garynysmon

16 hours ago, Gay as FOOK said:

Really looking forward to seeing what this increased production budget brings next year. Hopefully it's a full on soft relaunch. We've known how good it's been now for ages, but with the perception and fiscals pointing to wrestling more or less being in another apparent boom period of sorts, Impact really should be solidly positioning itself as distant-third-but-definitely-third in the way ECW was in the late 90s. 

Sometimes in wrestling the actual in ring product or the booking has to catch up to the fan momentum. With Impact it seems at times like they have everything but the energy it deserves surrounding it. It ought to be able to tap into that little-engine-that-can type fan fervour but the brand just became a total flat tire from years and years of lolTNA burnout and downscale. 

I’d agree with pretty much all of that.

Ironically I didn’t see anything at all wrong with the production of Victory Road and Impact 1,000 and it was a well lit and good looking show in front of a hot crowd. It’ll be interesting to see what these proposed improvements will involve.

Probably a bit biased but I think Impact is already clearly ahead of NWA and MLW on pretty much every imaginable metric. GCW isn’t really a traditional promotion per-se so I wouldn’t even consider it in the equation. 

Because of Impact’s slow build approach its hard to make a major splash, but the momentum does seem to be growing on a slow but steady basis.

Replying to myself again but really enjoyed Impact 1000. A nice mix of stars of yesteryear, a lot of Knockouts stuff and a truly belting main event between Savin and Llio Rush to finish it off.

Nice to see Team 3D again too, D-von’s looking better than I thought he would given his health issues.

The slightly bigger venue and a hot and well lit crowd also helped.

8 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Apparently they’re running a BOGOF for Grand Slam next week to try and fill it. Only 6,000 sold so far according to WrestleTix.

Its fucking mad how not even 3 weeks ago they stuck 81,000 in Wembley (now being touted as 72,000, but I digress), but watching the show it’s like it never even happened 

Seen a few WWE drones revelling at the swathes of empty seats at Wednesday’s Dynamite but I feel its just a case of some markets just being oversaturated at present.

Its one thing going to Wembley for a first ever show in Europe, which was obviously going to raise comparisons with the iconic Summerslam 92, and having a potential audience of tens of millions being a realistic train/car/short haul flight away on a Bank Holiday Weekend.

Its another matter altogether when you visit a city for maybe the 3rd or 4th time in a year for a midweek TV taping when you have a competitor also doing a regular rotation.

I know AEW aren’t in New York often so may not apply in this particular case, but I definitely see a situation where Chicago will have become oversaturated soon.

You book 2,000-3,000 seat venues you’re guaranteed to fill and you’re called bush league, yet people will take the piss when you can’t fill proper arenas.

Yes the wrestling fans that we have now will travel further and spend more on wrestling than years past, but they still only take up one seat at a time (as a rule anyway!).

Just now, Nick James said:

Can't wait to see Punk at Crown Jewel in the Goldberg spot. No way if he goes back is he turning down that sweet payday, blood-soaked Saudi money or not. 

Didn't the Saudis stop watching WWF in 2001, at the same time as most normal people? Asking for Yokozuna and all sorts.

Over the past week I’ve done my usual sniggering at/shaking my head at that small core of Impact fans who’ve never been able to grasp the idea that Anthem are seemingly quite happy keeping the company chugging along. The company’s never indicated any great expectations of booking or filling 15,000 seat arenas or getting back on Spike TV anytime soon, and are seemingly quite happy with their lot, being more stable than ever.

My belief has always been that if you need big arenas and the biggest names in your wrestling then Impact probably isn’t for you.

But as the days have gone on, I have to concede that there may be a remote chance Punk may well end up there.

It all hinges on what his motivations are these days. I still believe there’s a strong chance that he doesn’t wrestle again. After all, with all that baggage, a stadium match against Samoa Joe isn’t the worst way to go.

And if he wants his Wrestlemania main event on the Saturday, then his destination is obvious and WWE has brought back people with more heat than Punk in the past if there’s money on the table.

