History YMMV / TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: A lot of ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' fans have become quite upset with Meltzer after he became openly dismissive of the show, writing it off as nonsense not worth bothering with despite having previously been supportive of it. From their perspective his criticisms are [[ReviewsAreTheGospel actively undermining the show's attempts to reach a wider audience]] and they attribute his about-face in opinion to getting his information from Wrestling/{{Konnan}}, who supposedly has a serious grudge towards the show after he was released from it. It doesn't help matters that Meltzer has casually spoiled major plot twists in unaired episodes, apparently under the impression that since the show isn't worth caring about then no-one who matters will mind if he ruins it for everyone. On the other hand, Alvarez has a soft spot for the show, which is why ''Lucha Underground'' fans likely continue to give ''Observer''-related material time out of their day.

*** Rather than getting better, this arguably got ''worse'' when Meltzer started semi-regularly awarding 5-star ratings to matches in North America... because they were mostly in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, leading to accusations that Meltzer isn't biased towards NJPW, he's just biased ''against'' WWE. It doesn't help his case when AEW has been given more 5-star and higher-than-5-star matches in three years than WWE has been given in the ''entire history of the company,'' as well as the well-documented friendship that Meltzer has with AEW's Executive Vice Presidents (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks). Meltzer has given five star ratings to several high-profile NXT matches,[[note]]Andrade/Gargano, Cole/Gargano, WALTER/Dragunov, etc.[[/note]] but it notably took him nearly an entire decade to give the main WWE roster another 5-star match[[note]]Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell 2022[[/note]] after his previous one[[note]]CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011[[/note]]. While he has also given a few other subsequent matches the full 5-stars, it still pales in comparison to how many AEW receives on a regular basis, despite there being plenty of WWE matches that are worthy of the rating by Meltzer's own standards.

*** Rather than getting better, this arguably got ''worse'' when Meltzer started semi-regularly awarding 5-star ratings to matches in North America... because they were mostly in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, leading to accusations that Meltzer isn't biased towards NJPW, he's just biased ''against'' WWE. It doesn't help his case when AEW has been given more 5-star and higher-than-5-star matches in three years than WWE has been given in the ''entire history of the company,'' as well as the well-documented friendship that Meltzer has with AEW's Executive Vice Presidents (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks). Meltzer has given five star ratings to several high-profile NXT matches[[note]]Andrade/Gargano, Cole/Gargano, WALTER/Dragunov, etc.[[/note]] but it notably took him nearly an entire decade to give the main WWE roster another 5-star match[[note]]Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell 2022[[/note]] after his previous one[[note]]CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011[[/note]]. While he has also given a few other subsequent matches the full 5-stars, it still pales in comparison to how many AEW receives on a regular basis, despite there being plenty of WWE matches that are worthy of the rating by Meltzer's own standards.

*** Rather than getting better, this arguably got ''worse'' when Meltzer started semi-regularly awarding 5-star ratings to matches in North America... because they were mostly in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, leading to accusations that Meltzer isn't biased towards NJPW, he's just biased ''against'' WWE. It doesn't help his case when AEW has been given more 5-star and higher-than-5-star matches in three years than WWE has been given in the ''entire history of the company,'' as well as the well-documented friendship that Meltzer has with AEW's Executive Vice Presidents (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks). Meltzer has given five star ratings to several high-profile NXT matches[[note]]Andrade/Gargano, Cole/Gargano, WALTER/Dragunov, etc.[[note]] but it notably took him nearly an entire decade to give the main WWE roster another 5-star match[[note]]Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell 2022[[note]] after his previous one[[note]]CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011[[note]]. While he has also given a few other subsequent matches the full 5-stars, it still pales in comparison to how many AEW receives on a regular basis, despite there being plenty of WWE matches that are worthy of the rating by Meltzer's own standards.

*** Rather than getting better, this arguably got ''worse'' when Meltzer started semi-regularly awarding 5-star ratings to matches in North America... because they were mostly in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, leading to accusations that Meltzer isn't biased towards NJPW, he's just biased ''against'' WWE.[[note]]although he did also loosen up on awarding main roster WWE matches 5 stars as well, such the Wrestling/CodyRhodes vs Wrestling/SethRollins Wrestling/HellInACell match, Wrestling/SamiZayn and Wrestling/SethRollins beating Wrestling/TheUsos for the unified WWE Tag Team Championships at [=WM39=], and almost any title defence Wrestling/{{WALTER}}/Gunther makes on PPV.[[/note]]

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Brent, given his {{Cloudcuckoolander}} tendencies.

*** Various soundbites from wrestlers, but Wrestling/TheIronSheik's... ''unique'' rants and Wrestling/TheGreatKhali's unique take on the English language, which has been dubbed Khaleese.[[note]]Many native Punjabi speakers have expressed that Khali's ''still'' hard to understand even when talking in his own language.[[/note]] These are often worked into various [[StupidStatementDanceMix song parodies]].

