In January 1984, a peroxide-blonde Californian in yellow trunks tore the shirt from his back, struck a double-bicep pose, and changed the wrestling business forever.
This is the story of what happened next.
From the closed-circuit gamble of the first WrestleMania to the steroid scandals that nearly tore it apart, Wrestling’s Golden Era charts the rise, peak, and stumble of professional wrestling's most transformative era. Vince McMahon's brash expansion. Hulk Hogan's three-year coronation. The Mega Powers and their messy explosion. The Ultimate Warrior's neon ascent. The arrival of “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, The Hart Foundation, “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase — and the slow, bewildering decline that followed.
James Ditchfield walks readers through every pay-per-view of WWF's Golden Age, with sharp match analysis, a feel for the storyline architecture behind it all, and an in-depth recounting of every major behind-the-scenes happening.
Comprehensive, conversational, and unflinching, this is the definitive chronological account of WWF between 1985 and 1992 — the years that built the empire, and very nearly broke it.