The Video shop...

[Herne Hill Hammer]

When you were 8, yes. Dunno how you can omit Andre the Giant there.

Then there was King Kong Bundy, Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana and Rick Martel, British Bulldogs, Junkyard Dog, George “the Animal” Steele, Mr Fuji, The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, Bam Bam Bigelow, Brutus Beefcake and The Honky Tonk Man...

But...nothing will beat the pop for Stone Cold’s glass shattering, or “IF YA SMELL...”

KING. KONG. BUNNNNNNNNNNNNNDY. Lights out the parties over.

Junkyard Dog, Grad Dem Cakes. I remember a few of them had their own personal songs.

I can picture now, George 'The Animal' going to work on an unsuspecting turnbuckle and ripping it open with his teeth. Hair all over his shoulders and back and stuffing stuck in that hair and stuck to his lips.

 

[HigginsHawk]

Went to this place last year, I Luv Video in Austin Texas. It claims to be the largest video hire shop in the world. I would not doubt it. Some of the media is so rare that you have to pay a $500 deposit for it. They still rent VHS copies of things as well. So something like Jaws might have 3 or 4 copies of the movie but all with different features. Only thing it doesn't have is laser disc and I understand it only got rid of them about 5 or 6 years ago.

 

[Kram]

Loved this trip down memory lane with all this talk of hiring wrestling tapes.

I discovered wrestling as a kid thanks to VHS - my Mum had put a tape in to record a movie for me before she went to bed and when I finished watching it I decided to keep watching to see what came on afterwards. As a little kid it felt like I was getting a glimpse of a mysterious hidden world that came on while I was asleep.

Lo and behold the WWF Superstars of Wrestling show came on, with Akeem beating up some hapless jobber. The tape ran out after 5 minutes but I was transfixed by what I'd seen. I started religiously recording the show every week then started religiously stalking the video shop for every weekly in their back catalogue. Once I'd gone through them I started painfully hanging out for every new release while collecting wrestling mags in the interim. I was completely obsessed. I would watch every video as many times as I could before I had to take it back to the store.

I would also buy the ex-rental tapes on the rare occasions they were put up for sale. I watched my copy of the 1990 Royal Rumble so many times as a kid I knew every moment and every word from the commentators off by heart.

Then one day I rented Wrestlemania IX, got to the end of the tape, and thought to myself 'I didn't even enjoy that. I don't think I like wrestling anymore'. And that was it, I never bothered renting another tape again.

When I look back now what seemed like a lifetime obsession only lasted a little over 4 years. I still occasionally watch that 1990 Rumble match online for a little nostalgia hit though.