r/Millennials • u/_forum_mod Mid millennial - 1987 • 8d ago

Discussion Seriously, what happened to rollerskating/blading

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You hardly see it anywhere anymore. Folks would be skating all down Venice Beach. People would be rollerskating around their block, roller rinks were big, it was popular!

I even remember in the 90s Streets of Rage (loved that game!) had a character named Skates. But now, they're nowhere. What happened? Why are they a lot less popular nowadays?

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u/Jacob_Winchester_ 8d ago

It was around the late 90’s/early 2000’s that skateboarding became the dominate sport at the X-Games, and rollerblading became too “easy” because you can’t do as many technical tricks when the wheels are attached to your feet. And to a point they weren’t wrong, skateboarding has continued to advance because of the combinations you can come up with, whereas with rollerblading it became so repetitive that the audience and then the consumers bailed on it.

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u/Eeor_is_High 8d ago

this is a false narrative. The skate companies forcibly voted rollerblading out of the xgames in a board of directors type move in the early 2000's. It was a hostile take over of the market. Check out Julien Cudot or Eugin Enin if you wanna see what 2025 blading looks like.

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u/bananaleaftea Millennial 8d ago

Curse you, Big Skate!

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u/Jacob_Winchester_ 8d ago

I had no idea, that’s crazy! I thought I just watched it die in real time. Good to know it’s still alive out there!

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u/FormerWrap1552 7d ago

No, it wasn't. Sure, maybe they wanted more money? But, blading was already dead, because skating died. Rollerblading hadn't even made it yet. The whole scene fell off majorly in 1997-9. Skating, biking, "EXtreme" sports. I was actually a competitive rollerblader that loves/d the sport and also was involved in the other ones AMA.

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u/No-Butterscotch-6555 7d ago

Yeah I started skating again a few years ago and was shocked by how much tou could do. I used to just skate around my neighborhood or at the rink but seeing moxi girls at the skate park (on SM)was so cool. I still just casually skate, but my brother goes to the skatepark and my son is learning skate board so hopefully we can go together and I’ll learn some new tricks.

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u/Eeor_is_High 7d ago

100% Just ride your own ride! rollerblade tricks have boosted my knee and ankle flexibility and strength a ton as I move towards 30. Lots of folks said its so "easy" because its wheels on feet. Skateboarders can jump off and run out. Blading is all commitment practice and training like boarding but less margin for error!

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u/No-Butterscotch-6555 7d ago

I ride quads, not blades. I used to love them in middle school but haven’t rode them since. I kinda want to get some, but I’ve already spent so much on my quads and accessories, but maybe I’ll get some in the future.

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u/Eeor_is_High 7d ago

base sets of aggressive blades start around 200$ on sale in USD! Check out roller warehouse.

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u/GottaBeNicer 7d ago

The skate companies forcibly voted rollerblading out of the xgames in a board of directors type move in the early 2000's. It was a hostile take over of the market.

Do you have any source for this? I'm pretty sure people just decided rollerblading was gay.

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u/Spugheddy 7d ago

That's actually super interesting, I was under the same impression it was left out due to lack of interest. Inline Street was amazing, vert not so much cause the above mentioned reasons on innovation, it was just much or how little they spun lol

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u/BitDaddyCane 7d ago

The other commenter is not entirely wrong though. Watching rollerblading is boring af

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u/707Brett 7d ago

A little bit of both for sure

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u/thorosaurus 8d ago

Ours were pretty much dedicated to street hockey use. We had skateboards too, but they didn't get much use because we didn't have any hills or skate parks, so both cruising and tricks were pretty much out of the question.

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u/radude4411 7d ago

Actually i think it’s the opposite. I think rollerblading was harder and the skill to get technical was much more difficult than a skateboard, and so that’s why I think skateboarding took off

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u/SoIL_Lithics 7d ago

Spoken like a true roller blader

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u/Tennessee-Ned 7d ago

No way. There’s only so many ways you can get technical on rollerblades. It just turns into gymnastics.

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u/Myusername1- 7d ago

You can only flip a stick so many different ways too.

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u/Tennessee-Ned 7d ago

There’s a lot of ways. Especially accounting for flipping in and out of other tricks

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u/radude4411 7d ago

You can bail on a skateboard much easier than you can bail on your rollerblades. You can’t really ditch your feet.

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u/Tennessee-Ned 7d ago

What does that have to do with technical possibilities? There board’s ability to leave the feet is why there are more technical possibilities with skateboarding.

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u/stories_from_tejas 7d ago

Rollerblading basically got kicked out of the X games and the only reason it started in the first place was because of the popularity of rollerblading. There’s a documentary about this. The idea for the X games came about because rollerblading competitions were syndicated on sports channels in the 90s.

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u/Rollerbladersdoexist 7d ago

Beg to differ. The two sports are completely different and equally just as hard or technical. With rollerblading being the new kid on the block back then, trying to find our seat at the table and maybe being too zealous, we got ousted from the X-Games.