Let me start this review by saying I am quite aware the professional wrestling elicits strong reactions both negative and positive from people everywhere. Although many don't like pro wrestling for their own reasons, million of people do and they tune in to see the shows and follow the stars' activities and, many here on the internet, like to get inside and learn more about what is going on behind the scenes.
For those people, there are literally thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of websites devoted to pro wrestling and passing along news and rumors. I work in wrestling now as a writer and was much more deeply involved when I was a magazine editor of a wrestling magazine. I am also a fan. I enjoy WWE, WWE's ECW, TNA, Ring of Honor, and almost all the other independent promotions out there that provide sports entertainment. But some of the so-called news websites out there are just pure trash.
I have read rumors that made me angry, worried, upset, and just plain shake my head and wonder where the so-called reporters possibly got the info they were passing on as news.
There are only a small handful of reputable professional wrestling news websites out there and wPW Insider is the best of the best.
If you want to know what's going on wrestling, not rumors but straight up news, want to lean more about the business, and enjoy intelligent points of view from people who have been involved in wrestling for many years, PW Insider is the place for you.
I urge you to choose wisely where you go for wrestling news because, usually, you will get rehashed news from the top sites along with a healthy dose of pure fiction.
Not so with PW Insider.
Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
The primary owner of PW Insider is Dave Scherer. Dave worked for many years for wrestling publications and then, in 1997, came onboard the staff of a pro wrestling news site called www.1wrestling.com (which I will be reviewing son). At the time, 1wrestling.com was about as reputable and informative as any site on the web and Dave, along with then owner Bob Ryder, and a full staff of well schooled columnists and reporters, brought fans news, insight, reports, and just about anything else a fan could want. I, myself, wrote a weekly column for 1wrestling.com back then as well. However, last year (2004), Dave Scherer decided to part ways with 1wrestling.com and start his own news site. When Dave left, many of the 1wrestling.com staff went with him and they formed PW Insider.
Among the staff that joined PW Insider were Buck Woodword, Mike Johnson, and Jess McGrath, all of whom have had fairly extensive experience in the wrestling world apart from 1wrestling.com.
There are two distinct sections of the website: The regular (free) and the Elite (pay) part.
It is not necessary to pay a fee to see the news posted on PW Insider. However, prepare yourself to pay a fee in the way of pop ups, pop unders and all the usual blinking attention grabbing ads that websites must have to help pay for bandwidth. This site is literally riddled with pop ups and very few pop up stoppers I am aware of will catch them all. Still, if you are willing (and able) to get past that hurdle, you will find a load of news and information at your disposal.
The Free part of the site features The Latest News from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), WWE's Extreme Championship Wrestling brand (ECW), Total NonStop Action wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH), and most of the independent promotions across the country. This news includes everything from official press releases, to show reports from fans in attendance, to injury notes, and inside battles and controversies. The information is generally extremely accurate but, as with all news sites of any kind, some news ends up being extraneous or not complete and there is always a correction printed when that happens. Along with news, there are spoilers for upcoming televised shows, show results posted right after they air, and pay per view play by plays in real time.
Each story is headlined and a click of the link will take you to the information. Again, popups make it difficult to get to the specific areas at times but you will get there.
The Columns section features opinions and insight from staff the writers on just about everything going on in wrestling today as well as looks back to yesterday. The Daily Lariat, Dave Scherer's print newsletter, is posted in full with a week's worth of news and notes about the wrestling community.
Fans of international pro wrestling, particularly promotions in Japan, will get a dose of Japanese wrestling news as well as news on promotions in other countries.
Other features of the site include the Pwinsider Q & A which is fan questions answered by the site staff, In This Day in History which takes a look back at the big happenings in wrestling in the past each day, Pwinsider Shop which is a fairly well stocked shop of wrestling paraphernalia, DVDs, books, and more, and Upcoming Events which gives you the heads up on upcoming WWE shows booked as well as independent show dates and locations. There is also a section for wrestling DVD "Easter Eggs" which are hidden special features that you can access by pressing certain buttons on your remote. I never could get an Easter Egg to work but it's a novel idea on today's newer DVDs. One last section is the poll section where anyone can vote on the question of the week, which is always pertinent and interesting.
The site is easy to navigate and extremely professionally written. But the best part truly is the Elite Section.
