I am soon going to rock the wrestling world! I have been examining my feelings, thoughts, beliefs, philosophy, of pro wrestling since the days that the territories collapsed. I have gone from moving on from JCP, Mid South, WCCW, etc. to the super indie style wrestling to MLW, to Joshi, to Noah, to walking away from wrestling completely, then back to Noah. For years I ran "Wrestling Done Right" and I am proud of everything I accomplished with that. Along the way I have been challenged many times. Fellow fans, and a few actual friends have challenged my views, asked me to re-examine how I viewed wrestling, and now as we approach 2027, a very special friend that grew up on the wrestling I grew up on, really pushed me into doing just that! I have re-examined my thoughts on this sport I love, and realized that I have been wrong, very wrong.
On this Thanksgiving month, I will soon announce what this all means, as I am thankful for it. Most will be shocked, many will laugh, some will scoff, but since retiring "Wrestling Done Right" I have decided to step things up higher. I now bring you "The Pinnacle of Wrestling," (P.o.W.). What will The P.o.W. be? What will I be covering? Stay tuned for the SHOCKING news. You will not believe it, but I will convince many, maybe even most. But just like W.D.R. I will have my critics, and even haters, but you'll come to see that when The Wrestling Snob speaks, many people shut the fuck up and listen because with P.o.W. I don't lower my standards, I establish them!
A few days ago, I posted that I've been rethinking some of my views on professional wrestling after a good friend challenged me to do so. Others have challenged me before, but this time I actually sat down and gave it some serious thought.
And I came to a rather interesting realization.
Let's take a look at some wrestlers from the era I loved most and ask ourselves just how serious, or unserious, they really were...
Wahoo McDaniel - A legitimate tough guy who wore a full Indian headdress and performed a war dance!
Laser Tron - A futuristic wrestler based on laser tag. Seriously, laser tag!
The New Breed - A tag team that claimed to literally be from the future, where Dusty Rhodes was President!
Paul Jones' Army - A military-looking leader
commanding a group of strange wrestlers, many of whom looked downright bizarre, including...
Shaska Whatley - Pistol Pez Whatley was something to begin with, but what the hell was Shaska supposed to be?
The Boogie Woogie Man - Jimmy Valiant! The boy from New York City! As goofy, silly, and over the top as they come. And people LOVED him!
The Great Muta - One of my all-time favorites, but come on! A mysterious, almost supernatural character who spit colored mist into people's faces!
Sting - Face paint, wild hair, colorful tights, and screaming WOOOOOO at the top of his lungs!
The Ultimate Warrior - Whatever the hell he was supposed to be! His absolutely insane promos are legendary. Half the time, did ANYONE know what he was talking about? lol
Hulk Hogan - The man could literally become immune to pain because the audience cheered loudly enough! Punch him, kick him, hit him with everything you've got. Once he started Hulking Up, NOTHING WORKED! The fans actually made him stronger!
Jim Cornette - I loved him, but the colorful suits, the tennis racket, the spoiled mama's boy routine? Certainly not what you'd call normal!
The Fantastics - Two guys wearing vests and ties who looked like they were auditioning for the Chippendales. Yet when that bell rang, they could be absolutely BRUTAL!
The Rock 'n' Roll Express - Teenage heartthrobs who looked like they belonged on the cover of every teen magazine in the 1980s. And some of those outfits? Good grief!
The Road Warriors - Two enormous men with face paint, spiked shoulder pads, leather chokers, and post-apocalyptic appearances. They looked like they'd escaped from a Mad Max movie! But man, were they awesome!
Baron Von Raschke - WTF was he supposed to be? A wild-eyed German villain with a claw for a hand? And we accepted every bit of it!
Kevin Sullivan - A sinister cult leader who seemingly controlled people with his eyes, rolled them into the back of his head, and commanded wrestlers to do his bidding!
Bruiser Brody - Another of my all-time favorites. But what exactly was he supposed to be? An uncontrollable wild man who couldn't even be trusted to walk to the ring without attacking somebody?
Stan Hansen - A legitimate badass, but the tobacco chewing and spitting? Was that supposed to make him more intimidating, or was he just trying to gross everybody out? I always thought that was dumb.
Big Van Vader - First of all, what the hell is a Big Van Vader? Then there was that enormous smoke-spewing helmet, the strange mask that was hardly a mask, and the way this gigantic monster would bounce around like a man possessed!
Randy Savage - The outrageous outfits, the constant intensity, the bizarre interviews, the mannerisms. Even the name Macho Man could have been ridiculous in the wrong hands. But Savage made every bit of it WORK because he was an extraordinary performer!
Razor Ramon - One of my absolute favorites. A white guy portraying a Cuban-inspired Miami gangster, complete with the accent, jewelry, toothpick, and swagger. On paper, it sounds ridiculous. But Scott Hall made the character believable and was tremendous in the ring!
Ricky Steamboat - Even the lovable Ricky Steamboat wasn't immune! He paraded around with his wife and young son, and later in WWF became an actual DRAGON, complete with fire-breathing entrances!
And I could keep going!
There are certainly worse gimmicks than these, but that's not really my point.
My point is that I have been looking at something the wrong way for a very long time.
For years, I've been extremely critical of silly, strange, unrealistic, and downright goofy gimmicks in professional wrestling. I've often pointed to those things as examples of why wrestling today isn't what it used to be.
But when I look back at the wrestling I loved the most, I have to admit something.
It was FULL of ridiculous characters, unbelievable personalities, bizarre costumes, and gimmicks that made absolutely no sense if you stopped to think about them.
And I LOVED IT!
So what made those wrestlers and that era different?
I've come to realize that it wasn't necessarily the gimmicks. It was what happened when the bell rang.
