It’s no secret that this writer despises the modern “super indy” era of professional wrestling. All the over the top moves that don’t seem to cause much damage just makes wrestling look foolish. I really tried to adapt to it, and actually managed to support it for a number of years, attending ROH, CZW, NXT, and other shows. At one point in time NJPW was my absolute favorite promotion, especially The Bullet Club. As time went on though, everything I had accepted got bigger, sillier, and wilder. Occasional high spots became constant, and no one was selling them, they’d just jump back up to take, or deliver, another high spot. It became eye-rollingly bad, and nearly impossible for me to take (i.e. suspend my disbelief, as wrestling fans say.) How did all this happen? Why did it happen?  

Between Vince McMahon’s killing of kayfabe in federal court, and his WWE’s “Attitude Era,” current day wrestlers got sillier, and sillier, but places like Ring of Honor, and Evolve held out for quite some time, presenting wrestling much like Stardom does today from 2006 to 2010 or so. What changed all that? I believe the arrival, and the eventual success of The Young Bucks changed it all. When the Bucks first arrived on the scene in places like Ring of Honor, and Evolve, they weren’t widely accepted at all. They were presented as faces, but more often received as heels, because of their look, and style. Matt and Nick Jackson were perceived as scrawny, no selling, Hardy Boy wannabe’s. At first I didn’t know how to take them, but when I figured out their gimmick, and what they were doing, I enjoyed them. Yes, I enjoyed the Young Bucks for several years. The Young Bucks used to be a rare thing, fresh, and different. They came in dressed in their Rocker’s style gear, and did all kind of crazy moves, and didn’t give a crap about what anyone thought. I saw them as “frat boy,” types, the kind of rich kids that think their crap doesn’t stink, and are better than anyone they have to “work” with. They came across as entitled, and juvenile. I thought it was the perfect heel shtick to have on the “indy’s,” and a great way to rock the boat.

A funny thing happened on that boat. As time went on the Young Bucks became more, and more accepted. Eventually they became popular, and one day soon extremely “over.” This created a problem that I never saw coming. While I was happy for their success, and owned several of their t-shirts, I never realized just how imitated they would be. Sure, looking back that makes sense, but I never considered just how much influence their style and gimmick would have on the entire world of wrestling. Soon many were copying their moves, and no (or quick) selling in hopes of getting over like the Young Bucks. Guys like Kevin Steen even started dressing like them when he teamed with them! Tough guy, slobby looking, street fighter, Kevin Steen started wearing tassels and teal colored tights… yikes! Soon what was once just the Bucks attitude (gimmick) seemed to be nearly everyone’s gimmick. Screw the traditions of wrestling, we’re “Killing the business!” I never dreamed that when the Young Bucks said that, and printed it on t-shirts, that they meant it.

Maybe you need more examples? I actually liked the Bucks being brought into Bullet Club. Their arrogance fit, and they need to be heels in my opinion. However, the longer the Bucks remained in Bullet Club, the more Bullet Club seemed to reflect the Bucks, it seemed to be “Young Bucks Club.” Kenny Omega came into Bullet Club as the cool looking “Cleaner,” with his trench coat, and sunglasses. Not long after he became sillier, and sillier, with he and The Bucks actually carrying brooms to the ring (cleaner, get it? har, har). Soon after that Kenny also adapted Young Buck style gear for many of his matches. Omega went from the bad ass “Cleaner” to another juvenile, silly, cocky, over the top, frat boy. Kenny Omega became the third Young Buck! Later came Cody Rhodes! Rhodes came into Ring of Honor as the ex-WWE guy that thought he was too good for places like ROH, and wanted to take out guys like Jay Lethal to prove it. I enjoyed that, and thought someone like Rhodes could really pull that off. Soon after though Cody was made the newest member of Bullet Club. His gimmick changed overnight. Now Rhodes was another rebel, a cigar chomping arrogant, silly, leader of the frat boys. The one who decided what pledges to the fraternity had to do for him, as he and his cheerleader wife laughed, and laughed, at their shenanigans. Cody became the fourth Young Buck! Adam “Hangman” Page then came along to the Bullet Club. Page came in a gritty, hardnosed, tough guy with a leather vest, and a noose around his neck. In a short amount of time he became another goofy, silly, wild move performing, frat boy. Page became the fourth Young Buck!

