MYC MAE YOUNG CLASSIC DISCUSSION (NO SPOILERS)

[OSJ]

Y'know, the more that I think about it, with all of these combined factors coming into play:

Mainstream coverage due in large part to Charlotte in WWE 

Hit Netflix series G.L.O.W.

Ronda Rousey becoming a household name and now going to WWE

Womens' matches being given main-event status

None of these things by itself is enough to pull the train, but the combination of factors adds up to a visibility and popularity that womens' wrestling has never previously enjoyed in North America. All that's really missing is a marketable face of the sport, someone who can be Bailey on the big stage. I don't know that the "face" can be a Japanese woman with a heavy accent, (I'd like to think that it could be, but I tend to give people too much credit). It may well be that we've passed the point where an individual is that important and the brand itself is what sells, in which case the time for VKM to strike is right now with a one-hour show on the Network and start shopping it for TV.

[Phantom Lord]

Well, the WWE did create the UK Championship and the possible UK Division just because World Of Sport was coming back in England. WOS isn't now, but their stuck with this UK thing and it turned out pretty good for them finding some amazing wrestlers.

I think the same thing happened again. GLOW got all this buzz for Netflix and people in the office were like "well, shit how can we leach off this" and they threw together the Mae Young Classic. Because to be honest as great as the tournament was, the planning did not have nearly as much thought put into it as the CWC did last year. It was a more rushed production. I mean a lot of people crapped on JR and Lita for their work, but God bless em for doing all those matches in two days. That's just insane.

For Women's wrestling in the WWE to work, it needs to be its own separate entity because as we see it on RAW/Smackdown it's just something thrown together at the last second at times when we know they are capable of so much more. Ideally who ever does the booking for the women in NXT. Just give them a show on the network, I mean that's what its there for.

[Eivion]

10 hours ago, Phantom Lord said:

I think the same thing happened again. GLOW got all this buzz for Netflix and people in the office were like "well, shit how can we leach off this" and they threw together the Mae Young Classic. Because to be honest as great as the tournament was, the planning did not have nearly as much thought put into it as the CWC did last year. It was a more rushed production. I mean a lot of people crapped on JR and Lita for their work, but God bless em for doing all those matches in two days. That's just insane.

Its been planned since last year. The GLOW buzz they took advantage of was more when they had women main eventing Raw, SDL, & NXT the week after GLOW's release. Honestly the planning probably had more thought put into it than the CWC. It was likely more a case of overthinking everything until they realized they need to choose  already.

11 hours ago, OSJ said:

Ronda Rousey becoming a household name and now going to WWE

Has this been said officially? Its a big assumption I keep seeing people make if not.

[Beech27]

I think it's a safe (and well-reported, by wrestling standards) assumption that she's going to do something--most likely a 4 Horsewomen match--with WWE, but there haven't been any official announcements, and she hasn't signed anything. (Neither has Baszler, so far as I know. But I haven't read the NXT spoilers, so I could be willfully ignorant.) 

[JonnyLaw]

I feel like their best bet at the moment is to turn 205Live into Primetime Wrestling type show with the Cruisers, Women, and UK guys.  Tape some stuff at Full Sail, some at house shows, and some at the occasional friendly indie show.  Not quite a unified brand like NXT, but a showcase for three other brands, perhaps with goal of touring them similarly to NXT.  You can still keep the Cruisers on Raw and UK guys on NXT, while doing occasional brand specific specials like the UK special.  

If they do a women's show, I think they should spin it off as NXT Women, or just expand NXT to two hours.

[nofuture]

With the amount of women they have under contract, they could easily start up a Women's tag division with titles too.

[supremebve]

4 minutes ago, JonnyLaw said:

I feel like their best bet at the moment is to turn 205Live into Primetime Wrestling type show with the Cruisers, Women, and UK guys.  Tape some stuff at Full Sail, some at house shows, and some at the occasional friendly indie show.  Not quite a unified brand like NXT, but a showcase for three other brands, perhaps with goal of touring them similarly to NXT.  You can still keep the Cruisers on Raw and UK guys on NXT, while doing occasional brand specific specials like the UK special.  

If they do a women's show, I think they should spin it off as NXT Women, or just expand NXT to two hours.

I'd watch a 2-hour combined NXT/205/UK/Women show every week.  I'm already someone who watches NXT/205 exclusively.  The UK guys have nothing to do, the Smackdown crowd never cares about 205, and they have a lot of women who are ready for TV.  That would be a dream come true for me.

