Matches vs Events

[Mr. Lacelle]

I was thinking during the unveiling of the GWE that some people seem like they watch matches out of context. I used to do that but I much prefer watching a full card. My partner & my friend & I usually watch an event once a week & then give out our after show awards. MVP, MOTN, LVP & rank the event on a scale of 1-10. I feel this is better way to gauge wrestlers cause you appreciate that talented ones more when you see the dreck they're surrounded by. My question for you is, do you prefer matches or full shows?

[GOTNW]

Is anyone actually arguing you need to watch full shows to get the context of particular matches? That just seems silly. Anyway I strongly prefer matches because I'm just past the point of watching stuff that doesn't interest me.

[goodhelmet]

Watching a full show can absolutely influence the way you view some matches. For me, it ultimately depends on the circumstance but I enjoy watching full shows and specific matches.

[WingedEagle]

Watching a full show can absolutely influence the way you view some matches. For me, it ultimately depends on the circumstance but I enjoy watching full shows and specific matches.

 

Uh huh. Try watching a TNA show in full or some a Styles / Joe match in isolation. Very possible you'll want the entire thing to go away by the time you reach the match or later in the show. Whereas if you watch the match in isolation it wont be subjected to that baggage.

 

All that matters are your preferences and what you can make time for.

[overbooked]

I think it is important to at least consider the context of a match, even if you don't actually watch the whole event. It would be easy to criticise a wrestler for working a particular way if you didn't understand the environment they were working in. There is also the issue that matches aren't booked or worked in isolation. They may be disappointing, but that may be because the workers were trying not to upstage the main event, or had to go out and work after a hot angle. The best events have a flow and have peaks and troughs - it doesn't hurt to be aware where a match falls within that wider narrative.

[Gutenberger]

Normally, I watch the whole show, especially if someone recommends a match to me and I haven't seen the show yet. If I have seen the show already and specifically wanna see a match I haven't seen in a long time or want to watch it again and again, Sami vs. Shinsuke for example, I tend to just skip to the match in question.

[thebrainfollower]

I have almost no interest in watching single matches anymore.

[victory]

With PPVs that have passed I like to cherry pick the matches I have an interest in. On Old house show matches such as MSG or Boston I used to like to watch the whole show to see how the card builds. Now my time is more limited and I just cherry pick that as well.

[joeg]

I have no method to watching wrestling other than trying to watch stuff in cronological order. Sometimes I watch single matches, sometimes I watch whole cards or episodes of TV. I rarely watch a single match completely out of context without first watching the lead in matches or angles that set up the match.

[Cap]

I would probably prefer to watch whole shows, but I honestly don't have time and very little interest in watching uninteresting things. Then again, I don't get to discover random stuff if I don't dive into the unknown. Ultimately it depends on time and what i am watching. I tend to watch more single matches right now.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I only watch individual matches on NWA Classics. Otherwise I prefer full shows or full tv shows. Just like how I like listening to live concerts. I listen to the whole show.

[NotJayTabb]

Yeah, I prefer to watch a full show. I like a bit of lightness and shade throughout my wrestling watching and sometimes having a well-paced sprint, a competitive squash or a comedy match on a card makes the bigger matches feel more important.

[ElHijodeGorgeousGeorge]

It depends on the product. For instance, I rarely skip around a NXT show yet I can't stomach most other modern shows in full.

[Zenjo]

I've seen plenty enough bad wrestling and boring promos in my life. There's little justification for sitting through footage that doesn't entertain me. So definitely matches. It's beneficial to know the context of a specific match, but in the majority of cases isn't all that important.

[Log]

I'm an album guy, but I do love a good mixtape.

[peachchaos]

I'm an album guy, too. I consider the wrestling equivalent of an LP to be complete feuds. Events are closer to "live" albums.

[Dylan Waco]

Very much product dependent. I will say with "classic" wrestling I have virtually zero interest in watching full shows at this point for a variety of reasons.

 

With modern stuff it's a bit more complicated. Certain promotions do a pretty good job of keeping me interested throughout shows and as a result they have built up goodwill with me. Examples of this would be Evolve, Freelance, AAW, and PWX. Other promotions are more hit and miss, or have really bad records when it comes to card layout, setting expectations they can't possibly meet, et. With these promotions I will watch the full show if I'm catching it live, but otherwise I'm far more likely to cherry pick. Examples here would be CZW, New Japan, CMLL, and ROH.

