This subject came up kind of tangentially recently, when someone asked what wrestler got us into wrestling. I thought of the Austin 3:16 Uncensored VHS tape I had, because I would watch it pretty often between episodes of Raw to get my fix.

We are mostly talking the pre-streaming era, so I imagine others might have a similar experience.

Did you collect, or own any WWF/E Home Video media? Were there any in particular that you liked rewatching?

I actually never did own much home video. I remember having Uncensored and, much later, Benoit's Hard Knocks on DVD, which I think I got for Christmas one year.

I certainly collected their DVDs at that time. WrestleMania 2000 was the first in my collection. I had about 120 (anthology discs I count as solo) by the time I stopped.

I have most of the 2003 DVDs during that odd time that only Raw showed on Foxtel and a few other documentaries. Was in full mark mode at that point.

I also WrestleMania 1-20 with that box set though they all the WWF logo blurring.

I used to tape all the PPVs onto VHS and had a decent collection from 2004 onwards I threw out thinking the WWE Network would be a thing forever. Speaking of, my brother who leads a much more exciting life than I…

Was hanging out an outlaw motorcycle gang and he mentioned me. “Oh we know him! He used to tape the WWE PPVs for us!” (Turns out I went to school with one of their sons). Small world :lol:

A thread after my own heart...

Growing up, Pro Wrestling was a lot more underground in Australia, especially before the advent of cable television which came out in the mid-90s. That meant our exposure to Pro Wrestling largely came from the video store and often you'd find these old WCW/WWF tapes from the late 80s/early 90s. You'd really have to shop around to because it seemed like each store in the local area divided the collection amongst themselves.

It really wasn't until the WWE started releasing those DVD compilations like Hulk Still Rules that I actively started making a collection. The first DVD I ever bought was Mick Foley's Greatest Hits and Misses on the last day of school holidays before the start of 2004. I remember coming across it at a local Target, racing home, finding every bit of loose change I could get before I had $30 worth. The poor cashier - but I cherished that DVD and I've watched through it so many times.

In the end my collection looked something like this:

Mick Foley, Monday Night Wars, Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels (2002), Rey Mysterio (2002), Eddie Guerrero (2004), Rob Van Dam (2004), Steve Austin (2007), ECW, AWA, WCCW, RAW 15th Anniversary, Ladder matches.

I still dig the DVDs out every now and then. Most recently when we were trying to figure out whether Austin stole the Stunner from Mikey (he didn't!).

Of those tapes, it would be a three-way tie between Foley, Benoit and ECW in terms of my favourite DVDs. Foley was my first exposure to the 90s wrestling scene so watching early WCW, SMW, ECW to WWF was a wonderful education. Benoit stepped it up with the NJPW footage and that was my first exposure to that style and gave me a brand new appreciation for the form. Meanwhile I was familiar with late ECW, but never really understood the early days and just how amazing it was during the peak. At a time where I was beginning to lose interest in Pro Wrestling, I couldn't get enough ECW.

Over the years I'd cover a bunch of DVDs over on the old boards. Namely the In Your House, WarGames, Unreleased ECW and a few other sets that came out.

The only PPV I ever bought was Wrestlemania XX. For me that was an end of an era and was a great way to wrap up that initial five years as a fan.

I was never in a rush to buy it, but the Ric Flair set was the one set I wish I had have bought in hindsight.

Considering how obtainable the footage is online, I've played around with putting together my own compilations just to make it easy to relive the stuff I want or set aside for a few of my wrestling mates. It jumps around from modern stuff to late 90s WCW or early to mid 00s Japanese wrestling. It's something I haven't touched in years, but when I find more hours in the day, I wouldn't mind going back to.

I had the Ric Flair set on DVD. There was a point I was buying every set that came out - Hogan, Bret, Austin, Rock, Rey, RVD, Benoit, Eddie, The Hardys, Edge.. countless WWE released WCW and ECW sets.

I used to order TNA DVDs from Minotaur which were usually months old just to keep up with the product.