Pro Wrestling

I heard Dave say this on a podcast and after trying to put together a MOTY list, it really struck me that current day matches just aren't as memorable or as good as previous years. It really seems to all start to go downhill around 2005ish with all of the 90's stars being put out to pasture. I watched a ton of wrestling from 2010-2013, and more than any previous years and I can honestly say that I struggled to put together a list of matches that were comparable to previous years. For whatever reason, the matches don't seem to be as good or as memorable and those "big match feel" situations really seem to have gone away. I think it's kind of strange too when arguably, we a…

Anyone know a good place to find some indy wrestling merch? My new man cave is going up soon and I'm looking for stuff related to indy wrestling. I've tried finding stuff on guys like Chris Hero but nothing has come up. Mostly looking for the bigger indies

Thought I would start a thread for Stardom since they are starting their own streaming service via YouTube. It just started today and for now they are having a free 2-week trial with a monthly subscription of $4.99 U.S. The only possible downside is they probably won't be using broadcast footage of their bigger shows. Their own footage, up to this point, has just been one cameraman at ringside. While that works well when the action is in the ring, it gets a bit troublesome when the action goes outside at some of the smaller buildings. I'll be happy if they can add a hard camera like they had for the U.S. tour they did last fall. That is a minor complaint, it's a…

https://twitter.com/RealBobbyHeenan

It was already waning, but it seems like 2005 marked a turning point in Joshi interest with AJW and GAEA folding. I know some of you have continued to follow the scene during that time, so I wanted to ask what you would consider the best Joshi from 2006-2014? (I'll use that as a stopping point since we've had a few advocates for 2015 Joshi on the board.) Putting it in tiers would be super helpful. Something like this: Tier 1 - All-time classics Tier 2 - Very good-great matches but not quite MOTYC-level Tier 3 - Solid-good matches Tier 4 - Worth watching for other reasons

Nobody wanted it. That's why I'm delivering it to you, as long as my mental health sustains it. The anguish began here BTW : http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/14057-nwa-tna-2002-revisited/?p=5670930 PPV 26 The Vince Russo show is back. Long boring awkward promo with shooty-shooty elements, bad gimmick matches and shit finish all over the card. The only salvageable part of this particular PPV was AMW vs Slash & Brian Lee in what was a decent little title match, although they clearly went overboard with nearfalls at the end, which would be a stamp of TNA and, I guess indy wrestling as a whole, then WWE style too eventually. When Brian Lee is p…

Admittedly this is an open ended question that can be answered several different ways depending on how you look at it. Still the subject has come up several times recent. Most notably it was mentioned by Dave Meltzer on an episode of WOR which led to a lengthy twitter debate I engaged in with Joe and Rich from Voices of Wrestling. I was set to let this one sit for a while, but it came up again on the latest VOW podcast, and since twitter is an awful medium for meaningful discussion on a subject like this, I thought it was worth starting a thread to discuss it here. One thing that I think is important to note right out of the gate is that if we accept the "standard…

I was told to make this thread. PWO isn't the sort of crowd that would get into Dragon Gate, but some people have expressed interest in the product since a handful of their guys received really high individual votes in the GWE poll (Mochizuki had two Top 10 votes, CIMA, Yoshino, Tozawa, etc.) Dead or Alive, one of their five big shows, just wrapped up. My review on VOW should be up shortly and Open the Voice Gate will have a review in audio form very soon. If you're looking to get into DG, I suggest these, http://rutube.ru/video/7e4656d19e8dec2413c23eaf705565f2/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514 http://rutube.ru/video/34010a2262fba497e67618fbf26e5dba/?pl_type=user&a…

I love Progress. For a variety of reasons. 1) The booking and storylines. Nothing is too complicated or silly. The wins and loses matter. They build up big matches over time. Love it. 2) The crowd. They are like ECW with their passion, but they are British so it's like watching a soccer game sometimes. It's not at an annoying level like most other companies though. It's passion for the wrestlers and product. 3) Cheap streaming service with all their stuff I can watch on the roku. Talk about Progress, Rev Pro, WXW or whatever here.

I was going to post this in "Comments That Don't Warrant a Thread" but Part 3 is locked and there's no Part 4, so this will get its own thread unless a mod wants to start Part 4 and merge this into that. Moolah gets a baaaaaad rap here and elsewhere, but this shows another side of her. Also, I thought this presented an interesting perspective from a woman who wrestled for only a couple of years - Sandy Stevens - but generally has more of an "outsider's" perspective on the business. It didn't consume her, it wasn't her life, but she was a fan and loved becoming a wrestler. Moolah helped Charleston woman realize wrestling dream - Mike Mooneyham http://www.postandc…

from the New York Times. I hadn't seen this posted anywhere on the board and found it an interesting read.