[OSJ]

40 minutes ago, Eivion said:

Its been planned since last year. The GLOW buzz they took advantage of was more when they had women main eventing Raw, SDL, & NXT the week after GLOW's release. Honestly the planning probably had more thought put into it than the CWC. It was likely more a case of overthinking everything until they realized they need to choices already.

Has this been said officially? Its a big assumption I keep seeing people make if not.

My point was (and remains) simply that several things (the stars eeef yooouuu weeeel) have aligned in such a way to make this a perfect time to try the experiment of seeing if a program devoted to women's wrestling and played straight will be a success.

As for Ms. Rousey? I pride myself on being able to draw logical conclusions based on the evidence in front of me. It's pretty obvious that as far as MMA or acting are concerned, both of those ships have sailed for her. She still has name value to the casuals and even the mainstream, but that value is likely only going to be exploited  by WWE. A fighter who has been so completely figured out has little value to the UFC and she's too big a name to be running around fighting in Indian casinos with the rest of the has-beens and never-wases. As far as acting, she makes Chuck Liddell seems like James Earl Jones, not much chance of anything there. WWE is really her only viable career option and its one that will be perceived as a positive by the mainstream despite the reality that she has no where else to go. It's a funny truism but athletes that fail in other sports are given a total pass when they shift to pro wrestling. No one ever says, "Well he was a mediocre football player" or "If not for his injury he could've ridden the bench for six or seven years." No, what we hear is "former star for the blankety blanks, moved to pro wrestling after a knee injury."

Think about it, do we ever hear "a total washout as a wide receiver, switched to pro wrestling before someone took his head off..."

[HumanChessgame]

1 hour ago, supremebve said:

I'd watch a 2-hour combined NXT/205/UK/Women show every week.  I'm already someone who watches NXT/205 exclusively.  The UK guys have nothing to do, the Smackdown crowd never cares about 205, and they have a lot of women who are ready for TV.  That would be a dream come true for me.

For a while I've been of the opinion they just need to combine the UK and CW divisions into NXT.  Since NXT is on the network and doesn't have all the requirements for commercials and a typical schedule and such they could bump it up to 90 minutes.  That would give them time to feature more wrestlers without it being the slog to get through that the MR shows can be.  At least a third of the guys from the CW and UK divisions could find spots on the main shows either in singles or as a few new tag teams.  You could do an angle where the holders of both titles get into a feud and unite them into the NXT midcard Network Title.  The roster would be big enough you could do brief UK tours 3-4 times a year (and have one Takeover a year from London or somewhere) to make sure those guys get a chance to work in front of a hometown crowd periodically.

[OSJ]

8 hours ago, supremebve said:

I'd watch a 2-hour combined NXT/205/UK/Women show every week.  I'm already someone who watches NXT/205 exclusively.  The UK guys have nothing to do, the Smackdown crowd never cares about 205, and they have a lot of women who are ready for TV.  That would be a dream come true for me.

Not only would I watch it, I'd be happy to pay ten bucks a month to do so. Hell, I'm paying ten bucks a month now and am reasonably pleased, so it wouldn't be a big change. I just can't bring myself to sit through three-hour RAWs any longer, even as background noise when I'm signing pages for a new book, the scripted promos and backstage nonsense are just intolerable.

[supremebve]

7 hours ago, OSJ said:

Not only would I watch it, I'd be happy to pay ten bucks a month to do so. Hell, I'm paying ten bucks a month now and am reasonably pleased, so it wouldn't be a big change. I just can't bring myself to sit through three-hour RAWs any longer, even as background noise when I'm signing pages for a new book, the scripted promos and backstage nonsense are just intolerable.

Seriously, I don't remember the last time I even attempted to sit through Raw.  It is too much of the stuff I don't want and too little of the stuff I do want.  It kind of sucks, because I think the roster from top to bottom is probably the best roster WWE has ever had, but I don't enjoy watching it.  NXT is what I want from wrestling.  Good, simple characters who are fighting for a reason, and everyone's ultimate goal is to win the belt.  If I never see another 20+ minute opening segment I'll be happy. 

[Cristobal]

DVR is 100% necessary to watch Raw.

[RIPPA]

Apparently Baszler has officially signed the WWE offer

[J.T.]

On ‎9‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 3:30 PM, RIPPA said:

Apparently Baszler has officially signed the WWE offer

I thought she was already a WWE employee when she was working as Nikki Bella's grappling coach or was that a private deal?

[Eivion]

That was over a year ago. Pretty sure she would have already been to the PC if she had been hired then.

[JonnyLaw]

My low key favorite part of the time tournament was seeing so many people making sure to pay their respects to Izzy during their entrances.