As a child of the 70s and 80s, I watched a lot of professional wrestling. Stopped watching it in the 90s but got drawn back in a little later in the decade with the "Monday Night Wars". Stopped watching completely probably in the early 2000s when it became "stale".
Last night my kids were watching Monday Night Raw. Watched for a few minutes and couldn't take it. Scripted promos, lame ring entrances, terrible in ring work, cookie-cutter camera shots and backgrounds. Much more character back in the day and a lot more realism. Miss the grittiness of the wrestling territories. WWF/WWE really killed the golden goose when they admitted it was all a work.
For those too young to remember, here's a clip of a match from Florida Championship Wrestling involving Kevin Sullivan and Blackjack Mulligan (Brey Wyatt's grandfather). Sullivan was working the "satanic' gimmick and was accompanied by Woman (the late Nancy Benoit). He also had a motley crew of characters known as the Army of Darkness. Due to the pc culture, no way you could do this ring entrance today. Today's business is for the kids, while back in the day it was for the grownups.
I've been a HUGE "wraslin" fan for years. Back to the time of Sunday morning "All-Star Wrestling" days. Considered myself a fan up to a few years ago. When Stone Cold, The Rock, Jericho, Edge, etc left, so did I, ESPECIALLY when the WWE decides to make that clown CM Punk it's "face". Thought TNA was REALLY good for a while, but that didn't last long. LOVED the old ECW days. Problem is anyone who has talent or charisma is signed by the WWE. ROH had most of it's stars leave for NXT (which is honestly about the nest thing going now).
Wrestling used to be about loving the good guys and hating the bad guys. Either case, you watched. Now both good and bad are more turn the channel irritating then anything.
Similar to CliftonAve, I'm old school when it comes to watching wrestling and lost interest once the WWE became huge in the 90's. However, I recently found a "league" I enjoy that my teenage daughter also gets a kick out of [pardon the pun]. It is New Japan Pro-Wrestling based out of Tokyo. It has Japanese and American wrestlers not on 'roids and with more lean, athletic builds. The matches are long but feature a lot of acrobatic moves and jumps. I laugh out loud at the names they come up with for some of the moves and holds. Here's some highlights with Japanese announcers...
New wrestling company coming out, and it could be better than WWE.
AEW or All Elite Wrestling
The President of the company is Tony Khan with his father Shahid put a lot of money into it. The Khans are owners of Jacksonville Jaguars. Also involved in the formation are Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, and Brandi Rhodes.
Wrestlers signed on.
Chris Jericho
Cody Rhodes
Frankie Kazarian
Adam Page
Joey Janela
Jack (The Jungle Boy) Perry (actor Luke Perry's son)
Maxwell Jacob Friedman
The Young Bucks
Pac
Scorpio Sky
Brandi Rhodes
Dr. Britt Baker
Penelope Ford
Announcing team is being reported that Jim Ross and Mike Tenay.
A lot of big name wrestlers want to jump ship from WWE, and others could oldsters could join them. AEW is paying more for their wrestlers.
Backstage personal, Billy Gunn, B. J. Whitmer and Jeff Jones.
Rumors who could join them.
CM Punk
Dolph Ziggler
The Revival
Zack Rhyder
Dash Wilder
Sasha Banks
Tye Dillinger
Andrade
Mike and Maria Kannelis
Kenny Omega
Tommy Dreamer
Shinsuke Nakamura
The Good Brothers
Mauro Ranallo
Paige
AJ Styles
Darren Young
Bray Wyatt
Dana Brooke
Finn Balor
Chelsea Green
Flip Gordon
Bully Ray
Marty Scurll
Joey Ryan
Kharma/Awesome Kong (newer version of Matilda The Han from GLOW of the 1980s. She is on the Netflix revival od GLOW.
Tessa Blanchard
Goldberg
Ronda Rousey
Alicia Atout
Other free agent super stars from the past not seen for a long time could join. Some from the 1980s like Harlem Heat, Rick Flair, Hulk, The Stiener Brothers and more. Sorry, Sting can't wrestle anymore. Vince nearly killed him.
It is reported that TBS would be showing AEW on Tuesday. The wrestling would be different. It should be going away from the junk WWE is showing.
AEW almost bought out Impact Wrestling (TNA) that Jeff Jarrett created.
AEW are signing wrestlers from wrestling orgs from Japan, Mexico and China. There is one WWE reject. Chris Jericho
Some ROH stars like The Young Bucks.
I would like to see the Original Chairman of the Board here. La Parka is very interested wrestler. Those Lucedores are fun to watch.
Would like to see Awesome Kong now called Welfare Queen in G.L.O.W to help push the young talent. Seen some of her awesome videos on Youtube, and she is sweet and funny. The exact opposite of her in ring persona.
Yes. Wrasslin' today is garbage. It went south after the great WWF/WCW feud of the 90's.
There is a great series called, "Dark Side of the Ring" that airs on Viceland on Wednesday nights. The show does a great job of documenting the various scandals throughout the history of professional wrestling. Not a fan of the network, but the show is good. Anyone that loved wrestling should check it out.
Double or Nothing AEW was a hit, and they sold out their stadium. WWE is having issues of selling out.
AEW just signed Jon Moxley or better known as Dean Ambrose.
Awesome Kong showed up as a 4 way women's wrestling match. She got a big pop from the fans. The interesting part the card and some clips and TNT pre-show had the women remind me of G.L.O.W. of the 1980s.
Tye Dillenger now known as Shawn Spears appeared in the battle royal match who got eliminated by a guy with no legs.
