A Golden Age of Wrestling?

[bigfoote]

I think it depends on your definition of "golden age". In terms of accessibility, we've never had it better. With the Network, NJPW World, and other PoD services, fans from around the world can now watch what they want, when they want. I found out that WrestleCircus now stream on Twitch, so even money isn't an issue to see some indy wrestling. With that expansion into the internet, it means promotions will now cast their net wider for fly-ins, giving more diverse matches and styles that aren't hidden away in some school gym to 50 people.

[unfitfinlay]

15 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

Talking from the point of view of the WWE, the focus on providing endless amounts of high standard matches rather than providing a more story-line based TV show that people can sink their teeth into is a little bit bizarre, especially when you think back to the 'we make movies' Vince type speeches. Somewhere along the line that theory got lost and the WWE just seem to continually churn out material/matches that it feels like you've seen a hundred times before, it all feels very lazy. PPV standard matches on Raw/Smackdown used to be a bit of a treat, nowaways they happen every week, i don't get that.

 

Isn't the idea to make it easier to sell to non-English speaking countries?

A 20 minute match really speaks for itself, and it's easy enough to hire a couple of blokes to commentate on it. A more engaging, story-line driven product would be much harder to translate.

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

I always compare watching WWE to watching Doctor Who over the past few years. You sit through countless episodes that range from crap to mediocre, wondering why you bother, one comes along that's so god-awful that you think, "that's it, I'm done with this shit", only for them to sucker you back in with something good enough that you'll keep watching and push all the crap to the back of your mind, and then you start the process all over again.

See the difference for me is that Doctor Who is an hour a week for a small part of the year. WWE's just overwhelming nowadays and, personally, it just doesn't feel like it's worth the investment anymore. There's been too many storylines over the past decade that have had me gripped and then just went nowhere.

A huge part of it is the tunnel vision that wrestlers develop where they can only focus on who they are feuding at this point in time, with everything that happened previously just being forgotten. If nothing that happens has any real consequence then why should I bother watching?

I haven't watched in ages right enough so things might've improved since the brand split.

[Egg Shen]

1 hour ago, unfitfinlay said:

Isn't the idea to make it easier to sell to non-English speaking countries?

A 20 minute match really speaks for itself, and it's easy enough to hire a couple of blokes to commentate on it. A more engaging, story-line driven product would be much harder to translate.

 

well if that is the case, that fucking sucks.

[Guest]

It's a golden age for access to  so much content worldwide for relatively little expense. Live shows wise in the UK quality has risen so much, and I have been to 29 shows so far this year, and none have I left thinking I didn't get my monies worth from. have stopped watching wwe as realised its not for me Anymore, so why waste 10 hours a week I can spend more productively? Going to live shows has woken up my love of wrestling more than anything has before. 

 

On the downside, I think we live in the dark ages for people who stay interested in wrestling just to be negative about everything going. Plus some crowd particpations activities suck, like the ten count thing, and 1,2...sweeeeet shite as well. And fans who take wwe belts to Indy shows. They can fuck off as well 

[westlondonmist]

A good wrestler should be able to have a good character and work that into their matches to make a great match. I think LIJ are the best at that, their characters almost create a format for their matches. While you may not like someone like Grado, he often will work his character into the match making it great to watch.

I have gone to a lot more wrestling shows in the last 2 years than previously. However I think I am even starting to get a bit sick of that. I go to RPW mainly, the work rate no doubt is amazing but the thing I enjoy about it mostly to be honest is the NJPW wrestlers. I wasn't going to go to Summer Sizzler until Mysterio was announced. Then again I aways go on periods where I just forget about wrestling. I have found a lack of character in many of the Brit wrestlers and also many of their imports. I find Sabre Jr bland, he has no character so never sure what reason I have to get behind him and cheer his name in matches. I feel the same about Ospreay, although some of his matches can be excited so am happier to watch him. Dunne is great, but he will be off the indy scene soon enough.

I went to a Lucha Libre World show on Friday and while many would not see the work rate as **** plus I think it was great as the matches really pulled you in (especially Cassius/Cassandro vs Puro Britannico/El Hijo De Fishman which I would give **** plus due to how much they pulled me in despite never seeing any of them before). Also this show didn't involve the same annoying fan stuff that Louch mentioned (although a fan did get kicked out for getting in the ring).

You could argue it is in a golden age as WWE has found ways to make more money using the network, New Japan are getting the highest revenues they have had in years. However TV viewings are going down steadily I believe and how many new fans will still be fans in 10 years? When I am in my 40's will I give a shit about wrestling? Not sure. When new fans leave and less and less fans come into replace them then eventually even companies like WWE will have problems.