Tape Trading: Pro Wrestling’s Pathway to the Obscure
By Sir Lawrence Alegdrop

Looking at today’s wrestling product as provided by World Wrestling Entertainment (still grit my teeth printing that name), a fan may long for the days of old, when wrestling was wrestling, babyfaces were people you really could look up to, and heels were the type of people you might suspect of murder. Or you may want something more current, yet something still resembling a sport, such as what Japanese promotions, like NOAH, produce.

But where can one go to find such products? You may think all the sources are dried up and no longer producing tapes of the old product, much less showing it on TV. To you I say, “Oh contrair, monfrair.” Such a product and sources for the old or foreign do still exist, but like anything else that is not easily accessible to the public at large, you then to look to the black market. Such old footage from such defunct promotions as the American Wrestling Association, National Wrestling Alliance, Georgia Championship Wrestling, or the like to see such stars as Tommy Rich, Bob Backlund, Nick Bockwinkel or others are still available to those who are willing to trade tapes over the Internet.

“The tape trading community exists because the major wrestling promotions don’t provide the footage that many of the fans want to see,” said Corey “The Tape Man” Morgan; “The WWE chooses which tapes they’ll sell you. They’ll make tapes of their most popular wrestlers like the Rock or Austin or Mick Foley. Those tapes may be 2hrs long at most. But suppose you want to see more than the 2hrs that the WWF wants to sell you? Suppose you were a fan of Billy Jack Haynes or the Killer Bees when you were growing up? You’ll never see those tapes if you were to wait for the WWE to produce them. That’s where the tape traders come in. We have this stuff, and make it available."

“There’s so much good wrestling that has taken place in the past, but its availability is severely limited, because no wrestling company will release a tape that they don’t think will sell very well,” Morgan added. "And let’s be honest. A Billy Jack Haynes tape isn’t going to make the WWF any money, so they’ll never produce one. If you want to see some of the more obscure stuff, you have the tape trading community to provide them to you. The same thing goes with old television shows. Many of the old territories are out of business now. But that doesn’t mean that the TV shows weren’t any good. Many traders grew up watching South West Championship Wrestling in the 80s or Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the 90s, or Wrestling from St. Louis or LA or San Francisco in the 50s 60s and 70s. You can’t just go to Blockbuster and rent it. Again,that’s where the tape traders come in.”

However, before I get too far into my talks with these modern day Peter Pans of footage, I must print a waiver: This article does not necessarily mean I or those interviewed condone or partake in the illegal copying, purchase, distribution, or bartering of copywrited material or footage. Now onto the story.

First, let’s look at a little history of this hobby. The traders I talked to say in the prehistoric ages (before the Internet), trading was done through magazines, such as Norman Kietzer’s Revue Wrestling magazine. “These were readily available on the newsstand and were also sold at the arenas in most cases since his company produced the programs for practically every promotion at one time,” said Charles Warburton, of www.WrestlingArchives.com, who has been trading since buying his first (and second) VCRs in 1984.

"I basically got started by ordering different traders printed catalogs from magazines, looking thru them and realizing just how much stuff from the past was still available,” said “Big J” John English, who has been trading for 12 years.

Today it seems just about everybody has a website for this kind of stuff, and deals are made over the Internet. The three people I interviewed for this article have the heaviest trade schedule, sending out upwards of 50 tapes per week, or more. “If I have several big orders to take care of, that number may increase to close to 100 tapes. I usually hit the post office 2 or 3 times a week,” Morgan said. Of the stuff that’s out there today, the most popular are tapes of the old territories and Japan. “The Japanese tapes are popular among the newer traders who are getting started in collecting and want to see what all the fuss about the 90s Jr. Heavyweight explosion was about (just like I was back in 1992). The Jr. Heavyweight tournaments and the Tokyo Dome shows are the ones that get the most attention here.”

Yet, the old school territories still get a lot of attention, according to Warburton, who deals almost exclusively with tapes of wrestling’s territory days. “[Territories’ popularity] varies due to having so many different promotions available, but right now the most popular are Memphis, Central States/St. Louis, & World Class,” Warburton said.

“It's the only real link to the past. Nothing going on today is like it used to be,” English added. He notes that Japan, along with Mid-South, Alabama/Continental, and Memphis are the most popular items in his collection.

Compilation tapes are also very popular among traders and buyers. “Everyone has a favorite wrestler or tag team. And many of these people would love to have tapes consisting of matches with only their favorite wrestler,” said Morgan, who is sometimes also known as “the king of the comps.”

