There is so much good right now in professional wrestling/ sports entertainment. From NJPW to WWE, to Impact, to lastly AEW. When it comes to AEW, there is only one thing that they have going on right now – the whole Jericho Appreciation Society and the Sports Entertainment Vs Pro wrestling. It shows how different the two are how sports entertainment is about the drama and the portrayal of story lines vs actual just wrestling and in ring psychology.
I will throw a disclaimer up as I am the only one from the podcast that has not been involved in the wrestling world what so ever. I was an actor for 25 years so I have the different view than the guys do.
Back to main focus here. State of wrestling. I don’t find it fair for me to talk about impact because I do not watch the product on a regular basis. I only watch it when we have a review so I will let the Canadian [Ed. Note: he’s referring to Resident Canadian Ryan Williams] and the Fatman give you insight on that. So there are times throughout my life where I had given up on the world or professional wrestling because I was going through personal turmoil or divorces to where I had to focus my attention on that part of my life. But lately I have been watching WWE for a good 10 years straight now and after while to me it got stale and watered down and for a while I stopped watching the product.
I have become more involved now that my wife has taken a liking to wrestling, as in July I took her to her 1st ppv. It had gotten to the point where it was time for VKM to go. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on his own terms due to situations that he brought on himself. So when he was forced to retire I knew good times were on the way. So when Vince retired out of nowhere it was a no-brainer on who his successor would be. HHH and Stephanie have once again sustained the title powerhouse for the WWE brand. There was a bunch of people that were let go due to “covid cuts”…..yeah, right – you had nothing creatively for them.
Since Trips is now in power, many have started to come back. Braun, Karrion, Scarlet, Johnny Wrestling, “Mrs. Johnny Wrestling” Candice LeRae, Dexter Lumis, to name a few. Oh, and one of my favorite returns are the return of Gallows and Anderson, and Brock. Creatively, big pushes are being given to Finn Balor and Kevin Owens. This also finally gave Dominic Mysterio his own wrestling life. That is probably the best storyline going on. Now, the white rabbit was done to perfection. Back in July, fan Favorite Bray Wyatt was surprisingly released. Well when HHH gained power he made it a point to get Bray back. And the way they brought him back was perfection simple as that. They now have the firefly funhouse coming to life. It is going to be so cool to see how they do and what direction they go with this.
Last but not least; in my eyes I saved the best for last. And yes, AAA has been amazing too but there is just something different about the far east federation of NJPW or New Japan Pro Wrestling. G1 Climax final round of pool matches followed by the semis and finals is probably some of the best wrestling I have seen in a while. If not ever. Anything thing that Jay White , Tama Tonga, Okada, Tanahashi and lastly Will Osprey touch turn into instant gold. They have Bullet Club, House of Torture, Los Ingobernables De Japon, and lastly, United Empire. The factions that are being shown on G1, Declaration of Power, Autumn attacks and Royal Quest is just unreal. Some of my MOTY candidates are coming from NJPW. Osprey should have been dead in March and instead he currently holds 3 belts and has put on some Gems with Dave Finlay, Okada, Shota Umino and many others. Then Zach Sabre Jr, and Soon to be returning Gabriel Kidd. Also the Stone Pitbull Ishii and Returning Young Lion Renn Narita are just straight putting on fire and hard hitting matches.
I am just going to leave you with this – Watch FTR vs Aussie Open of the United Empire…..you are welcome. In closing, this has been probably the best year in all around quality in wrestling in a long, long while. I can’t wait till our end of the year awards.
The “MAAAAAAAARK” Chip Willett
@SportsGuru728
You can find us here:
