Wrestling Today

[Exposer]

I'm inspired by Dylan here to start this thread. There may be older threads similar to this but I'm not looking for them. I think it's unfortunate a lot of posters here don't keep up with modern wrestling. I understand it to a degree. Wrestling & it's landscape have indeed changed. I get the criticisms for finisher spamming & self-awareness in wresting today when it comes to the in-ring work but I think it's overblown. Stuff like production value & presentation I don't care about as much. Booking & promos I agree have fallen on the wayside but even the criticisms for these I believe are a bit overzealous.

 

I'm also not a fan of the modern WWE discussion being pushed aside so to speak in a separate forum. I think it gets lost on this board because of it. There's still some solid traffic on today's WWE but I think it's too often willfully ignored.

 

I guess what I'm getting at is I think it's disappointing that PWO doesn't follow modern wrestling as much. We can discuss past wrestling with just as much fervor while also keeping a close eye on the modern product with equally valuable analysis, discussion, & criticism. It's not just WWE that is ignored. New Japan, Mexico, US & British indies are all but forgotten. Pete's MOTYC thread is an excellent resource & one of the better threads on here. He keeps up with what's going on in the wrestling world today & shares his insights on the most quality stuff currently. I appreciate his This Week in Wrestling podcast as well as it covers all that happened at least in mainstream modern wrestling. I'd love to see more threads like that here.

 

I don't find singular match threads & circular discussion of 80s & 90s wrestling as engaging anymore. That's my personal feelings on those subjects & I'm not saying those threads & discussions should go away. In fact, I still have much more to see & evaluate from wrestling's past. I just believe the pendulum has swung too far in favor of old wrestling here. I know some will say "old wrestling's better" but I find that a bit lazy without really trying to give the current product some attention. Even it it means just watching Lucha Underground like El-P or southern indies enthusiasm like Dylan I want to see more discussion on wrestling today.

 

I'm willing to start some threads on Sounthern Indies, Midwest Indies, West Coast indies, British indies, or just a mega thread on all of them. The same goes for Mexico & Japan. I don't think it would be worthwhile without real participation & discussion though. Therefore, I'd love feedback from everyone here if they'd like to carry through with more modern wrestling talk. I'll never leave PWO because it truly is a great place for wrestling discussion but my presence here might be less so if there isn't an equal discussion for both old & new wrestling. I believe it'd be a better place for it

[Grimmas]

Yes to all of this! Started a current lucha thread talk already today. Will start a UK/Europe one once I finish the current Progress show I am on.

 

New wrestling is awesome, plus it has the added benefit of speculation which is lost on watching old wrestling. I hope more people start with current stuff now that GWE is over.

[WingedEagle]

More talk about current wrestling would be great. Hopefully more threads would encourage people to check things out. I think WWE being an extra click away in its own folder keeps some traffic away from those parts outside of big shows, because if its not seen its just something people won't think about, but I could be completely wrong. I stay on top of WWE, NJPW and Lucha Underground but always seeking out recs for other current matches and wrestlers to check out. Don't have to catch it all but will never turn down being pointed in the right direction.

[Grimmas]

Forgot to mention I argued against WWE being separated when it happened. Still feel it's wrong.

[ThomasFromIowa]

I think this is the way to go. This has been my main site for reading wrestling lately and I came here today after hitting a really good indie show yesterday and couldn't find a place to talk about it. So I'd suggest going that route where you have separate threads for "midwest indies", "southern indies" "British indies" etc...

[KrisZ]

What I wonder though is there a disconnect among people that watch more modern wrestling in numbers posting message boards now compared to just a few years ago. It seems to me that more of your modern wrestling fans that aren't inclined to watch older wrestling don't even go to message boards anymore and mainly use social media as their platform.

[goc]

I don't have an issue with something like the Modern WWE folder being out on it's own because the Pro Wrestling main folder can get pretty cluttered now as it is with topics dying quick deaths because they just kind of get lost in the shuffle. If you had like 4-5 active WWE topics mixed in it would just make that even more of an issue.

 

If anything, the ROH thread is getting the shaft because it's just floating out there in the megathread folder. And the only active TNA thread is the "Is TNA the worst promotion ever?" thread which doesn't exactly promote discussion if something good is happening in current TNA.

[soup23]

Still watch a good bit of modern wrestling and welcome it.

 

I do think modern wrestling discussion in general has been lacking on message boards that I frequent. I have said this before and stand by it that on other message boards I go on (F4W and VOW mainly), the discussion is more about upcoming matches and events and we never even get to the NOW of the equation much less the immediate past.

 

For instance, I watched the Mercury Rising Show last week and enjoyed it a good deal and had some thoughts on the pacing and everything in particular the way Thatchers arc was displayed watching the shows in retrospect compared to the live reaction to those type of storyline driven type matches that seem destined to have less crowd heat. From that, there could be interesting discussions on how that lens affects the overall performance and who should shoulder the blame. However, I didn't feel inclined to do so because in the fast paced world of modern wrestling now, it felt really dated and a thing of the past whereas stuff like AWE's Homegrown show and the latest Progress show were now being discussed. I definitely do crave a forum whereas reaction and discussion can be made on shows that are still current but yet new threads could be examined for someone that is just catching up on Evolve for the year and watching the January shows for instance. Twitter can be entertaining to me (to a degree) but I don't think it laments itself to the bottom line type of discussion I do seek out in wrestling. That is what really drove me to the indies in the first place and quenched my thirst for wrestling in 2001.

