I usually don't post news outside of my column, but I thought this item was newsworthy:
According to The Wrestling Observer, the last issue of WWE Magazine produced by the company itself will be in October. The Magazine will have been in operation for thirty years; it first began as WWE Victory Magazine in 1984.
There is still the possibility that another publisher will pick up the magazine, with WWE licensing the magazine name to them. This probably isn't that surprising of news as print media has been dwindling down in many forms over the past several years, from magazines to newspapers.
Read more at http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/330635/WWE-Ending-WWE-Magazine-Soon.htm#tWp4j8jEIQfkx5BV.99
It appears that the magazine was the center of budget cuts as the entire editorial staff for it was laid off. Like many readers here, I greatly enjoyed WWF magazine when I became a fan in the mid-1990s. It's sad that it may be ending for good, but the quality of it has steadily deteriorated for quite a while.
According to The Wrestling Observer, the last issue of WWE Magazine produced by the company itself will be in October. The Magazine will have been in operation for thirty years; it first began as WWE Victory Magazine in 1984.
There is still the possibility that another publisher will pick up the magazine, with WWE licensing the magazine name to them. This probably isn't that surprising of news as print media has been dwindling down in many forms over the past several years, from magazines to newspapers.
Read more at http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/330635/WWE-Ending-WWE-Magazine-Soon.htm#tWp4j8jEIQfkx5BV.99
It appears that the magazine was the center of budget cuts as the entire editorial staff for it was laid off. Like many readers here, I greatly enjoyed WWF magazine when I became a fan in the mid-1990s. It's sad that it may be ending for good, but the quality of it has steadily deteriorated for quite a while.
Aside from his run in creative in the WWF, Vince Russo's lone success was being the editor if the magazine.
ReplyDeleteThe 2 times I enjoyed WWE mags were in the early 90s when I was young and RAW magazine in 97 - 98 when it became more "inside". My son loves the kids version now as well.
ReplyDeleteI got two issues of RAW magazine when it came out and then my parents saw those photo spreads of Sunny and Marlena and that was it for getting those magazines....
ReplyDeleteAnytime i ever see this on newsstands anymore its always some cheaply made posed cover, never looks very interesting. I was..a fanatic for this magazine back in the day though. During the Russo days it was great for a young kid.
ReplyDeleteVic Venom needs to come back from retirement and save the magazine.
ReplyDeleteI had a subscription for a while after they ended the separate Raw and Smackdown magazines and just had the WWE magazine. Never had it during the "hey day" I've seen people talk about here but I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteMy dad kept asking if he could look at the Sunny/Sable swimsuit issue.
ReplyDeleteI'll always remember getting the May 1990 issue of wwf magazine in my Easter basket. It was a particularly memorable Easter. My family lived in an apartment at the time. My sister and I did the standard easyer egg hunt, but there were no baskets. Our parents told us we didn't get one that year. They waited awhile and then said the baskets were in the hallway. I remember bursting to the door entering the hall and seeing that glorious magazine on display in my basket. Sadly, it was lost in a flood in 1998.
ReplyDeleteYea its always Cena or Mysterio for some reason doing some FUN WACKY pose with every colour in the rainbow being used. Ugh, rip
ReplyDeleteI still (somewhere) got all my mags. Subscriber from like Mid-93 (The KOTR cover with Yoko sitting on Hulk) to maybe 2003-2004 when I got in high school.
ReplyDeleteFun fact, my great Aunt has a stack of old wrestling mags including some Early 90's wcw. Even at 26 years old, its almost a tradition that I go straight to her basement when I come over and goto the mags
That’s a great shame. Believe it or not, it was the magazine that actually got me into wrestling, as I remember seeing it on a stand and thinking “Wow those guys look crazy, I wonder what this is all about?” I showed it to a friend who then brought a tape around and I was hooked from there on out.
ReplyDeleteHad it not been there in the shop like a worm on a hook I could’ve wound up like one of those weird comic guys instead (winky face...)
Or you know, if I'd have look I few shelves higher I could've become hooked on porn far quicker...
ReplyDeleteI'm the old guy of the board again, as the 1st issue of WWF Magazine I ever bought (which I still have) has King Kong Bundy on the cover, from the run-up to WrestleMania 2.
ReplyDeleteThis saddens me as a guy who used to write really marky emails to try and get published.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'd rather they slash budget here than release more talent or cut corners with the on-air programming. With the massive internet presence nowadays, the magazine was probably getting redundant and not turning a profit.
ReplyDeleteI'm just shocked that newspapers and magazines still exist in this day and age.
ReplyDeletealways I find my choices in the famous company.
ReplyDeletehttp://j.mp/1oUpg84
What, like Playboy, Marvel or WWE?
ReplyDeleteOh man, from the mid 80s to about 94 I was all over this magazine. I bought a few during the Attitude era too (and a few Raw magazines.)
ReplyDeleteThere will always be some for of print publication.
ReplyDeleteSeems par for the course. Jet Magazine just stopped printing magazines as well.
ReplyDeleteI did like the Jerk of the Month (complete with custom belt)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wildcatbelts.com/images/jotm/JOTM-belt-page-_02.jpg
Where I took issue (pardon the pun) with it was the never acknowledged other organizations.
I could even understand a few years ago, where you basically needed a computer or laptop for the internet, but now with smart phones where you can go online from ANYWHERE, it makes them even more obsolete. So I'm just saying i'm surprised.
ReplyDeleteAs older people that aren't as computer savvy pass on the need will die down, but as for killing off an entire industry? Probably not.
ReplyDeleteBut then again I like magazine, comic books and still mail my bills off every month.
I still remember the first WWF magazine I got....Savage on the cover as the new WWF champion. Just went to see WM IV on closed circuit with a couple thousand folks, and got obsessed with Macho. Saw the magazine on the stands, and begged my dad for a subscription.
ReplyDeleteWithout WWE magazine where will the next up and coming Vince Russo come from?
ReplyDeleteThere was room for only one Vic Venom.
ReplyDelete"Without WWE magazine we may never have another Vince Russo....yay!"
ReplyDeleteFTFY
Sad to see this. I'm only 26 but I still am old school and love sitting down and reading a magazine or newspaper.
ReplyDeleteIm still pissed Wizard Magazine ceased publication.
ReplyDeleteI got nothing else.
Same. I prefer reading physical materials. I can't read digital books and such.
ReplyDeleteSome people, like myself, prefer printed over digital materials and I'm not even in my 30s.
ReplyDeleteThere's always penthouse letters.
ReplyDeleteWizard was an embarrassing shell when it folded. I miss "golden years" Wizard.
ReplyDeleteWow. I haven't read it in fifteen years or more, but that magazine was a huge, huge part of my fandom for quite some time.
ReplyDeleteI miss Toyfare.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit, man, that was my first issue too! And I got every issue after that for a few years... then threw them all away when I was an idiot teenager.
ReplyDeleteRaw Magazine was a massive revelation for me. I was fairly smartened up to the business just due to common sense, but wow, that magazine was refreshing and fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThat Sunny issue was mind blowing.
ReplyDeleteHaven't got a magazine since 1998, but this is pretty depressing news from a long time subscriber :P if you don't know about it Mues reviewed WWF magazines from the New Generation period and if you grew up with it, you'll find the reviews hilarious. Here's one such review http://youtu.be/lReNv3UEzcU
ReplyDeleteThe only WCW mag I have is from late 91 I believe and has PN News and Missy in christmas gear on the cover. Its fun to look at because while WWF and Aptner Mags were everywhere WCW ones seemed much more rare and with a different setup.
ReplyDeleteI miss the days whenever they would do the hypothetical dream casting of a superhero movie and ALWAYS picked Howie Long for Venom
ReplyDeleteI miss both, but at the end Toyfare was a much better read. But in reality both were great crapper reading material.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you were blowing your MIND to that issue.
ReplyDeleteRest In Piss
ReplyDeleteKing Magazine >>> WWE magazine
ReplyDeleteFirst. Nintendo Power, now WWE Magazine. Two of my favorite magazines growing up in the 80s are no more.
ReplyDeleteI've been out of current comics so long that I didn't even know Wizard isn't a thing anymore. Loved it in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteThey were right about Patrick Stewart being Professor X though. They always cast him as Xavier.
ReplyDeleteMine was the one with Ken Patera on the cover. I still have it somewhere.
ReplyDeleteMy first one was October 1986 with Miss Elizabeth on the cover. In a world of black & white, I loved the WWF Magazines full color issues. I was even a fan of their main photographer Steve Taylor and wanted to work for him when I grew up.. LOL
ReplyDeleteI had quite the collection of Beauty Of The Weeks when I was growing.
ReplyDeleteAhhh puberty..
Not as old as me. I used to read them in the grocery store aisle. My first one had Cyndi Lauper on the cover from '85. The first one I actually spent money on had Miss Elizabeth on it.. right after your Bundy issue.. LOL
ReplyDeleteYou mean IMAGE ALL THE TIME?!
ReplyDeleteLEE
LIEFELD
MCFARLENE
200 BABIES!!!
At least that was comics. All MOVIES all the time was horrible.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading an issue of Wizard where they cast Razor Ramon as Punisher and thinking that it was an awesome idea.
ReplyDeleteSad news for sure. I had a subscription for about six years as a kid from 1990-1996ish and switched to PWI sometime after that since they covered both wwf and wcw. No idea where all those issues went, but I loved them and would read and reread them over and over. I'll still pick up an issue every so often if I have a road trip with my wife.
ReplyDeleteSad news. I can't remember my first issue but it had to have been 86/87 but the one great memory i do have is not being able to find a copy of a summer 1989 issue with the Wrestlemania V results on the cover and finally convincing my friend to lend me his so my mother could take it to work to photocopy for me!
ReplyDeleteJust imagining my poor mom photocopying a goddamn WWF Magazine at work cover to cover for her then 10 year old son always puts a smile on my face.
had something to do with a head though.
