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MAY 2022 Pro Wrestling Discussion


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I mean, it's Discovery. I remember when they showed docs on humpback whales and the Amazon rainforest. Now it's all HGTV reality shows and Food Network reality shows (OK, I love me some Cutthroat Kitchen, I admit) and really low-brow reality crap beneath that. 

I can't imagine being embarrassed about wrestling if I'm a Discovery/WB exec based on the utter garbage that is flooding Discovery+. I had a free few months of it and never used it because I already saw all the Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped that I could want to watch on Hulu, and everything else on it is trash. I mean, again, Chopped and Cutthroat Kitchen are also trash, but I like those. 

So yeah, it's weird to me that they have a cable show that sits at 800-950K viewers a week in the mid-week and they're not excited about it openly, especially because they need streaming material for Discovery+ on top of having a show that performs well in its slot. That's not a product of being in the wrestling bubble. That's just like, paying attention. 

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7 minutes ago, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

And it seems like you've made up your mind that AEW is perfectly fine with the network, which is fine, but there's just as much solid evidence. We'll see when the new TV contract comes up.

Except there actually is evidence to support it, if you know how the TV industry works. Discovery would not have put Dynamite in their Premiere ad package (which is the lynchpin of Discovery’s efforts to charge broadcast ad rates on cable) if they didn’t view Dynamite as A) valuable and attractive to advertisers, and B) something they were committed to long-term.

Edited by EVA
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1 minute ago, EVA said:

Except there actually is evidence to support it, if you know how the TV industry works. Discovery would not have put Dynamite in their Premier ad package (which is the lynchpin of Discovery’s efforts to charge broadcast ad rates on cable) if they didn’t view Dynamite as A) valuable and attractive to advertisers, and B) something they were committed to long-term.

Do you work in the TV industry? I'm always glad to learn from an expert. 

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More worrisome than the upfronts non-story is that the new head of programming is all about slashing the budget. So in context 6 months ago AEW may have been banking on a rights fee increase due to over performance. But now they might only get an offer of keeping the current rate. While they perform well above what the deal pays, if slashing the budget is the name of the game it's very unlikely even a well performing show will get MORE money in that market.

So even if Discovery is content or happy with them, they still might be shopping the shows around come negotiation time. From how Meltzer reports on it, AEW is needing a rights fee increase to keep growing. Just agreeing to the same deal again for a new term would stagnate them.

That's way more likely than Discovery being outrigt unhappy and wanting to openly dump them.

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Dynamite is probably fine, but Rampage looks like it may be booted off to TBS on a new day or some other lower even more niche WBD channel, where ratings don't really matter. The ratings for the Rampage show has greatly plummeted over time. It could even be axed.

Warner Bros. Discovery or Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) was founded on April 8, 2022; so it's really a new company. While the older companies WBD owns are subsidiaries.  

HBO Max and Discovery Plus are expected to merge into a single platform. To cut costs. 

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/hbo-max-discovery-plus-combined-streaming-service-bundle-1235204060/

 

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Ewww, I hope this doesn't mean a cost bump for HBO Max since it'll have Discovery+ stuff on it. Keep that rancid peanut butter out of my chocolate if it's going to cost more. 

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9 hours ago, StevieNippz said:

I know he's popular here but how is Mark Henry, one of the worst wrestlers of all time, going to trot this kind of opinion out? It took him 15 years to figure out how to wrestle and he had to retire a few years after that because he can't stay in shape. Can't understand why AEW ever signed him. He's a terrible commentator and seems to have a toxic old school attitude. 

There's nothing about Mark Henry that's toxic or really even old school. What stands out the most with Mark Henry is that the only thing he knows is how to do things the WWE way. He's a perfectly programmed sports entertainer. 

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3 minutes ago, Wyld Samurai said:

There's nothing about Mark Henry that's toxic or really even old school. What stands out the most with Mark Henry is that the only thing he knows is how to do things the WWE way. He's a perfectly programmed sports entertainer. 

lolololol go ahead and look up the repugnant shit Mark Henry used to spout off about shooting on wrestlers in the ring because they basically weren't company men. I believe it was him and Bully Ray on Busted Open and multiple times they would talk about the cruel shit they'd do to wrestlers in the ring and in the back to essentially get them to fall in line.

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7 hours ago, L_W_P said:

Could AEW handle Women's Tag Titles? Sasha being the progenitor and Ace of that championship division would be awesome!

i don't for a minute think Sasha and/or Naomi are AEW-bound in the near future, but it would be a pretty big deal to introduce them as the AEW women's tag team champs. instant lineage, for better or for worse, but not something that's ever been done (at least to my knowledge).

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24 minutes ago, twiztor said:

i don't for a minute think Sasha and/or Naomi are AEW-bound in the near future, but it would be a pretty big deal to introduce them as the AEW women's tag team champs. instant lineage, for better or for worse, but not something that's ever been done (at least to my knowledge).

Flair in 1991 wwf ? 

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3 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

More worrisome than the upfronts non-story is that the new head of programming is all about slashing the budget. So in context 6 months ago AEW may have been banking on a rights fee increase due to over performance. But now they might only get an offer of keeping the current rate. While they perform well above what the deal pays, if slashing the budget is the name of the game it's very unlikely even a well performing show will get MORE money in that market.

So even if Discovery is content or happy with them, they still might be shopping the shows around come negotiation time. From how Meltzer reports on it, AEW is needing a rights fee increase to keep growing. Just agreeing to the same deal again for a new term would stagnate them.

That's way more likely than Discovery being outrigt unhappy and wanting to openly dump them.

How much more do they need to be growing?

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4 minutes ago, Dog said:

I'm interested to know what wrestling @SirSmellingtonofCascadiadoes enjoy, if he's repulsed by both WWE AND AEW.

Lately, I've been watching:

  • '70s and '80s Portland
  • 1992 and 1996-era WCW
  • late '70s-early '80s World of Sport

The last modern show I enjoyed was pre-pandemic NWA. I really liked the studio show and enjoyed the house style. 

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23 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

Not sure if this is true, but Meltzer stated on WOR that WWE froze Sasha and Naomi's contracts, and they will be kept on ice as long as possible. He said if they really wanted to leave, they should not have walked out.

They've been freezing people's contracts alot in the modern Era for while now. Mainly when a guy is injured though. Why are people reacting as if this is new. Sure it's petty but people are signing shorter term contracts nowadays but even 1 to 3 years is a long time to be stuck any place you do not want to come in to work to.

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3 hours ago, (BP) said:

The closest anyone ever got would have to be Bret in WCW, but they fucked that up right away and never looked back.

close, but officially Bret lost the WWF title, so he wasn't technically the champ.

3 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Flair in 1991 wwf ? 

also close, but the difference here is that WWF never recognized Flair as a legitimate world champion (until after he won the Royal Rumble of course).

what i'm trying to convey is Sasha/Naomi showing up on AEW tv with belts (obviously not the actual WWE titles), they claim themselves as the tag champs, and then AEW acknowledges that claim and considers them the AEW Women's Tag Team Champions.

think like if back during the Monday Night Wars. instead of Madusa dropping her belt in the trash, WCW just gave her a new belt and said she was the WCW Women's champion. 

3 hours ago, Blue Dragon said:

Title history and records wise they wouldn't be able to claim those. Lineage (as in linking) in the kayfabe sense maybe they could.

not officially, no. but it's only a small difference from crowning Buddy Rogers the WWWF champ because he "didn't lose" the NWA World title.

maybe i'm just too into title histories.  :shrug:

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