* CriticalResearchFailure: Mostly averted, as Meltzer typically displays a great knowledge about his matters, but he does have had some questionable statements, especially about Japanese MMA. The most egregious are calling Pancrase, a mixed martial arts promotion, a pro wrestling company (he eventually corrected himself, but it took years) and labelling Erik Paulson as a phony for claiming to be a shootfighting champion without having wrestled in Pancrase (ignoring that Pancrase was not the only shoot-style company). He also gets criticised for this by the ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'' statement, usually due to making doomsday predictions about the company that are quickly proven untrue, or show little knowledge about how the show is actually made.

** Vinny clearly had Flashbacks to the worst years of TNA in the aftermath of AEW's Winter is Coming. He goes off on a hilarious rant about Impact and AEW working with said company. Bryan Alvarez, despite his memories of the old TNA, had to actually be the rational person and reason with Vinny, a complete [[SwappedRoles role reversal]] of their usual dynamic.

** Dave's association with Bruce Mitchell has become this after Mitchell has posted an article that [[Wrestling/LukeHarper Jon Huber]] has passed due to contracting COVID-19, despite his widow Amanda claiming the contrary, and then doubled down on his opinion, causing his fans to harass Amanda and call her a liar, which in turn created a wave a backlash that cost Mitchell his position at Pro Wrestling Torch. On May 14, 2021, several months after Huber's passing, Meltzer had Mitchell on his show where he vehemently defended his associate, claiming that Bruce has been a victim of "cancel culture" while Mitchell himself showed no remorse for his actions. The reaction to the episode got so bad that Bryan had to delete the recording from the site and apologize to the subscribers, despite having nothing to do with the whole situation, and it caused a lot of long-time listeners and readers to cancel their subscriptions.

** Vinny clearly had Flashbacks to the worst years of TNA in the aftermath of AEW's Winter is Coming. He goes off on a hilarious rant about Impact and AEW working with said company. Bryan Alvarez, despite his memories of the old TNA, had to actually be the rational person and reason with Vinny, a complete RoleReversal to their usual dynamic.

** Vinny clearly had Flashbacks to the worst years of TNA in the aftermath of AEW's Winter is Coming. He goes off on a hilarious rant about Impact and AEW working with said company. Bryan Alvarez, despite his memories of the old TNA, had to actually be the rational person and reason with Vinny.

* SoBadItsGood: For many years the fact that Bryan and Vinny really, really hated TNA Impact, hated reviewing it, wished death on those involved, etc. However, their pained reviews and breakdown of the show's illogicies (mostly under infamous wrestling writer/booker Vince Russo) were a favorite of the fans, especially if a show caused Bryan to lose his mind.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: Averted by Dave. He's apparently very slow at adapting to technology changes (the Observer didn't go electronic until 2006), which frustrates Bryan.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Mostly averted, as Meltzer typically displays a great knowledge about his matters, but he does have had some questionable statements, especially about Japanese MMA. The most egregious are calling Pancrase a worked pro wrestling company (he eventually corrected himself, but it took years) and labelling Erik Paulson as a phony for claiming to be a shootfighting champion without having wrestled in Pancrase (ignoring that Pancrase was not the only shoot-style company). He also gets criticised for this by the Wrestling/LuchaUnderground statement, usually due to making doomsday predictions about the company that are quickly proven untrue, or show little knowledge about how the show is actually made.

** A compiled list of notable quotes from the Observer about WCW is often passed around message boards containing any sort of wrestling fandom. For actual [=Observer/F4W=] website subscribers, one member of the board annually compiles the 50 funniest podcast moments based on suggestions from other subscribers.

--->'''Bryan Alvarez''': Well what does that tell you?\\
'''Dave Meltzer''': It tells me that TNA fans don't leave their houses.

** In his podcast after the infamous ending of Hell in the Cell 2019, Bryan completely lost it when he realized that, after Seth and Bray had been hit by a giant mallet unprotected, that the referee called the match off (this was the no DQ cell match, by the way) after Seth hit a large pile of chairs and debris with Wyatt under it with a sledgehammer. "Big hammer good; small hammer bad." was his MadnessMantra
* HePannedItNowHeSucks: A lot of Wrestling/LuchaUnderground fans have become quite upset with Meltzer after he became openly dismissive of the show, writing it off as nonsense not worth bothering with despite having previously been supportive of it. From their perspective his criticisms are [[ReviewsAreTheGospel actively undermining the show's attempts to reach a wider audience]] and they attribute his about-face in opinion to getting his information from Wrestling/{{Konnan}}, who supposedly has a serious grudge towards the show after he was released from it. It doesn't help matters that Meltzer has casually spoiled major plot twists in unaired episodes, apparently under the impression that since the show isn't worth caring about then no-one who matters will mind if he ruins it for everyone. On the other hand, Alvarez has a soft spot for the show, which is why Lucha Underground fans likely continue to give observer related material time out of their day.

