The Heat and the Shine

Pro wrestling fans know that it's worked. NBA fans think that it's real. Those are two obvious facts, but their repercussions are less than obvious to many.  The NBA can draw from angles that evoke old time wrestling; modern pro wrestling can't. The NBA and its broadcast partners learned the value of old time wrestling booking today.  The Cleveland Cavaliers were subject to something akin to a "Loser Leaves the Playoffs" heading in to Game 5 of the NBA Finals last night.  They needed to win three straight times to avoid elimination. Due to fans believing that the NBA isn't predetermined (which I don't think it is, for the record), the "needs to win out" angle worked.  The 18-49 demographic (demo) rating was 7.6, up a whopping 27% from a shockingly low Game 4 demo rating.  People tuned because there was suspense in whether the season could end. Due to pro wrestling fans believing that New Japan is predetermined (which it is, for the rec...

Will Ospreay and Ricochet had a match on May 27 at New Japan's "Best of the Super Juniors" in Tokyo.  Maybe you've heard. It was the talk of the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) for days after Vader , a Hall of Famer with a tremendous legacy in Japan, Tweeted critically about a choreographed spot early in the match.  Predictably, IWC sentiment sided with the young blood, while a few old fogies (and people who admire old fogies) defended the big man. Overlooked, at least until the June 6, 2016 Wrestling Observer  was perused, was the fact that the match didn't draw.  Patches of seats at the 2,005 seat Korakuen Hall were visibly unfilled during the match, and the announced attendance was a mere 1,505.  The flyers match couldn't draw flies. Best of Super Juniors ran over two-and-a-half weeks and Ospreay vs. Ricochet are both non-Japanese headliners, so perhaps the lukewarm attendance was predictable.  Though the show was on a traditionally strong draw...