Wrestling fans finally will get the chance to experience what I felt in 1986 - the day I got to Houston.

I remember pulling my Mazda station wagon into the Holiday Inn parking lot on Loop 610 near the Galleria, unhitching the small U-Haul that held all of my possessions and driving straight to the Sam Houston Coliseum for Houston Wrestling. The main event had the Rock 'n' Roll Express pretty boys facing the lowdown, nasty Sheepherders in a vicious Barbed Wire Texas Death Match.

I'd never seen a match like that in my life. All four wrestlers were bleeding like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." The sold-out crowd went berserk. I had always read about Houston Wrestling, and now I was in the balcony, resisting the urge to tell fans in the front row that Tide is particularly effective at getting bloodstains out of clothes.

Unreleased and assumed lost videos from the glory years of legendary promoter Paul Boesch and "Houston Wrestling" broadcasts are now available for the first time via an online pay network called NWAClassics.com. We're talking 1,500 matches, screaming interviews, some pretty weird commercials and other material from the mid '60s to 1986.

Boesch brought in the biggest stars of wrestling, and paid them more than they could earn in other parts of the country. The wrestlers worked extra hard for Houston fans.

I was hooked after my first night in my new hometown. I would go to the Coliseum on Friday nights and watch the matches replayed Sunday mornings on Channel 39.

About six months later, I got a call from a friend at the World Wrestling Federation in Connecticut. He whispered, "Jake the Snake Roberts is up here. He just signed with us."

Roberts happened to be the champion of Houston Wrestling. Signing with the WWF meant he was leaving Houston, and would have to lose the title that Friday night. That's a tradition in wrestling. When a champion decides to leave, he always drops the title on his way out.

Sure enough, Roberts was scheduled to meet Dirty Dick Slater at the Coliseum.

Being a hard-hitting investigative journalist, I wrote in my column the day before the big match … "Snake Roberts will lose his title to Dirty Dick Slater because he's leaving Houston Wrestling."

I didn't go to the matches Friday night. But I was watching Sunday morning when Boesch interviewed Jake the Snake … who still was champion.

Huh? How's that possible? Roberts was supposed to lose. That's how wrestling works.

Here's what happened. Boesch was so angry over my column that he changed the script and had Roberts win.

I was sitting on my couch when Roberts held up my column on TV and began reading, "It's a sure bet that Jake Roberts will not leave Sam Houston Coliseum as champion."

Roberts looked straight into the camera, straight into my living room, straight through me sitting in my underwear, and threatened, "You better keep your mouth shut, boy."

Yes, sir, Mr. Roberts. I won't say a word ever again. I'll become a monk … whatever you say.

Sure, it's funny now. But that morning, almost 30 years ago, I was scared. I think I'll start reviewing fast-food and finding homes for stray dogs.

The following week Boesch announced that Roberts had lost the title to Slater in a bogus match that never occurred. That's how wrestling works, too.

Boesch began promoting matches here in 1949, but his company really caught fire in the '60s when Channel 39 picked up "Houston Wrestling." The weekly telecasts captured ridiculous ratings, and Boesch became a local star beyond wrestling. He did a memorable TV commercial wearing diamond earrings in his trademark cauliflower ears:

"If I.W. Marks can make my ears look pretty, think what he can do for hers."

We met another budding personality during the broadcasts - Jim McIngvale, a skinny newcomer to town with dark hair, jumping and promising that Gallery Furniture "really will save you money!"

Houston Wrestling chugged through the '60s, '70s and '80s - until Vince McMahon and his northeast promotion decided to take over the country. Boesch effectively was put out of business. McMahon threw a retirement party for Boesch in 1987 at the Summit. Two years later, Boesch passed away.

An era was gone. Houston Wrestling was buried along with Boesch.

McMahon not only took over the future of pro wrestling, he bought the past. He acquired tape libraries of local promotions across the country. The only valuable tape collection that eluded him is Houston Wrestling.

"We tried to sell the collection to the WWE, but we never could make a deal," said Bruce Tharpe, a Houston attorney who represents Boesch's widow, Valerie, and son Joey.

"While I was in Japan about four months ago, I was looking at how well a promotion there, New Japan, was doing with its online network of old tapes. I thought we could do the same thing with the Boesch library and generate some much needed funds for Mrs. Boesch and her son. In four months from inception to launch, NWAClassics is online."

The online network will release about 30 matches each month. The library consists of about 1,500 matches. So the network has enough material to keep fans glued to their screens for several years. Fans can pay $8.99 a month or $99.99 for a year.

The first batch of matches includes: Harley Race vs. Andre the Giant, Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair vs. Wahoo McDaniel, Kerry Von Erich vs. Gino Hernandez, Shawn Michaels vs. the Barbarian, and Terry Funk vs. Maniac Mark Lewin.

In coming months, we'll see Dory Funk, Jack Brisco, Junkyard Dog, Mil Mascaras, Ernie Ladd, Ox Baker, Abdullah the Butcher and many more Hall of Fame stars.

They don't make 'em like Abdullah the Butcher anymore.

While the old matches are first-rate and restored to HD quality, some of the announcing isn't as slick as you hear on current wrestling shows.

Here's an exchange between announcers during the Harley Race and Andre the Giant match from 1978. Note: Andre the Giant was from France.

First announcer: "It looks like Andre is fading. I don't know how Harley Race can hold up 450 pounds. It looks like Andre is leaning. Talk about the Eiffel Tower."

Second announcer: "I guess a French version of the Eiffel Tower. Both competitors are leaning toward each other, literally."

I'll take "Famous European Landmarks" for $200, Alex.