he Young Bucks, once a “different” kind of act in wrestling, that added some fun and levity to serious, hard hitting companies like ROH, Evolve, and NJPW, were taking over. Maybe because all the other wrestlers saw their merch sales and wanted in on the game. Maybe because many wrestlers don’t have the kind of mind it takes to create new and fresh ideas for themselves? I’m not sure what happened exactly, but I do know that Matt and Nick Jackson changed wrestling. Now instead of two Young Bucks, there are about eight of them, after you toss in the fact that they will feature guys like Joey Ryan, and Flip Gordon in their “Elite” videos. I think of wrestling like coffee. Some like their coffee black, other with some crème, and others with a little sugar. That said though, if you take a cup of sugar and just drizzle some coffee into it, you don’t have coffee anymore, you have some sugar sludge with a hint of coffee flavoring. The Young Bucks have caused my coffee to be that sludge, and ironically it is just…..too sweet. That's not "Wrestling Done Right." 

Every day I become less and less of a wrestling fan. Yes, the women do things right, but to be honest...that's not enough. There aren't enough women's shows to tide wrestling over. Stardom is the only company I know running frequently. Nearly everyone else is once a month at best. That's not the only problem though. Wrestling can no longer get me to "emotionally invest" any more. I always loved wrestling because it was a "combat sport." Even after I learned what a "work" was, and what "Kayfabe" was, I still saw it that way. It was a violent sport where I lived vicariously through the "workers." It was very much like "The Walking Dead" is for so many today. Everyone knows that TWD isn't "real," but by god it's presented as if it is. Many get so attached to the characters (workers/gimmicks) and their stories (angles) that they have real emotional reactions to them. The possible death of Rick Grimes tonight has millions on edge. That story (angle) is causing a legitimate reaction. That story is "viral." Wrestling doesn't even try to get anything like that reaction anymore. The WWE still does "angles/stories" but they are almost always horrible. They have an amazing roster, being wasted by soap opera writers and Vince McMahon's unwillingness to get anyone "over" in a major way. The indy's are simply matches. Promoters look for performers they feel will create a good match/performance, and try to book those wrestlers. That's all indy wrestling is anymore, and it's just not enough.

Why is that not enough? Well, because if I want to see a "combat sport" that's only about the best fighters (not performers) going up against each other, then there's no doubt that's MMA/Kickboxing. The thing that wrestling always had over anything else was the ability to make me care about more than just what happened in the ring. Wrestling used to make you care about each wrestler, and why they were fighting. It was never just about "lets see which one of these two guys (or tag team) is better than the other." Hell, even if there was a time or two where a wrestling match focused only on "who is better" it was almost always for a championship title, and today, championship titles mean less and less. I could argue that most titles in wrestling today mean nothing at all. Too often wrestling titles are placed on lesser performers because "they need the rub." Wrestling companies today are so bad at getting their performers over, that they often put a title on them hoping that will do it for them.

I am at the point today where if I want to see two guys, or women fight, just to see who is the better of the two, then let it be an MMA or Kickboxing fight. Why? Well, because at least those are real fights, to obtain a real ranking, to chase after a real championship, that really means something. Wrestling has gotten so bad today that not only did they give up on their ability to create story lines that elicit legitimate emotions from their fans, they'v even made most of their "cool moves" meaningless. The moves were something else wrestling had on all other sports. Superplexes, pile drivers, DDT's, and clotheslines were things you saw nowhere else! Today, these moves have graduated to even bigger moves like Canadian Destroyers, brainbusters (often even on the apron) death valley drivers, and an unbelievable amount of dives from the ring, to the outside venue flooring, sometimes even the cement part of the floor, without padding. The occasional chair shot has turned into multiple chair shots, kendo sticks, canes, whips, and even sledgehammers! The problem is that far too often these amazing, unbelievable, over the top, moves, don't hurt the wrestler on the receiving end enough for him to be pinned. No only that, far too often a wrestler who has taken a move (bump) like that, is back on his feet on offense, with no visible signs of having taken such a move.

All this just to say that my ability to "suspend disbelief" is as dead as the kayfabe era. I only watch wrestling today in order to discuss it, and break it down on social media. I don't watch wrestling for fun. I don't watch wrestling for excitement, and I can't even recall the last time I was able to live vicariously through a wrestler, or a wrestling match. If you took away my ability to analyze and break down a match, a card, a show, I'd never watch wrestling again. I believe that's telling me everything I need to know. I've moved past a sport I used to love more than any other. I hung on to the end of that rope for as long as I possibly could, but I slipped...and I've fallen away from professional wrestling, and the slapstick, variety show, parody that it is today. I'll be covering MMA and Kickboxing now, and discussing what's wrong with wrestling, and how it could be "saved" on my monthly podcast Jason and Adam Save The Wrestling World. What wrestling was is dead, and what it is...is something that wants to compete with MMA, and it just doesn't stand a chance doing that. Wrestling that doesn't want to compete with MMA is often the kind of wrestling that introduces penis flips, invisible bullets, wrestling dinosaurs, and male wrestlers wearing dresses with their hair in pigtails "just because". I've never had any interest in that garbage. It was a great 40 years as a wrestling fan, who even got to spend several years in the business. I'll always remember it fondly, but I have to get out before I completely start to hate the business I've loved most of my life. 

