Please continue any discussion on wrestling here.

39 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Doubt AEW would run Bell tho. I wonder if they wait until the new Ice rink is done, seems to be more of their style to run smaller buildings. AEW averages about 125000 viewers on TSN last i checked. That's good? 

Wwe is in the 200,000’s so it’s not like they’re killing aew.  Compared to US ratings, aew draws a larger percentage of wwe’s numbers in Canada.   
 

any group with Jericho and Kenny is going to take a long look at running Canada.  

7 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Three quarters of the  viewers don't know the AEW wrestlers other than the former WWE guys. It'll take some time.

Bucks and Kenny are very well known.  Wwe offered them huge money before they started aew. 

5 hours ago, JCon said:

I remember going to the arena with my stepfather to watch AWA. Winnipeg Arena was packed. 

My brother took my late mother (huge AWA fan)  to the Arena when Heenan still managed Bockwinkel. They were sitting on chairs on the floor right beside the aisle the wrestlers come up to get to the ring. Bockwinkel & Heenan walked past them. My Mom got all worked up as she hated Heenan. She jumped out of her chair & ran up behind them yelling, "Weasel, Weasel" & hit Heenan on the back with her purse. Both turned around & went into character. Both shook their fists at her, yelled something at her, then turned around & continued to the ring. MY Mom returned to her seat beside my poor brother whose jaw had dropped to the floor. I'm sure the crowd thought it was a work as my Mom would have been early 70's at the time. The Little Old Lady gives Heenan ****.  Security didn't even come down

Just now, SpeedFlex27 said:

My brother took my late mother (huge AWA fan)  to the Arena when Heenan still managed Bockwinkel. They were sitting on chairs on the floor right beside the aisle the wrestlers come up to get to the ring. Bockwinkel & Heenan walked past them. My Mom got all worked up as she hated Heenan. She jumped out of her chair & ran up behind them yelling, "Weasel, Weasel" & hit Heenan on the back with her purse. Both turned around & went into character. Both shook their fists at her, yelled something at her, then turned around & continued to the ring. MY Mom returned to her seat beside my poor brother whose jaw had dropped to the floor. I'm sure the crowd thought it was a work as my Mom would have been early 70's at the time. The Little Old Lady gives Heenan ****.  Security didn't even come down

That's great story!

Just now, The Unknown Poster said:

Bucks and Kenny are very well known.  Wwe offered them huge money before they started aew. 

The little guy that wrestled Moxley last night I may have heard of. I found that match to be awkward. Not a lot of chemistry there. Missed or delayed spots & the timing just seemed off.

Just now, JCon said:

That's great story!

Dinner in our house was over & done with Saturday nights by 6 pm because AWA wrestling was on TV.  We had one television & no one dared to steal the TV from my Mom. She loved Gene Okerlund, Baron Von Rashke & hated Bobby Heenan with a passion! My mother took the belief to her grave that wrestling was real & not staged & you know what? I think that's great. She was born in 1912 & was a farm girl on an isolated farm in Western Manitoba . Only had a Grade 2 education & could barely read & write. She didn't have the skills to work except as a maid. She raised three kids (along with my dad, of course) & one of her real pleasures in life was watching wrestling so good on her for believing that. The wrestlers gave her pleasure & that's why those guys & gals in the ring do what they do.

9 minutes ago, JCon said:

That's great story!

You have no idea how I so wished I was there to have witnessed that!!!!

21 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

The little guy that wrestled Moxley last night I may have heard of. I found that match to be awkward. Not a lot of chemistry there. Missed or delayed spots & the timing just seemed off.

Joey Janela.  He’s somewhat known on the indies but aew was his biggest gig.  He’s more of a hardcore worker.  

There is only one place to find the best in the business. That's AEW Jericho is on a whole different level than anyone right.

Last week was a weird drop for aew I guess.   Oddly nxt very narrowly won the key demo this week but they were all really close. 

18 minutes ago, Jpan85 said:

There is only one place to find the best in the business. That's AEW Jericho is on a whole different level than anyone right.

His segments are the best in wrestling each week. Bringing out a total rip-off of The List, criticizing the crowd for cheering for something from 2016 and then just carrying on with his gimmick from 2016 (with a great Kenny Shields reference in there) was fantastic.

And as far as venues for AEW in Winnipeg, I think they would run the MTS Centre. It might not be full, but if they can fill up the side the cameras are pointed at they'd be happy. Wrestling, particularly on TV, is all about appearances not reality. If they can make it look reasonably full, they'll do it. Plus, it may not be MSG but getting into an NHL/NBA arena is a big deal for a wrestling promotion. You're using the same venue as the big leagues so you must be a big league, too. Again, appearances not reality. MTS Centre scales down pretty well, too. Small lower deck and one end is blocked for the stage. With a curtained off upper deck you're looking at 7,000 or so. Maybe 4,500 that the cameras see.

10 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Last week was a weird drop for aew I guess.   Oddly nxt very narrowly won the key demo this week but they were all really close. 

Thanksgiving. AEW fans love their families and WWE fans are all spoiled children and deadbeat dads 😉😜

1 hour ago, ediger said:

His segments are the best in wrestling each week. Bringing out a total rip-off of The List, criticizing the crowd for cheering for something from 2016 and then just carrying on with his gimmick from 2016 (with a great Kenny Shields reference in there) was fantastic.

