New York Times Feature on Dave Meltzer

The New York Times did a feature on Dave Meltzer (of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter). It ran today. It's nice to see Dave getting some mainstream recognition. I can't imagine that there is another journalist alive who has matched his workrate over the past twenty-five years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/sports/wrestling-reporter-dave-meltzer-tries-to-keep-it-real.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

I'm not a subscriber, although I probably should be. Whenever I've seen one of his sheets, it's unbelievable. He can write thousands of words about the most mundane thing, but it's awesome to read. And the presentation of the newsletter is so basic, it looks like an elementary school paper.

A good story, although they screwed up one fact: Hart's hometown is Calgary, not Montreal. And maybe it was space limitations, but his work on the Benoit case was also incredible, but not mentioned. A considerable amount of news outlets went to him for interviews and info because he's pretty much the gold standard for the industry.

 

I had heard of Metlzer in the 1970s. Maybe he wasn't doing it full-time, but he was already known in the industry. I'm not sure how I came to know of him, but I was a huge wrestling fan and, via cable, watched 2 hours from Georgia, 90 minutes from Dallas and the regular Mid-South show (my region) on Saturday, as well as an hour from Kansas City and another hour from Georgia on Sunday, as well as the WWWF cards on MSG. On way or another, I knew of him. I never got the newsletter because I was a kid with no money. Now, I don't want the newsletter, because the "sport" has pulled the curtain back on itself so much, the appeal of the mystery is gone for me. I loved DDP and Goldberg's WCW run, but that was the last time I found myself cheering over what happened in the squared circle. I do miss it. Anyway, I have great reverence for the wrestling of my youth (can we bring back the territories, please?) and that's where Metlzer made his bones. He is a giant.

 

From what I've seen on wrestling forums, fans generally scoff when Dave Meltzer is mentioned or one of his breaking news stories is posted. If it's something new, many fans never believe it to be factual. I'm not an expert on it and don't keep track. I have seen more IWC peeps show dislike for his work than I have seen give praise.

 

The king of the run-on sentence!

I'm amazed that he's maintained an interest in wrestling after all these years. I do think he has a younger guy as a partner and leans on him to provide content. It's hard to believe a normal 53-year-old man could stand watching hours of that crap every week and actually give a shit about what's going to happen on the next PPV.

 

Don't we have a wrestling thread for this kind of thing?

 

So? How many running threads get off-shooting threads?

 

I was a subscriber for more than 10 years, and even was able to vote in the Hall of Fame based on being a sports journalist who occasionally wrote a wrestling column.

I used to love reading the newsletter, and even go back from time to time and re-read some of them. I stopped subscribing because of lack of funds, and lost much interest after Eddy Guerrero's death and Chris Benoit doing what he did.

That said, Meltzer really needs a copy editor. I can understand getting news out in a hurry, and he writes a small novel every week, but loses integrity as a journalist because of his inability to write a coherent sentence.

 

He's also an MMA guy and delves a little into boxing.

 

You're just jealous he started a thread with a New York Times story before you did.

 

Was cq at the end by the time I read it.

rb

 

Trust me, it is not "awesome to read." He can take the most mundane thing and make it even more mundane.