Please continue any discussion on wrestling here.

I respect you TUP.  U in the biz but being in the biz means u cant accept that pro wrestling isnt what sells to the masses.. If it did you'd be running Bell Centre and not Local bars or clubs.. Nawmean? 

AEW appears to be a spotfest at the moment. I enjoy them but in every match? Is the Dive the new armdrag? They all do it. 

I hope it improves but they need more than Jericho to make it happen. Hell even Mox isnt as huge as 48 yr old Jericho. Im not convinced Cody can get over stardust.. Hager will always be Shwagger.. They need a big star. Like Cena needs to have 1 match there. 

ECW in 2019. Its niche. Its unfortunate it is tho cuz as i said i like it. 

Edited October 17, 20196 yr by Goalie

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

I respect you TUP.  U in the biz but being in the biz means u cant accept that pro wrestling isnt what sells to the masses.. If it did you'd be running Bell Centre and not Local bars or clubs.. Nawmean? 

AEW appears to be a spotfest at the moment. I enjoy them but in every match? Is the Dive the new armdrag? They all do it. 

I hope it improves but they need more than Jericho to make it happen. Hell even Mox isnt as huge as 48 yr old Jericho. Im not convinced Cody can get over stardust.. Hager will always be Shwagger.. They need a big star. Like Cena needs to have 1 match there. 

ECW in 2019. Its niche. Its unfortunate it is tho cuz as i said i like it. 

 

While It’s true I never ran the Bell Centre I did run the IGAC. And Shaw Park. And numerous sell outs at bars. So I appreciate you’re point. I never said wrestling wasn’t niche.   But locally is way different than nationally.   you’re kinda preaching to the choir because I know wrestling is niche. As an aside, when wrestling is successful locally (which it has been more or less for a few years) it leads to more groups running which ends up hurting the local market (because it is a niche).  That’s one thing I do know! 
 

But nationally, ratings are comparable to other entertainment Programming.   Live events draw favourably to other events as well.    M
 

My reply was meant to point out that you’re sort of using AEW’s ratings as a way to make a blanket statement but they’re still drawing way more than wwe’s Wednesday show.   The way wwe ratings have tanked over the last two years plus looking at TNA and ROH, a start up getting a million viewers a week and selling out arenas is a damn miracle. 
 

so if we were to do a deep dive into the numbers this early I can do that.  Firstly TNT had said they’d be happy with 500,000 to start and grow from there.  So a million is incredibly positive.  
 

on the flip side there is softness in the numbers because neither show was up against major competition.  So the expectation would have been this week both would do better.   
 

AEW continues to draw a better 18-34 but lower 50+. That tells us that the old wcw crowd is long gone and likely not coming back.  WWE being bad for so long has really killed the wrestling audience.  The 50+ are the 30 year olds who watched the attitude era and didn’t leave (a lot did).  
 

long before AEW came along wwe numbers told us that they had to do something to begin creating new fans because you can’t survive on 50+ forever.   AEW shows ya that there are still younger fans out there that just aren’t wwe fans. 

as for the quality of the show. I thought this week was their best show.  I don’t think they’re overly spotty. I think that’s the new school style.  And wwe does it too to a degree although much more formulaic.  One thing seems clear, aew seems committed to the long haul of creating new stars while still having the best talent in the world (wwe has more depth though). 
 

there are things id change about the show (for example, starting faster which they did this week). But the people running it are smart people.  As wrestling fans we should all be cheering for aew success. It’s been a blessing for the talent on both sides and created some great events. 

As a 50 + wrestling fan going back to the 60's in Winnipeg with the old AWA my perspective is this. I don't care about the next up & comers from NXT. I have no interest to watch developmental wrestlers. That was what the old independent wrestling circuits were for. For inexperienced wrestlers to develop their in ring & mic skills as well as their personalities before going to the WWE. And now AEW. I'll gladly watch AEW before watching NXT.  Nice to see some old familiar faces on television again.

