Wanted to address an item in yesterday’s daily update… In it, we reported that “indications were” that Bryan Alvarez had limited calls on Observer Live partially in order to clamp down on potential callers asking him uncomfortable questions about losing popular co-host Todd Martin from he site, and firing longtime MMA columnist and podcast host Mike Coughlin. We should have been more clear that this was speculation and conjecture we were hearing, and that this was not the official reason Alvarez gave for the change. Alvarez addressed more clearly his rationale behind the change, which you can read here.
How much boxing is in your wrestling coverage this weekend? We’re taking your thoughts on coverage related to the big fight tonight, so send us any notes to Les@sheetsandwich.com
In case you missed it, we announced an upcoming podcast to the site called Talking Sheet, where myself and co-host Hugh Little, will take an in-depth look at the coverage offered by the weekly newsletters like Wrestling Observer, Figure Four Weakly and Pro Wrestling Torch. I think it will be a fun and interesting show. Hugh has never been exposed much to so-called “Dirt Sheets,” and should bring a really interesting perspective to the show.
We’ve also got a piece up looking at the latest customer service hiccup at the F4Wonline BOARD~!. If this were an isolated incident, I’d agree with skeptics, and the critics who’ve written in to say we’d be better suited covering other things on the Sandwich. But, it’s worth noting and keeping an eye on, as for quite a long time the BOARD~! had been sold as a major selling point and key differentiator of membership at F4Wonline. Even today, if you look at other discussion communities from pay sites like the Torch or Insider, there’s no real comparison.
We’ll have the first of two featured stories this weekend up later today looking at the Top 10 wrestling news websites according to Alexa.com. We’ll break down not just the sites included, but the glaring omissions, too, including a look at why one of the biggest sites you’d think should be included didn’t make the cut.
Sunday’s feature story takes a look at the timeliness in coverage of major stories in wrestling, and what members of premium pay news sites should be able to expect from their coverage on premium wrestling sites.
Saturday News Update
** Bryan Alvarez spent much of his afternoon today engaging with members of his message board at great length, covering everything from twitter spoilers from the WONF4W account, to how you can submit customer service issues. Some board observers speculated that this might be the first time in as many as five years since Bryan had conversed on the Board with site members. While that is purely conjecture, the timeline feels right.
** Alvarez gave some background on why Josh Nason’s Friday MMA show is so poorly named: “Josh Nason chose the name, not me… because he’s the host of Figure Four Fridays.”
** Filthy Tom Lawlor, UFC fighter and soon-to-be co-host of the Monday F4Daily podcast with Bryan Alvarez, has been hyping up his debut on May 4th. “I plan on talking about the least controversial, most uninteresting, boredom inducing topics in the worlds of MMA and professional wrestling with Bryan. I will not tolerate any of the following on this show: fun, Bryan ranting, or Ed.”
** How’s this for deplorable clickbait? The “Latest Headlines” column on PWInsider.com has the following: Balor Going to Main Roster, Punk Returning for WrestleMania Main Event, Should NXT Talents Turn Down Main Roster Promotion and more — but when you click into the story, it’s Mike Johnson answering reader questions related to the topics. How is the mailbag considered “Latest Headlines”?
** Great take on the Pacquiao vs Mayweather fervor over at WrestleZone today, as Justin LaBar and the gang at Chairshot Reality ask if there is a wrestling equivalent to this fight still to be had.
** PWInsider seems to have beaten both PW Torch and F4Wonline to the punch on reporting Smackdown ratings falling by over 300k viewers, and Tamina Snuka returning to WWE on Friday night in Naomi’s corner for a match with NXT’s Charlotte.
** Check out how clearly WrestleZone reports WWE buy rates for Q1 2015 HERE. It’s almost like they don’t want to make their reader have to work to find the news they want to read or something.
** Depressing data in the F4Wonline News vs Plugs battle… News: 1112 words. Plugs: 3331.
** Caveat: To get that number, I had to factor in the 374 words covering Pacquiao/Mayweather to kick off today’s post, and the 215 words previewing the New Japan show. Just taking everything below the “Daily Update” line it was actually only 523 words.
** Here’s the breakdown of the battle from last week
Saturday, April 25 to Friday, May 1:
Daily trend:
Percentage for the week:
