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What I like about Thunder is what I like about a lot of WCW - never knowing who's coming through the curtain next. Even in the first episode, I wasn't expecting Tenzan to pop up in the 3rd bout. I like that sense of mystery and the random matches that can occur - like I dont think Disco Inferno vs the Disciple will be a good match, but I'm certainly curious to watch it.

 

Thunder = WAR!

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August 26, 1999 Thunder

Rick Steiner vs. Spyder

 

It's no secret that the Steiners were reckless with job guys but HOLY SHIT. I've never seen anyone give a piledriver where they let go of the guy after lifting them and fall with their hands completely free. And keep in mind this was done outside of the ring, with the MATS PULLED AWAY FROM THE CONCRETE! God damn, watch this match!

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Yes! I'm fond of saying that on reddit it feels like the majority of users feel that anything before the Monday Night Wars was in the dark ages.

 

Hell look at the cagematch top lists that get posted and raved about on there and it seems they've never seen anything before 2000.

 

While I can understand that being younger and not alive when this stuff happened is a valid reason the amount of people who go on and on about Kenny Omega and Okada being the best trilogy ever and some saying they are the greatest workers of all time as well as NJPW being the best it's ever been are just trumpeting the bare bones of Meltzer's opinions and comments.

 

What irks me is pretty much the world of wrestling history has never been more easily accessible at a persons fingertips and it seems almost nobody like the people I've described make even the slightest effort to watch anyone or anything considered great from before 2000 or the late 90's. When I was around their age I would've killed to have all this stuff easily available but all I had was books from my library and whatever internet time at school and the occasional tape I could get in remote eastern Canada.

 

What took me years of hunting down and studying to learn could be done in 1/4 of the time and done greater with all the resources the internet gives between social media, podcasts, file sharing and streaming especially YouTube.

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To be fair, the amount of complete footage available is only recently started to grow. It was hard to find much non WWF stuff earlier than the mid 80s, Lucha stuff earlier than the mid 90s, or any Japan stuff that was not shown on NTV or on a comp tape of some sort. It would be hard for me to be mad at a newer fan for thinking the Golden Lovers are the greatest team ever if wrestling itself did not make it such a fucking ordeal to see that Midnights match in JCP that probably is better but you have to know where to go to find someone who can get you a copy of Cornettes personal copy.

 

 

I mean, people here will do it no problem because were crazy like that. I think its somewhat of a bubble we find ourselves in to expect all fans to make that level of effort in a world where people expect to have content served to them.

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To be fair, the amount of complete footage available is only recently started to grow. It was hard to find much non WWF stuff earlier than the mid 80s, Lucha stuff earlier than the mid 90s, or any Japan stuff that was not shown on NTV or on a comp tape of some sort. It would be hard for me to be mad at a newer fan for thinking the Golden Lovers are the greatest team ever if wrestling itself did not make it such a fucking ordeal to see that Midnights match in JCP that probably is better but you have to know where to go to find someone who can get you a copy of Cornettes personal copy.

 

 

I mean, people here will do it no problem because were crazy like that. I think its somewhat of a bubble we find ourselves in to expect all fans to make that level of effort in a world where people expect to have content served to them.

 

There's PWO Welcome Pack level stuff like Savage vs Garvin in the cage or the Archie Gouldie promo about his son or even Andre vs Hansen. Absolutely.

 

But there's also the ability to do this:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=midnight+express+vs

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Imagine if you just started watching in the last couple of years, mainly WWE stuff and maybe ROH or some New Japan since you hear everyone raving about it. Then think about the moment you say a match is the best you've ever seen. you get dogpiled by people basically calling you dumb for not having watched every similar match in history. That's why there's the snobbery claims that get thrown around. People who've been watching tapes since the 90s have had 25+ years to pour over all this stuff, so it's a little unreasonble to expect everyone to be on that level.

 

 

The exchange should go like this:

 

New fan: Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks was the best match I ever saw!

Longtime fan: If you liked that, you should really check this stuff out! *links and or recs for other stuff*

 

 

Instead it goes like this a lot of the time:

 

New fan: Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks was the best match I ever saw!

Longtime fan: *RT's new fan* Look at this idiot who's probably never even heard of the Midnights vs Rock n Rolls!

 

 

What's funny is often I'll see someone do the second and try following up with the first. They already poisoned the well, why would someone take recommendations from someone who's first impression they gave was being a condescending dickhole?

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I'm not really offended by it, it gets a little annoying but I'm more kind of surprised by it. Then again (as has been pointed out) what was available to me as a fan 25 years ago was considerably less so I learned as much as I could by reading what I could find in the Apter mags or even lesser publications. I read about everything I could find in my school's microfiche at one point.

 

I'm 34 and really feel like I'm of the last generation that can remember a time without all of the ease of information (or distractions if you like) that snowballed once the internet became a thing in the mid-90's. When I got into music sometimes I just bought CD's unheard and was pleasantly surprised either when I heard something I knew, or was taken by the music as a whole. That's just an example, but it's part of what I miss in today's world and despair a little for the younger folks who don't have such experiences.

