Happy Thanksgiving, Cagesiders!

It's Turkey Day, as some call it, so I thought it appropriate to make sure we here at CagesideSeats.com tell you Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the three f's -- food, football and family, in that order.

We have no plans to roll out a full on gimmick post talking about what we're all thankful for but today reminds me of my very first experience with pro wrestling.

WWE, then known as WWF (wish they still were), held its annual Survivor Series event back on Nov. 22, 1990. I didn't watch it live but my dad had a VHS tape of it in one of those ugly brown cover containers video rental joints would use back then. I discovered this tape one day, popped it in and was mesmerized. The larger than life personalities, the cool looking characters and the awesome work inside the ring (everyone seemed like they were good and those that weren't made up for it in charisma and connection with the crowd) had me hooked from beginning to end.

To this day, a memory I cherish is first putting the tape in and listening to Vince McMahon do the voice over to introduce all the teams with generic jazz music playing in the background. I loved the set up to the event. 10, four man teams matched up against each other, babyfaces on one side, heels on the other. Whoever survived from each team in the five initial matches would meet in the final.

The teams in 1990 were as follows, with the C representing the team captain:

The Hulkamaniacs -- (C) Hulk Hogan, Big Boss Man, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Tugboat
vs.
The Natural Disasters -- (C) Earthquake, Dino Bravo, The Barbarian, Haku

The Dream Team -- (C) Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, The Hart Foundation (Jim Neidhart and Bret Hart)
vs.
The Million $ Team -- (C) Ted DiBiase, Undertaker (billed as mystery partner), Rhythm and Blues (Greg Valentine and Honky Tonk Man)

The Alliance -- (C) Nikolai Volkoff, Tito Santana, The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch)
vs.
The Mercenaries -- (C) Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov, The Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka)

The Vipers -- (C) Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, The Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels)
vs.
The Visionaries -- (C) Rick Martel, Warlord, Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma)

The Warriors -- (C) The Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal)
vs.
The Perfect Team -- (C) Mr. Perfect, Demolition (Ax, Smash, and Crush)

Some incredible characters in there, along with a lot of really awesome workers. By the time these matches all went down, the Grand Finale consisted of three babyfaces against five heels:

The Babyfaces -- The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana
vs.
The Heels -- Ted DiBiase, Rick Martel, Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma

If you know anything at all about pro wrestling, you know who ultimately won this match.

Truly an amazing event that will forever live in my head as one of the greatest of all time. Except for the Gobbledy Gooker. I've never taken the time to research what the hell Vince was thinking with that but it was the dumbest thing I've ever seen in pro wrestling. To this day, I'm not sure I've seen anything any dumber and that's saying something.

To put a bow on this little trip down Memory Lane, I just want to say I'm thankful for all of you who visit the site on a daily basis and leave a comment or two. I've grow rather fond of all of you and I couldn't be happier to have gone from watching an old tape of Survivor Series to running a website dedicated to pro wrestling thanks to the awesome team at SB Nation. It's truly like a dream come true.

Thanks, again, Cagesiders. Enjoy your holiday.