🤯 and Kilgore both mentioned first getting into wrestling via old tapes in the "Storyline That Hooked You" thread. So I decided to devote an entire thread to old school tape rentals.
Warning: Storytime alert

You young 'uns may find this hard to believe but there was once a time when content, wrestling or otherwise, wasn't so readily available. There was no WWE Network, Youtube, Torrents, or anything like that. To watch wrestling in those days you either had to see the show live or find a tape.

*I just realized every wrestling fan I knew growing up only owned one wrestling tape. It's the weirdest thing. My friend Matt had The Main Event where Andre beat Hogan for the belt....until I acquired it from him. My friend Rick had Clash of the Champions January 92. My other friend OG Baker had some ancient Era Before Pants WWF tape w/ Mr. Fuji (as a wrestler!), Dick Murdoch, and the Briscos. The Three Brothers had an old Battlebowl (the one where Sting won. '91, I think it was). Anyway.....

The first tapes I ever rented were Wrestlemania I-III. I remember I was still living in my first house so that dates it to before June 1990. It was my first time seeing WM 1 & 2. I was not blown away. I may have also rented a Coliseum Home Video or two, along with WM 4. Can't remember for sure, but I probably did.

I didn't rent another wrestling tape for over five years. My brother had "grown out" of wrestling following WM 7 and my dad would have just mocked "that fake crap" had he happened to be around. It was very annoying.

In late 95, with my wrestling fandom at an all time high, I began the Great Wrestling Tape Binge of 95-96 where I rented a wrestling tape or three every weekend for about a year. And I wasn't alone. My brother had gotten back into wrestling, likely because he didn't want to feel left out since wrestling had suddenly become the hip thing in our neighborhood. He was never as into it as the rest of us though. My best friend Rick and cousin Jack were usually in on it at as well since at least one of them, and usually both, spent most weekends staying at my house.

We started with the local Blockbuster but it wasn't long before other members of our little wrestling fan clique, a trio of brothers, introduced us to the greatness of West Coast Video. They had an AMAZING selection, lower prices, and you got keep their videos longer. West Coast Video > Blockbuster. Total squash. WCV had practically every WWF PPV other than some In Your House's (they even had The Wrestling Classic!), a ton of old school NWA/WCW shows, and oodles of Coliseum Home Videos.  This was my first time seeing practically every post-WM 7 WWF ppv and any NWA/WCW pay per view (other than perhaps Fall Brawl '95, depending on when exactly this binge started). To be honest, the Coliseum Home Video compilations were mostly weak sauce in comparison to all but the worst proper WWF & NWA/WCW pay per views. Oh, and they also had this one awesome tape with a generic title like "Mat Masters" or something lame like that. This tape was my introduction to Memphis Jerry Lawler. "The King" beat Savage(!) and Hogan(!!), while the other match was Poffos vs. Rock & Roll Express with Savage piledriving Ricky Morton through a table. That tape ruled.

As much as I enjoyed revisiting the old WWF stuff, and catching even more of it for the very first time, it wasn't long before I really gravitated to the NWA tapes. Not WCW though. I wasn't even really on that whole "Evil Empire" kick yet. I just didn't enjoy those shows nearly as much as the WWF & especially the NWA stuff. I just loved that whole NWA vibe. It soon got to the point where my main criteria for renting tapes revolved around whether or not Flair & the Midnight Express were featured.

My absolute favorite tape, and the one I rented about once a month, was Great American Bash 1989. The "Glory Days" tagline was SO appropriate. Now I had no idea this was considered a classic ppv. I didn't really know any "insider"/smark stuff. But I LOVED GAB 89 even way back then. Flair/Funk was the damnedest thing I had ever seen and it instantly became my all time favorite match, supplanting such gems as....Hogan/Andre from The Main Event and Slaughter/Warrior 

That's another thing....these tape binges are what really opened up my eyes to the art of wrestling beyond just 'guy I like vs. guy I don't like.' Flair/Funk was the GOAT match.....but Flair/Vader was right up there with it. And then you had the two Flair/Steamboat '89 PPV gems, Bret/Bulldog, both Bret/Perfect matches, both Bret/Owen bouts, the HBK/Razor ladder match(es), the 1992 Royal Rumble. Plus other classics that gave me a much deeper appreciation for wrestling. I saw tons of great matches for the very first time and gained a new appreciation for classics I had previously seen without fully appreciating, particularly if "my guy" happened to lose. This tape binging period really shaped me as a wrestling fan. This is also when Flair became my all time favorite wrestler/GOAT choice and I really grew to love Arn Anderson.

While Great American Bash 1989 was my go to tape (w/ Halloween Havoc '89 as a strong #2), my Bret Hart fanatic friends Rick & Jack had their beloved Summerslam '94. Which meant nary a month went by without GAB 89 and/or Summerslam 94 being rented....again. Fwiw, Wrestlemania III was my brother's go to tape but, as I mentioned before, he wasn't as into it as the rest of us. So we only got that one like once every few months.

This went on for about a year. The West Coast Video people were awesome. Waaay better than snooty, impersonal Blockbuster. As regular customers, we got to know them a bit. I don't remember whether or not they were wrestling fans. I don't think they were. But they were good business people who once asked us whether there was anything they didn't have that we would like them to order for us. Challenge accepted! I went home, trawled through my trusty PWI Almanac, and came back the following week with a list of wrestling shows I had yet to see. (Mainly the first few In Your House's and a few WCW/NWA pay per views. It wasn't a huge list.) I'm not sure how many of them they actually ordered (though I do distinctly remember In Your House October 95 resulting from my list) but I definitely appreciated the gesture.

At some point we exhausted every wrestling tape at West Coast Video and all the local Blockbusters. Hey, even I can only watch Great American Bash 1989 so many times. So the weekend wrestling tape binge eventually fizzled out as we gravitated more towards movies.

Not long after that my beloved West Coast Video went out of business. They just couldn't compete with the Blockbuster behemoth. This is why I shed no tears when Blockbuster went down a few years later. They killed West GOAT Video. They also killed my cousin's video store of choice (Greg's Video) and my family's original video store (Erol's). So I had no sympathy when Blockbuster's time came. What goes around comes around.

I missed West Coast Video's big going out of business sale. I don't remember why. Too depressing? Out of town that weekend? No money? I dunno. But in the years that followed I deeply regretted not going there one last time to pay my respects......and buy dozens of awesome old school wrestling tapes at super low prices! My collection could have been vast. I could have been Popular On The Internet. Oh well. 

My second Great Tape Binge occurred when I got online in early 1998. Mostly ECW and more classic NWA. But that's a story for another day.

So how about you guys? Were you also big time wrestling tape renters? Any particular favorites? Good stories? Blockbuster or Other?

Renting wrestling tapes was such a huge part of my childhood. Looking back now there was something deeply psychological about it for me as a kid I think, maybe it was like an escape from reality, a comfort zone, it was just hugely uplifting and it was like that was my world that I would go to, instead of Narnia it was VHS boxes with these far out characters on the covers. As a kid nothing made me happier than being in the video store looking for some wrestling tapes. We moved around like every 3-6 months, either trying to outrun the crack dealers my parents/uncles hustled or couldn't pay the rent and had to move in with my grandma. The absolute best part about it was moving into a new town and checking out a new video store, every video store always had a completely different set of wrestling tapes for me to sink my teeth into. I remember one particular video store in Conroe, Texas just outside of Houston, maybe 1994-95, the fucking place was the size of a small Wal-Mart, it was the biggest fucking video store you could possibly imagine and their wrestling section was un-fucking-baylievable. It was like heaven, they had EVERYTHING.

Another time was in Texarkana on the Texas/Arkansas border Summer 1998, we found a video store inside a podunk little grocery store and their wrestling section was spectacular, I remember freaking out about everything they had and my mom jokingly telling me not to have an orgasm.

Then there was the shitty ones too though, like the one in Franklin Texas Summer 1999, they had a wicked collection of old action and horror movies(I first seen Highway To Hell here, b-rated cult classic now)  but the only wrestling tapes they had was Survivor Series 1998 and the 98 UK PPV(I forget the name, the one with The Rock vs X-Pac) and somebody had rented that one out and never returned it during the whole time we lived there(I used to ask about it every time we went).

This was also how I became an MMA fan since UFC tapes were usually always bundled into the wrestling section. Me and my brother rented UFC 2 and the JCVD Street Fighter movie once(the only 2 wrestling tapes they had, Wrestlemania X and Starrcade 93, were rented out, crazy that I can still remember shit like this), we took those back the next day and rented Wrestlemania X(for the 100th time) and UFC 3 and we were hooked for life after that. 

I will never decline an opportunity to talk about renting tapes. I responded a lot to shinobimusashi getting all psychological about tape stores being an escape because it's exactly the same from me. Going to stores is such a hassle the older you get, so remembering a time when you were a kid where going to a video store was an small event is a fun thing to think back on. It was a reward too. "Be good and maybe I'll take you to rent some tapes." Then we'd spend an hour in there, just looking, making important decisions about which rentals would last the weekend. It's weird, I've had a few dreams about video stores over the years, and it's always about finding a new one. The new one is nothing but possibilities. Anything could be in there! I wake up before I even walk inside. I'll never know what's in there.

The first video stores I remember going into were 1987/1988, so I was four-years-old and the Blockbuster's of the world hadn't taken over yet, and video stores were still real, and usually in some dark wood paneling, looking like  some dank basement stuffed to the ceiling, and overflowing in aisles with VHS. The first two I remember, one was in the town my Mom lived, one where my Dad lived. My Mom and I were living with her brother at the time, who was an asshole, but once in a while he'd take me to the video store. This store had a great wrestling section. Mom and Pop Video Stores were a reflection of whoever owned it. These people were clearly wrestling fans. They had nearly every Coliseum Video release there was. I don't remember renting any Wrestlemanias there, oddly, it was always compilation tapes, which would be a crash course of whatever subject that tape was. I remember getting Hogan comps (there were multiple volumes), The Macho Man one, the Steel Cage one, and every Best of WWF that existed. Also keep in mind, WWF didn't have many PPV's outside of Wrestlemania yet, if any depending on how far back my memory was. You couldn't really rent events, because they weren't taped and distributed that way. It was all about the compilations. 

The tape store by my Dad's didn't have near the wrestling section (I remember renting more movies there, and the owners even took a Masters of the Universe poster off their wall and gave it to me because I had asked my Dad to rent the movie there more than three times), and the only tape I distinctly remember watching there included the Hogan vs. Orndorff SNME Cage Match, the greatest match I had ever seen in my short life. I hadn't seen that match again until whenever I started posting at PW, and I remembered the finish, the freeze frames, and Ventura's commentary about Orndorff's legs being more in a squatting position meaning he landed outside first perfectly. It had such an impact it was burned in a four or five year old's mind for almost 25 years.

Both my parents moved to different towns again, which meant new video stores! This is where a role reversal happened. My Mom's store had a pretty shit wrestling section, but my Dad's had the GOAT wrestling section. When video stores are mentioned, this store is what pops up in my mind. I could still do a CAD drawing of it, and I haven't seen it as it was since 1991 or 1992 (It's a Tae Kwon Do place now). They had a "Special Interest" aisle, an entire aisle(!), that was almost all wrestling tapes (there were a couple of World Series compilation tapes too, but mostly wrestling). This store, in this aisle is where I remember renting Wrestlemanias for the first time, and seeing that beautiful big box of Wrestlemania 1, where you could see Mr. T's gold shining from the moment you walked in. By now, WWF had other PPVs and I remember renting every event they had, Royal Rumble 1989 and SummerSlam '88 specifically. These are some of the best memories I have in my life. These would be weekend at Dad's apartment, which if you're lucky to have a good Dad like I was, were what you looked forward to all week. He'd pick me up after he finished work on Friday, we'd head to his town, immediately go to the video store, get tapes to last the weekend (two movies for night, and two wrestling tapes that I would watch during daylight hours), and then walk over to the Chinese food place, or Pizza place, and get some takeout to eat on the floor at the coffee table while we watched the movie of the night (usually an action movie). Whatever happened during the week, whatever shit that was, no longer existed.

Random video store memory, my Grandma (Nana) on my Dad's side retired to North Carolina. Despite our lavish tape renting, we didn't have a lot of money, so summer vacation would just be going to her house in North Carolina every year. All it cost was the gas money to drive down. One summer, probably 1988, we went to a video store (the first Blockbuster I remember going to) and we rented Robocop and Wrestlemania 3. The dude's hand melting in Robocop was burned in my brain like the Hogan-Orndorff finish, but the best memory is that Wrestlemania 3 was a two tape rental. We did not know this. When the tape ran out half way through the event, before Hogan and Andre, we were like, "What the fuck is going on?" We drove back to the store, got Tape 2, and my Dad low key yelled at a dude for not telling him it was a two tape rental (a Mom and Pop store would have told you this was the case, unlike the corporate hellhole that was Blockbuster). We came back with Tape 2, I saw Hogan slam the Giant, and I almost forgot about that dude's hand melting in Robocop. Almost.

Back in NY, it was much of the same. My Dad lived at that particular apartment until 1993, so it was many weekends of movie night, wrestling tape weekend, and as the WWF spit out more tapes, we'd be renting them. By '91 or '92, my beloved favorite video store of all time was put out of business by Blockbuster. Blockbuster had opened their store in the shopping center directly beside them. It was a mammoth space that is now three separate stores. That shopping center was a full block, and Blockbuster was half of it. My favorite video store never had a chance. The Blockbuster had a shit wrestling section, it was a corner on the back wall. Luckily, around the same time my Dad got cable, and a hot box, which meant free PPV, and this is where my tape collection began, as I taped every WWF PPV from this time period until 1996, when cable technology changed to fiber optics and it didn't work anymore (there would later be a fiber optics hot box, which was purchased in 1998). 

I had a Blockbuster by Mom's place even before that. Same lame wrestling section. I do distinctly remember renting my first WCW tape there in 1991 (Capitol Combat 1990), which seemed exotic, and very slowly got me interested in WCW. WCW was a different world, catered to different sensibilities, so it was quite an adjustment. 

The rest of the 90's was the Blockbuster Era, and my memories just aren't as positive. I went because I loved renting tapes, but it wasn't the same. Plus with having cable now, I was more interested in taping stuff off cable, which became almost an addiction. This did coincide with Blockbuster slightly because by the mid-90's I discovered one of the greatest tricks of my childhood. Stacking two VCRs was well known, you'd play a tape in one, and record it with the other, but tapes at Blockbuster would come out scrambled if you tried to do this. There were these metallic stickers on top of the tape, and this caused some sort of interference, I guess. It just didn't work. Borrowing store bought tapes from friends, I realized if you just removed the stickers from the tapes, it would copy perfectly. It was that simple, except you wouldn't dare do that to a Blockbuster tape out of fear of them sending the FBI to your home to kill you and your entire family. Simply putting Post-it Notes over the two stickers was all it took to prevent whatever scramble these stupid stickers were doing, though, and from that point on whatever tape I rented at Blockbuster, I copied for my own homemade collection. I remember tapes on HBO Video (they had video distribution on top of just the network) like A Bronx Tale would not work with my Post-it Trick. They had some next level piracy protection, which is ironic considering how many movies were taped off HBO. This was a rarity, though. The Post-it Note trick had a winning percentage of at least 85%.

I've brought this up on the old board, and it's a bummer, but I sort of equate the death of video (and childhood) with 9/11. A lot of it was just coincidence as DVDs started to really take over in 2001, but I have a memory of going to Blockbuster two weeks before 9/11 with my best friend since infancy, and to this day and his father. His father was a tough firefighter, a scary dude if you didn't know him, but the nicest man if you did. He was like a second father to me because I spent a lot of time over at that house. This is August of 2001, I lived an hour away, so this would be the last great hangout with my friend and his family before school started and we wouldn't really see each other that much until winter break. The three of us are walking around, and the DVD section is starting to greatly shrink the VHS section. It was depressing for me and my friend just because of our love for the medium (he had to put up with me taking over a TV to tape something so many times), but his dad was looking at it as, "I'm going to have to buy a DVD player now," on top of all of his other man of the house financial responsibilities, with three kids in high school, inching uncomfortably close to college, and him openly admitting he had no idea how he was going to pay for it. Now here's another thing he has to worry about. He and I were looking at all the DVDs together and he said to me, "Goddamn, everything is changing." I'll never forget those words. Two weeks later he was dead, and everything had changed, and it was so much worse than just videos becoming DVD. If only that was the only thing that had changed. 

That last paragraph of Kilgore's post had me well up with tears. Tough to follow that with anything. Sorry for your loss, hermano. Woof...

For lack of a better/smoother transition, I'll just jump cut to what I was working on earlier.

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For my own sake, if nothing else, I wanted to test my memory and research which tapes I had/rented. Here goes nothing:

Hulkamania (WF002)

SPOILER: Click to show

08/04/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. Greg Valentine
12/10/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. John Studd
08/21/84 - TNT Show: Hulk Hogan makes protein shakes
06/17/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. David Schultz
04/06/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. John Studd (steel cage match)
1980s - Hulk Hogan interview
01/23/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik (Hogan wins WWF World Title)

The High Flyers (WS903)

SPOILER: Click to show

05/10/88 - Randy Savage vs. Virgil
03/12/88 - The Jumping Bomb Angels vs. The Glamour Girls
07/09/88 - The Rockers vs. The Conquistadors
05/09/87 - Paul Roma & Jim Powers vs. The Shadows
01/04/89 - Blue Blazer & Koko B. Ware vs. Danny Davis & Jose Estrada

WWF Strong Men (WS904)

SPOILER: Click to show

1980s - Hercules vs. The Ultimate Warrior (chain match)
01/24/88 - Dino Bravo bench press angle
1980s - Dino Bravo vs. Hercules
1980s - Demolition vs. Powers of Pain
03/29/87 - Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan

Wrestlemania IV (WF053)

SPOILER: Click to show

03/27/88 - Battle Royal
03/27/88 - Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan
03/27/88 - Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo
03/27/88 - Randy Savage vs. Butch Reed
03/27/88 - Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat
03/27/88 - One Man Gang vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
03/27/88 - Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts
03/27/88 - Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules
03/27/88 - Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
03/27/88 - Ted DiBiase vs. Don Muraco
03/27/88 - Randy Savage vs. Greg Valentine
03/27/88 - Brutus Beefcake vs. Honkytonk Man
03/27/88 - Bobby Heenan, Haku, & Tama vs. The British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware
03/27/88 - Randy Savage vs. One Man Gang
03/27/88 - Demolition Axe & Smash vs. Tito Santana & Rick Martel (Demolition win WWF Tag Team Title)
03/27/88 - Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase (Savage wins WWF World Title)

Royal Rumble 1992 (WF100)

SPOILER: Click to show

01/19/92 - Owen Hart & Jim Niedhart vs. The Orient Express
01/19/92 - Roddy Piper vs. The Mountie (Piper wins WWF I-C Title)
01/19/92 - The Beverly Brothers vs. The Bushwhackers
01/19/92 - Earthquake & Typhoon vs. The Legion of Doom
01/19/92 - Royal Rumble (Flair wins WWF World Title)

Wrestlemania VIII (WF102)

SPOILER: Click to show

04/05/92 - Shawn Michaels vs. Tito Santana
04/05/92 - The Undertaker vs. Jake Roberts
04/05/92 - Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper (Hart wins WWF I-C Title)
04/05/92 - Big Bossman, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, & Jim Duggan vs. The Nasty Boys, Repoman, & The Mountie
04/05/92 - Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair (Savage wins WWF World Title)
04/05/92 - Earthquake & Typhoon vs. Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster
04/05/92 - Owen Hart vs. Skinner
04/05/92 - Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
04/05/92 - Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice

World Tour 1992 (WF106)

SPOILER: Click to show

10/03/91 - The Mountie vs. Kerry Von Erich
04/19/92 - The British Bulldog vs. Irwin R. Schsyter
10/05/91 - The British Bulldog vs. Earthquake
10/05/91 - Roddy Piper vs. The Barbarian
04/14/92 - Battle Royal
04/19/92 - Bret Hart vs. Rick Martel
04/14/92 - Randy Savage vs. Shawn Michaels

Wrestling World Tour (WS920)

SPOILER: Click to show

04/14/92 - The Legion of Doom & Davey Boy Smith vs. The Nasty Boys & The Mountie
04/19/92 - Bret Hart vs. Rick Martel
10/05/91 - Ric Flair vs. Texas Tornado
08/10/92 - The Bushwhackers vs. The Beverly Brothers

Wrestling's Hottest Matches (WS922)

SPOILER: Click to show

1990s - Randy Savage vs. Irwin R. Shyster
1990s - Roddy Piper & The Bushwhackers vs. The Mountie & The Nasty Boys
1990s - Davey Boy Smith vs. Mr. Perfect
1990s - Bret Hart vs. Irwin R. Shyster

Rampage 1992 (WF108)

SPOILER: Click to show

09/01/92 - The Undertaker vs. Razor Ramon
06/02/92 - Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart
1992 - Sherri Martel make-up tips
06/01/92 - 40-Man Battle Royal
06/02/92 - Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
06/29/92 - The Beverly Brothers & The Genius vs. The Legion of Doom & Paul Ellering
09/02/92 - Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster vs. Virgil & Tito Santana
06/03/92 - Randy Savage vs. Repo Man
06/03/92 - The Ultimate Warrior & The Undertaker vs. The Berzerker & Papa Shango

Survivor Series 1992 (WF110)

SPOILER: Click to show

11/25/92 - Headshrinkers Samu & Fatu vs. Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware
11/25/92 - Big Bossman vs. Nailz (nightstick on a pole match)
11/25/92 - Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
11/25/92 - Randy Savage & Mr. Perfect vs. Razor Ramon & Ric Flair
11/25/92 - Yokozuna vs. Virgil
11/25/92 - The Nasty Boys, Earthquake & Typhoon vs. Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster & The Beverly Brothers (tag team elimination match)
11/25/92 - The Undertaker vs. Kamala (casket match)
11/25/92 - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels

Royal Rumble 1993 (WF111)

SPOILER: Click to show

01/24/93 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs. The Beverly Brothers
01/24/93 - Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty
01/24/93 - Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Big Bossman
01/24/93 - Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon
01/24/93 - Royal Rumble

Bloopers, Bleeps, & Bodyslams (WF137)

SPOILER: Click to show

12/15/93 - Razor Ramon vs. Crush
08/31/93 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs. The Headshrinkers
09/28/93 - Owen Hart vs. Rick Martel
01/12/94 - Yokozuna vs. Tatanka
10/20/93 - Marty Jannetty & Razor Ramon vs. Irwin R. Schyster & Diesel
02/22/94 - Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Doink
02/21/94 - Bret Hart vs. Crush
08/17/93 - Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty (steel cage match)
09/28/93 - Randy Savage vs. Jerry Lawler

Wham Bam Bodyslam (WF149)

SPOILER: Click to show

10/19/94 - Tatanka vs. Lex Luger
10/19/94 - Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. Owen Hart & Jim Niedhart
10/19/94 - Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett
11/07/94 - The Bushwhackers vs. Well Dunn
09/27/94 - The Smoking Gunns & Lex Luger vs. Shawn Michaels, Tatanka, & Diesel
08/17/94 - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (lumberjack match)
1994 - Video game tips and strategies
10/18/94 - Bull Nakano vs. Alundra Blayze
08/15/94 - Battle Royal

Most Unbelievable Matches (WS930)

SPOILER: Click to show

03/20/94 - Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (ladder match)
04/94 - The Headshrinkers vs. The Quebecers
1990s - Randy Savage vs. Jerry Lawler
1990s - Lex Luger vs. Rick Martel
1990s - Mabel vs. Yokozuna

Wrestlemania X (WF132)

SPOILER: Click to show

03/20/94 - Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart
03/20/94 - Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon vs. Doink (Fall) & Dink
03/20/94 - Randy Savage vs. Crush (falls count anywhere match)
03/20/94 - Alundra Blayze vs. Lelani Kai
03/20/94 - Men on a Mission vs. The Quebecers
03/20/94 - Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger (special referee Mr. Perfect)
03/20/94 - Earthquake vs. Adam Bomb
03/20/94 - Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (ladder match)
03/20/94 - Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna (special referee Roddy Piper -- Hart wins WWF World Title)

Wrestlemania XI (WF150)

SPOILER: Click to show

04/02/95 - Lex Luger & Davey Smith vs. Jacob & Eli Blue
04/02/95 - Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett
04/02/95 - The Undertaker vs. King Kong Bundy
04/02/95 - Owen Hart & Yokozuna vs. The Smoking Gunns (Hart & Yokozuna win WWF Tag Team Title)
04/02/95 - Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund ("I quit" match)
04/02/95 - Diesel vs. Shawn Michaels
04/02/95 - Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Brawl in the Family (WF151)

SPOILER: Click to show

01/23/95 - The Undertaker vs. King Kong Bundy
12/14/94 - Owen Hart & Jim Niedhart vs. Men on a Mission
1990s - Diesel vs. Jeff Jarrett
11/08/94 - Jerry Lawler vs. Doink
10/17/94 - Lex Luger vs. Bob Backlund
11/30/94 - Mabel vs. Tatanka
01/10/95 - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (no holds barred)
12/14/94 - King Kong Bundy vs. Razor Ramon
1995 - Video Game tips and strategies

In Your House Greatest Matches (05-08799)

SPOILER: Click to show

05/14/95 - Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler
12/17/95 - The Undertaker vs. Mabel
10/22/95 - Marty Jannetty vs. Goldust
07/23/95 - Jeff Jarrett vs. Shawn Michaels (Michaels wins WWF I-C Title)
02/18/96 - Bret Hart vs. Diesel (steel cage match)

Wrestlemania XIII (WF169)

SPOILER: Click to show

03/23/97 - The Headbangers vs. The New Blackjacks, The Godwinns, and Phil Lafon & Doug Furnas
03/23/97 - Rocky Maivia vs. the Sultan
03/23/97 - Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Goldust
03/23/97 - Owen Hart & Davey Smith vs. Vader & Mankind
03/23/97 - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin (submission match -- special referee Ken Shamrock)
03/23/97 - The Legion of Doom & Ahmed Johnson vs. Farooq, Crush, and Savio Vega (Chicago street fight)
03/23/97 - The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid (Undertaker wins WWF World Title)

SummerSlam 1997 (WF173)

SPOILER: Click to show

08/03/97 - Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (steel cage match)
08/03/97 - Goldust vs. Brian Pillman
08/03/97 - The Legion of Doom vs. Phineas & Henry Godwinn
08/03/97 - Davey Smith vs. Ken Shamrock
08/03/97 - Los Boricuas vs. The Disciples of Apocalypse
08/03/97 - Steve Austin vs. Owen Hart (Austin wins WWF I-C Title)
08/03/97 - Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker (Hart wins WWF World Title -- special referee Shawn Michaels)

Survivor Series 1997 (WF175)

SPOILER: Click to show

11/09/97 - Billy Gunn, Jesse Jammes, Henry & Phineas Godwinn vs. The Headbangers & The New Blackjacks (elimination match)
11/09/97 - The Truth Commission vs. The Disciples of Apocalypse (elimination match)
11/09/97 - Davey Smith, Jim Niedhart, Phil Lafon, & Doug Furnas vs. Vader, Goldust, Marc Mero, & Steve Blackman (elimination match)
11/09/97 - Kane vs. Mankind
11/09/97 - The Legion of Doom, Ahmed Johnson, & Ken Shamrock vs. The Nation of Domination (elimination match)
11/09/97 - Steve Austin vs. Owen Hart (Austin wins WWF I-C Title)
11/09/97 - Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart (Michaels wins WWF World Title -- This is the infamous "Montreal" match)

Royal Rumble 1998 (WWF200)

SPOILER: Click to show

01/18/98 - Vader vs. Goldust
01/18/98 - Max Mini, Super Nova, & Mosaic vs. Tarantula, El Torito, & Battalion (special referee Sunny)
01/18/98 - Rocky Maivia vs. Ken Shamrock
01/18/98 - The Legion of Doom vs. Billy Gunn & Jesse Jammes
01/18/98 - Royal Rumble
01/18/98 - Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (casket match)

Wrestlemania XIV (WWF202)

SPOILER: Click to show

03/29/98 - Tag Team Battle Royal
03/29/98 - Taka Michinoku vs. Aguila
03/29/98 - Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Owen Hart
03/29/98 - Marc Mero & Sable vs. Goldust & Luna Sable vs. Luna
03/29/98 - Rocky Maivia vs. Ken Shamrock
03/29/98 - Terry Funk & Cactus Jack vs. Billy Gunn & Jesse Jammes (dumpster match -- Funk & Cactus win WWF Tag Team Title)
03/29/98 - Kane vs. The Undertaker (Kane piledrives Pete Rose)
03/29/98 - Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels (special referee Mike Tyson -- Austin wins WWF World Title)

Breakdown (WWF208)

SPOILER: Click to show

09/27/98 - Owen Hart vs. Edge
09/27/98 - Al Snow & Too Cold Scorpio vs. Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor
09/27/98 - Marc Mero vs. Darren Drosdov
09/27/98 - Justin Bradshaw vs. Vader (falls count anywhere match)
09/27/98 - D-Lo Brown vs. Gangrel
09/27/98 - Rocky Maivia vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Mankind (steel cage match)
09/27/98 - Val Venis vs. Dustin Runnels
09/27/98 - Billy Gunn, Jesse Jammes, & X-Pac vs. Jeff Jarrett, Dennis Knight, & Mark Canterbury
09/27/98 - Undertaker vs. Kane vs. Steve Austin (triple threat match -- WWF World Title held-up)

Judgment Day 1998 (WWF209)

SPOILER: Click to show

10/18/98 - Al Snow vs. Marc Mero
10/18/98 - LOD 2000 & Darren Drosdov vs. DOA & Paul Ellering
10/18/98 - Christian vs. Taka Michinoku (Christian wins WWF Light Heavyweight Title)
10/18/98 - Goldust vs. Val Venis
10/18/98 - X-Pac vs. D-Lo Brown (X-Pac wins WWF European Title)
10/18/98 - The Headbangers vs. New Age Outlaws
10/18/98 - Ken Shamrock vs. Mankind
10/18/98 - Mark Henry vs. Rocky Maivia
10/18/98 - The Undertaker vs. Kane (special referee Steve Austin)