The only thread that seemed to be popular among all the traders interviewed was Japan footage. That may be due to each trader attracting their own niche audience, or specialization which attracts like-minded traders. “Today’s tape trader has a lot of options as that stuff is now readily available via traders on the Internet,” Warburton said.

However, one thing that a newer trader has to be careful of is getting ripped off. “Get recommendations on people. Go with people who are known to be the type who won't rip you off,” advises English. Newer traders should also remember that their own reputation is the most important thing to maintain, as it will make or break a traders future within the community. For instance, traders using Kietzer’s Revue Wrestling before the Internet opened things up would not be allowed to advertise if they earned a bad reputation. “If you weren’t legit for any reason, you could never place a classified ad in the magazine again,” Warburton said.

Another thing to remember to those just starting out in the tape trading world is that the more rare footage you have, the more valuable you become to the community. “I sort of had an exclusive when the ProWrestling USA show aired on WPIX in September of 1984. WPIX was not a superstation then so only fans in the tri-state area could get this show. I was one of the few people in the trading circles to get it and it helped me start trading with the ‘big boys’ if you will,” Warburton said. “Get your niche, whatever it is. If you have a show that comes on only in your area, like OVW, offer that. Try to get something that establishes you as different, even if it is the same stuff that everyone else has. If you can offer that stuff in better quality, you are different.”

Corey Morgan also offered the 10 most important things for all traders to remember, which should be considered a bible to the entire trading community, but especially to newer traders:

1. Be patient. If you’re just starting out, be prepared to send first. There are quite a few ripoff artists out there. They make the hobby of tape trading unenjoyable for everyone. As a result, most traders have a problem dealing with people that they don’t know. Until you’ve established something of a reputation among the tape trading community, you will be asked to send first in your initial trades. Don’t argue. These are the “dues” that all new traders have to pay when they start out.

2. Don’t get upset if someone says “no”. Nobody is obligated to trade with you just because they have tapes that you want. Many of the larger traders have enough tapes that it’s very hard to find someone that has what they’re looking for, and can get pretty choosy as to whether or not to accept a trade offer. Not everyone will accept your offer. If they say no, don’t take it personal. Just move on to the next trader. Keep in mind that if you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot to offer, it’ll be difficult to entice someone to trade with you. Which brings me to my next piece of advice...

3. DO TRADER CHECKS! As I mentioned earlier, there are people out there that will rip you off if they can get away with it. They’ll propose a trade and then not send anything after they’ve received your tapes. In many cases, these incidents could have been avoided. When people are ripped off, we usually post the information about this person on any of the several tape trading message boards on the net. You’ll also find people asking if “Tape Trader X” is a good trader or not. There will be responses to that question from people that have dealt with this person and whether or not the experience was positive or negative. If you’re not sure of a trader, post your own trader check and see if people have good or bad things to say about him. The best way to catch a cheat, is BEFORE he cheats you. This makes for a much more enjoyable trading experience.

4. Don’t be afraid to buy tapes. It may get a tad expensive, but it’s the best way for a budding trader to boost his collection to the point where he has something substantial to offer. I still buy tapes from people from time to time. Maybe not as often as I used to, but if that’s the only way to acquire that special tape that you couldn’t locate anywhere else, it’s probably worth it.

5. BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR VIDEO QUALITY!!! Here’s a personal account of why you need to be very conscious of the picture quality of the tapes you’re trading:

When I first started trading, people weren’t as picky about the quality of the videos that they traded for. Just the fact that the footage was available was enough. It became a rude awakening for me as the years went on, and I was taken to task for having tapes that weren’t in the best of quality, despite advertising them as if they were. I wasn’t intentionally misrepresenting my tapes, but my standards were lower than they should have been. Since then, I’ve taken a much harsher eye toward video quality, and had to go through my entire list to update them. That’s a lot of extra work that would have been unnecessary if I had kept a good eye for quality from the beginning. When you list a tape as being in “Very Good” quality, it had better be in very good quality.

Few things upset a trader more than being lied to. If you’re expecting a tape in Excellent quality, and it arrives with tracking lines all over the screen, or the picture goes in and out all the time, or shakes repeatedly, you will definitely hear about it. I wound up having to update the quality ratings on most of my tapes to adjust for this. Your reputation as a trader hangs on the tapes that you’re sending out. If those tapes look like crap, so will your reputation. Be picky about the quality of the tapes you receive, and be even MORE picky about the tapes you send out.

