Does anyone care about old school wrestling in 2019?

[autisticgeordie]

Like, I see all the perfectly valid complaints about how wrestlers are doing too much stuff now and doing too many flips and all that jazz and I can certainly see a point to that. 

But let's be real, who really would watch an old school style 'rasslin' show in 2019? I got into the indies and have been used to seeing fast paced sprint matches, so why would I give a f*** about some stuff that looks like it would be more at home in Smokey Mountain? I mean, we all know how all these promotions who try and get back to the glory days end up. 

I have a thing to say about some people who want old school wrestling back: If people cared about old school, never leaving your feet, rest hold and punches 'rasslin', then Smokey Mountain would still be around. I do think that you can take elements from that style and impliment it to a modern standard, but trying to run a wrestling show in 2019 like it's 1986 would just put people to sleep.

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

I much prefer old school wrestling over today's product. Anything really from around '86 to '00. Wrestling today has evolved far beyond what it was, and lost a lot of what made it enjoyable to me.

[RareTradU]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here being as I'm almost 40 but the high impact with no selling car crash matches don't do it for me. Yea of course they are fun to watch but they are everywhere now. It doesn't mean anything. There was a reason the clip of Jeff Hardy being speared hanging from the tag belts was in every video WWF made at the time. It's because it was rare to see and made you gasp. Now you see moves like that every week. The shock value is gone and the move or match is forgotten about the next day. Storytelling and character building would go way further for a wrestler than any move or high spot would (and would probably be better for their longevity).

[BorneAgain]

I think an audience that gradually got used to a style could grow to really enjoy it.

Remember it look a while for WWE crowd who had been fed short TV matches in the Attitude era to get used to longer bouts in the oughts, and something like modern NXT mighty have struggled had it come into existence circa 2006 rather than today when an audience has grown to really appreciate the styles presented.

[Session Moth is over]

Isn't this pretty much the same as the thread you created a few days ago? It's pretty much just another fast paced no selling vs old school wrestling debate.

Anyway to answer the question. I enjoy some of the spots they do today, I just wish they slowed down in between those spots, sold a bit more and not hit move after move that should be match enders.

[Deleted]

NWA has been getting a very solid reaction so yes.

[The Legendary Ring Troll {BLM}]

Oct 30, 2019 17:32:28 GMT -5 autisticgeordie said:

Like, I see all the perfectly valid complaints about how wrestlers are doing too much stuff now and doing too many flips and all that jazz and I can certainly see a point to that. 

But let's be real, who really would watch an old school style 'rasslin' show in 2019?

Old school style wrasslin show? NWA Powerrr is my current favorite wrestling show, soooo....

[The 1Watcher Experience]

Absolutely. Most fans love matches that tell stories. They like to see body parts being worked over and selling in their matches. I enjoy a good spot fest as much as the next guy but when that’s the dominant style of every match on the show it doesn’t mean anything. People could just go play a video game and see the same types of things. Only they’d enjoy it more because they’d be in control. Over saturated formats are the kiss of death. Just look at TNA running those Lockdown events; the all cage matches PPVs. They just killed any anticipation or drama for that type of match.

Fans today can knock the old school style all they want. They’ll never have a boom period like old school wrestling did in the 80s. I see today’s indie wrestlers retweeting old matches and old promos from back then all the time. Promos use to be required to sell matches so we had a lot of great ones back in the day. You had to build a main event to draw a crowd. Not just throw out whatever match to fill out time on a show. Title belts were more prestigious and you knew who all the champions were because it was a big deal when a title would change hands. There’s a lot more to appreciate and learn from old school wrestling. More people could learn from that history if they really wanted to. The wrestling business would probably be in much better shape if they did.

[Natural Born Farmer]

Definitely rather watch 180 pound guys spam super kicks and Canadian destroyers all day before watching NWA style wrestling.

[111111]

I tried watching the NWA revival and it was boring as shit.

I think there’s a limited niche audience with rose tinted glasses for that type of thing but it will never become a big deal in 2019.

Wrestling evolves for a reason as different styles mix together and outside influences come in as well as advancements in healthcare and technology which has an impact too, why do what’s already been done well and improved upon and that people were bored of decades ago?

It’s like with music really, I’m sure classic rock bands sounded great at the time but they all sound shitty and dated today.