Survivor Series 1998 (WWF219)

SPOILER: Click to show

11/15/98 - Mankind vs. Duane Gill
11/15/98 - Al Snow vs. Jeff Jarrett
11/15/98 - Steve Austin vs. Big Bossman
11/15/98 - X-Pac vs. Steve Regal
11/15/98 - Ken Shamrock vs. Goldust
11/15/98 - Rocky Maivia vs. Big Bossman
11/15/98 - The Undertaker vs. Kane
11/15/98 - Mankind vs. Al Snow
11/15/98 - Rocky Maivia vs. Ken Shamrock
11/15/98 - Sable vs. Jacqueline (Sable wins WWF Women's Title)
11/15/98 - Mankind vs. Steve Austin
11/15/98 - Rocky Maivia vs. The Undertaker
11/15/98 - The New Age Outlaws vs. The Headbangers vs. D-Lo Brown & Mark Henry
11/15/98 - Rocky Maivia vs. Mankind (Maivia wins WWF World Title)

St. Valentine's Day Massacre (WWF222)

SPOILER: Click to show

02/14/99 - Goldust vs. Bluedust
02/14/99 - Bob Holly vs. Al Snow (Holly wins WWF Hardcore Title)
02/14/99 - Big Bossman vs. Mideon
02/14/99 - Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett vs. Mark Henry & D-Lo Brown
02/14/99 - Val Venis vs. Ken Shamrock (Venis wins WWF I-C Title)
02/14/99 - Kane & Chyna vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley & X-Pac
02/14/99 - Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia (last man standing match)
02/14/99 - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon (steel cage match)

Wrestlemania XV (WWF223)

SPOILER: Click to show

03/28/99 - Bob Holly vs. Al Snow vs. Billy Gunn (Holly wins WWF Hardcore Title)
03/28/99 - Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett vs. D-Lo Brown & Test Jarrett vs. Brown
03/28/99 - Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn (brawl for all match)
03/28/99 - Mankind vs. Paul Wight
03/28/99 - Road Dogg vs. Goldust vs. Ken Shamrock, vs. Val Venis
03/28/99 - Kane vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Kane piledrives)
03/28/99 - Sable vs. Tori
03/28/99 - Shane McMahon vs. X-Pac
03/28/99 - The Undertaker vs. Big Bossman (hell in a cell match)
03/28/99 - Steve Austin vs. The Rock (Austin wins WWF World Title)

Backlash 1999 (WWF224)

SPOILER: Click to show

04/25/99 - Farooq, Bradshaw, & Mideon vs. Gangrel, Edge, & Christian
04/25/99 - Al Snow vs. Bob Holly (Snow wins WWF Hardcore Title)
04/25/99 - the Godfather vs. Goldust
04/25/99 - The New Age Outlaws vs. Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett
04/25/99 - Mankind vs. Paul Wight (boiler room brawl)
04/25/99 - Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. X-Pac
04/25/99 - The Undertaker vs. Ken Shamrock
04/25/99 - Steve Austin vs. The Rock (special referee Shane McMahon)

SummerSlam 1999 (WWF228)

SPOILER: Click to show

08/22/99 - Jeff Jarrett vs. D-Lo Brown (Jarrett wins WWF I-C and European Title)
08/22/99 - King of the Hill Tag Team Match
08/22/99 - Al Snow vs. Big Bossman (Snow wins WWF Hardcore Title)
08/22/99 - Ivory vs. Tori
08/22/99 - Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman (lion's den match)
08/22/99 - Test vs. Shane McMahon
08/22/99 - The Undertaker & Big Show vs. Kane & X-Pac (Undertaker & Show win WWF Tag Team Title)
08/22/99 - The Rock vs. Billy Gunn (kiss my ass match)
08/22/99 - Mankind vs. Steve Austin vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Mankind wins WWF World Title)

Best of Raw #1 (WWF236)

SPOILER: Click to show

03/30/98 - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon interview (start of feud)
1998 - Farooq vs. NOD feud
1998 - Kane vs. The Undertaker feud
1998 - Sable vs. Mark Mero & Jacquelyn feud
1998 - DX highlights
1998 - Cactus Jack highlights
07/06/98 - DX parody of NOD
1998 - Val Venis highlights
1998 - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon feud
10/05/98 - Debut of Mr. Socko
1998 - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon feud

Survivor Series 1999 (WWF242)

SPOILER: Click to show

11/14/99 - The Godfather, D-Lo Brown, & The Headbangers vs. The Dudleys, Farooq, & Bradshaw (elimination match)
11/14/99 - Kurt Angle vs. Sean Stasiak
11/14/99 - Val Venis, Mark Henry, Gangrel, & Steve Blackman vs. The British Bulldog & The Mean Street Posse (elimination match)
11/14/99 - May Young, The Fabulous Moolah, Tori, & Debra vs. Ivory, Luna, Jacquelyn, & Terri Runnels
11/14/99 - Kane vs. X-Pac
11/14/99 - The Big Show vs. The Big Bossman, Prince Albert, Mideon, & Viscera (elimination match)
11/14/99 - Chyna vs. Chris Jericho
11/14/99 - Brian Christopher, Scott Taylor, Hardcore & Crash Holly vs. Christian, Edge, Matt & Jeff Hardy (elimination match)
11/14/99 - The New Age Outlaws vs. Al Snow & Mankind
11/14/99 - The Big Show vs. Triple H vs. The Rock (Big Show wins WWF World Title)

Best of Raw #2 (WWF280)

SPOILER: Click to show

1998 - Steve Austin vs. The Rock feud
1998 - Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker feud
12/29/98 - Mankind vs. The Rock (Mankind wins WWF World Title)
01/11/99 - Corporate Royal Rumble
98/99 - Chyna vs. Mark Henry feud and romance
1999 - Mankind vs. The Rock feud
1999 - The Undertaker vs. Mcmahon Family feud
1999 - McMahon Family feud
1999 - Steve Austin vs. The Rock feud
1999 - Triple H highlights
08/10/99 - Chirs Jericho debut
1999 - Chris Jerich vs. Chyna feud
1999 - Rock & Sock Connection highlights
1999 - DX highlights

I'll work my way back to this and flesh out each tape with whatever I remember from it/about it.

I tried to post the tapes roughly in chronological order as far as when the matches took place in real time.

I'll start my recap from the top and work my way down through the list. First up is...

Hulkamania (WF002)
08/04/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. Greg Valentine
12/10/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. John Studd
08/21/84 - TNT Show: Hulk Hogan makes protein shakes
06/17/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. David Schultz
04/06/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. John Studd (steel cage match)
1980s - Hulk Hogan interview
01/23/84 - Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik (Hogan wins WWF World Title)

My memories of this were, first and foremost, that the tape was the oldest, dingiest video cassette in existence and that the production values weren't great. I could be recalling incorrectly, but I vaguely remember feeling like some of these matches took place in venues that really seemed like low rent armories or high school gyms.

I also remember being confused, because Hulk Hogan's ring attire was rarely red and yellow in any of these matches. At the time, Hulk Hogan was cemented in the zeitgeist enough that I knew his trademark color scheme was red and yellow. So to see him in white, and blue, and red and yellow was a bit confusing. But I also remember appreciating how relatively spry he was (vs. the highlights I was catching on Saturday morning TV in 1993).

As far as his opponents went, I recall thinking that Valentine had a really weird build and that Studd was a lumbering bore. Schultz legit terrified me though, and the title match was exciting because it was a title change (at the time, I had zero concept of the historical importance).

That all said, I think my favorite part of the tape was Hogan making the protein shake. If memory serves, Lord Alfred Hayes was hosting that segment and was the perfect foil for goofy Hogan. I don't remember the later interviews, so who knows how I felt about them. All in all, this did nothing to make me an all-out Hulkamaniac, but it did have me appreciating the Hulkster.

The High Flyers (WS903)
05/10/88 - Randy Savage vs. Virgil
03/12/88 - The Jumping Bomb Angels vs. The Glamour Girls
07/09/88 - The Rockers vs. The Conquistadors
05/09/87 - Paul Roma & Jim Powers vs. The Shadows
01/04/89 - Blue Blazer & Koko B. Ware vs. Danny Davis & Jose Estrada

For whatever reason, the ONLY thing I remember about this tape was the Jumping Bomb Angels (and to a lesser degree the Glamour Girls) and being in awe of their wrestling style.

WWF Strong Men (WS904)
1980s - Hercules vs. The Ultimate Warrior (chain match)
01/24/88 - Dino Bravo bench press angle
1980s - Dino Bravo vs. Hercules
1980s - Demolition vs. Powers of Pain
03/29/87 - Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan

Strangely, the thing I remember least is Hogan/Andre. To my credit, I think it might've been a cut-down version of their match from 'Mania III. At least my only memory is that the match had a really weird jump cut and seemed to only last like 3 minutes or so.

I vaguely recall being a little intimidating by Demo's ring gear, and for some reason gravitating more toward PoP. Bravo's shenanigans were probably the next most memorable thing, with Warrior breaking Herc's chain maybe coming right after?

Wrestlemania IV (WF053)
03/27/88 - Battle Royal
03/27/88 - Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan
03/27/88 - Don Muraco vs. Dino Bravo
03/27/88 - Randy Savage vs. Butch Reed
03/27/88 - Greg Valentine vs. Ricky Steamboat
03/27/88 - One Man Gang vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
03/27/88 - Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts
03/27/88 - Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules
03/27/88 - Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
03/27/88 - Ted DiBiase vs. Don Muraco
03/27/88 - Randy Savage vs. Greg Valentine
03/27/88 - Brutus Beefcake vs. Honkytonk Man
03/27/88 - Bobby Heenan, Haku, & Tama vs. The British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware
03/27/88 - Randy Savage vs. One Man Gang
03/27/88 - Demolition Axe & Smash vs. Tito Santana & Rick Martel (Demolition win WWF Tag Team Title)
03/27/88 - Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase (Savage wins WWF World Title)

This shit was my first real jam. Between it being a tournament and a two-tape set, it was my earliest favorite to watch over and over for all the names (even if I didn't really like the in-ring action).

