El Hijo del Mikey Jr

I can't take NWA seriously.  It was briefly good because of Dave Lagana.  Billy Corgan has no instincts for the wrestling business.

I'm not sure if it's a missing piece but JAS has long since overstayed its welcome and needs to break up.

When I was involved with Rugby League and had an in with the RFL, I was told they spent 750k on the rent for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup double header at Wembley.  This is why they didn't go anywhere near it for the 2021 RLWC.

I think part of the reason for that number was that the RFL were selling all the tickets centrally.

On 4/8/2023 at 9:29 AM, Merzbow said:

The coke eyed stare is genuinely a little creepy.

Can we stop this nonsense.  If he's snorting anything, he's snorting Adderall.

2 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

Plenty of people have said it might be not be a PPV. I've been one of them. I haven't seen a single person say it's a house show.

Warner Bros 100th anniversaray got a mention during the announcement. Which has people jumping on the rebranded HBOMAX and being shown there. Even without that they've had the history of streaming events for free on BR Live or could be tape delayed on one of the WBD channels stateside.

Domestically possibility of being live on ITV4 since it would have ITV invested in promoting the show more than just a live event they'd have nothing to do with.

I know you can piece together all sorts from these investor calls and stories on business news sites and come up with nothing.

However, Tony refused to shop ROH to other content providers and only talks about WBD when discussing their next TV rights deal.  WBD has delayed their new streaming service from Q1 2023 to "the summer".  It all points towards an OTA plus streaming deal with WBD that is already basically done and what better to launch AEW on said new streaming platform than a massive show from Wembley Stadium?  This is why, in part, I'm not sure it matters if they make a penny so long as it's a big deal for WBD.

If that's the case, I assume they'll get a "network" on said platform, sort of like WWE on Peacock and all the archived stuff will go up there.  Why put ROH on your afterthought streaming service unless you want to move it somewhere else? I would assume all their archives and content would move to the service, including ROH and Dark and Elevation.  Plus the supposed third show.

Kinda shit for us in the UK though, given they can't launch anything HBO-related until 2027.

I only had time to see the main event so far but it was well-worked.  Good structure, well sold in commentary.  It all very much worked because they have a guy who is over, who feels fresh and feels hot.  Too often they'll whiff on it or push somebody who isn't hot or somebody who missed his window. I thought it was a total Okada squash but then Sanada came back and beat him clean.

However, I've learned my lesson in the past.  This isn't about Sanada, it's about Okada.  He's the protagonist and this is a speed bump in his road.

17 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Yep. There are very few who stopped watching WWE because of moral reasons compared to those who stopped watching because they thought it was shit. 

On this point, if you look at when they started the Saudi deal, especially the second show, the ratings take a sharper dip and the highest heights have never come back.

So... thoughts?

5 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Hey lads, do you know what would be real clever and something nobody has ever done? Use “London Calling” by the awful band The Clash in any tv spots to emphasise its in London. Nobody has ever done that before. 

It honestly didn't occur to me that there were people out there that didn't like the Clash.

51 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Did you watch the World Cup?

Yes.  However, that's a little more complicated, isn't it?  Qatar aren't slaughtering Yemenis. If we're going into troubling countries around the world, the whole of Polynesia bans homosexuality but nobody ever moans about Samoa or Tonga.  However, everybody has to draw their own line.  If you choose to just ignore Vince's alleged crimes - and they are crimes - then it's very difficult to play any kind of moral relativism.

14 minutes ago, Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete said:

Formula 1 says 'hello'

I won't watch that either.

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

 

It’s about as covert as my gut. He’s just a narcissist.

Though, I think most successful wrestlers are. I imagine it’s a key feature of the sort of personality type that excels in wrestling.

Covert narcissism is a specific form of narcissism. For instance, they can be very self-deprecating but secretly they're fishing for compliments. They will help people but because they want to be seen as a good person rather than any genuine desire to help.

"They are emotionally fragile and sensitive to even limited amounts of perceived criticism. They appear highly stressed and worried about numerous concerns. In terms of interpersonal relationships, the covert narcissist will seem shy, reserved, and self-deprecating."

Just a question, am I the only person who thinks Punk is a textbook covert narcissist?

