Opinions on Dave Meltzer

PAU

Just wondered what you guys think of Dave and his site.Do ye treat his word as Gospel or do ye really care?

gimmick

He is a good source of information and writes good articles. I do not buy into the whole "........because Meltzer said it" type crap though. I like to form my own opinions on stuff.

WRT his match ratings, I do keep an eye out for the ones he has rated highly and try watch them as they usually are quite good. I would not swoon over them to his degree in many cases, prime example being the ROH 6 man involving Do Fixer Vs Blood Generation.

Bubs101

I hold his word very highly in the same way i would james Richardson's on italian football. Man is on another plane when it comes to wrestling knowledge and proffesionalism

Dancor

gimmick wrote: »

He is a good source of information and writes good articles. I do not buy into the whole "........because Meltzer said it" type crap though. I like to form my own opinions on stuff.

WRT his match ratings, I do keep an eye out for the ones he has rated highly and try watch them as they usually are quite good. I would not swoon over them to his degree in many cases, prime example being the ROH 6 man involving Do Fixer Vs Blood Generation.

Fully agree with the above and I admire him for getting into wrestling jouralism when in reality most people look down on it as a joke. His MMA coverage is excellent too.

RAMPAGE1

PAU wrote: »

Just wondered what you guys think of Dave and his site.Do ye treat his word as Gospel or do ye really care?

I don't really care for these sites they are partly to blame for were wrestling is today

gimmick

^ How so?

Bounty Hunter

gimmick wrote: »

^ How so?

Well its our own fault if they do but to some extent hes right, i.e Spoilers etc. I mean I always know what happened on SD before i watch it becuase its reported via sites like his and then here but like i said its our own fault for not avoiding reading it. Similarily people often see swerves coming for example if they know in advance someone has an injury or hasnt signed a new contract and thus has to be written out or drop a belt.

on the topic of Metzelder i doubt youll find many saying that something is true cos Metzelder said so as well people like to make it seem they have their own opinions even if some people do treat what he says as gospel. However he is very very good at his job and is more often than not right and supplies very accurate information which of course is the reason some may treat his word as gospel even if they wouldent admit it.

Fozzy

I think that he's an excellent journalist and his memory is scary

Bubs101

In the word of proffesional wrestling he is the closest we have to a new testement though

Diabhal Beag

I like him because he is so dedicated to his job. Alvarez always says he is working 18 hours a day every single day.

He is top dog in wrestling journalism by far. His obituaries are great for deceased wrestlers.

The Cannibal

Focuses way too much on MMA these days, to the point of alienating wrestling fans. Look at any of his recent newsletters and the word count is slanted toward MMA. Even on the radio shows you have to fast forward through 30mins to an hour of MMA talk to get to the wrestling.

They also consistently compare UFC and WWE which does my head in. They are too completely different things! One is a legit sport and the other is entertainment.

Bubs101

The Cannibal wrote: »

They also consistently compare UFC and WWE which does my head in. They are too completely different things! One is a legit sport and the other is entertainment.

They're still very very similar and a large proportion of MMA fans used to be wrestling fans. Brock never would have been the biggest draw or name in NFL but he was always going to reach the top in MMA

The Cannibal

It just annoys me when they do things like an interview with Terry Funk, and spend about 15 minutes of that interview asking him about MMA!

Fozzy

MMA's more popular than wrestling now and Dave's been covering MMA for over 16 years. I think that he's always given it the amount of coverage that it deserves depending on how much exposure it's had at different times

I wouldn't call the UFC a legit sport only, it's heavily entertainment based and looking at what achieves the most viewers and business will show you how similar it is to pro wrestling

PAU

The one thing I find is a bit of a rip-off is that you have to pay to see his site basically,where as there are hundreds more sites that have the same info.

Fozzy

PAU wrote: »

The one thing I find is a bit of a rip-off is that you have to pay to see his site basically,where as there are hundreds more sites that have the same info.

They absolutely do not have the same info. I don't know how many times reports posted here attributed to Dave have been corrected by myself and others who actually read what he wrote

How do you expect him to make a living if he gave away his newsletter for free?

And it's hardly a rip-off with the amount of stuff you get. The Observer is a huge newsletter and there's hours and hours of new audio every week that cover pretty much every topic from different points of view, plus two other newsletters. And it's something like 1.80 a week, I think it's the opposite of a rip-off

PAU

Fozzy wrote: »

They absolutely do not have the same info. I don't know how many times reports posted here attributed to Dave have been corrected by myself and others who actually read what he wrote

How do you expect him to make a living if he gave away his newsletter for free?

And it's hardly a rip-off with the amount of stuff you get. The Observer is a huge newsletter and there's hours and hours of new audio every week that cover pretty much every topic from different points of view, plus two other newsletters. And it's something like 1.80 a week, I think it's the opposite of a rip-off

Any site you have to pay to read what's on it is a rip-off, I don't care how much it is.

Gerard.C

PAU wrote: »

Any site you have to pay to read what's on it is a rip-off, I don't care how much it is.

Do you think The Irish Independent is a rip-off?