I don't really remember much about the Battle Royal except Bad News winning, and Bret then smashing his trophy... which I loved. I think by the time I was able to get my hands on this tape, I'd seen other tapes featuring Bret well after his face turn and initial singles success... so I had no idea he was even heel here at WM4.

I remember disliking DiBiase and thinking he kinda reminded me of Hans Gruber (I was as into Die Hard at the time as I was pro wrestling). Jim Duggan was no John McClane though.

Don Muraco and Dino Bravo felt SUPER dated and out of place. It would take me decades to go back and fully appreciate Muraco as he should be appreciated, but in fairness... the stuff that should really be appreciated about Muraco was from well before 1988. I think this match is where "Superstar" Billy Graham had some sort of involvement... which didn't help this feel any more contemporary. I vaguely recall not really wanting either "old guy" to advance.

I remember instantly loving Savage. I knew of him already from Slim Jim commercials, toy commercials, and 1993 highlights on TV... but "prime" Savage was so much better -- despite me being confused about why he was suddenly in trunks instead of his circa 1992 gear. Butch seemed decent enough in the ring, which I recall being somewhat concerned with even back then (I specifically recall not liking the 1993 Saturday morning TV show because it felt like the only wrestling moves they showed were clotheslines). Unfortunately, Butch didn't seem to have much character, or at least none that he could get over here in such a short time. I think I had more investment in Slick for his manager interference.

I remembered Valentine from the Hulk tape, thought Steamboat had a cooler name/look/wrestling style, thought this was the best match yet... and was disappointed when Steamboat didn't win. I think it was at this point I started to get worried that the tournament was going to be nothing but a bunch of old bloated farts advancing.

OMG/BBB definitely had my attention until the bell rang. The bullshit finish to this had me upset. And was Oliver Humperdink still managing Bam Bam here? I vaguely recall there being some other manager, besides Graham, who felt super old and super out of place. I feel like Humperdink would've fit that bill. I think I was hoping that Bam Bam would advance because OMG seemed older and more out of place. Then OMG won instead via bullshit finish, and I was like FUCK!

Rude and Jake were both names I recognized, so I was excited to see them face off against each other... even if it meant only one or the other wouldn't be advancing to fend off the old codgers in the quarterfinals. But then they wrestled a pretty slow, boring match to a time limit draw. I remember HATING that. I'm getting mad now in hindsight just thinking about it.

I recall Warrior/Herc strangely giving Steamboat/Valentine a run for its money in my eyes as best match of the night so far. Warrior was what he was to me, but I remember having somewhat of a fondness for Herc even back then (pre-P&G).

Hogan/Andre probably should've been so much bigger than it was to me... but to me, it was meh at best. I hated Andre... not for his heel character but because he was fat, slow, and old. The match itself was a confusing mess, and I was getting pretty fucking sick of bullshit finishes. And this meant Hogan was out of the tournament, so the field was looking pretty bleak as far as contenders I cared about anymore.

I don't recall much about Savage/Valentine aside from being happy that the right guy won. I don't know how obvious it was to me that Savage would be going to the finals, but I feel like it had to have been pretty obvious considering the guys he'd be facing. Same for DiBiase/Muraco, but heel/face roles reversed. DiBiase getting a bye was a little confusing at the time, but I think that was more to the whole tournament becoming a clusterfuck with boring match-ups, bullshit finishes, and the wrong guys going deep. I had relatively little interest in Savage/OMG beyong wanting Savage to advance. I think he advanced via bullshit finish, which just kept me fuming about how fucked up this tournament was.

I think HTM/Beefcake for the IC title was the match I was next most excited for after Rude/Roberts. I was aware of HTM's god awful character and his infinite IC title reign. I was hoping this was where it came to an end, and I'd get to watch the eccentric but entertaining Beefcake be the one to end it in my first-ever title change. Instead, I think it was another bullshit finish. I wasn't as pissed because I thought that maybe I'd get to see Beefcake at least give HTM a haircut. But then I think HTM escaped instead. THEN I got pissed. FUCK THIS SHOW!

Heenan/Islanders vs. Koko/Bulldogs and the tag title match were the sleeper MOTNs for me. Maybe it was the multi-man mayhem, or getting to see a title change... or maybe I was just that demoralized by the tournament so far, that these matches seemed highly entertaining by comparison? Especially considering their decisive finishes?

The best part of the tournament was definitely the finals. This was probably up there for me along with the six-man and tag title matches as MOTN contenders. It ending with Savage winning the title for sure gave it bonus points, and I remember being excited about that. However, simultaneously, I remember thinking it was odd that Hogan was so involved and seemed to be hogging a lot of Savage's spotlight. Oh, if only I'd been watching in real time and known about the glory that was to come between 'Mania IV and 'Mania V.

EDIT: Reading this back and thinking more on it... I have no idea why WM4 was a favorite tape. I guess I was just that much of an insta-pro wrestling junkie that anything was better than nothing, and I must've had slim tape pickings around the time that this had favorite status?

Jun 3, 2018 22:04:37 GMT 🤯 said:

Reading this back and thinking more on it... I have no idea why WM4 was a favorite tape. I guess I was just that much of an insta-pro wrestling junkie that anything was better than nothing, and I must've had slim tape pickings around the time that this had favorite status?

The tournament. It was such a cool concept to childhood wonderment, especially pre-King of the Ring. My memory of WM4 was better than WM4 actually was until I rewatched it in the late 90s. 

So I'll group 1992 together, but sub-divide it like this: the PPVs I saw later when the tapes became available for rent through Blockbuster; the non-PPV tapes were mix tapes in my own collection. My memory of the PPVs is much better since I saw them later. For the non-PPV tapes, red text indicates matches I remember loving and strike-through indicates matches I have absolutely zero recollection of.

World Tour 1992 (WF106)
10/03/91 - The Mountie vs. Kerry Von Erich
04/19/92 - The British Bulldog vs. Irwin R. Schsyter
10/05/91 - The British Bulldog vs. Earthquake
10/05/91 - Roddy Piper vs. The Barbarian
04/14/92 - Battle Royal
04/19/92 - Bret Hart vs. Rick Martel
04/14/92 - Randy Savage vs. Shawn Michaels

Wrestling World Tour (WS920)
04/14/92 - The Legion of Doom & Davey Boy Smith vs. The Nasty Boys & The Mountie
04/19/92 - Bret Hart vs. Rick Martel
10/05/91 - Ric Flair vs. Texas Tornado
08/10/92 - The Bushwhackers vs. The Beverly Brothers

Wrestling's Hottest Matches (WS922)
1990s - Randy Savage vs. Irwin R. Shyster
1990s - Roddy Piper & The Bushwhackers vs. The Mountie & The Nasty Boys
1990s - Davey Boy Smith vs. Mr. Perfect
1990s - Bret Hart vs. Irwin R. Shyster

Rampage 1992 (WF108)*
09/01/92 - The Undertaker vs. Razor Ramon
06/02/92 - Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart
1992 - Sherri Martel make-up tips
06/01/92 - 40-Man Battle Royal
06/02/92 - Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
06/29/92 - The Beverly Brothers & The Genius vs. The Legion of Doom & Paul Ellering
09/02/92 - Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster vs. Virgil & Tito Santana
06/03/92 - Randy Savage vs. Repo Man
06/03/92 - The Ultimate Warrior & The Undertaker vs. The Berzerker & Papa Shango
*NOTE:I don't remember shit from this tape besides knowing I owned a "Rampage" tape

Immediate recollections from the above tapes were things like how much characters like IRS, The Model, and The Mountie stood out.

I loved Bret, Bulldog, and Savage and dug Shawn, Razor, and LOD.

Despite not remembering any of their matches, I remember loving Undertaker and Tatanka too.

I remember digging Papa Shango and Berzerker, but hating the Beverly Brothers, the Nasty Boys, Repo Man, and the Bushwhackers. They all had "go away" heat with me way before I had any idea what "go away" heat (or even just heat) was.

I remember thinking DiBiase, Virgil, and Piper seemed like they were getting old and out of place. However, I recognized Flair as a legend despite knowing nothing of him. I dug his match against Texas Tornado, and specifically recall getting a kick outta how he sold the Tornado Punch. I remember thinking I liked Tornado more than Warrior since it seemed like Tornado could move/wrestle better.

I have absolutely zero recollection of poor Barb or Quake.

Royal Rumble 1992 (WF100)
01/19/92 - Owen Hart & Jim Niedhart vs. The Orient Express
01/19/92 - Roddy Piper vs. The Mountie (Piper wins WWF I-C Title)
01/19/92 - The Beverly Brothers vs. The Bushwhackers
01/19/92 - Earthquake & Typhoon vs. The Legion of Doom
01/19/92 - Royal Rumble (Flair wins WWF World Title)

Wrestlemania VIII (WF102)
04/05/92 - Shawn Michaels vs. Tito Santana
04/05/92 - The Undertaker vs. Jake Roberts
04/05/92 - Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper (Hart wins WWF I-C Title)
04/05/92 - Big Bossman, Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, & Jim Duggan vs. The Nasty Boys, Repoman, & The Mountie
04/05/92 - Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair (Savage wins WWF World Title)
04/05/92 - Earthquake & Typhoon vs. Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster
04/05/92 - Owen Hart vs. Skinner
04/05/92 - Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
04/05/92 - Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice

Survivor Series 1992 (WF110)
11/25/92 - Headshrinkers Samu & Fatu vs. Owen Hart & Koko B. Ware
11/25/92 - Big Bossman vs. Nailz (nightstick on a pole match)
11/25/92 - Tatanka vs. Rick Martel
11/25/92 - Randy Savage & Mr. Perfect vs. Razor Ramon & Ric Flair
11/25/92 - Yokozuna vs. Virgil
11/25/92 - The Nasty Boys, Earthquake & Typhoon vs. Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster & The Beverly Brothers (tag team elimination match)
11/25/92 - The Undertaker vs. Kamala (casket match)
11/25/92 - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels

It was cool finally getting a block of PPV tapes from the same year. This was the first time, and the closest I came to ever feeling like I was watching in real time or at least watching in a way where I could see storylines and career progress.

I remember absolutely nothing about RR1992's undercard except the Beverly/Whackers match... and that's only because of pure hatred for both teams.

