AS I SEE IT 1/4: 2004 ends...and 2005 begins...

AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com

Just to let you know...PWBTS.com is now pop-up free, thanks to the good folks at Jersey All Pro Wrestling, a new advertiser that will allow PWBTS to do what many have been asking us to for some time now. You can now enjoy our mix of news and opinion, without worrying about those pesky pop-ups. If you haven't before, feel free to give us a look by clicking the link above.

In 2004, PWBTS had 3,723,325 page views with readers from 89 nations and territories including (in order of visitor frequency): United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, France, Mexico, Germany, Israel, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Spain,Dominican Republic, Malaysia, Argentina, Switzerland, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, People's Republic of China, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, Brazil, India, Portugal, Greece, Puerto Rico, Chile, Kuwait, Egypt, Hong Kong, Thailand, Turkey, Lebanon, Czech Republic, Pakistan, Luxembourg, Hungary, Croatia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Slovakia, Bermuda, Belarus, Indonesia, Guatemala, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Romania, Fiji, Cyprus, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Albania, Qatar, Costa Rica, Malta, Lithuania, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Oman, Iceland, Yemen, Latvia, Burundi, Belize, Armenia, Afghanistan, Honduras, El Salvador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Tunisia, Iraq, Ukraine, Sudan, and Yugoslavia.

In noting the countries above, I can see countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar...and assume there's a good possibility that some of those PWBTS.com visitors are from the US military. According to AddFreeStats, I already know there have been over 9,500 separate visits from military hostnames visiting.

For those of you in the military, wherever you're serving, thanks for taking time to read PWBTS.com. I hope we give you some enjoyment in the middle of your difficult task, especially during this holiday season.

In other milestones, AS I SEE IT also begins its ninth year with this column, as well as PWBTS.com now having reached over 23.5 million page views during its eight year history.

Another milestone saw wrestling legend Dory Funk add his IN FUNK'S CORNER column to PWBTS.

As I've said in New Year columns past, that means that PWBTS has visitors from every part of the world... from every time zone...and from languages and cultures too numerous to count...reading about wrestling on our flagship site.

To all of you... wherever you are from, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read PWBTS's mix of wrestling news and opinions.

Thanks also go out to those websites that link to PWBTS and provide us with a wide variety of visitors such as:

Wrestling news sites from around the United States including A1wrestling.com, Senaxis Network, Wrestleview, PSwrestling.net, Wrestlenotes.com, Wrestlingxpress.com, Wrestling Nation, Impact Wrestling Online, Wrestledown.com, NOdq.com, BGWwrestling.com, Gerweck.net, Insiderwrestling.com, Puroresupower.com, and The Wrestling Voice.

Wrestling news sites from Europe, the UK's Wrasslin.com and TotalWrestling.co.uk, as well as Germany's indywrestling.de...

From Japan, KENTO! Japan....

Wrestling promotions including Ohio Valley Wrestling, Ring of Honor, Combat Zone Wrestling and its fansite CZWfans.com, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, 3PW, Impact Zone Wrestling (Arizona), NWA Virginia, NWA East/PWX, Chaotic Wrestling (Connecticut), IWA Championship Wrestling (Reading, PA), NWA-Wildside, IWA Mid-South Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, PWF, PCW (Iowa), Pro Wrestling Iron, CyberSpace Wrestling Federation, New England Pro Wrestling, and Independent Wrestling Revolution (Detroit)...

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, Stevecorino.com, Robbieellis.com, Jonny Storm, Billymaverick.com, Thisisstriker.com, Frankie Starz, Rockinrebel.com, Fabulousfrederick.com, and Sean-casey.com...

    Last but not least, are fan sites such as Titlehistories.com, CJmarsicano.com, Eddiegilbert.com, Wrestling Pictures by WHACKS, and Myvalentina.com...