And as far as venues for AEW in Winnipeg, I think they would run the MTS Centre. It might not be full, but if they can fill up the side the cameras are pointed at they'd be happy. Wrestling, particularly on TV, is all about appearances not reality. If they can make it look reasonably full, they'll do it. Plus, it may not be MSG but getting into an NHL/NBA arena is a big deal for a wrestling promotion. You're using the same venue as the big leagues so you must be a big league, too. Again, appearances not reality. MTS Centre scales down pretty well, too. Small lower deck and one end is blocked for the stage. With a curtained off upper deck you're looking at 7,000 or so. Maybe 4,500 that the cameras see.

I would think so too.  Especially for TV they’d use the arena.  Probably even a house show.  It’s not like wwe sells out the arena (they will for tv). And as you said the arena scales down.  I’m pretty sure true north would want the event with Jericho and Kenny on it.  
 

in fact Tony Condello was trying to book Jericho vs Kenny and it would have been the arena or convention centre (the CC held many big wrestling events years ago) 

Luke Harper, Sin Cara & the Ascension have all been released from wwe.  

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Luke Harper, Sin Cara & the Ascension have all been released from wwe.  

And they are all very happy about it.  I wonder if a non-compete was part of the deal.

1 hour ago, bigg jay said:

And they are all very happy about it.  I wonder if a non-compete was part of the deal.

Always is. Usually 90 days.  They can generally do Indy bookings but no tv.  Harper would good in AEW.  

Incredible!!!

 

Very impressive that everyone in wwe has been clean since 2016

 

On 2019-12-05 at 1:43 PM, SpeedFlex27 said:

Dinner in our house was over & done with Saturday nights by 6 pm because AWA wrestling was on TV.  We had one television & no one dared to steal the TV from my Mom. She loved Gene Okerlund, Baron Von Rashke & hated Bobby Heenan with a passion! My mother took the belief to her grave that wrestling was real & not staged & you know what? I think that's great. She was born in 1912 & was a farm girl on an isolated farm in Western Manitoba . Only had a Grade 2 education & could barely read & write. She didn't have the skills to work except as a maid. She raised three kids (along with my dad, of course) & one of her real pleasures in life was watching wrestling so good on her for believing that. The wrestlers gave her pleasure & that's why those guys & gals in the ring do what they do.

great story... brought back memories of when I was little and watched wrestling, lol... we had the NWA that aired at 10:30 pm on Saturday nights out of Kansas City, a regional deal... wrestlers like Handsome Harley Race, Bulldog Bob Brown, Danny Littlebear, Rufus R. Jones, etc...  KC had their own version of your mom, Mertie and Gertie Hite, twins who sat in the first row every week and would hit the wrestlers they didn't like with their purses, lol...

in fact, after retiring from wrestling Race actually opened a wrestling academy a short 20 miles from me in Eldon, MO from '99 to 2014 when he moved it to Troy, MO...

9 hours ago, 66 Chevelle said:

great story... brought back memories of when I was little and watched wrestling, lol... we had the NWA that aired at 10:30 pm on Saturday nights out of Kansas City, a regional deal... wrestlers like Handsome Harley Race, Bulldog Bob Brown, Danny Littlebear, Rufus R. Jones, etc...  KC had their own version of your mom, Mertie and Gertie Hite, twins who sat in the first row every week and would hit the wrestlers they didn't like with their purses, lol...

in fact, after retiring from wrestling Race actually opened a wrestling academy a short 20 miles from me in Eldon, MO from '99 to 2014 when he moved it to Troy, MO...

It was the Harley Race camp that got Kenny discovered by WWE.  He used to have a yearly camp that included NOAH (Japan) scouts and WWE usually sent someone as well.  It was a bit of a work because there was a cost for indy guys to do it and they'd separate the talent into two groups (Advanced & Beginners).  The indie guys would all be put in beginners and Race's guys into advanced so they got more heavily scouted.

So Kenny goes down there and is put in the beginners group.  Trevor Murdoch, a Race guy, sees this and tells Kenny to go into the advanced class.  Johnny Ace was there and immediately offered Kenny a WWE try out.  He was flown to Georgia for the try out and signed right after.

As I recall, Johnny Ace said Kenny reminded him of Brian Pillman.  Kenny does a great Race impression.

 

NXT did have an overrun which juiced their number.  But this is remarkable. 

2 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

NXT did have an overrun which juiced their number.  But this is remarkable. 

It's a double count out!

I thought AEW was really good except the Swole match.  It was fine. But I think they book too long matches with people who haven’t had a chance to connect yet.  Should have been a glorified squash. 

24 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I thought AEW was really good except the Swole match.  It was fine. But I think they book too long matches with people who haven’t had a chance to connect yet.  Should have been a glorified squash. 

Agreed, Build people up to the 15-20 minute matches. Overall, another good show with a number of production issues. They need a new sound person. Badly. My other main criticism is the entrance music. They tend to have the second entrance song start immediately after the first. Give it a few seconds and turn the lights down. That reset builds anticipation in the crowd. Plus the entrance songs themselves need to start with a super memorable riff or a big bang or something. They need to be immediately identifiable. Jim Johnston's best strength was each song started off BIG. AEW needs a bit of that in their entrance music.