Raw the Netflix Era thoughts

 I've been a fan of wrestling and the WWF / WWE my entire life.  I don't have a memory of the first time I watched wrestling, my Dad was a fan and so I have always watched.  My first live wrestling show was June 4, 1989 at the then Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine.  In the main event "Macho Man" Randy Savage with Sensational Sherri defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan by count-out.

Unlike many my of my friends growing up I never waivered in my fandom of Professional Wrestling.  I've always had collection of wrestling memorabilia, t-shirts, and once I got my license going to live shows, even traveling out of State to attend them.  I've been to the big 4 WWE PPV's, WCW shows, TNA, Ring of Honor, AEW, New Japan Pro Wrestling and numerous Indies.

From the 1980's to today I've watched all the wrestling on TV that I could find, traded tapes back in the day to get wrestling from Japan and Mexico, and at technology has progress streamed my wrestling.  Today we have the capability to watch more wrestling live from around the world than ever before.

Through all of this I have been a fan of the WWF/WWE, was a day 1 subscriber of the WWE Network and subscribe to Peacock now.  While WWE has not always been my favorite flavor of wrestling to watch, I still watched.  

However these last few years their weekly television show have become unwatchable to me.  Smackdown would have moments of greatness but Raw, each time I try I'm disappointed. Their format of their show has become to cater to the casual fan, I don't care about 20 minute promos, and long talking segments, I just want to watching wrestling matches.  The bell to bell in the ring action is what I care about.

I was hyped for the Netflix launch of Raw on January 6, 2025, advertised a WrestleMania caliber show, and for me it was not.  There were 4 matches on the show that ran just over 3 hours and total in ring time was 62 minutes and 28 seconds.  That leaves two hours of commercials, showing celebrities in the crowd and talking segments.  From the end of the women's title match it was 25 minutes before the Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso match started, and after 2 minutes they went to a commercial break. 

What's so frustrating and discouraging to me is the promotion I have loved my whole life I can't stomach watching any longer.  I have friends that LOVE the product and think every show is amazing, and I guess good for them, but I can't see how they like it so much.

I will continue to follow what is happening on Raw & Smackdown, watch clips and select matches that I'm interested, and I will watch the "Premium Live Events" because that is where the best matches usually take place even those tend to frustrate me with their long segments between matches.

I'm just not the WWE's primary demographic any longer.  Thankfully for me my choices for alternative wrestling is practically endless.  Not to mention, I can always go back and watch the extensive history of wrestling and classic matches I have access to.  

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

January 4th at the Tokyo Dome

The history Tokyo Dome opened on March 17, 1988 and just over a year later on April 24, 1989 New Japan Pro Wrestling promoted the first wrestling event at the venue.  In 1992 NJPW began what would become an annual tradition as the Dome hosted the first January 4th show entitled Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome and saw IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Riki Choshu defeat Greatest 18 Club Champion: Tatsumi Fujinami to unify the titles.

For the last 33 years New Japan has transformed this annual show into their biggest show of the year.  2007 was the first year that it was called WrestleKingdom and that name has held ever since.

I've often talked about WrestleMania IV being the first time I watched WrestleMania live and I've never missed watching Mania live since then.  Since 2015 I have not missed a live WrestleKingdom or January 4th show.  In 2015, New Japan in a partnership with Jeff Jarrett WrestleKingdom 9 was available on PPV live in the United States.  From 2016 to today I have watched it on New Japan World.

From 2003 to 2014 I would find a bootleg copy of the show on VHS or DVD and later a torrent download.  In 2008 TNA Wrestling released the DVD Global Impact Japan which had 7 completed matches from the WrestleKingdom II that involved the TNA wrestlers. After getting New Japan World I went back and watched all of the January 4th show.

It's rather refreshing knowing that show is going to be held on the same day every year instead of waiting for the shows to be announced.  For instance WrestleMania's date has varied from as early as March 14th in 2004 and as late as April 20th in 2025.

Since 2015 if I am schedule to work I have taken a vacation day so I can watch the event live as it happens.  Spoilers were easier to avoid a decade ago, not so much today.  This year, 2025, January 4th fell on a Saturday, and because at 3am Eastern  Time, pre-show at 2am.  I got up at 2:45am and watched the event live, it was an excellent show overall, was very happy to see Zack Sabre Jr. retain his title in the main event.

