Pro Wrestling: Somehow Both the Best and Worst Form of Entertainment

Everything else
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So I’m 36 this year and I just started watching professional wrestling. Even though I grew up in wrestling’s golden age in the 90s, I was never allowed to watch it (though most of my friends did). As I have gotten a bit older, I have become curious about it again, especially after watching Beyond the Mat. I started watching some matches on YouTube, especially AEW’s dark matches. Unfortunately, I don’t live in the US, so I can’t watch them on TV or streaming services.

I have some questions, so if anyone knows anything about pro wrestling, please feel free to chime in!

I know that the storyline is really important in pro wrestling. How much do you need to watch in order to keep up with it? If I can’t regularly watch the TV programs, am I missing out on a lot?

I’ve heard people saying that WWE has become stagnant in the past decade or so and that the AEW is better quality overall. Is this true? I heard that WWE has improved their matches recently and that AEW has lost some of their talent. Which would be better for a casual fan to watch?

Are there any really good matches on YouTube that you can recommend? The AEW ones I’ve watched have been a mixed bag, but some of the WWE ones are pretty entertaining (though they are not as current as true AEW ones).

Any other tips or advice would be welcome!

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So, I’m 35, from the US, and watched WWF from '99-'01ish originally. I started watching WWE again in 2015, then got tired of that and mostly started watching New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2017. I think AEW started in 2019, and I watched a bit initially because they brought in guys from NJPW, but to me it was still too similar to WWE, plus you had to pay 50 dollars to watch the pay per views which I wasn’t going to do.

I would say it depends on what you are looking for. The two companies you mention are definitely more focused on the soap opera type of story side than a company like New Japan Pro-Wrestling, which I would say is less hokey, while still being fun and silly because the wrestling is still mostly as absurd, but the presentation is more serious. AEW has taken some talent and wrestling style from NJPW, but they are catered more to a US-style audience. Recently I went to both NJPW Battle in the Valley in San Jose, and AEW Revolution in San Francisco and ultimately enjoyed the smaller scale NJPW show more. I’m sure I’m in the minority though as that AEW show seemed to be very well regarded among people who follow AEW closely. Also the New Japan show was particularly special because I got to see my favorite wrestler Sasha Banks/Mercedes Moné win a title.

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At the AEW show I took a picture for @tomchick of Bob Wire in action, waiting at ringside

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I imagine WWE is best for a casual fan because it must be the most accessible. WWE in the old days did rely more on physique than ability, but they have come a long way in their match quality. I think people could describe WWE as various degrees of stagnant at any point since the early 2000s when they had Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. John Cena and Roman Reigns have been the stars they have pushed since then, but the reception from the audience has been very mixed.

In terms of free matches that are out there I’m not sure. I know WWE does have a decent amount on YouTube. But the ones that come to my mind generally have some emotional backstory that I’m not sure would translate to a blind watch.

This is a great match, especially if you have a broader context

This is one of the best five minute matches but maybe needs the context of expectation

I asked the NJPW subreddit and got some links. I watched this first one which is a basic match, but a decent example of the style.

I’m happy to answer any more questions you have, @cpugeek13. This is what I managed to ramble off the top of my head.

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From the title I thought you were going to take up professional wrestling, so this thread did NOT deliver!

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Fighting With My Forum this is not.

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This is great, I love the more acrobatic, athletic wrestlers. From what I’ve seen, wrestling is at its best when the wrestlers are flying through the air or throwing their opponents through the air!

Really enjoyed this match (RIP Eddie Guerrero)

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Eddie Guerrero is one of the GOAT’s!

I have been in and out of wrestling for decades. I came back hard for the Royal Rumble - Wrestlemania 30 period when Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) Yes-movement was shining, and the NXT brand was full of current headliners. It was a real passing of the torch moment for the company, they pushed women’s wrestling hard, and it worked. (And the WWE remains one of the best women’s wrestling companies, AEW is sorely lacking in this department)… But, if you are watching AEW/WWE there are more hours of content live each week than you could possibly keep up with.

Currently on a break, I still catch stuff now and then, but the WWE really went into some boring storylines a couple years back, and it turned me off. It seems they have abandoned promoting younger newer stars over pushing aging superstars who are working part time. AEW also kind of had a rocky 2022. CM Punk, who came back, proved he was kind of a shithead who is hard to work with, left the company. Cody Rhodes left etc. Moxley was injured for a while.

Anyway.

You are going about it the right way. Just pick and choose what you want. Watch storylines, not brands. If you have Peacock, (streaming) it includes basically all of the old wrestling shows, so you can go back and watch stuff. Otherwise, you can also find some wrestling websites or podcasts and listen in to keep up with news.

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Our house is on team AEW. I had watched the Monday Night Wars and then fell away once WWE had killed off WCW. I’d never really expected to watch with any kind of regularity again because it felt like the monopoly and Vince’s dictatorship had basically killed the product.

