I see this get liked a lot on facebook and I see it all over youtube with massive views. What is the appeal and what am I missing?

 

I watched one once and half way through I didn't even notice any "botches" or they were well worked around by the wrestlers. I've been confused by this thing for a while and would love some answers.

It's diminishing returns at this point because they've already done all the really infamous, horrible botches already. I think there are over 100 videos now. Some of the earlier ones were really good though with stuff I never saw like some cluster tag match from Survivor Series 02 where Rico is on the top rope forever waiting for Jeff Hardy to come knock him off and he starts yelling "C'mon Jeff god damn it!"

I think this thing has had a really toxic influence on wrestling discussion in general by putting undue emphasis on the mechanical aspects of wrestling. It's irritating to see people bring up how a wrestler "rarely botches" like it's a trait worthy of significant praise.

I think this thing has had a really toxic influence on wrestling discussion in general by putting undue emphasis on the mechanical aspects of wrestling. It's irritating to see people bring up how a wrestler "rarely botches" like it's a trait worthy of significant praise.

It's not that you botch, it's how you do it.

 

I was actually really happy last night at the ROH show where when someone slipped there was no "you fucked up" chants. I think that kind of watching of wrestling (looking for errors, expecting a flawless presentation) is a harmful way to watch wrestling.

I think this thing has had a really toxic influence on wrestling discussion in general by putting undue emphasis on the mechanical aspects of wrestling. It's irritating to see people bring up how a wrestler "rarely botches" like it's a trait worthy of significant praise.

I agree with this even though I still kind of like some of the older Botchamania videos. There is a clear difference in some of the things they include though like Raja Lion being hilariously awful and some dude kinda slipping on the top rope.

I hate how it's made "botch" into some sort of quasi-insider term, complete with a fucking Wikipedia entry.

It's irritating to see people bring up how a wrestler "rarely botches" like it's a trait worthy of significant praise.

 

It's irritating to watch a sloppy wrestler constantly mess up killing all sense of disbelief in a match too.

 

It's irritating to see people bring up how a wrestler "rarely botches" like it's a trait worthy of significant praise.

 

It's irritating to watch a sloppy wrestler constantly mess up killing all sense of disbelief in a match too.

 

They're both true? Maybe I'm the one reading it wrong but saying "not messing up often" shouldn't be worthy of grand praise doesn't mean promoting sloppiness.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I look at these as purely fun blooper reels. Basically comedy that's great for killing a few minutes here and there. I wouldn't go beyond that to using it as any kind of critical basis, but am always up for a laugh.

I wouldn't even say the best humor in them is the actual blowing of spots. Those moments and the clips of wrestlers audibly calling spots are repetitive and tedious by now. The reason to watch them - I think #275 just dropped recently - is for amusing stories from shoot interviews and the inventive editing of other audio and video into it. I don't even get all of the nerd references (because I'm too cool, you see), but a lot of it seems like an impressive amount of work and creativity. At its best it has a TV Carnage vibe that celebrates wrestling's wackiness, rather than just harping on guys for messing up dumb spots.

I don't really have a problem with the the videos themselves, although some of the content can be tedious at times. As mentioned I really hate how common the term 'botch' as a noun has become in smart fan parlance though. I'm not sure if there's any rational justification for that, it just sounds really stupid to me and tends to be used by the most annoying type of fans.

I compare it to a modern version of NFL bloopers. Just not my cup of tea, although I can see the appeal.

pol explained it better than I did. No problem with the videos at all, I just take issue (and it may not entirely be rational) with the style of criticism it's unintentionally created.

Sports Illustrated weighs in on Botchamania:

 

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/05/06/botchamania-blooper-reels-wrestling-video

I like the "everybody talks too much" mini segment which usually involves footage of Cena audibly calling spots.

I feel the target audience isn't PWO forum members.

I feel the target audience isn't PWO forum members.

Mr.Astute.

To be fair, the only 12 year old we have here is Johnny Sorrow.

To be fair, the only 12 year old we have here is Johnny Sorrow.

There's nothing like a good joke.

 

And that was nothing like a good joke.

I have no problem with the Botchamania concept in principle, as long as the clips don't include ( a ) spots where wrestlers got seriously injured (like Villano IV breaking his neck courtesy of of Raven and Kanyon) and ( b ) backyard stuff like someone doing the Foley jumping from the garage thing and missing his target.

I kind of feel like if you're worrying youself about throwaway media like Botchamania, you probably need to get out of the bubble and take a day or three off.

I kind of feel like if you're worrying youself about throwaway media like Botchamania, you probably need to get out of the bubble and take a day or three off.

A minute to ponder something's existence means I need time off. Weird comment.

The classic stuff was a lot more hillarious. the stuff that I didn't notice when i was just a fan. I still like watching it to see if I see anyone I know so i can rib them mercilessly.

Harmless & mildly entertaining.

yea i'm p. much with pol et al. on this

 

the effects are really obvious if, for instance, you watch anything on the /wooo/ stream. AFAIK you can't disable chat there, so you have to see a hundred people spamming the "BOTCH" image macro throughout any women's match even if there aren't real botches going on

 

that said, maffew's work is a hell of a lot better than OSW review. shit is hosted by movez marks who constantly slag tito & valentine, and they act like TV doesn't exist and just draw all their conclusions from the PPVs.