It’s been a year since BackBodyDrop.com launched – and it’s been quite a ride so far.
Originally, I started this website as a blog, posting random thoughts on what’s going on in the world of wrestling. “If folks can run entire websites and newsletters with wrestling news, then an irregular blog talking about wrestling should be easy, right?”
Well, somewhere very quickly, that idea went flying out of the window.
About a year ago, my wrestling watching was pretty much non-existent, and my attendance at live shows even lesser. Save for NXT and their TakeOver specials, my wrestling viewing was limited to the numerous clips of Raw and SmackDown on the WWE YouTube channel – a far cry from the days when I’d use to stay up on Monday nights for Raw and watch the PPVs live. Meanwhile, my live shows were limited to TNA’s annual shows in London, and perhaps a WWE house show if the timing was right.
Compare that to this year: at time of writing, I’ve somehow squeezed over 1800 matches into the year (a figure that I still can’t get my head around), whilst this weekend will see me attend my 12th show of the year (Pro Wrestling EVE and PROGRESS). Personally, all of that has been something I can only describe as therapeutic, and at times, cathartic – even if some of the content I’ve produced has been, shall we say, controversial in some quarters. And on a day where the US celebrates their Thanksgiving day, this is truly something that I am thankful for (pass the sick bag!)
What does 2017 bring? With any luck, more of the same! At time of writing, I’ve already bought tickets for my first three shows next year (Rev Pro’s insanely-loaded Live at the Cockpit 12, the following week’s High Stakes show, and the wXw show in London in January), and yes, I do have my bucket list of shows I want to see, with Super Strong Style 16, Southside and “any ATTACK! Pro show” right up there.
As for coverage, well, we’re still going to try and keep up the same levels we’ve had this year: WWE’s ever-growing list of pay-per-views will of course be covered, along with the major New Japan shows. However, since there’s plenty of other sources for that content, we’re going to try and put more focus on the indies: groups like ATTACK!, PROGRESS, OTT, Rev Pro – plus anything else we can get our hands on.
At the moment, we’ve been running an unofficial “timetable” of posts: Wednesday we’ve been running old PROGRESS reviews (which will be slowing down and coming to an end soon as we’re almost caught up!), Thursday has generally seen recaps of FIGHT! Nation’s Wednesday Night Wrestling show (on a delay, just because we joined the party late), whilst recently we’ve started recapping retro British wrestling on Fridays. Of course, those will eventually end as we run out of content on those areas, but we’ll not be pressing stop anytime soon.
With so much on our to-do list, we’ll be trying to reduce the length of our reviews. Some people like the long-form reviews, but especially when it comes around to G1 season, churning out 3,000+ word-long reviews really can take the fun out of some of the matches, especially when we’re catching up.
What won’t change, however, is the way we rate matches. We’ve asked on Twitter (and soul-searched as well), and despite some people’s hatred of them, we’ll be sticking with the snowflakes as it remains the universally-accepted barometer of rating matches. For some shows, we’ll be introducing a new “thumbs up/thumbs down”-style of marking the event as a whole, so you can quickly pick what shows we think are worth watching, what are skippable, and what you can subject your worst enemy to.
Yes, there’ll be some matches we’ll rate higher than others (sort-of like how the Young Bucks get their Meltzer Mark-Up), and there’ll be others what we’ll mark down because of personal preference… but at the end of the day, isn’t that what wrestling is all about?
If we all liked everything, then wrestling wouldn’t exist in the way it does today. Not everyone likes Grado – some people lap up his brand of goofery, others just wish they could fast-forward past him. Others like the technical, mat-based work of Zack Sabre Jr. Others, seemingly the Rev Pro crowd these days, do not. Some people absolutely love the irreverent product from ATTACK! and CHIKARA – whilst others much prefer the sports-based presentation of EVOLVE. Judging by our numbers, there’s plenty of people who like WCPW, even if that doesn’t seem to be reflecting in their live streams these days…
Whilst a one-man band such as myself can’t cover it all, I’m going to give it my best. I’d like to thank everyone who’s played some part: from my long-suffering wife and family, those who argue with me online (and in real life), and all of you who’ve visited this site – whether you’re a regular visitor, or just drop by whenever we post a review on your favourite promotion.
Here’s to our next 12 months, and hopefully a year with more focus on the best of the best!