WrestleMania 43 - Saudi

[TheScarlettChad]

I've mostly stopped because my Mrs hates wrestling and thinks it's morally disgusting. But WWE is so shite at the moment that I don't feel like I'm missing out. 

[LCJ]

12 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

I've mostly stopped because my Mrs hates wrestling and thinks it's morally disgusting. But WWE is so shite at the moment that I don't feel like I'm missing out. 

I’m in the exact same boat. I’m still going to AEW in Manchester in December but I hardly watch AEW or WWE anymore. WWE in particular is very difficult to like these days. How long can one company keep screwing over the fans before they stop caring?

[JNLister]

AEW All Welcome

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, TheScarlettChad said:

I've mostly stopped because my Mrs hates wrestling and thinks it's morally disgusting. But WWE is so shite at the moment that I don't feel like I'm missing out. 

Not mostly enough then.

[The King Of Swing]

51 minutes ago, JNLister said:

AEW All Welcome

.... Except TNA. 

[FUM]

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I said I’d stop watching and tried and mostly failed. Until Summerslam this year. Since then all I have seen is through clips on social media.

It’s some moral high ground you are on because you have managed to stop watching for a month.

I’ve stopped watching for that length of time through forgetting shows are on, give it a bye.

[Infinity Land]

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

@JNLister We speculated about that last night, and considering the Saudi shows have a special start time, Tony absolutely could and should. Throw in Starcast and some of the unaffiliated with WWE Indys and make a week of it.

TNA Lockdown from the APEX and NXTxAAA Worlds Collide combo deal with a premium watch party of WM N1 & N2.

AEW should just worry about getting their own shows as successful as possible. They'd be in the middle of Dynasty and Double or Nothing if their current schedule stays the same for 2027.

[air_raid]

I haven’t watched anything since SummerSlam but it’s CBA, not principles.

Its obviously gross but I’ll obviously watch it.

[Handsome Tex Hardcastle]

I've just seen a picture of the Wrestlers at the Saudi announcement. Fucking hell. They looked like they were gathered for a 10 Bell Salute.

I'm not as bothered as id typically be about the Wrestlemania thing, but thats purely because I think that quote about ticket prices is far more egregious. The more I think about it, the worse it gets. Company's looking to make more money isnt exactly headline news, but you'd expect the competent ones to use more euphemistic language. To say the quiet part out loud like that reeks of contempt for the audience. There are 101 different ways you can say "unlocking value", but the quote about Vince McMahon and Families was just bizarre. Its actually steered some of the discourse towards "Say what you like about Saddam Hussein, but,,,," territory. Its not unusual for a discussion about TKOs failings to be framed within the context of McMahons legacy, but to directly invite unfavourable comparisons with someone of McMahons reputation is utterly bewildering. 

I dont think its a given that this particular wheel is going to keep on turning the same way that it has for the past four decades. Theyve only been at this for two years and in that time they've managed to piss away an astonishing amount of goodwill. There are glaring signs that some of them don't know what they're doing and they dont seem to know when enough's enough. I dont envisage a scenario where dedicated fans switch off en-masse out of principle, but it isnt hard to imagine this sort of stuff accelerating a natural slump where people just lose interest.

 

[Cannibal Man]

Pay to get PWGs Kurt Russellmania name back in use and shithouse a weekend out of it while everyone else is on the other side of the world.

Edited September 13, 2025 by Cannibal Man

[LCJ]

Does anyone else think that when Stephanie McMahon went and advertised that VPN on her podcast, implying that Americans could watch WWE a lot cheaper, she did so as a ‘fuck you’ to TKO? I mean, I get that she’s married to Triple H (who isn’t running the business side of things), but perhaps she isn’t happy about how TKO are treating WWE fans given that her family built the whole WWE Empire on the back of paying fans and TKO seem to be doing things that even her dad wouldn’t have dreamed of doing?

[Kamran]

3 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

AEW should just worry about getting their own shows as successful as possible. They'd be in the middle of Dynasty and Double or Nothing if their current schedule stays the same for 2027.

I agree with this, AEW should continue to focus on their own product, as much as fans are saying they won't watch, Mania will still have millions watching. There's no point AEW trying to compete with it on the same weekend. 

However, with All In taking place in London next year I do hope they do take it back to the USA for 2027. All In Texas was a big success for them and they should try to build on that. If they announce dates early enough, hopefully some of the indies can schedule shows the same week etc. Although we all know WWE will still try to add some counter-programming, whatever week AEW decide to hold their biggest show of the year 

Edited September 13, 2025 by Kamran

[air_raid]

10 minutes ago, LCJ said:

Does anyone else think that when Stephanie McMahon went and advertised that VPN on her podcast, implying that Americans could watch WWE a lot cheaper, she did so as a ‘fuck you’ to Triple H?

Yes.

[Supremo]

Stephanie McMahon drew comparisons between the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and her Dad being under federal investigation. She called for, “Thank You, Vince!” chants after all the shit started coming out, forcing Vince into, “retirement.”

Forgive me for not thinking she has much of a moral compass or normal sense of empathy/reality.

I wish I was optimistic enough to even consider that Stephanie would go into business for herself and undermined TKO’s greed out of pure love for the fans.

It’s approximately three hundred million times more likely that she doesn’t even understand what a VPN is, and was just mindlessly reading from an auto-cue.

Edited September 13, 2025 by Supremo

[Infinity Land]

11 minutes ago, Kamran said:

I agree with this, AEW should continue to focus on their own product, as much as fans are saying they won't watch, Mania will still have millions watching. There's no point AEW trying to compete with it on the same weekend. 

However, with All In taking place in London next year I do hope they do take it back to the USA for 2027. All In Texas was a big success for them and they should try to build on that. If they announce dates early enough, hopefully some of the indies can schedule shows the same week etc. Although we all know WWE will still try to add some counter-programming, whatever week AEW decide to hold their biggest show of the year 

I do think it would be a good idea to rotate All In where they can. It's all going to be about picking the right spot. The thing to remember these days is that Summerslam and Royal Rumble are stadium shows. Summerslam is a two day event now. By 2027 the Royal Rumber maybe as well. Survivor Series this year is even in a stadium. It's not like WWE/TKO are not going to tap into the North American market for big events just because WrestleMania isn't there one year. 

One thing I forgot about WM weekend 2027. It would be very easy for them to have a UFC event in US primetime in addition to all the other wrestling promotions under the TKO's control to crowd out that specific weekend.