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Best Of Wrestling *Ongoing spoilers*


tiger_rick

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A thread to celebrate the best of pro-wrestling at the moment. Currently a great time to be a fan, IMO, with the NWA, AEW and NXT knocking out good TV.

AEW - I've enjoyed a lot of what they've offered from the start. I enjoy Dynamite in general. It has a good feel week to week, it's bright, loud and has great energy. They've done a brilliant job building the main events for the upcoming PPV. It's not perfect but they do seem to be improving constantly and have dropped stuff that hasn't worked. It feels so much more organic than WWE's main shows and feels like there's room for improv, errors, etc. It's not some massive novelty but it feels like WWE used to in a lot of ways. Chris Jericho is the best character in wrestling at the moment, Cody Rhodes is the best babyface around, love Moxley, Pac and MJF. Waiting for the Lucha Brothers to have a killer run at some point. And Skiavone is back and on top.

NXT - I've said elsewhere that it's a shame Vince had to turn Wednesday nights into a pissing contest but it's good to see NXT having a proper TV slot. I like that they haven't massively changed it (yet). it's true to what it's always been. It's a bit dark, slow and match heavy for my liking but the highs are great. That Balor turn is the highlight of the year.

NWA - While I'm slightly worried that the novelty has worn off, this has undoubtedly been a breathe of fresh air so far. A throwback that has just about stayed on the right side of the cheesy. The roster is horrendous on paper but they work in this environment. Most of them do anyway. the commentary is the best bit. WWE commentary is horrific. NXT might be as bad. AEW is better but not brilliant. This team of Galli & Cornette is pretty flawless. Dave Marquez is really good in this too.

WWE - Not gonna lie and say it's not absolutely shit but there are some highlights. Bray Wyatt's stuff all year has been terrific apart from a couple of weeks when it got the Rollins stink. NXT invading for Survivor Series is at least different at the moment too. I think it's generally an interesting time to follow WWE with AEW offering a major televised alternative, the Saudi shitshows, the XFL, Vince's advancing age, dropping ratings. It's an intriguing time from afar.

YouTube - My favourite thing this year are this guy's compilations of old WWF TV. Brilliant month by month treasure troves. Pretty sure someone's done some WCW ones too. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHO8RIhwvgKcK6GBV__cUsQ

So yeah, let's talk positives. Can be anything you like, obviously I'm stuck in my ways and don't really like indies, am not fussed about BritWres and not interested enough in Puro but don't let that stop anyone else

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The best thing for me is the amount of options I now have and it no longer feels like WWE is the only thing in town to me.

New Japan, AEW, Stardom, etc.

Hell I'm streaming a DDT show as I type this and recently found out that Dragon Gate has added english commentary to their shows.

For all the shit Twitter rightfully gets there's also people out there posting english updates for Japanese promotions. Was a great help during Ultimate Party.

I'm probably the happiest I've been as a wrestling fan in close to 20 years.

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Septmeber - Decemeber is my own wrestling off-season so I'm just catching a break until the season starts again on Jan 4th.

I've really enjoyed AEW, despite all it's glaring flaws and bad habits. It's been great having another weekly wrestling product to follow after Smackdown went to shit a few years back and Mauro crossed the line from 'Enthusiastic, charming' to 'Wank, Extremely Irritating'.

OTT played a fucking blinder with the David Starr vs Jordan Devlin feud. The blow-off was a classic that not even the most ardent Starr-naysayer can deny was fantastic. Pro wrestling at it's absolute best.

NWA Powerrrrrrrr, I will say has kinda won me over. With a few exceptions the roster is shite, and the "REAL MEN!!! REAL WRESTLING!!!" rhetoric is laughably see-through, but I still find myself slapping it on every week for some background noise. Obviously by that I mean I'll watch the interviews and angles whilst ignoring the matches, but by gosh are most of those interviews really good.

I tried to watch Beyond Wrestling's weekly Uncharted Territory show but I couldn't find the time. I'm absolutely gutted to be this far behind with no chance of catching up as it's genuinely a fantastic showcase of indy talent with proper feuds and everything. 

Other than that, I'm just picking and choosing a match here or there whilst staying well away from WWE and NXT. I'll be watching Takeover though as that's when I really get my shit together and take Mauro's gibberish through heavily gritted teeth.

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WWE - for all its faults, and fuck me there are a bazillion of them these days, they will always have my heart. I may only watch Raw and Smackdown via highlights on Youtube, but I do tune in for the PPVs and I love NXT. For every moment I enjoy NJPW or AEW or NWA, they can never replicate the near life-long connection that I have with WWE. I enjoy them all in their own unique ways. I still love the surprises they can throw out and I do genuinely believe they have a fantastic roster, even if they're not exactly utilised to their best sometimes.

NXT - despite the indyriffic style that they've come to rely on, I do feel like NXT takes me back to a (more subtle than NWA) more old school wrestling show feel. Straight, simply booking. Sure they get it wrong sometimes, but on the whole it's a very easy watch week on week, and they're VERY good at refreshing the roster. 

AEW - when they get it right, they get it really right. Jericho is having the time of his life at the moment and I'm loving every single fucking second of his journey. What a guy. Cody is also getting a chance to show what he can be when he's given the right material (even if it is by himself) and he's doing everything right that Omega is doing wrong. In general I just love the energy of the whole thing, from the in-ring talent to the commentators to the crowds. Enthusiasm can really make or break a product.

NWA Powerrr - it's just a joy for old school wrestling fans isn't it? Obviously their talent pool isn't the best but it's just fun and what's wrong with that?

NJPW - I made it all the way through G1 which surprised me but it really got me high on a lot of their talent, and I've really enjoyed following it as much as I can since then. Again it's a product that feels completely different with some of the best wrestlers in the world.

For me I've never looked for something to replace WWE. I've just expanded my watching to include a lot of alternatives. I watch more wrestling than I ever have done and it's all enjoyable in different ways.

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It's Pro Wrestling EVE's She-1 this weekend, and the first EVE show I've been too for a while. Even without some of my usual favourites involved, it's pretty much a guaranteed great time. The last two have been amazing. Just great wrestling, great storytelling, great atmosphere, and great times with great company, that's what live wrestling is all about

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5 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

AEW - when they get it right, they get it really right.

That's well said. I watched the first AEW PPV and thought it was overall terrible. I lost interest but have since seen various clips of matches and interviews which look really good. The bits and bobs I've seen I've enjoyed. I still find their hardcore fan base off putting and their shit comedy is arguably worse than WWE. And I don't like Omega or Young Bucks personally. But yeah, when AEWs good, they're very good. 

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6 hours ago, BomberPat said:

It's Pro Wrestling EVE's She-1 this weekend, and the first EVE show I've been too for a while. Even without some of my usual favourites involved, it's pretty much a guaranteed great time. The last two have been amazing. Just great wrestling, great storytelling, great atmosphere, and great times with great company, that's what live wrestling is all about

Mei Suraga is tons of fun if you haven’t seen her wrestle before, just full of energy and will put smiles on peoples faces, she’s also the daughter of AEW’s Emi Sakura.

They’re also streaming both shows for Day 1 live on YouTube tomorrow which I think is a first for them.

 

Edited by TildeGuy~!
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11 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

The best thing for me is the amount of options I now have and it no longer feels like WWE is the only thing in town to me.

I don't profess to watch a whole lot of wrestling these days, maybe 3 hours a week at most. But after years of the WWE being basically the only game in town, it almost feels like the WWE are yesterday's news and something I can drop altogether (as silly as that may seem to some).

I can only speak for myself but a video cropped up on my FB feed now of a WWE event in the UK, and my genuine knee-jerk thought was "fuck me, people still watch that shite?"

We live in an era where there genuinely are alternatives. If I want a "big time" feel in a proper arena accompanied by the comforting sound of the commentators I grew up listening to, I can watch AEW.

Meanwhile I can still watch 2 hours of Impact and be generally entertained by a company that I really would love to see succeed against all the odds and historic flack, and a completely different show in the NWA which looks and feels nothing like anything else on the market these days.

That's what makes 2019 feel so refreshing to me.

Edited by garynysmon
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AEW and NWA are the first promotions to genuinely garner a continued weekly interest from me since the 2004-2008 run from Impact, the latter has that old school feel of simplicity that shouldn't work in 2019 but totally does while the former managed to create a 'B' show with such a successful USP that it's amazing that WWE have never considered it before

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