Each and every year, since the demise of the NWA’s “Jim Crocket Promotions,” Adam Leavelle has devoted his time looking for what he calls “Wrestling Done Right.” Along the way he’s dubbed a few companies just that. Companies like Ring of Honor, Major League Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and one of the several independent wrestling companies Adam worked for, Legacy Wrestling. Sadly, Legacy went out of business, and the other companies that had that mantle bestowed upon them, couldn’t stay on that track completely. As such, while Adam gave his support to those companies, he also still proudly embraced “The Wrestling Snob” moniker because no one company would devote itself fully to “Wrestling Done Right.” For all the “Foundations” out there, all the Gresham’s, Hammerstone’s, and Jay White’s, there were clowns (sometimes literally), no selling Luchadores, and comedy “acts’ that promoters just had to insert onto their shows in the name of wrestling being for “everybody.” Around five years ago, sometime in 2017, Adam discovered the historical promotion, still doing shows in Japan, Pro Wrestling Noah. For some time “The Wrestling Snob” found great relief, and encouragement in Noah. The only problem was that finding their shows was difficult. Often, when you could find them, they would be weeks, or sometimes even months old. Even then, you couldn’t find all of their shows, only some of the bigger shows here and there. Frustrated, Adam gave up, and just continued to watch what he could, often fast forwarding way too much. Finally, in 2021, Adam discovered that “Wrestle Universe” carried nearly every Pro Wrestling Noah show, and what they didn’t carry, the Japanese television station, ABEMA carried. Both Wrestle Universe, and ABEMA have subscription models that would allow Adam to watch every single Pro Wrestling Noah show! After a few months of getting back onboard “The Ark,” Adam knew this is what he’d been looking for since 1988, the year JCP sold to Ted Turner, and began going downhill. Yes, there were a few more good years left after Turner purchased JCP, but the writing was on the wall. Adam suspected that the day would shortly come where the cartoon like WWE would “win” the wrestling war in America, and he would have to search for “wrestling done right” amidst tons of wrestling “ga-ga.” While being “The Wrestling Snob” was fun on some level, it also got tiresome, and sometimes even depressing. Having absolutely loved professional wrestling since he was seven years old (1977) Adam feared it had died, and what many were calling “evolved” was actually a metamorphosis into something else entirely. This is where boarding the Ark, Pro Wrestling Noah, saved Adam, and the wrestling business, and lead “The Wrestling Snob” down the path of redemption. No longer “angry” or “frustrated,” Adam has now found intelligent wrestling, he has found wrestling that makes sense, and is presented like a sport, matches that are showcased as “fights,” where the wrestlers look like they are struggling to perform offensive maneuvers, and registering pain, and anguish when being hit with, or put into said maneuvers. Most of all, Adam has found wrestling where the pace of the matches are as realistic as can be, in the world of pro wrestling, with said matches being presented as if the wrestlers in them are calculating, and thinking of strategy in what they are doing, and how they are responding to what their opponent is trying to do. While thinking of how best to describe this paragraph as shortly as possible, Adam came up with his bio name on Twitter, “Noah Noetic Nirvana.” You see, Pro Wrestling Noah is a company that can be analyzed, broken down, and discussed in an intelligent, rational way. Noetic is defined as “relating to mental activity or the intellect.” Pro Wrestling Noah is a professional wrestling company where the wrestlers, and as such the fans, can watch, breakdown, analyze, and discuss the in ring product, thus…..”Noetic.” Nirvana is, simply put, “heaven,” or, better yet, in regard to Pro Wrestling Noah, “a state of perfect happiness; an ideal or idyllic place.” So as of March, 2022, Adam Leavelle, the former “Wrestling Snob,” hangs up that mantle and embraces N(3), The Noah Noetic Nirvana…the ideal place where wrestling, and fans alike, apply their intellect to professional wrestling. To say this in a shorter, and even simpler term, Pro Wrestling Noah is 100% “Wrestling Done Right!” The search is over, come aboard the Ark and be saved from the deep, murky, scary, waters of professional wrestling everywhere else. N3
