Wednesdaymania 314

In Which Wrestling Of Many Kinds Has Happened

The Haru Basho in Japan has come to a close. How was it? Really, really good. People got thrown into the cheap seats, Chiyomaru came back (despite having had to be tested for the Human Malware - he just had the flu, which... uh... maybe he should've sat the rest of the basho out regardless?!), and there were some very scary Hakuho matches. It's one of the few bashos I've seen with the Mongolian Yokozuna where he lost a match or two. Takayasu had to leave the basho due to a severe muscle tear, and I hope that's not the last we've seen of him.

So yeah, Haru Basho, the Ghost Basho (due to mandated lack of attendance) was certainly strange.

But how is pro-wrestling doing without a live crowd?

In my opinion... not great.

I've seen stuff from the WWE shows, and they have no idea how to wrestle without a crowd. It's an "advantage" that the New Generation (and earlier) era guys have which the modern wrestlers do not, since new guys have not really wrestled in empty arenas before, and the writers have never prepared for this.

Kinda like how sitcoms wouldn't fly right now because there can't be a live studio audience.

So much of wrestling is reactionary, and it's silly to watch people waiting for the crowd that isn't there to pop. Their cadence is thrown off. It's a trainwreck.

As for AEW, since most of them are more fluid talkers than the WWE anyway, it's not that hard to imagine them holding their own with promos (especially since Jake Roberts is working with them). Brodie Lee has arrived as the Exalted One, which is a fantastic idea. Broken Matt Hardy working with the Bucks against the Inner Circle is great. I am loving what I'm seeing from BTE and Dark (Sunny Kiss vibes surprisingly well with Joey Janela, which I never would have guessed as it seems like a non-trademarked styles clash on paper). They still miss the crowd and it's obvious.

The crowds miss them, too.

As for the indies, it's going to be a hard fight, but they're doing their best. Wrestlers are spending this time to send out feelers into other forms of media, to do work (Wheeler Yuta is apparently a professional steel drummer and I guess WARHORSE runs a... soft rock show on the radio?! What?!), and to load their merch shops up so they can make it another 1-8 weeks. I hope it doesn't come to that.

If you have a wrestler you like, definitely follow their social media. If they have a YouTube channel, turn off your adblocker and watch all of their videos on repeat. It's a good time to support people in any way we can.

Oh, and if you're in the mood to have some horror in your life, VICE has put out a documentary on the Chris Benoit incident.

I think that about covers it for wrestling today.

I'm going to go disinfect some stuff and throw on a wrestling tee and pants.

Go Enjoy Something (preferably from your home)
FC