angles and what various guys from that era were really like. When I was a kid, I had no idea what a drunkard Andre was.
As a kid of 8-9, I was legit terrified that George Steele would attack my father or me when he would leave the ring and come into the stands at Hamburg. I would have never imagined that he has a master's degree and was actually a phys. ed. teacher in real life.
It always seemed crazy to me when I would look at old MSG cards and see that Dusty occasionally traveled in for a five-minute squash match (in addition to the '77 WWWF title match against Superstar Graham). But I have read that Rhodes loved New York City and wrestling at the Garden.
I have not yet read Backlund's book, but from everything I have seen online and in reviews, it is supposedly an amazing read -- right up there with Mick Foley's first book, Dynamite Kid's book and Bret Hart's book.
Even as a kid, I knew the atmosphere and how emotionally invested fans were in what they were seeing was amazing -- and Hamburg/Allentown were certainly no MSG or Philadelphia Spectrum. Just the sight of Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson walking out of the dressing room and toward the broadcast table to signify that each hour was about to begin would be met with a huge pop from the crowd.
03-10-2016, 03:01 PM
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