I don't watch WWE because a) I don't enjoy it and b) I don't want to put money in their coffers.  If I pay for their services, I'm part of the problem.  However, the product is usually so annoying, disjointed and boring, I can't even bring myself to steal it.  Every once in a while, I feel like I have to watch it just so I can have an informed opinion.  Nothing worse than somebody who opines on something that they don't watch.  So the last time I watched any WWE, the thing I noticed was that everything was far less loud and obnoxious than it once was.  There was a point in 2019 where you couldn't follow the flow of anything because it felt like there was a computer program randomly cutting from camera-to-camera every two seconds, while the announcers shouted so much it felt like I was going to have either a brain haemorrhage, a epileptic fit or both.

I tried to watch NXT but it's possibly the worst thing they've ever done.  They want soap opera actors with abs and physical abilities but they don't seem to have found anybody who can do those things.  So, instead, you have non-actors going through poor, rehearsed matches and reciting terrible dialogue with acting that is the level of kids in a primary school nativity play.  I heard somebody call it Disney Channel acting but that's harsh on the Disney Channel.

Plus, why are they cutting promos in the middle of their matches in WWE?  Austin told more of a story with one bladejob than Rollins or Reigns have done in their entire career of yelling at people during the middle of the match.  So much of the nonsense I read on some of these wrestling "news" sites just has no foundation in reality about WWE telling stories to the point where I wonder if they're just copy and pasting stuff written by WWE PR.

Jesus Christ, I don't even know my own country.  However, I worked for NHS Scotland during the pandemic and, apparently, I have a great speaking voice, very clear with no slang words.  Meanwhile, my colleague from Edinburgh used to get aggro every day.

3 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

Ratings in the UK have been in a real slump since the turn of the year. Back in November they were bragging about the record high of 210k, with a peak viewership on that episode over 300k. 2023 it has been dipping under 100k quite often, although that's usually when they're displaced from their Friday 21:00 time slot they settled into.

Those numbers are for ITV4. They still have a middle of the night replay on ITV1. It won't be much but it's in the mix of unknowns of AEW+ subs & illegal downloaders/streamers.

TNA used to be a serious player and their best numbers were 8,000 in the UK and 7,000 in the US (at the Alamodome!).  Realistically, they shouldn't be able to fill the O2 with the numbers they're putting up on TV.  IMO, 30,000 would be a ridiculous number.  However, that won't be good enough.

1 hour ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

 

As a Fylde coast resident who works in security I'd love to see the BCC fight a real Blackpool Combat Club ie a Hen Party from Burnley or a family of 15 from Aberdeen.

What are Aberdonians doing in Blackpool!?!

Thing is, in the eyes of many, all they can do is fail.  Anything other than a full sellout will mean that the usual suspects and their invertebrate acolytes on Twitter, fanned by signal-boosted paid engagement, will be declaring AEW in the mud.  They won't apply the same criteria to AEW as they apply to WWE and just parrot the propaganda.

However, this is a show that, according to what I can find, does around 100k per week for its flagship show and 70k per week from its secondary show in the UK.  Most AEW fans watch on ITVX.  I have no idea of the numbers of people paying Fite and we have no idea of the download numbers.  However, based on the numbers we do have, 30,000 would be ridiculous number.  30% of your weekly audience pony up to go to a live show, let alone people travelling from overseas.  50,000 people watch MLW but they can barely sell a ticket!

WWE inflates all their numbers.  SummerSlam 2021 actually drew 45,000 and SummerSlam 2022 drew 38,000.  So my view is draw 30,000 then lie about it.  Claim 90,000.

1 hour ago, Loki said:

Remember when everyone thought the NXT locker room were playing videogames after shows and it turned out they were filming each other banging each other’s girlfriends?  And then sharing the videos around?

Officially no but I assume that my browser history would probably disagree.

Making generalisations and saying that "the whole industry is terrible" is the same as when people say "all politicians are corrupt" and it has the same effect of letting the very worst offenders off the hook and sullying the few people who are clean or mostly clean.

I don't know of another company that earns 50m per event from Saudi Arabia.  When everybody was cutting ties with the Saudis, WWE were the only major company to stand by them.  Not just that, they're using such obviously nonsensical logic to justify doing so.  If WWE had the opportunity to play Sun City in the 80s, they would have broken the South African cultural boycott in a heartbeat.  Not just that, they would have said that cultural boycotts do nothing, despite obvious evidence to the contrary.

