All Elite Wrestling is official

[Craig H]

Or Impact as a brand is just totally and completely screwed and they're just stuck in Buffalo Bill's pit with no way to get out. 

[Thibs]

18 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

In January, they were doing around 300,000. At the end of March they did 400,000. They started that direction in December of 2017. So it built to roughly a 50% increase in viewers before it started to go down. There was no big change in formula when the drop off started. It directly coincided with the NBA playoffs starting. 

So, the argument it was the direction they started in December definitely doesn't explain things.

They didn’t really start the direction until the show where Aries became champion. That was the first set of TV’s with Callis. It was in February. 

The numbers did increase for a short period of time into the spring but then started free falling throughout the summer. Part of that has to do with a lot of the star power they lost namely AEP and Lashley.

However they were also putting on a boring product with little emphasis on storylines, more emphasis on wrestling, over reliance on squash matches and just a simplistic TV show. It was basically booked like a WWE Superstars episode. The height of this were the god awful Mexico shows and that’s when the audience really cratered. 

 

[Thibs]

18 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Or Impact as a brand is just totally and completely screwed and they're just stuck in Buffalo Bill's pit with no way to get out. 

That too. But as screwed as they were, they somehow got even more screwed with this regime in charge and the type of product they put out. 

[DreamBroken]

I thought all of Impact's biggest story-based stuff in 2018 was all really great for making some compelling TV. LAX vs OGz, Eddie vs Sami in the woods (and everything that has spun out into), the Su Yung/Madison Rayne feud (with the last of Paredyse brilliantly produced video work),  Killer Kross's debut, etc.

[TheVileOne]

If they get a real TV deal, that will make believe this is serious. 

But is the climate right for wrestling to return to TBS/TNT?  Would the current crop of execs support it? Would they be acceptable for growing pains?

 

[Thibs]

38 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

If they get a real TV deal, that will make believe this is serious. 

But is the climate right for wrestling to return to TBS/TNT?  Would the current crop of execs support it? Would they be acceptable for growing pains?

 

I think just the idea of a return of wrestling to the Turner Networks would create more buzz than anything they could do outside of signing Cena or Rock. 

The TV landscape has changed so much that I don’t see Turner being as against it as they were in 2001. 

I know they’re dipping their toe in the water for MMA. And I think they were involved in negotiations for Smackdown when those talks went on. 

 

[Jenalysis]

4 hours ago, Oyaji said:

To use an Alvaresism, I'm sure Britt Baker is a really nice person but if they're paying her $100000 a year they're faaacked.

All they need to do is pay more than the $50 and a hotdog Impact pays their women.  Hopefully, she gets a living wage though.

[Elsalvajeloco]

1 hour ago, TheVileOne said:

If they get a real TV deal, that will make believe this is serious. 

But is the climate right for wrestling to return to TBS/TNT?  Would the current crop of execs support it? Would they be acceptable for growing pains?

 

