Can you remember when you first got into watching wrestling" You surely do! No matter how much critics may insult that period, the years when you first discovered wrestling will always be memorable to you. Be it 1997 in the glory days of Hart Foundation and Austin in the WWF, NWA in the 1980's with Dusty Rhodes and Flair or mid-1990's ECW with Raven and Sandman or even Vince Russo's era in WCW, the first time you found wrestling will always be the best.

For myself personally I remember my first wrestling experience vividly. In the often-belittled years of 1992 and 1993 I was one of the biggest fans of WCW around. I never had cable as a kid so I didn't see WWF as often as many as my friends who had Sky Satellite. However after borrowing a few tapes of WWF I was hooked, the 1991 Battle Royal in London's Albert hall sticks out in mind. My dad had discovered that at this time there was "American wrestling" on a British channel called ITV at 1am. Not really knowing what to expect he taped this show for me and almost instantly I was hooked. For me my heroes growing up weren't Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage or Bret Hart, sure I knew who they were but they weren't fit to lace the boots of Sting, Vader, Rude and Steamboat.

Their flagship show "Worldwide" would always open with Jim Ross, a voice that now millions worldwide hear. Being a 60-minute show he would always call the start of the show the top of the hour. While WWF had the Heavyweight Title, WCW's main prize was the described as the "Heavyweight Championship of the World" which made it seem so important. Like WWF Superstars it featured squash matches; however the main event of the show would often mean something and would advance storylines. The roster was full of talented and believable wrestlers such as:

Sting: WWF fans had their Hogan but I didn't care, I had Sting. Sting was cool, Sting was younger, Sting was a dude! I remember the delight I felt when Sting defeated Lex Lugar at Superbrawl 92, it's a feeling I rarely feel today with perhaps Benoit's world title win being the closet. The master of the stinger splash and the scorpion death lock, he was the man and no one could ever replace him.

Big Van Vader: Sting, despite his size, could beat anyone in my eyes, and that's what made Big Van Vader even scarier. I remember having actual nightmares over this man. Snarling, snorting and ruthlessly vicious, Vader would often destroy two men at once much to the delight of his evil manager Harley Race and Jesse Ventura, who along with Tony Schivone, would eventually replace Jim Ross. The angle that will always stick out in my mind from WCW was reported on the WCW magazine section of Worldwide. Young reporter Eric Bischoff showed stills of a match so graphic it couldn't be shown when Vader broke Stings ribs. Vader would later take Sting's title, he was definitely not a man to be messed with.

Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat: The name Ricky Steamboat often makes people think of Wrestlemania III but for me his feud with Rick Rude over the US title will always be my first thought. Ricky was always robbed of the US title by Rude and his devious manager Paul E. Dangerously, and was even accused of chatting up Madusa despite being a married man. He was the babyface all the fans wanted to see win the most. I can still remember the shock of Superbrawl 1992 when Steamboats' insurance policy The Ninja hit him with a cellphone. Later on reporter Missy Hyatt would walk in on Paul E. half dressed as The Ninja. The Fiend!

Dangerous Alliance: To me the greatest stable never to be remembered. The crown jewel of Rick Rude, the young up-and-comer and TV champion Steve Austin, Larry The Cruncher" Zybszko and the star tag team of Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton. This was the perfectly rounded stable; every babyface wanted to destroy them but would often be destroyed themselves. It was all going so well until they split at Wrestlewar 1992.

Tag Teams: Back in the day when tag teams were tag teams. The Steiners were exciting with heavy suplexes and the most stunning move of WCW's weekly show "The Frankensteiner"; they even had a pet dog called Arnold. The Steiners would always be after the championship heel tandem of Eaton and Anderson but they were not alone. Also after the gold were the rough Texans: Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham. At the time I believed they were two youngsters unaware of the age gap. A good solid tag team until Windham's turn in 1993. Making up the roster were veteran Greg Valentine and the "Taylor Made Man" Terry Taylor, a now obvious Ted DiBiase rip-off. They feuded with what was left of the Fabulous Freebirds, Hayes and Garvin, over the worthless U.S tag titles.

Best of the rest: Brian Pillman, Tom Zenk, Flamboyant Johnny B. Badd and a young Scotty Flamenco made the lightweight division worth watching. With a gimmick of just being a bland young rookie Marcus Bagwell was very popular with young female fans, only in the kayfabe era would this work. Cactus Jack was a crazed hired assassin who was a believable threat to all the babyfaces. Nikita Koloff who returned at Superbrawl 1992 was a great mystery, his interviews referring to "someone who knows who they are" created great speculation. And Ron Simmons was a good powerhouse who helped made a solid mid-card.

With the good comes the bad: Even as a kid I could tell El Gigante was rubbish and often confused my WWF fans in 1993 by showing Giant Gonzalez before his Royal Rumble debut. As Vinnie Vegas a young Kevin Nash showed no promise and I was again confused by his debut as Diesel in the WWF only a year later. Despite his future success I always regarded DDP as a loser when I first watched him. A glorified jobber he chewed gum and lost to the likes of Zenk and Bagwell. The show was also padded out with such superstars as Brad Armstrong and Big Josh. Oh and don't get me started on Van Hammer's guitar feud with J.T Southern.

I have fond memories of my early days as a WCW fan, it always had a soft spot in my heart and I remember the company fondly. I write this as an appeal, remember the good old days, no matter how much other people may insult them. Remember why you became a fan and remember how much you first enjoyed wrestling even if you were first sucked in by this glorious sport by Hogan crushing Yokozuna in five seconds at Wrestlemania 9.

by Matthew Jones..