Thanksgiving. The one time a year Americans stuff their face with 1,000s of calories and show thankfulness for what they have in their life. I could make a bad joke about the true insidiousness of Thanksgiving historically, but I won't do that on here. Instead, here's a classic Survivor Series set of promos about what wrestlers were thankful for in 1989.
So, what am I thankful for as a wrestling fan? A lot actually. But I am going to focus on a select few for today.
1) Multiple Companies Doing Well- The wrestling industry has never been better since the fall of WCW and ECW. The WWE is still (and will likely always be) the biggest wrestling/"sports entertainment" company in the world. But Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and other wrestling promotions are finding a way to have their cake and eat it in this environment. Plus, with the recent news that The Elite are starting up their own wrestling promotion, we will have another great company to emerge to provide quality wrestling. The wrestling bubble is not bursting anytime soon, and with interest this high in the multiple products, I have to agree with Jim Ross: There's never been a better time to be a wrestling fan.
2) The Elite For Being The Elite- Being The Elite, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, All In, and now their own wrestling company. You have to love what The Elite did in 2018. They've truly changed the game in professional wrestling, and 2019 promises to be more of the same in all the best ways.
3) Becky Lynch Being The Man- I know most mainstream media pundits will likely point out that Ronda Rousey has brought more attention to the WWE in the last year than anyone else. And that may have a certain degree of truth. And her matches have been really good. BUT... let's not takeaway what Becky Lynch has done in the last few months. While Rousey may have opened the door for a roughhouse tough woman to take the spotlight, Becky Lynch has been a truly unique figure in wrestling this year. The fans believed in her so much that they refused to boo Becky Lynch when she turned heel. Instead, Becky has taken that momentum and transformed herself into this great figure in wrestling: an authentic, badass anti-hero who will beat the hell out of whomever stands in her way. She is truly "The Man" in wrestling, and she deserves the attention... and the main event of WrestleMania.
4) Great Wrestling Matches On A Weekly Basis- I don't think there's been a better year in terms of wrestling matches on a consistent basis. From beginning of the year to near its end here, every week has produced at least one memorable match in one of the televised promotions. As far as big events go, WWE has had some excellent matches throughout. New Japan has produced a lot of high-quality shows throughout the year with a lot of great matches with a wide-range of types of wrestling. And on the odd week that there's some bad karma going around the wrestling world, there's always WWE Network, Honor Club, or NJPW World to turn to for some great quality wrestling.
5) Wrestling Podcasts and Conversations- Some really great wrestling podcasts are out there for us looking for a little bit more to go with the classic and current content. There's a little something for everyone out there, from informed discussions and watch-alongs from the past to interviews with modern wrestling personalities and analysis of weekly wrestling from the likes of Sam Roberts, Jim Ross, Wade Keller, and others. The culture of wrestling fandom continues to grow and hopefully will develop past its toxic elements.
6) This Blog- Finally, I have to say I'm thankful to have gotten a blog going after a few unsuccessful attempts to get momentum going in other writing projects. I've had a blast doing this and look forward to continuing it for as long as I can. And like I have said in the past, if things roll the right way, one day I'd like to throw in a weekly podcast version of the blog. And maybe I can get a few of my wrestling fan friends in on this from time to time either on the blog or on the future podcast project. But again, I'm very happy to be doing this.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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