Those who are willing to pay for their wrestling news fix are rewarded with many plusses compared to the free part of the site. The cost to become an Elite member is: 2 Year Membership for $69.95, 1 Year Membership for $39.95, and a Monthly Membership for $4.95. You can choose to have the membership automatically renew or to end when the time you paid for is up. They accept only paypal at this time.
The plusses of Elite membership include a completely ad free site with not one buzz, blink, or pop up anywhere. The speed at which you will access the news and columns is increased ten fold, it seems.
But there is much more.
Elite members have access to members only sections of the site:
Message Boards where members can post about almost anything in the wrestling world and interact with the PW Insider staff.
Audio Hotlines by the PW Insider staff with information that is late breaking or very inside.
Exclusive Interactive Audio Shows with loads of info and discussion with the staff plus wrestling stars when available.
More Detailed Written Versions of Wrestling's Top Stories as they break
Written Recaps of Audio Shows for those who don't have time or equipment to listen to them.
As I said above, navigating is very simple. They have kept the website clean and free of flashy intros and graphics so you can access what you want, when you want without a lot of wait time. Everything is listed down the page with headlines indicating what the news or column is about and you click on the headline. There you have it. The information is displayed.
There is nothing fancy and no learning curve to PW Insider as far as how the site works. I like that. When I am pressed for time, I want to go and read the latest news and log off, not be hit with a flashy entrance and a bunch of other things that make navigating difficult.
I have been to every major (and many minor) wrestling news site on the internet and I feel PW Insider is more fair, more timely, and more reliable than just about any other site. There are only two other sites (PW Torch and Wrestling Observer) that I feel are as reputable as PW Insider and both of those lack some features that make PW Insider such a great site for fans.
Dave Scherer, with his vast knowledge of the wrestling business, manages to report the news in an unbiased way and then opinionate in his columns. One thing I do not like is when news reporters interject their own opinions into a news story. PW Insider generally keeps news just that. They will expand and opinionate further in other parts of the site. That shows me that the site has integrity and doesn't have a bias toward any promotion or wrestling personality.
If you want reliable, easily understood, informative professional wrestling news in a non-flashy manner, this site is it. I rely on PW Insider to keep me up on all the latest happenings in the wrestling world and to do so only when they can verify their stories rather than rushing to get a rumor out there only to later have to recant and apologize to readers about putting out news that turned out to be erroneous.
I have yet to read anything outrageous or completely off base on the site and, on the rare occasion that the information that was given to the staff is incorrect, they are always quick to report the correction and don't take an easy way out by hoping people will not notice the error like so many other sites out there.
If you are reading a minor news site, chances are very good most of the news you are reading is coming from PW Insider.
So why not just go to source and know you aren't being misled?
$40 a year for 365 days of pro wrestling news, ratings, show results, real time pay per view results, columns, opinions, coming events, and much more is a bargain. I highly recommend trying the Elite part of the site for a month and seeing how much easier it is to access the sections of the site and how much more data you actually do get when you are an elite member.
When you sign up to become an elite member, you will pick a user name and will be given a password. You can change that password at any time. You can opt to never log out, having the site remember you so you can go directly to the site and see the latest headlines without logging in every time you visit.
Even if you choose to use the free areas, the site is still awesome. Just have every pop up protector you can muster and be prepared for slower loading times. The site needs revenue to keep going and, without ads, they couldn't survive. The Elite memberships help offset the cost of the site and members are rewarded with all the extras and the convenience that paying members are afforded.
If you are a pro wrestling fan and you want to know what's going on both in front of the cameras and crowds and behind the scenes, head on over to PW Insider. Don't let the minor sites fool you. These people rarely have inside sources and contacts like the staff at PW Insider and their breaking news more than likely is coming from those who do have those contacts — namely Dave Scherer and company (as well as a few other highly regarded wrestling journalists on the internet).
I have to give the Elite part of the site a solid five star rating. The free part is good but the pop ups and lag time are annoying and get four stars.
However, overall, I can't bring myself to go lower than the top rating since there are so few reliable, well written, and insightful pro wrestling websites that truly have sources and access to the inner workings of pro wrestling and bring it to the public in such a well written and unbiased manner.
Recommended:
Yes
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