Let's Talk About... The Apter Mags

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

This board is filled with twenty-somethings that grew up as professional wrestling fans. Long before we ever got our Smark Cards and started rehashing every Meltzer tidbit, we read the Bill Apter family of magazines. I would go so far as to say that the monthly trek down to the local newsstand to pick up Pro Wrestling Illustrated was just as important as watching WCW Saturday Night or Prime Time Wrestling.

 

Let's talk about our memories of PWI, The Wrestler, and Inside Wrestling. Looking back, what they did was truly remarkable. Taking a journalistic approach to kayfabe seems so bizarre now, but I never thought twice about it back then. To me, those PWI 500 and Awards issues were gospel. Whatever Apter said was the truth.

 

I also get totally nostalgic for the little quirks the magazines had. The rankings in the back that always seemed to perfectly match with the storylines and pushes on television, the "interviews" with wrestlers that all sounded the same, the house show reports that reprinted the same cards a half dozen times and the "letters" that all seemed suprisingly coherent for pre-teenage wrestling fans.

 

Does anyone still have their old issues around? I know that I have a box somewhere at my parent's house (if they haven't disposed of it). It would be great to pull out some of those old issues and talk about the articles.

 

 

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

I have hundreds in my closet. (Dated back to 1982) I also have a few dozen of my Grandpa's AWA Wrestling Revue from the early 70's with young Flair etc.

 

I freaked in 1993 when I read that Tatanka lost a battle royal, cause I thought that meant his winning streak was over.

 

Also reading the results to find strange appearences by those you never saw on TV. Double Trouble as a WWF tag team, Mongalian Mauler in WCW, Memphis running angles that were tied into WWF, that the WWF never mentioned (Pg 13 earned a tag title shot, Somebody won a spot in the Royal Rumble that WWF later veto'd, the whole McMahon/Lawler feud.

 

I loved the SPECIAL FULL COLOR Supercard coverage. In retrospect those were kinda sad, as we would see WWF in 20+ thousand seat arenas (and in 86/87 60 G + 2 or 3 times) and then see a super dark AWA card with DJ Pederson arm bar-ing Kevin Kelly

 

The silly facial pics that would be included in the Inside Wrestling interview (Look mad, confident, smug!)

 

FACE TO FACE!!!! Verne Gagne and Larry Henning debate their sons feud, Giant WILBUR and Paul Jones bitch fest, British Bulldogs explode in Calgary

[Timmy8271 0]

I think I still have my first PWI 500 from 1997 somewhere in my house. That to me was my bible. It's what got me into ECW and I couldn't believe there was a world outside WWF/WCW. I was a huge mark for WWF magazine. I had a subscription all the way till I was about 16. My favorite Apter mag had to be WOW Magazine. I mean you had wrestling, video games and hot chicks. What teenager wouldn't like that?

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I used to have hundreds of Apter Mags. I think that I still have most of my collection (spanning primarily from 1985 through 1997) boxed away at my parents' house.

 

My favorite was called "Wrestling Rulebreaker," where the entire magazine was presented with a heel bias. Don't know how many issues were released, but I have the inaugural one with the Narcissist on the front cover.

 

Interestingly enough, I was at a flea market this past weekend and I found a stand where wrestling magazines were going for a dollar each. I got my hands on an issue of WOW Magazine from late 1999. And a few RAW magazines from97/98 as well.

[cabbageboy 0]

Haha! I too had that Wrestling Rulebreaker mag with Luger on the front of it. I recall the headline in it: "1993: The Year of the Rulebreaker."

 

The first PWI I ever bought was one leading up to Summerslam 1992 that had Warrior and Macho on the cover saying something like "Warrior and Savage: The hatred still runs deep!" That magazine shattered my illusions of what wrestling was, since I read the arena reports in the back and was shocked and I mean SHOCKED to find that all of the feuds they were building on TV were all in fact happening on every show they were doing around the country. I assumed that all of these shows featured the same squash matches that were on WWF TV and that the Superstars were kept apart until they had a big PPV or at least a major TV show.

