Vaude For Thought: What I Like About Wrestling In 2022
Hello everyone,
To me as of right now, AEW is my favorite US wrestling company due to two main reasons. One, the talent. My god, what a roster does this company have. Whether it's the world title picture, mid-card division, tag team division, or women's division, it's stacked and I love it. Sure, as of right now, the roster is kind of bloated, but either way, amazing roster regardless. Two, the booking for AEW has been generally quite good and reasonable. Granted, there are times when I question AEW's booking decisions, but most of the time, I felt that their booking is quite good. In addition, they also purchased ROH recently as well so things can changed for ROH in the future, or stay the same. Either way, we'll find out soon enough.
Of course, IMPACT Wrestling has changed a lot over the past decade or so. Despite possibly never getting back to their best days, they still have great talent out there and their booking has definitely improved a ton since the Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff era so that's good. Either way, glad to see that IMPACT is still afloat as the more wrestling companies, the better.
NWA hasn't been the same for decades since the 70s and 80s, but with the new direction that they have under Billy Corgan, it looks like NWA is back in their own way which is great to see. Despite not having the best wrestling out there, what they make up for is the variety of characters and in-ring personas which I feel like is a lost form in the modern wrestling landscape. Plus, it has an old school feeling to it which I also appreciate as it definitely stands out compared to other wrestling companies out there so kudos to them.
Just like with NOAH, AJPW has improved a lot for the past few years as they're beginning to build up new stars and starting to build up a future for the company. Even though I prefer NOAH over AJPW at this time, I do enjoy AJPW as they have some good talent down there with some good booking as well. Glad to see AJPW doing well again and just like NOAH, hope they continue the path they're taking and improve from there.
For my overall feelings on wrestling in 2022 as of right now, with the wrestling companies that I normally watched or tried to catch up on, they're delivering for the most part expect a few while others definitely need improvement. In terms of what I like about wrestling in 2022, it's mainly the talent showcasing their characters and wrestling as they're doing their best on what they're given so I appreciate them for doing their job. Either way, the pandemic definitely hurt the wrestling industry as a whole. Luckily, the pandemic has gotten a bit better and crowds are being filled up in arenas again so hopefully, wrestling will get better from here, but only time will tell.
Welcome to the third edition of Vaude For Thought where I will give my thoughts on certain topics and for this edition of Vaude For Thought, it's about what I like about wrestling in 2022. This topic is recommended by Peacock (Peacock Smothers) so thank him for recommending me to be talking about this topic.
Let's get started.
Vaude For Thought: What I Like About Wrestling In 2022
Now, you can definitely say that wrestling has a lot of its popularity and flavor for the past decade or so. Granted, in one hand, you can blame the talent and the creative/booking team in the current generation of not being able to deliver compared to the past generations. At the same time, the talent and the creative/booking team are doing everything they could under the circumstances being given to them. So to me, I feel like the blame for seeing the slow downfall of wrestling for the past decade should not be the people at the bottom, but the people at the top like the executives, CEOs, and so forth.
However, I'm not here to talk about the negatives of wrestling, I'm here to talk about the positives of wrestling and what I like about wrestling in 2022 so let's get to it!
I'll be talking about what I like about wrestling in separate parts in terms of wrestling across the globe so will be talking about wrestling in USA, Mexico, Japan, and the UK so we'll start off with USA wrestling first.
When I am talking about USA Wrestling, I will mainly focus on the mainstream USA wrestling companies such as WWE, AEW, IMPACT, MLW, NWA, etc. The first one I will be talking about will be WWE.
As for like what I like about WWE in 2022, not much. WWE Raw and SmackDown Live continue to not be interesting to me for the past few years and it hasn't changed one bit. To me at least. As you guys know if you have known me for a while, I used to love NXT especially when Triple H took over it back in 2012. However, when Vince McMahon and Bruce Pritchard have control over NXT since September 2021, my love for NXT went down heavily. Granted, I don't hate NXT 2.0, but I don't love it as a huge NXT mark, that makes me sad as it feels like another Raw and SmackDown Live to me which I'm currently not a fan of so that makes me disappointed. As of right now to me, the only redeeming quality in WWE is NXT UK as Triple H still has control over which I'm thankful for. Plus, it's basically what NXT used to be under Triple H's control, but with the majority of the talent being from the UK which is awesome. The next US wrestling company I'll be talking about is AEW.
Is AEW perfect? No, but I do enjoy it and it's probably my favorite US wrestling company at this time. Now, let's talk about IMPACT Wrestling.
MLW has been getting a bit more attention for the past few years. Granted, they're not at the level of WWE, AEW, or even IMPACT Wrestling in terms of mainstream and popularity. However, in terms of talent and booking wise, they're generally pretty good at what they do. Also, with the addition of Azteca Underground which is basically Lucha Underground in MLW, it got a lot more interesting. We'll see how MLW will evolve from here.
In terms of USA Wrestling for me, besides WWE, every other wrestling company in the US does its job well and I hope they continue to grow or improve in the years to come.
Now, let's talk about Mexican wrestling, or lucha libre.
In terms of lucha libre companies, I will mainly talk about two in particular and those of course are CMLL and AAA. We'll start with the oldest wrestling promotion in existence today, CMLL.
