Dave Meltzer
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Dave Meltzer is considered the pioneer of pro wrestling journalism. A lifelong fan, Meltzer began writing about wrestling at the age of ten in various newsletters and fan club publications. While attending San Jose State University and reporting for the Oakland Tribune, Meltzer started the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 1982. It was the first publication that covered pro wrestling that made no excuses about the industry being entertainment as opposed to sport, including coining the term "athletic entertainment" to describe pro wrestling, a term later changed to "sports entertainment" by Vince McMahon. The Observer remains the publication of record within the pro wrestling industry, read by nearly every serious fan and student of the game around the world. Meltzer is considered the leading independent expert on pro wrestling, and has been featured in Sports Illustrated and on Entertainment Tonight. His book, "Tributes," was the best selling pro wrestling book in late 2001 and early 2002. He's been on every major network newscast as well as the Phil Donahue Show, numerous specials on pro wrestling from A&E, Court TV and the Discovery Channel, quoted in publications such as TV Guide, Rolling Stone, New York Times and Newsweek and appeared in the two leading documentaries on wrestling, Wrestling with Shadows and Beyond the Mat. Meltzer also writes regular MMA columns for Yahoo!, some of which have been read by upwards of one million people.
Bryan Alvarez
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Bryan Alvarez has been the editor and publisher of Figure Four Weekly since 1995. Besides the newsletter, he has also written wrestling columns for Penthouse Magazine (Mat Max!) in 1999 and 2000; co-authored Death of WCW with RD Reynolds in 2004; and wrestled professionally throughout the US and Canada since 1998 (and quite unprofessionally in the Youth Wrestling Federation, a backyard promotion that had weekly television on Seattle Public Access for over two years in the early 90s). He currently works as host of Wrestling Observer Live on the Sports Byline Radio Network and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 122 every Sunday night from 3-5 PM PST; writes monthly columns for Fighting Spirit Magazine in the UK; writes weekly columns for The Fight Network in Toronto, and hosts Figure Four Daily, Wrestling Observer Radio, and the Bryan & Vinny Show on this website.
Everything listed below is available exclusively for subscribers. Worldwide subscription rates are $10.99 for one month, $31.99 for three months, or $119.99 for one year. This is the best wrestling/MMA value on the Internet if you consider that print Observer prices alone are normally $14.50 per six issues in the US for long-term readers and $17.50 for those paying monthly, and $19.75 for long-term and $21.50 for month-to-month for overseas readers. As an online subscriber you get full access to all new Observer newsletters, plus the Figure Four Weekly, newsletter archives, audio shows, expanded radio and more breaking news than ever before, all for just $10.99 per month.
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Figure Four Radio: Join host Bryan Alvarez as he interviews some of the biggest names in pro-wrestling and MMA. Alvarez also does Mailbag shows about once per week, answering questions sent in by website readers on every conceivable topic. Shows usually air Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The original radio show on this website.
Bryan & Vinny Show: Join Bryan Alvarez and Vincent Verhei as they run down the latest pro-wrestling and mixed martial arts TV and PPV programming, including Raw, Smackdown, TNA Impact, Ultimate Fighter, and more! Shows air Tuesday night after Raw and ECW, Thursday night after Impact, and occasionally on double pay-per-view weekends. A more laid back show, this program also features wacky songs created by members of the website and completely off-topic discussions about every conceivable subject.
Adam & Mike Big Audio Nightmare: Since March 2006, the Big Audio Nightmare has been the original alternate here at the website. What does that mean? It was the first show without Bryan. Why? He thought it was about Japanese wrestling and bailed. Bad for him, good for you, as puroresu is only a muse for the most eclectic radio show based around canvassed mats. Here, the topics include – but aren’t limited to: joshi, raising babies, hockey, ROH, the NFL, boxing, current events, gambling, Indies, Tim Horton’s, octopus, MMA, Turkish oil wrestling, Latino women, NASCAR, poutine, Art Bell, and much, much more. It’s the safety pin for your wrestling bubble; It’s the Adam Summers & Mike Sempervive BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~! Proudly here at F4WOnline.com.
