JohnnyJ

On one hand it seems ridiculous to fire people over miscommunication/ misunderstanding. On the other hand, the Boys are two people on the payroll to accompany an act on the company’s D- show. Unless there was a real plan to turn Dalton into a draw why were they even there in the first place? The whole thing is AEW in a nutshell.

Basically my thoughts. I admittedly may be drinking the kool aid and I'm sick of Punks bs but when I was watching the promo this morning I was expecting something different than what it was. Just seems like an old guy getting tired of everyone bitching when AEW has been a boon to fans and performers. And you can tell it's sincere and he's having an absolute blast.

I’m just happy he’s finally in the right place around good management, friendly faces and people who treat his medical issues seriously and far far away from that dastardly jungle boy.

For clarity, I was talking about the WCW main event scene. Obviously there were plenty of guys in the undercard who could go. I know you've done a ton of rewatching. Finish aside, what are a few non-ddp related WCW ppv main events worth checking out.

I think you touched on one of the big issues with WCW. WCW was the workrate promotion that wasn't. The main event scene was slow, old and protective of their spots. We can point to specific screwups but that to me was the underlying problem. For all of the name value the talent had, nobody could deliver satisfying matches. And for all of WWFs faults, they had a force of nature in Stone Cold who could work matches people actually enjoyed.

The high of a fantastic night of live wrestling is euphoric. Every once in a while in the middle of failed Wardlow pushes and Rock trying to be hip, everything clicks. If you could bottle it we would spend our lives walking on clouds. These are the nights that keep us coming back. Enjoy it and cherish it because these nights just don't come around very often. AEW has been so snakebit for so long. It felt nice for them to get a win for once and remind us who they are.

“There are serious allegations being made about our former CEO who also happens to by my Father in Law. From a personal and professional standpoint, I am conflicted and there is understandably no way I can speak openly. What I can assure you is I personally had no knowledge regarding these allegations as they took place and make a promise that under my watch WWE will always be a friendly space for its employees and fans. These press conferences are largely for entertainment purposes and this is not the time for fake press conferences when something so serious is happening, Tonight out of respect for the victims we will be canceling the press conference and I hope everyone can understand.“

A lot of this feels like dejavu because some semblance of the allegations have been floating around for some time. Generally speaking it is difficult to gauge how much people knew and when. Over the years there have been hundreds of hundreds of people who have a bone to pick with Vince. There's also a small economy built around wrestling workplace gossip. Yet there was surprisingly little scuttlebutt regarding the grosser side of how he was conducting himself. This would lead me to believe that only his inner circle really knew what he was up to. But then the question becomes who was in his inner circle. Given how Hunter has positioned himself in the company over the last almost thirty years it is almost impossible to believe he hasn't seen some truly awful behavior and looked the other way. I want to be very very careful not to make allegations out of speculation but my assumption is a lot of heavy hitters in the industry witnessed or heard about illegal activities and kept quiet because they didn't want to rock the boat. In recent times, we've been able to witness first hand outspoken talents keeping quiet so they could continue collecting checks. There's also a degree of blame to be placed on the wrestling media. There are at least 10-20 reporterz working the wrestling beat. If no one is capable of breaking these types of stories as connected as they supposedly are, they arent doing a very good job. If they know about these stories and arent reporting them, they are complicit as well. For better or worse, for all of the supposed journalists out there, the only journalist/reporter I have seen actually doing deep dives is Bix. He may rub a lot of people the wrong way, but at least he is trying to break stories. I don't know what the hell most of these other journalists are doing other than fishing for access/clicks.

The upside is with the media marketplace in a state of flux Netflix has options to extend the deal out for up to 20 years. That's a long time to lock up a premier property. It's also a great way for them to shift over to an advertising model.

Nick Hausman, the improv comic?

I’ve been checking out seats on Stubhub. Seats in a suite with parking and food included are around $90 including the bs fees. Not terrible but we’re approaching 1999 WCW levels of convincing someone to go with me.

You're probably right. The issue is when it started taking on a life of its own he could have put a stop to it at any point. Instead he egged it on and waited until the next episode of his show to clarify. Maximizing the damage to Jericho's reputation and views. What's ironic is he's buddy buddy with Punk who has the biggest glass house of them all.

Minimum wage in Illinois just went up $1. Just saying... These types of "journalists" are really the perfect people to peddle your b.s. The source has $$$ but they're untouchable and there is no organization worth pursuing. It's not like anyone is working for the times.

Give us an all womens show TK. It's going to at least deliver Rampage ratings. That's how you stand out as a challenger brand. Put something ot there that's never been done before.

