Throughout the years, there’s been a long list of “internet darlings”; wrestlers who have had a vocal following online, but have, for whatever reason, have struggled to make that breakthrough and have that popularity reflect into the mainstream (or at least, get the chance to do so).
With just eleven days left in 2015, and with no major shows left in any wrestling calendars, it’s about time to cast an eye back on the year and pick out the best and the worst that 2015 had to offer. Throughout the remainder of 2015, I’ll be posting a series of Awards articles. Everyone’s doing it: WWE’s got their Slammys, the Wrestling Observer has their ubiquitous awards, so why not add Back Body Drop’s name to the hat?
Last night saw the much heralded TakeOver: London at Wembley’s SSE Arena, for the culmination of the first NXT tour outside of the United States. To the fans watching on the WWE Network, you saw what has become the standard for NXT, with five matches in two hours, with the only offensive content coming from the fans in the crowd, courtesy of a litany of football-style chants.
Well, that was typical, wasn’t it? On Sunday, I wrote an entry here wondering out loud “where does WWE go to for WrestleMania”, after Roman Reigns lost yet another title match. Fast forward 24 hours later, and Reigns ended Raw on top of the pile, as the new WWE champion. But the question hasn’t changed…
As you may or may not know, in just under four months time, WWE will be holding it’s thirty-second WrestleMania event. Ever since WWE made the event a regular stadium show back in 2007, there has been increasing pressure on the company to not only fill the larger venues, but to put on a worthwhile show.
At the moment, WWE is getting a battering for its bland programming (at least, for shows not called NXT) – it’s not the first time that’s happened, nor will it be the last. However, as we approach the end of 2015, us wrestling fans have never had a better choice of alternatives. If that sounds a little stupid, let me explain.
Welcome to Back Body Drop! If you’ve been a fan of wrestling since the 80s, chances are you’ll not be able to read the title of this website without hearing Vince McMahon’s bombastic overtones.
When it comes to WWE’s developmental brand, NXT has largely been getting more plaudits than not. Sure, there’s viewers who aren’t huge fans of the commentators (and I for one miss the days where NXT had a revolving cast of commentators), but on the whole NXT has been more good than bad. Unfortunately, since the summer, it appears that the bloom is starting to come off of the proverbial rose, and it’s all down to the fans.