The Heat and the Shine

Dave Meltzer appeared on " The Jim Cornette Experience " podcast recently for a discussion on modern wrestling promotion.  Meltzer's position was that indy wrestling is hot, and thus the current, wink-and-nod style works.  Cornette's position is that there are more lapsed wrestling fans than active wrestling fans, and that's evidence that the business should go back to the way it used to be. In this blog's view, they're both right.  If indy promoters booked the way Cornette wants them to book, the indy scene would be nowhere near as hot.  But if a disciplined, ambitious indy promotion took cues from Cornette, they'd offer stronger competition for WWE than Impact, ROH, New Japan or anyone else. One area where Meltzer's argument trumps Cornette's -- again, in this blog's opinion -- is that the kayfabe cat is out of the bag.  Wrestling fans wouldn't just going to roll their eyes at Smokey Mountain Wrestling style booking, they'd

Five days ago, New Japan and Kenny Omega collaborated on an adventurous, cutting edge project.  It was a twenty minute, sit down interview in which Omega used a mind-bending mix of shoot and work to respond to questions about his then-forthcoming match with New Japan’s world champion, Kazuchika Okada. Dave Meltzer called it, “[a promo that] looks at wrestling in multiple dimensions, with a Jake Roberts delivery.”  It was certainly that.  Omega would tout his seven new kilos of muscled physique, then mention his six ‘Match of the Year contenders’, all in the same soliloquy.  It was a work/shoot medley, almost as if Omega watched the movie ‘Split’ and decided “Yes, I can do what James McAvoy did.  I can change personalities on the fly, leaving a puzzle for the audience to re-watch and solve.” Two days later, a very different New Japan personality emerged.  For, as risky as Omega’s promo was, the promotion's next big move was decidedly staid.  The day after Omega went to a time