A New Camera For Christmas - 1987

For Christmas in 1987, I got a Camera and film, plus tickets to the Christmas Extravaganza at the Sports Arena. A 110 camera and maybe 6 rolls of film. For quite some time, I had been wanting to take pictures at wrestling, and was super excited to finally get the chance. Over the years, I took thousands of photos of every Portland wrestler. Mostly Steve Doll, to be honest, but sometimes the other guys too! 😂 A cheap camera, bad batteries, and low-quality film often meant that the pictures didn't come out great, or at all. But sometimes I got lucky and captured something great. The first photo is my first photo with Steve Doll, December 26, 1987.

One of my favorite Southern Rockers photos.

Steve Doll, Roddy Piper and Betelgeuse

Top Gun & Scott Peterson at a Christmas Toy Drive in Lloyd Center.

Scott Peterson and I.

Bart Sawyer, Taylor Made (Terri Power), and Bruiser Brian Cox

Jesse Barr

John Rambo

Mike Winner

 

The Southern Rockers & Bill Prescott In The Crow's Nest 1989

The Southern Rockers and Bill Prescott in the crow's nest. 1989. Most likely discussing their upcoming promo. I like shots like this that show a bit more of the Sports Arena. I wish I would have used an entire roll of film to just walk around the Sports Arena and take photos at every angle. We just never think of stuff like that at the time. It feels like it will last forever, and why would we ever need or want that? Plus, film was limited, and each click had to count. I can't even imagine having the unlimited use of a cell phone back then. I'd probably have 10 million photos!

 

Championship Wrestling USA Program - August 25, 1996 - Tag Team Action Begins Tonight!

This great program scan is from my friend Matt Merz.  

Matt has a fantastic Facebook group called Portland Wrestling

and has 3,600 videos of local wrestling on his YouTube channel Ring of Fire Wrestling, including some great documentaries about Portland Wrestling.

Signed by Billy Jack Haynes

 

I Remember Portland Wrestling You Tube Channel

 Portland Wrestling historian and super fan Rich Patterson has been digitizing my wrestling tapes for me.  Rich has a drive of over 500 hours of Portland Wrestling available for sale.  portlandwrestlingvideo@yahoo.com

I've been really enjoying watching all of my footage again, and it's bringing back some great memories.  I'm a visual and tactile person.  I need the ephemera, photos, and video, and such to help remind me. I'm so glad I have kept as much as I did. 

I've been posting some clips and short videos of some of the tapes that I find amusing on my new YouTube channel called, you guessed it, I Remember Portland Wrestling. Of course, you can find so many other videos on YouTube as well, but I hope that some of what I had will help fill in some of those holes.  I think there are about 75 hours of video so far that Rich has shared with me!     

If you have old Portland Wrestling tapes, please let me know (sunyday76@aol.com) and I can get you in touch with someone to help get them digitized and added to the ever-expanding archive of Portland Wrestling! 

Championship Wrestling USA Program - August 11, 1996 - Jesse Barr & Ryuma Go Are Still Tag Team Champions!

This great program scan is from my friend Matt Merz.  

Matt has a fantastic Facebook group called Portland Wrestling

and has 3,600 videos of local wrestling on his YouTube channel Ring of Fire Wrestling.

The autographs on this are amazing!  

Stan Stasiak, Matt Borne, Ken Stillwell, Sandy Barr, and Dutch Savage.

 

A Special Birthday For Me In 1988

Me with the Southern Rockers!

 In 1988, my mom wrote Steve Doll a letter asking him to come to our house for my birthday! (On June 4th) He didn't come because he was at a charity event (He pretty much did those every single weekend), but he did send his wife at the time. She brought over a few signed photos, front-row tickets for that night, and a signed ring-worn bandana. At an event a week later, I was buying my first Southern Rockers t-shirt, and he told the gal taking the money that I didn't have to pay because it was my birthday. That's the blue one I'm wearing. (Yes, I still have it.) The only thing I don't still have is the bandana, which I always kept with me and was stolen with my purse in 1994.

My mom asked him to kiss me for that photo. I was SO EMBARASSED! I have another somewhere of both Steve and Scott kissing me at the same time! It kind of caused a melee because now all of the girls wanted a picture like that, and Steve actually said out loud so that everyone around could hear, "Sorry, girls. We aren't going to be doing any more kissing pictures. That was only for Jody because she's special!"

It was a great birthday!!!

My first time sitting in the front row at the Sports Arena!

Thanks Steve!!

So embarrassing and AWESOME!

Signed by Assassin, Art Barr, Billy Two Eagles, Steve Doll and Scott Peterson.

Portland Wrestling Fan Shop on Etsy

 I have made a few fun designs that I have available for sale in my New Etsy shop called Portland Wrestling Fan.  "I Remember Portland Wrestling" was too long for the Etsy limited shop name!

I have a few t-shirts and stickers available. 

More Scott Peterson ....

Scott and I in 1989.	Scott was quiet, kind, and funny. He and Steve were great partners  and such a dynamic tag team. There's a Saturday night in June of 1990  when Steve Doll wrestled Moondog Morreti. He was always up and boisterous, but this night he was extra  excited, just having the most fun, and he seemed almost giddy. After the  match, he does an interview, teasing that Scott may come back for one  night. He's just so excited that his best friend will return to wrestle with  him again. It's really sweet. They were so great in the ring and had such great  chemistry because they were such good friends outside the ring.
This is one of my favorite pictures of them from  Feb. 16, 1988.
Scott, my friend Michelle, me, my friend Nicee,  and Steve.  June 11, 1988