Professional Folkstyle over freestyle

[Theangryeagle]

              For my first post I figured I start with a friendly discussion of why our professional league needs to be folk style over freestyle. First Folk style is AMERICAN, it is our FOLKSTYLE. Many countries have their own folk styles (there is a Wikipedia list) and when you see the clips of their folk styles, the stands are always full. Our only tournament that tickets are hard to get is a folk style tournament. Most people only compete in folk style here in the states. Only a very select few ever go on to the Olympics. Everything about folk style is the American way. You want to score a point on the edge of the mat, you have to earn it, just trying to shove someone off a mat isn't wrestling. If you want to get out on bottom, you have to earn it. When your on top, you go for the pin, waiting on the refs for a restart is the most unamerican thing possible. 

Freestyle has turned its back on Americans every step of the way. Americans started dominated in the early 90s, they changed the rules to take out endurance, no over time, then the ball grab stuff, and the body lock stuff. The powers that be almost regulated wrestling out of the Olympics because they hated when Americans dominated. 

We need to see where the money backing this is coming from. Hulk Hogan had some shady financial connections, American wrestling don't need another "Foxcatcher" incident. 

My last gear grinder, we need to stop Glazin the Russians. They wrestlers are not honorable competitors. Long history of cheating for using peds, They payed officials to take medals from Americans. They started the trend of sending wrestlers to other country's. They have payed people to lose to their competitors. Yet in recent years we act like they are the best. They were the best because they cheated time and time again. (Don't use UFC as an example of them being "great" wrestlers, they hand pick who they promote, and they've been promoting Russians like, the Russians have some black mail on them.)

Here's the best way to start a professional league, Individual folk style tournament, 10 weights, for a cash prize. Get our best folk stylers to come. Have 8 coaches do fantasy draft for their "team". Run a short Dual season, a dual post season, and an individual post season for a large cash purse. 

Just a conversation piece, but  can we please stop treating Russians like they are honorable warriors. 

[Gene Mills Fan]

Houston "The Eagle has landed!"

[Dark Energy]

I respect much of the above …. But not all of it …. Is it the American Way to be ready to flee (play the edge) and effectively run away when the situation gets tricky?   That seems to be the folkstyle way with all the crap OOB that happens.

[alex1fly]

I'm here for it as a fan. We follow these kids for a decade or more and then post-college they have to change styles completely to keep competing. It's not a good way to sustain a product. I don't dislike freestyle but it makes sense that viewership suffers because a bunch of storylines die on the vine and the action isn't "better wrestling against better competitors" its "different wrestling with different rules". Like if baseball players play cricket after college because cricket is more popular globally... the MLB would be toast.

Trouble is, there is no American system for post-collegiate wrestlers. The argument is that there isn't a fanbase to sustain a professional wrestling organization... but the same was said about football/baseball/basketball and now the NFL/MLB/NBA are massive.