give me cites and sources … even the TMZ gut was giving us that
I hear what your saying about Journalism but with regards to Pro Wrestlinf don’t we all operate under the assumption “Card Subject To Change”? I never assume Dave made stuff up or was flat out wrong just that he was either fed bogus info by sources working him OR he was fed good info and then plans changed.
As for the ESPN or Wrestling topic: Dave’s established and been around a long time making him a staple on the reporting side of things. His knowledge alone makes him a top notch source for context and historical perspective - even if the breaking stories track record isn’t always 100%. Then again, ESPN has been horrid at that over the years with premature reporting and stories that are hyped only to push content (see any Patriots story heading into the playoffs this year).
For me the obvious answer is The Internet. I tune in to ESPN to catch up on highlights and sports stories and I turn to the Internet/Twitter to catch Wrestling highlights and stories/rumors.
I am not really sure I even care about wwe getting coverage by mainstream media.
Over the years I seem to care about my selfish need to be entertained.
Referring back to @zekey’s original question, I suspect it’s Meltzer. Thinking back to the old LAW days, I always felt that the Meltzer segment was both interesting but delivered in a dispassionate way (by Meltzer). Pollock and Mouth often were trying to tease some energy or passion out of the guy!
Listening to Wai and John leads me to think that the wwe network was onto something with “Talking Smack” but then abandoned it resulting in a gap in the kind of media @zekey might be referring to.
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Ideally we would want a ‘media’ to obtain a scoop, investigate it, interview parties on all sides, and then present an unbiased story on what happened. This doesn’t happen much in any field as everyone wants to break a story ‘first’ which leads to missing out on some info and there’s usually agendas in play also.
In wrestling, we actually ask the same people to report AND also give an opinion about what happened. We want that out of Wai and John and Meltzer. There’s no ‘SportsCenter’ of wrestling that just reports about what’s happened (and shows highlights). Of course ESPN has numerous ‘opinion’ shows that almost come across as pro wrestling (as far as scripted) as two people are arguing opposite sides about a team or player.
John does an insanely great job with his note taking on all these wrestling shows that it’s almost like watching the show with our ears. I’m quite enjoying this ‘uncensored’ John adding an extra line to a wrestler’s promo at the end. Wai does an amazing job at calling out when the characters and stories are not making sense in the WWE’s own world. It doesn’t matter if it’s Marvel, Harry Potter, Star Wars, the Walking Dead, or WWE, the creators and writers get to make up their ‘Own Universe’ and often the WWE does something and offers no explanation on it (Undertaker beats Shane under these conditions and those conditions are immediately pissed on or reversed with no explanation or justification). I pointed out that Absolution was ejected from ringside at Fastlane, yet the ref didn’t turn around and catch them in the act (of roughing up Charlotte). I would put Wai in charge of these ‘little things’ so the stories could flow and characters get developed. Basically my overall point here is we want Post wrestling to report and review (uh, that’s rewind now jackass).
The Jackal is rambling on again here (hell I had like 42 more paragraphs I wanted to write), but I’ll try to get to OP’s question. Basically there’s no ‘SportsCenter’ of wrestling that reports facts and investigates other stories (DUI’s, etc.) solely. As we see in other ‘medias’ is anyone doing it anywhere? There’s always a back to scratch, an ax to grind, a slant to be slanted towards, an agenda to prop up, and an opinion to state in these other fields. In wrestling we want the facts and opinions from the same people however (as those that we listen to or read are solid reporters and gigantic fans). So our ‘ESPN’ is the Bludgeon Brothers, John and Wai.
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I want to read all 42 of your paragraphs brother. I want to know whose platform is the biggest. When I want to organize “the Roman Reigns boycott” for example. What is the radio show I call-in to instruct fans to turn their back in the arena. (Thats an example Im not serious) According to Nate, Twitter is the hub of wrestling talk. Maybe I tweet the hashtag #ReignsReignsGoAway. According to Wai and others, Meltzer is THE media. Does that mean I email his mailbag to influence the wrestling world. An email containing a bias question like for example: (Just an example) Dave has there ever been a PPV where fans left early out of disinterest?
I mentioned /SquaredCircle yesterday ^ That’s where I saw a link to Snickers’ feedback page. Snickers sponsors WM. The OP encouraged others to express displeasure with Fabulous Moolah. Somebody on that thread said that if 20 separate complaints are received by the company he works for, his company takes action. So the reddit community complained to the sponsor.
