It’s down to the final four again!
This year’s wrestling-NFL blog will complete a decade-long tradition, but it will also represent a #10yearchallenge for this blog.
When I started out with this idea, I was watching WWE consistently and had a good grasp on the talent. A decade later, my wrestling fandom is more entrenched, but I have gained a better grasp on my tastes in what makes a good wrestler, a good angle, a good match, and a good overall show.
Ultimately, it has led me away from the WWE programming and its overall incompetent structure. My weekly wrestling fix is now filled by three promotions that represent, to varying degrees, what I think should be present in professional wrestling.
As such, I am going to tie this year’s teams to the promotions I think best represent their personalities. If you like a certain team’s playing style, you can kind of extrapolate from there whether the company might be the one for you. Let’s begin!
Kansas City Chiefs - All Elite Wrestling
The thing about KC this year has been that, after emerging as a legitimate threat to New England in the AFC, people assumed that this would be the year that they could take over as the new guard in the conference.
Then, lo and behold, they got off to a VERY rocky start. People began questioning if they had it together enough to actually live up to their potential, or if they would become the New York Knicks to New England’s Chicago Bulls.
What we did not count on, though, was the teams ahead of them collapsing around them so that when they righted the ship, there was no resistance. New England failed to even get out of round one this year.
This represents AEW and their wild opening journey. The show is still heavily flawed. The women’s division is booked incompetently and the tag division has chosen to focus on being a spectacle more than actually creating must-see tag teams.
Nonetheless, an impressive top of the card, solid main event angles, and most of all, a monster collapse of the WWE’s product quality and viewership, has convinced TNT that this company is worth $175 million.
AEW, like KC, is here to stay. Question is: Will they live up to their potential?
Tennessee Titans - Major League Wrestling
MLW has seemingly come out of nowhere after reviving itself in the mid 2010s. Court Bauer convinced BeIn Sports to give them a rights deal, and not only has the show been successful, it may be getting upgraded to Showtime or the Paramount Network.
Such a move would pole vault the company into world-class discussions with world-class money. And it’s fitting for a company that mixes old-school simple booking, with international styles that blend surprisingly well, an adherence to actual weight classes (!), and some (admittedly) trash deathmatch stuff. Can’t be perfect.
Regardless, this is the crossroads where Tennessee finds itself as well. They are relying on old-school running backs - like Jim Brown old-school - with a modern twist to find themselves on the verge of being a legitimate force in the conference. They just need one more signature moment to validate themselves.
Green Bay Packers - Ring of Honor
Green Bay is that team that always seems to be in the hunt, but never actually cracks the top tier. They have all the ingredients offensively that make you think they’d have more titles by now, but a porous defense and coaching always seem to degrade them in the playoffs.
Ring of Honor’s fans could tell you the same stories. Despite great talent coming through over the years, a mess in the booking department, letting people get over at the expense of the larger brand, and unsupportive management have left the brand damaged.
Both, however, have seen recent upsides. The Pack is finally moving in the right direction, and it seems like, in spite of all his controversy, Aaron Rodgers is finally making his run behind some real support.
Meanwhile, after ROH hit its low point with the recent Kelly Klein issues, they were able to re-sign top star Marty Scurll as well as some big talent from Mexico to pad out their roster. There may be life in them after all.
The rest of Green Bay’s year, and all of ROH’s 2020, will go a long way toward determining their futures.
San Francisco 49ers - National Wrestling Alliance
San Fran has not seen relevance in a long time. Just a few years back, they were a punchline.
But sure enough, a move to pick up a backup quarterback from the Patriots changed their trajectory, and they have been on the upswing ever since. Do they look invincible? No. But do they look closest to a consistent squad that won’t make major blunders? Absolutely, and that could carry them to being the best.
Likewise, the NWA has not been a relevant company since the early 90s (or mid 2000s, if you count when their belts were in TNA). The name had long since been a relic of the bygone territory days.
But like San Fran, the best thing to happen to them seemed innocuous. Billy Corgan’s purchase of the name and rights has revitalized the company, and through small-scale growth, he has built a brand that mixes retro with the modern, quick-paced style of television. While the show is currently YouTube exclusive, the simple matches and easy-to-follow storylines have been an excellent display of why the older wrestling style still can work in modern day.
End of the day, I suspect the 49ers pull off a narrow win, and KC finally gets over the hump after a very difficult game with the Titans.