What I hate about WWE is the way their wrestlers are still cartoon characters. Bray Wyatt is The Fiend & fans go nuts. The Viking Raiders are another. Two wrestlers dress up as Vikings & scream a lot while trying to look angry.  I guess as a fan I'm supposed to get all fired up?? Hardly. Just 2 examples of how wrestling fans intelligence is insulted by making these wrestlers out to be fantasy characters. Have Wyatt & the Viking Raiders drop their costumes & just come out & dominate without the props to make it look believable. When I saw Wyatt as The Fiend, I just sighed & went this is still  the same old Bray Wyatt with a slightly different shtick. He does great promos but sucks in the ring. His new character does nothing for me. Having Seth Rollins act terrified just made it worse.

Why does Riccochet need a nickname? Just use a first & last name & let him go out there & do his thing which is phenomenal. What the **** does a name like Riccochet mean anyway? Shouldn't he be really called "The Man That Gravity Forgot?" now that Neville is no longer in the WWE as  Riccochet is as much of a high flyer as Neville was.  I hate these nicknames Vince gives to his wrestlers like it's still 1985 in his mind when Typhoon & Earthquake were Tag Team Champions. Times change & Vince needs to move on from Saturday morning cartoons.  

Aleister Black has joined Raw. His repertoire are kicks. Sorry, wrestlers that use kicks to the head no longer impress me. When Sean Micheals did it in the 90's it was something new & fresh but now it seems that 90% of wrestlers today use kicks in their repertoires so it no longer impresses the way Michaels did 20 years ago. Nothing like seeing a wrestler absorb 10 kicks to the head & continually kick out of the 1... 2... 3... count. He should be dead as his brains would be scrambled but instead remains surprisingly alive & even recovers to win the match. Fans chanting,  "This is awesome!!" should really be chanting, "This is fake!!" because it is & it's ridiculous. 

As far as AEW goes, I just watched the first show. Not because I haven't wanted to but because I still have to get used to the new time & channel changes. I keep forgetting. But from what I saw, I was impressed. It didn't have that formulaic WWE feel to it with Vince's fingerprints all over it.

I don't like Smackdown on Fridays as it interferes with CFL football. I refuse to PVR Smackdown. I have a feeling after the Grey Cup is over, I still won't watch it. Oh & speaking of the Smackdown War Room during the draft, seeing actors cheering & fist pumping along with the Fox automaton or whatever it's called was downright stupid to intelligent wrestling fans. It just makes me want to tune out wrestling permanently but I always come back. Mostly out of habit. Maybe I'm the stupid sucker. 

Edited October 17, 20196 yr by SpeedFlex27

Great technical wrestling is only a part of what will work. I truly think they need to mimic ECW's TNN run. Need to mix it up with great wrestling, super edgy adult angles, and good comedy.  More edgy then Attitude era.

They used to score just over a 1.0 rating with zero budget and zero advertising. 

AEW could also stand to hire a few big guys. For casual fans the freakshows do attract. In the UFC they pay heavyweights a decent salary despite so many of them having a fraction of the talent that the little guys have. 

On 2019-10-17 at 9:43 PM, Brandon said:

Great technical wrestling is only a part of what will work. I truly think they need to mimic ECW's TNN run. Need to mix it up with great wrestling, super edgy adult angles, and good comedy.  More edgy then Attitude era.

They used to score just over a 1.0 rating with zero budget and zero advertising. 

AEW could also stand to hire a few big guys. For casual fans the freakshows do attract. In the UFC they pay heavyweights a decent salary despite so many of them having a fraction of the talent that the little guys have. 

I don’t disagree.  They do have that big dude, Warlow I think his name is, coming Hagar is pretty big too.  I think they’d be in on a few guys as their contracts expire  (Harper wanted out, for example and surely they’d be in on Rusev). 
 

To me, the key guy in the next few years is Matt Riddle.  He’s absolutely a game changer.  If I’m AEW I offer him whatever it takes.  I don’t know when his deal is up though. And WWE won’t let him go easily. 

SD down to 2.4 million. 