My son and I just happened upon AEW last year and other than a couple of high-profile names from the past, the personalities were all new to me (I’d never watched any of NXT so I didn’t know the AEW stars who had come from that group who had not made it to Raw or Smackdown), and it re-sparked my interest. It’s a fun thing we can watch together and be amused by.

I’ve heard that the WWE product is better since Vince was ousted, but I’ve also heard it described as much more “talk show” segments versus wrasslin, so I’m happy with watching AEW presently. That said, many people have said that the current “Bloodline” storyline in WWE is one of the best things that’s happened there in forever, so your mileage may vary.

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Well, I for one am terribly disappointed this thread is not about your endeavors to BECOME a pro-wrestler in your mid-30’s.

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Ha ha – I thought the same thing. I believe there is small scale pro wrestling that about anybody can get into. It’s just local stuff with tiny crowds and probably doesn’t pay much. I see there’s an organization called Glory Pro Wrestling doing something at a local athletic club. Man, that is so close to being Glory Hole Wrestling – the imagination reels…

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I also thought a QT3er was going to take to the ring!

Anyway I do not currently follow wrestling, but I grew up closely watching the Von Erich’s battle the Freebirds in the 80s. This was some awesome stuff, and it all ended so tragically. There is even a movie in the works about it.

Apparently there are also full seasons of it on peacock.

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Sorry to disappoint all of you! I don’t think my chicken bone arms and dad gut would last long in a wrestling ring. Though I have to admit that watching all this wrestling has made me consider visiting the gym more…

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I’ve never really been interested in wrestling per se but I absolutely devour the behind the scenes stuff, particularly things like The Dark Side of the Ring. I really enjoy hearing the backstories and the intrigue.

On a sort of side note, The Territories, a collection of short stories/novellas about pro-wresting was really, really good.

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I thought the same. I was going to share this article:

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Zeroing in on this part as this is kind of where I’m at now. I’ll read show recaps but there’s just so much airing each week there’s no way I can watch it all (and honestly, if you aren’t super invested most of it is filler and not tied to stories that are going anywhere). In the US alone you’ve got WWE and AEW as the big players. Impact (formerly TNA) a tier below them with a few indies like GCW, PWG, MLW, and the NWA slightly below that - and not all with TV deals.

I’d recommend WWE as your first big foray. Wrestlemania (the biggest WWE event of the year) is in a little over a week - April 1st and 2nd - and they do a lot of video recap packages during the event to bring the new and casual fans up to speed. It’s also extremely easy to keep up with. Segments from weekly TV are posted to Youtube by the next day and outside of the US you should still have the option of the WWE Network which has a huge back catalog and live streams all the big shows, like Wrestlemania.

Triple H, who was a pretty big wrestler during that 90s-00s heyday was put in charge of talent and story when Vince McMahon (his IRL father-in-law now… yes, wrestling is weird) stepped away due to sexual misconduct claims. Things have been a lot better since that happened, even with Vince trying to weasel his way back in.

AEW is running into a bit of the “inmates running the asylum” problem that later WCW had. A few actively performing talent are also executive VPs of the company. That blew up spectacularly late last year with some backstage drama. AEW also posts up a ton of clips on Youtube, but doesn’t have the advantage of a streaming network like Peacock or WWE Network for back catalog - though it’s definitely something they’ve talked about and seems like a no-brainer for whatever service Warner Bros Discovery sticks with.

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Would you considered Kaiju Big Battles?

That’s where the real action is. I haven’t fought Dr. Cube personally, but I’ve seen him live.

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💯💯💯💯💯

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This happened on Dynamite last night, which was TREMENDOUS:

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I grew up with WCCW, despite being from North Carolina. Actually got to meet Eric Embry a few years ago. Really nice.

The one piece of wrestling merch I own is a autographed Jay White pic. Pre-pandemic I hit the NJPW shows that went through NC reguarly. Got to see a lot of their top stars, and the vibe at those shows was really nice and friendly. I also enjoyed CHIKARA a lot before they shut down.

I’m also team AEW/NJPW, though I kinda stopped watching NJPW when I couldn’t watch the Japan shows live anymore. CEOxNJPW was a watershed show for me back in 2018, was the catalyst for not just me getting back into fighting games, but also a journey of self-discovery which has been wild and fulfilling over the past few years. One reason I enjoy hearing about the hijinks of Kidd Bandit on the independents (talked to her a few times, given advice once or twice, she’s sweet.)

A lot of the best moments of my life are tied up with pro wrestling.

As for watching wrestling shows, if you sail the seven seas a bit, there are pretty reliable streams for AEW/WWE/NJPW.

Can’t rec the Kenny/Vikingo match enough. Definitely in my top 5 Kenny matches

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If you have a Roku, add the channel “'Rasslin” for a guy’s extensive tape library of classic wrestling, including broadcast matches from the 50s plus plenty of WCCW and NWA stuff from the 70s and 80s, plus random indie matches and a couple of girl-girl squash matches without audiences that must be for fetishists. There’s some WWF(E) in there too.

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Yeah, I saw this earlier. Really great stuff from both of them.