So, I'm watching some old pro wrestling. Specifically WCW Starrcade 1996. The match is Rey Mysterio Jr VS Jushin Thunder Liger.

Just to catch everybody up to speed:

Rey Mysterio Jr is an American wrestler, of Mexican herritage. His hometown is San Diego.

Jushin Thunder Liger is a Japanese wrestler.

Both of these men wear masks, but very different styles. Jushin's mask and overall style reminds me of ancient Japanese fables of dragons, and very sharp edges, and kind of like an anime come to life.

Rey Mysterio takes the overall theme of the tradition of Luche Libre masks, and makes it his own. Once you know Rey Mysterio's style, you can always instantly tell his mask from the millions of OTHER similar style masks. His style draws elements of Mexican culture, religion, and sometimes the number 619 (which is San Diego's area code).

Ok, now that we're all caught up to speed.....

I'm watching this match, and at this point in time, Jushin is known around the world as the absolute legendary best in the style that he does. It's a very fast paced, move around the ring. Do all the things. Jump around. Flip around. You get the idea.

And Rey has a very similar style. Important to note that while Rey would later overtake the spot as most famous cruiserweight, he had not even come close to that yet. Rey is very early in his career. He's still proving himself and low on the card, but with potential.

Jushin has been a legend all over the world, and is just coming to the end of what was considered his peak. So you got Jushin in the end of his prime, against future legend as he's just fighting to get onto the card. So to see them meeting here is kind of a fascinating dynamic. If this match had never happened, it's the type of thing fans would have drooled over the concept. A dream match. Endless debates would be had over how the match should/would go.

I hope I'm hyping up the concept well enough to raise interest in seeing something like that. Because if I have, then I will have done a far better job of selling this match than WCW did. Because this crowd is BORED!!!

That's when it hit me. This show is in Tennessee. The crowd is like 80% at least, "good ol' boys" style of white people. So what they're seeing is a Japanese guy vs a Mexican guy. Yes, he's from San Diego. He even makes that part of his whole persona. His finishing move that he uses every match is called "The 619". Very much American. But still, Mexican heritage.

They aren't bored. They're racist. They don't want to cheer the Japanese guy, because he's a foreigner. They don't want to cheer Rey because he's a Mexican. So their only option left is to just sit there awkwardly in silence and wait the match out.

And that was 1996. Nothing has changed. If anything they've boiled over even worse. We see this big arching shot of this crowd that's somewhere between 15k-20k people. I am willing to bet that statistically speaking, someone in that crowd shot was part of J6. I'd put money on that, if we had any way to identify every person and confirm if they did or didn't. The only reason I don't say it was more, is because this footage was shot in 1996. Which means anyone younger than 39 at J6 couldn't have been in this crowd.

But think of that. This isn't a divided crowd. A crowd of this size all came together, and all collectively agreed that it was OK to be racist together, and not cheer for the guys who weren't white and american.

Our problems in the modern day are the same problems we've had since the post civil war years. And this match shows that. There was no meeting where they all agreed beforehand. This was just the natural instinct of the entire crowd.

Because the match was great. You couldn't have asked for these two to give a better match at those points in their careers. Rey wasn't as seasoned as he should have been, but still great. Jushin was slightly getting over the hill, but still great. Performing in a style that was still relatively new to American audiences.

So it's new, it's fresh, it's fast paced, it's TV ready. This match today would fit right in, since the style is more established now. This match should have gotten an amazing reaction. Instead silence.

1996?

2026?

They're the same picture.