24 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

SD down to 2.4 million. 

Friday night is not a great night. 

Kenny defeated Fenix in Mexico to win the championship.  
 

 

Edited October 20, 20196 yr by The Unknown Poster

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Friday night is not a great night. 

Bigger issue I think is that wwe thought going on fox would create a new boom period when they haven’t done anything to make SD different or special.  It’s the same old show. 

Edited October 20, 20196 yr by The Unknown Poster

5 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Bigger issue I think is that wwe thought going on fox would create a new boom period when they haven’t done anything to make SD different or special.  It’s the same old show. 

And except for brief periods here & there it's been inferior. That's why I don't watch it much anymore. 

 

48 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

 

Looked like Fenix got a busted nose from a V Trigger late in the match.  He was leaking pretty good but didn't seem to bother him.

 

10 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

 

Interesting... not sure how well this will work for them with their current roster (2 years ago would have probably been the ideal time). 

It does sound like they are lowering expectations though by talking about growing their brand before moving into bigger venues.

Crazy match tomorrow night at a pretty funky venue. Mentallo vs Super Crazy at the first WrestleMax show. The show is at the former Neon Factory space on Main St. As far as I know, there's no full-time business in there right now so it's basically a wrestling show in an empty building. You see a lot of punk shows like this in empty business or warehouses. Seems like they're going for that sort of thing. Should be fun!

5 hours ago, ediger said:

Crazy match tomorrow night at a pretty funky venue. Mentallo vs Super Crazy at the first WrestleMax show. The show is at the former Neon Factory space on Main St. As far as I know, there's no full-time business in there right now so it's basically a wrestling show in an empty building. You see a lot of punk shows like this in empty business or warehouses. Seems like they're going for that sort of thing. Should be fun!

I was there tonight.  Apparently it’s used for punk concerts and things of that nature.  Very unique look.  Much more in line with the underground “bar wrestling” idea than that other group.  It’s quite small but will create a pretty cool atmosphere.  Definitely worth checking out. 

Wednesday Night War numbers 

 

 

He has many more tweets about this and the shirt has been pulled.  Ballsy of him to do!   He worked as ACH in ROH.  Terrible design.  Who thought of that?

On 2019-10-24 at 3:40 PM, The Unknown Poster said:

Wednesday Night War numbers 

 

The Canadian numbers are getting real interesting. Here's this past week:

Smackdown: 125,800 viewers
Raw: 169,800
AEW: 150,700

Raw was up against a Leafs game while AEW was up against the World Series. Doesn't take much for number in the 100,000s to be drastically affected by an opposing sports event so looking at numbers week to week doesn't give you a great picture, you'll need to look at trends. But the fact that AEW is that close to RAW in Canada and actually beat Smackdown, even once, that's surprising. I'm sure both TSN and AEW would love to use the "most watched wrestling show in Canada" line.

Edited October 27, 20196 yr by ediger

Lol at the shirt issue,  really????

17 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Lol at the shirt issue,  really????

He just killed it. Not with his wrestling ability but his career in WWE.  Maybe I'm clueless but I really had to look at that & say the shirt promotes blackface. I mean, after I was told why Myles hated the tee, I went... okay.... I think?? Really??  Certainly wasn't obvious to me.

Nope,  no similarities there at all...

Whoever decided that was a good shirt to put out there, needs to give their head a shake. 

🙄

 

Edited October 28, 20196 yr by Brandon

So, Lana & Lashley are supposedly ******* themselves in a storyline. The WWE is against bullying yet every heel talks & acts like a bully. No one says anything about the exploitaion of women in wrestling yet get bent out of shape about this? I mean, how many black athletes does the WWE employ & I've never heard of anyone in the modern era complain about racism publicly . However, TUP would probably know a lot better than me as he is in the wrestling business. I'm sure there have been incidents among the wrestlers themselves because of where everyone is from but Vince has always given wrestlers of colour a chance. There have been racist in ring characters like Kamala  that make you cringe but deliberately selling items that are racist are "bad for business".