 

Also, I am a matches guy and I love Shoe's talking point that there are more ***1/2 matches now than at any point in wrestling history that is on tape, however there is less ***** matches and really high end stuff than in the 1980's and 1990's. That is something I agree with and shows the thirst I have and what I like to accomplish from watching older footage and staying current.

[donsem43]

I personally prefer using the Match Discussion Archive because I usually skim through full shows at best. Granted it's a bit out of the way due to how the board is laid out but it works better for people who come along later. They don't have to do a search and going sifting through long threads looking for others opinions but I'm not against anything that can create more discussion.

[shoe]

With the streaming services out there it's so easy to follow promotions in near real time. Their is a lot of fun wrestling out there.

[Gutenberger]

I gotta admit, I only follow the WWE on a consistent basis, because it's what I grew up with and DAMN it's WWE! But I try to keep track of a few other promotions, mainly ROH and WXW, which has it's base in my neighbor city and it's roots in my own hometown, so it's possible to go to their "big" events pretty easily.

But yeah, the dicussions on this board do focus largely around old school Wrestling. Which I also like, but haven't seen very much of. I always plan to dig into that stuff, but with all the current stuff, it's hard for me to find the time digging into that.

So, bottom line, I would strongly welcome more talks about current stuff.

[Boon]

Probably the best place to ask, but what's the best "catch all" streaming site for indie stuff? Highspots looks decent but wanted to make sure I'm not missing a trick?

[Loss]

The board only focuses on what it focuses on because that's what the posters choose to talk about. I have zero stance on it as an admin, other than have fun and talk about whatever you want as long as it's wrestling-related. As a poster, I encourage people to start threads for all types of modern scene stuff. It won't get siloed off into the WWE folder. I wouldn't mind seeing general threads that are a bit more specific though, something like:

 

- Current Lucha

- Current Joshi

- Current Japan indies

- PWG

- Southern indies

 

Those are just a few examples.

 

I agree that the TNA topic we have is not the best for saying good things. It was never intended to be a thread for all things TNA, but it just became one over time.

 

Goodhelmet and I have always wanted and tried to encourage people to start threads for things they want to talk about. When I've done so myself, I've been surprised at times at how many people have something to add after I do so. You never know what people want to see or discuss.

 

I wouldn't even mind seeing a thread on Current All Japan! Hell, even Current Chikara or Dragon Gate! In fact, the thought of those is exciting.

 

I'll also remind people of the Match Discussion Archive, as there is quite a bit of modern discussion happening there regularly.

 

In short, be the change you want to see.

[soup23]

Probably the best place to ask, but what's the best "catch all" streaming site for indie stuff? Highspots looks decent but wanted to make sure I'm not missing a trick?

 

I would say Highspots as most of the others are almost all exclusively tied to one promotion.

[jushin muta liger]

What I wonder though is there a disconnect among people that watch more modern wrestling in numbers posting message boards now compared to just a few years ago. It seems to me that more of your modern wrestling fans that aren't inclined to watch older wrestling don't even go to message boards anymore and mainly use social media as their platform.

Places like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit have taken the message boards, the chat rooms and the groups to the masses to where people don't have to feel a certain type of way when going to message board. I can talk wrestling, music, movies, politics, etc with people on a macro level on those sites. Being part of technology is accepted now where as it wasn't 20 years ago on a macro level. Granted I still post on message boards cause it gives a place for a longer more thought out views.

 

With PWO, the climate of the site skews toward older wrestling. It was not like that when I joined the site right when you guys broke off from DVDVR. But what Dylan coins the "footage explosion" era happened with stuff from the past being uploaded to YouTube and Dailymotion constantly so that a lot of people who didn't have the money to constantly buy tapes or didn't tape trade finally had access to footage. For me, I stopped watching wrestling as a whole around the time and when I came back to this site, it was great cause I was finding all of this stuff that I never knew exist. However, time has passed since I've started watching wrestling regularly and now I go to VOW or Wrestling with Words for modern stuff now cause I'm enjoying modern wrestling.

 

I heard Dylan voicing his frustration on the Wrestling Culture Reaction to the GWE Project before I went to work and I understand his point of view but I think the climate wasn't going to produce a wide range of thoughts on certain wrestlers. Most of the topics on PWO are on older wrestling. Most of PWO's podcasts are reflecting on older wrestling (which they are fun to listen to btw) The results were going to reflect to that audience. I missed submitting a ballot cause I got busy with stuff in my personal life. My ballot would've been different than a lot of people on this board cause I have different tastes. But I'm just one vote. It wouldn't have changed a whole lot in the results.

[Boon]

 

Probably the best place to ask, but what's the best "catch all" streaming site for indie stuff? Highspots looks decent but wanted to make sure I'm not missing a trick?

