Voices of Wrestling

As a subscriber of almost five years, I have noticed a decline in the quality of the F4W content. Whether this is due to the rise of other quality podcasting networks and forums is hard to say, however, the site seems to have stagnated to some degree.

The Bryan & Vinny show, which I used to very much enjoy, has declined in quality, particularly over the last year or two, as Vinny tends to read through his reports in the driest manner possible, clearly only following the product and wrestling in general because it is one of his jobs. I still enjoy the Granny segments a lot, although the addition of Craig hasn't done a lot for me.

He is somewhat of a polarizing figure, but the site lost much of its appeal when Todd Martin left, as his show was easily in my top three or so favourite weekly podcasts. Filthy Tom is good in his role, and I understand his appeal, much as I understood why some didn't enjoy the Todd Martin show, but his show with Bryan hasn't, in any way, filled the void left by Todd Martin. I also don't get much out of Observer Live due to largely recycled content and terrible callers, although I always enjoy listening to Mike.

The BOARD isn't the place that it once was. It no longer provides the over the top entertainment that it provided at a time, and I think that a lot of people feel that way, as in turn the number of people participating in serious and quality discussion in the previously moderated sections has also declined, unfortunately.

Does this mean that I will end my subscription any time soon? Probably not. I still enjoy Wrestling Observer Radio, and it plays a unique role in the increasingly saturated realm of pro-wrestling podcasts. The DKP and Big Audio Nightmare are also shows that I almost always enjoy, and can't get anywhere else. Then there is the Observer, which makes the subscription more than worth it, for obvious reasons. And Dave's content alone, whether in audio or written form, coupled with the Observer archive is worth the subscription price. The Figure Four Weekly is also good when I get a chance to read it.

It is still worth the price in my mind. However, my subscription was something that I would have been happy paying $17+ for at a time, which is no longer the case.

I know Mike's work schedule is all over the place, but i'd much rather have him do one or two Sin Limite shows a month vs being on WOL every day. He's got a great mind for both pro wres and MMA, arguing with Ryan from Cumberland and the other terrible callers on WOL isn't a good use of his time. Just my two cents on WOL.

This is the F4W forum in a nutshell really isn't it?

This morning's show had an especially painful exchange between Dave and Bryan about the Owens/Neville match last week and this. Bryan's insistence that somehow Neville winning last week on a fluke and then getting destroyed is comparable to Owens winning this week was cringeworthy. While Dave leans too much on his own narrative points, he at least tries to be fair whereas Bryan is lost in the weeds.

Jam packed news day, and Dave spends about 20 minutes talking about weight lifting.

That's because of this:

The change in training methods, focusing on heavy power lifts and heavy Olympic lifting by WWE performers has resulted in a huge increase in shoulder injuries, with Randy Orton and Dustin Runnels the key ones not participating in those kinds of workouts, like Cena, Cesaro, Hideo Itami, Mojo Rawley, Clayton Jack and Sami Zayn among others.

Cena, who is almost 39, has been going for personal records on lifts like the bench press, squat (which is almost surely not a factor in this) and snatch lifts over the past year. There is a strong belief in heavy training using the complete body today as opposed to the lighter isolation movements that most older wrestlers had done historically, except the ones who still competed in power lifts. But the training methods that are supposed to guard against injury seem to be increasing the injury rate significantly, particularly shoulder injuries. It is likely a combination of that and the bumping.

I don't understand or really care to hear about the weightlifting stuff personally, BUT it does seem to be pretty relevant to all of these recent injuries. And Dave knows his stuff in that area. So it seems a reasonable thing for him to focus on.

I was wondering why I saw a bunch of people across multiple forums parroting the idea that it's the olympic lifts doing everyone's shoulders in. I figured it was the observer.

Does Dave know a lot about olympic lifting and powerlifting though? I've heard him bring it up on the podcast before, but it seemed like it was a pretty surface level of knowledge.

Listen, Dave focuses on what he wants to focus on. We need to know who is dating who, who may possibly show up at an event, etc. There's no need for him to report on popular wrestling figures going on racist or Islamophobic rants. Popular wrestling figures telling stories about rape and passing it off as a joke, etc. Who is Paige dating, that's what matters!

AJR wrote:Does Dave know a lot about olympic lifting and powerlifting though? I've heard him bring it up on the podcast before, but it seemed like it was a pretty surface level of knowledge.

He was pretty heavily into bodybuilding, back in the day. He seems pretty knowledgeable on that kinda stuff.

If nothing else, he knows more about it than I do.

BillThompson wrote:Listen, Dave focuses on what he wants to focus on. We need to know who is dating who, who may possibly show up at an event, etc. There's no need for him to report on popular wrestling figures going on racist or Islamophobic rants. Popular wrestling figures telling stories about rape and passing it off as a joke, etc. Who is Paige dating, that's what matters!

This week has made clear that Dave doesn't know what is going on in Paige's love life for the record.

I'm very ok with a fifty something man not knowing the details of a 23 year old girls love life.

I think today was the day I finally gave up on Bryan. He simply just spouts the same, tired bullshit for every Raw, clearly hates his job and basically does little to no research about the sport he covers. He had to ask Dave if the Zeus in All Japan was Tiny Lister. Dude, I don't watch All Japan, don't run my own wrestling newsletter and even I know the answer to that!

mlev76 wrote:He had to ask Dave if the Zeus in All Japan was Tiny Lister.

I hope he also asked if The Bodyguard in All Japan is Kevin Costner.

Gutted he didn't get John Lister and Tiny Lister mixed up.