You should watch your tapes too. I know that this sounds silly, but some traders to save time, simply use the quality ratings and match listings that they got from the guy who sent them the tapes. But you need to make sure that not only are the match listings correct, but that the quality is what the other trader said it was. Not everyone has the same eye for quality, and you need to make sure that you got what you were supposed to get. You don’t want to get nasty emails from traders that were expecting a match on your tape that wasn’t there, or were expecting a tape to be in the quality that you advertised it.

Remember, when you’re advertising the tape, it’s no longer the previous guys advertising. IT’S YOURS. You can’t say “But the guy that I got it from said that it was in Excellent quality”.

DIDN’T YOU WATCH THE TAPE?

6. MATCH LISTINGS! Personally, I refuse to trade with people who can’t provide listings for the tapes they’re offering me. That’s excusable if it’s a Pay-Per-View that I’m getting, as you can find lisitings for PPVs anywhere. But if you are listing Comps or indy shows, or old TV shows on your site, PUT TOGETHER THE MATCH LISTINGS! (YesSIR, General Alegdrop, SIR!--Private Mality) Go through the tape while sitting at your computer and type down each match in order. Note how long the tape is. Many traders can’t be bothered to do this, and miss out on Lord knows how many trades as a result.

Don’t be lazy here. Do some homework. If you go the extra mile here, you will appear to be much more organized as a result, and it will be much easier for other traders to determine if they’d like to deal with you.

7. Be polite. In the day of the internet, there are no shortage of people who find it much easier and enjoyable to be rude when they know that they’ll never see the person that they’re being rude to face-to-face. (Like certain scumbags on the WC Messageboard--Doc) Keep in mind again, that the impression you give out to others will determine whether or not they’ll trade with you. And it only takes a couple of incidents of a trader being unnecessarily rude or disrespectful before the word gets around to the rest of the community. Treat everyone just as you’d expect them to treat you. If you’re respectful, you’ll receive respect in kind.

8. Be patient, and be meticulous. Before sending a tape out to another trader, check it before hand to make sure that the tape recorded correctly. It’s always great to get your stuff out as soon as possible, but its far better to take the extra time to double check your tapes before sending them, than to send out a bad tape and have to apologize for it later. I’d rather wait an extra week for a tape if I know it’s going to be good, than to get a tape in 3 days that looks like crap.

Also keep in mind, that even in the best of circumstances, mistakes WILL happen. You’ll make them. And the guys trading with YOU will make them. Don’t take someone’s head off for making a simple mistake. Give them the opportunity to fix the problem. A simple email saying something like: “Dude, that tape you sent me is in bad shape. The picture is unwatchable. Is your copy like that too? If not, can you re-record it for me and send it out? Thanks.” That’s all you need to say. The other guy will go out of his way to fix the problem. He’ll also be grateful that you were understanding about it. Again, this is how you’d like the other guy to treat you if YOU made the mistake, so you should set the example.

9. Remember how you wanted to be treated as a “trading rookie” when you see newer traders enter the community. I’ve seen a lot of traders act really snotty with newer traders because they see themselves as an “elite veteran” or something. Meanwhile I (and the other veterans that have been around for a good 10 years or so) can remember that snotty guy when he showed up for the first time asking silly questions and only had 3 tapes to his name. You’re not better than anyone just because you are a “veteran trader”.

As a veteran, you’ll have the responsibility to bring the newer guys into the fold just like you were brought in. And if you WEREN’T brought into the fold in a amicable fashion, then use that negative experience as an example of what NOT to do when dealing with new traders. If you didn’t like the way you were treated when you started out, then you have no right to treat the next guy that way. Everyone was new to this hobby once. Nobody started out knowing EVERYTHING. If someone asks a question that you feel is every elementary, remember that to the new guy, it’s not common knowledge. Be respectful, and answer the question. The only way that the rookies will learn, is if the veterans teach them. As a rookie, you should ask questions if you have them without the fear of being ridiculed.

10. HAVE FUN! This is a hobby. When it becomes a “business” it stops being fun. Remind yourself that you’re doing this because you’re a wrestling fan. You like collecting and watching wrestling tapes. Enjoy it. Enjoy the people on the message boards that you meet. (Even if they're me!--Dr. Mality) Enjoy the whole thing.

Sir Lawrence Alegdrop is a member of the British nobility with a fetish for American professional wrestling. He is ably assisted by Bill Camp.