defector-orange-no-empty-space

lede_post_card_default

lede_post_card_stacked

lede_post_card_featured_post

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero

lede_post_card_featured_posts_sidebar

lede_post_card_highlighted_post

lede_post_card_horizontal_a

lede_post_card_horizontal_c

lede_post_card_related_post

lede_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_3x2

lede_article_featured_flexible

lede_article_content

lede_article_content_wide_width

lede_article_content_full_width

lede_byline_avatar_post_card

lede_byline_avatar_highlight

lede_profile_coral_avatar

lede_logo

lede_logo_banner

lede_logo_footer_banner

lede_logo_simple_header

lede_sponsorship_logo

lede_sponsorship_logo_river_card

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card_logo

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card

Footer Legal

Header - Categories

Header Menu

The last good website.

Topics

This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

defector-no-empty-space

Defector

defector-present-wrapping-logo-gift-subscription-250fixed

winter 2023 gift (eyebrow)

The Defector Crewneck Sweatshirt Is Back In Stock

back-in-stock-for-a-limited-time

Merch v3

-b9trzb

Lauren Theisen

View of a wrestling ring during a tag team match at White Eagle Hall

20241117_182836

Pro Wrestling

Deadlock Pro-Wrestling Is As Fun As It Is Fragile

Wide view of Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd during AEW Dynamite

Screenshot (381)

AEW Can Be Too Much

Bryan Danielson, bloody and pointing in the ring

Screenshot (374)

Bryan Danielson Makes Every Last Match Count

Mistico makes his entrance at Forbidden Door

20240630_193848

Go See Your Guys Live

GettyImages-968700792

AEW Still Isn’t Over CM Punk

Sting puts the scorpion death lock on Matthew Jackson in his last match

Screenshot (280)

Sting Went Out Crazier Than He Came In

New Japan Pro-Wrestling – Wrestle Kingdom 18 in Tokyo Dome

Kazuchika Okada’s Exit Is A Warning Siren For The Rest Of Japan

Joshua Needelman is a freelance writer living in Astoria who spends way too much time thinking about professional wrestling. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and more.

Joshua Needelman

Eddie Kingston, with his eyes closed, in the ring.

eddie-kingston-hell-gate

How New York’s Eddie Kingston Became Pro Wrestling’s “King of the Bums”

Tetsuya Naito flying in with a knee on Keiji Muto

Pro-Wrestling NOAH – KEIJI MUTO GRAND FINAL

Year In Review

Some Wrestling Matches I Liked In 2023

Image from iOS (36)

Luis Paez-Pumar

Kazuchika Okada enters the ring during the New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Korakuen Hall on October 01, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Even At Half Speed, Kazuchika Okada Is The Main Event

Screenshot (234)

Bryan Danielson Saved The Day

Screenshot (229)

The Biggest Wrestling Show Ever Was About Friendship (And One Little Backstage Fight)

Wembley Stadium was designed by architects HOK Sport and Foster & Partners with Engineers Mott Macdonald and was built by Multiplex.  The signature feature is the circular section lattice arch which is 133 metres tall and sits above the northern half of

AEW Is Bringing 80,000 People To Wembley Stadium At The Weirdest Possible Time

Sean T. Collins has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vulture, Decider, Pitchfork, and many others. He lives with his family on Long Island.

IMG_0932

Sean T. Collins

Jon Moxley delivers a move to Anthony Bowens during the AEW Dynamite - Beach Break taping on January 26, 2022, at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH.

WRESTLING: JAN 26 AEW Dynamite

How Queer Pro Wrestlers Are Handling America’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Heel Turn

A bloodied Eddie Kingston with a can of gasoline

Screenshot (116)

Some Wrestling Matches I Liked In 2022

Visual Editor. Runs <a href="http://defectorstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defectorstore.com</a>. Philadelphia-based, if you couldn’t tell.

DFmBbTQF_400x400

Dan McQuade

Claudio Castagnoli swings Chris Jericho on AEW Dynamite. Ref Aubrey Edwards is behind him.

dynamite-09-21-2022-claudio-jericho

Wrestling Fans Will Never Learn To Count

Saraya-AEW

Saraya Is AEW’s Best Chance To Fix Its Women’s Division

Screenshot (64)

Jon Moxley Vs. CM Punk Was False Advertising And It Ruled

VictorPortraitWClaw

David Roth

GettyImages-1395057957

Podcasts

In Search Of The Impossible Trade, With Kazeem Famuyide

Screenshot (96)

Jeff Hardy’s ‘Double Or Nothing’ Experience Shows Wrestling Still Needs To Be More Afraid Of Concussions

Screenshot (87)

The AEW-MJF Feud Gets More Fake And More Annoying

Screenshot (67)

Some Good WrestleMania Weekend Matches That Weren’t At WrestleMania

Screenshot (60)

Jeff Hardy’s Last Stand

Screenshot (30)

AEW’s ‘Revolution’ Dared To Ask How Much Of A Good Thing Is Too Much

Brandi Rhodes, and Cody Rhodes of "All Elite Wrestling" speak during the TNT &amp; TBS segment of the Summer 2019 Television Critics Association Press Tour 2019 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 24, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California.

2019 Summer TCA Press Tour – Day 2

Everybody Wins In The AEW-Cody Rhodes Split