This week, With Leather’s search for the most ridiculous, hilarious, and amazing promo photos from the world of professional wrestling ventures into the previously untapped category of “candid 8 x 10s.” These are the publicity photos that didn’t get bordered and stacked in front of wrestlers during autograph signings, but were close enough to end up signed and sold in plastic card sheets at your local hobby store. These are just as good and sometimes even worse, if that is possible.

(On a personal note, I guess we’re calling them ‘glamour shots’ now, because since we started the regular feature, a lot of other sports sites have started posting galleries and calling them that. And, uh, sending them to With Leather as a “tip.” Thanks for the tip, other guys!)

Please click through to enjoy 31 of our favorite WCW, TNA Impact Wrestling and WWE glamour shots. If you need to be coerced, there’s a photo of a guy playing a WWF logo guitar in here somewhere.

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WWE’s YouTube page provides a lot of fresh videos for the Best And Worst Of Raw column — mostly of the “here’s the last 20 seconds of a match, and the five minutes of wacky shouting that came after it” persuasion — but occasionally they dip into the archives and share something truly magical.

That’s the case with this video of pretty much everyone who competed at Survivor Series ’89 celebrating Thanksgiving by saying what they’re thankful for. It’s one of the most 1980s pro wrestling things I’ve ever seen, and so heartwarming that I decided to put together a quick list of my ten favorite things that happen in it. I’m thankful for goofy nostalgia, the fact that pro wrestling coverage has septupled our traffic and that the Ultimate Warrior exists, and was once asked to talk about Thanksgiving.

So, in no particular order …

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We cover pro wrestling a little more than we should these days, because it turns out a lot of people want to read about fake fighting on legitimate comedy sports blogs and because more of us watched it when we were kids than we’d like to admit. Some of us still do, and have blogging jobs instead of working in an office somewhere and having the respect of anyone.

I’ve been looking for a way to follow-up on the WWF Legends Minimalist Poster Gallery from earlier this month, and pro wrestling personality/friend of the site Kyle Durden gave me a great idea … what’s more WWF and minimalist than actual pro wrestling promo 8x10s? Nothing, it turns out, especially if you find the ones from the late 1980s/early 1990s, after wrestling had been popular but before it got popular again. That’s a gold mine.

So here’s a look into the WWF promo photos gold mine. A preview of what you’ll find inside: Dusty Rhodes as a laughing garbage man, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake going from normal human being to crazy-eyed monster in four years and the Bushwhackers playing in somebody’s raked leaves. By the end of the gallery you may no longer be able to stand. That’s normal.

Let me know which ones are your favorites in the comments section below.

[all photos via ImageEvent]

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Pre-show notes:

- Welcome to another Best And Worst Retro Report, this time celebrating the 1000th episode of WWE Raw. Make sure to come back tomorrow and read the Best And Worst of that show, if I can make it through four hours of Rock and D-X without going into teenage acid flashbacks and throwing myself through a window.

- This report is thanks to WWE Fan Nation, who put up the show in its entirety this week. Feel free to go watch that first, or watch it along with me.

- If you’re reading this on Monday afternoon (and it’s still July 23), make sure to head over to our Raw 1000 celebration thread, featuring special celebrity guests like NXT’s Derrick Bateman, awesome rap guy Action Bronson and Mr. Belding from ‘Saved By The Bell’. You seriously do not want to miss that.

- Comments, likes, twitter shares, and everything else are deeply appreciated. If you want to see more retro reports, get the word out and make this one a success!

And now, from tween Brandon Stroud, the Best And Worst Of WWF Monday Night Raw for January 11, 1993.

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