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When Ring of Honor brought back the Pure Division, I was so excited that I was almost emotional about it. I covered ROH with a passion that I hadn't felt for wrestling in a long while. As ROH went on, the Pure division seemed to get less and less attention. ROH seemed to focus far more on "violence" and over the top, "car crash" style of wrestling, that's everywhere today. Now it seems that when ROH returns, the Pure division will be gone once again. I spent a decent amount of time promoting, and being excited about Major League Wrestling as well. I loved those times, and I miss what MLW was. While I certainly don't hate MLW now, they've just embraced Lucha Libre so much that it's difficult for me to embrace it like I once had. Don't get me wrong, I want them to succeed, I just really wish they'd get back to the show I fell in love with. A show that had Lucha on it, but it wasn't the strongest or the most featured part of the show. I support their singles champions without question. Alexander Hammerstone and Alex Kane are excellent representatives, but I miss the Von Erichs, and the Lucha Underground stuff is too over the top for me. Maybe MLW will eventually return to what it was when I was loving it, at least I hope they do. Thankfully, in the mean time, I found Pro Wrestling NOAH again, after a few years away. Wrestling Universe streaming nearly all NOAH shows excited me, as for the longest time I had no idea how to even watch NOAH shows, so I gladly subscribed. Now I watch so much NOAH that my beloved Stardom even pales in comparison. You see, NOAH doesn't do much (any?) over the top flippy stuff. They don't do much "super destructive moves" mid match that get no sold like it was a hip toss. NOAH doesn't have hyper (High) speed matches. NOAH referees enforce the rules, and don't get "bumped" in every other match. NOAH doesn't over book finishes of matches. NOAH doesn't have a super heel stable that absolutely must interfere, or ridiculously cheat in every single match they are in. NOAH's Junior Heavyweights don't have to work a video game style of match to differentiate themselves from the heavyweights. NOAH doesn't even need "Pure" rules because the rules of professional wrestling are actually enforced, and respected! Imagine that. I know the vast majority of American Wrestling fans today need the car crash style. They need some sports entertainment, they need overly excitable promos from the very few American wrestlers today capable of giving them. They need English Speaking commentators explaining everything to them. They need some ga-ga. But if you're anything like me, and just want wrestling to be presented like a fight, shows that don't make you cringe, or even feel embarrassed to be a wrestling fan, and you don't want to drown in the sea of ga-ga, know that NOAH has English commentary. Noah has an English Twitter. NOAH has an English YouTube page, and NOAH now was WrestlingDoneRight.com supporting them with "The Pro Wrestling NOAH Network!" The doors are open, I'll see you on the ARK. Wrestling Done RIght; The Pro Wrestling NOAH Network, has announced a new weekly Pro Wrestling NOAH podcast, coming to YouTube! Adam Leavelle, will host a weekly show, about all things Pro Wrestling NOAH. News, Reviews, and Opinions, all passionately delivered in a way that only "The Wrestling Snob" can! We will announce a start date very soon, stay tuned! Link here- Still under Construction! MOUNT ARARAT The Wrestling Done Right Network has been bringing you stories, coverage, and YouTube videos for the past 8 years, of only the best professional wrestling in the world. In that time, rarely has there been a single company that has dedicated itself to what WDR believes is "legitimate" or "worthy" professional wrestling. Having always been a supporter of Pro Wrestling NOAH, it wasn't until recently that WDR has had the full, and total access to NOAH as we do today, thanks to Wrestle Universe. As such, WDR has taken a bold, and confident change, deciding to focus solely on the one company in the world that has consistently presented, and promoted, "Wrestling Done Right," Pro Wrestling NOAH. WDR plans to still feature, and promote the few amazing professional wrestlers outside of NOAH, but when we do, pieces written about these wrestlers will be done so as a suggestion to Pro Wrestling NOAH to consider bringing in for a tour. Welcome aboard the ARK to all WDR fans and supporters. NOAH found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and Pro Wrestling NOAH found grace in the eyes of the wrestling snob! www.wrestlingdoneright.com As is always the case, when I manage to find a wrestling company (not just random matches) that I can support as "Wrestling Done Right," I have this desire to stand on a rooftop and shout all about it at the top of my lungs. Thinking that I am finding others such as myself, my passion can get in the way of me realizing that 98% of wrestling fans today no longer really like "wrestling." Nearly all fans today like silly, over the top, goofy, drama, where guys smaller than people in the audience, in jeans, t-shirts, and Nike's, participate in choreographed tumble routines. Most fans today love wrestling "moves," the bigger, and the crazier, the better, and instead of being frustrated when these moves do little to no damage, they actually POP for that! A sure fire way to get a "this is awesome" chant out of a pro wrestling crowd today is to have a wrestler kick out of a top rope Canadian Destroyer (or anything similar). When these "fans" watch something like Pro Wrestling NOAH, and see matches that have a good (slower) pace, and where selling is a major part of every match, and instead of it