Hey there folks. I am now a 2-time, 2-time columnist for WWI and if you can stomach it, I’d like to borrow your eyes for a short trip down memory lane.   This will either be a pleasant trip for you or a nightmarish one filled with all manner of ghosts, goblins and erm…Balls Mahoney in a really rather rubbish outfit pretending to be Santa Claus’ evil brethren?   Yeah, I didn’t see that one coming either.

Y’see, I was always a fan of the WWE (or WWF) in the mid-90’s. In 1995 I was 8 years old. Like any 8 year old kid at that time, my parents filled my mornings with the glorious Power Rangers and Kevin Nash as the WWF Champion. Oh that’s right.  He who fans have bashed relentlessly over the years was once on top of the professional wrestling tree. Infact, come to think of it, he’s still swinging from branch to branch around the upper areas of the professional wrestling tree.. As you all well know, he wasn’t a grey-haired old wrestling ‘legend’. No, he was “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel - WWF Champion and good buddy to future tree-topper Shawn Michaels - and boy did he ever have some bad main events. Mabel, Sid, Godzilla (ok so I made that last one up but it probably would’ve beat the fan reaction to Mabel) - the Big Daddy faced   all comers.

Now, I’m probably going to surprise a lot of you with this statement. Especially those who lived through the ‘New Generation’. This moniker was, of course, how Vince McMahon liked to dub his new roster of superstars. To hell with Hogan, Savage and The Ultimate Warrior, he said. The leaving of these three men plus the attempt of recovery from a horrible public image scandal (the steroid trials) led him to push such men as Bret “Hitman” Hart and the aforementioned Michaels. These men, it was said (and proved to be true), could have far more exciting matches than the Hulkster and ilk because they were just plain better. They were the new generation of WWF superstars for crying out loud! The reason I shall maybe shock some of you is because I actually enjoyed that period in the WWF. Sure it was more cartoon-like than Bugs and Co. and featured such horrible, HORRIBLE gimmicks as Mantaur… although I kinda liked it. Perhaps it was because I was a small child who craved as much wrestling action as he could get - even going so far as to cheer for Barry Horowitz. *sigh*. Maybe it was the innocence of youth and thinking that Razor Ramon was just nervous when he stumbled down the aisle and hadn’t just downed a 6-pack of cold brew ski’s. Who knows! The only thing I know is that I loved the WWF in 1994 and I damn sure adored it in 1995.

Having since grown up a little (or so I like to think), I decided to buy some of the old Pay-Per-Views from this era to see how they held up today. Surely I couldn’t enjoy “In Your House 1: Mother’s Day Mayhem” I thought. Diesel vs. Sid for the WWF Championship? C’mon. I’d rather watch my Hulk Hogan bed covers dry on the line than sit through that crap. So I went onto Amazon and purchased some “WWE Tagged Classics!” on DVD. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I bought the sets of In Your House 1 & 2 and In Your House 3 & 4. All for £20. (The even sadder thing about this is that I used money I received for Christmas on these DVD’s. Rather than, y’know, being cool and buying booze with it).

When the packages arrived at my house a few days after the New Year, I ripped them open with all the power of Hogan ripping his shirt every night. Yes, I will stop with the Hulkster references as even I‘m getting bored of the big orange bastard popping up every few lines. I popped In Your House 1 into the DVD player and was bored within minutes, I even went off to do the gardening. Who could sit through this mess? Mabel vs. Adam Bomb? Razor vs. Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie? Please, surely you should know by now that I not only sat through the event, I gobbled it up like a fine feast. I even enjoyed “The Supreme Fighting Machine” KAMA vs. The Undertaker (I won’t blame you if you leave this column now..). Y’see, I wasn’t wowed with the awesome in-ring action, even if Bret Hart vs. Hakushi is still pretty damn good. I just loved the overall camp-ness of it all. Vince McMahon acting like a paragon of virtue with his “1...2..HEGOTHIMNOHEDIDN’T!” screams on every near fall, Michael Hayes as “Handsome” Doc Hendrix and lest we forget; Todd Pettingill. Seriously, that guy could shill the Giant Gonzalez in a main event. I just absolutely ate up every minute of this blast from the past. I remember watching it with my “2 Dudes With Attitude’s” t-shirt on and my WWF baseball cap. And that was only when watching the DVD! God only knows what I was wearing the first time I watched, it was the mid-90’s afterall. I probably had a flat-top haircut too.

I shall leave you now with this memory. Mabel. Mabel in a main event. At Summerslam. Quite possibly the WWF/WWE’s 2^nd biggest show of the year. Just think about that, and if you like visual pain as much as me - go back and watch that main event. Just don’t blame it on me if you suddenly feel ashamed of your childhood! Until next time, TAKE IT HOME!