In retrospect, the 1980s era of the World Wrestling Federation was truly amazing. Having cherry-picked all of the world's top organizations, Vince McMahon then organized these performers in such a way as to maximize their strengths to the significant benefit of his financial bottom line. Literally every match in the era was a "dream match" of sorts, territory era superstars from different promotions all now pulled together under one banner. What's intriguing about the era though is the dash of spectacle that Vince McMahon added to the mix. Territories were not so big on the outlandish levels of production, promotion and mainstream acclaim that Vince McMahon wanted for pro wrestling. This key difference in presentation is ultimately what distanced him from his competition and allowed for the WWF to exceed all other standards. Thus, in thinking about the *best* matches of the 1980s in the WWF, contemplate that what made the WWF so uniquely wonderful in this era was not just technical wrestling. Rather, just as important as those performances were some absurd, amazing and not-so-great in-ring moments that also extended the WWF's marketing reach far beyond the scope of traditional pro wrestling. Now it's time to sit back and reminisce about the 10 best matches in an era in where Vince McMahon and a super-talented crew of performers revolutionized professional wrestling.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