CMLL to me has been on a downward trend as of late ever since the change of management for the past few years. After losing big stars like Rush, Dragon Lee, Nueva Generación Dinamita, etc. as well as the booking team being changed, they've been making very questionable decisions as of late and not good ones either. Granted, they still do have some good talent down there and do deliver some great matches. However, the booking has been holding them down I feel like and I hope that changes in the future.
Despite CMLL being the oldest wrestling promotion, the company doesn't really much presence outside of Mexico, but with AAA, they expand their brand outside of Mexico to become more global and even have more foreign wrestlers in their company compared to CMLL. To me, despite the current flaws that AAA has with booking and all, I can't deny that they have a pretty good roster and their wrestling is probably the best out there in terms of showing what lucha libre is all about. Even though they do have issues, they're currently putting up a better product I feel like compared to CMLL and I hope the company improves as time goes on.
In terms of lucha libre for me, it's a hit and miss with my main issue being the booking while the highlights for me for the talent and wrestling. Also, something that I have noticed for about a decade now, but it seems like both companies never seem to be good or bad at the same time as it's usually one company being bad and the other being good. Why can't both companies be good at the same time? I don't get it, but it's something that I have noticed for a while now so I just have to mentioned it.
Now, let's talk about Japanese wrestling, or puroresu.
In terms of puroresu companies, I will mainly talk about six in particular which includes NJPW, NOAH, AJPW, Dragon Gate, DDT, and Stardom. We'll start with the biggest puroresu company right now and that is NJPW.
NJPW for the past few years has been on an interesting approach ever since the world pandemic started. Granted, they still have amazing talent and they still produce amazing matches while showcasing what puroresu is all about. However, there has been a change of booking and the way that crowds react to the matches have definitely changed the feel of NJPW in Japan, not in a good way either. Although, NJPW in the US with their NJPW Strong shows have been really good showcasing wrestlers all over the world which is nice. Now, I still do enjoy NJPW, but do notice the issues that they're having and hopefully, they'll be fixed soon down the line.
NOAH has definitely improved a lot for the past few years as they're building up new stars after losing a bunch back in the day. The company definitely showcased what puroresu is all about and they have some good talent down there that have bright futures and the booking has been pretty good as well. Hope that NOAH continues the path that they're taking and they continue to grow from here.
Dragon Gate is personally one of my favorite Japanese wrestling promotions out there due to their awesome talent and their octane style. They still continue to showcase what they are all about this year as it really hasn't change as their talent continue to deliver and the booking has been quite solid. Nothing else to say for Dragon Gate expect I hope they continue what they do best.
DDT to me hasn't changed much as it still has the comedic wrestling that I enjoyed. Granted, I know that comedic wrestling isn't for everyone, but it's nice to have variety in wrestling and it's okay for wrestling not too be serious all the time so having a company like DDT doing what they do is great. Like I said, it isn't for everyone, but I'm at least entertained by it and that's what I want from wrestling, to be entertained so thank you DDT.
Stardom, the biggest women's wrestling company in Japan right now and my god, they have some really good women's wrestlers down there no joke. Sometimes I feel like some of these women's wrestlers are better than the best men's wrestlers. However, that's just my opinion and how I feel. Regardless, booking for Stardom on the most part has been good and like I said, they have really good talent down there. No joke. Hope they continue to shine as always.
In terms of puroresu for me, besides the current direction that NJPW is heading towards, I think puroresu is heading in the right direction especially giving other Japanese wrestling companies a chance to shine that isn't NJPW so that's nice to see.
Finally, let's talk about UK or British wrestling.
For UK Wrestling, I will mainly focus on three UK wrestling companies in particular, ICW, PROGRESS, and Rev Pro. Let's talk about the Scottish wrestling promotion, ICW, first.
To me, ICW generally has some solid wrestling, but the main attraction is their characters and they definitely got some in this company. You can say that ICW is the entertainment wrestling company in the UK and that isn't a bad thing per say as they definitely do stand out compared to other wrestling companies in the UK right now so I'll give them that. Either way, if you want to see some interesting characters and personalities in a wrestling company in the UK, ICW is the company to watch.
PROGRESS Wrestling was well known to be one of the best wrestling promotions in the UK and even in the world with their incredible matches, talent, and booking. Granted, they still have some great talent down there, but the pandemic definitely hit them hard as they're trying to get back on their feet. However, it looks like change is coming to PROGRESS this year and I can only hope that they can get better from here.
Rev Pro is probably one of the most well-known wrestling promotions in the UK and to me as of right now, they are the best UK wrestling promotion. In addition of not only having great talent, but the booking has been good I feel like and they're starting to focus more on the actual UK talent rather than talent from other companies outside of the UK like they did in the past which I appreciate. Granted, the only downside that Rev Pro has at the moment is their production quality, but hopefully, if they continue to deliver good shows, more people will tune in to support the product which can lead to more money as Rev Pro can use to improve production quality so there's more eyeballs to the product. I'm hoping that's the case for them down the line, but until then, hope they continue the route that they're in right now.
In terms of UK wrestling for me, it has been mostly solid where there definitely can be improvements, but the talent in the UK are great and hopefully, this year, UK wrestling will bloom again. Only time will tell.
Hope you guys enjoy this and if not, that's fine too.
Thank you for reading and special thanks once again to Peacock (Peacock Smothers) for this topic.
What is going to be my next article/editorial?
I will let you guys decide.
Vote here on what I should write next:
Top vote will be the next article/editorial I'll write on EXO.
Have a great day/night everyone!
Comments
Post a Comment