1991 - the year Kevin Nash wore a green dunces hat, WCW pushed a fat, breathless rapper with no rhythm, the WWF's top heel stable had an average age of nearly 50 and Jim Herd decided WCW didn't need Ric Flair.
It was also the year Mr McMahon launched a bodybuilding league in the midst of a steroid scandal, Ultimate Warrior and Sid sunk to new depths of unprofessionalism, Randy Savage married his wife of 8 years and was gnawed on by a snake.
Dusty Rhodes was sent to WCW, the Mountie was sent to jail and for a couple of months everyone was being sent nasty surprises in gift boxes.
Was 1991 really a terrible year for pro wrestling in America? Conventional wisdom says it was the worst year in living memory.
In this book I'm going to tell the story of the year through every PPV, Clash and Saturday Night's Main Event broadcast (as well as infamous flops such as the UWF's Beach Brawl and the WBF Championship). The matches, the angles, the interviews and the talent - it's all here along with a healthy dose of humour.
Forget star ratings - this is a lapsed fan enjoying some frequently awful pro wrestling and gaining a new understanding of a year where almost everything they tried was a disaster but which may, inadvertently, have sewn the seeds of wrestling's ultimate revival.
On the subject of Repo Man...
Vince normally created characters like this because he’d had a bad personal experience (IRS was the result of an audit, Right to Censor came about after complaints from conservative groups and he really wanted to dress a wrestler up as a panda after losing the WWF vs WWF lawsuit) so the question is – what had Vince had repossessed? Come to think of it, no one had seen Gary Strydom for a few weeks.
If you like this, why not check out my second wrestling book - 1988: The Year in Pro Wrestling - for more of the same (but three years earlier!)
It was also the year Mr McMahon launched a bodybuilding league in the midst of a steroid scandal, Ultimate Warrior and Sid sunk to new depths of unprofessionalism, Randy Savage married his wife of 8 years and was gnawed on by a snake.
Dusty Rhodes was sent to WCW, the Mountie was sent to jail and for a couple of months everyone was being sent nasty surprises in gift boxes.
Was 1991 really a terrible year for pro wrestling in America? Conventional wisdom says it was the worst year in living memory.
In this book I'm going to tell the story of the year through every PPV, Clash and Saturday Night's Main Event broadcast (as well as infamous flops such as the UWF's Beach Brawl and the WBF Championship). The matches, the angles, the interviews and the talent - it's all here along with a healthy dose of humour.
Forget star ratings - this is a lapsed fan enjoying some frequently awful pro wrestling and gaining a new understanding of a year where almost everything they tried was a disaster but which may, inadvertently, have sewn the seeds of wrestling's ultimate revival.
On the subject of Repo Man...
Vince normally created characters like this because he’d had a bad personal experience (IRS was the result of an audit, Right to Censor came about after complaints from conservative groups and he really wanted to dress a wrestler up as a panda after losing the WWF vs WWF lawsuit) so the question is – what had Vince had repossessed? Come to think of it, no one had seen Gary Strydom for a few weeks.
If you like this, why not check out my second wrestling book - 1988: The Year in Pro Wrestling - for more of the same (but three years earlier!)
