Dave Meltzer Believes Too Many Wrestlers Are Trying To Get Over On Their 'Spectacularness'
As much as fans may argue about who's doing what better and which promotions are the best, this could be the golden age of professional wrestling. Fans are spoiled by the sheer amount of wrestling there is all over the world and on television or streaming at any given moment. Since there's so much good wrestling out there, it can be quite hard for wrestlers to stand out on a regular basis. Luckily, Dave Meltzer has a few suggestions for talent looking to do so.
While speaking to Chris Van Vliet on "Insight," the veteran journalist, known for his infamous five-star scale, has some advice for younger wrestlers trying to stand out. Using a recent match between Santos Escobar and Mustafa Ali as an example, he noted that a match can be great, yet still get overlooked in favor of some of the other great matches the audience saw across various promotions that week.
"They did as good as you're going to do in nine minutes," he said. "They were just doing some spectacular things. The crowd was into them, [but] nobody talked about it the next day. Nobody even talked about it during. I go, 'Oh my God! What a great match!' And it was, but is it better than 10 other matches we saw that week? It wasn't, so like I said, it is so hard to get over."
A Well-Rounded Solution
In Dave Meltzer's opinion, the answer isn't to overexert yourself to the point of injury. He suggests wrestlers become more well-rounded, especially when it comes to promos.
"Guys are going farther and farther for less and less rewards," he continued. "That's the sad part of it. The injury rate bothers me. Mick Foley did this thing [in the Hell In A Cell and] he made his whole career off of that one match. Now guys will try to copy that and they're just gonna get injured ... It's guys who are just trying to get over on their spectacularness. And because there's so much spectacularness, it's hard to get over that way. For young guys, I would say learn to make your wrestling look good, but really work on your mic work. But even then, only a couple [of] guys get that chance to do the mic work."
Obviously, this is a case of "easier said than done" since there are still outside factors, and only a few wrestlers even get the opportunity to get on the mic every show. Being at the right place at the right time is almost as important as being prepared.
But even then, the crowd might not connect the way the wrestlers want them to that night, and as more pundits and performers try to unlock the secrets to getting over, fans should remember to enjoy the spectacularness while they can.