#pro wrestling guerilla

[coquinaclutch]

Adam Cole's Valentine's Day 2016

From Pro Wrestling Guerilla Bowie

+bonus

[wrestlingisfake]

For the Sickos

I shouldn't let this bug me, but it's sticking in my craw. Kevin Kelly did an interview with Eric Bischoff this week, and had this to say:

"His vision of what wrestling is, for me, works best on a small scale. People always wonder why did PWG stay small? Well they knew, I think, they knew that if they went big that it would go stale fast, and they had to stay small to keep it special, to keep it niche. He wants to appeal to a niche audience with his vision of wrestling. He thinks he can convince the people to watch on a grand scale."

I'm no insider, but it seems to me that Pro Wrestling Guerilla stays small because it costs a lot of money to go big. They had a formula that was sustainable at a small level, and they didn't mind staying at that small level, so it wasn't worth taking a huge financial risk to try to expand.

Here's another way to look at it: PWG has been on hiatus since August 2023, because Super Dragon is focusing on his girlfriend's cancer treatment. Again, I'm no insider, but I suspect that if he wanted to, he could get some people to run shows while he's busy. But that would cost money, which would increase the promotion's budget, and it would alter the promotion's style, which would increase the financial risk. So instead PWG went on hiatus--not to avoid going stale, or to "keep it niche," but because Super Dragon is unwilling to incur the added costs/risks that would come with a different solution.

Super Dragon makes the right choices for himself and his promotion. But the fact he won't gamble big money on upscaling PWG doesn't mean the gamble could never pay off. The fact nobody will take that bet except Tony Khan doesn't prove it can't work. All we've established here is that a billionaire's son can afford to take chances that an indy wrestling promoter wouldn't, which is self-evident.

But here's what really bugs me about the PWG comparison: Tony Khan doesn't need to "convince the people to watch on a grand scale" because they've been watching for 246 weeks and counting. Granted, TV viewers and ticket sales are down from their peak. But ten years ago there were plenty of naysayers who would insist that a PWG clone would be "too niche" to draw 2,500 butts in seats and over 500k watching at home on a weekly basis. Even if AEW shuts down tomorrow, it's proven there's a much higher ceiling for that kind of wrestling than Reseda.

The only open question, then, is whether Tony Khan is leaving money on the table by booking "for the sickos," instead of doing whatever Kevin Kelly or Eric Bischoff or Jim Cornette or CM Punk would have him do. But this is basically the same question of expansion that we examined with PWG. Changing AEW's style to draw more "casual fans" would only introduce new risk. And it'd be a fairly big risk, since "casual fans" already have plenty of WWE to watch. As long as AEW is financially stable (and we probably won't know that until the new TV deal comes through), then TK doesn't really need to take that risk unless he wants to. Judging by AEW's new "FOR THE SICKOS" shirt, I'd say he's comfortable standing pat.

[sketchfanda]

@roninkairi @prfctcellrulz @hesjayrich

[tracthousing]

What @mikelovesmuscle-blog said…

[scarskelly]

"Hey!"

"Whose name starts with E and forgot their pants at the hotel?!"

[heelrollins]

[roppongiivice]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE NEW JAPAN WRESTLER EL PHANTASMO!!!

[supakixbabe]

The Young Bucks vs. Appetite For Destruction (Kevin Steen & Super Dragon), PWG FEAR (12/10/2011); Guerrilla Warfare match for the PWG World Tag Team Titles. (Gif set 1/?)

[wrestler-smash-or-pass]

Has ELP been suggested yet? To quote a friend, I have the memory of a turkey and don't recall.

