The Downward Spiral of Ben Miller

Long time Wrestling Observer writer has epic meltdown on Twitter, F4W BOARD~ over embarrassing F4Wonline front page op-ed

“For you, Ben Miller, NXT is not its own company” is how Rob McCarron signed off his Shake Them Ropes podcast earlier today, reference back to a twitter battle the two had Monday night during WWE Raw.

The subject was this article, posted Monday by Miller, in which he defies all logic, and well-reasoned, widespread opinion to the contrary that ROH is not the #2 promotion in the country now.

In what has been described by one longtime reader as “the single worst pieces I have ever read on this site” Miller’s piece, titled “ROH, TNA and Destination America: Fact or Fiction” takes a self-admitted, gloom and doom view of ROH on Destination America where, not only is ROH not the #2 promotion in the country—as everyone from Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, to PW Torch’s Wade Keller and Bruce Mitchell would seem to believe—but that it is clinging to life, and may be perilously close to teetering off the ledge into the abyss (not TNA’s wrestler) before TNA even!

In summation, Miller writes:

This is all very negative. ROH’s ratings are going to be awful, the move to Destination America could hurt the company and those events still won’t keep TNA on the network and in a solid number two position. Those are the Coors Light Cold Hard Facts, as I see them.

But, he never really gets off to a solid start, either…

Right out of the gate, he would seem to stumble over a massive bit of logic flaw that jeopardized not only his entire thesis for the piece, but—as we will soon see—whatever was left of his reputation as well. Miller:

My overall promotional rankings would have ROH below number two:
1) WWE,
2) NXT
3) TNA
4) ROH

He then goes on to explain through a warped and twisted set of logic that, despite NXT really, and truly being part of WWE, and not its own company, that really, in the fans eyes, it seems different enough, and therefore, should be considered different for actual wrestling writers who should actually know better before writing such a thing.

This caused Trevor the Irish Wrestling Fan™ to wisely ask on Twitter, “Did anyone ever act this way about Smackdown 10 years ago?”

But it was former F4Wonline Raw Recapper, and current host of the popular Shake Them Ropes podcast at VoicesOfWrestling.com, Rob McCarron, who’s response seemed to set Miller off in inexplicable ways.

McCarron tweeted:

NXT isn’t it’s own company.

The rest will be contended later this week on that very front page.

In what would seemingly indicate that he would be writing a response to this article for F4Wonline later on in the week. Accompanying his tweet was a simple screen capture depicting Miller’s ranking of the companies in the US.

What followed was a stunning exchange that saw Miller overreact in embarrassing ways.

@ShakeThemRopes LOL wow I have used the term “piece of shit” before but I should have reserved it for you.

To which McCarron replied:

.@benmiller Excuse me? For what? I will rebut the points made cordially in an article later. Why the hostility? I showed none towards you.

Miller continued:

@ShakeThemRopes you are a piece of shit for taking a quote out of context, publicizing it (w/o a link, no less), and straw manning it…and you’re a piece of shit for making your reply public instead of an @ reply! …you saw the context of what I wrote, obviously. For what non-POS reason would you possibly tweet the way you tweeted?

In speaking with Sheet Sandwich earlier tonight, McCarron recounted his reaction to the attack on Twitter. “It was unbelievable…I mean, I was taken aback. Legitimately.”

McCarron, on Twitter would eventually reply to Miller, writing:

You’ve lost a reader @benmiller Oh, and your mind.

Miller, for his part, ended up apologizing, the damage having been done…

@ShakeThemRopes Calling you a POS was mean and I apologize.

Ben Miller has long been a pariah of the front page article writers for F4Wonline—among some of the worst, and least respected writers on the site. One insider spoke to Sheet Sandwich more than a month ago, and cited Miller and fellow writer Jeremy Wall as “an embarrassment” to some F4W staffers. Former F4W columnist Joe Babinsack was so berated for his spiraling, epic yawns that he took his pen to fledgling wrestling opinion site Camel Clutch Blog.

But Miller has long been a mainstay at the Observer, having written for the site for well over a decade and a half. At one point, Miller was a highly sought after commodity, having been offered (and accepted) a paying writing gig for the PW Torch—but then going back on his agreement with editor Wade Keller in favor of writing (for pay) at Wrestling Observer for Dave Meltzer.

According to Miller, he and Keller haven’t spoken since.

In looking at the responses to Miller’s recent article on the F4W BOARD~! Members Forum, it would appear that the writer is barely as popular with readers of his current website as he is with his almost boss of 14 years ago.

Descriptions of the article ranged were pretty much all, universally, negative to an extreme degree.

“What a waste.”

“Ben Miller is just pure tragedy.”

“That Miller article is probably the worst I’ve seen on this site. Opinion pieces are fine, but it’s so uninformed and uses absolutely no facts or logic to support his points. Brutal.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, given his adversarial tirade against McCarron on Twitter, Miller took issue with this, responding to his critics with a challenge of sorts.

“…I have yet to read one BOARD comment that refutes (using logic, that is) anything at all that I stated in the column.”

It wasn’t long before one F4W BOARD member, mattb425, took up this this challenge

“I will have a big post later today refuting the article.”

And refute it he did.

“First off I just want to say I didn’t think your writing was bad, just that you were very wrong.”

What followed was a nearly 2000 word evisceration of Miller’s poorly thought through article to such a degree that onlookers could only post fight memes of boxers getting their faces punched off, and evoking terms like “Sonned” to describe such an epic drubbing—a true counterpoint masterpiece.

Even F4W proprietor Bryan Alvarez weighed in, seemingly indicating the argument was a one-sided embarrassment—and not in favor of Miller.

“The F4W Commission really should never have let that fight take place.”

Miller seemed to take issue with with this, Matt’s point by point evisceration of his article, replying to Alvarez,

“If someone wants to write a response, then write a response. Chopping up a column and responding piece by piece is cowardly and weak.”

This is when things went, shockingly, even more down hill.

One Board member, the Bone Machine, replied with a tongue in cheek response to Miller’s claim that a point by point shredding of his thesis was “cowardly and weak,” writing:

“Yeah literally responding to each point you raised is indeed a craven tactic”

To which Miller responded:

“…Respond with an independent, well reasoned piece. The next time the Wall Street Journal picks apart a New York Times Op-Ed in fractured quotes, let me know. Until then, it’s a classless move and I’ll continue to ignore whatever he wrote.”

Classless to rebute an opinion piece point by point.

Piece of shit move to publicize the rankings from the article.

In a truly mind-numbing display of malformed thought and tantruming, Ben Miller has, perhaps, woken the readership of at least one site up to who he truly is, and what he has—or, rather, no longer has—to offer by way of thoughtful wrestling analysis or knowledge.

Just as Babinsack packed his bags for different pastures, one wonders now how long Miller can stay on F4Wonline.