John Pollock and Wai Tingreview the fifth-anniversary episode of AEW Dynamite and break down the announcement of its renewal with WBD.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics joins us to discuss AEW’s media rights renewal with WBD, the escalation of rights fees, the Max component, and the pay-per-view strategy.
Also: Bryan Danielson takes on Kazuchika Okada in a Title vs. Title match, Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet, Dr Britt Baker returns for a match with Serena Deeb, and Hangman Page takes on Juice Robinson. Plus: NXT debuts on CW Network with Trick Williams winning the NXT title, and how the show performed.
Feeling like it is clear that they’re headed to a Claudio vs. Okada rematch at Wrestledream… They had the draw right before All In. Would seem natural, as Okada was upset with Claudio last night.
I could get behind that. I would like to see Claudio win it, then you can make Yuta a central character of the Continental Classic in giving him a quest to specifically take it off of him.
I’m really hoping they don’t turn Wheeler Yuta in this story.
Just got caught up on last night’s show. It didn’t feel like a huge “Five Year Anniversary Extravaganza” but I’m glad they didn’t force it by hot-shotting a title change or something like that. (I would have preferred to hold off on Ricochet/Ospreay rather than do TWO non-finishes, but that’s not AEW style.)
Was nice to see Okada go all out. And Danielson is a “vs. a broomstick” guy for me… I don’t think he can have a bad match.
The Mox thing isn’t hitting for me, but it’s obviously in its early stages, so we’ll see. Though if it’s Shane McMahon, count me out.
I think it was smart to let the Media Rights story breathe as the big news of the day, as a large percentage of their fans really care about that, as compared to a WWE audience where many of them probably wouldn’t know/care unless they were told in the body of the show. Sometimes the “For the Sickos” thing doesn’t sit well with me, but you can’t deny that Tony knows his core audience.
I wasn’t even thinking about Shane until I saw some online scuttlebutt about it. I’m kind of morbidly curious at the notion of him in AEW, but not like this. Really, I think they should wait until the dust is settled on this WWE lawsuit, or just not give in to the temptation of getting him in there at all. But I really don’t think Shane heading the BCC is gonna work. It’s gotta be Shane and the new Elite if they’re gonna use him at all.
I’m really enjoying the Mox storyline as it is though, I still think Moxley is AEW’s best wrestler and I love when he’s engaged in major storylines.