[cassandraclown]

We are like 3 years away from a 3 day Wrestlemania. Day 1 will be all Bloodline. All the Fatu children on the indies will have been signed. Anyone with any slight relation to the family will be signed. Rikishi, Meng, Yokozuna somehow. 15 Vs 15 Elimination Bloodline Match. It will be 3 hours for cinema. A total of 25 unique wrestling moves will be done, Jacob Fatu doing 18 of them. The women on the other 2 nights will get a combined 35 minutes. Fuck you

[wrestlingpicss]

el phantasmo

[coquinaclutch]

[danwhobrowses]

Quick Wrestle Kingdom 18 Thoughts

Spoilers for the PPV just in case

It was a good show, I know I haven't done many highlights as of recent but sometimes the mood doesn't hit, and it doesn't get many views.

The first half was quite meh, I don't like the Ranbo still it remains a 'look at all this talent we don't have anything for' rumble to me, last WK I had hoped Master Wato, SHO and YOH would break out but they have kinda regressed, same with Great O-Khan. Not a single women's match too, you had Mayu Iwatani in the building but you couldn't fit a match for her? TJP's rechristening as the Aswang was kinda cool, the mask is devious looking but not too high on the dog collar, match was fair enough. Tana beating ZSJ felt like the wrong call though, the moment a wrestler comes into backstage power they should absolutely avoid putting a title on themselves it just sets a bad vibe, match ended very abruptly too, thought Tsuji should've gone over Uemera and Kiyomiya/Shota over House of Torture too. Ngl what are we doing with Kiyomiya? He looked like he was gonna get a big Okada feud but then got discarded at the G1, it feels like NJPW going 'we're very superior to NOAH' with his booking, Shota had a cool motorcycle entrance but he is another who could use a push.

Tama vs Shingo was a great match though, really threw out all the old Bullet Club finishers to put Shingo down, great final third. Glad that Hikuleo and ELP got the tag belts too, Bishamon do feel like the tag equivalent of ol' reliable. Speaking of ol' reliables, Hiromu on another Junior Heavyweight title match, love both guys but Despy was the right man to go over, need fresher challengers.

Loved Mox donning some Red Hood gear, but then Ospreay went Assassin's Creed and Smackdown Six Rey Mysterio with his entrance. Finlay winning was rather obvious though, not only because he was the only non-AEW wrestler but the whole agreement to gang up on him was narratively designed try and to put him over. The match was quite good, infamous BC interference marred it a little but can't lie Coughlin sat in the broken table was amusing, and the title looks pretty, I'll miss the US/UK red strap but returning to some IC-esque roots isn't the worst thing. Nic Nemeth getting a little scrap with Finlay looks promising too.

Okada's coat was pretty awesome, good to see them do a match unmarred by injuries but of course Okada went over, I think the next Forbidden Door or Wrestledream could be the Rubber Match. Ironic that much like Revolution last year, Bryan embracing the YES! chants led to his downfall - I don't think that was accidental - but of course it was a really good match. And finally, I loved me some SANADA when he was his Cold Skull, but 'Regular Looking Guy' SANADA, that ain't it, that ain't the gimmick. It was high time he was felled and Naito is a fitting guy to do it. Match was still good, but EVIL challenging is the wrong guy though stop trying to make EVIL happen again.

[babytumblehead]

As a pro wrestling fan and a kpop fan, there have been plenty of times when i try to combine the two. There are plenty of wrestling entrance themes on my playlist, and as much as I'd like listening to them, I also wanted to dance to them. Now you may think I can just create my own choreography, but I'm lazy and my brain doesn't work like that. That was until recently when I was hit with a stroke of genius: learning the choreography of kpop songs that are the same bpm as the wrestling themes!!

Here are a few examples of my research:

SHALALA by Taeyong - Samoa Joe

Boy With Luv by BTS ft. Halsey - Willow Nightingale

How You Like That by Blackpink- Adam Cole

Lucifer by Shinee- FTR

Hala Hala by ATEEZ- Shinsuke Nakamura

Kick It by NCT 127 - Guerillas of Destiny

Shoot Out by Monsta X - Kazuchika Okada

[thesupreme316]

Just a question; if Jay White is out of the Bullet Club/Japan, does this G.O.D can come back and be the leaders they were suppose to be?

Cause honestly even i can write a good ass storyline introducing them back to the Bullet Club

[scarskelly]