AS I SEE IT 1/19: 20,000,000 page views and onward for PWBTS

by: Bob Magee

At or about the time you're reading this... PWBTS.com, the parent website of the AS I SEE IT column, will achieve the goal of 20 million page views at or about the time you're reading this column.

That's not too bad for a labor of love by wrestling fans that started out as a newsletter back in 1996 which was read by at most, a couple hundred people... and then added a wrestling website in 1997 to promote the newsletter... finally going strictly online in late 1997.

According to our Hitbox and Add Free Stats records... PWBTS has had readers from at least 88 countries and territories: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, France, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Mexico, Finland, Austria, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Poland, US and British Virgin Islands, Sweden, Taiwan, Switzerland, Cook Islands, Russia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Argentina, Brazil, Niue, Spain, Philippines, Costa Rica, Greece, Hong Kong, Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, Thailand, India, Croatia/Hrvatska, Cyprus, Estonia, Samoa, Turkey, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Trinidad and Tobago, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Pakistan, Indonesia, Peru, Romania, Bermuda, Columbia, Guatemala, Iceland, Chile, Puerto Rico, Yugoslavia, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Egypt, Latvia, Lebanon, Nepal, Panama, Qatar, Slovakia, Zimbabwe, Aruba, Bahamas, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Fiji, Republic of Korea, Tuvalu, Madagascar, Syrian Arab Republic, People's Republic of China, and Venezuela.

According to our Add Free Stats and Hitbox Central IP logs, PWBTS has gotten readers from such unique locations as the US Pacific Fleet, the US Air Force, the US Coast Guard, a US military contractor in Japan; and other US Federal government agencies, major city governments, major universities, and a number of well-known worldwide corporations (no, I won't say which....PWBTS would rather keep our readers from getting nasty e-mails from their bosses).

Topping all the unique locations, however, was an IP logging that we've gotten on at least three occasions from whitehouse.gov. I'm not sure if I really want to know who is reading PWBTS from there... even if the current President Bush's parents WERE both known to be wrestling fans (and as I noted in last week's column, legendary Houston promoter Paul Boesch was an early supporter and contributor to President Bush Sr. during his early Congressional campaigns).

Over the years, we've gotten traffic sent our way from such websites as:

  • Wrestling news sites and portals from around the United States including A1wrestling.com, Big News Network, SEN Network, Ringside News, Wrestleview, Wrestling Scene, Wrestling Xpress, Wrestlenotes.com, Wrestling Nation, WrestleDown, Impact Wrestling Online, Wrestledown.com, NOdq.com, Feelthepain.net, No Holds Barred Wrestling, The Balrog's Lair, 4w-wrestling.com, Chairshots, Start Wrestling, Wrestling Guys.com, and The Rock Says.com

  • Wrestling news sites from Europe, the UK's Wrasslin.com and TotalWrestling.co.uk, as well as Germany's indywrestling.de and Picksi's Puroresu World, Luttemedia, and Pro Wrestling.nl...

  • From Japan, the KENTO! Japan wrestling portal....

  • Wrestling promotions including Ohio Valley Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, and its fansite CZWfans.com, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, Cutting Edge Wrestling (Canada), 3PW, Madmar Entertainment, MLWfan.com, NWA Virginia,NWA-Wildside, NWA/IXWF (Hawaii), IWA Championship Wrestling (Reading, PA), Mason-Dixon Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, NWA-Wildside, NWA Florida, Heartland Wrestling Association, Impact Zone Wrestling. Pro Wrestling Iron, Chaotic Wrestling, Phoenix Wrestling.com, Oklahoma Pro Wrestling, World Star Wrestling, Liberty All-Star Wrestling, and Prime Time Wrestling ...

  • Websites covering regional wrestling such as Socaluncensored.com, Greater Cincy Wrestling, and Chicagowrestling.com...

  • Companies providing wrestling products such as Smart Mark Video, Wrestling Belt World, and Bodyslam.com...

  • Official websites of wrestlers such as Samoajoe.com, JonnyStorm.com, Stevecorino.com, Damianadams.com, Robbieellis.com, Chris Jericho.com, and Sean-casey.com...

  • Last but not least, are fan sites such as CJmarsicano.com, Eddiegilbert.com, Wrestling Then and Now, Armin Legg's Wrestling, Wrestling Pictures by WHACKS, and Myvalentina.com...

    All of the above and more have all been kind enough to link to PWBTS, and send some traffic our way over the years.

    As I said in a column written in October 2001, the thought of people reading PWBTS with everything from their morning coffee, to their evening tapas, to their Buffalo wings watching a PPV... is pretty mind-blowing when I think about it for something that just started out as a labor of love that some of us thought might be read by a few hundred people at most.