The '92 Rumble ended up being my second-ever Rumble (I somehow ended up renting 1992 after renting 1993) and I recall confusing lots of its middle parts with 1993's middle parts. Most of my current-day memories of this match are really only due to subsequent re-watches when I was older. I do remember Flair's godly post-match promo though. Flair seemed like a stud, and a threat to my WWF Superstars. Someone needed to take him down!

Since I was still watching in such a disjointed fashion via tapes, I probably just presumed that Hogan and Flair had tangled somewhere along the way. So upon first viewing, it didn't strike me as outright crazy that 'Mania VIII was featuring Flair/Savage as the title match. Plus, I really bought into the storyline that they built up around that match. I was major hating me some Flair/Perfect/Heenan and dying for some Savage revenge.

'Mania VIII quickly supplanted 'Mania IV as my favorite show/tape of all time. I loved so many matches from the show, and all the right guys were winning. My biggest gripes were that Lex Luger and LOD appeared on the show but didn't wrestle, and I couldn't understand why at the time. Order of favorite matches then (and probably still now) went: Savage/Flair, Bret/Piper, 'Taker/Jake, Shawn/Tito. The rest were just meh but inoffensive, and five-star classics compared to the garbage from 'Mania IV.

I'd never seen a Survivor Series PPV before, and unfortunately 1992 was my first exposure. It did no favors as far as helping me to grasp and appreciate the Survivor Series concept. Also, even despite not seeing SummerSlam, I was confused about how/why Bret/Shawn was suddenly the main event title match... especially when Flair/Savage were still on the card.

I don't recall loving, or really even liking, any match from Survivor Series 1992... but I remembered every match, which I couldn't say about Royal Rumble 1992. Takeaways were being Dr. D David Schultz scared of the Headshrinkers, Yoko, and especially Nailz; liking High Energy, Tatanka, and Bossman (I was into RoboCop and Police Academy BIG TIME, so any good guy character resembling an LEO was something I was bound to be at least somewhat into); and loving Bret, 'Taker, Savage, Flair, Perfect, and Shawn... but not loving that Savage/Flair/Perfect/Razor were being wasted in a tag match, and thinking Bret/Shawn was actually kind of a long and boring match.

My least favorite part of the show was the only actual Survivor Series match because in real time at the time most of those tag teams had "go away" heat with me.

And then there was Kamala, who I think I might've thought was Papa Shango due to similar face paint... I mean, I guess it could've been possible for Papa Shango to let himself go that bad in 8 months and then repackage his ring gear a bit? I dunno... :lol:

Overall, 1992 had enough cross-over with what I was getting from my 1993 highlight recaps on Saturday mornings that it really resonated as a sweet spot for me. I would call this specific time period the first time where I was really engrossed and engaged as a fan, even if I still wasn't watching in real time.

Every Friday after school I'd head to the video store and get my wrestling tapes. First one I ever got of course was WrestleMania 1. Just that cover with Hulk and Mr. T on it just peaked my interest. I had never seen wresting before or knew anything about it until that cover...now why exactly two muscle bound men in very little clothing peaked my interest is a story that I don't even know but god damnit, it did. Next week, Boom wrestleamania 2...even as a youngster though I knew this show sucked balls but didn't matter it was wrestling and it was hulk Hogan so didn't give a fuck how bad the show was. From there it was just anything WWE I could get my hands on. I loved it. I had no idea any other wrestling company existed until I went into a different video store that also had NWA/WCW shit. War Games 1987, the match beyond.  Even at that young age I could totally tell that WCW was vastly inferior.  Production quality was always shit in the NWA, I hated all that dark arena shit.  Hell WCW was always the inferior show.  Even when they were winning the war, WWE's main event scene and production of their shows just felt more important.  Those intro packages WWE was doing at their beginning of all ppvs was brilliant. WCW could never even get in the ball park of that kind of stuff. But i'm getting off topic shitting on wcw.  

I remember quite vividly how fucking excited I was getting the wrestlemania 4 VHS set and it was fucking two tape combo.  I also vividly remember this because even though I was super young, I remember kind of rubbing one out to Liz at mania 4.  I had no idea what I was doing it was just "oh this feels good".  I remember my stomach hurting for a solid hour after I popped one off as that was my first orgasm.  So...theres that. HAHA

Jun 3, 2018 22:26:09 GMT Kilgore said:

Jun 3, 2018 22:04:37 GMT 🤯 said:

Reading this back and thinking more on it... I have no idea why WM4 was a favorite tape. I guess I was just that much of an insta-pro wrestling junkie that anything was better than nothing, and I must've had slim tape pickings around the time that this had favorite status?

The tournament. It was such a cool concept to childhood wonderment, especially pre-King of the Ring. My memory of WM4 was better than WM4 actually was until I rewatched it in the late 90s. 

This. Count me in as another who was enthralled by the Wrestlemania 4 'tournament for the vacant title' concept as a youngster. I've told the story before of how I was more hyped for IV than III (or really any show ever until like Wrestlemania XIV).

This thread has exceeded my expectations. Great posts all around.

Being from a really small town we didn't have much for rental choices. We did have three mom and pop places, a cafeteria, a gas station and a fried chicken place that all rented videos on the side. The café was around much longer and was the real go to spot to rent anything. They had a pretty large horror section but got their share of wrestling tapes as well. Wrestlemania 1-5, Summerslam 88-90 and Survivor Series 87-90 were the major ones I remember renting. In the early 90's my cousin's folks acquired a convenience store as well in Regina, Sask. (home of a Natural Disasters title change I believe) and they got a bunch of NWA tapes on top of the usual Coliseum Home Video releases. Wrestle War '89, Bash '89, Havoc '89, Starrcade '89 and Bash '90 were the ones me and my cousin "borrowed" whenever I came to visit. I can't even remember all the Coliseum titles I watched there, probably a lot of the ones 🤯 posted. We would go to the back room where they had a TV and binge watch them all. I loved that place, whenever I watch Clerks it brings me back to visiting my cousin's convenience store and seeing all the different characters that would come through there. Many a day were spent borrowing movies, reading comics and getting the latest WWF magazines. Unfortunately it went the way of the VHS tape and they sold it in 2001 when my cousin graduated high school.

With just about every big match at our fingertips, it's weird to think back to a time when it wasn't, but I was thinking about another time I rented Wrestlemania 3, which was in 1998/1999. Blockbusters in New York, and I imagine everywhere else, for the most part, their wrestling section was pretty new release centric, so Wrestlemania 3 was off the shelves for years at that point, and I hadn't seen it in at least seven years. Now reading the internet, and Savage-Steamboat ascending to god status, I was looking forward to watching that again with more advanced eyes, and also Hogan-Andre, of course, the biggest match of my lifetime. I actually forget the circumstances of how I came across Wrestlemania 3 again at a Blockbuster (did I go to a different one, or did a wrestling fan at that store put it back in rotation?), but stumbling onto Wrestlemania 3 at the height of the Attitude Era was like stumbling onto a holy artifact, and I jumped on the opportunity to rent it (and make a copy of it with the Post-it Note trick). It was also a necessary get for my homemade video collection which had most of the other Wrestlemanias (I would never get WM1, and I'd get WMX the next year at a North Carolina Blockbuster where I stacked my Nana's VCR on top of the living room one and copied that one tooby Scotch taping an index card over the stickers). I don't know, it's just weird to think about not being able to watch something as big as Wrestlemania 3 for seven years, when it would now take a few minutes to stream, and a few minutes more to download illegally. Even WMX, because I was there live, I didn't see the TV version until the summer of 2000. Finding a tape you hadn't seen in a long time, or ever, was more rewarding then it is now, but I'll certainly take more things being readily available over the old days in that respect. 

What's this Post-It hack you speak of?

Not that it matters anymore, but time-traveling minds would like to know...

Jun 3, 2018 19:33:00 GMT Kilgore said:

because by the mid-90's I discovered one of the greatest tricks of my childhood. Stacking two VCRs was well known, you'd play a tape in one, and record it with the other, but tapes at Blockbuster would come out scrambled if you tried to do this. There were these metallic stickers on top of the tape, and this caused some sort of interference, I guess. It just didn't work. Borrowing store bought tapes from friends, I realized if you just removed the stickers from the tapes, it would copy perfectly. It was that simple, except you wouldn't dare do that to a Blockbuster tape out of fear of them sending the FBI to your home to kill you and your entire family. Simply putting Post-it Notes over the two stickers was all it took to prevent whatever scramble these stupid stickers were doing, though, and from that point on whatever tape I rented at Blockbuster, I copied for my own homemade collection. I remember tapes on HBO Video (they had video distribution on top of just the network) like A Bronx Tale would not work with my Post-it Trick. They had some next level piracy protection, which is ironic considering how many movies were taped off HBO. This was a rarity, though. The Post-it Note trick had a winning percentage of at least 85%.

🤯

I didn't know about this trick either. What a rube I was....

I was on the up and up as well. Like Kilgore posted earlier I didn't want the FBI or Interpol coming over to my house to arrest my family for watching an illegal version of a Coliseum Home Video release.

I guess you can put a post it note over the barcode from the rental store so it can be copied to a blank tape on another VCR and not be scrambled?

Jun 5, 2018 3:02:02 GMT Shootist said:

I was on the up and up as well. Like Kilgore posted earlier I didn't want the FBI or Interpol coming over to my house to arrest my family for watching an illegal version of a Coliseum Home Video release.

I guess you can put a post it note over the barcode from the rental store so it can be copied to a blank tape on another VCR and not be scrambled?

Oh, yeah. I'm on Ebay looking for good images of former Blockbuster rentals. This is the best I can do right now, but if you look at the lower left hand corner of the VHS cartridge, that shiny metallic sticker was all that was preventing you from copying a tape. In my memory, they were often above the window pane on the top side of the cartridge, sometimes two, one on each side. I'd take two Post-it Notes, stick them just above the sticker, the rest of the note would flop down over the sticker, put it in the VCR, and I'm making copies of all of my rentals. If we were out of Post-It notes, I'd just take some printer paper, cut it the same size as the top of the tape, two pieces of scotch tape so it doesn't move when you jam it into the VCR, and it served the exact purpose. One time, I used an index card for WMX. Rewind that sumbitch, take whatever was obscuring the stickers off, and return. Post-It Notes were the easiest, and my preferred method. 

