Wrestling Fever
December 1988
By Adam Zimmerman
Today, I wanted to take a look at this Wrestling Fever issue from the tail end of 1988. My friend Dena helped me to pick this magazine to take a look at this time because she was here on the particular day that I was choosing which of my magazines to take a look at next, and she picked this one because she knows Randy Savage is one of my all-time favorites. I have to say, it was a good choice by her.
Looking at the cover, we can see there are articles about The Road Warriors clashing with The Powers of Pain, and also an article that features "Japanese midgets in action". That tag line is offensive on possibly multiple levels, but at the time was quite acceptable. Oh, how the times have changed, and in a case like this, sometimes for the better. The cover also advertises "behind-the-scenes news" from all of the biggest promotions at the time, but it's really just your average kayfabe magazine from that era.
There are no "smart articles" in this publication, but that was the way things were back then, and we liked it that way. This is also one of the few mags of the era that wasn't an "Apter mag", so that's pretty interesting.
The table of contents page, unfortunately, has some ancient coffee stains, as you can see. Well, I hope it's coffee anyway. Many people used to keep magazines for bathroom reading material, so who the hell really knows? Let's hope it's coffee...
A lot of the articles in this particular issue (or perhaps the magazine in general) are pretty "mid", as the kids say. Not terrible, but not great. Just run of the mill, you know. The one that did catch my eye was the "Japanese midgets in action" one, though. Let's take a look at that one now.
It features pictures from a match between Pretty Atom and Mr. Porne, which I can only assume you pronounce as "porn". I'm surprised someone didn't sit both of these guys down and tell them that maybe they should come up with different names, especially our friend, Mr. Porne. Judging by the names, there may have been some "backstage action" going on as well, aside from the in-ring action between the two. As they used to say in wrestling, that's just "purely speculation", though.
I will say, one way this magazine shines is through its pictures and color pin-ups. When I was a kid, pin-ups were my favorite part of wrestling magazines. I always covered my bedroom walls with pics of my favorite wrestlers. With most magazines, you were lucky to get one pin-up per issue, but this magazine features more than a few.
Not only are many great "regular" pictures featured here within, but there are also some great full color pin-ups of Ric Flair, Rick Steiner, Honky Tonk Man, Capt. Lou Albano, and a great mid-battle shot of the Ultimate Warrior. Pretty awesome stuff!
