I'm putting this in the General WWE section but you can apply it to all wrestling.
@WholeFN'Moe and I were talking about this in the Superstar of 2016 thread and it got me thinking. We're of all different ages, but I am sure that even those of you a lot younger than me probably have things that you miss about being a fan in previous time periods.
Wrestling today, more than ever, is easy to access... information wise and show wise. With things like the WWE Network, New Japan World, YouTube, torrenting, you can pretty much find the majority of the matches you want to see pretty easily. And there are more news sites than I care to even consider.
When I was younger, I had to get my inside information by ordering newsletters. I had Figure Four Weekly, I think. Other than that, it was Pro Wrestling Illustrated (which was always a couple months behind) and those other magazines. I actually read about Jeff Jarret, Jushin Liger and many others for years before I ever saw them wrestle. I had to tape pay per views when I ordered them (I didn't care if it was illegal, I paid $30 for it and I think I should have gotten to watch as much as possible for that price). I had to tape trade to get things I really wanted to see. In the area I lived in, we only had WWF, WCW and Windy City Wrestling on the TV.
I think since it was hard to get information and matches, I anticipated it more and enjoyed it more. That doesn't mean I am willing to give up the internet, the WWE Network et al. in order to go back to the harder days. But I often think fondly about it.
I think one of the things I miss the most was Saturday nights when I was a kid. After my family all went to bed, at midnight WWF Superstars would come on. It was all jobber matches but at the time that was normal. Then at 1 AM, it was GLOW wrestling. Then at 2 AM it was Tales from the Darkside (not wrestling, but that was basically my Saturday night). And although things are SO much better and easy to access, I sometimes think I'd like to live some of that again.
When I was a little older, my parents and sister would go out to eat on Saturday night. I'd always stay home. Grab myself a foot long meatball sub from Subway, and sit in my room in the dark watching WCW Saturday Night. That was always really fun too.
So what about you? Are there things that you miss from your earlier days being a wrestling fan and what might they be? And it shouldn't just be "I miss the Attitude Era" or something like that. It would be what you miss about being a fan in the Attitude Era.
@WholeFN'Moe and I were talking about this in the Superstar of 2016 thread and it got me thinking. We're of all different ages, but I am sure that even those of you a lot younger than me probably have things that you miss about being a fan in previous time periods.
Wrestling today, more than ever, is easy to access... information wise and show wise. With things like the WWE Network, New Japan World, YouTube, torrenting, you can pretty much find the majority of the matches you want to see pretty easily. And there are more news sites than I care to even consider.
When I was younger, I had to get my inside information by ordering newsletters. I had Figure Four Weekly, I think. Other than that, it was Pro Wrestling Illustrated (which was always a couple months behind) and those other magazines. I actually read about Jeff Jarret, Jushin Liger and many others for years before I ever saw them wrestle. I had to tape pay per views when I ordered them (I didn't care if it was illegal, I paid $30 for it and I think I should have gotten to watch as much as possible for that price). I had to tape trade to get things I really wanted to see. In the area I lived in, we only had WWF, WCW and Windy City Wrestling on the TV.
I think since it was hard to get information and matches, I anticipated it more and enjoyed it more. That doesn't mean I am willing to give up the internet, the WWE Network et al. in order to go back to the harder days. But I often think fondly about it.
I think one of the things I miss the most was Saturday nights when I was a kid. After my family all went to bed, at midnight WWF Superstars would come on. It was all jobber matches but at the time that was normal. Then at 1 AM, it was GLOW wrestling. Then at 2 AM it was Tales from the Darkside (not wrestling, but that was basically my Saturday night). And although things are SO much better and easy to access, I sometimes think I'd like to live some of that again.
When I was a little older, my parents and sister would go out to eat on Saturday night. I'd always stay home. Grab myself a foot long meatball sub from Subway, and sit in my room in the dark watching WCW Saturday Night. That was always really fun too.
So what about you? Are there things that you miss from your earlier days being a wrestling fan and what might they be? And it shouldn't just be "I miss the Attitude Era" or something like that. It would be what you miss about being a fan in the Attitude Era.