Everyone in this thread is now dumber for having read this. I hope you're happy with yourself.

Part of the madness of the internet wrestling world is the stirring and stirring of a nugget of information. I don't think us "asking questions" is doing anything to help the situation as there's now a whole thread giving credence to bare accusations. The right of both the accused and the alleged victim matter. My preference is to reserve judgment until more facts come out and get back to discussing wrestling.

You can say it's a cold product but the doom and gloom narrative is a bit comical. Ratings have been more or less static for the last year plus. PPV buys are rock solid given how antiquated the model is when WWE is giving away major events for free. People are unhappy with various aspects of AEW and associating it with the business side. It gets exhausting. A lot of it is spin. For example, we have Papa H bragging about attendance figures at Allstate arena. Attendance figures are great and all but these are events that only a few years ago were translating into hundreds of thousands of ppv buys.

It does feel too soon after what right or wrong he put diehard fans through over the last 2 years. I felt like once it became clear that he could still go at a high level it was only a matter of time before WWE cane calling. In my opinion, WWE should have left well enough alone. They’re doing great right now and he’s clearly not well.

AEW could benefit from less tv but I could say that about any wrestling promotion. To me, 60-90 minutes of A-show programming is ideal. It gives fans the time to stay up on what is going on, allows wrestlers to shuffle in/out and remain fresh and keeps creative organized. Extra tv waters down the product, makes wrestlers stale, and tires out the audience. There's no benefit to the promotion other than extra revenue at the cost of future revenue. AEW's creative is so piss poor that the adding of all of the extra programming has taken away any reason to tune in on a weekly basis. The matches are still there but I can watch them whenever I get around to it. They really are a WCW like promotion who in 10-15 years wrestling dorks online will be sorting through to find all of the random forgotten gems no one remembers happened.

Back in 07 I happened to be living in NYC while ROH was putting on great shows. I had the seats I liked at the Manhattan Center and ROH would always make sure I got those seats like I was Vladimir. Great Friday/Saturday night wrestling a walk from my apartment is just about as good as it would ever get.

A few thoughts: Every wrestling promotion runs hot/cold. One of the things with wrestling is there is no off-season or real opportunity to reset. It just kind of goes forever. So the hurt is going to keep on hurting. I don't see a short term answer for attendance issues other than run smaller venues. In theory, wrestling promotions run a business model similar to a band like phish. Fans will have no problem going to see multiple shows on consecutive nights or multiple times a year because the shows are different every time and that's where the party is at. When AEW first started, there was definitely a place to be (no pun intended) vibe which is gone. Now they're like any other touring act. If someone has seen them once, for whatever reason, they're not shelling out to see them again. If you're catering to a niche and you've lost the repeat attendees, you're going to have attendance problems. I don't largely blame TK for the Punk/Elite mess. He is still a young promoter/owner of a promotion. This was his first experience dealing with a wildcard like Punk and I'm sure he learned a lot and will approach some of these situations differently in the future. Punks AEW existence was a dark cloud over the promotion and it feels like a weight has been lifted now that he is gone. Lack of strong angles have really done a number. In the beginning, you can't believe that quality of matches you are getting on a weekly basis. But over time, there is no reason to stay tuned in. The matches will be there next time too and if you missed a standout match you just catch it somewhere else. I'm looking forward to Edge in the company because I think it reshuffles a lot of things.

What's fascinating is this was a time period before the world was connected. And you have these wrestling nerds scattered around that don't know each other and arent following any guide. Yet, we were all doing the same things. If you asked me as a kid what the highlight was of my yearly trip to Grandmas, it was getting my hands on WCW 92-93 ppvs at the Florida rental stores. This was a time when homes had one tv. I still remember sitting in a room full immediate and extended family sitting 18 inches from the tv watching cactus v. sting. In retrospect I can't tell if this was good or bad parenting. Meanwhile, my kids are so spoiled, they don't know what a commercial is.

I'm just here to say Joe is awesome. A 44 year old with lots of miles on those tires. Written off a bunch of times. Outside of Brock, no one gives off that menacing badass aura.

I always viewed Jade as the quintessential WWE talent who ended up in AEW. She has star quality so they were going to try to do something with her but she didn't fit. This is probably for the best for everyone.

I think it’s a question of what AEW learned from All In. What really separates WWE from AEW is the spectacle of their big shows. Packing that many people into a building with celebrities, media, etc. makes everything else look bush league. If I were them I would relax on the weekly touring as I’m sure it costs a fortune and they have trouble drawing big. Instead focus on stadium shows.