Ok, so I was just thinking about this due to my interest in the 'Legends Of The Mid South' DVD that's out, which I've not yet seen, but always intended to ... mainly cause of the Dibiase stuff and with recently hearing about Duggan's work there being really good, I'm also interested to see this too as all I've really known of Duggan is his work in the WWE, which pretty much stands for most of the talents really, as WWE is predominantly what I've watched over the years.
Of course, I've seen bits of AWA stuff, with Rick Martel's 595 day AWA title reign and of course I've seen quite a bit of WCW too, and a little TNA (which I'm not big on) ... however I haven't really seen that much of these though on a whole if I'm honest, it's always been WWE for me really and I do know that often these other organisations are seen differently, with WWE being very 'Entertainment' based also.
There are so many past and present that are out there, I could go on forever, NJPW even and of course Lucha Underground, which is quite different and unique also, it's really good how they present that show, although it doesn't quite 'feel' like wrestling to me as such (More CSI or something) ... of course it does evolve around this and I think what they're doing is great and unique ... so I have a lot of admiration for them there, their production is fantastic.
Though how do you guys feel about WWE as opposed to all the other territories, like with NJPW, it's more about the wrestling that it is the entertainment, the promo's and all that kind of stuff, which to be honest ... I think I would miss completely with NJPW so couldn't really take to it, I've watched bits on Youtube and can only enjoy it for a certain amount of time, but that's about it ... although I know it's great, without the whole 'Entertainment' aspect of the show that comes with WWE (for example) ... it all plays a part in it for me and is what wrestling is all about, the complete package basically with wrestling, characters, gimmicks, storylines etc.. I know they have it, but it's not as predominant as the WWE really, from what I can gather.
I know a lot of talents sometimes feel watered down with their tenure in the WWE as opposed to other territories, take Duggan for example, in the other thread a few people are talking about how he was quite impressive back in the Mid South etc.. but when he came to the WWE, his gimmick kinda over shadowed a lot of things, so it does no doubt make a difference in some cases.
So how do you guys feel about the whole experience of watching other wrestling organisations and the feel of it, as opposed to the WWE, I'll be honest, I don't think anything could take over the WWE for me, and I know for some fans, specially old school fans, their preference is kind of against that ... simply cause I know say Verne Gagne for example, he felt Vince was damaging wrestling and I know there is a mixed vibe out there in regards to that, specially to those who were familiar with and watching wrestling before the WWE took over the way they did in the mainstream audience.
So what are your thoughts, I thought this could make a great discussion here and would love to hear the various vibes and thoughts from you guys in regards to this.
I look forward to hearing some responses