ReplyDeleteI hated it when the entertainment sections went from a small portion around the collectible cards section to 80% of the magazine. Especially the "very special" all movie issues!
ReplyDeleteIll never forget Howard and Nester showing me where the warp whistle was in the first level dungeon of SMB3
ReplyDeletewith my subscription I remember getting PPV results about 3 months later, it was very bad for an impatient person like myself.
ReplyDeleteWWF magazine, Nintendo Power, GamePro, Wizard and Fangoria. That was my childhood.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome man
ReplyDeleteAgreed as well.
ReplyDeleteYeah they had a weird lag of being like 2 pay-per-views behind, but I liked the results write ups by Keith Elliot Greenberg. Then WWE decided to just have lots of pictures and only 1 paragraph to recap. When people wrote in hating it they said "Well too bad, we want to show more action packed pictures!"
ReplyDeleteSad, gonna miss it, but after I got my hands on a PWI magazine, I didn't enjoy the magazine the same way as I did before.
ReplyDeleteSame when the divas released a mini issue a few years ago as well.
ReplyDeleteyou know who else was involved with wwf magazine at one point?
ReplyDeleteRUSSO
touch of death, he is!
i miss atari age and marvel age
ReplyDeleteespecially on the terlet
ReplyDeleteanyone remember when wwe magazine spoiled the wm iv main event by coming out days before the ppv but already acknowledging savage as the new champ?
ReplyDeleteapparently some reporter tried to bust wwe on it (since kayfabe was still a thing), but did so after the fact. whoever he talked to (keeping kayfabe) said something like "had you come to us before the ppv, you'd have had a story. but since you came to us afterwards, all you have is an amazing coincidence"
you wrote emails to marky mark?
ReplyDeleteBeing anywhere in print or publishing can really suck sometimes.
ReplyDelete*looks around room, starts growling over food bowl*
This reminds me of when i was a kid and got a "live show report" (cribbed from TV, i wasn't there) of a Doink vs Kamala match published in PWI or The Wrestler or one of the Apter mags. I was about 7 or8, i wrote the thing in purple marker on unlined paper. But Apter put me in! If anyone has ild Apter mags from summer of 93, i would love to see it again.
ReplyDeleteWell, there went Russo's back-up plan.
ReplyDeleteBill Apter is great.
ReplyDeletePowerslam Magazine in UK just published it's final issue last month
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in the 80s (and now with a journalism masters) I ALWAYS wanted to work at WWF Magazine. I was obsessed with it pre-internet and WON, PWTorch.
ReplyDeleteI'm in smaller textbook publishing now and it's scary wondering how long we have left :/
ReplyDeleteRusso actually made the magazine really good (a year prior it was basically a kids coloring book for christ's sake.
ReplyDeleteRay Liotta should have been The Punisher and everybody knows it.
ReplyDeleteI loved it back in the day too. The WCW magazine as well, especially the 91 to 94 version.
ReplyDeleteHere is a "because WCW" moment for you. In mid 1999, I got a card to renew my WCW magazine subscription. I decided to pass on it...
I got every issue after that until they closed up shop.
Yeah they're easy to laugh at now but the Vic Venom stuff actually made that mag readable back in the day.
ReplyDeleteYeah I tried through my twenties to get in at a real job but now I'm super happy to work for a tiny newspaper in nowhereville where it will take another ten years for everyone to discover the internet.
ReplyDeleteI goof on my reporters all the time about, basically, the reason journalism sucks so bad these days is because the only people graduating with journalism degrees are the ones who didn't do any research and find out it's not a career anymore.
Yeaaa had that too!
ReplyDeletehttp://31.media.tumblr.com/8c824401767423b7cde4e2a5f362d9d8/tumblr_my89ymbw7g1sg99p0o1_1280.png
I remember loving all the little jokes they'd put in the masthead and stuff, and then ten years later when I picked one up I saw that they were doing the exact same jokes in all the exact same spots.
ReplyDelete"Oh! Hilarious, another Gareb Shamus reference, I should definitely buy this magazine for...wtf it's $6 now? Fuck your mother."
There is something about the tactile sensation of starting a journey with five pounds in your right hand and then as you finish said journey the five pounds being in your left hand that just can't be replaced.
ReplyDeleteNevermind all the joys of the smell of paper, and breaking a binding, and your favorite book falling into pieces in front of your eyes after read number fourteen, etc.
You need to mention this more often, guaranteed someone around here has that mag and could snap a pic of that letter, that's so awesome.
ReplyDeleteNNNIIIIIICCCCEEEEE! YO YO YO indeed. Still up in my attic with a bunch of other WWF, Wrestling Insider, The Wrestler, various other wrestling mags as well as Wizard and Toyfare.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean Scoop Sullivan won't be making an appearance on an upcoming episode of RAW? I've been waiting 19 years!
ReplyDeleteThere's really only one way to end this magazine's run...
ReplyDeleteHave Mr. Bob Backlund invade the offices and put the editor in the Crossface Chickenwing, nearly 20 years to the day after the last time.
Haha, that's one of the best "dumb WCW" stories I've ever heard.
ReplyDelete