JBL says he regrets not holding on to more wrestling memorabilia during his career, admitting that no one inside the business anticipated how valuable those items would eventually become. Speaking on Something To Wrestle, JBL made the admission during a conversation about the recent sale of Hulk Hogan’s WrestleMania 1 boots for over one million dollars, the first piece of professional wrestling memorabilia to breach that price point.
“What makes me mad is I didn’t steal a bunch of stuff when I was in wrestling,” JBL said. “You know, there’s always stuff lying around. I wish now I had just collected it all.”
JBL said the mindset inside WWE locker rooms at the time made the idea of keeping gear seem pointless. Nobody did. Like, who would want a pair of old boots from Hogan? Come on.”
JBL also explained that performers in that era routinely repaired and reused their gear rather than retiring it. “Guys were terrible about not getting new stuff,” JBL said. Like redoing it, refurbishing it. It just did not matter to us.”
Hogan’s WrestleMania 1 boots had previously sold for $66,000 before being photo-matched to the event and re-auctioned through Heritage Auctions, where they sold for over one million dollars. The sale set a record for wrestling memorabilia and has since been cited as a turning point that elevated the entire collecting market for professional wrestling items.
JBL also predicted that items connected to the WrestleMania 3 main event between Hogan and Andre the Giant could shatter records if they ever came to market. “I think something from that would shatter records,” JBL said. “Andre’s boots. I mean, those damn things are so big. I have seen them at the WWE headquarters. They used to have them in the WWE restaurant that was on Times Square. I want a few things in memorabilia that they had. I thought they should have a bunch of stuff, but those things are freaking massive, massive. I think those things could do something like that.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Something To Wrestle with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
