It's about the end of the busy season at my job. My eyes and brain are fried. I've got a quickie review in mind but in the meantime I thought I'd write something up. One thing I have been interested in talking about is my perspective on wrestling and how that effects my reviews. 

I try not to do work rate reviews. I'm not trying to give you a play by play of a match. I'm past the phase of nitpicking every match to see if the arm work leads to something. I've out grown the idea that selling a specific injury is all the match should be about. Wrestling is about storytelling. Yet its not always about the storyline. It is about energizing and entertaining the fans. Its not about just about appealing to the nerds keeping score at home. It is something that I try to be mindful of but I know I fail at from time to time." Oh he should have hobbled on his left leg after reversing that suplex. Tsk tsk..." 

The wrestling should not erode the suspension of disbelief. It should not take the fan out of the excitement to wonder, "wait wasn't she just hurt?" or "he's standing there to catch him for a long while" without providing some in ring explanation or larger universal explanation. That is to say, in the world in which they are telling these stories, does this make sense? I think its more important that the wrestler is selling the story to the fans. That's getting them to understand and believe what they're doing is meaningful. That's what selling is. Not just grabbing your back after a Boston Crab. Pacing and timing are so important but rarely do I see folks mention it. Think about your favorite movies, novels or other fiction. Its all a cycle building up and bringing back down until it escalates to the climax and its resolution. This is something very important to me. 

I think people forget wrestling is about feeling and subconsciously keep stats on wrestler performance like fantasy football. This is why most of my reviews try to capture how a match makes me feel. I want to convey my excitement or disappointment, my level of engagement or level of disinterest, etc. It makes it simpler for me to write but I really want to encourage wrestling fans to approach wrestling this way again. I think there's this pressure to be hyper analytical and academic about wrestling (and other hobbies). You might be in the early stages, firmly in the middle of it, burnt out or in recovery. But a some point you just loved wrestling because it was fun and excited you.

"I'm going to have to redo my rating system. Otherwise I can't account for the stylistic differences between lucha and puro. And what about the lucharesu? Sweet Jesus..."

Wrestling is something that's fun and a hobby and I treat it as such. It's why I take breaks sometimes. But its also why I try to watch stuff that interests me rather than stay current. I tried  and to be honest I just can't keep up. There's all kinds of older things that I missed or want to see more of rather than get engaged in something I can't find consistently or don't really care about. Its like how most people feel about music. The best music is the stuff you listened to when you were young because you were young. So you might pick up new stuff or put it on your Spotify but chances are it'll be from around those times or be in a similar style. I'm that way with wrestling. I'm sticking to stuff I know and love but expanding my horizons here and there.

Boogie Away Grandpa! 

I think deep down the purpose of this blog is to stimulate people's interest in wrestling that is softly fading into memory. Things you might remember hearing about, a review of a match 5 to 10 years ago, watching clips back in 2016 or whatever. It can be about things you never heard of. I'm not trying to find esoteric matches or promotions. I think I'm finding things that are right in the open that haven't been obscured by time as much as they obscured by the glut of online content made available in the last 10 years. Its very much what's new and then what's next? 

If you've read my blog, you know that I too am effected by this. The distraction of new or unseen wrestling online has knocked me off my tracks a few times. So I'm not immune and I'm not against it either. I'm very grateful in fact. Those people are doing the same work for the same reason. But I'm not ignorant to its effects either. I've got ADHD and I get distracted and then interested and then hyper-focused. I'm trying to work against the larger effect of content glut wiping this stuff off of people's radar entirely. It is not a crusade of mine or anything. I'm not the only person doing this and in fact much of PWO is about preservation. Many members do or have done awesome work. I guess I am just doing what I can while watching some really good stuff. Hopefully you like reading about it and I pique your interest.

I am not sure where I'm going with this now. Like I said, I'm A little fried from the overtime. I just wanted to write a little and be reflective. Pretty lame compared to writing about moonsaults and stuff. 

Thank you for reading!