YMMV / The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• Broken Base:
  • MMA coverage in the Observer. One side feels it's crowding out the wrestling news, while another side points out the newsletter has doubled in size from its days as a strictly pro wrestling publication.
  • The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. Organized as a counterpoint to the WWE Hall of Fame, with strict criteria for entry (voting is limited to people within the wrestling and wrestling journalism businesses), many feel it's "overly negative," particularly when a childhood favorite such as Sting fails to get in. Even worse was the nationalistic uproar when "Big Daddy" Crabtree (the onetime top wrestling star in the UK) was continually voted down, with many of his contemporaries feeling that he killed the business in the country.
  • In 2014 David Bixenspan replaced Bryan Alvarez as lead writer on Figure Four Weekly so Bryan could focus more on his podcasts. Fans debate as to whether "Bix" is a worthy successor, or a poor substitute.
  • The lack of 5* matches coming from anywhere outside of the Tokyo Dome. Some fans think that Meltzer is being harsh but fair, because WWE has proven over the years that they are usually hit or miss in building good storylines (and, perhaps more importantly, capitalizing on the heat that the aftermath generates), while others think that his favoritism towards Japanese promotions has caused him to overlook some deserving candidates to be 5* matches in America.^note The last match that Meltzer had rated 5* was John Cena vs CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011, and fans debated whether matches such as Bayley defeating Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, for example, or Sami Zayn's NXT sendoff match against Shinsuke Nakamura were deserving of that elusive high mark, never mind that it was just Meltzer criteria rather than objective law. The streak would be broken at PWG's 2016 edition of their Battle of Los Angeles show, where the Night 2 main event match between Matt Sydal, Will Ospreay, and Ricochet against Mount Rushmore (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks) got a 5* rating, and several NXT matches achieved 5* scores in 2018 and 2019 (one even got 5.5 stars) not coincidentally after signing wrestlers like Ricochet and Adam Cole.
    • Rather than getting better, this arguably got worse when Meltzer started semi-regularly awarding 5-star ratings to matches in North America... because they were mostly in All Elite Wrestling, leading to accusations that Meltzer isn't biased towards NJPW, he's just biased against WWE. It doesn't help his case when AEW has been given more 5-star and higher-than-5-star matches in three years than WWE has been given in the entire history of the company, as well as the well-documented friendship that Meltzer has with AEW's Executive Vice Presidents (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks). Meltzer has given five star ratings to several high-profile NXT matches,^note Andrade/Gargano, Cole/Gargano, WALTER/Dragunov, etc. but it was over a decade before he awarded the main WWE roster another 5-star match^note Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell 2022 after his most recent one^note CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011. While he has also given a few other main roster matches the full 5-stars since then, it still pales in comparison to how many AEW receives on a regular basis, despite there being plenty of WWE matches that are worthy of the rating by Meltzer's own standards.
    • Further punctuating this divide is the fact that Meltzer has given 5-star ratings to certain AEW matches that he admitted he did not like or enjoy, but rather because he thought they were the "best of the genre." This explanation has crossed many fans who have seen other matches from other companies given lower ratings even if Dave truly liked it.
  • The reasons by which Dave decides to give or not give 5 stars to a certain match has become this over the years. In a podcast, when asked about why he is noticeably stingy about giving 5-stars to certain companies (WWE, ROH, Pro Wrestling NOAH) and being rather liberal with other companies (NJPW and AEW), he simply stated that he sees no difference between giving a match 4.75 stars and giving a match 5 stars.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Brent, given his Cloudcuckoolander tendencies.
• Funny Moments:
  • One broadcast had Bryan play wrestling-related songs that he had downloaded. One song was a non-suggestive pop song that interrupts with a soundbite of Bryan saying "Chris Benoit killed his family". Upon first listening, both Bryan and Vinny detest the song and swear never to play it again. They keep forgetting the song name, and end up unknowingly playing it again six times, much to their dismay.
  • When discussing the ratings for a Fourth of July TNA Impact show, which were surprisingly flat instead of dropping as Fourth of July shows normally do because of the celebrations people go to instead of watching TV, this conclusion was reached:
    Bryan Alvarez: Well what does that tell you?
    Dave Meltzer: It tells me that TNA fans don't leave their houses.
  • Bryan's famous "I WOULD BUY A GOLD BOAT!" rant, which pops up out of nowhere in the middle of his 20-minute tirade about how terrible Impact is and how much it pisses him off.
    Bryan Alvarez: I DON'T EVEN GIVE A FUCK IF IT SINKS!
  • In his podcast after the infamous ending of Hell in the Cell 2019, Bryan completely lost it when he realized that, after Seth Rolling and Bray Wyatt had been hit by a giant mallet unprotected, that the referee called the match off (this was the no DQ cell match, by the way) after Seth hit a large pile of chairs and debris with Wyatt under it with a sledgehammer. "Big hammer good; small hammer bad." was his Madness Mantra.
  • Vinny clearly had flashbacks to the worst years of TNA in the aftermath of AEW's first Winter is Coming, where it was revealed that AEW and TNA (now Impact) were working together. He goes off on a hilarious rant about Impact and AEW working together. Bryan Alvarez, despite his memories of the old TNA, had to actually be the rational person and reason with Vinny, a complete role reversal of their usual dynamic.
  • Vinny's meltdown when reviewing the infamous WCW Nitro match in which Bam Bam Bigelow lost a Falls Count Anywhere match by countout.
    Vinny: Bam Bam Bigelow was counted out of anywhere! He's not anywhere! He's nowhere!
• He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: A lot of Lucha Underground fans have become quite upset with Meltzer after he became openly dismissive of the show, writing it off as nonsense not worth bothering with despite having previously been supportive of it. From their perspective his criticisms are actively undermining the show's attempts to reach a wider audience and they attribute his about-face in opinion to getting his information from Konnan, who supposedly has a serious grudge towards the show after he was released from it. It doesn't help matters that Meltzer has casually spoiled major plot twists in unaired episodes, apparently under the impression that since the show isn't worth caring about then no-one who matters will mind if he ruins it for everyone. On the other hand, Alvarez has a soft spot for the show, which is why Lucha Underground fans likely continue to give Observer-related material time out of their day.
• Hilarious in Hindsight
  • Bryan Alvarez once wrote an article in Figure Four Weekly explaining why he only covered American wrestling and not Japan, Mexico, and Mixed Martial Arts, claiming that he didn't follow the first two and that the latter was irrelevant to wrestling. Now he covers Japan, hosts a podcast with the Observer lucha libre reporter, "Dr. Lucha" Steve Sims, and retired from wrestling to become a jujitsu instructor.
  • Much of the entertainment value of the older Observers posted weekly (from roughly 16 years ago). Some of Dave's predictions, the goings on in the business, the rants on the letter's pages, etc. In addition, they have a lot of Vindicated by History, as Dave could be eerily good at forecasting outcomes of certain events/storylines. Not to mention a bit of Retroactive Recognition on the letter's pages, as often some of the penners are now big names in wrestling in MMA, then writing as just fans (particularly, now-UFC matchmaker Joe Silva was a regular, as well as wrestling promoter Gabe Sapolsky, among others).
  • Back in 2011, Bryan delivered a rant inspired by watching a documentary called Memphis Heat: the True Story of Memphis Wrasslin' about how he believed that one day there would arise a company that would bring back this old-school way of doing things and make truly great wrestling again, even floating the idea that it would be a result some wrestling fan with a lot of money partnering with a bunch of guys who still know the old-school way to found a new company, although he predicted it wouldn't happen any time soon. 9 years later, someone noticed this seemed to describe the rise to success of All Elite Wrestling to a T.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • From The Bryan & Vinny Show:
    • MINUS! FIVE! STARS!^note Bryan's review of the infamous Jenna Morasca vs. Sharmell match (TNA's Victory Road 2009), which later found its way into the Botchamania intro.
