>>16395978To add to this, as someone who actually does like workrate shit and the "openness" aspect regarding featuring wrestlers from NJPW/CMLL/etc, I hate how the smark talking points regarding fundamental wrestling shit has devolved into absolutely insane cope.
Like for YEARS there were complaints about WWE storytelling/booking. It was literally one of the biggest complaints aimed at WWE by the IWC - but now it's flipped so far in order to defend AEW to where you actually have people saying stories/melodrama in wrestling is a "Vince thing" or whatever, as if that shit wasn't the bedrock of professional wrestling from when it was at the carnivals and Farmer John was feuding with someone for stealing his wife or some shit. I love great ring work but you have to have turbo autism to ONLY care about wrestlers doing the same fake moves you've seen them do a million times with zero stakes. It also doesn't help that a lot of smarks' ideas of "great ring work" is shit that would get you laughed at for watching it because it's actually fucking embarrassing and stupid.
