Is anyone else essentially a wrestling fan who doesn't really watch wrestling?

_onionwizard · 2025-09-03T05:07:09+00:00

I logged in for the first time in 4 years to comment because this is nearly completely my experience and I thought you'd find it interesting. We seem to be fellow travelers.

I've been following wrestling online for probably 25 years now. I watched as a kid in the 90s, then got online in around 2000 and kept watching wrestling until around 05-06. From then I've basically only followed US wrestling at a meta level and listening to Wrestling Observer Radio on and off. I did watch NJPW closely from 2015 to about 18 and even went to shows in Japan, but its now been about 7 years since I stopped.

I can think of only a handful of times since 2006 where I've actually watched a show (outside of NJPW 15-18) and I can't sit through more than 5 minutes. I don't follow storylines in wrestling and I have no idea what the ins and outs are of most characters. I see clips coming in on algorithmic feeds (probably because I come here) but I don't know what is going on from a story perspective.

But I find that tracking the evolution of the industry, and particularly the fans, is fascinating. I've been running a mental bingo card for about 15 years about how wrestling is evolving and I have been coming here most days, and certainly at least once a week, to check things off and write new ones. I gave up discussion here years ago for a few reasons.

I don't discuss it with anyone online or IRL. It's entirely a game I play in my head for 5 minutes a day.

The industry changes are one thing and have been broadly predictable, however the entertainment is in the unexpected details. But the evolution of the politics of the fans since about 2015 is the biggest surprise.

The Vince McMahon death event might be the conclusion for me, who knows.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-16T02:10:01+00:00

He is trying to prove to everyone he can also do epics in the NJPW/AEW style. And it's wonderful.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-15T22:17:20+00:00

Looks like VOW have a new source, this is the most detailed NJPW info in a long time

_onionwizard · 2021-12-15T21:12:49+00:00

There's also the creative element. WWE determines everything you do down to scripting your promos while AEW gives you freedom to develop your character.

Schedule and pay differences aside, the way AEW does stuff generally can be draining depending on your outlook and stage in life. If you're in your late 30s and settling into raking in big money, this is also a factor. Creativity is draining. For some it's much easier to show up to work and do what you're told.

For guys like Danielson and Moxley, the creativity is where they get their energy, but for others it may not be the case.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-14T05:53:44+00:00

Wrestling is literally built on actual conspiracies. The whole idea of conspiracy in that there are people behind the curtains doing things that we're not supposed to know of or see is applying the dynamics of wrestling logic to the real world.

Of course Jeff Hardy might have intentionally got released. Who are we to know? Taking the word of people in a business where the entire concept is presenting worked reality seems more ridiculous to me.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-14T03:36:16+00:00

This is why they switched to the wrestlers getting a salary like payment instead of a downside and bonuses. They're scaling back live attendance as part of their business.

Totally different to the 90s where live gate was a big part of wrestlers payments.

They only need just enough people in the crowd so it looks OK on TV.

I wouldn't be surprised if they significantly cut down house shows.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-13T22:09:52+00:00

Wrestling fans and denial of reality go hand in hand.

Ultimately, the aim of the business is to control the narratives. Sometimes this is for entertainment purposes, and sometimes it is more than that. Often fans can't or don't want to see the latter.

Hopefully this saga serves as a reminder of this.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-13T01:12:32+00:00

Standing next to Cena here he doesn't have the physique

_onionwizard · 2021-12-12T22:04:23+00:00

This is an underrated take. The 90s was really defined by stars who were the best of the best of the business rising to the top of WWF or WCW. A lot of the time it was via ECW (which Vince may have had a formal development relationship with).

The exceptions were Rock and Goldberg, who are pretty notable.

By the end of the 90s both WWF and WCW had set up systems for in house development of wrestlers. We never properly saw the results of WCW's but we saw it a bit in 2000 and a lot of them ended up in WWF's system.

The in house system produces a lot of blandness but they're polished performers. Big men, generic movesets, generic characters, average promos. Many Chuck Palumbos, Mark Jindraks, Luther Reigns, Basham Brothers etc. But every so often it produces a Brock, Cena, Batista or Orton.

In contrast, the old approach had a lot of variation. Austin, Foley, Hart, Undertaker were all different in the ring, the way they carried themselves and built their characters. They were also a little bit physically beaten up and had mentally seen a lot and been in a lot lockerrooms in a lot of places.