    • "I would BUY A GOLD BOAT!"
    • BBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!^note Vince Verhei claims that luchador Rey Tigre constantly shouts this while in the ring.
    • "WHERE THE FUCK IS THE HALL OF FAME"^note Bryan freaking out at the WWE website trying to watch/find it.
    • Various soundbites from wrestlers, but The Iron Sheik's unique rants and The Great Khali's unique take on the English language, which has been dubbed Khaleese.^note Many native Punjabi speakers have expressed that Khali's still hard to understand even when talking in his own language. These are often worked into various song parodies.
    • BURNT TO A CRISP!^note After the Inferno match between Randy Orton and The Fiend which ended with Randy setting The Fiend on fire and watching him burn to death, Bryan would endlessly describe Bray as having been "burnt to a crisp", and would continue to use that exact term as the fire theme of the feud continued on between Randy and Alexa Bliss.
  • From the Observer:
    • "Big Dick Dave Meltzer" — Usually precedes a story about Dave moonwalking over some jabroni on Twitter.
    • "ya know, uhhh" — The Meltz.
    • "It is what it is."
    • "That's just X being X."
    • "X went into business for himself."
    • "Plans change."
    • "[sudden wet cough and/or phlegm-ey throat clearing]" ^note Dave's tendency to cough and not ever seem to recover from it
    • According to the IWC, a match cannot be rated five stars if it doesn't feature Davey Richards or take place at the Tokyo Dome.
    • "Edge vs Randy Orton a ladder match, in the main event of a pay per view, for a championship belt."^note A dig at Meltzer's preferences by other publications and podcasts such as Voices of Wrestling, it being the match WWE should have booked if they wanted five stars out of him.
    • "Oh, we forgot to talk about Konnan!"^note Mainly on the f4w board, reference to how Dave would bring up anything they meant to discuss on a radio show after Bryan goes to end it.
    • Soundbite of wrestler/MMA fighter Brock Lesnar saying "that was a stupid question" in regards to something Dave asked at a press conference.
    • A photo of Dave in a leather jacket circa mid 90s led to a rash of photoshopping on the message board that eventually took on a life of its own. The thread was stickied and is updated regularly, with numerous other photos getting the treatment. (A similar thread later emerged after Lance Storm requested to be edited into a photo with Chris Jericho, with the members quickly finding unique ways to subvert his intentions.)
• Never Live It Down:
  • Meltzer once narrated a commercial for the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. Immortalized in this music video.
    • Getting a banana smashed on his head by an ex-girlfriend once.
  • Alvarez did live them down when his reputation as a caustic critic became cemented, but prior to that he had the stigma of being Nicki Sixx's much less successful tag team partner, as well as having a hand in training Spot Monkey extraordinaire Jack Evans. But given both Sixx and Evans had pretty good careers, being attached to them wasn't all bad.
  • Bryan won't live down saying he was so angry at seeing another Big Show vs. Roman Reigns match that he "peed straight up in the air." (When what Bryan meant to say was that it pissed him off.)
• Reviews Are the Gospel: Smart Marks, wrestlers, and promoters would take Meltzer's reviews of matches to heart. Ric Flair mentioned that The Wrestling Observer Newsletter was "the bible" for wrestlers. Almost to the point of being a point of contention amongst readers: the disproportionately high number of 5* matches coming out of Japan in comparison to America has led more than a few readers to start complaining that Meltzer is being unnecessarily stingy giving stars out to American matches.
• So Bad, It's Good: For many years the fact that Bryan and Vinny really, really hated TNA Impact, hated reviewing it, wished death on those involved, etc. However, their pained reviews and breakdown of the show's illogicies (mostly under infamous wrestling writer/booker Vince Russo) were a favorite of the fans, especially if a show caused Bryan to lose his mind.