7 Reasons Why You MUST Watch ALL IN
This could be the place.
July 11, 1999.
That was the last date on which any non-WWE company drew a legitimate, paid sell-out of over 10,000 punters in North America before 19 years of sterile WWE domination followed.
WCW Bash At The Beach '99 was everything All In isn't going to be: a dire show comprised of tedious wrestling matches contested by the irrelevant (Van Hammer), those fading badly from relevance (every performer in that retirement community of a main event that had to be held in Florida), and the definitively talentless (David Flair). With WCW's closure - a Buff Bagwell Vs. Roddy Piper Boxing Match didn't cause it, but certainly didn't help - the appetite for pro wrestling weakened nationwide. WWE's viewership diminished, and those disenchanted with the product ventured to the fringe.
There, they found a new frontier of pro wrestling. Bryan Danielson wowed them with his virtuoso technicality, CM Punk with his Best In The World character work, Samoa Joe with his brick sh*thouse intensity. Though he indulged himself too much, and his era cooled the momentum of the movement, Davey Richards delivered awesome matches when he was on disciplined form. The psychotic Kevin Steen, the innovative El Generico, and the charismatic Adam Cole drove in a higher gear, as did the Young Bucks, whose revolution of tangible commercial success Cody was intelligent enough to bank - to go ALL IN - on.
ALL of this either culminates, or explodes into an earth-shaking second life, on September 1.
Mark it in your diary.
7. You Will Witness History
ALL IN is a singular extravaganza.
The promotion driving the show is something we've never seen before. Though much of the talent will appear on it through the backing and permission of major organisations Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, what's happened here, essentially, is that a group of very popular and very talented independent contractors have used their own free YouTube platform to create history - history of which you can be a part.
This is rarified air. This is more than a major title change, a shocking debut, even a ******* all-time wrestling classic. This could be the place in which the next chapter of professional wrestling is written. We can say we were there, and through being there, invest fully in whatever form this journey takes us. To use a sporting comparison, it must be far more rewarding to suffer through the David James-as-striker Man City banter years and then watch as Kevin De Bruyne slices up the hapless competition with the precision of a John Cena burial promo.
And, even if it isn't - if the key players depart for WWE, or if this is a novelty fuelled by optimism - we can at least be inspired by it all. This is the incipient stage of a new paradigm. Cody and the Young Bucks accomplished this major fear without an established TV presence.
It's true DIY stuff that proves the improbable is possible.