Wrestling General Thread

This would be cool, maybe not all under WWE because ultimately it will end up all tasting the same if it’s from the same trough. I honestly don’t know how the glory days of territory based wrestling ever worked well. It seemed so simple, competition drives excellence and progress, but reading the Death of the Territories book, it’s kind of amazing it worked at all, let alone as well as it did for as long as it did. I haven’t finished it yet, but it will be interesting to learn more about this stuff, there are actual political connections and everything, so many side deals, sometimes with the NWA, sometimes not, it’s really pretty crazy. I really don’t think there is anyone left that could generate a product with a unique style or feel anymore. WWE is synonymous with pro wrestling now, it’s its own thing, like bandaid or Kleenex, it’s not necessarily pro wrestling in the traditional sense, they even call it sports entertainment. It’s like making chilli, you throw in too much hot stuff, eventually, even if you divide it up and make other shit with it, it still tastes like hot stuff.

WWE is so influential that their flavour is on everything, AEW does WWE style shit, in ring and skit wise. They’re very pervasive, and I’m not aware of anyone capable of producing a pro wrestling program that would feel unique but not end up an unviable niche product. I’d love to see a territory system again with different flavours, but I honestly think there’s no one left that can, that wants to, or has the balls and financial backing to ride out the initial lows until they can grow and educate an audience. God I hope I’m wrong, I’d love to enjoy pro wrestling again, but I think my golden idol/nostalgia version of pro wrestling presented as a legit struggle or contest is obsolete.

I enjoyed Paul Orndoff losing it and Pile driving everyone.  I think Tom Prichard might have head lice.

The partnership AEW has with other companies isn't benefiting anyone else but AEW. AAA hasn't benefited from it once. The Young Bucks came in and they *immediately* won the AAA Tag Titles from the Lucha Bros (who were technically working for AAA and not AEW). Omega came in and didn't immediately win the AAA Megacampeon Title, but he was hotshotted towards it - Not that it really means anything, but AAA's main title is pretty worthless. They also tried something with Cody and MJF and they got no reaction. The Young Bucks also got the comparable "Who?" chants during that year's TripleMania event too. It's sad, really. But, then again, it isn't, because the Young Bucks are the biggest self-marks in the industry. It got so bad I had to block all of the official accounts on Twitter last week. It's *awful*, a "work" or not. It's... I can't with them. I have nothing nice to say about them or anyone involved with the Elite. The least offending member is Omega and he's a mega cornball at worst and down right boring in a ring. I could go the rest of my life never seeing anyone in the Elite wrestle another match.

The only AAA guy that's really gotten *anything* out of the AEW partnership is Laredo Kid and that's not saying much. He's had... a few matches on AEW and that's it. Impact and AAA's partnership benefited both sides. Each side shared talent when they were able to. Psycho Clown, Taurus and Vikingo all showed up on Impact at one point or another, which I'm certain garnered them new fans. Impact talent, such as Johnny Whatever, Taya Valkyrie and, before she was shit-canned, Tessa Blanchard, all showed up on AAA programming. Tessa Blanchard and Taya also held the AAA Reinas de Reinas title for a brief amount of time. It works out so much better when each side has an equal share of booking.

The Japanese talent that took part in the Women's Tournament a month or two ago have gotten more out of the partnership than anyone else has. Granted, they're fucking god-tier by comparison, but still. I follow at least a few joshi promotions, but only one or two names were on that bracket that I *wasn't* familiar with. Maki Itoh is over big-time, but for the wrong reasons. It's quite funny to me that the majority of the American audience buys into the "simp" gimmick so easily. It's a ruse and part of her character. She's a failed idol and wants the attention. People seem to think that, since she flips the middle finger that she's the girl version Stone Cold Steve Austin, when she's not even *close* to that. So yeah, the TJPW stuff is kinda kayfabe; or at least they're not insulting me on a regular basis. I'm actually entertained by Maki Itoh and company, unlike any of the Elite.

Omega went over clean as a whistle and became the the Impact Champion. Rich Swann, the former champion, wasn't featured on AEW whatsoever. Why should I care if he dropped the title when he was never mentioned? I don't watch Impact (because it doesn't really appeal to me, so not really gonna complain about it), but if I did watch, I'd be incredibly annoyed by the AEW talent taking the spotlight. I watch different promotions to see their talent, not to see the same soul-sucking dickheads on every single show. Yeah, I'm sick of seeing and hearing about the Elite and their fans singing their praises when they're all some of the worst carny dorks I've seen in a wrestling ring.

