Vault of Coolness: Wrestling Revue

Welcome to "Vault of Coolness," the newest ongoing feature on the blog, in which I trot out material from the deep archives at Cultureshark Tower (probably mostly old comic books and magazines for now) and discuss it a bit.

I got this mag at a collectibles emporium in Massachusetts, literally stumbling on a box of old wrestling mags while navigating through the chaos of stacks, piles, and lumps of stuff that clutter the place.

This September 1971 issue of "Wrestling Revue" is well worth the two bucks or so I paid for it, though the "humor and tragedy in wrestling" piece contains precious little of either.

You may notice the words "BIRD BRAIN" scribbled over a picture of "Beautiful Bobby." Throughout the entire article on this wrestler, the original owner of this mag wrote those words. This is the only section that's at all defaced, but here it happens several times. Whoever read this really didn't like Beautiful Bobby, maybe even HATED the guy--enough to change the performer's alliterative moniker to "BIRD BRAIN." That'll show him! Maybe this person went to go see Beautiful Bobby live, and maybe that person got to call him "BIRD BRAIN" right then and there, and maybe the comment was heard and processed by the wrestling villain.

And maybe the heel shed a tear afterwards, reflecting on what a rough way it was to make a living when you had to go out there and endure being called "BIRD BRAIN."

This kind of thing fascinates me, but if it doesn't fascinate you, maybe this will: here's a cool picture from inside the mag, an old mug shot of a "Bobby" who is much more well known today: Bobby Heenan. Looking suave, Bobby!