I took a nap so I could be rested for Wrestle Dynasty, a joint show between with NJPW, ROH, AEW, CMLL, Stardom, & DDT PRO being represented, also taking place at the Tokyo Dome.  With the time difference, the Wrestle Dynasty Pre-show actually started at 10pm Eastern Time on January 4th! So after watching AEW Collision I switched over to New Japan World.  Wrestle Dynasty was a better show than Wrestle Kingdom this year.

I've long been a fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling their style and presentation and I enjoyed them much more than WWE.  Their partnership with Ring of Honor was the best part of ROH.  I was excited when AEW came along and their eventual partnership was New Japan made them even more appealing.  I like wrestling better that tell their stories in the ring and not with 30 minute talking segments. 

Originally Wrestle Dynasty was supposed to mark New Japan's return to Madison Square Garden on August 22, 2020, but covid killed that.  My buddy Jay & I fully planned on going, but it was cancelled before tickets event went on sale. 

I will always got to New Japan if I have the opportunity.  I do hope to one day be in attendance at the Tokyo Dome on a January 4th.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

The Cost of Being A Wrestling Fan: December 2024

Here we go with my December spending for my passion, pro wrestling

I bought a couple actions figures this month, the "Timeless" Toni Storm ringside collectibles exclusive, and the Mattel Wendi Richter retro figure in they style of the Hasbro WWF line.  I also bought two AEW figures from the Ringside sale, Trent & Chuck Taylor for the Limitless toy drive, all together that was $61.86.  

On the trading card side of things this month I bought a Tully Blanchard NWA Wonderama and a Steph DeLander Christmas theme card direct from her, they totaled $21.95.  I really want a Stephanie Vaquer WWE card and bought into another box break, I paid a bit more $28.80 but didn't read all the fine print. It was panini select and the case of 10 boxes was only 30 cards, one 3 card pack per box.  All the cards were limited numbers for autographs, so I get it, but had I read the auction more clearly I would not have gone for it.  Needless to say, there was no Stephanie Vaquer cards pulled so spent $28.80 on a chance and it didn't pay off.

My monthly streaming services were $37.23, I also got a month of Honor Club at $9.99 to watch the Final Battle event, and my share of the AEW World's End PPV was $11.50. 

I attended 3 wrestling shows this month.  The first was in Quebec City, Quebec for NSPW: North Shore Pro Wrestling.  My son and I were in Quebec the previous night for our annual Hockey Trip, you can read all the details here: Quebec Wrestling Adventure.  

When factoring expenses for this one I took into consideration that we stayed an extra night, the food involved in that, plus the extra mileage we drove from Riviere-de-Loup to Quebec City and back, the gas we used had we only stayed one night instead of 2 nights.  I've also converted the Canadian Currency into US Dollars.

The hotel was $122.70, gas, food, and snacks was $94.19, with 306 miles driven.  Tickets for the show were $31.46, I spent $21 to get Stu Grayson to sign a couple cards for me and $30 for Trevor Lee to sign 4 for me.  He said he's never seen all 3 PWG cards together.

We also went to the Museum of Civilization where they had a year long display on the history of Professional Wrestling Quebec.  Parking for the museum was $10.81 and admission was $33.88.

My next show was Limitless Wrestling in Yarmouth, my ticket was $40 and I spent $22.57 on gas and snacks, I drove 74 miles.

My final wrestling show of 2024 was NXT in Lowell, Massachusetts.  I bought my ticket in November and that was accounted for last month.  My share of Gas, Parking, & Tolls, was only $27 with 319.6 miles driven.  Food and Snacks came to $23.94.

My final wrestling expense of the year was on December 31st as my buddy Calvin was able to get two cards signed for me by Kris Statlander at Beyond Wrestling's "Heavy Lies The Crown" for $20. 

You can find the page with the links to all the previous months here: The Cost of Being A Wrestling Fan

I have one more post to follow that summarizes the expenses for the year.  I'm not sure if I am going to continue this to next year or not.  

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!