Please continue any discussion on wrestling here.

Apparently AEW's ratings on TSN jumped from 110,000 for the premiere to 150,000 this week. That is a tremendous number.

Edited October 10, 20196 yr by ediger

I have to say I really enjoyed the show overall.  If it was me I’d do some shorter matches with the people who aren’t very over yet. And I’d tighten up some of the ringside promos a bit.  But that will come in time. 
 

I wasn’t sold on Jericho‘a group at the end of last week because I sort of thought it was one too many guys.  But his promo this week was unbelievably good and put everyone over.  Sammy could be a star.  Nice shout out to Eddie Guerrero too. 
 

they’re doing a good job of building angles. The closing segment was great.  I like the fact it’s less scripted and polished than wwe.  Looks more organic  

Announcing was excellent again  Tony S is going to end up the best guy working today   Loved how happy he was to hear the name “Vader Bomb” lol  

Apparently Kenny vs Joey Janela dark match was tremendous   

 

Tony has been great. I was hoping that they'd use him on commentary and I've been really pleased that it panned out. I agree, I wasn't overly excited about Jericho's new crew at first but it's shaping up alright pretty quickly.  Really looking forward to being able to watch the Omega/Janela match on YouTube.

8 hours ago, ediger said:

Tony has been great. I was hoping that they'd use him on commentary and I've been really pleased that it panned out. I agree, I wasn't overly excited about Jericho's new crew at first but it's shaping up alright pretty quickly.  Really looking forward to being able to watch the Omega/Janela match on YouTube.

Its funny cause the AEW booking is similar to how I book so the Inner Circle is right up my alley but I thought it was maybe one guy too many.  Either drop the tag team or drop Sammy.  Now, I love it.  Sammy is going to be a star.  Jericho put him over amazing.  I can see a Sammy vs Jericho program down the road.

Slow burning Kenny on TV shows a lot of restraint but it will pay off.  

That didn’t take long. 
 

 

1 minute ago, The Unknown Poster said:

That didn’t take long. 
 

 

It's nice to see all these new names. I'm sure this young pup Prichard will absolutely bring fresh, new ideas in! I loooove this idea. 

Be interesting to hear the details.   It was a surprise when it happened but the belief was Vince felt Eric would put stockholders and network execs at ease given his past accomplishments.  And those stockholders and executives wouldn’t be savvy enough to know Eric (who I really like) was basically a one trick pony who had numerous failures since nWo and was very out of touch with modern wrestling.  
 

it was widely assumed Eric would be the fall guy for when SD inevitably under performed. But two weeks is way sooner than anyone predicted.  
 

as I recall, it was Prichard who convinced Vince to hire Eric in the first place.   Prichard returned to wwe in February to consult on creative.  So now he’s over seeing creative for SD, something that Eric really wasn’t going to do.   

Edited October 15, 20196 yr by The Unknown Poster

On 2019-10-10 at 5:28 PM, The Unknown Poster said:

Apparently Kenny vs Joey Janela dark match was tremendous   

 

So what's the deal with Bischoff? His podcast was pretty dry as he rarely provided insight aside from how he stole talent.

I can remember listening to several guys like Greg Gagne and others who claim the guy was a snake and shyster and literally lied his way to the top of WCW backstabbing everyone on his way up.

Does the guy have any talent ?

Never mind that.  Were those stories about Dallas Page and Eric Bischoff swapping wives during the WCW days true?  Inquiring minds want to know.

10 hours ago, Brandon said:

So what's the deal with Bischoff? His podcast was pretty dry as he rarely provided insight aside from how he stole talent.

I can remember listening to several guys like Greg Gagne and others who claim the guy was a snake and shyster and literally lied his way to the top of WCW backstabbing everyone on his way up.

Does the guy have any talent ?

I’m a Bischoff fan and always liked him.  Watching him on the Rise and fall of WCW documentary talk about how he broke all the rules of wrestling when he went to war with wwe was inspiring to me in a way.  
 

Without him you really have to wonder what wrestling looks like today.  Would the late 90’s boom ever happened?  Wwe was legitimately struggling financially.  Without that boom what would have happened? Surely they don’t go public and become a billion dollar company. 
 

The nWo was Bischoffs idea (taken from a similar angle he saw in Japan). Running head to head with raw was his idea.  Putting big stats and collective matches on tv was his idea.  Edgier angles was his idea.  Signing the best Japanese and Mexican wrestlers was his idea.  Signing smaller athletic guys was his idea. 
 

on the flip side, he never used that talent effectively.  He never had an idea outside of the nWo.  He gave too much power to top stars.  He let the budget run away.  He started the decline in wcw though Turner execs hiring Russo was the final nail. 
 

Bischoff produced several reality tv shows with partner Jason Hervey so he wasn’t just a wrestling guy. But those dried up.  
 

He successfully convinced Dixie Carter to put him in charge of TNA at a time when she had a choice between Paul Heyman and Eric.  Spike TV execs liked Eric a lot, way more than Dixie and supposedly Eric made positive changes to how tna was operated behind the scenes.  I always believed Eric’s goal was to scoop spike for himself. 
 

when he was in wwe he has no corporate or creative responsibilities.  Just talent and as an on screen role he was very very good. One of the best ever in my opinion.   He was well liked and has no ego.  
 