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Imagine if you just started watching in the last couple of years, mainly WWE stuff and maybe ROH or some New Japan since you hear everyone raving about it. Then think about the moment you say a match is the best you've ever seen. you get dogpiled by people basically calling you dumb for not having watched every similar match in history. That's why there's the snobbery claims that get thrown around. People who've been watching tapes since the 90s have had 25+ years to pour over all this stuff, so it's a little unreasonble to expect everyone to be on that level.

 

 

The exchange should go like this:

 

New fan: Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks was the best match I ever saw!

Longtime fan: If you liked that, you should really check this stuff out! *links and or recs for other stuff*

 

 

Instead it goes like this a lot of the time:

 

New fan: Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks was the best match I ever saw!

Longtime fan: *RT's new fan* Look at this idiot who's probably never even heard of the Midnights vs Rock n Rolls!

 

 

What's funny is often I'll see someone do the second and try following up with the first. They already poisoned the well, why would someone take recommendations from someone who's first impression they gave was being a condescending dickhole?

To be fair the new fan isn't saying Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks is the best match they ever saw, they are saying stuff like it's the best match ever. Same with Omega-Okada.

 

If it's the best match you ever saw, fine. However if you haven't seen much, saying it's the best ever is fucking stupid.

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To be fair, the amount of complete footage available is only recently started to grow. It was hard to find much non WWF stuff earlier than the mid 80s, Lucha stuff earlier than the mid 90s, or any Japan stuff that was not shown on NTV or on a comp tape of some sort. It would be hard for me to be mad at a newer fan for thinking the Golden Lovers are the greatest team ever if wrestling itself did not make it such a fucking ordeal to see that Midnights match in JCP that probably is better but you have to know where to go to find someone who can get you a copy of Cornettes personal copy.

 

 

I mean, people here will do it no problem because were crazy like that. I think its somewhat of a bubble we find ourselves in to expect all fans to make that level of effort in a world where people expect to have content served to them.

 

There's PWO Welcome Pack level stuff like Savage vs Garvin in the cage or the Archie Gouldie promo about his son or even Andre vs Hansen. Absolutely.

 

But there's also the ability to do this:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=midnight+express+vs

 

 

Yeah, but look at what you get there. The first hit is a really mediocre match with the Freebirds. None of the stuff on the first page is what I'd call intro level MX stuff. There's so much stuff, even on the Network, that it's hard to work through the backlog if you don't have something to guide you.

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To be fair, the amount of complete footage available is only recently started to grow. It was hard to find much non WWF stuff earlier than the mid 80s, Lucha stuff earlier than the mid 90s, or any Japan stuff that was not shown on NTV or on a comp tape of some sort. It would be hard for me to be mad at a newer fan for thinking the Golden Lovers are the greatest team ever if wrestling itself did not make it such a fucking ordeal to see that Midnights match in JCP that probably is better but you have to know where to go to find someone who can get you a copy of Cornettes personal copy.

 

 

I mean, people here will do it no problem because were crazy like that. I think its somewhat of a bubble we find ourselves in to expect all fans to make that level of effort in a world where people expect to have content served to them.

 

There's PWO Welcome Pack level stuff like Savage vs Garvin in the cage or the Archie Gouldie promo about his son or even Andre vs Hansen. Absolutely.

 

But there's also the ability to do this:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=midnight+express+vs

 

 

Yeah, but look at what you get there. The first hit is a really mediocre match with the Freebirds. None of the stuff on the first page is what I'd call intro level MX stuff. There's so much stuff, even on the Network, that it's hard to work through the backlog if you don't have something to guide you.

 

Maybe someone should make some guides.

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Im still a tad baffled that they havent created playlists of individual matches themselves yet. If youre a new fan who isnt privy to places like this to find out what they need to look up then its a bit of a minefield. Even just something as simple as the 100 best matches on the network list they made a while back. Or something like John Cenas ten favourite matches ever. Also still dissapointed they havent utilised current and ex wrestlers talking about their matches even in alternative commentary or roundtable form. I cant imagine that being much of a financial investment and would likely be a really popular and resource light feature.

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I'd be willing to wager user curated playlists aren't a thing because they don't want people making the Best of Chris Benoit lists.

 

I believe they've solved that by taking the cues off most of his matches (although I think some have cues but don't use his name).

 

I do wonder if part of the issue with playlists is the way video is organized - it's all in the full cards, and not individual videos. Even when you click a searched video you're pulling up the show.

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I'd be willing to wager user curated playlists aren't a thing because they don't want people making the Best of Chris Benoit lists.

 

I believe they've solved that by taking the cues off most of his matches (although I think some have cues but don't use his name).

 

I do wonder if part of the issue with playlists is the way video is organized - it's all in the full cards, and not individual videos. Even when you click a searched video you're pulling up the show.

 

Yes, that is the stumbling block right now. The idea usually shows up in the surveys that they send out occasionally, so hopefully it happens.

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