Impact’s remote chance of being a destination, if only on a short term deal, hinge on Punk’s ego and existing relationships with top brass there.

Impact’s reach on AXS TV is limited, usually hovering between 100,000-120,000 viewers. But there’s still scope for growth even on that channel, and ratings and arena business would inevitably increase with a major name.

Jericho was reportedly on the verge of signing for limited dates with Impact on a seven figure deal just before signing his first AEW contract, so there has been a willingness to spend on someone they feel would move the needle.

One of Punk’s best mates in the business is Lou D’Angeli, who’s Impact’s head of marketing, who he brought along with him when making his AEW debut and was responsible for bringing Punk backstage to recent Chicago Impact tapings.

If I had to put money on it though, Punk will be on the posters for Wrestlemania next year.

2 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

It must’ve absolutely pained him to not give Osprey 5 stars

Meltzer when Will Ospreay is wrestling for Impact in October.

One man’s bias is one thing and perfectly valid.

What I personally find annoying is how much credence is given to his match ratings, like they’re an objective judge’s score at the Boxing or Olympic diving.

I’d have given most of Hogan’s big matches in the 80’s close to 5 stars due to how epic they were, as I enjoy characters and huge built-up matches more than the technical aspect, workrate or how many wanky ROH moves are performed.

Most New Japan matches would rank low.

Its just as valid an opinion as Meltzer’s but everyone else is clearly permitted to call my ratings a load of bollocks too. 

Will Ospreay added to the Newcastle date, which is now being taped for one of their monthly specials (basically In Your House PPVs outside of the 'big 4').

No idea if he'll be at Coventry and Glasgow too, but they're taping Impact episodes and a PPV here now so it seems that a full-ish crew is coming over.

The card for next week's Victory Road show is also starting to take shape.

* Impact Knockouts Championship Match: Trinity vs. Alisha Edwards
* Impact X Division Championship Match: Lio Rush vs. KUSHIDA
* Impact World Tag Team Championship Match: The Rascalz vs. The Motor City Machine Guns
* Impact Digital Media Championship Career vs. Title Match: Kenny King vs. Tommy Dreamer
* Anything Goes Match: PCO vs. Bully Ray
* Deonna Purrazzo vs. Jordynne Grace
* Jordynne Grace vs. Deonna Purrazzo
* Josh Alexander vs. Steve Maclin

Coventry is too far really but I don’t really go to watch live wrestling at all and the size of the venue means even the GA seats are close to the ring.

I’ll probably regret it when I’m driving down on the Sunday, the day after an all day wedding and hungover as fuck…

16 minutes ago, LCJ said:

What’s he on? 4 million USD a year? And you have to ask yourself is Punk actually worth the effort and the drama. I’d hardly say he’s moved the needle in terms of domestic (US) gates, ratings and buy-rates. I won’t count the Wembley Gate because UK fans most likely would’ve paid to watch All In in their droves regardless.

He’s not the star he thinks he is. Yes he gets a big pop but I very much doubt that many people that watch AEW now would stop doing so if he wasn’t around.

Tony Khan is setting a horrendous precedent if he continues facilitating such behaviour.

CM Punk is acting like he does because he knows he can get away with it.

Possibly because he doesn’t NEED the job financially (I’d have thought), but also because he could quit tomorrow with a solid body of work and somewhat of a legacy behind him.

Its mainly though as he knows that Tony Khan isn’t really a man manager at all, at least in a wrestling setting.

Ok, I can see TK being more boss-like in an NFL or Fulham setting where he doesn’t have the same emotional attachment.

The bloke was in London on Sunday yet didn’t see to hang around for Fulham’s game last night. He has no personal interest does he? 

But this 2002 ROH geek is like a pig in shit  being surrounded by most of his favourite wrestlers. He’s too emotionally attached to make rational decisions.

He’s not going to can CM Punk and he knows that.

Vince McMahon got rid of much bigger names than CM Punk, wherein lies the difference.