Diabhal Beag

Not the Observer site. There is legit something for everybody's taste. Great audio every day and its like only 7 euro a month.


It also has a great board too

PAU

Gerard.C wrote: »

Do you think The Irish Independent is a rip-off?

Do you?

gimmick

He asked a legit question based on a rather ludicrous assertion you made above :rolleyes:

PAU

gimmick wrote: »

He asked a legit question based on a rather ludicrous assertion you made above :rolleyes:

What does the The Irish Independent have to do with anything?.

Fozzy

PAU wrote: »

What does the The Irish Independent have to do with anything?.

It's a source of journalism that you pay for, same as the Observer

PAU

My whole point though is there are hundreds of Wrestling sites that give the same news as Dave, why should one pay for it.

Fozzy

PAU wrote: »

My whole point though is there are hundreds of Wrestling sites that give the same news as Dave, why should one pay for it.

And the point that I've already made is that they don't have the same news as Dave. They take tiny snippets out of his newsletter and often misquote them. You don't get the bios that he does on wrestlers, or the huge articles that he does like the current series on the biggest draws in history from a number of different parameters or the ones he did on all the Olympians who did pro wrestling. About 1-2% of the Observer gets copied onto other sites

gimmick

PAU wrote: »

My whole point though is there are hundreds of Wrestling sites that give the same news as Dave, why should one pay for it.

Because with Meltzers stuff you are getting a quality and informed opinion. Its like reading political views in the Daily Sport as opposed to the Irish Times. To say that the likes of, say, Wrestlezone gives as good as what DM gives is misguided at best, complete nonsense at worst.

Anyway, Fozzy has already answered this.

Vince135792003

When it comes to covering pro-wrestling, no ones comes close to his professionalism and enthusiasm. Like everybody his opinion is his opinion but in terms of his analysis, it's top notch.

Just on the "too much MMA coverage" argument, Meltzer will cover the major stories in MMA and pro-wrestling.

So if WWE are buying WCW like they were in 2001, you'll get a pro-wrestling heavy issue of the observer.At the same time, if there's major news in MMA and very little happening in pro-wrestling, you'll get an MMA heavy issue.

In regards to his site with Bryan Alvarez, I joined up on the first day in 2005 and am still enjoy going on it today so my advice would be to give it a shot for a month.

Rjd2

Superb journalist but I dislike an incredibly small portion of his fans that have no opinion on anything and are obsessed with Dave. The type of people that if Dave said the holocaust was justified they would probably agree. :mad:

The Cannibal

Haha. I had one of those guys just a few days ago. I said that I didn't think the Hardy/Morrison match from Smackdown! was anywhere even close to a 4 star match that many were reporting it to be. In response I got "Dave gave it ***3/4, that makes you wrong!"

Gerard.C

PAU wrote: »

Do you?

No. But in fairness, you could probably get all the stories in it for free in some shape or form. I'm not saying the Indo is the Holy Grail of news in Ireland, but it's a good example. You could probably get the jist of Meltzers newsletter on other sites, but you wont get nearly as much detail. Fozzy has said it all already though

Rjd2

The Cannibal wrote: »

Haha. I had one of those guys just a few days ago. I said that I didn't think the Hardy/Morrison match from Smackdown! was anywhere even close to a 4 star match that many were reporting it to be. In response I got "Dave gave it ***3/4, that makes you wrong!"

I honestly thought it was overrated as well, although if Dave said it was four stars I may revise my opinion…

flahavaj

Meltzer is an immense journalist, I'm in awe of the guy. He produces an RIDICULOUS amount of content on a weekly basis and his reputation and credentials are impeccable. Basically I won't believe a rumour until I get the definitive take on it from the Observer. As someones else said his obituaries are incredible, the Misawa one a few months ago was a work of art.

michael.etc...

flahavaj wrote: »

Meltzer is an immense journalist, I'm in awe of the guy. He produces an RIDICULOUS amount of content on a weekly basis and his reputation and credentials are impeccable. Basically I won't believe a rumour until I get the definitive take on it from the Observer. As someones else said his obituaries are incredible, the Misawa one a few months ago was a work of art.

100 per cent agreement. While there's quite a few people out there writing quality opinion pieces,there's only a handful of online journalists who have direct sources, and can be trusted to report genuine news, and Meltzer is the biggest and best (although i must say, I'm a fan of Mike Johnson too- whose commitment to supporting ROH has to be applauded). Dave's been doing this for ****ing years, and his efforts have really added to the industry in the internet era.

I'm not going to rubbish other wrestling sites, especially as I work for one, but i will readily admit that The Observer is the best, most reliable source for everyone involved in the business in any facet. The reason for subscribing to Meltzer and Alvarez, is not only that they provide a whole bunch of great content, but they deserve to be supported because they're the ones breaking the news for the most part.

Fozzy

I think that the most common misconception that people have about Meltzer is that his newsletter is just a load of gossip. They haven't read the great historical pieces that he writes or the almost-too-detailed analysis of whatever the topic of the week is

With him working for Yahoo.com as an MMA journalist, there's a lot more of his writing freely accessible than ever before. I think that he's getting a lot more recognition as a great sports journalist now

michael.etc...

