PWHS Team
Chapter Three: Mark D. Robinson - "It's wrestling...it's not that serious"
#PWHS #Interview
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Question 1
Thank you Mark for your time. We look forward to getting to know you better. Can you tell us how you discovered pro-wrestling and what caught your attention?
Answer
Rock 'n' Wrestling got my attention. I was around ten years old and the WWF was everywhere on television, especially MTV and NBC. I started watching and The Junkyard Dog was probably my first favorite wrestler, along with maybe Ricky Steamboat. Eventually the older kids in the neighborhood told me that I should watch the "NWA". They said that the "NWA" was real and those guys could beat the WWF guys. The biggest thing that really got me was the discovery of wrestling magazines. I would read every magazine that I could get my hands on, so that I could check out the wrestlers and promotions that I couldn’t get on TV.
Question 2
What territory(s) did you grow up watching?
Answer
There was no local territory for me. I started watching many years after any local promotions around me had gone out of business.
We didn't have cable in my house when I started watching wrestling. The WWF and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (Jim Crockett Promotion/World Championship Wrestling) were available on our local channels. Those were my two territories and I was in the right place at the right time to watch as they grew beyond any borders. One recently separated itself from the National Wrestling Alliance and became an explicit rival. The other marketed itself as the National Wrestling Alliance while pretty much functioning as a rival ally.
I could also catch a little World Class Championship Wrestling out of Texas on a hard to receive UHF channel on occasion.
Question 3
Where were you raised and tell us about your first live show you attended?
Answer
I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio with no major regional wrestling representation in the mid-80s. My dad was not a fan and he made sure to tell me that wrestling was fake. He eventually lightened up and in time he was a JYD and Hulk Hogan fan. After I moved and came back to visit, he was a big Stone Cold fan. However, we never went to any live shows and maybe he would have taken me, but I never asked.
My substitute for attending live shows was Saturday Night's Main Event. I still remember the broadcast cycle: First Saturday this month, last Saturday of next month, skip a month, then back to the first Saturday. If I ever hear Animotion’s Obsession at any point in my life, I will think of Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Question 4
Why did you get involved with PWHS?
Answer
I discovered the PWHS Facebook group after interacting with Jimmy Wheeler in a different wrestling FB group. I had been somewhat active in the internet wrestling community for many years as a member of the message boards, but I was new to talking wrestling on Facebook. I loved how the PWHS group took wrestling history and facts seriously without being dominated by characters who take themselves too seriously. I was also impressed with the collection of historians that were members.
Question 5
What would you like to "sound off" about concerning pro-wrestling?
Answer
There are dozens of things that I could sound off about professional wrestling, but I wanna say a couple of things to my fellow fans.
A) Wrestling is constantly evolving and has been for a long time.
If you grew up in the '50s or '60s and don't like the modern product, just remember that in your day there was an older wrestling fan wondering what the hell that crap was that you were watching.
B) It's wrestling…it’s not that serious.
If you think that your favorite promotion choosing to acknowledge a wrestler’s history limited to that promotion is good old-fashioned kayfabe, but Vince McMahon marketing Andre The Giant as undefeated or the Fabulous Moolah as a 28 year champion is a malicious lie, calm down. It’s not that serious.
If you think that Wrestler X beating Wrestler Y in a completely worked match where a title change was reversed\overturned\not upheld by a referee, state athletic commission, promotion, or governing body is a sneaky cover up to rewrite history instead of a wrestling angle, calm down. There have been situations where promotions "changed their minds" about something, but everyone is not an "unrecognized" world heavyweight champion. In most cases, there’s really no conspiracy to rewrite history. It's not that serious.
Question 6
Mark, you love posting history concerning some of the top matches of wrestling's elite. If you were granted 1 wish to see 1-5 matches of your choice from the past, what matches would you choose and why?