When Speaking Out kicked off, the company that did the bare minimum and even punished those who owned up while protecting those who clearly lied was WWE.  They're run by a sex pest who has spent nearly 20m in hush money to cover up multiple allegations of sexual assault, coercion and rape.  There are people who were mean to trainees who lost their careers.  One particularly high-profile wrestler is now persona non grata because he had consensual drunken sex with somebody of legal age but McMahon is profiting to the tune of 3.1bn and control of the company he was forced to resign from in shame.

Vince McMahon is the most disgustingly egregious and high-profile offender in the industry.  If you forgive him and support him, you have no moral leg to stand on.  If that's fine for you then great.  However, you can't ever moralise over anything again.  You can't hold opinions like "Joey Ryan is a sleazebag" or "Scurll is a wrong 'un" because you support somebody who is even worse.

20 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

It's fucking annoying though.

It doesn't help that Harwood is one of the most obnoxious people in wrestling.  However, the fact he takes everything so seriously helps the work.

I think I'm one of the few people who preferred them when they wrestled one big match a quarter that was rehearsed to death in the PC and you never heard from them. Ever.

4 hours ago, Supremo said:

Bar The Gunns’ brilliant entrance, the main event was massively underwhelming, especially considering the stakes. Probably a combination of The Gunns not really being ready for that spot and Dax self-sabotaging online the last six to eight months. Let’s call it a day in both cases, lads. Send The Gunns back down the card where they belong, delete Dax’s Twitter and explain to him how fucking tiresome all this meta shit is. “Ooooh, we might retire.” “Ooooh, we might go back to WWE.” Do it. If it means you’ll shut the fuck up. Do it. Now.

The old work is the new work.  I doubt Harwood is going off piste with all this nonsense, though I think he telegraphed the actual finish.  Working the rubes - i.e. us people who read the sheets - has always been part of wrestling. This is just a new way.  Acting like everything is real is part of wrestling and the best part is, you don't have to suspend any disbelief.

1 minute ago, LaGoosh said:

Long time producer/director Keith Mitchell retired and they replaced him with a former WWE guy. It's been noticeably worse for me since, all kinds of small shit, mistakes and dead air all over the place.

OK, thanks.  Since I came off Twitter for a second time (no death threats this time!), I realise I've missed all sorts of news.

I hate to be an AEW hater (and sorry if I am duplicating something).  Without it, US wrestling would be dead to me.  I'll admit it, the production hasn't grated on me until now.  I can forgive dives because they can be difficult to film. Either it looks contrived or you can miss it.  CMLL go wide angle, AAA go close onto the target of the dive.  It's not easy.  Komander's rope walk dives are great in that regard because you get plenty of notice.

However, this is where it feels unforgiveable.  They built the Gunns up over the last few weeks.  They're finally annoying for the right reasons.  The run has served its purpose.  So they've licensed 50 Cent, they shot the opening so well and once they got onto apron, it all went wrong.  They're on a crane shot when they need to be on a ringside camera or the hardcam they eventually ended up on.  So they switch to a different, worse crane cam and then finished on the hardcam about two seconds too late.

Is this a producer problem?  The people who do this now have no instinct for this stuff.  I remember Shane Helms saying that he would get on the headset in TNA and talk the production truck through spots so they didn't miss them.  Is there anybody who follows this sort of thing closely who could shed some light?

Just now, Cheapheat said:

What would be a decent number that would be considered a success in Wembley? And what kind of numbers would the stadium look a bit empty or underwhelming?

A good number is one where they don't lose money on the event, which I assume would have to be a gate of around 2.5m based on what I know about hire costs and how much it'd cost to stage the show.  I will defer to anybody who can actually come up with a better, more-reasoned number.

In terms of how it looks on screen, they can do a little jiggery-pokery and set the building up smaller.  Put a stage at one end, that takes away around 20% of the capacity. Find some way to blackout the upper tier, fill up the lower bowl and the pitch first, and you could have a setup of around 48,000.  That's a similar number to SummerSlam 2022.  That would be a massive success IMO and would have the "sea of people" look that you generally want from a stadium show.

31 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Hey, what about Hull? 

Too many jokes on this one.  I'm going to tap out.