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“These pay-per-view shows that Ring of Honor has done has been really successful for us," Khan began.

"We've made good money and the grosses of those shows frankly have been in line with what I paid for the entire business. So, I would say it's been a very successful relaunch.”

That’s a very pertinent quote isn’t it? Let’s face it, TK quickly managed to fill a TNA sized vacuum but also to cultivate a very loyal fanbase which lapped up anything AEW related, aided by the WWE going through a particularly heelish period.

He could have bought the fucking XWF from Jimmy Hart for £20 and it would have done decent business just by virtue of being associated with AEW.

The ROH fanbase had moved on to AEW anyway, there was no one left to go after. AEW was its natural successor.

Fine if it was bought as a tape library, but ego was the only reason he wanted to get it back on the road, like he didn’t have enough on his plate with running an arena sized promotion with worldwide weekly TV on top of an NFL and Premier League sides.

There was no money left on the table in the same way that a WCW relaunch in 2001 could have worked.
 
He would have made the exact same money had they been additional AEW pay per views.

10 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

ITV have always got some WC classics on, don't worry.

The dreaded day with no games is upon us….

18 minutes ago, RicFlairLegend said:

I see the DDP and Jake podcast has, like the Arn one before it, been demoted to being Conrad-less and in this case, sans DDP too from this week. You can always tell which Conrad podcasts aren't doing as well when he farms them out to underlings.

I mean, how many podcasts can anyone listen to in a week. 

Even assuming that someone subscribes to only wrestling podcasts and listens to them on a daily commute, each one lasts a good two hours each. There are just too many out there, it passed saturation point long ago.

On 12/4/2022 at 11:18 PM, Butch2000 said:

have you seen IPWF yet mate

Always found them a bit too silly for my liking and more a case of the roster having fun amongst themselves rather than entertaining the audience.

I'll give it a go if you think its worth it though.

On its own you can't read too much into Regal going back to WWE, mainy due to the reasons already highlighted.

But part of a growing pattern, you can't really ignore how quickly AEW lost its status as the place everyone wanted to work.

There are many examples of AEW having been the more appealing option even if WWE were generally paying more, but what with the Punk debacle and growing backstage grumbling, maybe its always been a little too lax?

I feel that Impact is in a bit of a tough spot atm with WWE seemingly going on another signing spree and picking up Eric Young and probably Deonna Purazzo with her contract up soon.

Easily the worst part about the show is knowing that most everyone you like is going to fuck off sooner or later.

I hate to say it but England have a serious chance of winning it all.

Which gives me approx 2 weeks to find an island in the Pacific without any access to the internet, television nor English newspapers…

7 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Englands midfield options are so desperate, I'm surprised Southgate didn't pick James Milner.

Henderson and Gallagher? Bloody hell.

Clearly Wales have a squad depth thinner than my hairline, but can’t say I’m shitting myself at the thought of facing that.

Anyone else flying out to Qatar?

12 of us are heading out for the first two Wales games (USA and Iran) but flying home before the England game. I didn't enjoy the England game in Lens during Euro 2016, which always turns out to be a media circus, plus a week is about our limit in terms of spending.

Qatar seems to be a nightmare accomodation wise so we're staying in Dubai and shuttling in on matchdays, which is only a 45 min flight. Reckon we've saved a grand doing it that way, plus Dubai seems to be a bit more reasonable price-wise.

Can't say that Qatar would even be my 50th choice in terms of countries to visit, but let's face it, there's a good chance I may never see Wales play in a World Cup again. (Justifying my second 'once in a lifetime' trip to the mrs given I said the same thing before Euro 2016 and also had Euro 2020 all booked in Baku before Covid hit).

On the ethical argument, the time to boycott was for the national associations a decade ago or at least before the World Cup qualifiers started. Let's face it, I'd have gone to Russia in 2018 had Wales qualified, and that is hardly a bastion of democracy.

2 hours ago, Nick James said:

Billy Gunn is 58 years of age. 58! The guy looks tremendous, has barely aged and is out here as the most over guy in the whole company. Insane.

He really is The One.

Its totally bonkers that this was a guy I was watching most weeks on WWF Superstars when I was 9 years old, and I'm approaching 40 by now.

On 10/8/2022 at 9:37 AM, Infinity Land said:

Is there a reason Impact started doing PPVs on Fridays?

Mainly because they sell more tickets on Friday/Saturday back to back nights rather than Sat/Sun or Sun/Mon. They tend to hold PPV's/Impact + specials live on the first night then tape a week or two of TV on the following night in the same arena to save on production costs.

I have no idea if Bully Ray is persona non grata or not in terms of wrestling groupthink these days, but personally I got a kick out of seeing him again.

Loved his solo heel run in TNA back in the day so more than happy see him get another, presumably, short-ish run.

Gutted to see Mia Yim on the outs though, ditto Taven and Mike Bennett who seemed to be doing well. Didn't give a shit about Vincent though.

Impact switching their camera angle to show that they actually have a crowd in, rather than filming the titantron, pleases me greatly.

Some wrestling fans seriously need to get a grip...

On 9/13/2022 at 4:19 PM, DCW said:

The Nash host is great though, he could work wonders on Regal's pod in place of the dullard who just says 'Mr. Regal ' all the time. 

Sean Oliver of Kayfabe Commentaries has always been awesome. One of the major casualties of the wrestling podcast boom.

Seems he finally decided that he couldn't swim against the tide any longer.

I don't think I can take another 'hot take' today about how Rangers should be applauded for last night's display, blissfully ignorant of/ignoring the fact that something like this is so up their fucking street and is a political statement in itself. No different to Celtic's banner.

3 hours ago, Fog Dude said:

Anyway, up here I expect North Wales Police have spent the past day dreading the prospect of a coronation for William (already bald and 40 and whose bedroom habits are public knowledge, not universally seen as "lovely" like @BomberPat claimed) in Caernarfon sometime in the next couple of years. It was already quite a tense scene last time they tried that spectacle back in 1969. 

Well, I suppose that everyone's fair game these days

I just hope this spells an end to the gratitude era of the same old faces polluting the upper mid card of the WWE for what feels like decades.

Its not healthy for the business is it.

The likes of the Miz, Orton and Ziggler are too far gone by now of course. But at least it avoids another generation feeling the same way.

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

I think that The Rock's style at the time - he's an asshole to EVERYONE, not just heels - was very much influenced by what had come before, with Stone Cold. 

You're right of course.

But in wrestling the heels usually get their comeuppance in the end. Anyone being nasty to the Fink in the early 90's, for example, would usually get a slap from the babyface eventually.

With the Rock, because he was a babyface he'd get away with calling every minnion a cunt, with no reprisals, and still win at the end of the day.

I can see why lower down wrestlers would be annoyed at just being made to look a fool, knowing full well there'd never be a pay-off.

There was also the fact that the Rock often punched down on lower down wrestlers/other staff and their characters usually had no chance to even answer back or have their comeuppance in the ring.

These days a lot of his promos would be considered bullying by some.

18 minutes ago, Nick James said:

This is the first time I've seen this clip from the presser and I'm not sure if this is before or after the Punk thing so he could be a little rattled off the back of it, but it seems like he's losing it. Apparently, he's not happy with the amount of shows being run this weekend all over the place.

 

Honestly he can fuck off with that bollocks.

I think its 2 or 3 times now that Impact have long scheduled PPV/Impact + specials only for AEW to suddenly set up Battle of the Belts of whatever shows directly opposed on free TV and force them to move to worse dates and/or start times. He hasn't got a leg to stand on.

With Vince McMahon well known for micro managing absoloutely everything, well, there might have been a method to the fucker's madness. 

1 minute ago, LaGoosh said:

Taking the piss is one thing but if HBK called Pat Patterson a dumb motherfucker at a press conference I don't think Vince would have stood for it.

All relative to the era isn't it? They only hosted worked press conferences back then. I have no doubt 1996 HBK and a live mic would have interesting results...