Pre-internet, we knew very little about wrestlers regular lives. Everything was a mystery. Everything is an open book now but man, how cool was it when we knew nothing and only what was on the TV screen.
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As a fan since '82... I can tell you this isn't true. Schweaty fans still had some sources (rip George Tower Power Hour), knew real names just never used them, and knew who got arrested alongside who. Sure, contracts and TV deal values and whatnot weren't as open... but schweaty fans had ways.
That's why guys like Sandman had to *pretend to be blind,* because Philly fans knew where he lived, knew what car he drove, and probably knew where he bought groceries. And if he ever came out of the house with two working eyes, EVERYONE would have known about it quick.
People knew ‘insider info’ through newsletters. Insider newsletters have existed since the early 1980s. People knew Hogan was dropping the title to Warrior before WM6 as he was going to film Suburban Commando. People in WCW front row with ‘Herd Enough’ signs in 1990. People knew the inside workings.
It absolutely made the story telling more believable when the wrestler showed up to television with a black eye & they could straight up say that it was from the match & not from letting some barfly get one shot in before kicking the absolute shit out of them.
Bro! Wrestlers back in the day were essentially like biker gangsters, accept they wore costumes and put on shows every night! 😂 that world was not for the faint of heart.
As a kid, I delivered newspapers and with some of the money I made, bought wrestling magazines. It was the only way to know about wrestlers, especially in other parts of the country, who we couldn’t see.
Kinda odd to think of that late 80s / early 90s era and how much info my friends and I got. And I don't remember how exactly. I didn't do dirt sheets and did get some magazines.
And how accurate, like better than 70%, the info was.
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And how accurate, like better than 70%, the info was.
Y’ALL just weren’t alive, too young, or didn’t know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