The Internet in 1990

[IrishCanadian25]

Maybe it's hard for a lot of us to imagine life without the Internet, or for that matter for some of us to imaging being a wrestling fan without being able to dicuss it on boards like these. But in 1990, fans didn't have this glorious, industry ruining technology.

But what if we / they did? What would the threads look like?

1. Hoganz sux he only doez five movez! / Stop Forcing Hogan Down Our Throats!

Hulk Hogan had been the WWF Champion for a year at this point, and was preparing for his April Fools Day match with The Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 6. It was 30 minutes of test of strength, running clothesline, big boot, bodyslam, legdrop drama. 5 movez. The IWC at the time would have chastised the shit outta this.

Why isn't Mr. Perfect in the main event?

He was busy losing to Brutus Beefcake, that's why! But in 1990, there would be a load of threads about it.

Dusty Rhodes - Just Retire, Fatso.

Geez, if you think Samoa Joe's got it bad with his weight now, imagine the internet in 1990. Rhodes' physique at the time, complete with the polka-dot attire?

Stop holding Rick Rude back!

He won the IC Title, but come on, he's like the best heel ever, he's got mic skills, why can't he take the WWF Title off the Warrior in the cage? Besides...

Warriorz sux, he only knowz like 5 movez!

He's also going to get hit with a Wellness violation...

I'll stop here...feel free to share your thoughts on what it'd have been like if the IWC existed in 1990...

 

[LokiCobain]

Great "What If" thread.

Perhaps if there was internet earlier, WCW would be under the same scrutiny as TNA, especially on this site haha. TNA would probably have been as successful as WCW was in the 90s had it not been for the relentless and WWE-loyal internet majority.

 

[jmt225]

Man, great thread. I actually came across something on Google a couple of years ago where they had these archive newsgroup emails that wrestling fans use to send to each other way back when and it was unbelievable how exactly the same people on the 'net were back then as they are today. There were uncountable amounts of bitching on Hogan; that's what I remember most. I also remember people bitching about Johnny Polo being a jobber, and going a few years ahead, I even read how Triple H wasn't being pushed as a big enough bad ass, and needed a better push. Granted, that was from 1999, but still long before the IWC really popped off.

But yeah.... "smart" wrestling fans were around way back when, they weren't just many of them. However, their voices and bitching were as loud as today's internet wrestling fans are.

 

[ztwhite]

In a way, Eric Bischoff and WCW gave us the IWC on the net without us ever having to touch a computer or log on.

If we all can remember, Bischoff and WCW were ruining the outcome of Raw matches and main events by giving away the results live on tv. In a lot of ways, that's exactly what happens today on sites like Wrestlezone.

WCW announcers were badmouthing guys like Mankind and claiming he had no wrestling ability, so instead of watching his fat ass win the title, stay right here on TNT and watch Goldberg destroy another jobber.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Interesting idea... here would be some other possible, knowing the crap spouted by some today...

1: Jannetty is the star of the Rockers...when make Marty Jannetty World Champion by 1993 I reckon... The guy is money...

2: Bret Hart is an overrated chump, what kind of idiot gives his glasses away if he needs them to see...

3: Virgil is the most underrated member of the WWF's Roster... Every night he steals the show...well a hundred at least...

4: I caught Hogan's chewing gum from the set of No Holds Barred and and am selling it for $1000 bucks... call me on my #900 for more info 900-Ripped-OffRip...

5: Kerry Von Erich has only got one foot i tell ya... look at how he kicks...

6: Anything Else is just Koko...

7: Ted DiBiase's dad really was a millionaire... They based JR on him...

8: Gorilla Monsoon is the greatest commentator ever...

9: WCW is just about to pop... Mean Mark will be WCW World Champion by 1991.

 

[Agent-67]

To the guy who stated that WCW would have attempted to ruin WWF\WWE by giving away match results. You have to realize IT WAS A MONDAY NIGHT WAR! By giving away those matches he forced Raw to go live. Are you going to tell me you don't like Raw live? Also I do believe the Huckster and the Nachoman debuted first. So WWE actually took shots at WCW first. As far as badmouthing, WWE did their fare share. Do you remember Cornetts corner? WWE took just as many shots at WCW as WCW did at WWE. But all in all the online probably has been as much as a problem to wrestling as it has been an interest drawing tool.

 

[The Prototype]

If u go to ddtdigest.com u can see a bunch of old reports of WCW house shows, tv shows, ppvs, etc. The reports were live depending what year u picked. It went back pretty far.

 

[The Great Gouki]

Here's a few I thought of:


1.Kerry Von Eric is just an Ultimate Warrior rip-off....Warrior is the best!!!

2.Ric Flair can't beat Hogan. He's too small, Flair was just a small time territory champion. (yeah I know Flair came in after 1990...work with me here lol!)

3. How come Sting looks like a smaller Ultimate Warrior?....Warrior is the best!!!

Anyway...I could imagine these in the early 90's.

1990......I would have been 7 then. I miss the "innocence" I had about wrestling back then. Back when the huge rubber Iron Shiek action figure I had NEVER beat the Jimmy Snuka one....back when the neighborhood kids would wrestle and a pillow acted as a chair shot....when you got hit with a DDT you couldn't wrestle for the rest of the night because that's how powerful it was....I'd give anything to go back to then!

 

[loretta]

I actually think that one of the reasons the 90s was better was because there was no internet. Now there are so many spoilers you know who's turning heel even before it happens or whos leaving to TNA etc Having internet in the 90s would suck. Imagine knowing that Micheals was going to turn on Marty and go singles, that would have taken the shock out of the barbershop segment. If the internet told you Razor would be on Nitro that woulda spoiled the surprise. Jerichos second comeback to RAW was not a surprise because of the internet, it could have been big!