WrestleMania 3- 1987 PPV VHS Tape Found

I was sitting at my desk today when my 5 year old son said "Hey, Dad. Let's watch this." He shoved a musky old VHS tape in my face. It smelled bad and the once white cover was now a Post-it Note yellow.

When I moved last year a lot of my old stuff came with me. All my old junk was split between my mom's and my dad's houses, old closets, attics, and storage units. Much of it had been out of sight ( and out of mind) for close to 20 years. Some was welcome, like the 1970 Hank Aaron cards and original GI Joes. Then there were the bags full of action figure weapons, broken limbs, and dirty Thundercats. I have boxes of junk and old toyboxes. I went through some of it, but mostly just moved and forgot about it.

My son has gradually gone through my stuff and found an assortment of old toys. A lot of them are old toys ( and parts of toys) I don't remember well. Others have been a pleasant surprise. I introduced him to Hulk and Andre via the Titan Sports "dolls"' ( I mean ACTION figures) circa 1984. Unfortunately, my ring and steel cage were broken. I remember playing with those things for hours when I was 7 or 8 years old, staging fake wrestling matches with those rubber figures, often "playing" both characters. I grew so fond of wrestling I often made my G.I. Joes, Indiana Jones, Thunder Cats, and Transformers into wrestlers, too. I remember going to a store called Ames or Toys R'Us every Friday and getting a new figure. They were $7 plus 5% tax, coming to $7.35- and just about the best thing in the world.

When my son showed me the tape, it took me awhile to recognize it. I was a little annoyed and needed to get some work done. So I just said "Yeah. Ok. Not Right now. We will look at it later."

But when I saw the label and glimpsed the names Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Billy Jack Haynes, Ricky Steamboat, and "WrestleMania 3- 1987"- I changed my mind.

"Ohhhhh. You wanna put this in the VCR and see what this is?"

"Yes, Dad."

WrestleMania 3.- That was where it all started for me. That event was the catalyst for my childhood wrestling obsession. My trips to Ames. The trips to the video store on Dollar Night where I would rent everything from WrestleMania and Royal Rumble to classic compilations with Bruno Sammartino and Gorilla Monsoon.

So I walked up the basement steps to the living room and put my 1987 live VHS recording of WrestleMania III in the VCR.

To Be Continued....