** Bryan Alvarez once wrote an article in Figure Four Weekly explaining why he only covered American wrestling and not Japan, Mexico, and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts, claiming that he didn't follow the first two and that the latter was irrelevant to wrestling. Now he covers Japan, hosts a podcast with the Observer lucha libre reporter, "Dr. Lucha" Steve Sims, and retired from wrestling to become a jujitsu instructor.
** Much of the entertainment value of the older Observers posted weekly (from roughly 16 years ago). Some of Dave's predictions, the goings on in the business, the rants on the letter's pages, etc. In addition, they have a lot of {{Vindicated By History}}, as Dave could be eerily good at forecasting outcomes of certain events/storylines. Not to mention a bit of {{Retroactive Recognition}} on the letter's pages, as often some of the penners are now big names in wrestling in MMA, then writing as just fans (particularly, now-UFC matchmaker Joe Silva was a regular, as well as wrestling promoter Gabe Sapolsky, among others).

*** "Edge vs Randy Orton a ladder match, in the main event of a pay per view, for a championship belt."[[note]]A dig at Meltzer's preferences by other publications and podcasts such as ''Voices Of Wrestling'', it being the match WWE should have booked if they wanted five stars out of him.[[/note]]

*** Soundbite of Wrestler/MMA fighter Brock Lesnar saying "that was a stupid question" in regards to something Dave asked at a press conference.

** Bryan won't live down saying he was so angry at seeing another [[Wrestling/TheBigShow Big Show]] vs. Wrestling/RomanReigns match that he "peed straight up in the air." (When what Bryan ''meant'' to say was that it pissed him off.)

** The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. Organized as a counterpoint to the WWE Hall of Fame, with strict criteria for entry (voting is limited to people within the wrestling and wrestling journalism businesses), many feel it's "overly negative," particularly when a childhood favorite such as {{Wrestling/Sting}} fails to get in. Even worse was the nationalistic uproar when "Big Daddy" Crabtree (the onetime top wrestling star in the UK) was continually voted down, with many of his contemporaries feeling that he killed the business in the country.

** The lack of 5* matches coming from [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld anywhere outside of the Tokyo Dome]]. Some fans think that Meltzer is being harsh but fair, because WWE has proven over the years that they are usually hit or miss in building good storylines (and, perhaps more importantly, capitalizing on the heat that the aftermath generates), while others think that his favoritism towards Japanese promotions has caused him to overlook some deserving candidates to be 5* matches in America.[[note]]The last match that Meltzer had rated 5* was Wrestling/JohnCena vs Wrestling/CMPunk at Money in the Bank 2011, and fans debated whether matches such as Bayley defeating Sasha Banks at NXT:Brooklyn, for example, or Wrestling/SamiZayn's NXT sendoff match against Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura were deserving of that elusive high mark(, never mind that it was just Meltzer criteria rather than objective law. The streak would be broken at PWG's 2016 edition of their Battle of Los Angeles show, where the Night 2 main event match between Wrestling/MattSydal, Wrestling/WillOspreay, and [[Wrestling/TrevorMann Ricochet]] against Mount Rushmore (Wrestling/AdamCole and Wrestling/TheYoungBucks) got a 5* rating, and several NXT matches achieved 5* scores in 2018 and 2019 (one even got [[BrokeTheRatingScale 5.5 stars]]) not coincidentally after signing wrestlers like Ricochet and Adam Cole.[[/note]]

** The lack of 5* matches coming from [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld anywhere outside of the Tokyo Dome]]. Some fans think that Meltzer is being harsh but fair, because WWE has proven over the years that they are usually hit or miss in building good storylines (and, perhaps more importantly, capitalizing on the heat that the aftermath generates), while others think that his favoritism towards Japanese promotions has caused him to overlook some deserving candidates to be 5* matches in America.[[note]]The last match that Meltzer rated 5* was John Cena vs CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011, and fans have argued that recent matches and storylines (Bayley defeating Sasha Banks at NXT:Brooklyn, for example, or even Sami Zayn's NXT sendoff match against Shinsuke Nakamura) are deserving of that elusive high mark. Though the streak would be broken at PWG's 2016 edition of their Battle of Los Angeles show, where the Night 2 main event match between Matt Sydal, Will Ospreay, and Ricochet against Mount Rushmore (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks) got a 5* rating, and several NXT matches have achieved 5* scores in 2018 and 2019 (one even got [[BrokeTheRatingScale 5.5 stars]]).[[/note]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Bryan Alvarez once wrote an article in Figure Four Weekly explaining why he only covered American wrestling and not Japan, Mexico, and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts, claiming that he didn't follow the first two and that the latter was irrelevant to wrestling. Now he covers Japan, hosts a podcast with the Observer lucha libre reporter, "Dr. Lucha" Steve Sims, and retired from wrestling to become a jujitsu instructor.

*** Various soundbites from wrestlers, but The Iron Sheik's... ''unique'' rants and The Great Khali's unique take on the English language, which has been dubbed Khaleese.[[note]]Many native Punjabi speakers have expressed that Khali's ''still'' hard to understand even when talking in his own language.[[/note]] These are often worked into various [[StupidStatementDanceMix song parodies]].