Fabulous Moolah’s name was removed --> because of Snickers --> because of /SquaredCircle
Does anybody wanna change their answers to /SquaredCircle is our ESPN. Shit gets done there.
If anything (and I don’t think this is so given the small sample-size of results) Squared Circle would be the MoveOn.Org or PETA-wing of wrestling fandom, but not the site you go to for news and analysis. I’d also say that the Squared Circle outrage was a more concentrated form of the larger outcry that occured over social media over the past 72 hours (particularly Twitter)…So I wouldn’t give them total credit for the Snickers thing. So referencing back to your OP I think the answers would either be Twitter or Meltzer if you’re looking for the “ESPN” of wrestling coverage.
Now if you’re talking about what fan groups wield the most influence, that’s a different convo (and an interesting one), IMO. 
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Fine. For news coverage its reports by Meltzer/Johnson/Satin that are spread on Twitter.
And the group with the most influence is /SquaredCircle
Meeting adjourned.
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That’s what I thought, brother…Lol!
Although this time next year I fully expect The POST-Marks to move up near the top of those power rankings. And speaking of power…
Ascends Into The Sky All Cheadle-Like
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I don’t think we’ll ever have legit mainstream news sources. It’ll either be tainted by biased commentary or be ESPN corporate type coverage. Dave can be a great researcher and writer, and Pollock is awesome as a reporter. They’re the closest we have. Then again, a lot of sports reporters today seem to add biased commentary into their reporting too.
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I might be misremembering this but wasn’t source on that one of the top bod’s at Stardom? Not exactly the least bias person when WWE just attempted to poach both their top stars and successfully did poach one of them, but still a worthwhile story to print when WWE have previous in that area and the possibility of fan backlash to the mere idea of it changing some minds on it. Sure, it never panned out on our screens as being legit (and honestly looked like nonsense from the off given that Bayley’s not the only person using an elbow drop) but it’s entirely possible that it was a discussion that was had and that the fan reaction to the story changed the minds of those that felt it was necessary to remove that move from her repertoire.
Unfortunately, Dave’s reporting can’t exist in a bubble and if WWE feel like something the Observer has reported on needs to be changed because the surprise has been ruined or the story worked the fans up enough in a way they don’t like, then his reports can be debunked by WWE simply - and you’re gonna hate me saying this - changing the plans; that happens.
Sure, he’s not perfect in other ways and has shown bias towards ROH and against 205, his reporting on the Japanese indy/joshi scene is suspect at best, his current BritWres reporting might as well not exist and he does seem to have become a bit of a mark for himself and the boys that show him some love (read; The Young Bucks) but he’s still the most reliable source of information on the big American companies and hits more than he misses…
That said, POST is pretty much my only newsource for wrestling because a) I can’t afford to subscribe to any of the other sites and I feel far more connected to John and Wai than I do to Big Dave, Bryan Alverez, Wade Keller or anyone from anywhere else, so once I can afford to be subscribing anywhere I’ll be donating money here rather than there, and b) I’m not all that interested in following the in’s and out’s that closely and I much prefer to find out about the on-screen results when they happened and hear about the backstage gossip and drama after the fact, so I can look back on what was happening on TV at the time and marvel at how I didn’t realise that such-and-such was mad at so-and-so or that-guy was bumpin’ uglies with whats-her-face; I think it’s more fun that way.
As for the original question; Meltzer is the only answer I think. No matter who they are, every site, podcast or talking head will reference back to the Observer regularly whenever pro-wrestling is the subject.
When it comes down to @zekey stating that it’s Reddit, while I respect the thinking, I do feel like it’s flawed. ESPN doesn’t make the change, ESPN reports and the fanbase makes the change by being vocal about what they have read/seen/heard; Reddit is Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or whatever - it’s the platform used for multiple fans to gather and discuss the news that’s been reported, decided how they feel about it and organise a response when necessary, but it doesn’t have a dedicated journalist team hunting for stories and breaking news itself… yet.
Unfortunately, unbiased journalism may never have actually have existed. All news outlets are beholden to someone to keep the lights on, which means that eventually agenda’s get mixed in with what should be cold, hard fact-based reporting and things become muddy… but that’s another conversation, for another thread about far more important things than pro-wrestling.