Answer
That’s a tricky one for me and I’ll have to talk around the question before properly addressing it. I’m not really a match type of guy. I’m actually much more of an angle guy. I also love to examine booking techniques. Finally, I like anomalies and myth busting. For example, I may post about Jack Brisco defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Terry Funk on December 13, 1976, just to discuss the historical significance of Terry Funk reversing the figure four in the match. I’ll write about Bruno Sammartino unmasking the Invader as Dick Murdoch in St Louis on April 27, 1973, and use it as an opportunity to detail Bruno’s St Louis run, the usage of masks in St Louis, the Invader’s run up to that point, and even how specific gimmicks like mask under a mask predates the WWE’s usage. Finally, I’m answering this question on August 18th and the date is known for a specific Bobo Brazil – Buddy Rogers match that is misunderstood by many wrestling fans. I like examining and discussing topics like that.
So…In all honesty, I can give five matches that I wish I could have seen live. They are all matches that I saw angles and build ups for and therefore don’t go far into the past.
I) Daniel Bryan defeating HHH and Randy Orton\Batista at Wrestlemania XXX because it’s my biggest markout moment.
II) Ric Flair defeating Big Van Vader at Starrcade 93 because it’s my all-time favorite beating the odds as a major underdog.
III) HBK defeating Bret Hart at WrestleMania 12 because HBK was my at the time favorite and the Jose Lothario angle drew me in.
IV) Undertaker vs Mankind at King of the Ring 1998 because that was my biggest WTF moment ever while watching wrestling.
V) Ricky Steambost vs Ric Flair at the Clash of the Champions VI because it’s my all-time favorite match that exemplifies what an NWA World Championship match can and should be. Terry Funk on commentary playing up the amateur holds is a nice touch as well.
Question 7
Being in Virginia, we also could watch the NWA and the WWF. The automatic question was, "Are you a WWF fan or NWA?" So which one was your choice and why? Did it change as the years went by?
Answer
WWF was easier for me to digest at first, but I learned that Mid-Atlantic\JCP was more to my liking after about a year or so watching it. It was just cooler for me and I thought the Four Horsemen with Barry Windham were the coolest collection of guys in wrestling pretty much ever.
Question 8
What would you like to share about your family and your job selection over the years?
Answer
I’m a single guy who was raised for most of my life by a single dad. There’s not much to share other than I had the greatest dad in the world who would have done anything for me and I miss him. I may be lucky enough to pay that forward one day. I’m an IT guy and have been forever. I’m lucky that I love my job and have fun doing it. I won’t miss it if I win the lotto, but I do love it.
Question 9
Is there anything else you want to cover we haven't?
Answer
I want to add my top five time-machine trips in no particular order. Since my top five matches were all modern era and outside the scope of our group, I think time machine trips would be a good add-on.
I’m gonna exclude being able to follow the career of Ric Flair from rookie through the tape trading era and St Louis throughout the entire Wrestling at the Chase era and try to focus on more specific periods.
· Amarillo - JJ Dillon era. I want to see his garbage can match with Killer Karl Kox. I want to hear him cut promos Dick Murdoch, Ted Dibiase, Terry Funk, and their fathers.
· GCW - 78-82. Everyone was coming through at this time to get on national television. It was the who's who of pro wrestling at the time.
· Florida - 74-78. I want to see the Dusty turn and The American Dream at his hottest. I’d catch Colt and Shane before the crash. I’d see Brisco, Jones, Slater, Orton, etc…
· Mid-South – 79-81. I want to see the Freebirds defeat Watts and Robley while JYD and Gino Hernandez split and watch the Freebird\JYD-Robley feud build up to the blinding angle.
· San Fran – I want to see Ray Stevens at his best and I’m going to choose the era starting with the first Pepper Gomez match through the Bill Watts era. There’s not a lot of publicly available Ray Stevens matches from his physical peak.
Terry Kent
Thank you, Mark, for a great interview and reliving some great pro wrestling history.
Question 1
Thank you Mark for your time. We look forward to getting to know you better. Can you tell us how you discovered pro-wrestling and what caught your attention?
Answer
Rock 'n' Wrestling got my attention. I was around ten years old and the WWF was everywhere on television, especially MTV and NBC. I started watching and The Junkyard Dog was probably my first favorite wrestler, along with maybe Ricky Steamboat. Eventually the older kids in the neighborhood told me that I should watch the "NWA". They said that the "NWA" was real and those guys could beat the WWF guys. The biggest thing that really got me was the discovery of wrestling magazines. I would read every magazine that I could get my hands on, so that I could check out the wrestlers and promotions that I couldn’t get on TV.
Question 2
What territory(s) did you grow up watching?
Answer
There was no local territory for me. I started watching many years after any local promotions around me had gone out of business.
We didn't have cable in my house when I started watching wrestling. The WWF and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (Jim Crockett Promotion/World Championship Wrestling) were available on our local channels. Those were my two territories and I was in the right place at the right time to watch as they grew beyond any borders. One recently separated itself from the National Wrestling Alliance and became an explicit rival. The other marketed itself as the National Wrestling Alliance while pretty much functioning as a rival ally.
I could also catch a little World Class Championship Wrestling out of Texas on a hard to receive UHF channel on occasion.
Question 3
Where were you raised and tell us about your first live show you attended?
Answer
I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio with no major regional wrestling representation in the mid-80s. My dad was not a fan and he made sure to tell me that wrestling was fake. He eventually lightened up and in time he was a JYD and Hulk Hogan fan. After I moved and came back to visit, he was a big Stone Cold fan. However, we never went to any live shows and maybe he would have taken me, but I never asked.
My substitute for attending live shows was Saturday Night's Main Event. I still remember the broadcast cycle: First Saturday this month, last Saturday of next month, skip a month, then back to the first Saturday. If I ever hear Animotion’s Obsession at any point in my life, I will think of Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Question 4
Why did you get involved with PWHS?
Answer
I discovered the PWHS Facebook group after interacting with Jimmy Wheeler in a different wrestling FB group. I had been somewhat active in the internet wrestling community for many years as a member of the message boards, but I was new to talking wrestling on Facebook. I loved how the PWHS group took wrestling history and facts seriously without being dominated by characters who take themselves too seriously. I was also impressed with the collection of historians that were members.
Question 5
What would you like to "sound off" about concerning pro-wrestling?
Answer
There are dozens of things that I could sound off about professional wrestling, but I wanna say a couple of things to my fellow fans.
A) Wrestling is constantly evolving and has been for a long time.
If you grew up in the '50s or '60s and don't like the modern product, just remember that in your day there was an older wrestling fan wondering what the hell that crap was that you were watching.
B) It's wrestling…it’s not that serious.
If you think that your favorite promotion choosing to acknowledge a wrestler’s history limited to that promotion is good old-fashioned kayfabe, but Vince McMahon marketing Andre The Giant as undefeated or the Fabulous Moolah as a 28 year champion is a malicious lie, calm down. It’s not that serious.
If you think that Wrestler X beating Wrestler Y in a completely worked match where a title change was reversed\overturned\not upheld by a referee, state athletic commission, promotion, or governing body is a sneaky cover up to rewrite history instead of a wrestling angle, calm down. There have been situations where promotions "changed their minds" about something, but everyone is not an "unrecognized" world heavyweight champion. In most cases, there’s really no conspiracy to rewrite history. It's not that serious.
Question 6
Mark, you love posting history concerning some of the top matches of wrestling's elite. If you were granted 1 wish to see 1-5 matches of your choice from the past, what matches would you choose and why?
Answer
That’s a tricky one for me and I’ll have to talk around the question before properly addressing it. I’m not really a match type of guy. I’m actually much more of an angle guy. I also love to examine booking techniques. Finally, I like anomalies and myth busting. For example, I may post about Jack Brisco defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Terry Funk on December 13, 1976, just to discuss the historical significance of Terry Funk reversing the figure four in the match. I’ll write about Bruno Sammartino unmasking the Invader as Dick Murdoch in St Louis on April 27, 1973, and use it as an opportunity to detail Bruno’s St Louis run, the usage of masks in St Louis, the Invader’s run up to that point, and even how specific gimmicks like mask under a mask predates the WWE’s usage. Finally, I’m answering this question on August 18th and the date is known for a specific Bobo Brazil – Buddy Rogers match that is misunderstood by many wrestling fans. I like examining and discussing topics like that.
