Saturday (Night) Ringside: The 1st Slammy Awards (1986)

 After the release of their initial "Wrestling Album" three months earlier, the then-World Wrestling Federation decided to mark the occasion with the culmination of a winter-long on-air promotion, the 1st ever Slammy Awards, a live special airing on MTV. Vince McMahon, then a simple play-by-play announcer, hosted, as over the top as usual. MTV sent cute, cuddly Martha Quinn to the event as a backstage reporter, and, oh, that did not end so well. Little did the 518's gift to MTV realize this was the beginning of the end of her first tour of duty with the channel, as she would leave at the end of 1986 when her contract expired, only to return in February 1989 for another 3 year hitch.

To say anything further would spoil the memories for those who actually saw the show live (and I didn't)....

The Slammys moved to USA Network in December 1987, again on a Saturday night, but this time at a much later hour, with McMahon debuting his Tom Jones-meets-Adam West cabaret act. It was also the final Slammys for about a decade or so.