Good day, and good night!
I am leaving pro wrestling content creation.1 Allow me my moment of indulgence to wrap everything up.
Why I’m Leaving
Pro wrestling was never going to be a career for me. I love wrestling, but my love for the squared circle is completely dwarfed by my passion for education. There is no feeling like the realization that you have impacted a child in a positive way; I’d trade Ryusuke Taguchi’s entire career for just one of those moments.
Teaching + pro wrestling content creation is just unworkable for me. Here was my schedule last Wednesday:
Wake up at 6:00am.
Attend school from 7:30-4pm.
Gym until 5:30pm.
Meetings & homework until 7pm.
Covering AEW Dynamite for F4W until 9pm.
Reviewing Dynamite (both in written and podcast form) for FGM until 11:30pm.
That’s unsustainable.
You all know how much I love joshi wrestling. You want to know how much joshi I’ve been able to watch since the last Five Star show came out? Here’s the full list:
Maki Itoh & Hikari Noa in that Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch from DDT.
In order to do the Five Star joshi show right, I need to watch it all in a timely manner. That’s almost impossible at this juncture.
Thank you!
I have met so many unbelievable people throughout the last year. Here’s a full list in no particular order (alongside their Twitter handles, where you should follow them):
Diego Garcia (@diego04guzman): Legitimately the single nicest person on wrestling Twitter.
Scott Edwards (@ScottEWrestling): One of the hardest workers in wrestling, another insanely kind person, and someone whose passion for his work shines through — whether it’s a simple recap of an event or an hours-long epic re-living Hana Kimura’s career.
Paul Fontaine (@PaulAceFontaine): This man loves wrestling and MMA. *I* loved that I could disagree with him on the Dynamite Show and we were always able to talk it out no matter what. Also an incredible and loving father.
Wild Kunt / Yuka Takaoka Fan Acct / Dave Metzler & Ftie TV Reply Guy: I’m not putting his handle here because his bio is always like “do not follow me.” This dude is unbelievably funny and was undoubtedly my favorite “reply guy” because I genuinely had no idea what he was about to post at any time.
Ian Hamilton (@IanWrestling): You have read his reviews even if you don’t know it — and beyond that, he’s an incredibly pleasant person to talk to, even when things get heavy.
JD (@BowlingJD) & K (@Blue__Kano): The RedLeaf is a fantastic show and I am proud to subscribe to their Patreon. Beyond that, watching stuff from the greatest (Ice Ribbon) to the worst (ChocoPro) to the insane (HUSTLE) in Discord was so much fun.
JPQ (@Bigpawsonapup) & Omega (@Omega_Goon): Together with myself, we are the Kpop Connoisseurs of joshi Twitter.
The FGM team (Garrett, John, Justin, Mike, JD, Ryan, CJ, Carlos, Andy, Kelia, Robert, Jeremy, and Carlos) all have unique but measured insights on pro wrestling, MMA, and boxing, and it was a blast being part of the team (and the Facebook group!). I’m staying on as a subscriber in the most expensive tier for as long as this thing keeps going, and you should too!!
Mutuals: @SiticEye did yeoman’s work keeping my inside jokes alive; @Rassle_Kwame knows that wrestling is freaking insane in 2021; @GoldenPurolover adores puroresu and my posts; @broncoberry14, @mannyboy3298, @MattB425, @TelmoAraujo3, and @ArandiSalih were loyal subscribers and consumers of my content (thank you all!!!!!); @mwayorthehway, @yousefreyyyy, and @Zubazthestorm are straight-up fun dudes to interact with, talk to, and joke around with; @PepsWrestling, @KeemWinsAgain, @BackupHangman, @dinahmoehum_, @jackforall1991 and @ringsideposse all had unique and enjoyable wrestling insights; @Momo4RedBelt, @AspiranteaNegro, @_nutpriv, @KickstartVoyage, @cryoxyz_, @Glorious_Driver, @KudomeValxtine, @Jordan_Patu, @panconmezclita, @Dannadelmondo, and @CircleLancer all added to the insanity of joshi Twitter; @LWOSPWAlexR and @XXIchiban run a fantastic podcast (and Alex comes in clutch with links to shows); @IzzacWrestles / @PuroInTheRough mailed me puro DVDs FOR FREE FROM AUSTRALIA; @1053Ridge and @CaptainLouJapan run one of my favorite wrestling sites out there (Happy Wrestling Land); @cobystag is your one-stop shop for NOAH coverage; @38_skxlarrr and @ChickFritts both do fantastic work for F4W (and other places) and are also a guaranteed funny reply; @AceOfTheIndies, whose passion for American independent wrestling is unmatched; and @JoeHulbert, whose irreverent look at pro wrestling is something we all should aspire towards.
Here’s the extremely stupid timeline of my wrestling content career:
Early 2010: A 14-year-old Parker writes for Bleacher Report after lying about my age. The only reason I stopped is because I lost my login information. (Do not google this or I will be angry!)
January 2017: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega gets the coveted ~six stars~ from Dave Meltzer, re-invigorating my interest in wrestling and leading me to subscribe to the Observer.
February 2020: A listing is posted on f4wonline.com calling for new writers. I am a college student and I send an email, thinking “why the hell not?”
August 2020: A full six months later, I get an email from one of the lead editors at F4W Online offering me a trial to start writing for the site. After a few demos reviewing Impact (ugh), I get hired as the weekly AEW Dark reviewer.
Late 2020: I cover tons of NJPW for the site, including many G1 Climax shows.
November 2020: I move over to become the lead AEW contributor for AEW, reviewing Dynamite and PPVs.
January 2021: I start creating content for Fight Game Media with my weekly AEW Dynamite Breakdown.
February 2021: The Dynamite Show, with my fantastic cohost Paul Fontaine, is launched on the FGM Patreon.
July 2021: The Five Star joshi show, with my exceptional cohost Scott Edwards, is launched on the FGM Patreon.
August 2021: Parker gets in over his head with student teaching and decides to call it quits.
My 5 Favorite Reviews I Wrote
*****
“I know that my achievements are quite ordinary. Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.”
I am still going to do live coverage of pro wrestling events for F4W as it’s far less of a time commitment and actually pays pretty well. However, anything that requires me to formulate an actual opinion? I’m done!