    In 2005, AS I SEE IT and PWBTS have discussed various issues concerning independent wrestling, as well as puroresu, lucha, and WWF/E, including such subjects as:

  • The March 3 pedophile sting implicating then-Ring of Honor owner Rob Feinstein, and the controversy surrounding who did and didn't report on the story, and how quickly some sites chose to do so, including PWBTS itself...

    The controversial "draft lottery" by WWE, where the promotion actually kept changes of rosters secret from workers until literally the weekend of the switch...where workers were somehow to get to Grand Rapids, MI after they'd made travel plans to be on Smackdown the next night...

    The large scale terminations of wrestlers by WWE, with 10 wrestlers fired within a 2 week period...

    NWA-TNA's survival through yet another year...with a new (sort of) nationally televised show...

  • Ring of Honor's survival despite the Feinstein sex scandal and talent being pulled by TNA, ostensibly because of the Feinstein situation...but in fact because of professional jealousy over the high online regard in ROH was held...

  • The continued problems with WWE house show/TV taping/PPV attendance and the questionable booking by WWE that made it happen such as featured TV slot where 7 adult women found creative ways to smear ice cream, hot fudge, and sprinkles on their bodies... or young men being asked to dress in drag to get a "$1 million contract"...

  • Memories of wrestling's past, such as the column on the potential loss of one of wrestling's landmark venues, the Mid-South Coliseum...

    John "Bradshaw" Layfield going over the line, with a Nazi salute to the crowd at a WWE show in Munich, Germany...

    For the first time in 11 years, Philadelphia area wrestling fans now without a home for independent and even syndicated WWE wrestling, as WGTW Channel 48 was purchased by a right-ring religious network...

    The human side of the business, with such stories as:

    Reminders of tragic anniversaries, such as the fifth anniversary of the death of Owen Hart, and the anniversary of the passing of Brian Hildebrand...and the tenth anniversary of the passing of former WWF referee Joey Marella...

    The passing of independent wrestler Billy Redwood, seemingly unnoticed by most of the "online wrestling media"...

    And the passing of two men who had nothing whatever to do with professional wrestling...Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan and Fred "Mister" Rogers...

    Wrestling memories such as:

    The tenth anniversary of the debut of "Extreme" Championship Wrestling

    The return to Philadelphia of the Midnight Express...and the US return of Jushin "Thunder" Liger

    Here's a list of New Year's resolutions that many of us hope certain people in wrestling make in 2005

    For HHH and Stephanie McMahon (personally): that they continue to have a happy and fulfilling marriage in 2004...

  • Unfortunately...we have to do this one again this year....for HHH and Stephanie McMahon (professionally): that they resolve to allow some of the other talent working for WWE to progress on their own considerable merit and to create new stars, so ALL concerned will make money...

  • For WWE to give fans what they want...not soap opera skits...not reality TV... not green, musclebound wrestlers who look like ads for BALCO...but just plain wrestling....featuring the many still on their rosters who can provide it for WWE and for its fans...

    For NWA-TNA: to work WITH other independent promotions, instead of AGAINST them...so as to get their fans to give TNA a chance...

    For Jeff Jarrett: drop the belt...NOW... and give it to someone who can excite viewers...

    For independent promoters in general: that they decide to spend more time promoting their OWN products as opposed to starting problems for other promoters who run in the same market...and God forbid, even work WITH one another...

  • For Ring of Honor: to continue its growth, to avoid the drama that occurred in 2004, and to continue producing their quality WRESTLING product...

  • For the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission...enforce the regulations equally (as seen by WWE still advertising a barbed wire cage match for February in a state that supposedly bans them)...or (preferably) drop them altogether...and quit playing pseudo-moralistic busybodies telling adults what kinds of wrestling shows they can and cannot see...

    In 2005, as every year, here's hoping that AS I SEE IT gives you a lot more chances to make you think... that it can comment and report on many more moments of enjoyment... less moments that I feel moved to criticize... and FAR less where I have to report on or think about someone in wrestling that we've lost...and that it serves as the viewpoint for one longtime fan to share his opinions with all of you.

    Until next time...

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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)