Happy New Year Wrestling Fans. I hope you had a happy Christmas and a safe new years eve. Today I am going to talk about the past of wrestling as well as my views of MLW, ROH, TNA, and CZW in 2004. Over the holidays I have been watching some old NWA and it really upsets me of how the business has changed. In those days they treated like a sport with no angles what so ever and just great wrestling actions featuring Harley Race, Kiniski, Thesz, Steamboat, Dory Jr., Terry Funk, Flair, The Andersons. Growing up I always loved Arn Anderson and I can't believe he never held the world title I mean he was over like a house on fire and was an amazing wrestler his selling was fantastic and his hard hitting and great scientific wrestling made him one of the greatest wrestlers in the business. I even think double A was better than Flair to a point and in the 90's when WCW took over Crockett promotions he become one of the top guys. However in the 90's sadly the wrestling world had changed like when a meteorite hits the world and wipes out the dinosaurs and changes it completely. In this case the meteorite was Vince McMahon Jr. He ruined the sports man ship the marquee said wrestling but Vince changed all that into bright colored, glamorous family entertainment where people acting like fools was the norm and the great athleticism didn't mean a damn thing.

The NWA world title which was the greatest prize in the wrestling business sadly meant nothing as WCW wiped out the NWA basically and took all the great NWA title contenders and WWF changed the sport into a laughing stock. Luckily in Japan and Mexico and even Puerto Rico the business still meant a hell of a lot. NJPW was standing up for the business by concentrating on the fighting spirit rather than the entertainment in NJPW and AJPW you didn't see any angles, any gimmicks you saw what the marquee said WRESTLING. Muto, Chono, Hashimoto, Chosyu they were all fantastic wrestlers who respected the tradition and kept that going in Japan with the help from Baba and Inoki. Now luckily in 2004 the wrestling world has a chance to be traditional once again.

Ring Of Honor: They stand up for wrestling yes they may have angles such as the Daniels Vs Punk feud with Lucy. At the end of the day ROH is all about wrestling and the fans don't watch it for angles they watch it for traditional old school wrestling. ROH is all about what the business once was and what it should be. ROH promote the strong style of wrestling which seems to be taking off in our era. ROH have the best workers in the country and the way they use them is amazing they don't push workers on their star power or mic skills they push them on what they can do in the ring. The only reason I see why ROH are doing this angle with Punk and Daniels is so they can compete in some of the finest matches in the business and they need a reason yeah it might be a stupid reason but at the end of the day it's the wrestling that's important and the fans will forget about the angles and just concentrate on the action. I love the whole atmosphere behind ROH the Code of Honor however that seems to have been forgotten about. In 2004 I see big things for ROH with last year been very successful especially with the last show of the year featuring Muto and all the great AJPW stars. This Year I predict PPV and national television for ROH and if they get that chance people who respect the sport like Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Homicide will not have to sell their souls and jump ship to the WWE to make a name for themselves.

MLW: You can say what you like about Court Bauer and I will probably agree but one thing I respect and admire about him as that he is trying to change the business from the sports entertainment trap with his hybrid wrestling god bless him his product is great but when he goes on about hybrid wrestling you sadly see that its no different to ROH, JAPW, CZW etc its just a normal wrestling product except he seems to have an obsession with the Japanese guys which can be a good thing but can also be a bad thing when you under use guys like Chris Daniels to push Satoshi Kojima who is a great worker but its not fair that he comes to the states and gets pushed to high heavens because he is Japanese and Chris Daniels who arguably the greatest wrestler alive doesn't get pushed at all in MLW. Bauer does respect the tradition though which is special but he has to stop trying to turn his product into something it is not. Hybrid Wrestling doesn't exist Mr. Bauer if it does then every promotion is hybrid wrestling. On MLW.com it says that Hybrid wrestling is when you put a traditional wrestler in the ring with a high flyer etc and every promotion does that it's nothing new. MLW has a top roster worry about them and not MLW's personal image. You worry about pushing your talent and the image will come naturally.

In 2004 I have very mixed predictions for MLW 1. Prediction is that it will become a huge national success and the other prediction is that the promotion will fold. The future of MLW is in Bauer's hands only he knows what to do at this point.

CZW: Where to begin well first of all the company is absolutely nuts and I kind of dig it even though I have to admit most of what I see of CZW isn't wrestling but it is exciting and it draws fans away from WWE so it does a good job. I remember when I first watched CZW I thought it was very mediocre most people love it because of the violence because they have never seen it before but I have seen it all before in Japan and Puerto Rico so it is nothing new to me at all I just saw another garbage promotion but then I started to notice Rick Blade, The Briscoe's, Ruckus, The Backseat Boys, Jon Dahmer, Reckless Youth, Nick Gage and realized that CZW wasn't all about garbage wrestling it had great highflying and some good wrestling also. I am not going to kid you and say I am a huge fan of CZW because that of course wouldn't be true. I don't have anything against CZW as they are making money and standing up for what they believe in. I remember watching the Jun Kasai and Nick Mondo Vs Justice Pain and Johnny Kashmere weapons death match and realized that it wasn't all hardcore crap but that these guys wrestled and did the hardcore crap and put on one hell of a death match very similar to the Honma Vs Yamakawa classic's for BJPW and the Tanaka Vs Kanemura bomb match. Over the last 2 years CZW have been struggling especially with the ban on the wire and bulbs which causes the fans to stop watching. Yeah they have great highflying and good wrestling and no hardcore but hey ROH have better highflying and better technical wrestling with bigger names so what can CZW offer" That's what happened like it or not CZW fans were there to watch the hardcore stuff and once that went so did the fans. Towards the end of 2003 CZW came back in style with the interpromotional CZW Vs 3PW dream match which unfortunately got changed but the sub was still pretty wild and the COD 5 which I have to add was absolutely crazy which drew all the old fans back! New Jack debuted and New Jack is nationally known so this only means good things for CZW and its popularity. In 2004 I predict CZW to get a national TV deal and maybe run a ppv. I also predict that the CZW stars will do more independent work in 2004.

NWA-TNA: Like I have said time and time again TNA is getting worse but what I consider worse the smarks consider better. However I do predict that 2004 is the year that TNA take over the business with an International Television and PPV deal, which whoops WWE into next week. I predict Jeff Jarrett to be at least a 6 time NWA Champion by this time next year and I also predict that America's Most Wanted will have captured a few more NWA tag straps and several Indy tag straps. I can also see AMW heading east and winning a few WWE tag straps. I think this year will see a lot of ship jumpers going to WWE or a lot of WWE workers going to the NWA. Dustin Rhodes will defiantly be there this year as he has been released. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see RVD in TNA also. I think the WWE will release Kimo (Rosey for all you wwe smarks) and he will reform the Island Boys with Ekmo (Jamal). I can picture Tommy Dreamer getting released and restarting his feud with Raven in TNA. Yeah this year is the year of TNA even thought their product is becoming similar to WWE but hey I would much rather watch AJ Styles and co than The Big Show. I hope to god Christopher Daniels, Raven and Dustin Rhodes get to where the NWA title the year I also wouldn't be surprised to see Abyss wearing the strap too. Anyway thanks for your time and remember Tradition Rules and Sports Entertainment SUCKS! by Phil Haller..