He has a notoriously poor memory so his telling of stories is almost always inaccurate.  His career as a podcaster was hindered by this and his disdain for Meltzer & Alvarez but it’s because they tell the stories accurately and he can’t remember.  Funny enough Eric uses to be a Meltzer source. 
 

so does he have talent?  On screen I think he’s brilliant.  That role isn’t needed right now though if I were wwe is probably find a way to use him that way.  He’s far better than Steph and Shane.  He was pretty gifted in the 90’s and early 2000’s as a corporate schmooozer.  But it seems that has passed him by.  
 

word is Fox didn’t like him. And in WWE you have to be available 24/7 (seriously Vince would sometimes have creative meetings at 3am and you had to be available) and there was talk that Eric would sometimes disappear and they wouldn’t be able to get a hold of him. 
 

He’s had financial issues lately (what did he blow his millions on) so the wwe gig was a big deal to him.  It was a VP level position so it was big bucks and big stock options. Hopefully he got a big severance. 

7 hours ago, blueandgoldguy said:

Never mind that.  Were those stories about Dallas Page and Eric Bischoff swapping wives during the WCW days true?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Always rumours of that.  He was a regular at the Atlanta Gold Club which was eventually raided. And testified to picking up strippers and watching them sleep with his wife.  Eric lived large. 

4 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

 Edgier angles was his idea.  Signing the best Japanese and Mexican wrestlers was his idea.  Signing smaller athletic guys was his idea. 

You mean ideas he stole from ECW.   They did it long before WCW ever did and raided the ECW locker room. 

From everything I've watched and seen ,  Bischoff was a good salesman / con man.    Weaseled his way up in WCW and conned (for better or for worse) Turner into giving him money to go out and play.  

I think a lot of his success was also luck from WWE making terrible choices (dumping Hogan / Savage before they were truly done) and the benefit of being able to write blank cheques irresponsibly.  

For about a 1 year period WCW was really good (beginning of the nWo) but it was absolutely dreadful and hard to watch. 

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

You mean ideas he stole from ECW.   They did it long before WCW ever did and raided the ECW locker room. 

From everything I've watched and seen ,  Bischoff was a good salesman / con man.    Weaseled his way up in WCW and conned (for better or for worse) Turner into giving him money to go out and play.  

I think a lot of his success was also luck from WWE making terrible choices (dumping Hogan / Savage before they were truly done) and the benefit of being able to write blank cheques irresponsibly.  

For about a 1 year period WCW was really good (beginning of the nWo) but it was absolutely dreadful and hard to watch. 

Im speaking more of competitive matches and angles on TV where traditionally tv was used to sell live events and PPV 

 

They both ripped off ECW.   And Bisch certainly was a great salesman but I wouldn’t downplay his contributions.  I’d they were so simple then wwe wouldn’t have been near bankruptcy.   
 

Bisch’s luck in landing Hogan and Savage and Flair is Vince deciding those guys were no longer useful. He was wrong. Eric took a gamble and was correct.  Part of his problem was being committed to them beyond their best before dates. 

Excited for Dynamite tonight looks like a good card. What is exciting about AEW is seeing all these guys and gals I have never seen before makes it much more interesting.

1 hour ago, Jpan85 said:

Excited for Dynamite tonight looks like a good card. What is exciting about AEW is seeing all these guys and gals I have never seen before makes it much more interesting.

Agreed.  And they still haven't shown all their roster yet (at least on Dynamite).  They still have a number of very talented workers who have only appeared in dark matches so far.  

Watched AEW dark last night was real good.

 

AEW was really really good tonight. 

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

AEW was really really good tonight. 

I haven't watched any of it yet,  are they doing any adult/edgy story lines yet?  

1 minute ago, Brandon said:

I haven't watched any of it yet,  are they doing any adult/edgy story lines yet?  

Not really in the sense of dramatic stuff. But really good sports-centric organic angles.  Spirit of competition. 

Bushiroad is New Japan.  Stardom is an all women’s promotion.  
 

WWE has a presser scheduled this week too.  Apparently to announce the formation of NXT Japan. Word is they tried to big NOAH but were turned down and may be working with a smaller group called Big Japan. 

Edited October 17, 20196 yr by The Unknown Poster

1, 014,000

712,000

Niche market. Just like i suspected. Going down weekly. 

Its a decent show but confusing with rules or lack there of. Guess wrestling just isnt as popular anymore. I feel AEW is 20 years 2 late.. This is what was needed when WCW was sold.. Those lapsed fans are gone now. 

Felt like the cruiserweight heavy roster wouldn't click with the masses. 

 

I enjoy the show but just over 1 million is not a good number. Its going down weekly. Wonder what the number is in a month when the new feel is gone. Just not a big MARKet. 

Edited October 17, 20196 yr by Goalie

8 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Niche market. Just like i suspected. Going down weekly. 

Its a decent show but confusing with rules or lack there of. Guess wrestling just isnt as popular anymore. I feel AEW is 20 years 2 late.. This is what was needed when WCW was sold.. Those lapsed fans are gone now. 

Felt like the cruiserweight heavy roster wouldn't click with the masses. 

 

I enjoy the show but just over 1 million is not a good number. Its going down weekly. Wonder what the number is in a month when the new feel is gone. Just not a big MARKet. 

So you must really think nxt is unpopular then. 

3 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

So you must really think nxt is unpopular then. 

Only an AEW fan boy would say that.. Yeah but they are outdrawing the developmental brand. Fact is... Niche markets. Pro wrestling will never sell on its own. Cruiserweights will not sell. AEW is decent, i enjoy it but its quite apparent ppl in the US are not tuning in. A 500 000 k plus drop in 3 weeks is not good. 

Edited October 17, 20196 yr by Goalie