Big Pete, they've dropped pyro. WWE's main shows are some of the cleanest looking productions around, in any live product. I really hope AEW hire the right people to handle production, and it's not a mate who calls himself an expert because he's rigged some cameras for Bar Wrestling.

Even the way the WWE shoots their matches and their backstage segments leave something to be desired. If AEW make it a priority, they could really challenge the WWE.

My fear is that they'll go down the LU/Impact route where everything is cheesy and comes off like an episode of the Power Rangers.

Apr 15, 2019 10:05:37 GMT Big Pete said:

Even the way the WWE shoots their matches and their backstage segments leave something to be desired. If AEW make it a priority, they could really challenge the WWE.

My fear is that they'll go down the LU/Impact route where everything is cheesy and comes off like an episode of the Power Rangers.

While I think Impact needs to improve the way they shoot there matches. They actually have some of the better backstage segments going today. 

Apr 15, 2019 11:57:56 GMT bodyslam said:

Apr 15, 2019 10:05:37 GMT Big Pete said:

Even the way the WWE shoots their matches and their backstage segments leave something to be desired. If AEW make it a priority, they could really challenge the WWE.

My fear is that they'll go down the LU/Impact route where everything is cheesy and comes off like an episode of the Power Rangers.

While I think Impact needs to improve the way they shoot there matches. They actually have some of the better backstage segments going today. 

That maybe the case, but AEW has to set the bar higher.

However, I can totally see AEW going with a lot of *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* type production where they'll never take anything seriously so neither will the audience.

The only thing I’ve seen WWE scale down is pyro and custom sets. The actually presentation and quality of the show, IMO, has gotten TOO good. It’s so clean and sanitized; nothing feels organic.

I do want to see AEW succeed. It’s been almost 20 years since there was real competition. It’s fascinating to me the show Khan has described is completely at odds with what Kenny laid out in a recent interview.

Pretty sure a guy they have working on production is someone who was involved in TNA from its early inception until a couple of years ago.

Regardless, i am a big AEW fan already. The early signs are very good imo. i think there are some clever minds going into this thing. Regardless of what you think, The Elite have their finger on the pulse, they have brought in experienced men like Jim Ross to help them, they have a lot of money, they have said and done the right things also. That's before you get to the talent pool. The women's division and the oWe guys especially have me hyped. The former has a lot of talent in them and is extremely diverse, a big selling point, and the oWe guys are very new wave and modern. I see it as very similar to what ECW and WCW did with Junior Heavyweight wrestling in the 90's. These kids, and of course T-Hawk and CIMA amongst others, will be a diverse, special added benefit to AEW shows.

AEW shows won't be able to be accused of being WWE-lite, that's for sure.

The proof will be in the pudding, and it's all about consistency, especially when they get weekly live TV of course, but like I said, the early signs are good.

The creative is going to be the only way they breakthrough. Great matches will do dick for extending their audience beyond the current, limited group of fans that enjoy the current non-WWE wrestling scene.

Apr 15, 2019 14:55:03 GMT KJ said:

The creative is going to be the only way they breakthrough. Great matches will do dick for extending their audience beyond the current, limited group of fans that enjoy the current non-WWE wrestling scene.

I also think there is a way to actually make it more real, have your talent go each other on Social media for real... Let the rankings reflect pay and let people climb over each other to the top.
Have the fans vote on the matches and let the card more reflect the people.

This is what a promotion needs, real heat and a real sense of theater.
The issue with the WWE is that everything feels pointless now, every RAW is just generic filler to the next PPV, that's the cycle that needs to be broken.
The stories have all been done to death: The tag team that breaks up, the jealous ally, the boss vs underling.

Feb 24, 2019 18:47:12 GMT KJ said:

Feb 24, 2019 1:30:57 GMT kemis said:

So I realise this is a stretch but I had no bloody ideal Conrad Thompson is married to Ric Flair's daughter.

Certainly adds fuel to the fire that Arn Anderson will be jumping, especially considering there is talk he had a flare up with Vince and got sent home (apparently).

Conrad Thompson is the smartest mark in the history of the biz. He was already a wealthy man, and by being the one man to finance a mortgage for Ric, not only parlayed that into marriage, but becoming one of the more influential people in the business with THREE highly profitable podcasts; merch; live appearances; a WWE Network show; Starrcast; and a working relationship with AEW.

It's truly incredible.

Conrad is really the smartest mark.  Being a fan and paying wrestlers to come tell you stories is ultimate wrestling stripped of everything but the very core.  This is why people love him.  Many podcast guys come in and act as experts.  Conrad really never felt that way.  It felt like he was a money mark just having a good time.  Wrestlers can hate smarts, but they love money marks.  Help them get money and they will work with you.  Help them get money without sitting in a gym under hot lights or getting beat up, they will love you.  

