It is no secret that professional wrestling reached the pinnacle of its success from the mid 80's through to the early millennium. In my personal opinion, from 1985 through to 2001. This was due to the obvious growth in the media world as television and radio became the top of the advertising world and Wrestling was being viewed as a fun and family friendly alternative to other sports such as the NFL and Soccer. It had something that everyone wanted; adults and children alike. From the flash and glare of the gimmick based icons of their time, the likes of The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Sting to the egotistical and simply hatable heel characters such as the likes of Ric Flair, Rick Martell. Ted DiBiase, Ravishing Rick Rude and Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig.

Of course; mixed in with the actual gimmick based characters were those often with a lack of gimmick, yet these were often the ones who put ont he show stealer matches of the night, the ones with the legitimate wrestling talent and the ones who were fully educated in the style of the past rather than the style that was quickly being garnished and groomed to become the sports entertainment style of the future. The likes of Rick and Scott Steiner, The Great Muta, Ron Simmons, Dustin Rhodes, Steve Austin and the up and coming Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko were seemingly the sole survivors of the pure-wrestling style of the past and were being forced to educate themselves in the way of the gimmick to simply earn the living wage, and to survive in the ever thriving yet the ever changing world of professional wrestling.

These changes were necesarry for business however. From the success of the AWA and the NWA in the 70's and the 80's which was based around the pure wrestling styles of the likes of Harley Race, Ric flair, Dusty Rhodes, Larry Zbyszko, The Funks and The Anderson's, all of whom had created their gimmicks and characters from the early years modeled after the likes of "Gorgeous" George Wagner, who was the first professional wrestler to use a gimmick, and not only that, a gimmick of a flamboyant and effeminate male in an uneducated world of homophobia and unnaceptance; that is something to fear and admire in the same sentence.

The early days of the NWA was based on a simple module. You get over with the fans, you earn cash and you do the same the next night. You bust your butt off in the ring, you go backstage and cut a promo hyping your next match or a feud and the deal is done. This was long before the need for overhyped blood and the "T&A" factor was needed, because simply, the wrestlers had paid their dues and EARNED their respect and knew what was required to captivate an audience without the need for it. Naturally, managers and mouth pieces were still used because as a famous man once said along the lines of, the key to every wrestlers success lies behind the mouth of a great manager. The likes of Fred Blassie, Skandar Akbar, gary Hart, Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart are among the host of names that fall under this iconic category that helped bring wrestling to the top of its game. Never underestimate the power of a mouthpiece, and this was shown in some of the greatest dream matches of all time, including The Rock "N" Roll Express versus The Midnight Express, Ric Flair versus Harley Race and Terry Funk versus Jumbo Tsuruta.