Dylan Waco

Didn't see a dedicated thread for the series here and I wanted to start one. Full disclosure - I work for IndependentWrestling.TV and we stream Uncharted Territory. That said, this is a less a plug and more me wanting to see if people are familar with it and more importantly what people have thought of it so far. For those who don't know the show streams live every Wednesday night at 8pm on IWTV from Worcester. The shows are right around 2 hours every week and have already featured some highly praised matches featuring both well known - and much more obscure - indie wrestling talent. The shows have week-to-week angles, backstage interviews, et. That said the bulk of the time is spent on the matches themselves which I think makes it distinct from most current episodic wrestling. To me the most interesting aspect to watch as a fan has been the organic creation of stars within an episodic universe. For so long the knock on WWE (and at times Impact and ROH as well) has been the "shoving down our throats" of certain talent. What's interesting about Uncharted Territory is that because it tapes in the same place every week fans pick their favorites and that translates in a concrete way to the viewing audience at home. This has been helped along by The Discovery Gauntlet concept which has helped make Thomas Santell a breakout act. Similarly, Bear Country came in for a seemingly one off performance, got over huge, and will now be appearing for the third time this week. It at least feels like a case where the fans have decided who will be emphasized and pushed and that is really refreshing given where corporate wrestling is at this point. I've got other thoughts, recommended matches, et but I'm curious to see what PWO posters think of it.

The whole story of AEW is crazy and weird and it's one of those things that is going to be extremely interesting to look back on in 30 years. On the one hand you could easily see this being an Eddie Einhorn/IWA 2.0 situation. But on the other hand.... For several years now we have all been talking about a technological and media paradigm shift. The people at the forefront of understanding that shift in pro wrestling have been The Bucks, Cody and Omega. I've been saying for years that The Bucks in particular were THE act of the YouTube/Meme culture generation and they've proven it in ways I never could have expected. They've also proven to be geniuses at managing the media. The new media paradigm shift is not at all unlike the shift that we saw with national television syndication and cable tv. Cody, The Bucks and Omega aren't Hogan - no one is - but they are special stars and have a real connection to fans in this era. They represent a certain zeitgeist of the times not unlike Hogan. The guy in charge has a fuck ton of money and is putting shit loads into it. Meanwhile in the WWE the company is transitioning to a new leadership. Yes I'm building a narrative here, but there are parallels to 1982/83 that aren't much of a reach. I would never in a million years bet that the WWE would be overthrown as the top dog, but this is the only time in my lifetime where all the necessary conditions for such an unlikely scenario are at least in place (yes I'm including Nitro era WCW). The big issues are execution and Khan himself. Khan is definitely invested financially. He wants to do this. He loves wrestling. But does he have the right temperment, advisers, et? Probably too soon to tell, but it'll be interesting to track. I'm far from the biggest fan of any of the key players involved in the promotion. I've never watched a second of BTE and I've no real desire to. But this is a major, major play in pro wrestling. Even if it fails it has changed the game in huge ways that will have lasting effects on the business at all levels and for now at least wrestling is no longer a unipolar world.

It's actually a good lineup for what the show is supposed to be and who they are trying to appeal to. I actually have no clue what else people could have expected from it in that regard given the political considerations that had to be made to work with multiple different promotions/contracted talent many of whom have very obviously conflicting interests. For my own tastes it's not a major hit, but then neither or most major league shows (and make no mistake - this is no meaningful sense at indie wrestling show). I haven't yet decided if I'll watch live or not, but the six man tag is interesting on paper if nothing else, and I wouldn't be stunned to see one or both of the major titles on the line change hands

There is a Florida indie match between Kahagas and Bruce Santee from a few years back that falls a part and Santee roughs him up

I know a concept along these lines is something you've thought about for years and I'm really overjoyed to see you moving forward with it.