The wrestlers fought like they wanted to win. Moves had consequences. Selling mattered. Psychology mattered. Victories and defeats mattered. Rivalries meant something. The audience was given a reason to CARE about what was happening.
A wrestler could look ridiculous, act ridiculous, and have the strangest gimmick imaginable, but once the match started, the competition itself was generally presented as something serious.
And I think THAT is the distinction I've been missing.
Professional wrestling has never been completely realistic. Not in the 1980s, not in the 1990s, and certainly not today. In fact, some of the most popular wrestlers in history were also some of the most outrageous characters imaginable.
But that didn't prevent them from being great professional wrestlers.
I've always said that professional wrestling needs to be presented as a legitimate competition within the world it creates. I still believe that as strongly as ever.
What I'm beginning to understand is that the world itself can be strange, silly, outrageous, and even downright goofy without necessarily damaging the wrestling taking place within it.
There is a BIG difference between a wrestler having a silly gimmick and a wrestler making a joke out of wrestling itself.
When wrestlers stop selling, when moves mean nothing, when the competition becomes a comedy routine, and when winning or losing doesn't seem to matter, THAT is where I have a problem.
Not because somebody wears a ridiculous outfit, has a strange name, or portrays some bizarre character.
I've been guilty of confusing those two things, and I'm willing to admit it.
Now, does that mean I'm suddenly going to enjoy every ridiculous gimmick somebody comes up with? Of course not! Some things are still going to be stupid to me. lol
And does it mean I'm going to start accepting bad wrestling simply because I find the characters entertaining? Absolutely NOT!
My standards for what takes place inside the ring haven't changed. If anything, thinking about all of this has helped me better understand WHY I have those standards in the first place.
Bad wrestling isn't necessarily about bad gimmicks.
Bad wrestling is about BAD WRESTLING!
And perhaps I've been so focused on how certain wrestlers and promotions PRESENT themselves that I haven't always given enough consideration to what they're actually doing once the matches begin.
That's something I'm changing.
Which brings me to something I've been working on recently.
Next week, Thanksgiving week, I'll be announcing the professional wrestling company I've decided to start covering.
And I have a feeling the announcement is going to surprise quite a few people who have followed my work over the years.
Why Thanksgiving week?
Because I'm thankful to be back doing something I've always loved, and yes, believe it or not, I'm thankful for this particular wrestling company!
Sometimes being challenged to reconsider something you've believed for years is a good thing. It doesn't mean abandoning your principles or lowering your standards. Sometimes it means taking a closer look at whether you've been applying those standards correctly.
That's exactly what I've been doing.
Stay tuned!
THE PINNACLE OF WRESTLING
We don't lower our standards. We set them.
I don't wear this often but decided to wear it to Philadelphia today and I've gotten several compliments already. Somebody in the pizza shop asked me if it was a Stetson and he was really impressed when I said yes.
🎥 今のNOAHの戦いを2分で振り返る!
🔥【NOAH 2minutes】公開🔥
内藤哲也 vs 拳王、GHCヘビー級選手権!NOAH Jr. GRAND PRIX 2開幕!
激闘続くNOAHのリングを2分で一気にチェック✅
📺YT視聴はこちら
https://t.co/gIZl4zuv6I
✨11.9後楽園大会は #wrestleUNIVERSE 生中継✨
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🔥 11/9 Korakuen Hall 🔥
Tetsuya Naito (c) vs KENOH for the GHC Heavyweight Title, plus the opening round of NOAH Jr. GRAND PRIX 2!
Bell: 6:30 PM JST
📺 English commentary
https://t.co/jRlmRPXRm6
#noah_ghc
📺 VOD Streaming Now Available on WRESTLE UNIVERSE‼️
Pro-Wrestling NOAH
"LETHAL ODYSSEY TOUR 2026"
November 3
Kasukabe Fureai Cube, Saitama
🔥 Main Event: 6-man Tag Team Match🔥
Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura & Alejandro
vs
OZAWA & Alpha Wolf & Kai Fujimura(TEAM 2000X)
🔥Semi-Final: Singles Match🔥
Titus Alexander vs Daiki Odashima
...and more!
▼ Watch it here👇
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🎙 Daiki Odashima | NOAH Jr. GRAND PRIX 2
"The heavyweights are amazing, but juniors can show even more. I want to flip the idea that heavyweights always main event, and I'll lead the way."
Read more: https://t.co/17gDF55f4C
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🔥 11/9 Korakuen Hall 🔥
GHC Heavyweight Championship
Tetsuya Naito (c) vs KENOH
Plus NOAH Jr. GRAND PRIX 2 kicks off!
Kai Fujimura vs BUSHI
Shuji Kondo vs YO-HEY
Sidney Akeem vs Kid Lykos
Plus more!
📺 English commentary
https://t.co/jRlmRPXRm6
#noah_ghc
🎤 Kazuyuki Fujita's 30th Anniversary‼️
A mic of thanks to the fans at Kasukabe ✨
Kazuyuki Fujita
"Thank you. May I have a little of your time? 30 years ago, I jumped into this world and watched my great mentor and senior wrestlers. I've passed through many rings, and there were times I struggled and suffered. But I can stand in this ring today thanks to the warm support of the fans. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Lastly, I also sincerely thank everyone at CyberFight and PRO WRESTLING NOAH for giving me this opportunity. Thank you!"
#noah_ghc
📣 11/3 Kasukabe Backstage
KENOH
"Naito, are you really okay? You lost a singles match in Australia, and that match made me sad to watch. Ryogoku hit you a little, didn't it? Come to Korakuen as the Naito I wanted to beat. I'll be waiting!"
#noah_ghc