Viacom bought an entire promotion because they thought they could do UFC better than the people that owned the UFC at the time and that the UFC's stranglehold on the market was weakening. They were doing okay when Scott Coker was in charge after taking over Bjorn Rebney, who believed Jon "War Machine" Koppenhaver could be a star and his porn star girlfriend should be ringside while the commentators drop weird, strange, and creepy hints about what she does for a living. Then, Kimbo Slice died and it's been all downhill ever since. As the inherent number 2, 3, 4, etc. promotion in the world, you have to know that you are not insulated from your own dumbass ideas unless there is a support system similar to the #1 promotion that undergirds that. The climate doesn't matter and there is very little you can do to control that. If you sign a TV deal in May to debut several months later and the whole business collapses in the interim, are you just going to pack it in? With Bellator, whether you believe it's Coker being unable to do anything other than rehashed ideas, Rich Chou's matchmaking, or Viacom being unable to handle a non UFC product, the bill has come due. They've stolen ideas from pro wrestling, K-1 (they recycled the Dynamite!! concept and failed miserably), PRIDE, and boxing including the pageantry and presentation. Ratings are still in the shitter. In the timeframe I just laid out, they've signed some of the biggest free agent names in MMA history. They still cannot create stars or make any of the stars they acquired bigger stars than they were in the UFC or pro wrestling (if you wanna include Lashley). Their only pivot to stem the bleeding was to sign the deal with DAZN. They just had a show on the same night as a big boxing card on DAZN designed to get people to watch that specific Bellator show once the boxing main event ended. Even Dave Meltzer, who is a Bellator stan by virtue of his long time relationship with Coker and the San Jose connection, admitted he got no feedback for the show and no one from the show even made the top Google searches. Bellator has some entertaining shows, but they did this to themselves by one terrible decision after another thinking they could do it just because UFC got away with it. It's not like they couldn't take advantage of the UFC's chaotic business cycle. Since 2014, the UFC has been super cold, sorta cold, super hot, hot as a Mississippi summer day, taking the MMA equivalent of a heat check, lukewarm, very lukewarm, cold again, sorta hot, and to now virtually untouchable due to the ESPN deal and now possibly getting a way bigger cut of the PPVs when boxing and pro wrestling have largely abandoned PPV. You telling me Bellator couldn't become a strong #2 AT WORST with all that going on? They couldn't stop the UFC from basically reaching the endgame of all endgames for combat sports? They got fucking a media conglomerate backing them for half a decade or more.

My point is the product ultimately dictates the climate. Once you sign a deal, you gotta get rolling. If it fails, nobody will remember "well, the climate wasn't right for the promotion." It's going to be the blame game.

[Octopus]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Goldberg just started following AEW on Twitter. 

[dragonzombie]

Put the title on him

[Thibs]

If they’re really angling to steal that Tuesday night audience from Smackdown, I feel like it would make sense to debut on the same night that Smackdown does their last Tuesday show. You go head to head for one hour and go absolutely balls to the wall. You get Goldberg, you get Jericho, you showcase the young Indy talent, etc.

And from then on, you have that Tuesday timeslot to yourself, having exposed yourself to the WWE audience. 

 

[Brian Fowler]

I've been watching 1998 WCW lately, and Bill Goldberg is the best squash match worker ever.

Just have him murk a fool every week. RATINGZ!

[Archibald]

I actually think that we need more squash matches and less competitive matches between a star and a jobber. "Get your shit in" is worst thing that has happened to wresting.

[Brian Fowler]

4 minutes ago, Archibald said:

I actually think that we need more squash matches and less competitive matches between a star and a jobber. "Get your shit in" is worst thing that has happened to wresting.

Well, getting your shit in is the whole point of a squash. It's just, only one guy's shit.

But I don't care to ever see Goldberg have a match that lasts more than 5 minutes ever again. But him destroying a lower midcarder guy will never not be awesome. 

[Archibald]

Well I mean, I don't like that the guy who obviously is lower on the totem pole and is not winning his match still manages to hit his every move anyway and loses because "he just doesn't punch hard enough". I'd rather he got only few moves in and lost because he is just isn't good enough to execute majority of his offence against more skilled opponent.

[Jiji]

32 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

Well, getting your shit in is the whole point of a squash. It's just, only one guy's shit.

But I don't care to ever see Goldberg have a match that lasts more than 5 minutes ever again. But him destroying a lower midcarder guy will never not be awesome. 

I was going to say "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE LESNAR MANIA MATCH?!" but that was only 4:45. So you are correct. Fuck, I love watching those two brawl wildly. 

[Brian Fowler]

That match was fucking perfect.

Right before it started I told my friend Travis "I just want them to throw bombs for five minutes and hit the finish" and then they did exactly that and it was fucking perfect.

Edit: Goldberg is absurdly explosive, but you can't go that hard that fast for very long, especially at his size and now his age.

[Jiji]

It's a shame we never got Goldberg in the UFC back when those rumours circulated. It was the heavyweight division, so it couldn't have been that awful of an experiment.

My friends used to joke about Goldberg vs. The Young Bucks in a handicap match and now we may get it (we won't but...). The speculation is the best part of this thing for a long while. More of this and less of bullshit bickering about terminology, please.

... Oh my God! Young Bucks vs. Goldberg and... HIS AWKWARDLY SHIRTLESS AND HYPED UP KID!

[Casey]

Can we talk about what their women's division could (should?) look like? You've already got Britt Baker, who else could they realistically get? I'm assuming people from Impact are on contracts, and not per appearance deals, so someone like Tessa or Taya are out of reach (that's not even mentioning Taya's LU contract either).

I'm personally hoping for Madison Eagles and Kimber Lee, maybe Ashley Vox.

[Brian Fowler]

I wouldn't be surprised if they try to get some of the Stardom talent at least part time. Getting Iwatani and Watanabe in for shows now and then could go a long way towards making the whole division look good.

[Jiji]

Who has Jordynne Grace signed with? Impact? Man, I just want Impact to burn out so the best of their talent can join AEW.

Eagles is a great shout, she's fucking awesome. I wonder if they could throw all of the moneys at Meiko to get her to come over for a year or two? The world needs more Meiko. And HANA KIMURA. The photo thread especially needs more Hana. Mayu is the obvious anchor they should go if they can't get Meiko (and even if they could). Last joshi shout: Arisa Nakajima. Have Kay Lee Ray and Viper signed with anybody yet? And I guess Session Moth? She'd fit in with zany shit.

[Jenalysis]

18 minutes ago, Casey said:

Can we talk about what their women's division could (should?) look like? You've already got Britt Baker, who else could they realistically get? I'm assuming people from Impact are on contracts, and not per appearance deals, so someone like Tessa or Taya are out of reach (that's not even mentioning Taya's LU contract either).

I'm personally hoping for Madison Eagles and Kimber Lee, maybe Ashley Vox.

I thought the women's talent on Impact was on per-appearance deals mostly, for very little money.   Pushing women could be a good thing for AEW- it gives them something unique, and their fanbase will be open to it.

 

One of my predictions is that AEW is going to go for the "geek culture" audience primarily- if they can get the New Day, they'd do it in a heartbeat.   We're going to see some experimental stuff, and I think some of it won't be good.

 

[Phantom Lord]

7 hours ago, Thibs said:

For those that have played Extreme Warfare Revenge... this whole AEW thing feels exactly how a new promotion would start in that game. 

"OOOH THE WWE RELEASED ALL THESE PEOPLE". 

I wonder if the WWE will be inclined to keep people they would release just to keep them away from this or any other company. Might be great for Zack Ryder. He's gonna get that Lanny Poffo WCW deal.

[Eivion]

50 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they try to get some of the Stardom talent at least part time. Getting Iwatani and Watanabe in for shows now and then could go a long way towards making the whole division look good.

Is Stardom's relationship with ROH over? if not, then expect nothing.

48 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Eagles is a great shout, she's fucking awesome. I wonder if they could throw all of the moneys at Meiko to get her to come over for a year or two? The world needs more Meiko. And HANA KIMURA. The photo thread especially needs more Hana. Mayu is the obvious anchor they should go if they can't get Meiko (and even if they could). Last joshi shout: Arisa Nakajima. Have Kay Lee Ray and Viper signed with anybody yet? And I guess Session Moth? She'd fit in with zany shit.

Meiko runs Sendai and is likely to show up again in WWE this year. Why are you bringing up Mayu? She is contracted to Stardom. Nakajima to Seadlinnng. KLY and Viper to WOS unless that is dead? Maybe its best to not fantasy book joshi wrestlers for the women's division of an upstart American promotion.

[Jiji]

From all reports, if WOS isn't dead it will be very soon. Are Seadlinnnnnng contracts iron clad? Like if WWE came knocking for Nakajima, she wouldn't be able to go? I have a hard time believing that. Maybe less so Stardom, but it didn't sound like WWE had to wait it out for Io, in fact she had to wait for them to okay her neck IIRC. Sendai doesn't run a weekly schedule and often clusters their shows together for a month, meaning Meiko could certainly work for a company like AEW, at least doing some of their TVs.

I always do enjoy a condescending Eivion post tho. Much appreciated.