12. Tape Trading? What's That?
As the above image shows, wrestling videos could be named in ways which didn't make it obviously clear which genre of entertainment they belonged to, and those were just the official releases! ECW's 'Big Ass Extreme Bash' is still an unfortunate event title, but officially released tapes of the hardcore promotion only became more available towards the end of the 90's. For most who wanted a fix outside of WWF and WCW, tape trading was the only way forward. Some of these VHS tapes were terrible quality, over-priced and rare, but there was a certain charm about the whole affair. Finally getting to see that Japanese event you'd heard all about, such as the 1994 Super Juniors Tournament was a thrill, for example.
Jamie Kennedy
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.
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