Killing the business doesn't have to mean the crowds are small. It doesn't have to mean ticket sales are down. It doesn't have to mean no one watches wrestling on TV, PPV, DVD, etc. When I argue that many of today's workers are killing the business I get ticket sale stats, and pictures of full venues for wrestling shows. What those of you sending me that stuff don't realize is that those things don't prove that the business isn't being killed by today's performers.

Since no one teaches about protecting the business in all these wrestling schools anymore, and the only thing guys that SHOULD be protecting the business do is kiss ass, and tell wannabe wrestlers to go make money, to go "get yours," we are left with guys that are selfish bastards, flipping people with their penis, shooting opponents with bullets from their finger gun, doing killer finishing type moves 2 minutes into a match, performing moves on the ring apron that are kicked out of, etc. etc. and then bragging about all the money they are making. Well isn't that special?

No one stops to consider the most important question of all. That question being..."What's next?" Seriously, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to consider that question. After all these insane moves, after the penis flip, and invisible bullets, what the hell is next? Since wrestling stopped being about stories, since it stopped being about psychology, and selling more simple moves, since so few can cut a decent promo anymore, or even begin to understand why they should be able to, everyone has had to top each other with their move set. A splash became a frog splash. A frog splash became a swanton, a swanton became a moonsault, a moonsault became a 360, a 360 became a 540, and a 540 became a 720. Then all of those dives became moves done from inside the ring, to outside the ring.

Before someone one bitches, and gives me dates on when those moves were first used, I know that isn't the exact way those moves came into being, but my point is still the same. The more wrestling becomes about the "moves" the more over the top moves have to become. Even though spinning three times as you dive from the top shouldn't really make a top rope splash hurt anymore, we have to put on a bigger show to keep the audience's attention! Now we see moves getting goofy, and silly, because they can't be taken any more over the top unless man learns how to legitimately fly. So instead of guys taking bumps off the top of buildings (well, except for idiotic Joey Janela) they are resorting to silly things like penis flips, invisible hand grenades, and bullets. Silliness also keeps you from bumping as much, like trying to find more over the top moves, causes you to do more of. The audience, now having seen every kind of dangerous, wild, and insane flip and dive, are awoken to how "fake" wrestling is, so hey...why not just laugh at it? The workers (performers really, because nobody really "works" anymore) have exposed it all so badly, the curtain's been pulled back so far, that now they create a slapstick variety show to entertain those that supposedly "love" professional wrestling, but are willing to laugh at how fake it all is.

I don't have much hope left anymore, but I am holding some out for places like USA Championship Wrestling, and All Japan Pro Wrestling, and even Stardom, as these companies are all business between the ropes, and don't rely on insane moves, or over the top "comedy" stuff to maintain their audience. Companies such as these still rely on selling "regular" wrestling holds, and moves, while telling stories in the ring. I believe this can still be done. Sadly though, I also believe most performers today are killing the business they claim to love by taking it somewhere that can't be topped. I believe most performers today are killing the business because soon there will be nowhere left to take it, so it will either stagnate and die, or get goofier than ever. I already barely recognize the sport I grew up watching, and fell in love with. Please don't tell me you love it too, while slowly strangling it to death. ​

​I’ve told my story more than once. How I grew up watching wrestling, mostly the old NWA shows on Superstation WTBS along with World Class, and the UWF (Mid South). I discovered the “WWF” when Hulkamania was born, and while I thought it was okay, it never compared to my southern wrestling (and I’m a Pennsylvania guy!). Back then I didn’t care about “work rate” or who was “getting a push” or who they “put the title on.” Sure, I had my favorites, and I got frustrated when someone I didn’t like defeated them, or beat them for their championship, but I never once even thought someone was being “held back.”
 
For example, I hated Jimmy Valiant, even as a kid he was too silly for me. Yet I recognized that he was good, or a threat, because of how he was presented. I didn’t really like that he was a threat, because I wanted my favorite guys to beat this silly man up, and be done with him, but I realized they would have a “fight” on their hands against him, whether I liked it or not. Today, like nearly all other fans, I get angry when someone I don’t like puts up a fight against my favorite guys because they aren’t as good, or their work rate is so much lower, or they don’t have the moves, or skill set that my favorite guy has. Today I get angry that better “wrestlers” (based on my perception of what a good wrestler is) aren’t placed higher on the card than worse wrestlers. Wrestling today isn’t about the perceived competition, even to those of us willing to “suspend disbelief” and forget that kayfabe is dead. Wrestling fans view wrestling much like they view fantasy football, or those less popular fantasy wrestling booking games. Wrestling fans today worry about who is “best used” and who needs or deserves a “push” over who doesn’t. As such, professional wrestling today has turned into an argument of best placement on the card/show than anything else. I’m writing this article to say that I’m sick of it. I’m writing this to make a pledge that I’m going to stop doing those things, and to ask anyone reading this to commit to the same.
 
As a fan of the old school era, I at one time stopped watching professional wrestling because it wasn’t the same. I wound up missing it, and returned. Upon my return I decided that I was going to fully embrace the “new era” of wrestling. I was going to accept the fast paced, less selling, modern professional wrestling. I’m pretty sure I even have articles on this site where I defend “flips and dives” and talk about why wrestling is new, and different today. At one time I was absolutely “All in!” During that trip down the rabbit hole, to “Wrestling Wonderland” I came to realize that anything went. There were no rules, no guidelines, nothing. In this “new era” anything goes! You see, in Wrestling Wonderland, since kayfabe is dead, there is nothing that can’t be done. From children winning championships from full grown men, after getting choke slammed, to men using their penis to put wrestling hold on their opponents, literally ANYTHING goes. In Wrestling Wonderland, of this “new era” nothing hurts in a wrestling match. There are all these amazing moves, flips, dives, etc. but few of them do any damage. DDT’s on the cement floor, multiple pile drivers, and burning hammers on the apron all bring ewwwwwwws and ahhhhhhhhs from the crowd, but they don’t end matches. Instead, matches often end with random roll ups out of nowhere.
 
Thankfully a return to watching the old 1980’s NWA shows from Superstation WTBS brought me out of the rabbit hole. Now I fully believe the only real “cure” to doing wrestling “right” again, at least in the United States, is to take it back old school. It’s time for a return to studio wrestling where top guys in the company work a lot of squash style matches, with an occasional match between two of the top guys promoting an upcoming major show. A studio show where wrestlers are interviewed between matches so we can get to know who they are, and what they stand for. In this company the heels and the faces will be clearly defined, and the wrestling will be psychologically driven. This means we won’t see spot fest matches with 8 false finishes, we won’t see insane moves that are kicked out of, and we won’t see a bunch of video game type of no selling nonsense. We will see wrestlers that you’ll come to love, or at least appreciate or maybe even hate, or at least want to see have their ass kicked. You’ll see good story lines that make sense, and aren’t so dumb that they make you want to denounce professional wrestling for life, and deny that you were ever a fan. This show won’t be able to bring in primadonna’s that will hijack the company, or hold them up, because they are “too big” to do what they’re told. This company will be filled with workers (wrestlers) that are all about doing business.
 
Is this company some “fantasy” of mine? No, it’s not. This company has been around for a long, long, time. They are taking the rest of 2018 to get better in style and presentation. My good friend Matt Riviera is a player in this company, and he’s the man that was behind TCW, Traditional Championship Wrestling, and as such I fully trust him. This company is “USA Championship Wrestling”, headed by long time, and well respected wrestling promoter Bert Prentice. Mr. Prentice is known for his knowledge and old school style. USACW is absolutely old school, studio, southern style wrestling. I don’t expect many of you to get into it. It’s not Ring of Honor, or New Japan. It’s not a spot fest show, it’s not full of fancy pyro and catch phrases, it’s wrestling how it used to be. If I can get a selection of my audience to give it a chance I’ll be happy. There are some of us that crave what we consider legitimate wrestling again and I hope USACW brings that to us. If this doesn’t work out, it will be my last foray into wrestling in the United States. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll walk away from wrestling in this Country forever, legitimately handing it over the “dick lovers” out there. I’ll be rooting for USACW to help me not do that, and to give a place in this Country for “Wrestling Done Right!” 

You can watch USACW's weekly 30 minute TV show below:

USA Championship Wrestling TV