[King Kamala 0]

Honestly, I was always more of a WWF Magazine guy during the peak of my markdom ('94-'96). The only single article that really sticks out in my mind was one at some point in '94 about Yokozuna that frequently referenced how he squashed Hulk Hogan and mentioned how Hogan was sent packing for some old timers federation down south. As a mark, I was downright shocked that they'd slam the former face of their company. Amusingly enough for some reason, I didn't put two and two together and realize that the old timers federation down south was WCW. WCW was a very small blip on my radar until Nitro came along. Actually, I actually thought they were saying that Hulk Hogan was wrestling on the Southern indy circuit.

 

While I never was huge into the Apter mags during their heyday- I credit WOW Magazine with opening the doors of smarkdom for me- for better or worse. I loved that magazine. As Timmy said- it had everything an adolescent could want. That and WWF Magazine were the only ones I remember having a subscription to. Oh and for a while in '01ish, PWI was releasing compilations of old interviews and articles from the archive and I loved picking those up. I remember reading a kayfabe interview with Stan Hansen circa his AWA World title run where he talked about how he was only in wrestling to get away from his fat wife and ugly kids. I vaguely recall the interview ending with him chasing the interviewer out of the room.

[Diamonddust 0]

The two magazines I always bought (At least after reading them in the grocery store at the magazine aisle first) were PWI and the WWE magazine. PWI always "confused" me when they called Mr. Perfect "Curt Henning" or listed Rick Martel as being from Montreal even though he was "supposed" to be from Boca Raton (Or was his gimmick hometown Cocoa Beach?). I remember the little things like that, along with the arena reports and the ads for Champions of the Galaxy... I LOVED that game.

[strummer 0]

The first image that comes to mind when thinking of the mark mags is the famous photo of Kamala's spear with Hulk Hogan's head through it from 1986. I remember seeing it in the checkout line at some discount store and being suprised since Hogan and Kamala had no interaction on TV.

 

Before I came online I used to buy PWI regularly (from maybe 91-95). I used to love it when they would throw it some smart tidbits like the Rockers winning the tag belts and it not being recognized and that Vince McMahon had a meeting with the clique at a house show. It's also where I found out that Goldust was Dustin Rhodes.

 

I remember reading that the Beverly Brothers were penciled in for a tag title run in the early 90s. I have no idea if that story was valid or not.

 

I always loved them trying to make sense of the WWF rankings because the company never really acknowledged the IC champ as the number one contender (yet PWI did for some reason)

 

The arena results were great and sometimes suprising like them harping on Sid jobbing to Bob Holly at a house show in 95 (they always hated Sid)

 

In retrospect they were clearly biased against the WWF but as a mark I couldn't tell and really didn't care because it was entertaining.

[haws bah gawd 0]

I too remember reading PWI back in 1991 or so and wondering who this "Curt Hennig" guy was in the WWF, and why he was the #1 contender to their World Championship. I never saw any AWA stuff until just recently on ESPN, and didn't start watching wrestling until someone clued me in to this "Ultimate Warrior" guy in '91 or so, so I only knew him as Mr. Perfect.

 

I remember getting one magazine in 1991 that was dedicated to "The Strongest Men in the Sport". I believe the winner was Dr. Death for gorilla pressing Terry Gordy into the top of the steel cage about 8 times in a row or something. I was kind of pissed that Warrior only ranked at #4, but they showed an awesome pic of him slamming Akheem(sp?).

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I always loved them trying to make sense of the WWF rankings because the company never really acknowledged the IC champ as the number one contender (yet PWI did for some reason)

 

I always loved that. The US champ and IC champs were the no. 1 contenders no matter what. It always gave an extra bit of legitimacy to the belts regardless of what was happening on tv. The symmetry between seeing a guy get a push on tv and then seeing he was, say, the no. 3 contender, was always comforting.