The Karl Stern Classic Wrestling Show: Karl Stern hosts the Karl Stern Classic Wrestling Audio Show. The publisher of the classic DragonKing Wrestling Newsletter, Karl has also spent time as a wrestler, promoter, and photographer. Each week Karl hosts a look back at classic pro wrestling. From the age of the pioneers to the dying days of WCW, Karl Stern talks about all things old-school. Join Karl for a look back at the legendary promotions, wrestlers, angles, and shows that made pro wrestling one of the most successful entertainment fields in the world.
Five Star Radio Show Join Mike Coughlin as he talks Mixed Martial Arts. Mike is one of the best analysts in the MMA game today and his pre-show previews are legendary.
Dr. Keith Lipinski Show: Dr. Keith Lipinski, an avid pro-wrestling broadcast journalist, freelance wrestling writer, full time dreamer, DVD host (see: "Doin Time with New Jack", and October's "Last Call With Raven and Sandman"), an all around good gent with five years of lousy shows experience, brings his charming radio showgram to the wonderful listeners of www.F4WOnline.com when he feels like recording several times a month. The show is reknown for its hard hitting, yet softballrific questions, the wit and wisdom of Bill 'Megaphone' Barlow and Rob FN Naylor, and just being quite silly while at the same time quite tasteless. Once a month, olde friend Joe Gagne joins the conversation on a pre-arranged topic of wrestle-lore. Plus, reports from the road, classic interviews from the Lipinski archives, and just good times - lame humor. Feel the audio love with the most polarizing show on this fine site - as the Dr. Keith Show promises to make sweet yet angry love to your ear... only here at DrKeithShow.com
Tough Talk with Mike Sawyer and Oliver Copp: Two men with vastly different backgrounds and from different continents join together once a week to deliver the latest in news, gossip, interviews and analysis from the world of MMA. A longtime favorite of the Board, Tough Talk officially joined the ranks of F4Wonline.com in July 2008. Mike Sawyer is a VIP host at Scores Las Vegas and knows the Vegas scene like nobody else - nothing that plays in Vegas will escape him. Oliver Copp is a longtime sportscaster and journalist from Germany who not only has a background in MMA being the German voice of the UFC but also has a history of doing voiceovers for most major wrestling promotions over the years. Together, they deliver a podcast where you never know what to expect - except that every show will have something that you haven't heard anywhere else yet.
Many of our subscribers say the radio shows are the number-one benefit of subscribing. Most shows run between 45 and 90 minutes. In addition, every program since October 2005 is archived on the site so you can download anything you missed. All of the shows are delivered in an mp3 format that you can download to your iPod or other portable music player, or burn to CD for a permanent collection. You can also input your username and password into iTunes and the shows will be automatically downloaded for you.
Weekly Figure Four Newsletter: A brand-new issue of Figure Four Weekly is published every Tuesday evening on the main page of the site. Each newsletter is 18,000 words of news and information from every major promotion around the world, plus the most entertaining TV reports you'll find anywhere! Over 425 back issues dating back to 2001 are also available in our F4W Archive. Figure Four Weekly is available in PDF form as well.
Karl Stern's Dragon King Newsletter: Follow the history of wrestling dating back to the 1880s with one of the most renowned historians in the world, Karl Stern. This archive is being built with new historical issues, and older back issues will be added in the future.
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For the most in-depth and detailed news and analysis on pro-wrestling and MMA, always turn to Wrestlingobserver.com/Figure Four Weekly Online, the #1 website of its kind on the Internet. Members receive online access to both the Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly newsletters and growing archives, Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer three times per week, the popular Bryan and Vinny Show twice per week, additional radio shows including Figure Four Daily with Alvarez, Mike Coughlin's Five Star Radio, the Dr. Keith Lipinski Show, The Adam and Mike Big Audio Nightmare, Tough Talk and the Karl Stern Wrestling History Show, the infamous BOARD, and more! Members also have full access to the thousands of hours of audio in our radio show archives which date back to 2005. For your convenience, we offer secure online payments using your VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover card or PayPal account. Don't miss out on the fun, sign up now! Don\'t miss out on the fun, sign up now!
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