AS I SEE IT 1/2: A new year, and a look back at 2005

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

In 2005, PWBTS.com had 4,027,746 page views (the most page views for the website since 2001), with readers from 104 nations and territories including (in order of visitor frequency): United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, New Zealand, Israel, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, Argentina, Austria, Sweden, Dominican Republic, South Korea, Finland, Spain, South Africa, Singapore, Egypt, Taiwan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Norway, Switzerland, People's Republic of China, India, Brazil, Greece, Thailand, Peru, Philippines, Croatia, Chile, Pakistan, Hungary, Turkey, Indonesia, Soviet Union, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Jordan, Estonia, Malta, Bermuda, Kuwait, Bahamas, Albania, Panama, Qatar, Lebanon, Costa Rica, Romania, Syria, Slovakia, Rwanda, Guyana, Cyprus, Ecuador, Venezuela, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Colombia, Yemen, Mauritius, Fiji, Benin, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, Moldova, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Slovenia, San Marino, Nepal, Mongolia, Latvia, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Gibraltar, Congo, Comoros, Cambodia, Burundi, Armenia, Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Oman, Algeria, Libya, Iceland, and the United Arab Emirates.

In noting the countries above, I can see countries like Iraq and 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 4,500 separate visits from military hostnames.

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

In other milestones, AS I SEE IT also begins its tenth year with this column, as well as PWBTS.com now having reached over 27.6 million page views during its nine year history.

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, Wrestleview, Puroresu Power.com, Wrestlenotes.com, Wrestledown.com, NOdq.com, BGWwrestling.com, Gerweck.net, Insiderwrestling.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, Impact Zone Wrestling (Arizona), NWA Virginia, NWA East/PWX, Chaotic Wrestling (Connecticut), Blue Water Championship Wrestling (Michigan), IWA Mid-South Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, PCW (Iowa), CyberSpace Wrestling Federation, and Independent Wrestling Revolution (Detroit)...

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

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

  • Official websites of wrestlers such as Dory Funk.com, SamoaJoe.com, Gregvalentine.com. Stevecorino.com, Robbieellis.com, Jonny Storm, Billymaverick.com, Thisisstriker.com, Frankie Starz, Rockinrebel.com, Fabulousfrederick.com, and Sean-casey.com...

    In 2006, AS I SEE IT and PWBTS have discussed various issues concerning independent wrestling, as well as puroresu, lucha, and WWE, including such subjects as:

  • The deaths of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Candido, and Shinya Hashimoto...

  • After Eddie Guerrero's death. the resulting new WWE drug testing policy and the potential implications for the company's future. This, if truly implemented, would be one of the major stories of the decade...

  • WWE's return to USA Network...

  • WWE's increased emphasis on cartoonishness, as well as toilet and tasteless humor; including Jim Ross and "Dr. Hiney", JBL, Amy Weber, and a tranquilizer gun in front of the fans in Saitama, Japan... A "Celebration of Excellence" featuring tuxedo wearing men, a five string quartet, an opera singer in front of an unappreciative Philadelphia crowd (which included me), the "suicide" of Tim White, an implied rape of Sharmell by Kurt Angle, a sexual harassment angle with Melina and Batista in the year's last Smackdown...Muhammad Hassan and the "terrorists"...Eddie Guerrero and a certain doctor with an interest in his backside...and of course, the Boogeyman...

  • The Matt Hardy/Edge/Lita real life and storyline triangle, including Hardy's firing and return to WWE, as well as Edge and Hardy doing business in WWE...

  • Jim Ross's replacement as lead announcer on RAW after years as the voice of the company... the controversy and WWE's peculair way of dealing with it...

  • TNA's move to Spike TV from Fox Sports Network...

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

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

  • The passing of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Candido, Chris Cash, The Crusher, Shinya Hashimoto, Pez Whatley, Lord Alfred Hayes, Miguel Perez, Sr., Rod Trongard, Buddy Porter, Ray Villmer, Tony Lanza, Roger Mackay, George Culkin, Black Angus Campbell, Guy Brunetti, Spider, Al Kashey, Dean Rockwell, Lou Pitoscia, Chris Tolos, Scotty Thompson, Sailor White, Bob Nandor, Gene Stanlee, Bob Langevin, Choo-Choo Lynn, and Don Evans...

    Personal wrestling memories such as:

  • On June 10, 2005, Hardcore Homecoming took place. Those of us who lived the ECW fan experience at the ECW Arena got to do so in a very real way one more time, as fans traveled from an estimated six countries and all 50 states for this reunion show...

  • On October 1 and 2, Northeast US fans got to see Kenta Kobashi live for the first time in New York and in Philadelphia, with KENTA and Naomichi Marifuji arriving on December 17 in Edison, NJ...

    In 2006, 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)