Long Time Wrestling Fan - What I'm Watching Now
I'm a long-time fan of pro wrestling, including puroresu (プロレス) and lucha libre. As a kid, I watched wrestling all the time on TV, and would hit live shows when I could - including AWA, WWF, WCW, and local shows around the Midwest. My mom worked as a personal assistant for several of the biggest Japanese puroresu pioneers, and I've always been big into trading tapes with other fans. Heck, I've even been slapped in the face by Antonio Inoki, when I was 7 or 8. Mexican lucha libre had always been a little harder to come by, for me, as a kid. For a while, I could occasionally catch an hour of CMLL on the local Spanish-language station, but it was often months old and never consistent. Eventually, I started finding more folks with tapes, and then WCW started adding more luchadores to it's roster. Today, thanks to various internet video sites, I can keep reasonably up-to-date on all the various wrestling programs.
I've always had mixed feelings with WWF/WWE, as they rarely promote the guys I'm most interested in watching, with rare exception. Sure, every so often a guy like Eddie Guerrero, Booker T, Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Jericho, or Edge would find a way to break ahead of the pack - but it always seemed like the exception. I'm a little more optimistic these days, as I think they've got some great potential in Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Miz, R Truth, Alberto Del Rio, CM Punk, and other guys who might not have had a shot years ago. TNA is largely unwatchable, especially compared to the programs they used to put on. I feel like I'm watching the final painful years of WCW all over again, as TNA overbooks their shows and undermines all their top talent in favor of guys well past their prime. As such, I find myself watching a lot more international wrestling and smaller indy shows. Personally, I think the best shows are either women's wrestling and lucha libre.
SHIMMER Women Athletes never seems to disappoint. They have pretty much THE ultimate roster of female wrestling talent, in any of the markets I watch, including Madison Eagles, Cheerleader Melissa, Ayako Hamada, Mercedes Martinez, Sara Del Rey, MsChif, Serena Deeb, Daizee Haze, Nikki Roxx and hosts more (who might also be doing double-duty in TNA or overseas). I don't get to see them live as often as I would like, but I get their DVDs all the time, and I've never felt like I didn't get the bargain of the year. They have A++ match after A++ match, the likes of which I used to only see in compilation tapes spanning years. Their storytelling is very good, as well, considering their format and lack of a weekly program. I'm not going to pretend I don't think many of the talent are super-hot, but that's just the icing on the cake. If SHIMMER were to get a TV program, they have tremendous potential to blow away everyone's preconceptions of what women's wrestling - even pro wrestling as a whole - can be.
When it comes to lucha libre, CMLL and AAA are the biggest shows available to me. I'm a long-time viewer of CMLL, but I find that AAA has the overall-better matches. Fortunately, I can catch AAA Sin Límite on TV every weekend, and most of their shows are on YouTube as well. I still watch CMLL, but just not as often, since most of my favorite stars are AAA (many were part of the Los Perros del Mal invasion).
Dr. Wagner Jr., Silver Cain, L.A. Park, Lizmark Jr., Octagon, Último Gladiador, Konnan, Electroshock, Chessman, Heavy Metal, El Zorro, Cibernético, El Mesías, Charly Manson, Damian 666, Halloween, Aero Star, Extreme Tiger, and so many more. And then there are the minis, and then there are the exoticos, and then there are the luchadoras... I simply don't have enough room to list all of my favorite stars in AAA, right now.
It's a toss-up as to whether I like SHIMMER or AAA more, right now. Really, I could truthfully answer either one, at different points during the day, for any of a number of reasons. WWE Smackdown usually comes in at my #3 spot, but lately it's been in jeopardy since the 2nd season of Lucha Libre USA: Masked Warriors started airing. It's still a pretty tiny roster, but they've managed to snag some pretty awesome talent. It's booked like a giant cartoon, and is totally entertaining if you don't take it too seriously. El Oriental (one of my all-time favorites as a kid), Tinieblas Jr., Lizmark Jr., Charly Malice (Charly Manson), Pequeño Halloween, Octagoncito 1 and Mascarita Dorada help give some lucha libre credibility, and the rest of their roster - including many young future-stars and veterans - manage to put on entertaining shows, week after week. ROH is ROH... I've previously gone into great length about what I like about Ring of Honor, so it'll have to suffice to say they're still very entertaining, and still among my top favorite programs. I don't get to see CHIKARA and Dragon Gate USA all too frequently, but they've never failed to entertain me.
Time permitting, I'd really love to watch a lot more. I also enjoy watching some of the dwarf wrestling leagues, since they've gained some mainstream exposure on TV. Half Pint Brawlers and Micro Championship Wrestling are both very entertaining, and have good upside potential. On a personal level, I have a lot of friends who are little people and I've been involved in the Little People of America (LPA) for years, so I'm definitely rooting for these shows as they kick their way into the mainstream wrestling media.
It's not all good news, as far as wrestling goes, these days. WWE RAW is very random, sometimes putting on good shows, and sometimes putting me to sleep - literally. Averaged out, over the year, I'd say RAW has generally been a little more entertaining than not in 2011. However, it's close... Really, if it weren't for CM Punk, The Miz, R Truth and Alberto Del Rio, I would have simply stopped watching RAW all-together. Just like how I've pretty much stopped watching TNA. I'll still catch some of the weekly reviews, but these days I just can't stay awake past the first 40 minutes. It's definitely not the worst program I've watched. Heck, it's often no worse than most RAWs. But, when you consider how deep their talent roster runs, and how good their programming used to be, it makes the current program so hard to watch. As I stated before, it's like watching the agonizing death of WCW, all over again. I sincerely hope TNA either rights the ship, or dies mercifully, as quickly as possible.