I wanted to see HBK get his head knocked in. I wanted to see Owen get his legs torn off during his feud with his brother Bret. When I see the Young Bucks, Cody, or Omega on TV, I want to change the channel. That is the difference I'm getting at. I want to see the bad guys get beat up. I want the babyface in peril to get his hope spots. I want to cheer the babyface and not be insulted by some dork-ass smarky 4th wall breaking piledriver bullshit because, hurr-durr, I gotta watch BTE or whatever the fuck.

I choose not to watch WWE because it's childish and not what I'm looking for in a wrestling product. AEW is way too 4th wall for me to even consider watching again. You can have all the talent in the world, but if I have to sit through insulting garbage every week, I don't want anything to do with it. So yeah, the most niche and "oldschool" product I was watching before the pandemic began was the NWA. It was different from every other American product. It had the retro feel; It had it's things that made it more compelling, and the original theme song frickin' ruled - No idea why they changed it.

I've done enough yelling for one post.

Really diggin the Heavenly Bodies! I’ve never seen sweet Stan Lane or Dr Tom in the ring before, they’re a lot of fun to watch, tight tag team manoeuvres, great heelish behaviour, they add a lot of flash to SMW! You can see how they and other early teams have influenced FTR, it’s wild to see an actual tag team at work, not just a couple of guys smashed together for no reason. It’s also fun watching a great heel manager mess with referees that aren’t just background props! This whole SMW dive has been such fun so far! Dutch on colour trashing the baby faces, Ron Wright playing the vulnerable, wheelchair bound heel manager feeding “international” objects to help cheat a win off of the good guys, Orndorff going nuts and pile driving Hector and a bunch of job guys and hector being away with a neck injury for the next show, all of it is great! 😁

AEW are the promotion I most enjoy following at the moment. I watched wrestling for a few years as a child but didn't get back into it until around 2015 so this is the best weekly wrestling I've ever seen and I look forward every week. It's not perfect but it's nice to have faith in a booker as everywhere else seems to have gone south.

NJPW still has the best top end matches but since the pandemic they have been some really odd booking decisions and they seem to be leaning into bullshit and gimmicks more than usual. I find I dip in and out when there was a time where I couldn't get enough.

I gave Stardom a try last year and in-ring it's the closest to my preferred style than anywhere I've seen. They seem to be on the up and have hit home runs on their big events so it's fun following a promotion on the rise.

I also gave NOAH, DDT, Dragon Gate and All Japan a try. I will just sign up for thier network a couple of times per year and check out their better stuff. I liked NOAH most last year but they seem to be pushing all the old guys now so they have lost momentum with me. All Japan is similar without as much high end great matches but I'll keep an eye on them. Dragon Gate seems like another promotion on the rise with some great young talent but their Network is by far the worst to use so I am very selective about them. DDT is not really for me but since they come as a package with NOAH I will check out the odd match.

Impact has got slighter better but there is no buzz. My son is into them so I will check out the odd PPV match with him. ROH was cool during the Pure tournament but now they are back to normal I just don't have time for them or MLW etc.

WWE is absolute death. The main roster has got worse and worse and whenever I have checked out Smackdown I don't know what the fuss is about. NXT TakeOvers are still worth watching but the TV show is not great outside the occasional very good match.

I watched one TJP show and it put me off. It was the Wrestle Princess show with a great main event but an undercard I was honestly embarrassed at times to sit through. I can't remember it well but there was one wrestler who walked out to Old McDonald Had A Farm and I think another pretending to be a cat. I seem to remember at least one undercard match being really good but on the whole it was very wacky, kind of what I was worried all Joshi would be like before I watched Stardom.

What I tend to do is cycle a sub on a different promotion each month so when I come round to NOAH again I am open to giving it another shot but the fact that Wrestle Princess was so highly praised by Joshi fans leads me to believe it's just not for me.

I take your point on Stardom but it's not like the pushed girls are duds and I am coming into it new so it hasn't bothered me. I really like Guilia, Syuri, Natsapoi, Mayu, AZM, Tam and Starlight Kid but the roster is honestly stacked with talent, I can't believe how fast and young they get good.

I agree on NJPW too. They seem to be just running as many shows as possible with less matches on the card but long main events. The Tana v Jay match was 10 minutes too long and the ladder match was brutal. Still, they have my top 5 matches of the year so they can still bang out the classics from time to time, it's just such a shame they feel like they all happen in a vacuum.

In NOAH, Kenoh, Shiozaki and Nakajima are all great but, whilst they are not exactly young themselves, the focus seems to be put on Mutoh (who can barely run) and some other older guys. I haven't watched much this year but will probably sub after they start running shows again.