Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
March 1985 sits at one of the most electrically charged moments in the history of professional wrestling as a mainstream entertainment product. WrestleMania I was days away — scheduled for March 31, 1985 — and the WWF's national expansion was dominating the industry conversation. But the story of professional wrestling in early 1985 was not only the WWF's story, and this cover makes that point with striking clarity. Ric Flair, the Road Warriors, and Paul Ellering were not WWF performers; they were the defining figures of the National Wrestling Alliance and the emerging superstar culture of the regional territories that the WWF's expansion was simultaneously threatening and energizing. A Pro Wrestling Illustrated cover featuring this specific combination in March 1985 is a document of the full breadth of professional wrestling at its moment of maximum cultural momentum — not just the New York story, but the complete national picture. Collectors assembling a serious record of magazines from 1985 will find this issue one of the more historically layered wrestling titles the year produced.
Ric Flair's presence on this cover anchors it within one of the most consequential chapters of his career. By March 1985 Flair had already established himself as the premier in-ring performer in American professional wrestling — a multi-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion whose combination of technical excellence, character work, and promo ability had made him the standard against which serious wrestling performers were measured. His rivalry with the WWF's expansion was not simply territorial; it was a battle over the soul of the industry, and Flair was its most articulate and compelling defender on the NWA side of that divide. The Road Warriors — Hawk and Animal — and their manager Paul Ellering constituted arguably the most visually and conceptually original act in wrestling at this moment. Debuting in 1983, the Legion of Doom had torn through every territory they entered with a combination of genuine physical intimidation and an aesthetic borrowed more from punk rock and post-apocalyptic cinema than from anything professional wrestling had previously produced. Collectors focused on Ric Flair's magazine cover appearances across his career will recognize the mid-eighties window as one of his most prolific and historically significant periods in the wrestling press.
What makes this issue particularly valuable as a historical document is what the cover composition itself communicates about the wrestling landscape of early 1985. Pro Wrestling Illustrated covered the entire industry — all promotions, all territories — with a journalistic comprehensiveness that no other major wrestling publication of the era matched. A cover featuring NWA's premier singles star alongside the Road Warriors, who were working for Jim Crockett Promotions and various other territories at this time, reflects PWI's editorial commitment to covering wrestling as a national phenomenon rather than a single promotion's marketing vehicle. That editorial independence is precisely what makes its issues from this period primary sources rather than promotional documents. The Pro Wrestling Illustrated archive from the mid-eighties contains some of the most historically reliable journalism the industry produced during its golden era, and this issue is a strong representative example.
About the Publication
Pro Wrestling Illustrated was founded in 1979 by the Philadelphia-based publishing company London Publishing and rapidly established itself as the most authoritative and widely read professional wrestling magazine in the United States. Unlike the official magazines of individual promotions — which functioned primarily as kayfabe-consistent fan publications — PWI maintained an editorial identity grounded in genuine journalism, covering all major promotions and territories with comparative analysis, rankings, and feature reporting that gave readers a genuinely comprehensive view of the national wrestling landscape. Its annual awards — Wrestler of the Year, Match of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and others — became the most recognized honors in the industry and remain reference points for wrestling historians decades later. By 1985 it was operating at the height of its influence, covering the WWF's national expansion and the NWA's response to it with the kind of balanced, multi-promotion perspective that no other major wrestling publication was providing. Its readership was the serious wrestling fan — knowledgeable, engaged across multiple promotions, and interested in the sport's broader landscape rather than a single company's narrative.
Key Highlights Inside
- Ric Flair cover feature — The Nature Boy's presence on the March 1985 cover documents one of the most important figures in professional wrestling history at the peak of his mid-eighties dominance as NWA World Heavyweight Champion — a period that many wrestling historians consider the apex of his in-ring career and his influence on the industry's artistic standards.
- Road Warriors and Paul Ellering cover feature — Hawk, Animal, and their manager Paul Ellering appearing on the cover in March 1985 captures the Legion of Doom at the height of their initial industry impact — a moment when their combination of visual originality, in-ring intensity, and genuine crowd response had made them the most talked-about act in wrestling outside the WWF's main event scene.
- Multi-promotion industry coverage — Consistent with PWI's editorial model, this issue would have provided coverage spanning the full landscape of American professional wrestling in early 1985 — a moment of unprecedented industry activity, with the WWF's national expansion generating ripple effects through every regional territory and the NWA working to consolidate its own position in response.
- Pre-WrestleMania industry snapshot — Published in the weeks immediately preceding WrestleMania I on March 31, 1985, this issue documents the full professional wrestling landscape at the precise moment before the event that would permanently alter the industry's trajectory — making it a primary source document for the last chapter of wrestling's pre-WrestleMania era.
- Taped binding — structural preservation note — The taped binding noted in surviving copies of this issue indicates a repair made to address spine wear, a common intervention in well-used wrestling magazines of this era that reflects the heavy handling these publications received from their typically young and enthusiastic readership.
Condition & Rarity
Surviving copies of this issue presenting in good condition with minor overall wear and a taped binding represent an honestly assessed collectible example of a mid-eighties wrestling magazine that has passed through the kind of active use these publications typically received. The taped binding is the most significant condition attribute to evaluate — it indicates a structural repair to the spine, which is the primary failure point in staple-bound magazines of this format and era, and its presence should be assessed in terms of the neatness and security of the repair rather than treated as an automatic disqualifier for collection purposes. Minor wear across the magazine is fully consistent with forty years of age and the handling patterns typical of wrestling publications from this period, which were read repeatedly and passed among fans rather than archived from new. The plastic protective covering noted in preserved copies provides meaningful ongoing conservation value, reducing the risk of further surface deterioration and the page yellowing that is the most common condition issue in newsprint-adjacent paper stocks of this vintage. Collectors evaluating any surviving copy of this issue should assess spine security, cover integrity — particularly the condition of the Flair and Road Warriors imagery — and interior page legibility as the primary determinants of display and research grade.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
The March 1985 cover is one of the more historically significant entries in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's mid-eighties run, bringing together three of the most important figures in the NWA and independent wrestling scenes at the precise moment before WrestleMania permanently altered the industry landscape. For collectors focused on Ric Flair's extraordinary career in print, the Ric Flair magazines collection at OriginalMagazines.com is the most efficient place to survey his cover appearances across multiple titles and decades. The Pro Wrestling Illustrated collection offers the broadest view of the title across its run for collectors building a comprehensive archive of the industry's most authoritative publication, and the 1985 magazines collection is invaluable for anyone documenting the full breadth of one of the most consequential years in professional wrestling history.