looking like a routine, the match looks like a struggle between two fighters, words like "boring" are always tossed around. Today's "fans" don't want to watch an entire show where every match is decided cleanly, in the middle of the ring. They don't want to watch a show where not one single table is broken. These fans don't want to watch an entire PPV quality show that doesn't have one single gimmick match. Funny thing, those type of things are exactly what I, and thankfully plenty of fans in Japan, and a few intelligent fans in America, see as "Wrestling Done Right," and I will hype, push, and promote it as if I was the owner of that company. That was a mistake tons of fans made back when Legacy Wrestling existed, so many thought and even told others, that I was the owner of the company, just because who could believe someone who wasn't the owner, would promote anything so heavily? Well, that's what I do for "Wrestling Done Right," and that is exactly what Pro Wrestling Noah is! If you're tired of wrestling matches going 100mph, if you're tired of nothing being "sold," if you're tired of constant gimmick matches, if you're tired of wonky finishes, if you're tired of violent gymnastics and want wrestling to look like a fight, then Pro Wrestling NOAH is for you! I have always been convinced that good, solid, well worked, professional wrestling has multiple millions of fans. The problem is, most of them have completely abandoned professional wrestling. I've been a fan of professional wrestling since 1977, and while the stuff that I loved is dead, and almost completely gone, the idea that wrestling COULD still be great, exists in my mind so much, that I can't completely stop being a fan, though I have come close, numerous times. While just about every major company over the last few decades have had great matches, none of them have presented that all of the time. Great matches always have to be surrounded by silliness, comedy, over the top, sports entertainment drivel, that insults wrestling fans that want it to be "done right." As of January 11th, 2022 the only two places where I can find "wrestling done right," are New Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and World Wonder Ring, Stardom. I would have once included Major League Wrestling on this list, bust for some time now, it has been a Lucha company, and Lucha isn't something I have much interest in. Ring of Honor's "Pure Division" rose up for a short time, and excited me like I've not been excited over American wrestling in many years. Shortly after though, the company went on hiatus, and from my understanding, when they return, the Pure title isn't coming back. While I love Jon Gresham, and "The Foundation," ROH's lack of support for the title they so recently brought back, doesn't inspire to me lend them a lot of support, but I am not saying I won't give them a chance, time will tell what ROH is going to be in April, when they come back. Rising up in the place of ROH, and it's Pure Division, is "TERMINUS," a new company started by Jon Gresham himself, and his partner, Baron Black. They recently released the rules, or as they are calling them, "Directives," and they have me excited, they have me hopeful, and they have me ready to embrace the company with every ounce of passion that I have, and trust me, that's a lot of passion! Take a look at the directives here- Here is the card for Terminus's first show, this Sunday, January 16th, 2022.
Singles Match Liiza Hall vs. Janai Kai Impact Digital Media Title Match Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Kiera Hogan Terminal Eliminator Four Way Match Invictus Khash vs. JDX vs. Daniel Garcia vs. Adam Priest Singles Match Bandido vs. Baron Black Tag Team Match Fred Yehi & Tracy Williams vs. Dante Caballero & Joe Keys Singles Match Mike Bennett vs. Moose Singles Match Jay Lethal vs. Lee Moriarty ROH World Title Pure Rules Match Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Josh Alexander You can watch the show on FITE I first discovered Will Ospreay in What Culture Wrestling, in his faction The Swords of Essex, and later in the Pacitti Club. It wasn’t too long after that, that the picture accompanying this article was taken, at a Ring of Honor show, in Philadelphia. Will was pleasantly surprised when I told him that I enjoyed his work in Swords of Essex, and we spoke about that a little bit. At the time Will was mostly known as a spot monkey style wrestler, by harsh critics such as myself, but I thought I saw something in him that could be more than that. I’ll admit, I started backing off of my fandom of Ospreay as the years went on because he didn’t seem to be coming out of the “spot monkey” stuff at all. However, I saw him take a beating from Matt Riddle in the midst of those years, selling so well for the former MMA star, that he won me over a little bit once again. When Kazuchika Okada took a strong interest in Ospreay, my interest was piqued once again, thinking that one of my favorite wrestlers saw what I saw in the young high flyer, and started paying attention to him again. It was at this time that Ospreay got caught up in a ton of social media drama, and