Festivus 2021: Our Airing Of Grievances

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we’re celebrating Festivus with our annual airing of grievances. Jack Goodwillie already shared his here.

Steven Jackson’s Airing of Grievances

WWE

The business model, employment structure, outlook, everything. I’m done.

Mask wearing in the U.K.

Just wear a mask. Even if you don’t want to be vaccinated, wear a mask. Heck, even wear a lucha mask and go El Santo.

ATMs charging you to take out money

Why should we have to pay a fee to get out our own money?! It’s ridiculous. Whoever put that cap on in the U.K. should pay everyone their money back.

Microsoft Teams

Currently, my work uses Microsoft Teams. Compared to Zoom, the connection is DREADFUL! I feel like complaining to Microsoft.

New Japan rushing injured wrestlers back into action

Build stars and give people who need it a rest. The pattern has gotten increasingly worse these past 12 months, and I’m worried for the long-term health of guys like Tetsuya Naito and Hiroshi Tanahashi. It’s not a good image for the second biggest wrestling company in the world.

Chad Gelfand’s Airing of Grievances

WWE’s current business structure and creativity

Few companies have continuously exemplified greed more than WWE, with multiple times releasing bundles of talent hours after bragging about record profits on earning calls. While this isn’t particularly surprising coming from a billion-dollar corporation, it doesn’t make it any less awful. The creative side of WWE hasn’t been great this year either, with promising storylines constantly being fumbled at the goal line or never given a chance to get going. Add in disinterested crowds and noticeable piped-in cheers each week, and the shows become tough to watch.

The Eagles passing on Justin Jefferson in the NFL draft

I know this is several years old at this point, but it still stings (not Steve Borden) that the Eagles passed over what’s looking like a generational wide receiver for someone who dropped two game-winning touchdowns and played multiple games with negative receiving yards.

Wrestling Twitter’s daily need to platform trolls

This is an issue that is social media-wide, but it seems particularly bad in the Wrestling Twitter subsection. People need to get better at filtering out the opinions and takes of people that are designed to garner negative reactions and attention. Far too often, arguments of the day are started by the same people who continually engage in bad faith takes for engagement. Stop taking the bait in 2022.

Daylight Savings Time

It’s dark earlier. It’s cold, and while you do gain an hour of sleep, it feels like the day is already over by the time you’re done work.

Peacock

Peacock has to have one of the worst interfaces in streaming, and ever since the WWE Network migrated over there, it’s not been great. Original series have been delayed, PPVs and shows are harder to find and there seem to be a ton more commercials during PPVs.

John Corrigan’s Airing of Grievances

No “I” in Team

Although The Wrestling Estate has achieved its best year to date in terms of views, visitors and revenue, the contributions have dramatically decreased. It’s disappointing that three years ago, we were able to do a fantasy draft with 11 people, but this year only three people participated in the Thanksgiving roundtable. If we want the website to continue such growth, more people need to step up and make the most of this opportunity. I’m certainly proud that Goodwillie (Fightful Magazine) and Steven (Monthly Puroresu) have been able to parlay their efforts here into other opportunities to advance their careers. But don’t get me started on former writers who ask to come back, only to go AWOL…

Radio Silence

As a professional journalist, I’m used to requesting interviews and getting crickets in return. But Twitter makes it all the more frustrating. When I slide in the DMs for an interview or quote request to never receive a response, it’s disrespectful. Especially when you see that person tweet within the hour! Is it really that time-consuming to simply decline the request by saying “sorry, not interested” or “no thanks?” Speaking of which…

Wrestling Twitter

I’ve already vented here.

NWA’s Paywall

Does anybody watch the NWA besides reviewers? I can’t believe I’m missing out on a Trevor Murdoch world title run. The NWA went from a fun retro brand that I actually watched as it premiered each week on YouTube to something I’m not even sure still exists. The hell with FITE TV – give us our free NWA Powerrr back!

Political Apathy

Philadelphia is experiencing its highest amount of homicides on record at more than 500. District Attorney Larry Krasner is to blame, and many people supposedly agree with me. However, when the city had its chance to get rid of him, only 22% of registered voters showed up to the polls. Krasner won by a landslide, but you’ll read the Facebook comments and hear folks in the diner complain that the City of Brotherly Love is anything but. The most important part of our freedom in the United States is having the ability to elect our leaders. If we’ve learned anything during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that we shouldn’t take our freedom for granted.