Take yourself back to 2007.
‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna was a cultural smash, ‘Rick-rolling’ had taken over the internet and everyone was on MySpace.
It was a magical time...
In comparison, the world of professional wrestling was going through somewhat of a lull. With WCW firmly in the rear-view mirror, WWE had the full monopoly on the industry. New Japan wasn’t the juggernaut it is today, TNA was beginning to tailspin and All Elite Wrestling wasn’t even a thought in the Khan’s families minds.
So enter…Wrestling Society X. One of the weirdest, short lived independent wrestling promotions centered around being #edgy with a pop-punk style, flashy production and a type of broadcast that was lacking elsewhere. And it was terrible. Absolutely terrible but a fantastic car crash to watch.
So sit back, relax, blast some My Chemical Romance and enjoy my review of Wrestling Society X.
And it only lasted nine episodes – 10 if you count the unaired season finale.
The Presentation
The first thing that is immediately noticeable is the style of presentation the promotion is going for. In what looks like a basement/hangar somewhere, the company have clearly tried to give off a grungy, as previously mentioned pop-punk, style of appearance that honestly, does work quite well. Its dim lighting, balcony’s with fans on them everywhere and the audience being incredibly tight to the ring does work.
But that’s where the good things end. I got 90 seconds into the first episode before I literally burst out laughing as the ring announcer screams ‘LET’S GET FIIIIIRED UP’ and suddenly, from multiple points around the ring: fire exploded out of pyro that looked just rubbish. Just shockingly rubbish.
If you have any issues with WWE’s style of camera work, you will NOT like WSX. During the first match, that goes roughly six minutes, I counted two and a half minutes of purely crowd-based shots. Just people reacting as we HEAR the moves happening. It’s infuriating. Which leads me very nicely onto…
The Talent
Regardless of how a wrestling company presents itself, the most important aspect is the wrestlers themselves. If you have good talent, you’re more than likely gonna have a good show. If your talent isn’t up to par, you’re not going to have a good time. And this is where WSX creates quite an interesting problem. Whilst they have quite a good mix of young, up and coming talent for the time such as Tyler Black, Joey Ryan, Scorpio Sky, Matt Sydal and others (all now household names), the mix of older talent is a really weird one.
They have legitimate world famous stars in the wrestling industry such as X-Pac (known as Six-Pacc) and Vampiro mixing in with *checks notes* Ruckus, Lil’Cholo and Chris Hamrick. Right then.
Obviously, all these other guys have contributed to the industry and deserve to have their names heard but…alongside X-Pac? Really? The WWE Hall of Famer? I’m not too sure.
Match Quality
The matches themselves are simultaneously the best and worst parts of this company. Where, on one show, you get Jack Evans vs Matt Sydal – a legitimately fantastic matchup where both men kill each other even though the promotion does not deserve it – to suddenly having a ‘Tables, Ladders and Cervezas’ match (TLC, do you get it?) just looks stupid.
As I said, the talent that the roster has causes some matches to be legitimately great but the cheesiness of it just causes everything to feel poorer by association. The funniest line I have ever heard a commentator say was on episode one of this show and this is exactly how he said it;
‘This match has tables, chairs AND LIVE ELECTRICAL WIRES AND A STEEL CAGE WALL RIGGED WITH ******* EXPLOSIVES GUYS!!’.
That’s just objectively funny and does not convey the actual reality and seriousness of said explosives…why are there explosives?!
Overall Thoughts
Wrestling Society X has some of the worst produced, horrifically commentated, poorly executed professional wrestling I have ever seen…and I adore it. It’s incredible. Everyone who is reading this piece, PLEASE go and seek it out. The full three-month run – yes, that’s all they got – is currently available on Youtube for free.
It’s always fun to see today’s stars back in their ‘paying the dues’ days and to see how different they are now, but it’s also always fun to watch stupid wrestling.
This absolutely satisfies this appetite.
I am fully a convert of Wrestling Society X…let’s bring it back!
Guys…hello?
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