Aug 16, 2024 2:59:19 GMT c said:

AEW is doing a Japanese show near WK I thought. I imagine an arena mexico AEW show is coming sooner or later.

Def happy All In is moving forward as TV been weird stalling for the PPV basically.

Yeah, they're doing Wrestle Dynasty the day after Wrestle Kingdom.

Really hope Athena gets a big match on that card.

I kept seeing something last week about a coming announcement that was the biggest news in AEW history or something. Was this the announcement or is that still to come?

Oh yeah I forgot about Wrestle Dynasty. Yay!

Aug 16, 2024 3:53:27 GMT jTjohncenaGOAT said:

I kept seeing something last week about a coming announcement that was the biggest news in AEW history or something. Was this the announcement or is that still to come?

I don’t think it was the announcement but I’m really done with all the hype and teasing from TK about literally everything. Just announce the thing when there is something to announce.

Almost certainly he announces the media rights deal at All In. Because that would be the Tony way to do shit.

Texas arena show was long rumored since he would leverage football stuff to get a good deal and it is close enough to Mexico to hopefully get people to come up from there.  Booking it was easy, the hard part is filling it.

Funny while everyone trashes the low ratings Dynamite gets, they were number 1 on cable weds with only 700k.

Wow, 700,000. There must have been a particularly good Big Bang Theory on before it.

Aug 16, 2024 5:39:52 GMT c said:

Funny while everyone trashes the low ratings Dynamite gets, they were number 1 on cable weds with only 700k.

Cool. So ratings matter this week?

Now stack rank the costs of each show, the ad revenue and the ROI.

Ya know, like a TV network would do before signing a renewal.

I find it amusing how things only matter when they are bad and context is removed entirely. People constantly shit on 700k being too low, yet nothing scored higher weds night on cable.  Yet even being the top rated show on cable is not good enough for people, now Tony must revive cable television itself it seems for people to believe he deserves a new TV deal.

Aug 16, 2024 16:22:58 GMT c said:

I find it amusing how things only matter when they are bad and context is removed entirely. People constantly shit on 700k being too low, yet nothing scored higher weds night on cable.  Yet even being the top rated show on cable is not good enough for people, now Tony must revive cable television itself it seems for people to believe he deserves a new TV deal.

“Deserves a new TV deal … at the value TK is reported to expect.”

Don’t short change me.

It is important to be number 1 on cable, unquestionably. But when the viewing number to get there is so small, the deal that he wants isn’t going to come. WB aren’t paying to be number one, they’re paying for eyes on their commercials. If the number drops too low, these companies won’t pay for anything. It won’t be worth it when they can just run their archive of shows at no cost in the same slot. I’m not saying 700k is that figure, but whatever the floor of this current decline is, could be. Because the rot isn’t going to stop at 700k.

Aug 16, 2024 17:18:20 GMT Todd said:

It is important to be number 1 on cable, unquestionably. But when the viewing number to get there is so small, the deal that he wants isn’t going to come. WB aren’t paying to be number one, they’re paying for eyes on their commercials. If the number drops too low, these companies won’t pay for anything. It won’t be worth it when they can just run their archive of shows at no cost in the same slot. I’m not saying 700k is that figure, but whatever the floor of this current decline is, could be. Because the rot isn’t going to stop at 700k.

Exactly.

Saying this isn’t saying “LOL I hope they go bankrupt” or even “AEW doesn’t deserve to be on TV.”

I hope they get a show. I hope they get a great deal.

WBD is hemorrhaging cash (and stock value) right now. They’re not going to overpay TK because the show does 700K on a Wednesday.

I actually watched this week and apart from a triple threat match, there wasn't anything worth staying awake for. I'm surprised there was anyone left watching by the main event.

Was another B show IMO. Been a weird lead up to All In. I imagine strong shows next week, but the last two weeks been meh. Collision been pretty good, but Dynamite been meh.  Can feel stuff being stretched out too far.

Stevie Richards had a great point, the weak booking this month on Dynamite is being reflected by a weaker crowd at Wembley this year.  There is no real 100% must see live match being booked.  Last year had MJF vs Cole with months of build that you would want to see before you get spoiled on who screws who.  While May and Toni had the same length of hype, Tony makes it clear the women are not the main event.  And Swerve vs Dragon is built weird and no one believes it will be Dragon's last match even if he loses.  A lot of the rest of the card is not really even being built up.

///

Not sure who follows Stardom but Anna Jay having a really amazing showing in the 5 Star GP.  Xena tore her up a few hours ago with nasty chops ripping up her chest.  She is in perhaps the hardest hitting block and matching the intensity perfectly.

Even the MJF v Ospreay stuff is kind of weird. MJF is existing in his own little parallel world doing his own thing and not giving a fuck while any time Will talks about fighting Max, he comes across like a little emo bitch.

Aug 17, 2024 9:40:54 GMT c said:

Last year had MJF vs Cole with months of build that you would want to see before you get spoiled on who screws who.

One of the biggest talking points about All In 2023 was how tickets were selling despite the card being virtually non-existent. Sure, MJF/Cole eventually got over, but AEW had already sold the majority of tickets well into advance.

So I don't think it's necessarily the build, but rather the novelty has worn off. The number that's going around (50K or so?) is still nothing to scoff at but it was always going to be a tough act to follow.

Still, you're right, the build up hasn't been great. Long layoffs for MJF, Cole, Eddie and Kenny hasn't helped matters but even with what they've got they're struggling to present it in a compelling way. You can tell the fans picked Swerve, because based on AEW's presentation, it's difficult to form any emotional connection with Swerve. This is a guy who broke into another wrestler's home, cheated to beat said wrestler in really dramatic barbaric matches and yet he's the man because his manager does a goofy dance and he has a catchphrase?

Yeah, this is revisionist history. No one put an ounce of the All In crowd as a reflection of MJF/Adam Cole being a draw. No one. Ever.

If this is true, it gives interesting fodder to TV deal discussions.

x.com/wrestlingnewsco/status/1825008886174109845?s=46&t=-TsyD7miKv5r_4Ww8_LOOg

Current deal is estimated to be $45MM/year.

There was talk of a $115MM/year deal in the works. I highly doubt that they’d sign a deal that immediately puts them underwater by $24MM.

Why would Tony only make a deal for one show? That makes no sense at all.  Also if the value of AEW is at 289 million to WBD why on Earth would Tony take a deal based only on Dynamite ad rev and nothing more while also giving them PPVs and streaming rights to RoH?  This is like Steiner math shit here...

What I love most about this whole people caring about only about these numbers is the final number will never be officially revealed.  People like do realize this right?  The details of the current agreement were never revealed.  The operating expenses were never revealed.  The rock hard information people are using to claim somehow AEW does not deserve another TV, or now, does not deserve an increase in what they are getting, are all based solely on unconfirmed internet rumors.

It is interesting the same people do not care about WWE in this manner despite all of the numbers being publically available for WWE given they are publicly traded.  

What do you want people to report on when it comes to WWE and it's business c?

How great the revenue and profits are? How they're consistently selling out stadiums around the world? How WWE continues to expand into international markets? How incredible the online/social media engagement is? How hot the product is overall?

Boring...

AEW on the other hand hasn't turned a profit yet from all reports. Can barely fill half the seats in the tiny arena shows their doing, while struggles to maintain any sort of television audience, all while the booking is incredible inconsistent, ofte lacklustre and more often than not, incoherent.

It certainly makes a better story.

Aug 18, 2024 12:15:19 GMT NATH45 said:

What do you want people to report on when it comes to WWE and it's business c?

How great the revenue and profits are? How they're consistently selling out stadiums around the world? How WWE continues to expand into international markets? How incredible the online/social media engagement is? How hot the product is overall?

Boring...

AEW on the other hand hasn't turned a profit yet from all reports. Can barely fill half the seats in the tiny arena shows their doing, while struggles to maintain any sort of television audience, all while the booking is incredible inconsistent, ofte lacklustre and more often than not, incoherent.

It certainly makes a better story.

I was going to the same thing re: WWE. Years ago when they were struggling for net profit and initially transitioning from PPV to the Network, there was plenty of talk about the state of WWE. I remember it well. It’s not interesting to talk about now because they make money hand over fist. If there were existing questions about the profitability of WWE, we would be talking about that.

Aug 18, 2024 6:45:34 GMT c said:

Why would Tony only make a deal for one show? That makes no sense at all.  Also if the value of AEW is at 289 million to WBD why on Earth would Tony take a deal based only on Dynamite ad rev and nothing more while also giving them PPVs and streaming rights to RoH?  This is like Steiner math shit here...

What I love most about this whole people caring about only about these numbers is the final number will never be officially revealed.  People like do realize this right?  The details of the current agreement were never revealed.  The operating expenses were never revealed.  The rock hard information people are using to claim somehow AEW does not deserve another TV, or now, does not deserve an increase in what they are getting, are all based solely on unconfirmed internet rumors.

It is interesting the same people do not care about WWE in this manner despite all of the numbers being publically available for WWE given they are publicly traded.  

Conflating ad revenue and value overrides everything else you said.

Aug 18, 2024 19:12:24 GMT KJ said:

Aug 18, 2024 6:45:34 GMT c said:

Why would Tony only make a deal for one show? That makes no sense at all.  Also if the value of AEW is at 289 million to WBD why on Earth would Tony take a deal based only on Dynamite ad rev and nothing more while also giving them PPVs and streaming rights to RoH?  This is like Steiner math shit here...

What I love most about this whole people caring about only about these numbers is the final number will never be officially revealed.  People like do realize this right?  The details of the current agreement were never revealed.  The operating expenses were never revealed.  The rock hard information people are using to claim somehow AEW does not deserve another TV, or now, does not deserve an increase in what they are getting, are all based solely on unconfirmed internet rumors.

It is interesting the same people do not care about WWE in this manner despite all of the numbers being publically available for WWE given they are publicly traded.  

Conflating ad revenue and value overrides everything else you said.

Yes because why would you use the value WBD thinks they bring to them to judge the value WBD brings instead of just using solely ad rev for one single show to determine the entire deal.

News is breaking that Cole can finally begin to train again.

Nearly 12 months since his last match. It's so unfortunate, he's been there for 3 years and injured for half and it.

What is funny to me, is I broke my ankle almost the exact same way. Did a small hop off a chair and crack, ankle just split in middle school. Like of all the stupid shit I did as a kid, that was what left me in the hospital.

Cole's injury is crazy though. Plate and eight screws just because when he jumped off the ramp his ankle went nope loser and exploded.  He got hurt more than Edge did jumping off the cage.

Really no clue what they do with him when he comes back, because the sad thing really is the fans are not really missing him.  Frankly best they could do is just reteam him with MJF or Strong.  Same deal as Britt really though, he is returning to a talent with a lot more talent than when he left.  And even with Strong now, Strong really may be the bigger draw right now as he been killing it with his new gimmick.

Sure fans will still want to "ADAM COLE BABY" though.

Also no word if they are staying around or not, but Cody's nephews just debuted for AEW.  A new bloodline is growing in the shadows...