On a daily basis, I end up talking about wrestling. A lot. Probably more than anyone with two Master’s degrees really should. But I fell in love with it as a kid outside of Atlanta cheering on the Four Horsemen and Dusty Rhodes. Due to this insatiable desire to know everything about the wrestling business, I read a lot of wrestling websites. There are a lot of good sites but there are too many bloggers that take their jobs too seriously. Too many seem to think hating wrestling is more fun than enjoying wrestling. I flippantly mentioned to  followers of me on Twitter and friends who meet me in places like Chicago for Starrcast and in Atlanta for Smackdown that I should start covering wrestling. And then people began to agree. So in wrestling terms, I worked myself into a shoot. Hence the title of my column “Worked Into a Shoot.” Not overly creative, but it works.

Let’s get this out of the way first. I’m not a wrestling insider which means I’m on par with half the “dirt sheet” writers out there. My intent is not to “break news.” While I know a lot of pro wrestlers, most conversations are limited to “Hey, can you tell Funko to make a Pop of me?” So don’t worry about me wasting your time with ” fake news.”

I want “Worked Into A Shoot” to bring a fan’s reaction to what’s happening in professional wrestling. You won’t see me posting overly snarky responses to everything the WWE does to curry favor from the indie fans. You won’t see me bash “mud show rasslin” because wrestling isn’t like the Georgia Championship Wresting I grew up on. What you will get is me telling you things that I liked, some things I didn’t like, and the  potential I see from the WWE, AEW, and other companies.  Will I cover NJPW or Impact, MLW, or ROH? Occasionally. What I plan on focusing at first on is NXT’s move to USA, AEW’s debut on TNT, and Smackdown’s move to Fox. Raw will be covered as well but it has to earn my trust again before I promise to watch all 3 hours. I will DVR Raw and speed through commercials and gender reveals until Raw becomes must-see live television again.

“Worked Into A Shoot” will be broken down into different segments. The first segment will be whatever I’m feeling about wrestling this week. You’ll get the hint for this in the column title normally. The rest of the segments will be themed after popular crowd chants. I’ll hit you with the segment I’m calling “This is Awesome” which will focus on what I think worked best in wrestling this week. We’ll next move into the “You Deserve It” section which highlights other top moments.  Next will be “What?” Moments about things that left me scratching my head.

Normally, “Worked into a Shoot” will drop on Wednesday nights or Thursdays but this could change. For God’s sake there is a lot of wrestling on TV nowadays.

Worked Into A Shoot #1: One Shot at Greatness

Due to the WWE’s record television contracts with USA Network for Raw and Fox Network for Smackdown, wrestling took another step away from its seedy past. And partially due to WWE’s contracts, TNT has now given wrestling fans what they’ve craved since 2001: competition. I hear AEW and WWE fans talk constantly about how wrestling has hit a renaissance period. That’s one way of looking at it. But if Smackdown tanks on Fox and AEW fails to attract fans beyond its small but rabid fan base, then wrestling could be done for in five years.

I have faith that’s not going to happen though. Vince isn’t an idiot. I have faith in Cody Rhodes and Tony Khan. So while there is a chance of colossal failure, I don’t think we have to worry about it. But believe me, this is wrestling’s best shot of elevating an entire industry. There are concerns though. The WWE must tighten up storylines. AEW isn’t going to continue to sell out every arena after we see The Young Bucks face The Lucha Bros for the 398th time even if each match is amazing.  But there’s no reason for me to sit here on Twitter sounding like (insert pompous wrestling journalist here). I’m not going to make predictions that I pull out of left field. I’m going to watch and comment. I’ll save the grandstanding for others. Now let’s get on to the shows

The number one thing that is awesome this week is the debut of NXT on USA network. Who would have thought that one day that NXT would join the big boys on Network television? Paul Levesque did. Don’t doubt The Game has been planning this for years.

As for NXT’s debut, I loved the Triple H opening to the show. Totally great vibe. The show still has the NXT feel. Wasn’t sure if they were going to try and up the presentation but I’m sorta glad they kept it the same.