 

Along the right hand margin they had rankings for a bunch of indy promotions. I specifically remember that one company had a guy named T. Rantula who was champ for several years. I was always perplexed as to why he didn't end up in WWF or WCW if he dominated his company in such a way.

 

He eventually showed up on WCW Nitro as a fat, out of shape enhancement talent. It wasn't until a little later on that I found out that T. Rantula ran his own two-bit vanity promotion with him as owner, booker and champ. PWI played it off as if it were some legitimate company. Ha.

 

In retrospect they were clearly biased against the WWF but as a mark I couldn't tell and really didn't care because it was entertaining.

 

WWF had their own mag and thus didn't need Apter. PWI used to work very closely with JCP, and there was a lot of crossover promotion. Apter used to rig a lot of the big awards so that they ended up in the hands of guys that were getting a big push.

 

As a reader, I just always assumed that both promotions had equal sized fanbases. Seems ridiculous now given the size of their crowds, but whatever, I was just a naive mark.

[Slayer 0]

Back in the late 80s and early-mid 90s, whenever Mom would go to the grocery store, I would always come along just to hang out at the magazine rack for the better part of an hour. I perused a variety of subjects, including video games, sports and music, but nothing captured my attention more than the wrestling mags. Later on when I would discover the internet I was mildly traumatized (okay, not really) to find out how most all of the columnists were fictitious and interviews totally fabricated, not to mention the fake annual awards that even as a teen I should have been able to infer that they weren't legit

 

On the other hand, there were some strange times when they broke kayfabe and actually reported shoot incidents that surprised me. For example, without them I never would have known about the Arn-Sid scissors incident or the Orndorff-Vader brawl at the time they happened. They also attempted to shine minor light on some things such as the Shawn Michaels Syracuse incident, although in retrospect it was rather weak, especially compared to Meltzer's exposés of the same events.

[King Kamala 0]

I'd be curious to read a current issue of PWI. From what I've heard, they're still semi-kayfabe. Which is just awesome. Unfortunately, I haven't seen one in years.

 

 

Fake edit: Ah but they have a website....Shit yes! It's still kayfabe!

[The Truthiness 0]

I remember I use to have a room full of Apter mags. One of the funniest things off the top of my head, was this column called "Introducing". There was this Canadian dude talking about, he had no interest in going to WWF, he wanted to be a star Japan. That was all he was focusing on, trying to get to get in one of the BIG 2, in Japan.

 

That guy would debut in the WWE in 1998, with the name was Edge.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I'd be curious to read a current issue of PWI. From what I've heard, they're still semi-kayfabe. Which is just awesome. Unfortunately, I haven't seen one in years.

 

 

Fake edit: Ah but they have a website....Shit yes! It's still kayfabe!

 

How on earth is Manu ranked no. 9 overall on RAW?

[King Kamala 0]

Good to see that El Dandy is still wrestling (and in contention for the NWA World title!)

[Bix 0]

Also reading the results to find strange appearences by those you never saw on TV. Double Trouble as a WWF tag team, Mongalian Mauler in WCW, Memphis running angles that were tied into WWF, that the WWF never mentioned (Pg 13 earned a tag title shot, Somebody won a spot in the Royal Rumble that WWF later veto'd, the whole McMahon/Lawler feud.

Mongolian Mauler had a few matches on Worldwide in '94 when they realized that the previous Disney tapings were a disaster so the show had to exist on a different plane of existence from most of what was going on in WCW.

 

PG-13 did get a tag title shot against the Smoking Gunns on Raw.

 

Doug Gilbert got to be in the Royal Rumble that he won a slot in. They may have run it another year where it didn't come off.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I'd be curious to read a current issue of PWI. From what I've heard, they're still semi-kayfabe. Which is just awesome. Unfortunately, I haven't seen one in years.

 

 

Fake edit: Ah but they have a website....Shit yes! It's still kayfabe!

