Zoo Enthusiast

I think you could just as easily have Ciampa cost him the match somehow, too. They have a lot of options. Cole’s going to be around the main event scene (unfortunately). Black, too. Strong is also really strong right now. They definitely love Sullivan. It’s a great show right now.

I decided to watch Unforgiven and No Mercy ‘99 for the hell of it before listening to the pods. Those are some brutal shows.

Glad there were that many voters, I certainly didnt feel qualified to submit a ballot but Im looking forward to hearing the takes of those that did vote on the upcoming podcasts.

Hell yeah, dude. Great year for them, IMO.

Absolutely, and the Express is like $29 and works brilliantly. They are hands-down the leader in the market of streaming devices and I can’t see anyone catching them. Apple TV’s look slicker but still lack the channels, even on the new platform. The Amazon devices are generally always pretty much junk across the board from my experience, though like I said, I do have the Firestick solely for NJPW World. Have had four Rokus, two Apple TV’s, and the Firestick since 2011. Only reason I needed more Rokus was older models getting phased out and buying a house.

Ah, I do most of my watching on Roku with HighSpots and Powerbomb. I do use Firestick for NJPW but the app is pretty weak. The Firestick app is my favorite version of the WWE Network app after using it on both Roku and Apple TV, though. I did use the Firestick browser for Powerbomb before they improved the Roku app and it worked pretty well watching some Beyond shows.

I could watch the build to the ‘98 Rumble forever. It was the first WWF PPV I watched live and this stuff just takes me right back. Peak Austin.

I assume the unfortunate part is that the match couldn't be streamed, because I'd take Pete Dunne over Zack Sabre Jr. any day of the week and twice on Sundays. With that said, I wish ZSJ a speedy recovery - being sick is never fun. Both were unfortunate. They had been hyping Sabre’s return for the show for the past couple months so it was too bad it was unable to happen. It was also going to be a good spot for Marius Al-Ani to get some more attention.

Progress is one that I have thought about signing up for but haven’t done yet. WWE supposedly has some kind of agreements in place with Progress and OTT but nobody seems to have any idea what they entail other than that they exist.

Tony Schiavone summed it up perfectly: “this is a horrible moment.”

Thanks for the clarification re: IWA M-S. It’s kind of confusing since they added some classic content like some TPI’s and stuff to Powerbomb right after they announced the deal. And yeah, definitely agreed re: Beyond. It is the one promotion they have right now that will literally get people in the door. If it means more eyes on Curt Stallion matches, it is inherently good. I would say if someone had a $20 monthly budget to spend on wrestling, it would be best spent on HighSpots and Powerbomb.

It will be interesting because I’m guessing there’ll only be one of the singing acts on the main show. Though I love Elias, I hope it is Rusev.

Just finished the wXw 17th Anniversary show. Pretty good show on the whole (unfortunately Zack Sabre had bronchitis and couldn’t travel, which lead to Pete Dunne filling in on a match that wasn’t available to be streamed) with a gruesome main event, especially by 2017 standards.

My understanding is all WXW shows (major events and Shotgun/TV episodes) are posted in both German and English. I believe WXW's site posts a lot of extra content / features that aren't on Highspots, but if you're looking to catch all matches you can do so on Highspots. It makes you wonder how long they'll keep the Highspots relationship in place as it would seem to cannibalize they're own service, but its not as though I've got nearly enough info to intelligently speculate. HighSpots has all the major shows (including the house shows, like the Fight Forever Tour, etc.), as well as Shotgun, with English commentary when available. This is what they currently have available: https://www.highspotswrestlingnetwork.com/categories/wxw/6956/media

Pretty much all of the wXw shows are included in HighSpots, as well. That includes the 17th Anniversary show that just got added today.

