When you’ve got nearly twenty years in the internet wrestling game, you begin to grow jaded on certain issues and excited on other ones. For example, I’m fully jaded when it comes to the quality of professional wrestling websites these days. The corporate websites (think WWE.com and IMPACTWrestling.com) exist to sell a product. Sure, they can be chock full of content, but the main reason that they exist is to get you to buy something right now or excited to buy something in the near future. Then you have the corporately-owned “fan” and “news” websites that promulgate false news reports in a desperate attempt at generating more hits and, ultimately, a few more nickels of advertising income. For educated adults, those websites are nothing more than garbage and poorly written drivel. And, frankly, reading fake news is incredibly boring.
But I’m also excited about certain issues. For example, the social media team at IMPACT Wrestling really put in some great over the last few months. On a larger scale, the work that the TNA roster has been putting in for the last several months is second to none. On the other side of the fence, I watched some of Stephanie McMahon‘s angry heel character leading up to her match at SummerSlam and she’s phenomenal! She was getting real heat – the type of heat that most heels only dream to achieve. From a more corporate perspective, I am so incredibly impressed with WWE’s support for former talents when it comes to college tuition reimbursements as well as drug treatment programs.
As an adult wrestling fan, I can find reasons to be deflated and other reasons to be excited. Which brings me to the website that you’re reading right now: TBLWrestling.com.
This website has a strong and storied history that I won’t go over here. Suffice to say that the history of this website – and its predecessors – was always a source of great online joy for me. We had a masterful news reporting team that refused to post mindless drivel or plausible conjecture. We had top-level opinion writers, many of whom went on to write professionally. Our other content sections are still the best on the web, though they now reside at IWHeadlines.com.
The history of this website is a source of online happiness for me.
And as we head into 2015 and get ready for the 20th anniversary of TBLWrestling.com, its predecessor websites, and its successor websites, I’ve decided to bring TBLWrestling.com back in a limited form for a limited time.
Beginning some time in April 2015, I’ll begin posting a limited updates on this website. And since this website has always made me care about professional wrestling, the updates on this site will focus on the things that I care about in this crazy business. I plan on telling the stories of the people that I find fascinating. I admit that I’m not totally concerned whether or not the readers of TBLWrestling.com find these stories interesting because from April 2015 until our 20th anniversary in April 2016, I’m going to make this website a source of joy and happiness all over again.
I don’t suspect that the updates at TBLWrestling.com will last much beyond April 2016, if at all. However, I do believe that the content will find traction with today’s wrestling fans. If that is the case, then I plan on continuing these types of updates at IWHeadlines.com (which is still in operation today and will continue to be in operation throughout the duration of the TBLWrestling.com resurrection).
What are the stories that I care about in professional wrestling? What type of content can you expect to see on TBLWrestling.com once April 2015 rolls around?
Well, the last thing I want this website to turn into is one of the crappy, rank-and-file news and rumors websites that denigrate and disrespect my intelligence. Instead, I want to interview folks involved in professional wrestling that no one thinks to interview. I want to know and tell the story of the ring announcer at the local independent wrestling show. I want to bring you interviews with well-known wrestlers that focus on questions that they’ve never been asked before. I want to do a deep dive into topics that no one else cares about – like where do most wrestlers get their propaganda made for independent shows? Is there a main clearinghouse for that type of stuff? Now that the DVD market is dwindling, what do independent video stores specializing in professional wrestling plan on doing to sustain their futures? How hard is it to book a large-scale independent wrestling show? What does it cost? Can fans help in some way? Has the creation of the WWE Network and New Japan World changed the independent scene game at all? How?
That’s just a little bit of stream of consciousness about what I’m considering for this website. Stay tuned, everyone – I hope that this is a lot of fun for all of us!
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