RAW/Smackdown

• I watched more RAW this week than I planned. Why did I watch more? Bray Wyatt, The Fiend, and Firefly Funhouse. That ending with The Fiend attacking Kane was great and the entire vibe was more like a horror flick.
• I’ve been saying for months that it was obvious that Brock Lesnar would be going to Smackdown because Fox will want the only male superstar currently in the WWE who is known  outside of the squared circle. Now I’m not going to sit here and pat my self on the back because my prediction wasn’t exactly rocket science. I don’t care what you think of Brock Lesnar having the title. He’s a name. He’s a bad ass. He’s also going to be your next champion. Tuesday, it was announced that Brock vs Kofi would headline the debut Smackdown episode on Fox. Sorry Kofi. I enjoyed your title reign.

• I will not stand for hatred for Erick Rowan. He’s a big fella with great t-shirts. That’s enough pal. But now, we find out he can talk! Nice to hear him speak more than a word for the first time in years.
• Speaking of awesome, I’m glad we have Luke Harper back on TV.  And I’m  curious what this means for Daniel Bryan. He can be a top start as a baby face or a heel. Maybe they think with Lesnar, Rowan and Harper, they don’t need Bryan as a heel. We’ll have to watch how this goes the next few weeks.

NXT

• I started adding Roderick Strong vs Velveteen Dream to this before the match started. It didn’t  disappoint. It’s amazing how talented Dream is and how far he has come. Roderick wins with a little help from his friends. Frankly, if this was the last we saw Dream on NXT, I’d be okay with it. He’s a superstar. I’m waiting to see that entrance on Raw or Smackdown.
• Anybody else afraid to shake Pete Dunne’s hand? He makes my fingers hurt!
• Lorcan vs Lio Rush for the #1 contender for the cruiserweight title. Nice to see Lio back. Great match and pleasantly surprised Lio got the win!
• Huge Matt Riddle fan. Loved the street fight with Killian Dane. Even happier that Killian wears a shirt now. Walter, The Street Profits and half of Full Sail got involved. Definitely had a WCW at Disney-MGM Studios vibe!

RAW/Smackdown

• One thing I did see that I am growing wary of is Seth Rollins promos. I know he can do better that the junk that’s been written for him. We need more fiery Seth. and less Seth sounding like he’s reading from Entertainment Weekly. If they let Seth cut a promo like he wrestles, he’s hard to beat.
• You know what’s easy to beat though? Corny backstage scenes like the gender reveal party. I felt bad for some of those guys. Oof.
• -Otis with less clothes on? For God’s sake WWE! Doesn’t Fox have standards and practices? But he does dance better than me so who am I to judge?

NXT

• No problem with the complete lack of promos in the first hour. But they switch to the network and the first people to get the microphone are Walter and Kushida?? Both great in the ring but not exactly known for their mic work.
• The show was…just any other NXT episode. That’s above average on its own but I guess I was waiting for a “big moment?” Maybe they’re saving until head to head with AEW.

AEW

• AEW hasn’t started their live shows yet but I had to drop one  here. I’m concerned about the depth of the roster to handle a weekly show. Now what does the Funko guy know about the roster? Well I’ve seen every PPV and attended All Out in person.  I’m sure AEW has many, many surprises for us. Yet the lack of depth still makes me worry. This concern was amplified when the bracket for the AEW tag team championships was revealed. AEW treats tag team wrestling with respect which I appreciate. However, if the WWE ever decides to put a focus on tag team wrestling again, it’s roster of great teams  cannot be matched.  Too soon to be overly critical though. So file this as a mild “what…”

Ring the Bell!

Well that’s it for the debut column. I’m sure things will change (and hopefully improve) as the weeks go by. Let’s hope that wrestling continues to grow. As far as I can tell, there are still a couple of days a week without wrestling programming. Leave us a comment below! One winner will receiver a WWE Funko Pop surprise!