This is pretty cut and dry.
INTERNET WRESTLING JOURNALISM IS CRAP
Beyond knowing some of the boys and having a computer, what credentials do most of the reputable journalists have? Why do you think they call them dirt sheets? All that most of these guys do is tattle, get into people’s lives, tell everyone about it, and now all of a sudden they’re authorities on wrestling? I’m going to say this one time: DON’T BELIEVE WHAT THESE GUYS ARE TELLING YOU!
I’m going to give you a story. After WCW had gone out of business, there was a rumor going around that I was going to the WWF. Dave Meltzer had heard from “friends of the Disco Inferno” that I would be starting there soon, so that’s what I read in the Observer. I’m thinking, “Well, there is 0.0% accuracy in that statement”. Plus, I don’t want it to look like I’m using the internet to get a job. So I get Dave’s number and I give him a call. “Dave, I’m not going to the WWF and unless you hear from Kevin Nash, Konnan, or Vince Russo, you’re not hearing from friends of The Disco Inferno.” At the time, these guys were literally the only guys I was talking to about wrestling. That’s it. I had lost contact with almost all of the other “friends” I had. So Dave’s like, “ok”! Next week’s observer comes out and I’m reading, “Despite what the Disco Inferno is saying, I have it on good authority he is going to the WWF” (or something similar to that. I’m thinking you’ve got to be shitting me. You’re not even going to the source to get the story and when the source comes to you to tell his side you’re basically calling him a liar? What kind of journalism are you putting out there? Are all of your stories this blatantly inaccurate? I’m still waiting for my first appearance on Raw. Anybody that is paying Dave Meltzer money to read his crap is an imbecile. Period.
I mean think about it: the insider business is based on guys that I’m working with on a daily basis that are telling sometimes private things to guys that aren’t even getting the stories straight. Whoever the stooges are out there, I can tell you that they’re not very good. How can they write things without ever contacting the people that they’re writing about to get their side? Does that happen in all journalism? I read the Star and The Enquirer in line at the grocery store line sometimes and I’ll buy US every now and then. At least they have pictures to back up their stories, and they’re still just considered tabloids.
Wrestling journalism is more low brow than tabloid journalism! How pathetic is that?
Vince Russo has been vilified and crucified in the sheets and on the websites over the years. He basically killed the business, so we read. His phone never rang. I remember him telling me about the first time he had ever spoken to one of the guys, Meltzer or Keller, not sure who, to give his side of the story. That was like in 2004. They’d buried the guy for like six years before he got his side in. Unreal.
Look at Nash. He had to do a Torch Talk before everyone realized he wasn’t some low life manipulating scumbag that can’t work. A shout out to anyone that wants to write something about me specifically, you can contact this site and if you get me, I’ll tell you the truth and you can print whatever I say starting with, “Glenn Gilbertti says..”. At least then I would respect you for trying to get the TRUTH, which apparently seems to be taken for granted in the internet wrestling community.
It should seem pretty simplistic how this hurts the business. Website journalists can write what they want, bury who they want, and create a following that will pay to read their bullshit. I always wondered who their stooges were and I would always think, “Well, it must be the guys they’re putting over”.
I’ve always thought that since there is going to be journalism on the internet, then why don’t the wrestlers just monopolize it. Would you rather hear from a news “source” what happened between Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash or would you rather hear it from the horse’s mouth. We could call it “The Official Pro Wrestling News Website”. Hear all the stories from the wrestler’s themselves. You could never get enough cooperation to actually make that happen, unfortunately, but at least you’d get factual testimony, because the bottom line is that irresponsible journalism hurts any business.
That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.
