FanPost

Memories of Stampede Wrestling


Hi Cagesiders,

I am a long time lurker who has recently decided to become more involved in the awesome community here on Cageside Seats. To that end i have decided to take a stab at a Fanpost.

First a little background on myself. I am a lifelong wrestling fan in my early forties, married with two sons that are beginning to show interest in the action and entertainment found in the squared circle. This has had me reminiscing about my own introduction to and subsequent fandom of pro wrestling.

I grew up in and around Calgary, Alberta, Canada and my introduction to wrestling was not via the WWF/E, AWA,or NWA but instead through local promotion Stampede Wrestling. Stampede Wrestling was owned and operated by Stu Hart and was televised locally. I discovered this crazy program on a rainy Saturday in the early '80's as I was lazing around watching TV and this came on. I was instantly hooked and became immersed in this larger than life world of good guys vs. bad guys. Stampede Wrestling featured many of Stu Hart's sons as talent and I quickly became a fan of Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and the Dynamite Kid. The first feud I remember was between Bret Hart and Bad News Allen, later Bad News Brown in WWF/E. As a young kid Bad News scared the crap out of me and I could not believe the terrible things that Bad news would do to Bret, such as gouging his eye with a fork. Stampede had a hardcore element to its programming and was the first place I ever saw a ladder match, years before Shawn Micheals and Razor Ramon. I literally ran around the living room screaming in joy when Bret finally beat Allen.

Soon after I discovered Stampede Wrestling it was purchased by the WWF/E and I began to follow Superstars so that I could keep up with all my favorites, especially Bret, who is still to this day my all time favorite wrestler. Stampede Wrestling came back on the air a couple years later and I followed it religiously until it finally shut down. It continued to feature Stu's other sons Bruce (who i had as a substitute teacher in grade 7 health class once, this was a BIG deal in school that day), Keith, and the youngest Owen. There are other wrestlers that stand out in my memory from this time frame. Guys like The Cuban Assassin, who always used a foreign object during his matches, Jason the Terrible, who was a big lumbering monster who wore a mask just like Jason from the Friday the Thirteenth movie, and Makhan Singh (Mike Shaw also known as Bastion Booger and Norman the Lunatic) and the stable Karachi Vice. I look back fondly on my memories of Stampede Wrestling and the beginnings of my fandom.

I look forward to interacting more often with others here on Cageside and hope that you enjoyed my little retrospective. If there are any other Stampede Wrestling fans out there I would love hear your memories in the comments.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.