THE WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION'S INVASION OF THE BRITISH ISLES
RAMPAGE
In the early ’90s, the World Wrestling Federation became a full-blown national craze in Great Britain.
Records were shattered at sold-out arena shows in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield.
Action figures were front and centre in the UK’s leading toy shops. WrestleMania The Album, produced by Simon Cowell, reached the UK top 10. Newsagents’ shelves were packed with sticker albums and trading cards from Merlin. Video rental shops dedicated entire sections to tapes from Silver Vision. WrestleFest replaced Space Invaders in the arcades.
Even the tabloids couldn’t get enough: Bret Hitman Hart, The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith and others were everywhere.
The craze peaked at Wembley Stadium in 1992, where 80,355 fans came together for the greatest day in British wrestling history: SummerSlam. During this incredible period, the United Kingdom became the WWF’s true home from home.
Now, for the first time and featuring nostalgia-invoking illustrations from Ben Tallon, Wrestling Life Online's Lee Herbert tells the incredible story of how it all happened.
A MAGICAL CHILDHOOD
"By 1991, everything in my life was WWF.
I was wearing official WWF pin brooches made by Dufort & Sons and an official calendar made by Danilo was on my wall. I was washing in HULK HOGAN bubble bath and sleeping under WWF bedsheets.
I was playing WrestleMania on my Amstrad CPC 464 and staging my own championship bouts with Hasbro toys every chance I got, when I wasn’t busy admiring my trading cards.
Copies of WWF Magazine were stacked beside my bed, while posters from Sporting Superstars adorned my walls.
Lunchtime football matches at school would grind to a halt for impromptu Perfect Plexes, flying elbow drops, and figure-four leglocks."
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AN UNFORGETTABLE TIME
"It’s the summer of 1992 and a crowd of 12,500 people have swarmed a trading estate in Milton Keynes.
All of them are there for the same reason.
One of the units in the estate has been redecorated for the occasion. The tenants have hired professional theatrical dressers to create a funeral parlour theme in a unit that usually deals in the production and distribution of collectible stickers.
There’s dry ice. A candelabrum. A coffin?
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Outside there are people everywhere. Roads are blocked by the improvised parking of hundreds of cars. Police are on the scene, demanding to know what’s going on.
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Inside, THE UNDERTAKER assesses the scene and nods approvingly at his hosts."
A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER
"In the United Kingdom, the World Wrestling Federation eclipsed every other childhood craze, dominating playgrounds, bedrooms, and living rooms alike.
And 1992 would prove to be the biggest year yet.
Two European tours, a live Sky TV special and a landmark event that would change the perception of wrestling in Britain forever.​ But as the lights grew brighter in Europe, shadows loomed elsewhere.
While the WWF cemented its dominance on our shores, back in the US, VINCE McMAHON was locked in a battle for survival."
