In surveying the professional wrestling landscape in 2014, one of the most important aspects of the business we’re dealing with is change. Change is everywhere you look. Chikara is back after a year long absence. Regardless of the storylines and circumstances, Chikara is going to be a huge factor in the world of independent wrestling the rest of the year. AAW is getting a weekly show on the Roku channel, Maddy GTV. AIW continues to pursue the best independent talent available and has made upgrades to their physical presentation. Ring of Honor recently announced a mini-tour with New Japan and been able to incorporate AJ Styles and Chris Hero back into the indies thanks to the incompetence of other indie companies. WWN has upgraded their iPPV and continues to showcase a rising roster of young wrestlers. Then there’s the WWE Network, which opens up a whole new can of worms.
This leads to what we do here at Pro Wrestling Ponderings. If we’re not making changes and evolving right along with the world of pro wrestling, then we’re at risk of burning out and becoming stagnant. Let’s explore what we’ve done over the last five years. The fact that we’re able to have relationships with multiple companies and wrestlers is pretty incredible. We are a central hub of independent wrestling results every weekend as the numbers will bear out. I’m more comfortable with our podcasts than ever. Kevin Ford’s Fan-to-Fan is a very fun listen week-to-week and has allowed some great people in wrestling to discuss their backgrounds as fans. I’m glad we syndicate Kevin Harvey’s School’s In podcast since it’s a unique look at the world of wrestling. It’s also been a chance to hear from a lot of people in wrestling who don’t really give interviews. The Weekly Newscast is a chance to digest what’s going on in wrestling in 30-60 form. There are a million wrestling podcasts out there right now, so the idea of starting anymore is pretty ludicrous. Other than some tweaks, don’t expect the podcasts to change very much. We’ve even expanded the podcasting realm by including one about Adventure Time hosted by Brad Garoon, Kevin Ford, and Justin Houston. They discuss all aspects of that show and have brought their own unique voices to talk about a kids’ show. In addition, as much as we like the idea of keeping “The Mad Hour” separate, we’ll also be throwing that up on the PWP iTunes feed. That is hosted by Kevin Ford and yours truly, and we’ll be discussing the seventh season of Mad Men.
When it comes to written content, this is an area that we need to work on. I looked at the amount of posts I’ve done recently, it’s around 800. I’m trying to recap companies such as AAW and PWG while also picking up the slack on a number of companies, particularly the women’s federations over the last year. With Chikara’s death, I made a concerted effort to check out some new companies. C4 did not work out at all. Shine and WSU have been a mixed bag at best. ISW doesn’t not run enough shows.CZW is frustrating and very hard to watch most of the time. Honestly, the company that has worked out best is Shimmer, which I genuinely enjoy watching and will continue to support in the future. I’m trying to review and watch as many shows as possible and will continue to do. However, I’m interested in shifting my attention and encouraging new voices to be a part of PWP. Chris GST and I do a lot to try and make PWP as good as it can be. However, by bringing in some new writers and expanding the roles of others, I hope to make PWP a true team effort and provide some of the best coverage of the independent scene on the internet. Here are the new names and faces who will be helping us expand our coverage, plus some old faces in new places.
Ari Berenstein– There was talk about a month ago of us possibly acquiring ROH World, a website specifically dedicated to covering Ring of Honor. The plan was to shift most of our coverage to that site and allow Ari to be the senior editor. While the acquisition did not pan out, Ari has expressed an interest in doing some additional writing and podcasting for PWP. As part of this, he’s going to be posting a couple of blog entries on the company. He expressed an interest in writing shorter items, not the magnum opuses that were the Columns of Honor. Expect to see his additional presence on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Matt Waters– With the exception of some non-wrestling podcasts, this guy hasn’t been around too much. Matt isn’t really interested in Ring of Honor anymore, hence not hosting the Podcast of Honor. Can’t blame him at all for that. However, Matt is still very much interested in Pro Wrestling Guerilla and gets the DVDs shipped all the way to UK. I’ve reviewed PWG nearly five years after we lost one of our writers who was reviewing the company. I still love PWG and will continue to blind buy every show even without watching the previews. However, I want Matt to be a part of the site moving forward and if this is the way to get him back in, then you’re looking at the new PWG reviewer moving forward.
Justin Houston- I definitely want Justin to be doing some writing for PWP. He’s a curmudgeon but a damn funny one. Even as I sit here, I’m not quite sure what he’s going to be doing, but he will definitely be posting material soon (maybe as soon as tonight).
Barry Murphy- Barry will be posting some additional content on a weekly basis, more short form blog posts than actual extended columns. As things stand right now, Barry will be posting on Thursdays.
Now here are some of the new faces:
Alexandria Torres– She’s done some writing for Free Pro Wrestling. She’s not TJ Hawke no matter what some promoters might think, but she’s interested in places like AAW and AIW. AAW is the first regular promotion I ever started reviewing for the website. I’m going to do a more extensive column about my relationship with AAW in the future. I have a great deal of respect for the company and the people involved. I will certainly continue attending every show but with the hopes of bringing in more writes and expanding the scope of PWP, Alex will be taking over AAW DVD reviews after Chaos Theory 2014 and will be reviewing the weekly television show starting on March 5.
Dave Muscarella– You might remember him better as Cartoon Dave, but he’s a passionate women’s wrestling fan. I mentioned being a little apathetic toward certain aspects of WSU and Shine, but Dave is a huge fan of those feds. I am very happy to bring Dave in to review a number of women’s wrestling companies. Many of them run on an infrequent basis, so reviewing multiple places shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve also asked Dave to write columns whenever he gets the itch too, so he should be a weekly presence on PWP.
Jonathan McMahon– Despite the fact I’m the person in charge, there’s no one else from Chicago writing for the staff… until now. Jonathan has expressed interest in writing for us before, but now we can make it official. Jonathan will be writing about Resistance Pro and Chikara. Regardless of my feelings toward both companies, I’m ecstatic to be bringing someone in to cover both companies, who’s passionate about the wrestlers and storylines. Jonathan is a huge fan and with his covering Chikara, I know he will likely be under the most pressure to get out that content.
On June 1 2013, I was the official reviewer for AAW, Chikara, and PWG. As we sit here now and you readers see what various writers are doing, I’ve parsed out all of these review duties to others. What does this mean for me?
I’m not leaving the site. That’s crazy talk. If losing Pro Wrestling Collision and Chikara, two big parts of my life, didn’t drive me away, then I don’t ever forsee myself not watching wrestling. My goals in the next few months are to survey landscape and do some actual editing. I’ve got a couple ideas in the back of my mind for columns relating to AAW’s 10th anniversary. I’m planning on putting together a few podcasts relating to Fight Season, Wrestlemania weekend, and AAWSHIM weekends. There may also be some minor tweaks to our podcasts as well. Once I graduate from in August, I will get back into the writing game strong and will be trying to introduce new writers and companies along the way.
If you have listened to our podcasts and read us for many years, I want to thank you for getting us to this point. Leaving reviews on our iTunes page and making purchases throughout Highspots or Amazon are certainly more advanced ways of supporting what we do here. Ditto for clicking on the Google AdSense. I certainly hope this new PWP will be better than the old one and continue to attempt to provide the best coverage of independent wrestling on the internet.
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