A picture came across my twitter feed recently of Sabu winning a mid 90s magazine poll of favorite “foreign” wrestler. The picture was black and white and you can still make out his scars and crazy eyes. I remember before discovering ECW, seeing similiar pictures of him, barbed-wire, scars, the facials, him strapped to a gurney. i was HOOKED! into seeing what this guy is like.
Then i immedietly started thinking about reading about Rey Mysterio Jr. before his WCW debut and how he was blowing peoples minds around the world and seeing him being highly ranked in mexican wrestling with every issue. I remember the goosebumps i got when WCW announced they signed him and every time they showed a promo hyping his debut.
When we had less means to look at talent beyond our normal viewing habits, what were the wrestlers that you remember just reading and seeing in small doses that really captured your attention and you just began paying attention to everything they were featured in?
The Lightning Kid is the primary one I can remember from my tape trading days. Back in the pre-internet times I was always fascinated by Austin Idol but never really had a chance to see him on TV, so I used to follow him in PWI as much as I could. I also followed Chris Benoit around via magazines and such after he left Stampede, if that counts.