Same with video games. The first metal gear solid was the shit in 1999 it’s dog shit in 2019

and don’t get me started on how bad Seinfeld which is supposedly the best sitcom ever is by today’s standards, in fact this has been recognised with the whole “Seinfeld is unfunny” thing, Lods of sitcoms came after it that did the same sort of jokes and scenarios better and with new twists on.

[nate5054]

Oct 30, 2019 19:04:46 GMT -5 111111 said:

I tried watching the NWA revival and it was boring as shit.

I think there’s a limited niche audience with rose tinted glasses for that type of thing but it will never become a big deal in 2019.

Wrestling evolves for a reason as different styles mix together and outside influences come in as well as advancements in healthcare and technology which has an impact too, why do what’s already been done well and improved upon and that people were bored of decades ago?

It’s like with music really, I’m sure classic rock bands sounded great at the time but they all sound shitty and dated today.

Same with video games. The first metal gear solid was the shit in 1999 it’s dog shit in 2019

and don’t get me started on how bad Seinfeld which is supposedly the best sitcom ever is by today’s standards, in fact this has been recognised with the whole “Seinfeld is unfunny” thing, Lods of sitcoms came after it that did the same sort of jokes and scenarios better and with new twists on.

Agree with a lot of this.

Expect for classic rock. You're just wrong there.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

[Deleted]

I'm 38, and I like both. It's like music, movies, or tv, it's a product of its time. And while I certainly appreciate things from the past, I'd rather live in the now.

[Joe Neglia]

I care.

[cabbageboy]

That's the irony of AEW to me, it's a mix of old school NWA/WCW booking (mainly Cody and Dustin's various angles, including tonight's callback to the Enforcers breaking Windham's hand) and the wild modern style. I gotta be honest though...this new NWA stuff isn't really cutting it with me after 4 episodes in terms of being a legit old school show. It has the same problem a lot of wrestling shows have now with a lack of coherent heels and faces, and 4 shows in and they're already doing garbage weapons brawls. And I enjoyed Austin Idol's weird wrestling school ad but these other off the wall ads (Tony Falk, Question Mark guy, etc.) are just straight up kitsch and make the show feel like a parody.

[Deleted]

I think there's room for both things and they should be allowed to liberally mix.

[toodarkmark]

I can watch Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1981 and I can watch PWG from 2014 and enjoy both. Why do people have to choose? Why do we have to have these "Im a caveman and your new world confuses me" discussions? Like, its where wrestling went.

Like actually, I love Lou Thesz versus Buddy Rogers more than anything then what people consider as "old school wrestling." Bruno Sammartino would talk about how wrestling is no longer good, and that was the 80s.

Listen, what you fell in love with, what you romanticize, that stuff changes. You're not cooler, smarter, or more right, if you like things how they used to be. Music changes, comics change, tv shows change, wrestling changes.

I also love how people talk about how no one sells now days. As if Road Warriors, Undertaker, and Ultimate Warrior didn't make it a staple of their movesets. Or watch any Stan Hansen match in All Japan.

There's a million hours of old matches online, you can watch forever and never see it all. New stuff doesn't have to be like the old stuff for it to be good, and just accept that time marches on.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Virtually any style of wrestling can get over with a crowd if the performers are engaging enough.

[Malcolm]

Oct 30, 2019 19:04:46 GMT -5 111111 said:

I tried watching the NWA revival and it was boring as shit.

I think there’s a limited niche audience with rose tinted glasses for that type of thing but it will never become a big deal in 2019.

Wrestling evolves for a reason as different styles mix together and outside influences come in as well as advancements in healthcare and technology which has an impact too, why do what’s already been done well and improved upon and that people were bored of decades ago?

It’s like with music really, I’m sure classic rock bands sounded great at the time but they all sound shitty and dated today.

Same with video games. The first metal gear solid was the shit in 1999 it’s dog shit in 2019

and don’t get me started on how bad Seinfeld which is supposedly the best sitcom ever is by today’s standards, in fact this has been recognised with the whole “Seinfeld is unfunny” thing, Lods of sitcoms came after it that did the same sort of jokes and scenarios better and with new twists on.

Reverse-nostalgia tinted glasses are just as stupid. 

It dismisses the accomplishments of the past that laid the groundwork to where we are.

I don't understand this need to bash old stuff.

[Mister Pigwell]

I have room for almost all forms of pro wrestling if it's good.