The First Era

1991-1997 (The First Era)

 Murrey, the creator of the universe, created a character named Jeff Murrey to run the WWF. Murrey was mostly a behind-the-scenes promoter and was unchallenged with regards to competition. From the early 80’s until 1997, the WWF was the dominant force in entertainment, getting its big break with a classic feud pitting Ted Dibiase against Jake Roberts (both of whom would trade the WWF Gold throughout their battles). As the years continued to pass by, more superstars were brought into the mix.

 Next was Jesse Ventura, who – at 8’7″ (based on the ruler…lol) with the dreaded Akrokrane (a variant of the back suplex, except the victim is sat comfortably on the shoulder as the performer flies back for the impact, electric chair style) – would go on to hold the WWF Championship a record 15 times. He and his manager, Car (bumblebee from Transformers), would dominate the ranks of WWF for the better part of their tenure. Except Jesse had two major foes; Krusader (a Crusader Batman action figure) and Arn Anderson. The feuds Jesse had with these two legends would cause him many headaches before he finally departed.

 Car, Jesse’s manager, was very similar to Paul Bearer, in that he would cheer Jesse on and help him boost his energy and strength by raising his arms and giving Jesse “heart” in much the same way the real Paul Bearer would energize Undertaker with the urn. Jesse and Car would be separated by Ventura’s departure, but not before Car would play a part in hooking Jesse up with his wife, Rudolph.

 Ok, this is a bit bazaar, but allow me to delve further into the mindset of a group of kids desperate to find more toys to include in the world of toy wrestling. Rudolph is EXACTLY who you think SHE is; a reindeer. She wasn’t the only non-human to partake in the toy wrestling world; in fact, the Ninja Turtles, Splinter, some of the Street Sharks and a whole lot of other popular characters from cartoons and comic books would come to entertain.

 Back to Krusader, this man was the pioneer in high flying wrestling matches. His finisher, a swiftly executed Moonsault (or Krusault) was feared by all-comers. As was his BatKick (A martial arts style kicked performed from a splits position). His primary foe was Terminator, who possessed phenomenal powers that enabled him to levitate, ascend and descend at will (not to mention his awesome theme song, Bowie’s “Within You” which undeniably played a part in his popularity). Their epic battles would immortalize both.

 Small GI Joe and Street Fighter figures were quite popular at the time. Murrey introduced a large number of these smaller stars into the industry, and they included: Vega (yes, from Street Fighter) – who went on to become World Champion a number of times -, Shinobi, Ching, and Saguna. This small group was briefly a faction in the WWF until an internal dispute – primarily between Ching and Vega – dissolved them. Another smaller star was a guy named Chase, but he wasn’t really affiliated with the others, except in the occasional feud. Chase would later go on to come back from time to time as a manager.

 I briefly mentioned Splinter as well, who trained all four of his sons (although Michelangelo and Donatelo were largely absent in the first era), and even inspired two of them to enter wrestling with him. In a storyline, Splinter would even be elected President briefly, for one failed term. His run in the WWF would become legendary, establishing him as the great fan favorite of the time as he feuded with a whole array of superstars including Mentaur (a half buffalo/half man figure). Raphael would also ascend to superstardom while Leonardo made the Intercontinental Championship prestigious.

 There were a number of other stars in the mid and under-cards of WWF, ranging from some popular real WWE to WCW stars. Few of them, however, ever rose to the top of the ranks. There was also another character named Mr. Moody, a former supposed veteran of two foreign wars, ex-history teacher and a victim of PTSD, with only a right arm and left leg (from his aforementioned military service). His trigger for violent episodes of PTSD occurred whenever someone yelled “Heads Up”, upon which Moody transformed into a completely different person, grabbing everyone in sight and slamming them to the ground. Torturing this poor wrestler became a favorite act of the fans.

 In late 1995, I created the WPW (World Pro Wrestling) and the WBF (World Boxing Federation) through the fictional Mickey Mouse J.R. who ran both. He had supposedly inherited a large amount of money when his father (the popular Mickey, the owner of Disney in this universe) reportedly died of a heart attack. Mickey J.R. would sell Disney to the Chinese, growing his wealth, and would employ two of his three brothers (Vinnie and Lenny, the third and rejected being Benny). There is more on the history of the Mouse Family saga at the biography I created for them years ago. The WPW would transform upon an invasion by the NWO, thusly resulting in its temporary rechristening as the NWO Country.

 Superstars in the WPW were Slammu (street sharks figure, whose sole weakness was his fin and whose finishers were the “super punch”, “Slammuser” [a maneuver that consisted of the victim laying on the canvass as Slammu bounced off the top turnbuckle whilst slamming his massive fists onto his opponent], and a powerbomb), Blaster (a double dragon figure), Huck Hogan, Nacho Man, Scott Nash, Kevin Hall ([both of whom would join forces to establish the Outsiders as Nash feuded with Slammu] yes, those are Kevin Nash and Scott Hall figures, but the originals were in Murrey’s possession), HBP (HBK figure), Krazy Kid ([another key rival of Slammu’s] Psycho Sid figure), An assortment of Johnny Quest action figures (All of whom would enter the Lightheavyweight Division as Cool Quest [the more popular], Space Quest and Johnny Quest.  The quests would feud with Adam, Space Adam and Cool Adam. Ninja Hadji and Desert Hadji were sort of loosely affiliated with the Quests, but were more neutral than anything), Metalhead (a G.I. Joe figure), Iron, Steel, and Titanium Claw (all various Iron Claw action figures from G.I. Joe) and so many more. In fact, all the G.I. Joe figures I received one christmas would become the Nation of Domination (because Iron Claw’s hat resembled Ron Simmons as Faarooq).

 At some point in 1996, James created ECW (obviously inspired by our discovery of the real promotion). Stars featured in this promotion were usually the rejects of WWF who were released as new athletes were acquired. There was no sincere competition between WWF and ECW, but it certainly laid the groundwork therefore. Also, during the course of the year, Splinter would befriend and mentor Slammu.