Given the scripted/predetermined nature of pro-wrestling, this is almost unavoidable… however there are still times where journalistic standards should be met. If a pro-wrestling news site if offering up daily opinions and predictions on the current product being produced then it doesn’t matter if what is said doesn’t come to pass, however if the same site is reporting on the real life backstage antics of a particular talent and posts something that is discovered to be entirely untrue, then that site should make sure to retract the allegation and apologise to the talent - in this day and age where headlines can be damning on their own, it’s very important that the journalistic media hold itself accountable and be open to admitting fault in its own reporting.
Unbiased journalism may be impossible in the current society but open and honest journalism is not.
TL;DR - I wrote all this before getting to the end of the thread and realising a good chunk of what I’ve said isn’t needed and @PodFatherSOH had managed to bring the discussion to a close by being smarter and more eloquent than everyone - including me, I mean no offense people. Read my response if you want, or don’t. I just need to post it to feel like I didn’t just waste a bunch of my own time. 
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I agree. Do they even want a mainstream news source? I think Vince and co yearn for mainstream attention - ESPN promotion type deals - but do they want to be exposed for some of the stories out there to really dig into? Look at how this Moola thing turned out
Well maybe @zekey I’d suggest decoding Roman’s twitter password (have you tried ‘bigdawg’ or ‘thisismyyard’ yet?) and as quickly as possible block all 3.07 miliion of his followers. Wait a sec … I’ve just received breaking news from my ‘anonymous sources’ that the main event of WrestleMania XXXV (they are also reporting it will be at Met Life Stadium) is scheduled to be the leader of the Empire, (and as Booker T would say ‘5 time, 5 time Mania main eventer’) Roman Reigns (provided he gets reinstated from his current suspension) vs. the 9th place finisher of Tough Enough 2015, the Velveteen Dream. Then I would wait until Cena is off filming the Marine 12 or Blockers the Bumblebee and then buy up every seat in the arena for anywhere from 3 to 17 consecutive RAWs (haven’t finished my algorithm computing the correct number yet). Yes, initially after the first few shows, Vince will see all these ‘sell outs’ and conclude that his master plan (JamBiGDawgDownUrThroaT) ™ is finally working. However, since you’re making ‘Paper Punjabi Prisons’ every Monday with your 14,600 tickets, the TV audience will repeatedly get the hashtag #WTFraw trending on Twitter 3 (new and improved with even more gifts and gifs!!) as they would be wondering why there’s all these ‘empty arena matches’ and some Jackal on the most trafficketed (buzz off spell check I’m creating a new word) wrestling site on the dark web, POSTwrestling (starring John, Wai, and the newly released Nick Nemeth) will be writing ‘Big Dawg draws 0 again’ on the message board. One thing that we’ve learned from TNA over the years is you can put on a better product, but if only 432 folks on vacation from Malaysia (here to actually see Snow White) are in attendance, the people watching at home will think ‘This must not be cool. I will only like these wrestlers when they go to another company’. Ratings will tank and in 13 years, Roman will be forced to leave.
You better get started. My sources are saying the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 29 will be Roman Reigns vs. The American Dragon (w/Birdie).
I’m with @JT_Grizzle in the fact that I want to know less these days. It started to affect my enjoyment of the product, where everything is revealed and overanalyzed before it even happens.
WWE definitely doesn’t want any non favourable coverage. They want to control it and make sure it’s PR friendly. I do enjoy seeing ROH and NJPW benefit from this new mainstream media interest though.
I stopped reading at Velveteen Dream brother. But thanks anyways.
The best way to do that is to not honour someone that is a glorified sex-trafficker who kept other women wrestlers down, pimped out the ones she could control, sabotaged their training so they would never surpass her and stole money out of there pockets…
Or a man (heck, men) who was consistently homophobic, racist, misogynistic and just generally verbally abusive to anyone that wasn’t White™, Christian™ and American™.
You’d think they’d have worked that out by now.
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Last 3 Manias were the most financially successful Mania’s…headlined by Roman Reigns.
Fact.
Not because of Roman Reigns though. There’s a difference. Does he put butts in seats? Of course. Is he the only reason people are there? No.
Smackdown house shows and TV tapings attendance are down since AJ Styles became champion…fact