Jun 5, 2018 3:56:01 GMT Kilgore said:

Jun 5, 2018 3:02:02 GMT Shootist said:

I was on the up and up as well. Like Kilgore posted earlier I didn't want the FBI or Interpol coming over to my house to arrest my family for watching an illegal version of a Coliseum Home Video release.

I guess you can put a post it note over the barcode from the rental store so it can be copied to a blank tape on another VCR and not be scrambled?

Oh, yeah. I'm on Ebay looking for good images of former Blockbuster rentals. This is the best I can do right now, but if you look at the lower left hand corner of the VHS cartridge, that shiny metallic sticker was all that was preventing you from copying a tape. In my memory, they were often above the window pane on the top side of the cartridge, sometimes two, one on each side. I'd take two Post-it Notes, stick them just above the sticker, the rest of the note would flop down over the sticker, put it in the VCR, and I'm making copies of all of my rentals. If we were out of Post-It notes, I'd just take some printer paper, cut it the same size as the top of the tape, two pieces of scotch tape so it doesn't move when you jam it into the VCR, and it served the exact purpose. One time, I used an index card for WMX. Rewind that sumbitch, take whatever was obscuring the stickers off, and return. Post-It Notes were the easiest, and my preferred method. 

Who cares about all that jazz? I'm too busy marking out over here for "To PLAY is human. To REWIND is divine." GOAT disclaimer.

Being a video shop enthusiast was part in parcel of being a Pro Wrestling fan. You couldn't just have one shop and call it a day, you needed to know what was out there.

I frequented a few places beforehand, but by the time the wrestling bug bit me, the situation was like this.

Civic Video (Carina): The store must have been an old supermarket because it was triple the size of a typical video store. It also happened to be the local store which made it the first port of call. The Pro Wrestling section was in the middle row, closest to the 'New Releases' wall and there you would mostly find a lot of early to mid 90s WCW and WWF tapes. It was an impressive collection and seeing Diesel, HBK, Bret, Surfer Sting, Luger, Flair, Sid etc. starring back gave me some good background into the era I was currently enjoying. Unfortunately they didn't have a ton of nWo era or Austin era tapes. If memory serves they had Royal Rumble '98, SummerSlam '98, Bash at the Beach '98 and then for years WWF Wrestlemania XV, WWF SummerSlam '99 & WCW Uncensored '99 were new releases. In an era where DVDs were beginning to become more prevalent, I'd still see them tucked away on their own wall of tapes.

Blockbuster (Carindale): Initially this was the 'reserve' store if Civic didn't have enough new releases in stock, but eventually became the first. You'd find Blockbuster in the corner of an L-Block formation of corner stones. Right outside the store was a claw machine that my brother happened to master. I was there the one day kids were giving him $2 coins and he'd win them any stuffed animal they wanted, and he was like 8-years old. Now the selection of wrestling titles was slim at Blockbuster, but it filled some decent holes. WCW tapes were hard to come by so this was the place I eventually hired my favourite PPV before Wrestlemania X-7, Halloween Havoc '98. If memory serves the rest of the range barely covered one shelf and it was Starrcade '98, Slamboree '99, WWF Capital Carnage '98 and Fully Loaded '98.

Video Ezy (Carina): For years my family never gave this store a chance than one time I must have desperately been after a game or a video and we gave it a chance. This was easily the tiniest store of the lot, but in fairness to it, they'd carry the odd uncommon title you couldn't find anywhere else. We wouldn't go there all that often, but it was the only place that would carry the documentaries and Best of Raw tapes which happened to be my favourite. Whenever I think of going to VideoEzy, I remember the BBQ chicken store adjacent from it. It was the greasiest saltiest chicken I've ever tasted but it made for the perfect Sunday afternoon treat.

Like anyone, I was picky when it came to tapes. Since I was mostly into the modern tapes, it limited my selection significantly. I also hated seeing my favourites lose, so I never ordered SummerSlam '98 because Mankind lost a two on one handicap match to the New Age Outlaws. The only time I can ever recall going outside of my comfort zone was when I took out the 1991 Royal Rumble. We spent the day in one of those cheap sleazy stores where everything is on special because mum wanted to move her business into the spot. It really put me in a retro mood and the cover of the 1991 show maybe one of the best of all-time.

The last tape I ever borrowed was WWF No Mercy (UK) from Civic video circa 2004. I hadn't been to the store in some time and came to find out they had all the WWF PPVs from 1998-2001. Since I had just recently bought WWF Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64, I had to get my hands on the one show the Corporate Ministry dominated from top to bottom.

The best video shop I ever came across was a Civic Video at Mt. Gravatt. At first glance it didn't look like much but on closer inspection, this place must have hoarded every single VHS, DVD, Video Game and even Laser Disc they got their hands on. You could barely move in the place and every shelf was basically crammed spine to spine with a lot of pull-out draws filled with obscure titles. Unfortunately it was out of the way and nobody else in the family shared my enthusiasm for the place. I can't remember what their Pro Wrestling VHS situation was like, but they had every Pro Wrestling DVD from 1999 on.

The last time I was in a video store would have been 2010. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and I wanted an excuse to do something so headed over to Blockbuster to buffer up an old PS1 game. Maybe I just caught them at a really bad time, but even then it was a depressing scene. They seemed to be conserving as much power as possible, the lights were dim, there wasn't any movies or music playing in the background and they weren't carrying too many uncommon titles. It was such a stale experience and despite their best efforts they couldn't save my disc or their business.

The last video shop in Brisbane just closed down in February. I believe it was a tiny little store inside the city train station that had plenty of community support. Meanwhile there's a Civic Video I used to go to all the time in Hervey Bay that's still open. That store didn't have the best Pro Wrestling section, but that was usually the first port of call when we'd arrive for school holidays and I'd catch up with the cousins and pick through all the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 games we wanted to play through. I always associate those trips with Pro Wrestling since it was the only chance I got to watch Raw and would get whichever parent had work to fax me over WCW results. You wouldn't believe how anxious I was to read about Starrcade 2000. I was actually upset when Sid failed to beat Big Poppa Pump for the WCW Championship, but was over the moon to see Goldberg finally win a match at Starrcade.

From the age I started having friends over for sleepovers I would be renting wrestling VHS. It started out with WWE ppvs, because that was what was available. This was around the era of wrestlemania 5 it began. We would watch saturday afternoon WWF on tv and would get so excited when the big ppvs finally around at the local video store. When I hit my teens a couple of the newer video stores started carrying WCW ppvs on vhs.

Around thirteen years old Is when I figured out the vcr stacking thing. And then any VHS I rented from a store came into my permanent collection. And later when they started putting scrambling techology you just needed a descrambler, no big deal. The devices were later modified to be able to descramble DVD when copying to VHS.

The real excitement happened when I started to get into tape trading. I had a tripod hosted website where I listed all my tapes I owned, I was part of a tape trading ring. Once you made a deal with someone to trade a tape, you each made a copy and mailed each other the copy in good faith. Somteimes you got burnt, but most of the time you got the tape you wanted. I had bought copies of the 1995 and 1996 King of the death match vhs (this is the tournament that Mick Foley won). These tapes were my ticket to trade for so many others, such a hot seller. And around 1997 was when I discovered ECW through tape trading. And then I found TAZ! I discovered him a couple years after he had transfornmed into the human suplex machine, so I had to go back and get all of the shows with him on it. The days when I would come home to a package that had an ECW tape in it, holy shit that was something to get excited about. At one point I had about 400 VHS of wrestling shows/ppvs spanning WWF, WCW, ECW, ROH, TNA, random indy shows, NJPW, NOAH, everything. And then DVD came out and I ended up with around 200 dvd as well. Last year I finally gave away all my tapes though. It lost a bit of its lustre, half of them were wrecked in a flood in my mothers house, and they mostly just sat in a box and got moved around.

Yesterday, or two days ago was apparently "National VCR Day" because they make up days for far less, so why not? Anyway, there was a few articles about VHS, mostly nostalgic fluff, but one blog post brought some hard data showing the dangers of visual media going completely to streaming. It's slightly off topic of this thread, but I figured it would be nice to show that it's not only nostalgia that makes us pine for VHS and physical media, but there's actually real reasons it's more important. Basically, as each new medium comes, due to various reasons (music rights, distribution rights, laziness) it will always be a net negative of titles available. It then becomes a neverending cycle of net negative because each respective generation's familiarity with titles will become less with a shallower pool of titles to go through in their lifetime, and they'll be less people fighting for that mostly forgotten thing. Here's a few of the numbers I found the most interesting:

“The technology only becomes problematic when it eradicates other forms of access. When you have a new technology and you rush to dump everything that came before it, you are literally dumping titles, you’re dumping artwork, you’re dumping full catalogues of work.”

"Since 2010, the total number of feature films available to stream on Netflix has dropped from 6,755 to 3,686 as of writing this — a loss of more than three thousand titles."

"The volatile nature of streaming catalogues becomes apparent when trying to look into hard numbers on just how many titles are available. One has to use third-party sites like JustWatch to find out how many movies are currently available on major platforms (as well as other data, like release year, genre, and a search function that covers all major streaming services) rather than the platforms directly offering those numbers up.

Netflix’s current streaming catalogue of 3,686 films seems paltry when compared to even the most average Blockbuster, which stocked in the neighborhood of 10,000 titles. Amazon Prime’s streaming library is three times the size of Netflix’s, with 14,214 films now streaming. Hulu has less than half as many movies as Netflix with 1,448 titles now streaming. On HBO NOW, that number falls to only 727 films."

"When comparing these numbers to the libraries of three essential video stores — Los Angeles’ own Vidiots and Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee and Scarecrow Video in Seattle — the lack of what’s available on streaming falls into sharp relief. Vidiots boasts a collection of over 50,000 titles; Eddie Brandt’s carries over a hundred thousand videos, 80,000 of them on VHS.

In Seattle, Scarecrow’s video collection of over 131,000 is the largest in the world — they carry more than twice as many titles as the 57,351 movies and television shows currently available on the 44 streaming and rental platforms combined that JustWatch tracks."