while it didn’t cause me to stop liking him, it did deject me to some degree. Wrestling also was overly silly (in this authors opinion) during this time as well, and I was hardly enjoying anything. When I learned that Ospreay had turned heel on Okada, and formed his own stable called “The United Empire,” in New Japan Pro Wrestling, my interest in Ospreay returned, and I especially enjoyed him defeating the beloved Kota Ibushi for the IWGP World Championship. I was still not fully invested in any professional wrestling at that time, but this did start nudging me toward being a bigger fan once again. Finally in January of this New Year, 2022, I decided to embrace New Japan Pro Wrestling, watching Wrestle Kingdom with undivided attention. All of this short article to say that Will Ospreay is no longer a spot monkey. While I am not here to say his matches are always “fiver star classics,” or that his main event with Okada was one of the best matches ever (both kicked out of too many things imo) I am here to say that Will Ospreay has arrived at the top of the professional wrestling world as a solid worker in the ring, and on the mic. The United Empire is one of the most “fun” factions in the business today, and I always enjoyed Will as a heel, more than a baby face, and I will argue that I saw shades of the United Empire is his early work in Swords of Essex. I can’t even say that Will Ospreay is one of my favorite wrestlers (think Jon Gresham, Shibata, Okada, Ishii, etc) but Will Ospreay is worthy of his place in New Japan, and I hope he is in line for an eventual long reign as the IWGP World Champion, and that The United Kingdom lasts for many, many, years. World Wonder Ring Stardom wrestler, Hana Kimura, took her own life on May 23, 2020, due to cyber harassment, and bullying. Hana was one of this website's owners favorite modern day wrestlers. At only 22 years of age, Hana had her entire life in front of her, and was on track to becoming one of the best wrestlers on the planet. During her career she was an original member of Stardom faction, Oedo Tai, one of the most fun, and popular heel factions in all of wrestling. After breaking from Oedo Tai, she founded her own faction called "Tokyo Cyber Squad," that quickly became the hottest selling t-shirt, and merchandise seller, in Stardom. Hana Kimura had amazing matches with wrestlers such as Kagetsu, Tam Nakano, Arisa Hoshiki, Hazuki, and Guilia. Hana most recently held "The Goddess of Stardom" tag titles with Kagetsu (members of Oedo Tai) and the Artists of Stardom trios titles with Jungle Kyona, and Konami (members of Tokyo Cyber Squad). Hana was absolutely "Wrestling Done Right," and as such, our yearly "Wrestler of the year award" will now be titled "The Hana Kimura Wrestler of the year award." This is a small gesture, but wrestlingdoneright.com's attempt to forever remember, and honor, our beloved Joshi princess, Hana Kimura. As I keep working on catching up with NJPW, currently watching 2020 New Year Dash, I realized that NJPW caused a major negative in wrestling, much like the Young Bucks have. Japan has had less selling for decades. "Fighting Spirit" always gave us wrestlers kicking out of insane moves, and major spots (even things such as pile drivers off the ring apron). It was never that big of a deal, because it was pretty much limited to Japan. It was a novelty. It was different, and thus generally acceptable. Then it spread all over the world, and stopped being special, and started to come across as kind of ridiculous. Gaijins also just aren't as talented as making that style seem "real" or "acceptable." The Japanese have been selling that style forever, and others trying to do so comes off as a cheap imitation. In the same way, The Young Bucks used to be the only team that worked their style. It was over the top, overly fast, sort of like a cruiser-weight style on speed. That was their gimmick, special to them, and I accepted it, even enjoyed it. Then we started getting knock offs, copycats, etc. No one did it as good as the Bucks, and even the few that did, just made it too much. "Fighting Spirit" and "Young Bucks Style" were cool when they were limited. Once these two things started being done by nearly everyone, it got to be way too much. Now when you get all these "wrestlers' combining those styles, it's really difficult to take. Watching two big men no sell killer moves, in Japan, is one thing. Watching tiny little men do it, while also flying all over the place with no rhyme or reason, is just....stupid. In fairness, The Young Bucks are best at what they do, and the Japanese are best at what they do. I just wish those "styles" would have remained exclusive with those teams/groups. This is what makes me appreciate the catch style that wrestlers like Zack Sabre Jr utilize. It's different, fresh, and realistic. I just so wish that there were more wrestlers capable of that style. This is also why I absolutely love the "Bloodsport" shows. More diversity of ring work style is what we need for wrestling done right. |
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March 2022
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