The Triple H Era

I am going to say something here that is going to shock everyone because it has shocked me! It is also going to cause many of you to call me a names or all sorts, and I sort of understand that. I have been a WWF/WWE hater all of my life. I felt that the WWF ruined the wrestling that I loved. I believed that the WWF destroyed Georgia Championship Wrestling, WCCW, UWF, and even Jim Crockett Promotions. I still stand by that. I wanted to legit cry when Vince McMahon won the wrestling wars, bought WCW, and killed it, embarrassingly so, on purpose. I loathe Vince McMahon. I absolutely believe he is an evil man. I hate the term "sports entertainment" with a passion I can't even describe. It legitimately makes me want to fight. 

Since WWF, now WWE won the wrestling wars, and stand clearly dominate as the leader of pro wrestling, I have embraced everything but them. From old Ring of Honor, Evolve, MLW, and many different indie companies, to New Japan, All Japan, Noah, Stardom, and Marigold, I got my wrestling "fix" anywhere other than putrid, disgusting, McMahon lead, WWE and their shitty "sports entertainment." 

That said, besides a few exceptions, I have never stood against wrestlers who were part of the WWE, or aspired to be. Of course it made sense to want to be there, get paid, become a star, etc. Just like in the 80's and 90's the WWE has always been full of amazing wrestlers! Some of my all time favorites were stars there. Men like Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, and Razor Ramone (my favorite Scott Hall gimmick) were major players there. Old school guys too like Paul Orndorff, King Kong Bundy, and yes, even Hulk Hogan, were the leaders of the WWF. But it was McMahons idea as to what wrestling was that pissed me off, and sickened me. So much ga-ga. So much stupidity, comedy, and insulting gimmicks and angles. Even as a child, when I liked WWF to a degree, I still saw how much better JCP and other NWA promotions were in that regard. 

Now we stand on the cusp of 2025 and I have closely followed companies like Pro Wrestling Noah, Dream Star Fighting Marigold, Stardom, New Japan, and All Japan for the past decade or so, just keeping an eye on the WWE since WrestleMania 40. Slowly but surely the WWE, in the "Triple H era," has been wooing me in. Oh they still do a bad angle here and there. They push Nia Jax, the worst mainstream television wrestler that I have seen in many years. They still use some unneeded backstage comedy, and for some reason still use the term sports entertainment (they have thrown the word wrestling in though, at least some)! But overall, in the past  8 months the WWE has evolved into solid, professional wrestling. Not just the in ring stuff, which has typically been acceptable to great, but in production, in presentation, in style, in commentary, in just about every way. The WWE has been so good in these past few months that when I watch my Japanese companies now, I am realizing that much of the hype I had for them was me seeing what I wanted, and needed to see. Let me explain...

While I still enjoy Pro Wrestling Noah and Dream Star Fighting Marigold, after watching months of WWE action, I am now seeing the polish and professionalism of the WWE style more clearly, and that has made many matches in other companies I watch look sloppy. No, not all matches, but many of them. The main event matches of these other companies are on par, or close to being on par with WWE main events, but most of the matches on these cards aren't even close. I never dreamed that the day would come where I would say such a thing, but I also never dreamed the day would come when I would watch WWE regularly. I understand that at any moment the worm could turn, and the WWE could go back to shitty sports entertainment and I'll be standing here with my Netflix account in my hand, like a fool. I hope that doesn't happen, because as of now, the WWE is the bet wrestling in the world. And no, no one has done anything to The Wrestling Snob. I've always been straight up with my feelings as I've chased wrestling done right all over the world. I continue to be now, with my honesty about the true industry leader today, the WWE, in the Triple H era. 

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