What people do not realize is that many of the people in wrestling are super friendly and love to help people when you get to know them.  My friend I used to post about had a very similar story happen to him.  When he trained under Paul Roma, Paul needed someone for Tito Santana to beat up on and tagged my friend.  My friend drove Tito around and made sure Tito shined during the match and was happy as shit to work with one of his heroes.  Next thing you know, a bigger fed calls and books my friend, and hearing from Tito and Roma, gave my friend Slaughter.  Same thing, and now he works all the former stars.  Lawyer, Dreamer, Flair, the Hardyz, Helms, Arquette, Jimmy Hart, ect.  Word of mouth spread he is the guy to work with.  It is a neat part of wrestling that few ever see.  

Apr 15, 2019 23:07:21 GMT iNCY said:

Apr 15, 2019 14:55:03 GMT KJ said:

The creative is going to be the only way they breakthrough. Great matches will do dick for extending their audience beyond the current, limited group of fans that enjoy the current non-WWE wrestling scene.

I also think there is a way to actually make it more real, have your talent go each other on Social media for real... Let the rankings reflect pay and let people climb over each other to the top.
Have the fans vote on the matches and let the card more reflect the people.

This is what a promotion needs, real heat and a real sense of theater.
The issue with the WWE is that everything feels pointless now, every RAW is just generic filler to the next PPV, that's the cycle that needs to be broken.
The stories have all been done to death: The tag team that breaks up, the jealous ally, the boss vs underling.

Moving this way would be a bad idea IMO. AEW was built on Being the Elite, and Being the Elite is sport entertainment through and through. What they have that WWE cannot offer is PG-13 content, consistent storylines and a rotating roster that allows them to bring in top stars from other feds like Okada.  Also they know they cannot beat WWE, and have no intention of trying to "compete" with them. Cody knows no one can beat Vince and those who tried all went under. So the Bucks and Cody just want to do their own things and not be influenced by WWE.  It already made them the most desired free agents in wrestling after three years, why stop now?  

Also I do not expect them to innovate.  The Bucks are pure sport entertainment.  They take the old rules of wrestling that are the core of the WWE match and toss them.  Instead they are pure fanservice.  Fans like supericks?  Let start the match with them, do them 50 times and end with some unrealistically flippy stuff.  And their fans will go absolutely crazy for it.  A lot of people hate on the King of Dong style, but Joey Ryan's dick will be a staple of the fed too as the fans love it.  What I expect is a mix of NJPW and DDT with social media presenting the storylines Being the Elite style so they can focus shows on matches.  

Hopefully they learned from the rest who tried to expand too fast and blew up.  Hearing big money is being brought in and they are looking at TV is not a good sign IMO for a fed that only had done one show.  They built up gradually, and trying to get TV numbers from the start has destroyed so many feds or lead to massive losses.  TV is super expensive, and for most feds, not worth it.  They should try to fund off gate and merc with private backers if needed.  TV forces them to get funding that will likely have them constantly in the red and make them wholly dependent on private backers.  We all saw where this got WCW and TNA.  Right now they are like an ECW that can pay the bills.  When ECW did TV that was the start of the end.

Apr 16, 2019 5:20:06 GMT c said:

Apr 15, 2019 23:07:21 GMT iNCY said:

I also think there is a way to actually make it more real, have your talent go each other on Social media for real... Let the rankings reflect pay and let people climb over each other to the top.
Have the fans vote on the matches and let the card more reflect the people.

This is what a promotion needs, real heat and a real sense of theater.
The issue with the WWE is that everything feels pointless now, every RAW is just generic filler to the next PPV, that's the cycle that needs to be broken.
The stories have all been done to death: The tag team that breaks up, the jealous ally, the boss vs underling.

Moving this way would be a bad idea IMO. AEW was built on Being the Elite, and Being the Elite is sport entertainment through and through. What they have that WWE cannot offer is PG-13 content, consistent storylines and a rotating roster that allows them to bring in top stars from other feds like Okada.  Also they know they cannot beat WWE, and have no intention of trying to "compete" with them. Cody knows no one can beat Vince and those who tried all went under. So the Bucks and Cody just want to do their own things and not be influenced by WWE.  It already made them the most desired free agents in wrestling after three years, why stop now?  

Also I do not expect them to innovate.  The Bucks are pure sport entertainment.  They take the old rules of wrestling that are the core of the WWE match and toss them.  Instead they are pure fanservice.  Fans like supericks?  Let start the match with them, do them 50 times and end with some unrealistically flippy stuff.  And their fans will go absolutely crazy for it.  A lot of people hate on the King of Dong style, but Joey Ryan's dick will be a staple of the fed too as the fans love it.  What I expect is a mix of NJPW and DDT with social media presenting the storylines Being the Elite style so they can focus shows on matches.  

Hopefully they learned from the rest who tried to expand too fast and blew up.  Hearing big money is being brought in and they are looking at TV is not a good sign IMO for a fed that only had done one show.  They built up gradually, and trying to get TV numbers from the start has destroyed so many feds or lead to massive losses.  TV is super expensive, and for most feds, not worth it.  They should try to fund off gate and merc with private backers if needed.  TV forces them to get funding that will likely have them constantly in the red and make them wholly dependent on private backers.  We all saw where this got WCW and TNA.  Right now they are like an ECW that can pay the bills.  When ECW did TV that was the start of the end.

But how are you going to secure regular talent without regular work?
This industry doesn't support mid-size players, you can be garage or once a year arena, anything more than that and you need a regular revenue stream to be relevant.
So I think you have to accelerate as quickly as possible to a TV deal, but don't be the WWE because their pockets are deeper and talent better.... You have to find another way.

I still believe the future is Post-Kayfabe and we get genuine personalities... After all they are the stars that have always resonated with the viewers

\

You simply don't. You pay by appearance for most of the roster and contract only a tight core. Pay slightly more than per appearance fees for other feds and you get the guys anyway. And the industry sure as fuck supports mid sized players. Most feds have been running for years, but do it by knowing how big they can be. Accelerating to a TV deal to become a top player is what killed every fed that thought they were big players. At best you try for TV and sell the company. At worst the company goes under.

AEW works keyfabe pretty damn hard. No one really cares about the people themselves as they are used to larger than life personalities. If Omega was himself people would be bored. Ditto for Cody. But their characters are great.

We will see what happens but trying to do what everyone tried and failed to do seems like insanity. Offer a side product and do not compete with WWE and you tend to go pretty far.

Dustin Rhodes in AEW.

Open talent sharing between companies may be good for some nice matchups that would otherwise be impossible, but in the long run it certainly could hurt the business overall. If they're all in it together then we've got a monopoly and no competition to set the quality bar. I think what would be best right now is not talent sharing and open contracts, but a realistic and high quality competitor in AEW. Whether that actually ever happens or not is highly questionable though.

Apr 21, 2019 14:26:26 GMT bodyslam said:

Cue music

If he denies it, he just confirmed it. Then again I'm not sure how I can see the tweet, I'm sure I'm blocked.

To be fair, I'm sure that was true... on March 28th.

A lot can happen in (almost) a months time.

Leva Bates is AEW bound! I'm so happy that she finally gets a break on a mainstream level!

I'm amazed they never gave her more of a shot in NXT considering how over she was. I'm not saying she would have maintained that but I thought she at least earned a shot.

Apr 22, 2019 21:08:20 GMT PB said:

I'm amazed they never gave her more of a shot in NXT considering how over she was. I'm not saying she would have maintained that but I thought she at least earned a shot.

From what I understand that was more on her. I think I read at the time she didn't wanna commit full-time to NXT, hence her random appearances.

ol Blue Pants!

Good for her. The women's division needed to grab some more talent.

Bates would have been stuck as a valet to Enzo and Cass and given both of those guys are now out, she would have been in a bad spot. Carmella benefitted and was able to survive but I think it is a blessing in disguise Bates didn't pursue further with NXT.

Apr 22, 2019 18:59:24 GMT Ed said:

Leva Bates is AEW bound! I'm so happy that she finally gets a break on a mainstream level!

She was talking about the Librarian the other night on her Twitch stream.  Great to see her get more exposure.

The NXT issue with Bates is right now she is a part time wrestler like MsChif was and signing to NXT meant going full time.  Not everyone wants to do that.  Right now she does a whole bunch of different things, but if she signed onto NXT, she would have wrestling, but would have to give up the rest.  Given wrestling is not a long time career option, it looks like she wanted to stay open to other things.

Are we not talking about AEW anymore? It's been reported they will soon be announcing a weekly tv show on TNT, that's a big channel isn't it?

Angelico and Jack Evans being picked up is nice. Wonder if they'll be used as a team or single stars?

May 14, 2019 0:54:55 GMT Lony said:

Angelico and Jack Evans being picked up is nice. Wonder if they'll be used as a team or single stars?

They are in a tag match against the best friends (chuck and trent) at the PPv.

Oh nice.

Can't Wait til they take on the Bucks.

The ppv card is shaping up nice.

Lucha bros vs young bucks

Page vs pac

Sammy Guevara is on the preshow, I hope he catches on, hes pretty good.

Not sure about the 6 women a tag, but that's mostly because I don't know who they are. Hopefully it will turn out similar to the dragon gate invasion of Roh years ago

May 14, 2019 0:29:06 GMT nazzer said:

Are we not talking about AEW anymore? It's been reported they will soon be announcing a weekly tv show on TNT, that's a big channel isn't it?

I didn't even know about this. That's good. They're already lightyears ahead of ROH and they haven't even had their first show yet.