2015 Year In Review + 2016 Preview

Well, we're at the end of the year. It's been hectic, getting this blog going and all. In hindsight, there are things I would've done differently, but overall I'm pleased with the results. Hopefully you've enjoyed the experience so far.

In ten months, I've posted 196 times on this blog, received nearly 500 comments and replied nearly 500 times. The biggest two buckets are obviously stories and reviews. The rest include Who's Who, Casting, Inspiration, general housekeeping and other miscellaneous posts.

Breaking it down, I posted a total of 87 stories (98 posts, as I split many stories in two when I started) and reviewed 50 matches from 8 different companies, plus two books from 1 author.

• 32 Cave (14 The Cave + 10 The Cave Undercard + 8 The Cave: The Adventures of SuperStar)
• 30 Route 69 (27 Route 69 + 3 Route 69: Bad Boys)
• 15 AWL (6 Danny Chase + 5 Jake Justice + 3 Colt Hill + 1 Nikolai Khruschev)
• 10 Other (7 Encounters + 2 Superheroes + 1 Producers Ring)

Results are hard to judge, because of my two-blog approach, but stories are the most viewed content, which I'm happy about. The Cave series is tops, but there's clearly a bigger appetite for Superheroes as those two stories were huge hits. And the top reviews are driven by external links then who I'm featuring, so guys like Ty Alexander and Guido Genatto/Dirty Daddy are definitely champs around here.

Dirty Daddy's a Cave champ! Source: Twitter

The Cast: Who's Who (December)

Guys,

Here are the base models for December's characters ...

Route 69: Bad Boys S103

Clark = Jesse Dunphy (Model)

Encounters: Elite League of Fighting (Part 2)

"And here is your winner, at 28 minutes and 12 seconds, by submission ... IARDOR!"

The crowd of tall, muscular and beautiful elves cheered loudly. Calemirdir rose off his champion's throne, adjusted his bulge in his black trunks. grabbed his belt from the floor and entered the ring. He rubbed his belt as he looked Iardor up and down. The mighty Calemirdir extended his hand. Iardor accepted with a smile.

Champion Calemirdir

The champion said, "Congratulations on winning the tournament, Iardor. Very impressive finisher. Not as impressive as mine, but I will have to avoid it. In one year's time, you shall have your chance to take this belt from me. Train hard, for I shall be ready."

Review: Jersey vs. Tak (Thunder's Arena)

If the blog feels a little heavy on Thunder's Arena content, all I can say is that it could be worse. I'm actually still making my way through my summer purchases from Thunder's Arena. They definitely have earned the lion's share of my dollars in 2015. Take note competitors ... they did it with a great roster of studs, volume of releases, frequent discounts and easy downloads.

As for this match, Jersey vs. Tak was definitely a purchase driven by the studs more than anything else. Jersey and Tak are personal favorites of mine, both ranking high in my top five most enjoyable Thunder's Arena wrestlers of all-time.

Tak: "Round two only advised for non-pussies."
Jersey: "What? Where does it say that?"

The 2015 Caveys: Producers

Welcome to the final day of The 2015 Caveys!

I've reviewed my favorite matches and my favorite wrestlers, but there are no matches or wrestlers without the producers to create and distribute the content.

Here is a list of the eligible producers (meaning I've bought or rented at least one match from them in 2015 and watched it):

• BGEast
• CameronWrestler
• Can-Am
• Jonny Firestorm
• Krushco
• Movimus
• Muscle Domination Wrestling
• Rock Hard Wrestling
• Thunder's Arena
• UCW

And The Cavey goes to ...

Presenting the producer awards ... it's Ben!

The 2015 Caveys: Wrestlers

Welcome to day two of The Caveys!

Yesterday, I awarded the action. Today I award the studs who make the action so awesome. For complete rules and details, see yesterday's post.

And the Cavey goes to ...

Here's Jeff to present the wrestler awards ...

The 2015 Caveys: Matches

Welcome to my inaugural Cavey Awards.

The Cavey Awards are my attempt at a year-end wrap-up where I recognize the wrestlers and producers who I think did a great job.

The Rules

Results are based entirely on my experiences in 2015 and nothing else. They're reflective of what I watched this year (up to December 15th) , regardless of when it was produced or I bought/rented it. For example, the remaining Thunder's Arena summer 2015 matches I haven't watched yet will be eligible for a 2016 Cavey, not 2015.

I don't watch every wrestler, match or promotion. So that means there might be something or someone amazingly awesome out there that deserves recognition, but if I haven't seen it, it's not eligible. Like the Oscars, it might skew towards the most recent stuff. At the start of the year I had no idea I would try this. I'm not 100% sure what I watched early this year vs. late last year, but I did try to look back.

Of course the comment box is a great place for YOU to weigh in on anyone or anything you think is deserving of an award.

I appreciate the challenge of real awards shows a little more now. Choosing one winner in any category is tough. I deliberately call them 'Favorite' as opposed to 'Best', because this is all my subjective assessment.