 

Reading the line "put on a hell of show" in reference to Impact is some great kayfabe.

 

I fondly remember a letter allegedly written by the fan Gorilla Monsoon called "a sick individual" for holding up a pro Double J sign on Wrestling Challenge. Good stuff.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

My first Apter mag (Actually, it may have been Main Event magazine) had an article about the title-for-title match between Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior at MSG in early 1989. I still remember a pic of the jeans-wearing Rick Rude distracting Warrior as he would go on to lose by countout. Also had a pic of Vladmir & friends' "The Madness is Back!" sign. I figured there would be no way in hell I'd ever get to see that match. That is until Coliseum Video released one of their 60-minute videos that had that match on it. Didn't quite live up to the internal hype I created for the match but nothing could have. That said, it was a pretty swank match w/ awesome heat.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

From the Wrestling History section:

 

July 2 1985: Pro Wrestling Illustrated reinstates world title recognition for the WWF heavyweight title after more than two years of viewing it as a regional championship.

 

I had no idea it had never been considered anything but a, if not the, world title.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I remember that. The WWF supposedly lost world title status because they were only holding cards in the northeast during the Backlund run (is this even true?).

 

They also held out world title status from ECW until late 1999. Ironically, this was just months before the company ceased to exist.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I actually remember the campaigning and subsequent recognition for the ECW World Title.

[King Kamala 0]

I remember that. The WWF supposedly lost world title status because they were only holding cards in the northeast during the Backlund run (is this even true?).

 

Nah, WWF started expanding in the last year or so of Backlund's title run and even before the expansion, he'd make the occasional title defense in other territories. Besides, they kept the boycott for a year and a half into Hogan's title run where they were definitely running nationally. IIRC, PWI didn't recognize the WWF World title as a world title because they were bitter over WWF starting Victory Magazine (The precursor to WWF Magazine) in late '83.

[cabbageboy 0]

Actually I thought there was a viable reason why the WWF title wasn't considered an actual world title. The WWF was a member of the NWA from about 1971-83 so technically the NWA title would be the actual World title and the WWF title would be regional. However, once the WWF split once and for all from the NWA and ran nationally, then PWI had no choice but to recognize it as a world title.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Actually I thought there was a viable reason why the WWF title wasn't considered an actual world title. The WWF was a member of the NWA from about 1971-83 so technically the NWA title would be the actual World title and the WWF title would be regional. However, once the WWF split once and for all from the NWA and ran nationally, then PWI had no choice but to recognize it as a world title.

It worked the opposite though. The WWF title WAS recognized as a world title until 1983. The only rational explanation for it is that PWI did it to attempt to counter Vince's national expansion.

[cabbageboy 0]

That's just headscratching. I wonder if the AWA was always considered a world title since Gagne broke from the NWA in the late 50s.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

That's just headscratching. I wonder if the AWA was always considered a world title since Gagne broke from the NWA in the late 50s.

As far as I know AWA had world title status all the way to the bitter end.

 

I think Al is wrong about the status of WWF title. I don't have the magazines in front of me, but I am almost positive that the WWF lost world title status from the late 70s until Hogan's run.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I remember an article in 1997 that had pictures of Mankind teaming up with Dude Love on some indy show. I was in total mark mode, so I could never wrap my head around who they got for that. Anyone remember this?

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

I'm fairly certain that the AWA world title was stripped at the bitter end

 

I may incorrectly recall that though

[King Kamala 0]

According to wikipedia (yeah, not the most reliable source), PWI stripped the AWA of its world title status on December 12th, 1990 after Larry Zbysko jumped ship. AWA closed after a one-off show in May '91 (Headlined by Wahoo McDaniel and Greg Gagne Vs The Destruction Crew- surely a main event anywhere in the country). Though they did actually run a few shows in '94 with Zbysko inexplicably back as champion.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I remember PWI ran a story about Larry stealing the AWA Title when he jumped ship to the NWA.