    It also reminds all of us that there are plenty of wrestling fans around; whether or not wrestling is the entertainment "flavor of the week", or is the cult form of entertainment it's been over much of the last 35 years I've been a fan of it.

    Whether in fashion or not, information like that above proves that wrestling fans are all over the place...including you and I. We're at places ranging from the Skydome and the Egg Dome in Tokyo all the way to bars, flea markets, and bingo halls, and everywhere inbetween...and many of you have come to join us during a part of your day, night, or early morning. Whoever and wherever you are, hopefully PWBTS has given you some enjoyment during your busy days.

    PWBTS has covered stories and offered (hopefully) thoughtful opinion on subjects ranging from:

  • Steroid and recreational drug use within wrestling and the death toll that has resulted.

    We've talked about the need for drug testing as a last resort against the ever-longer list of young men dying far too soon due to the effects of growth-enhancing and painkilling drugs, as well as their effects; with the list getting longer and longer each time it's reported or commented upon.

  • The battle against censorship of sports entertainment by groups such as the Parents Television Council and the American Family Association.

    PWBTS was one of the co-founders of Wrestling Fans Against Censorship, along with fan lobby Strictly ECW, and two other websites no longer in existence.

    From 1999 until the victory against the PTC, we fought the fight against groups like the PTC who would tell wrestling fans and fans of other genres if entertainment what we could choose to watch via their campaigns of corporate terrorism...successfully fought by WWF/E in a 10 count civil lawsuit, a lawsuit whose facts included information from WFAC and PWBTS...a lawsuit settled out of court.

    We helped show these groups to be what they were...collections of dangerous extremists with ties to groups like the Unification Church who would shove their own ideological agenda down our throats...when all we want to do as fans is to watch some of our favorite programming after a long, hard day.

  • ECW...from its glory years, to its years of internal strife, to the TNN years... with the promotion's incredible highs and incredible lows...from the days of "Team ECW", all the way to its unfortunate demise in 2001.

    PWBTS was willing to be critical of ECW at a time that no one else seemed to be.

    From 1994-1996, ECW and its fans were viewed by many as "Team ECW" in describing the unique relationship that the company had with its fans; even well-known wrestling commentators such as Dave Meltzer.

    But backstage politics began to sour the atmosphere of ECW in 1996. At first, only a few people were willing to discuss those situations. Most fans didn't want to hear that criticism. We received criticism (and a lot worse) from many.

    But as 1997 went into 1998 and 1999.... as talent left ECW for greener pastures, as paychecks started bouncing, as entering ECW venues just to see a show became a physical encounter... the truth became impossible to ignore. Suddenly PWBTS wasn't the only voice expressing these views about ECW. The voices grew into a chorus.

    It was a story we wished we didn't have to comment upon. But it happened right in front of the eyes of numerous PWBTS writers...so we spoke our mind...and sadly, proved to be right as ECW closed its doors in 2001.

  • The tragic death of Owen Hart, and the Shakespearean saga of the Hart family...

  • Wrestling memories from the past, with news and opinion on legends of the past who've left us, historic venues that may leave us, and the earliest exposures of our writers to wrestling...

  • Vince McMahon's wrestling juggernaut, whether we knew it as WWF or WWE, the various controversial and the various entertaining (and sometimes not so entertaining) moments...

  • The madhouse that was WCW, from its years of quality wrestling to the Russo years filled with the controversial use of sex, Vince Russo's racial obsessions, and Crash TV style booking...

  • The Monday Night Wars...their eventual victor...and the results of the WWF's "victory"...

  • Independent wrestling, and the need for fans to support it to insure the continued growth of the business as a whole; with specific coverage of the vibrant and ever-controversial Philadelphia independent market...

    All the way along, we called things as we saw them, and played no favorites, despite what our critics might tell you.

    There are many individuals who are a part of our little labor of love, both those in the past, and those currently involved with us...

  • Eric Walker, MY TAKE ON columnist
  • The always controversial columnist Bob Barnett
  • Steven Goforth, CHAIRSHOTS TO THE HEAD columnist
  • Marcus Dowling, FAMOUS LAST WORDS columnist
  • Armin Legg, ARMIN'S HAMMER columnist
  • Adam Martin, RAW WWE recapper
  • Mike Informer, media reporter/researcher
  • Devon Cutting, independent news reporter
  • Stefan Picksi, Japanese/puroresu news reports
  • William B. West, reporter
  • Steven Ashe, Canadian news reporter
  • Sister Midnight, reporter
  • Last but not least... our PPV recapper and ever-helpful webmaster, Paul Nemer

    Much thanks to all of them... they make PWBTS what it is... a non-aligned site where fans can get unbiased news and unabashed opinion.

    20,000,000 page views...here's hoping that there are at least 20,000,000 more.

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    If you have comments/questions, or if you'd like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, I can be reached by e-mail at bobmagee1@hotmail.com)