Exactly right. He's underrated in terms of his MMA coverage too... I mean, he's been covering UFC since the start, and he was even a judge on one of their earlyish cards. But the yahoo deal is a big boost for him.

His tributes II book is a must-read as well.

The Cannibal

Pity you'll never see him dusting off his tux for the hall of fame.

flahavaj

The Cannibal wrote: »

Pity you'll never see him dusting off his tux for the hall of fame.

He has his own, altogether more credible HOF anyway.:pac:

The Cannibal

What are you talking about!? He doesn't even have Pete Rose in it for crying out loud!

Utopia Parkway

Fozzy wrote: »

I think that the most common misconception that people have about Meltzer is that his newsletter is just a load of gossip. They haven't read the great historical pieces that he writes or the almost-too-detailed analysis of whatever the topic of the week is

With him working for Yahoo.com as an MMA journalist, there's a lot more of his writing freely accessible than ever before. I think that he's getting a lot more recognition as a great sports journalist now

Meltzer is actually a highly respected journalist in the US which is an amazing feat considering he has almost exclusively covered pro-wrestling for his entire career (along with some MMA of course). To serious American sports journalists pro-wrestling is a joke yet Melzter is still held in high esteem over there due to the quality and longevity of his work.

Vince135792003

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Meltzer is actually a highly respected journalist in the US which is an amazing feat considering he has almost exclusively covered pro-wrestling for his entire career (along with some MMA of course).

He started off covering soccer around the time George Best was playing for San Jose too.

big syke

I think hes a quality sports writer and the hardest working wrestling/mma journalist there is.

RAMPAGE1 wrote: »

I don't really care for these sites they are partly to blame for were wrestling is today

I disagree with this, meltzer and others have been reporting rumours, storyline changes and roster additions for years.

For example when Jericho joined ten years ago when wwe was, in many peoples opinion,i n its prime there where tonnes of Jericho signs in the crows, same when benoit, eddie etc joined. Even the non hardcore fans had an idea when new things where happening but this this not detere from the prooduct or the fans reactions.

So i dont think that this has put wrestling where it is today, the writing, booking and in wwe the pg rating and being NBCs biitch.

flahavaj

big syke wrote: »

I think hes a quality sports writer and the hardest working wrestling/mma journalist there is.



I disagree with this, meltzer and others have been reporting rumours, storyline changes and roster additions for years.

For example when Jericho joined ten years ago when wwe was, in many peoples opinion,i n its prime there where tonnes of Jericho signs in the crows, same when benoit, eddie etc joined. Even the non hardcore fans had an idea when new things where happening but this this not detere from the prooduct or the fans reactions.

So i dont think that this has put wrestling where it is today, the writing, booking and in wwe the pg rating and being NBCs biitch.

Exactly. The Observer and similar sites may be to blame for an internet fan not enjoying wrestling as much as when they used to watch spoiler free ( and the easy solution is to simply not read them in that case!), but blaming it for the downturn in the industry as a whole is way off the mark.

big syke

flahavaj wrote: »

Exactly. The Observer and similar sites may be to blame for an internet fan not enjoying wrestling as much as when they used to watch spoiler free ( and the easy solution is to simply not read them in that case!), but blaming it for the downturn in the industry as a whole is way off the mark.

Totally agree. I have watched the current product as both an "internet fan" and "Casual fan" (not looking at spoilers etc because of lack of internet!!) and it still makes for horrible viewing on the majority of their shows.

Smackdown, although heavily spoiled before being shown on television, is a very enjoyable show at the minute a much better product than raw which is completely live.

So blaming meltzer and other sites for a bad product is garbage in my humble opinion.

PAU

All very good points I must say, even the folks who disagreed with me.

rossie1977

Fozzy wrote: »

I wouldn't call the UFC a legit sport only, it's heavily entertainment based and looking at what achieves the most viewers and business will show you how similar it is to pro wrestling

all american sports are heavily entertainment based, its beyond ridiculous, nba and nfl live games are insane, at a bulls/celtics game i attended they had old people dancing and car racing during timeouts :eek:

Snakeblood

rossie1977 wrote: »

all american sports are heavily entertainment based, its beyond ridiculous, nba and nfl live games are insane, at a bulls/celtics game i attended they had old people dancing and car racing during timeouts :eek:

I think he means that the storylines are actually important in MMA. Forrest Griffin and Stephen Bonnar, or Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz, or Lesnar vs. Mir all had pretty compelling stories going into them that made people want to watch the show, over and above pure athletic competition.

rossie1977

Snakeblood wrote: »

I think he means that the storylines are actually important in MMA. Forrest Griffin and Stephen Bonnar, or Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz, or Lesnar vs. Mir all had pretty compelling stories going into them that made people want to watch the show, over and above pure athletic competition.

storylines exist in alot of sports, mike tyson and ali were walking storylines during their years in the ring, "i want to eat your children" lol

i got flamed the other day on this site by numerous posters for comparing a gaelic footballer to soccer players, there is far more comparison between those two sports than between pro-wrestling and mma imo