 

I would say Highspots as most of the others are almost all exclusively tied to one promotion.

I decided to subscribe to Progress, watched a load of there previews video and decided to take the plunge on them.

 

Anyone know the best place to start?

[fxnj]

I'd be for getting some yes/no threads going. I'm interested in Japanese indies but it's hard to find recommendations for stuff that's not WWE/TNA/NJPW so I just sort of watch what sounds good and it's hit or miss. Same thing for when I dabble in lucha. I agree with soup that it is a problem to have most places that discuss this things just being focused on anticipated matches instead of critical evaluation and it's why I really miss having the active yes/no threads from DVDVR/puroresu.tv/WKO for giving a place for that.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

I'm a 34 year old dude with a 2 year old, a wife who's four days past due to give birth to our second son, two jobs and other "challenges" in my life. I don't follow modern wrestling because 1) I don't have time, 2) What time I do have I'd rather dedicate to old-school wrestling that I actually enjoy, 3) When I try to tune in to modern stuff, I find most of it is garbage (IMO) and 4) the online discussion on the modern product, specifically WWE, tends to always end up turning into a giant bitch-fest about the booking and how awful the product is.

 

Personally, I'm glad the modern WWE talk at PWO is off on its own. I'd actually vote to have all modern wrestling talk off in its own folders. That way I don't have to bother with it on my screen unless I choose to click on the folder. That said, incorporating modern talk into the main folder isn't going to drive me away from the site or anything. It'd just be something else for the Larry David in me to get annoyed about

 

Edit: Modern wrestling is a good way to keep in touch with old friends. A few of my old college buddies still watch Raw, NXT and things like New Japan. It's fun to reconnect with them over a couple of beers and catch up on wrestling. But talking about the modern product on a message board......eh......it seems to always devolve into the same old bitching......

[Grimmas]

 

 

Probably the best place to ask, but what's the best "catch all" streaming site for indie stuff? Highspots looks decent but wanted to make sure I'm not missing a trick?

I would say Highspots as most of the others are almost all exclusively tied to one promotion.

I decided to subscribe to Progress, watched a load of there previews video and decided to take the plunge on them.

 

Anyone know the best place to start?

 

I started just at the beginning of 2016, it's not a bad place with the surge of Scurll building to his title match.

 

When I signed up Pete said to start with the tournament from the previous summer, but I didn't have the time. That might be a good place.

[Boon]

 

 

 

 

Probably the best place to ask, but what's the best "catch all" streaming site for indie stuff? Highspots looks decent but wanted to make sure I'm not missing a trick?

I would say Highspots as most of the others are almost all exclusively tied to one promotion.

I decided to subscribe to Progress, watched a load of there previews video and decided to take the plunge on them.

 

Anyone know the best place to start?

I started just at the beginning of 2016, it's not a bad place with the surge of Scurll building to his title match.

 

When I signed up Pete said to start with the tournament from the previous summer, but I didn't have the time. That might be a good place.

Think I'm going to start at the beginning of the year, and then go back to the beginning of last year.

[soup23]

I would say there are three tracks with Progress:

 

From the Beginning cherry picking matches of interesting and all of the Jimmy Havoc Stuff

 

Chapter 19 onward - this would be the tournament to current day

 

Chapter 23 - What a Time to Be Alive. This had some old feuds being put to rest (Andrews vs. Ospreay, guys like Gibson and Scrull find their heel footing, and the Lodnon Riots vs. SDS feud kick into high gear)

[Zenjo]

It's the same story on all the wrestling forums out there. Nobody talking about 2016 WWE and other contemporary promotions. Every time I go on hoping to see bitching, fantasy booking and crazed overreaction. And what do I find instead? Everyone banging on about that old shit all the time. Not just forums either. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube it's all 80's and 90's. There's no refuge from it. It's 2016 people. Time to bury the past and live in the present. It's not worse if you don't compare.

[goc]

It's the same story on all the wrestling forums out there. Nobody talking about 2016 WWE and other contemporary promotions. Every time I go on hoping to see bitching, fantasy booking and crazed overreaction. And what do I find instead? Everyone banging on about that old shit all the time. Not just forums either. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube it's all 80's and 90's. There's no refuge from it. It's 2016 people. Time to bury the past and live in the present. It's not worse if you don't compare.

Where are you going? If you want bitching, fantasy booking and crazed overreaction you can ALWAYS rely on wrestlingforum.com

[Ricky Jackson]

Yeah, it seems to me 90% of online wrestling talk is bitching about the current scene

[GOTNW]

I'd be for getting some yes/no threads going. I'm interested in Japanese indies but it's hard to find recommendations for stuff that's not WWE/TNA/NJPW so I just sort of watch what sounds good and it's hit or miss. Same thing for when I dabble in lucha. I agree with soup that it is a problem to have most places that discuss this things just being focused on anticipated matches instead of critical evaluation and it's why I really miss having the active yes/no threads from DVDVR/puroresu.tv/WKO for giving a place for that.

I started up the threads for puro on DVDVR again more as an experiment and a way for myself to keep up with the indy stuff than anything. If Loss is willing to create a subforum for it I'd gladly organize and run the threads for everything.