PWInsider - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, IT REALLY IS A GOOD TIME TO BE A WRESTLING FAN

As we end the summer and head into the Fall, I can't help but think that for the first time in a long time, it's fun to be a professional wrestling fan.  Sure, some of you may have been enjoying certain aspects of the business, but for the most part, the last several months have seen the business in something of a creative doldrums. 

Thankfully, there's enough good in just about every aspect of the business right now to get excited about:

WWE

While I haven't been a big fan of the celebrity hosts on Raw turning the Monday flagship into the Muppet Show, the reality is that the idea has gotten fans to tune in and most importantly, has gotten media outlets to cover the company when they might not have otherwise.  Sometimes you have to go outside your box to pull attention to yourself and WWE did just that.  While the other brands have been wrestling oriented, Raw remains a little too caricature and vignette based in my opinion, but even when it's at its most frustrating (Hornswoggle vs. Chavo), one can argue that WWE is trying to find the proper mix for Raw and there is a great crop of undercard performers including Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, Carlito, and Primo while names like MVP and Jack Swagger are trying to find themselves.  The return of Shawn Michaels is a huge addition to the Raw side, especially if/when he's moved out of the DX comedy role and back into the Showstopper HBK that makes him the best babyface in the business.  Raw always feels like its a few dials off from letting the talents truly stand out, but there's certainly hope they hit the right mix soon.

While I agree that certain names have been on top of the Raw side for far too long, the Smackdown and ECW brands have been great to watch.   CM Punk has broken out as the most vibrant new heel in years for the company while John Morrison has developed into a performer most fans are pegging as the "next" great worker in the vein of Shawn Michaels.  Jeff Hardy's farewell storyline was nothing short of great and helped get Matt Hardy some momentum under him as he returned to a babyface role.  Add the returning Undertaker, a "likely and hopefully will be returning" Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho's still excellent work and strides from Cryme Time, Dolph Ziggler and others in recent months and it's obvious Smackdown why is  the top wrestling show on television.

While ECW and Superstars are sort of the overlooked children of the WWE family, you can almost always count on longer, solid wrestling matches on these programs.  Christian is one hell of a pillar for the ECW brand and has good to great matches with everyone from Tommy Dreamer to Zack Ryder.  Since the summer began, ECW has built and/or showcased William Regal's crew, Shelton Benjamin, Paul Burchill, etc. stronger than they had been shown on the other brands.  Sure, not all of these names will ever be huge merchandise-movers, but ECW has made them more effective talents and gets the most out of their hour with a pretty limited crew and no "major WWE Superstars."  The WGN series is usually good for 1-2 good pure wrestling matches based on the few episodes I've seen taped as well.

When you look at PPVs, it's hit or miss to be sure, but WWE is trying to spice up the secondary PPVs by making them themed events with TLC and Hell in A Cell bouts.  Whether that will burn out those gimmicks or not remains to be seen over the long run, but WWE can't be faulted for trying to give fans more bang for their buck during a time period when the buyrates have slipped big-time domestically.

TNA

I'll come out and say it - for a long time, the majority of professional wrestling fans may have taped Impact or skimmed over it, but no one really paid attention and watched it.  That was for good reason - for a long time, Impact came off like a slickly produced third-rate sports-entertainment WWE knockoff.  Same names, only older.  Same style, only with more commercial breaks and with a format that always, always, always seemed the same and was frustrating for fans who were begging for something different.

In the last few weeks, with Jim Cornette helping to format certain aspects (brawls and the recent tournament) and veterans like Brother Ray and Taz giving their input into the creative direction, Impact has taken a complete 180.  There's been good wrestling, some great promos, a renewed focus on the importance of championships, an apparent ban on overdone finishes and ref bumps, a reinforcement of the X-Division, AJ Styles' emergence as a great babyface, a teased heel turn for Homicide and a focus on names who are being given the chance to stand out - from Matt Morgan to Hernandez to Doug Williams to Motor City Machineguns.  Now, not all of the names being given the chance will make it to the next level, but at least they are being given that chance - something to work towards, as opposed to floating aimlessly up and down the cards while crowbarred into Gauntlets and multi-man bouts.

Everyone loves to vilify Vince Russo, but the reality is the last two weeks of Impact have been the brightest TNA has looked in a LONG, LONG time and he's been writing the scripts.  Whatever direction TNA is on and whoever is working with Russo, in whatever capacity they are doing it, I hope it continues to improve, because it feels like, for the first time since I can remember,  the company is truly heading in the right direction. 

We've always gotten great reviews of different TNA house shows and everyone knows how hard the TNA wrestlers work, but now, it seems like TNA has been able to find a good balance of those aspects of the company and putting them into good storylines.  Now, it could all go to hell at anytime, but right now, the expectations are high this recent trend might continue, and that's a good thing. 

BEYOND

Dragon Gate USA has gotten rave reviews for their first PPV and last night's show in Chicago was apparently just as good.

Ring of Honor's Glory by Honor card is insanely good on paper and their HDNet series, while admittedly before a small audience, continues to improve and almost always has a really good match. 

NECW has Comcast TV in January. 

The ECWA Super 8 is coming. 

Northeast Wrestling has some stacked Fall cards.

Those are just a few of the promotions I've mentioned off the top of my head.  SHIMMER, AAW, CHIKARA and others have been putting on well praised shows as well.  CZW is trying to re-position itself under new owner DJ Hyde.  One can feel that something different is starting to bubble up on the indy scene and it's going to be fun to follow.

If you like wrestling books, between the Mildred Burke and Gary Hart books, there have been some excellently written and researched books on wrestling history released of late, with a Rey Mysterio bio and Mick Foley's next book on the horizon as well. 

If you enjoy conventions, there is at least one major wrestling convention a month from now until the end of the year. 

If you collect action figures, Jakks are rolling out their last WWE dolls with a ton of great, unique names while Mattel is gearing up for their 2010 debut.  TNA figures from Jakks are on their way as well.

Even on this website, we've tried to bring our subscribers even more than before with more original interviews and the recently added Lariat archives.  Going through them as we prepare them for posting in our Elite section, I've been reminded of how things used to be, how much fun they were in 1995 when Dave first launched the Wrestling Lariat Newsletter and how different, yet similar 2009 is to 1995.  The business isn't on fire, but if you care enough, you'll find talents and shows you'll really enjoy while getting to follow the journey as names great and small try to find their niche. 

It really opened my eyes to how much good there is in the business right now, something that is often-times overlooked in favor of criticism and hopefully, you get the picture as well.  There is a lot to look forward to and be excited about the business in the next few months.  Does that mean that everything is perfect and there aren't aspects of each company that truly make me roll my eyes?  Of course not.  I certainly rant enough after each Raw about aspects I can't stand, but at times, you have to look out over the landscape and point out the good as well. 

As we head into the Fall, there are certainly a lot of things for wrestling fans to enjoy, as opposed to just getting disappointed over.  Be sure to find something you enjoy and enjoy it - that's why you watch, isn't it?

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

 

If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!

• Tweet