"There will never be as many titles on DVD as there were on VHS, there will never be as many titles on Blu as there were on DVD, and so forth…newer generations with shallower memories determine what gets out, the cost of upgrading and remastering old stuff versus the projected size of the audience and likely sales rarely ratio well — history forgets a dying king.

The biggest hurdle affecting deep catalogue home video releases, going all the way back to the dawn of the format, has been music rights, since from EASY RIDER onward, when pop song recordings became common on film soundtracks. Contracts only covered theatrical and TV, and even after they started accounting for home video, they didn’t factor the invention of DVD. Some of the earliest home video releases are the rarest now because they were put out before the lawyers realized you needed to make a new deal for the new media.

Now that there are only three major labels, with the downturn of physical media and the slivers of pennies that come from streaming, they and the artists they control get significant money from licensing to TV, film, and commercials, so their incentive is to take the studios for all they’ve got, feeling they have them over a barrel, since many times the songs are often so embedded in the films, they can’t be replaced, or directors won’t approve of the change. But in turn, studios are loath to pay the inflated music fees because they feel the cost spent in clearing the songs will not be recouped by whatever sales a title may have, and it’s cheaper just to do nothing."

This is even more off topic, but I found this stat fucking crazy.

And, as BGR notes, “Not only is Netflix primarily focused on generating original TV content, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos a few years ago said that 66% of all Netflix subscribers don’t even watch movies.”

blog.blcklst.com/in-search-of-the-last-great-video-store-efcc393f2982

That's the full article for anybody that wants to read more than my cliff notes version.

This thread fucking dominates

What was the VHS distribution situation like out in your neck in the woods?

From my experience, WCW tapes were hard to come by. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some exclusivity deal with our local distributor and all the different video chains. Often you'd see shows available in the rental stores, but you'd never see in public and vice versa. For instance I remember shows like Halloween Havoc '98, Starrcade '98, Bash at the Beach '98 were rental only but Fall Brawl '98 and World War 3 '98 seemed exclusive to retailers. It also seemed like certain shows never made their way over here. I can't find any 1996 or 1997 WCW VHS tape and there's some shows missing from 1998 as well (Souled Out, Spring Stampede). Looking into it further, it seems like in the UK you could buy some of these shows through mail order but I can't see anything concrete.

One of the interesting details between the different distributors is that the UK & AUS markets typically got the better covers. Looking at the US covers, they usually had the metallic covers, or just the two main event guys looking angry. Meanwhile the UK & AUS covers were taken from the posters and usually featured more dynamic images. Supposedly WCW and WWF tapes were both distributed by the same company so often you'd see images from the other promotion featured on the wrong cassette. I believe on the Starrcade '99 box, there's an image of the Big Show chokeslamming Mideon.

WWF tapes seemed easier to come by and when they were the last promotion left standing they would dominate every VHS/DVD sports section.

Jun 9, 2018 8:37:54 GMT Big Pete said:

What was the VHS distribution situation like out in your neck in the woods?

From my experience, WCW tapes were hard to come by.

Same here. WWF tapes were much easier to find. I'll go store by store...

Erol's- late 80s-early 90s- Carried the the first few Wrestlemania's. Maybe a Coliseum Home Video or two. No NWA/WCW that I can remember.

The first video store I frequented. We rented far more regular movies than wrestling tapes. I was really into baseball back then so the movies I most remember renting from Erol's are Field of Dreams and The Natural. Also remember getting stuff like The Karate Kid and National Lampoon's Vacation.

They also loaned out video games. I don't recall renting any but my friend Matt once rented Dragon Warrior. He sucked at it, which turned my brother off the game. I had to fight him hard to buy it a year or two later (we typically pooled our holiday/birthday/allowance money to buy games). Success!

Where Are They Now?- A hair salon

Greg's Video- early-mid 90s- This video store was on the main floor of a residential house on the street where my mom grew up.  My parents knew Greg and his family. I'm fairly certain Greg himself lived upstairs. We'd go to this store when visiting my grandmother or cousin, who only lived a few blocks away.

I don't really remember their wrestling section at all. Once or twice we'd rent a wrestling tape on visits to my cousin's place but I'm blanking on specifics. The movie I most remember seeing from this store is Escape From Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood, which I watched at my cousin's on a weekend visit. 

Oh, and Greg's also had a mysterious "ADULTS ONLY" section. You had to walk through a door. I think it may have also been roped off. I never did muster up the courage to sneak into this intriguing land of mystery. 

Where Are They Now?- 99% sure it's back to being a regular ol' residential house

Blockbuster- 90s-mid 2000s- While I did eventually become a Blockbuster hater, I was initially blown away. It was huge! Like at least twice the size of Erol's and 4 times bigger than Greg's! Plus blue & yellow has always been my favorite color combination. So they also passed the aesthetics test with flying colors. Erol's & Greg's had no color, and just a simple little sign on the outside announcing videos for rent.

Blockbuster did carry a decent amount of WWF tapes but it was totally at random. Like they might have WM 3, 6, 8 and 10. Or Summerslam 88, 89, 93 & 95. They also had a fair amount of Coliseum Home Videos. The lone WCW tape they carried for the longest time was Superbrawl '95, which was awful. 

Also rented a ton of regular movies and video games (mostly Genesis) from Blockbuster. You have to remember I didn't rent a single wrestling tape for five years. So that means tons of weekends were spent watching movies. 

I went off Blockbuster around 95-96 in favor of West Coast Video but had no choice but to go back a few years later once WCV closed down. My last video store wrestling tape experience is purchasing WCW Spring Stampede '99 for like $5 (maybe less) on a whim when Blockbuster was having a big tape selloff around 2001-02. The matches looked intriguing. I had no idea it was considered a diamond in the rough when it came to latter day WCW. Great purchase!

Where Are They Now?- A Verizon store 

West Coast Video- mid-late 90s- More like West GOAT Video. A trio of brothers in my wrestling fan clique introduced to me to this store. At first I was skeptical. (Man, I had forgotten how much of a Blockbuster enthusiast I had once been. How sad.) Anyway, WCV was cramped and dimly lit. It had 0 aesthetic appeal. It was the kind of place you'd expect to see furtive-looking men scurrying around in rain coats with the hoods pulled up. If you gesticulated a little too wildly you would knock over racks and racks of tapes. There wasn't much room for movement.

But the tapes! They crammed SO MUCH into this little store. I swear they had just as many tapes as Blockbuster despite being 1/4 of the size, or less. And their wrestling section was fantastic! They carried most WWF Big 5 pay per views and a bunch of Coliseum Home Videos. They also had a huge assortment of NWA tapes, and more WCW tapes than most (but still not a ton, to be honest. WCW seems to have had a major distribution problem). Why they even had an 80s Memphis tape! AND they ordered an In Your House or two at my request.

This soon became my go to store, mainly for the wrestling tapes. But they were also great when it came to regular movies. I discovered so many classics through this store, with The Big Lebowski standing out in particular as the frequently rented Great American Bash 89 of movies. And 🤯 will be happy to know that Con Air and (especially) The Rock were in our regular movie rotation, mainly due to my acquaintances LOVING those movies, whereas I merely liked them. 

I didn't rent many wrestling tapes after the Great Tape Binge of 95-96 because from then on I ordered most WWF pay per views and no longer cared about WCW (not that they would have had many WCW tapes anyway). Occasionally I'd rent a show that I skipped for whatever reason (Wrestlemania 13 comes to mind) but that was pretty rare from 97 on, occurring maybe just once or twice a year.

Blockbuster was about a 5 minute drive- 20 minute walk. But I'd typically skip Blockbuster for WCV (which was more like a 10 minute drive- 40 minute walk) if I had any say in the matter.

West Coast Video closed down around 99-00. It was a very sad day.

Where Are They Now?- Either a GameStop or a fitness place. I'm going to that very shopping center this Friday. Will investigate further then. 

Has this (d)evolved into a broader tape rental discussion?

If so, I'll be happy to discuss some of my other favorite non-wrestling tape selections.

Still meaning to come back and keep whittling away at my wrestling tapes with memories.

Funny thing is I didn't start renting wrestling tapes until HS - mainly past editions of the WWE Big 4-5 as well as Coliseum Video compilations. Usually Blockbuster and on a few occasions Hollywood Video.

Aug 1, 2023 0:01:22 GMT Kilgore said:

Jul 31, 2023 19:04:12 GMT @ness said:

I'm just gonna say it.

I know tradition and all that.

But it's goofy as shit when lucha people are in suits with their masks on. Even Rey Mysterio. I'm sorry it's fucking goofy, even for wrestling.

This is exactly why it's one of the greatest looks of all time. 

Sorry Ness. I'm with Kilgore on this one. Masked wrestlers in suits is pure pro wrestling.
========
A recent Neo Zeed post about 90s NFL fans taping games on VHS reminded me of my wrestling version of that. When I got online in 98 I perused a lot of (Geocites) tape trading pages. I was always really impressed by people who had the entire run of Raw, Superstars, etc. I decided to be that guy for Smackdown once it came to UPN in September 99. Spent a few years taping every single Smackdown. I had a big old bookshelf full of tapes. Most of them were wrestling tapes and most of those wrestling tapes were Smackdown tapes. One day I was gonna make a mint off these years of carefully curated Smackdown tapes. Only it never happened for four reasons...

1. A whole lot of other people had the same idea. It's similar to the oversaturation of the baseball card market in the 90s.
2. DVD soon replaced VHS as the preferred medium.
3.. The rise of Youtube largely rendered tape trading obsolete. Why work at getting stuff when somebody else is likely to upload it tomorrow?
4. Streaming was the final nail in the coffin. 

Oh, and also because I got bored with it/tired of buying tapes every few weeks/stared running out of room long before we got to 3 & 4.

While I wasn't into tape trading (I was too young, and I don't think my mom would have been into constantly shipping tapes and receiving them), I did tape a few things. I remember taping the last episode of Nitro, because I figured at least I'd have something special on tape. But then eventually, with the internet and technology making servers that hold media accessable to everyone, WWE would start their own streaming service, making that last Nitro ready for anyone to watch.😂

Granted, the one positive of still taping the final Nitro when it was broadcast is not losing anything WWE might have edited out or overdubbed. Plus, the original commercials that ran that night.