Going through Steve Sims old Lucha newsletter and found this excellent write up https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8dJb63uylCKZUhpMHpSeFBlQ2s/view?usp=sharing Goes into a lot of issues that Parv and others have had

I've been meaning to dive into Lucha Underground for a long time, but never got around to it. Until now. We'll see how long I keep this up, but for now I'll be having a look, and this is just a place to jot down my thoughts as I go along. Can't promise how detailed they'll be - I'm watching this for fun, not to critique too rigorously. I'm sure I watched the debut episode when it first aired, but I haven't seen any of it since, so I need to start back at the very beginning (which is why I'm staying out of the other thread). Lucha Underground 1.01 "Welcome to the Temple" First off, I have to state for the record so hopefully I don't keep repeating myself that I…

I am really excited for this tournament and have enjoyed watching the matches that have rolled out so far: My review of Night 1 is here: http://placetobenation.com/new-japan-best-of-the-super-juniors-2016-day-1-review-05212016/ Night 2 Quick Hits: Ricochet vs. Tiger Mask: This wasn't bad but I did want a little more aggression shown from Tiger Mask. I thought Ricochet looked good when he hit his signature spots when he needed to, but he does still falter a bit with putting together the connective tissue of a compelling match. **1/2 Jushin LIger vs. Bobby Fish: I dug this a lot. A simplistic match but one where Fish was able to target the arm of Liger an…

I did this for 2015 and some people found it a handy resource so I figured I'd try to do the same with 2016. Basic criteria for making the list is as follows: ~ I find a review rating of **** or better somewhere online ~ I find it on a "Best Of" list somewhere online ~ Somebody otherwise recommends it as a "must see" I'll update as the year progresses. Suggestions and corrections always welcome. (Bolded matches were reviews at ****1/2 or better) JANUARY 2016.01.01 CMLL Kamaitachi vs Maximo Sexy 2016.01.02 PWG Drew Gulak vs Timothy Thatcher 2016.01.04 NJPW AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura 2016.01.…

Anybody have an idea as to when Heyman/Brock debuted this phrase? Specifically, Eat. Sleep. Conquer. Repeat. None of the variations such as eat, sleep, suplex ... or eat, sleep, conquer the streak, eat sleep john cena repeat

I was watching the 97 EMLL Cibrenetico and I was wondering what everyone thought I f the concept of the toreno cibrenetico.

This was a conversation that I had with my wife the other day. I was telling her that I almost didn't get a ticket to the Ring of Honor show for tomorrow because the shows are just too long. She asked how long they ran and agreed after I said 4.5 hours. I told her I'm usually ready to tap out around the 3 hour mark with the usually crappy seats and being in a crowd of people. She agreed that 2-2.5 hours seems to be a more reasonable length of time for a wrestling show. So what is your personal philosophy on this? Are you fine sitting through any length of show or are you like me and start to get a little restless after about 3 hours?

Chad and I wrote a piece about this match and its potential as a SummerSlam 1991 main event. What do you guys think? Could it have worked? Other options? http://placetobenation.com/the-desert-storm-match-the-summerslam-main-event-we-never-saw/

It would be cool if WWE release footage of this match. There are only photos of it as of right now. from the 3/9/93 Wrestling Challenge taping. http://www.wwe.com/article/gillberg-battling-turtles-interview

I've seen this mentioned several times, I might go back and find quotes with it's usage but anyhow it is a line of thinking I absolutely don't agree with. I think it would make for an interesting debate but right now I'd just like people to point to wrestlers who they think fit that description and why.

Stuff like Parts Unknown/Death Valley/Dudleyville excepted, of course. Colonel DeBeers is a classic example. In fairness to Ed Wiskoski, this was before Lethal Weapon 2 came out, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had no idea what a South African accent was supposed to sound like. Jean-Paul Levesque went in the exact opposite direction. His attempt at a French accent was Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins level bad. Arn Anderson. Billed from Minnesota despite having a Georgia accent thicker than a bowl of grits. Kofi Kingston back when he was supposed to be Jamaican. All the Quebecers who have been billed as French would probably qualify as well. It all sound…

I thought a comprehensive list would be effective for individuals wanting to address all options: WWE Network - $9.99/month New Japan World - 999 yen (currently $8.96 USD)/month NWA Classics - $8.99/month Highspots Wrestling Network (shoots, CZW, IWA-MS, etc) - $9.99/month Chikaratopia - $7.99/month Progress - $7.50/month Beyond Wrestling - $9.99/month Stardom World - $4.99/month IPW:UK - $7.95/month ROH Ringside Membership - $7.99/month Revolution Pro Wrestling - $8.49/month AIW Wrestling - $7.99/month AAW Wrestling - $7.99/month CZW - $9.99/month Smash - $7.49/month Insane Championship Wrestling - $6.99/month Please let me know if I am missing any…

We had "Great Match Theory" and "self-conscious epic". The word of the month on PWO recently seems to be this. What is it? I ask partly because I don't think Matt D and my boy Kelly have the same thing in mind. I think Matt D means that he favours psychology and logic and looks for coherence in the performance rather than mechanics, athletic ability, moves, etc. Part of this is the "use of tools" in particular contexts. I think Kelly means that he has turned from being a fan who cares about things like match quality and instead these days cares more about the emotion of it all, a hot crowd, the charm of a given setting, and all the "nonsense" of pro wrestli…

WCW used to get knocked around a lot for being "too Southern". Bischoff thought that image was one of the big things holding WCW back from being competitive with the WWF and worked hard to change it. People like to crack on AJ Styles' accent. This is fine on its own, but why is this sort of regionally-based criticism pretty limited to the South? ECW had a lot of acts that wouldn't play as well outside the Northeast like the FBI but I never once heard ECW called "too Northeastern", and I never hear anyone criticizing any wrestler's New Yawk accent. It often seems like in wrestling talk that what's Northeastern is what's considered the standard. We see that with WWE and…