10 Things Only 90s Wrestling Fans Will Understand

6. Tape Trading

Wrestling Tape Trading
Twitter/@davidbix

Those a little older who didn't have to rely on mum and dad to feed their wrestling fix had it made.

In the mid-'90s, school playgrounds filled up with chatter about mysterious tape traders. Who were these people, and how could they get their hands on provocative events from companies like New Japan and ECW? More to the point, would they be able to chip your PlayStation (so it'd play copied games) at the same time as selling you ECW's 'Big Ass Extreme Bash' 1996?

Again, there was no endless library of wrestling footage at hand. Taped copies of shows from companies outside the WWF and WCW became gold dust. The tape trading market was hot to see Mick Foley bleed in the IWA's 'King of The Deathmatch' tournament opposite fellow madman Terry Funk, and it was all so curious.

This was one of the only ways to compile a collection of industry history. People cut deals, trading one tape for another. Once it was gone, it was f'n gone too; that NWA Starrcade '87 tape you just swapped for some crude camcorder footage of a WWF house show? It was lost.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.