Their Roku app is pretty flawless in my experience. It’s not super-functional (I wish I could make a watchlist, for example) but it always works. You are able to resume watching the most recent thing you were watching if you watch in chunks. According to their website, they currently have 483 shoot interviews up. They include several of the RF Video shoots, as well as ones that HighSpots themselves conduct. Plus stuff like the Best Friends/Officer & A Gentleman and Rob Naylor’s Hitting the HighSpots series if you are into modern indie guys shooting the shit. There are a literal fuck ton of shoots, covering practically everything. As far as documentaries go, they don’t have a ton but they do have stuff that Michael Elliott did like the JCP one, Brody, Funks, RnR Express, etc. They add content constantly. Multiple times per week.

Good time to revisit this since I have been watching a ton of stuff on Powerbomb.tv ever since Beyond came on board. YouTube ending their paid channels service allowed this beautiful relationship to happen. They are live streaming the New Year’s Eve show with Janela vs David Start to be the first match of 2018 (it’s also a fans bring the weapons match, btw). The Smart Mark Video partnership also helped add value, with stuff like AIW and IWA Mid-South getting getting added (though IWA M-S has remained available on HighSpots, as well). They also have a beta Roku channel that is working pretty acceptably at this point and was just improved last week. Hard to not be optimistic about where they are headed in 2018. Obviously Floslam was a massive flop, which I think was to be expected as time went on and they were not adding more promotions with name value and showing that they were clueless. Time will tell how the Club WWN model will work out. I think that eventually they will need to include live streams of their shows in their base price or get left behind. HighSpots has continued to set the pace from my perspective when it comes to offering such a wide variety of content for fans who like to diversify their viewing. It’s not uncommon for me to spend several hours a week watching their stuff, whether it is shoots, PWG, wXw, CZW, older classic content like their Memphis comps, or random indies. It’s an unrivaled value in the market to me. NJPW World became slightly more accessible with the (still slightly-wonky i.e. being logged out of your account often) Amazon Fire TV app but won’t really start to touch their North American subscriber potential until they are on more platforms (Roku and Apple TV, especially). The Omega/Jericho match will help that, too. I know there are other mitigating circumstances regarding streaming content in Japan but hopefully they can up their game in the English speaking world as they continue to run shows in the US. WWE Network is pretty great, obviously, with 100 eps of early ‘80s Mid-Atlantic on tap for January. They have added a lot of great stuff over the past year, plus done their surveys asking people what they want, rumors of tiered subscription levels, etc. It’s not without its flaws but has gotten consistently better. I know most/all of us here hope they continue to phase out their original content and add more classic content. There will supposedly be an ROH streaming service starting in 2018 that really is nothing more than a vague acknowledgment in a Joe Koff interview at this point, so we’ll see if that comes to fruition. Plus there are the numerous companies that use the Pivotshare platform that HighSpots uses. TNA is on the free Pluto TV app and GFW started their own streaming service. It seems like on the whole, wrestling streaming is still expanding and sorting itself out.

I forgot to add: go to more live shows. Seeing 8 (at least) during Mania weekend will help.

Watching the NOVA Pro show from last night on Powerbomb. Great company.

That’s fucking amazing.

To start doing a better job keeping track of what I have watched, and what I thought about it. And to get more into Progress and the UK scene.

I love their act, but I just have a hard time enjoying Owens matches at this point. RE: the tag teams, I kind of wish they’d dump 205 Live for a tag team-only show because they are so loaded with them. However, then I remember how little effort they put into 205.

Speaking for myself, when I started watching it, I would just download the shows when cappers would post them up on XWT. Turnaround time was usually very fast, especially after Suzuki vs Tanahashi got five stars.

I had the same exact thoughts this morning when I watched Smackdown. I have enjoyed his character stuff since he got paired with Zayn (probably more from nostalgia than anything, TBH), but I can't remember the last good match he had. He is likely my favorite indy guy ever but he has been mostly sub-par in WWE.

Stuff like the Nia/Enzo stuff make me so glad I watch the Hulu version and it is never in there. I did the see the Alexa promo. I was hoping they’d do the Alexa/Asuka switch so Rousey can win the Rumble, so that was a disappointment. Hope that is still where they go. I liked Raw in general, though. Was pretty pumped that Elias got that spot.