I imagine Lou D’Angeli (Sign Guy Dudley) is behind the Vegas Strip idea as he used to work in promotion for Circue Du Soleil before joining Impact, and marketing and ticket sales have certainly increased under his watch.

Bit the bullet and taking my 10 year old nephew to the Sunday Coventry show.

All the other kids going to Wembley for All In or the O2 for WWE and this poor sod ends up with an uncle like me.

Loved the Swing Man’s pre match interview, legitimately one of my favourite characters in wrestling.

Haven’t caught all of the show yet as it went on a bit late despite being a Bank Holiday weekend, but from the early matches I’ve seen so far the lights really need sorting as the show came off pretty dark.

I notice they’ve added a second Coventry date on the Sunday so trying to figure out if I can make that one or not.

I also notice that Will Ospreay has been added to Bound for Glory, which is a week before the UK tour. I wonder if he shows up for that too?

Even if Bound for Glory wasn’t going to sell out before then it certainly is now.

1 hour ago, Accident Prone said:

I had a lot of fun at the show but I didn't come away with my opinion changed. Felt like more of a house show than the biggest wrestling show of all time as a lot of the matches felt undercooked due to the lackluster build, and they're clearly heading in a direction that'll make the weekly TV more of a pain to sit through.

I went into the show as someone who hasn’t watched an episode of Dynamite in months, so the choice of Adam Cole v MJF as main event did sound quite weak as I wouldn’t have considered either, Cole particularly, among the AEW’s top tier.

I appreciate that apparently its been playing out on tv but I was totally confused why smarky heel MJF was trying to garner confused babyface reactions, which also clouded the main event for me.

Loved Sting coming out to seek and destroy, just a shame that his AEW run is tarnished by being so closely associated with that fucking Darby Allin.

All in all though, I managed to sit through a 4 hour odd show and it looked fantastic on TV. Doubt it’ll make me watch Dynamite or Collison on a regular basis but fair play, good show.

I realise this is pretty much all to do with demographics, but just seen a clip of the Smackdown intro and found it a bit sad at the miniscule cheer Terry Funk’s name got compared to Bray Wyatt. 

The first time I ever saw Terry Funk was on the old Reslo TV show we had in Wales, which regularly featured CWA bouts from Germany as well as Orig Williams promoted cards across Wales. I have a child’s memory of him stampeding to the ring in chaps, threatening everyone in the crowd and thinking he was legitimately crazy. 

Thanks to Ric Flair’s first box set I then fell in love with his short 1989 NWA run.

Hardcore wrestling was never my cup of tea (in fact I fucking hate it), so have never, and probably never will seek out any of his deathmatch stuff. But will we ever see such a versatile performer ever again? I very much doubt it.

Saw a lot of chatter online so assumed it was starting soon. Bloody hell, this pre show is as long as those early In Your House PPV’s!

1 hour ago, SaitoRyo said:

Tears.

Vince McMahon is a cunt and all that, but can you imagine him ever trying to placate any of his biggest stars over the years by essentially giving them their own standalone show and roster to pick from?

Its fucking mental and how anyone expects this to end well is beyond me.

7 hours ago, Slapnut said:

 

The greatest night in the history of our car park.

I actually have a story about Mr Schiavone and am surprised I didn't bring this up myself.

When I was about 9 years old we were told that a Mr Tony Schiavone was coming to our primary school to talk about something (I can't even remember the reason why).

But gullible young me actually expected the WCW Mr Schiavone to pop up at a random entirely Welsh speaking school of about 50 pupils in the mid 1990's.

Well, let's say that who turned up wasn't Lois Schiavone's husband anyway.

Mind you, the way the Welsh Schiavone pronounces his surname with a hard c rather than the sshh sounds much more Italian/authentic and makes me wonder who is right!

19 hours ago, IronSheik said:

Yup.

I can imagine one of those Benoit apologists saying something like this.

They’re fucking everywhere these days.

I’m seeing way too much “Bret Hart is overrated” bollocks these days too, if we’re expanding this to “shit modern day takes”.

And below is essentially the correct answer to this entire thread….

Did anyone, on a Tuesday morning in 1999 when Raw was doing monster numbers, remark once about how many stars the 3 minute Billy Gunn v Goldust match was worth?

On 8/1/2023 at 11:47 AM, BomberPat said:

You could nitpick and pull apart Hogan's technical ability, but that's never been what draws money.

It drives me fucking bonkers tbh and is a 'take' you hear more and more from newer fans or workrate perves.

Coventry would have been the only feasible one for me (albeit still 3 hours away), but I have a wedding that day anyway so its a moot point.

The venues seem to be quite modest so I hope this is a dipping their feet into the water kind of thing and they’ll be back next year.

7 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

I guess it has been said many times before but it does show their ceiling if they can put on something like this with that much talent AND Ibushi's first appearance and the gimmick and that's the rating they pull in.

But given that wrestling is a niche pasttime, surely someone like Ibushi is a niche wrestler even within that narrow genre?

The general public doesn't give a flying fuck about the 'good wrestling' and five star matches, which is the style so favoured by the hardcore fanbase that makes up a bigger percentage than ever of the watching audience.

Stone Cold whacking McMahon over the head with a bedpan has been seen by more people than every Kenny Omega match put together.

Hey, its great from a financial standpoint, the sad acts watching wrestling will spend more of their disposable income on wrestling than ever before.

But let's not pretend that signing New Japan lads is what you need to be doing to capture that mythical lapsed fanbase out there. It appeals to those that are already watching the million hours of AEW and ROH every week anyway.

1 hour ago, jazzygeofferz said:

It always feels like the people in Impact are doing what they want to do, as opposed to what they're being told to do by creative, or at the very least they get a lot more input in their stuff than it seems they'd have elsewhere. 

Well I suppose when you can’t pay them anywhere near what the market leaders can, creative freedom is another tool to try and keep them around. 

There are plenty of examples of Impact being used to sharpen an act before moving on/back to the bigger leagues.

@Hannibal Scorch Whoever’s decision it is its fucked things up for a lot of other promotions by launching a Saturday night show on free tv. Good for AEW but shite for anyone else hoping for successful Sat night PPV’s.

This was one of the 4 actual PPVs rather than monthy shows, so Fite/Dazn or whatever dodgy means that exist.

18 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

I’m amazed that no bigger company has attempted to poach Scott D’Amore for his booking talent. He’s done such a great job. This is a company that deserves to be more visible.

He's done a tremendous job and doubt he'll ever have trouble finding employment. But if he went anywhere else now it would be a dramatic drop down the pecking order in terms of duties.

This isn't a Jeremy Borash level hiring.

He's an EVP within Anthem Sports and booking a nationally and internationally televised company. Clearly there are bigger companies out there but he would be answering to either VKM/HHH or Tony Khan in the event of any move. He's in a pretty good position really. 

I imagine he'll be at Impact for as long as he wants to be. He was clearly the most important hire of the D'amore/Callis duo.

18 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

That’s one thing I really like about Impact, it’s consistently enjoyable and consistently fun. Even when there’s no ‘great match’, it’s hard not to have fun while watching their shows. The fact they achieve that with the roster that they have is pretty miraculous.

I can't profess to being a huge fan of everyone on the roster, but its probably stronger overall than a company of Impact's size/reach has any right to have.

The turnover rate is remarkably small when you consider there are two much better paying companies in the United States alone, and wrestlers you'd have expected to leave are signing new deals more often than not. You also have the likes of Kaz and Eric Young who willingly walked away from deals elsewhere.

You hear enough wrestlers raving about the locker room and the backstage atmosphere to know that it must have something to it, and is probably a better overall package than the sum of its parts.

Personally I've never been arsed about the likes of Dreamer or Sami Callihan but when you hear of others saying what integral parts they are backstage, I just accept it as it is and figure their presence is probably for the greater good and helping people I actually do enjoy to stick around.

I wouldn't say it a poor or even average roster though tbh.