As I See It - 1/06/2003: Looking Back At 2002

AS I SEE IT - 1/06/2003:
Looking Back At 2002

by: Bob Magee

As we begin 2003, let's first take a look at 2002 for PWBTS, the flagship site of the AS I SEE IT column.

In 2002, PWBTS had 3,981,839 visitors from 86 nations and territories including (in order of visitor frequency) United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan, Netherlands, France, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Italy, Finland, Spain, Austria, Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, US Virgin Islands, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, South Africa, Switzerland, Brazil, Greece, Poland, Chile, Russian Federation, Cook Islands, Luxembourg, Dominican Republic, Argentina, India, Slovenia, Bermuda, Venezuela, Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Croatia/ Hrvatska, Portugal, Costa Rica, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Philippines, Slovakia, Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria, Guatemala, Columbia, Indonesia, Niue, Oman, Romania, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Brunei Darussalam, Lithuania, Malta, Nicaragua, Ukraine, Iceland, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cyprus, Nepal, Tonga, Uruguay, Christmas Island, Gibraltar, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Namibia, and Uganda.

That means 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.

Thanks also to independent promotions like Ohio Valley Wrestling, CZW, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, Oklahoma Pro Wrestling, NWA Worldwide, NWA-Wildside, Phoenix Championship Wrestling for their support; as well as wrestling websites including Startwrestling.com, 411wrestling.com, A1wrestling.com, CZW Fans.com, Bodyslam.com, Impact Wrestling Online, Wrestling Belt World, Wrestleview, Wrestlingxpress.com, Chairshots.com, Wrasslin.com, The Rock Says, ProWrestleTV (aka Japan's KENTO! portal), Wrestling Nation, Stevecorino.com, The Balrog's Lair, Eddiegilbert.com and many others who sent visitors our way in 2002.

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.

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

The Philadelphia wrestling wars... with CZW, Ring of Honor and 3PW battling one another...XPW entering the market and attempting to rule or ruin using questionable tactics... then the locally based promotions working together (sometimes)...
Inter-promotional strife in Ohio and New Jersey...
Classic wrestling memories... going back to the 1970s...
The seeming downward spiral of WWE programming over the year...with Stephanie McMahon and her staff writing material that turned off a large portion of the audience...including the "Brand Extension"...the careful construction of the HHH Memorial Glass Ceiling and, of course, the infamous "Katie Vick" angle...
America's "favorite" independent promoter Rob Black... his disregard of Pennsylvania State regulations, a certain "puppy angle" and his takeover of the historic ECW Arena...
The WWF/E's war with the Internet wrestling community...
The "Animal House" behavior by WWE wrestlers on tour...and the real life domestic assault by its biggest name ever...
The continuing war with the WWF/E and eventual surrender under pressure by the Parents Television Council, along with a financial settlement, retraction by and apology to WWF/E by the PTC...
Real life touching moments such as Eddie Guerrero's return to Philadelphia, the Russ Haas Memorial, and Jeff Peterson getting to return to the ring one last time...
The long history of the ECW Arena...
The introduction of NWA-TNA as an alternative for wrestling fans...
The history of the Wilmington-based East Coast Wrestling Alliance which turned 35 in 2002... and their often-imitated yearly Super Eight tournament..

In 2002, AS I SEE IT has also had to remember people who left wrestling and this world too soon in columns... Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Russ Hass, Shoichi Arai, Big Dick Dudley, Davey Boy Smith, Jeff Peterson, and Senator Paul Wellstone; as well as remembering the anniversaries of the passing of people from the past... Owen Hart, Joey Marella, and Brian Hildebrand.

Oddly enough, in 2002 I also received my first "award" that I'm aware of... in a 411wrestling.com column discussing the "Internet Wrestling Community 100". From what I gather, the list is designed as a sort of "most influential" list for 2002. I finished 34th in the list.

Reading down the list of names, it's kind of funny that someone takes me to be more "influential" than people I respect online like Jess McGrath, Jason Powell, and Georgianne Makropoulos.

Truth be known, Jess McGrath is as influential a writer online as you'll get for covering independent wrestling and wrestling in general. Jason Powell is a fairly thoughtful online and sheet writer, even if I don't always agree with him. Georgianne Makropoulos has been supporting and promoting all types of wrestling since the 1970s, back when I was still in high school.

My ego isn't big enough to consider myself their equal.

Forget how I rate on a "list", I'm just happy that lots of people read my column.

While I freely admit that I'm opinionated as hell... I basically consider, and have referred to myself more than once as a "useful mark".

In English... that means that sometimes my opinion gets someone to think about what I've written, and makes them take action as a result of what I've said. Other times, it makes them attend a independent wrestling show, thus insuring they forget their problems for 2 or 3 hours and gain some enjoyment... and that one more worker gets paid that night.

If either of those things happen, I feel good about that.

Here's hoping that AS I SEE IT gives you in 2003 a lot more chances to make you think... that it can comment and report on many more moments of enjoyment... and less moments that I feel moved to criticize... 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 or questions, I can be reached by e-mail at bobmagee1@hotmail.com)