Military Press is one that I badly miss and that is a great visual spot. You will see them very rarely still but in all the modern wrestling I watch it barely shows up. Headlock takeovers off the ropes and/or flying headlock takeovers I miss quite a bit. That stuff went the way of the dodo as MMA and lucha started to influence the style more. Back body drops are actually shockingly rare considering how much rope running there is these days. I saw one the other day in a Canadian indie match that took place in an MMA cage and it may have legitimately been my favorite highspot all year. So simple, but very effective. I love me a good TRUE bulldog headlock. There are a few guys who do the Sting style grab the guy by the head/hair and dive down with him, but the traditional bulldog is very rare. I do think I've seen one or two guys do it recently but I can't place who other than Goldust a couple years back. I was always a fan of the swinging full nelson variation that Patera and Bull Buchanan did sometimes. Looked totally brutal and was very simple. I would legit love it if someone used a knee lift as a finish or at least a nearfall spot.

Tank had an incredible connection to the crowd in the Chattanooga area thats hard to fully explain if you arent from here. He was treated as a local Brock, the heir to Terry Gordy, the vanguard of southern wrestling AND the importer of non-Southern tropes. Very hard to fully grasp. Biggest pops would be Sting coming down from the rafters at Uncensored 97, AJ debuting at the Rumble, Hardyz return at Mania, and a couple of RnRs matches when I was a kid. Maybe my favorite reaction was AJ kicking out of the Cena super AA at Summerslam 16 with people literally running up and down the aisles in mass and dancing in my section

The guy in the HHH thread is unhinged

That may have been the worst agented show in the history of the promotion.

Oh there is certainly a cultish/religious mindset to a lot of consumers of various wrestling talking heads. It's weird to me that Russo has credibility with anyone and I worry about him least in part because he discredits himself so easily and often.

I don't take much anything he says super seriously, but I also don't like his show at all. I don't particularly trust Dave for a variety of reasons either. To me if I cared enough it would probably worth combing through what Dave says vs what Bruce says on certain issues, seeing where the Venn Diagram is and then kind of thinking about new historical narratives based on that.

I'm far from his biggest fan but Sabre Jr probably deserves a mention in this thread as he's probably churned out as much volume this decade as nearly anyone in terms of above average matches. If you want an extremely Dylan Hales answer for someone who should be a top tier contender (say top 20ish) if not the actual tip top guy, Kyle Matthews is as consistently good as anyone in wrestling over the last 8 years and has had good to great matches with a massive swath of people over the decade ranging from no name, zero talent, southern indie scrubs to some of the absolute top names in independent wrestling.

Weighing in on the Meltzer MSG/Bruno tweet because I have a bit of a nuanced opinion on it. I wasn't offended by it, and really don't see much reason why anyone would be. That said it felt like a transparently dumb way to communicate that point precisely because it was on a social media forum that only allows for 280 characters per message. Naturally people who just saw that tweet pop in their feed and not the other stuff Dave was saying and/or had it out for Dave pounced on it, and because there was no additional context surrounding his point it very much came off to a lot of people (myself included) as "Hey Dave here with a fact you might not know!" rather than "as a friend of Bruno's and the most well known wrestling historian, here is something to note about Bruno..." From my perspective the tweet probably shouldn't have been made at all or should have been part of a bigger tweet string that would have presented context that was important. Yes the number is a huge exaggeration and a myth, but it's a myth grown out of generally accepted truths, namely that Bruno was the rock upon which the WWWF was built, and he was very likely the biggest wrestling star in the history of New York City. On a day when people are celebrating the huge accomplishments and legend of Bruno, I think that kind of context is needed both to honor the man, to accurately report, and to avoid people thinking you are just trying to be the smartest guy in the room. At this point discussing Meltzer is really a waste because people have largely made up their minds on him and tend to view him through whatever longview perspective they have, rather than a micro analysis of existing issues. We all get sucked into even when we complain about it and it just is what it is. I quit following him a long time ago though because I find his Twitter act so tiresome and you can bet that act also contributed to the way many people felt about that tweet.

Per usual Reigns is in a no win situation. If he wins it will be the biggest consolation prize imaginable. If he loses hes been fully chumped again. The belt badly needs to come off of Brock, but Roman needs to be off tv. What a shit show

Thatcher and Garrini was cut short because Tim got busted open