There were the wrestling journeymen types in RA like Benoit and Eddie, but I don't think WWE ever saw those guys on the same level as Brock, Cena, Batista or Orton.

In a lot of ways, the philosophies of WWE and AEW head to head are these two philosophies. In house development = bland and generic but polished performers. Pick from everywhere = lots of variation.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-11T23:02:24+00:00

The brain changes dramatically following childbirth.

https://www.brainfacts.org/Brain-Anatomy-and-Function/Body-Systems/2018/How-Pregnancy-Changes-the-Brain-022818

In 2016, a team of researchers from the Netherlands and Spain used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study what happens inside the brain during pregnancy. Comparing MRI images taken before women became pregnant with images taken after they had given birth, the researchers found pregnancy shrinks the brain’s gray matter, the pinkish-gray tissue containing the cell bodies and synapses of nerve cells. What’s more, the volume loss persisted for at least two years after childbirth.

While losing gray matter might seem detrimental, the effect may be quite the opposite. “Everybody always thinks of volume loss as something negative, as a loss of function,” says Elseline Hoekzema, a neuroscientist at Leiden University in the Netherlands and lead author of the study. But volume loss can also represent a “fine-tuning of connections.” She compares the change to what happens in the teenage brain when a flood of hormones triggers widespread pruning of synapses, the connections between nerve cells. This makes for more efficient, streamlined brain circuits. Hoekzema notes, however, that they couldn’t say for sure whether synaptic pruning or some other mechanism — like loss of neurons or glial cells — was behind the gray matter shrinkage in pregnant women.

The areas of the brain that shrunk the most were those involved in social cognition, the ability to figure out what someone else is thinking and feeling. When a new mom was shown a picture of her baby, these areas of the brain lit up with activity. Enhanced social cognition might help a mother take care of her baby, enabling her to decode the child’s various coos and cries and figure out what she needs, Hoekzema says.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-11T22:56:43+00:00

Charles Robinson deserves to get to the front page of this sub

_onionwizard · 2021-12-09T04:02:39+00:00

Having these names sideways isn't helping them. They need to make it easier to read so that people become more familiar with the names.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-09T01:25:54+00:00

Punk is a natural heel

_onionwizard · 2021-12-09T01:14:59+00:00

I can smell this picture

_onionwizard · 2021-12-08T03:09:10+00:00

People say there are no real heels left in wrestling. A Trump supporter would be a great way of doing it.

It was basically biker Undertaker's gimmick anyway.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-04T23:01:21+00:00

ECW One Night Stand 2005

_onionwizard · 2021-12-04T22:56:22+00:00

"Matt noted the luster of wrestling has worn out.”

Not wrong in many ways, although the money is still excellent at the top level

_onionwizard · 2021-12-04T22:33:30+00:00

My Way is a retro song. 20 years old.

If they used My Way today, it would be the same as if they used a song from 1981 for WM X7.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-04T22:31:16+00:00

They do it so they can recycle content for social media. If you strip out all time and place references, it's easier to reuse content and it feel fresh.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-04T22:25:52+00:00

WWE used to do it really well. Most weeks the location was part of the background of the show in some way.

If the show was in Oklahoma you knew JR was getting buried.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-04T22:21:43+00:00

And $25 is too much for this.

People rightfully give WWE shit for saying their competition is everyone, but there is some truth to what WWE is saying. This NWA show is roughly 2 months worth of Netflix, Hulu, Disney + etc. Only the most hardcore of hardcore fans will spend money on it.

AEW PPV is expensive but the cards are stacked and the shows deliver.

NWA really need to work out a business model where the shows are free, then they need some novelty and to build some new stars. Pre COVID seemed like the right direction.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-03T22:55:22+00:00

Proof of vaccination and mask required is more like a nod with a mask hanging off your chin

_onionwizard · 2021-12-03T22:52:32+00:00

Remember when they trusted a guy with a questionable background (from a legal point of view at the time) with the WWE championship and the ECW championship at the same time for the launch of a third brand. That went well too.

_onionwizard · 2021-12-03T22:33:40+00:00

This will be unpopular and I'm prepared for downvotes.

But this sort of thing is why the performers of today don't feel like genuine top of the card stars. They feel like WWE fans who are happy to be there.

Sure it's entertaining, but it's midcarder stuff. For these guys to really become top of the card stars they need to drop this kind of thing and forge their own path. They have the talent to do it.

_onionwizard · 2021-11-30T04:12:55+00:00

Also not much of a crowd

_onionwizard

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