[concrete1992]

A few years ago I would have said watching full shows was the way to go. Gives you a better idea of what the workers are trying to accomplish in their position on the card. I also had the thought that full cards are more reflective of the quality of the promotion than the quality of individual matches.

 

Now, I don't really care about what reflects on the "quality of the promotion". Just give me the matches. If a whole card looks good I'll watch a whole card but that's based on the individual components and not the fact that I want to see a show in its entirety. Heck, even when I do that I tend to skip around.

[Frankensteiner]

Wanted to bump this topic to see how people consume their wrestling today. 

Personally, due to time constraints, I almost always skip around and watch individual matches. Although I've noticed I usually tend to focus on one or two wrestlers in one sitting and watch at least a few matches from each wrestler.

[gordi]

I watch entire AEW shows (Dynamite, Rampage, PPVs) now, and as often as I can I watch them live while they are happening. This is a huge change from how I was "consuming" wrestling 5 years ago. I also watch "big" NJPW cards as they are happening as often as I can. I usually chat online with a small group of wrestling maniac friends during those shows.

Before the pandemic I used to go to a lot of live shows. That's on hold for now. 

For smaller New Japan shows, AEW YouTube shows, other Japanese promotions and indies and so on I tend to cherry-pick recommended matches after the fact. 

For older stuff I'm almost always going back and watching individual matches that I love and have seen several times before, or watching something that, say Matt D wrote up or something posted on the "clubbering" thread on DVDVR or what have you. 

I'll sometime re-watch an "old" AEW show but otherwise it's been ages since I went back and watched an entire event. 

[MichaelZ]

I am mostly watching wrestling with greatest match ever/greatest wrestler ever projects in mind right now and that has me focusing on matches. I’ll try to watch a handful of matches that feature a wrestler I am interested in at a time, but often I just like jumping around. 
 

I do like watching runs of old tv shows as well, but I am watching with a less critical eye.
 

I rarely throw on a Starrcade or whatever and watch it front to back at this point.

 

 

[TonyPulis'Cap]

Might be on something of an island here, but I really enjoy watching whole shows - and that's not just the matches and angles, but the way a wrestling TV show is formatted, the way the announcers link from one segment to the next, the promo packages etc. - I just really enjoy seeing how a wrestling show flows together and the way it's presented.

On 4/28/2016 at 11:10 AM, NotJayTabb said:

Yeah, I prefer to watch a full show. I like a bit of lightness and shade throughout my wrestling watching and sometimes having a well-paced sprint, a competitive squash or a comedy match on a card makes the bigger matches feel more important.

This sums things up nicely for me - I find there's stuff to enjoy in a squash match, or a sprint, or an angle advancement match, if they have a clear point to them. It's also a good way of exploring new people you would enjoy, but that aren't always in a position to have 5* epics and turn up on match recommendation lists.  

I also love context in my wrestling. I find it hard some times to just enjoy a match 'cold' knowing nothing about why the people in the match are wrestling - I want to be able to build that emotional connection. Sometimes when I see people hyping up a big match, I've got no doubt it's good, but I sometimes find just dropping in without knowing the storyline or the history like watching a big action set piece from the end of a film, but without seeing the buildup I've got no reason to be invested in the potential jeopardy for the characters involved in that scene.

Given I'm trying to watch stuff for the GWE project the above approach does makes things challenging, not least because it takes up a lot of time!! 

[strobogo]

With American wrestling, I prefer to watch full shows. With puro and lucha, individual matches, unless it is from something like SWS/WAR/UWF and then I want to watch the whole show. 

[Chess Knight]

I can barely watch full shows most of the time unless it's something I specifically set out to do with friends, or in terms of a long running project, e.g. I currently have a running list of good Velocity matches, and am watching every match, but use uploads that don't have the Smackdown recaps and stuff. Even then, I started it in early...2019, I think, and have only made it through around 16 months of shows....shows that go like 25 minutes once you slice out the recaps and ad breaks.

 Keeping up with AEW since Punk came in, I'm already finding myself skipping over matches I don't care to see a month in. I've said for a long time I'd like to do full watches of some short-running promotions (like SMW) but I don't actually know if I could pull it off if I'm honest with myself.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I'm definitely a "full shows" fan.  I like context and when a show has ebbs and flows to it.  I enjoy watching shows I don't totally remember and seeing the video packages and whatnot, too.  I listen to enough podcasts that cover various shows that I typically use them as motivation to watch a certain show before I listen so I make sure I catch all the jokes, etc.