So…In all honesty, I can give five matches that I wish I could have seen live. They are all matches that I saw angles and build ups for and therefore don’t go far into the past.
I) Daniel Bryan defeating HHH and Randy Orton\Batista at Wrestlemania XXX because it’s my biggest markout moment.
II) Ric Flair defeating Big Van Vader at Starrcade 93 because it’s my all-time favorite beating the odds as a major underdog.
III) HBK defeating Bret Hart at WrestleMania 12 because HBK was my at the time favorite and the Jose Lothario angle drew me in.
IV) Undertaker vs Mankind at King of the Ring 1998 because that was my biggest WTF moment ever while watching wrestling.
V) Ricky Steambost vs Ric Flair at the Clash of the Champions VI because it’s my all-time favorite match that exemplifies what an NWA World Championship match can and should be. Terry Funk on commentary playing up the amateur holds is a nice touch as well.
Question 7
Being in Virginia, we also could watch the NWA and the WWF. The automatic question was, "Are you a WWF fan or NWA?" So which one was your choice and why? Did it change as the years went by?
Answer
WWF was easier for me to digest at first, but I learned that Mid-Atlantic\JCP was more to my liking after about a year or so watching it. It was just cooler for me and I thought the Four Horsemen with Barry Windham were the coolest collection of guys in wrestling pretty much ever.
Question 8
What would you like to share about your family and your job selection over the years?
Answer
I’m a single guy who was raised for most of my life by a single dad. There’s not much to share other than I had the greatest dad in the world who would have done anything for me and I miss him. I may be lucky enough to pay that forward one day. I’m an IT guy and have been forever. I’m lucky that I love my job and have fun doing it. I won’t miss it if I win the lotto, but I do love it.
Question 9
Is there anything else you want to cover we haven't?
Answer
I want to add my top five time-machine trips in no particular order. Since my top five matches were all modern era and outside the scope of our group, I think time machine trips would be a good add-on.
I’m gonna exclude being able to follow the career of Ric Flair from rookie through the tape trading era and St Louis throughout the entire Wrestling at the Chase era and try to focus on more specific periods.
· Amarillo - JJ Dillon era. I want to see his garbage can match with Killer Karl Kox. I want to hear him cut promos Dick Murdoch, Ted Dibiase, Terry Funk, and their fathers.
· GCW - 78-82. Everyone was coming through at this time to get on national television. It was the who's who of pro wrestling at the time.
· Florida - 74-78. I want to see the Dusty turn and The American Dream at his hottest. I’d catch Colt and Shane before the crash. I’d see Brisco, Jones, Slater, Orton, etc…
· Mid-South – 79-81. I want to see the Freebirds defeat Watts and Robley while JYD and Gino Hernandez split and watch the Freebird\JYD-Robley feud build up to the blinding angle.
· San Fran – I want to see Ray Stevens at his best and I’m going to choose the era starting with the first Pepper Gomez match through the Bill Watts era. There’s not a lot of publicly available Ray Stevens matches from his physical peak.
Terry Kent
Thank you, Mark, for a great interview and reliving some great pro wrestling history.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Interview with Mark D. Robinson
Interviewer: Terry Kent.
Published: January 18, 2019.
PWHS Team Interview: #3.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Interview with Mark D. Robinson
Interviewer: Terry Kent.
Published: January 18, 2019.
PWHS Team Interview: #3.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
An Interview with Julie Hankinson by Terry Kent - Read Here.
An Interview with Jimmy Wheeler by Terry Kent - Read Here.
Other interviews on the #PWHS website can be Read Here.