ASK-A-WAI: Questions Thread

John since your time at the LAW, you haven’t really interviewed many pro wrestlers. I know Andrew Thompson has done many but for you yourself, did you find interviewing wrestlers (particularly WWE talent) to be a tiresome task with them not being entirely engaging. Is this an avenue you would like to explore again in the future at Post Wrestling?

I really enjoy the work Andrew Thompson does on everything here. How did that relationship come about?

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You guys mentioned top ten AEW talent on the latest Rewind A Smackdown in reference to where Gargano would fit.
I’m interested to see who you both think are the current top ten performers in AEW?

Steve from Cambridge ON

Chris Thunder from Down Under,

Heading into 2020 I personally felt that we were on the cusp of a global wrestling boom for areas like Mexico, Europe, & Australia.

However the pandemic has drastically changed both how the promotions operate and how the global fans consume them.

My question:
Does POST Wrestling experience enquires for more coverage of scenes that traditionally receive less coverage from most major wrestling news sites?

Keep up the great work by yourselves & the extended POST Family.

Hey y’all, not a very frequent poster but I am trying to make it a point to engage with the Post community more frequently and I figured this question that has been rolling around in my mind is a good place to start.

My question:
I am wondering how the WWE review shows are fairing in terms of listenership?

It seems like interest in RAW/WWE is fading especially in the Post community. My rationale for this is the very small amount of feedback that has been reported on Rewind a Raw over the past few weeks/months. However, I also notice LOTS of people mentioning they listen to you all instead of watching. So I am curious if its possible that listenership has gone up as a result? I ask because honestly anything seems possible.

Thanks for the shows, they definitely make the work grind a lot less grindy.

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Anthony from Detroit

My question is on Tyson Fury’s involvement with the WWE. He’s charismatic, a large than life character and provides the “sports center” moments the WWE loves. Was he brought in strictly as a big name for a crown jewel show? His brief run was uneventful IMO.

Thanks!

Jesse from the 6

Who was a more charismatic performer: Jack Tunney or Linda McMahon?

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Hi guys, and Happy Hanukkah John (although you might be reading this after the holiday).
This is the first time I am posting a question for ask-a-wai so I wanted to first thank you for starting this amazing community which has been a real resource for me in the past year since I discovered you on youtube. I am especially grateful for you two making it possible for me to finally choose not to watch Raw! I have been a WWE fan for over thirty years, ever since Wrestling Challenge and Superstars became available on Israeli cable TV, and this is the first time I was able to avoid watching Raw without feeling like I might miss something important. So thanks for your sacrifice…
My question is about the important AEW video which showed wrestlers Dax Harwood, the Blade, and others as well as Vickie Guerrero and Amanda Huber opening up about their struggles with depression and anxiety and encouraging people to reach out and ask for help. This is of course also related to Eddie Kingston’s amazing article in the players’ tribune and to your wonderful work in The Wellness Policy. I wanted to know if you heard anything or have any thoughts about this blessed shift in the discourse around mental health in the professional wrestling industry. Do you know how this video/enterprise came about and whether Tony Khan approved it? Are there any more related projects in the industry you might have heard about? Thanks!

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Edward from London, ON

Back in June, there was a Forbes article about AEW & Tony Khan that included the line “…an eight-figure investment in video game development will keep the company in the red for now.”

I understand it’s apples and oranges, but do you have any information on how much WWE made year over year when it came to their 2K games? Could AEW recoup that 8 figure amount with the first console game or is that more of a cost to get started for multiple games down the road.

Great job on all the amazing content this year, hope to call in soon.

The first time I saw you guys was during fight week, 1 on 1 interviews on youtube. Is there any interest in the future to bring recurring 1 on 1 interviews to post? I think pollock is just as solid as ariel. Really digging ariels YouTube interviews more than the mma hours. I think pollock would knock that out the park. Maybe even wai and gina part 2. :slight_smile:

Happy Holidays, guys! Hope you both have a safe and relaxing one.
Were you guys into museums at all whether historical, science, music, etc.? I’ve personally always enjoyed those field trips in grade school since Chicago has a variety of museums all over and in the future I would love to go to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto one day. Just wondering if you have any favorites.

Second Q if there’s time: As non-hockey fans, in your opinion, is there still a place for fighting in hockey?

Anthony from Melbourne,

I had always heard that although WWE and WCW had very high ratings in the 90s, advertisers wouldn’t pay to advertise on their shows because they felt wrestling fans didn’t spend money. Given the cost of rights deals for wrestling these days, when did this thought process change and why? (if that was even the case).

After writing the rest of my question I realised I answered my own question, if you guys have thoughts on the below I would be glad to hear them, otherwise feel free to skip the rest.

I believe TNA’s best rating was their move to Monday night back in 2010 with 2.2 million viewers while that nights RAW with Bret Heart averaged 5.6 million viewers, outside of that TNA managed to get around 1.7 million viewers for a short period.

The reason I bring this up is because obviously the AEW and WWE ratings these days are a widely discussed topic but also much lower then they were back then.

How you feel AEW compares to TNA in their peek in regard to viewership?

Mathematically (which I’m not very good at) RAW has dropped 69% (5.6m to 1.7m roughly) where as TNAs 1.7m to AEWs 0.9m is a 47% decrease.

So relatively speaking AEW is a more popular product than TNA at it’s peak.

Hey guys,

I was recently going through some old Year End Wrestling Observer awards while looking up candidates for the Hall of Fame. One notable winner one year stuck out.

In 2001 Kazushi Sakuraba vs Wanderlei Silva was the feud of the year. Granted this was 2001 and the WWF had dropped the ball with the Invasion angle, but I find it fascinating that the feud of the year was from a Japanese MMA promotion in a newsletter read by predominantly western readers. This was also pre the MMA boom in 2005 and before streaming was widely available.

Could you discuss the feeling around this feud at the time? The reaction to it winning feud of the year and how it was covered in newsletters?

Joycey in Ireland

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I know that there’s MCU Later now, but is there a chance of you two (John and Wai) still continuing your Marvel movie review series in the future?

Wai, have you checked out Doom Patrol on HBO Max? If so, any thoughts? To me it’s quality is right up there with Marvel shows like Loki, and it’s become an all-time favorite.

Hiya! A big fan of all your work this year :slight_smile:

Listening to the Rewind-A-Wai episodes, there’s a name that always, without fail, pops up in the trivia rounds: Mariah Carey! I’ve developed a real love and appreciation for Mariah’s music, songwriting and public persona. Do you have a favourite song/era from the Queen of Christmas?

Hello John and Wai,

People that work together and are friends for a long time usually have some manner of disagreement or even an argument at some point.

Do you recall an incident or time when you two weren’t seeing eye to eye or were at odds?
Love the content.

Joe

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Hi John and Wai,

I’m curious as to why AEW hasn’t focused on touring the west coast? Thanks for all that you do. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Sincerely
Dustin

Chris Elliot
Hello gents, hope you’re both well.
With the cuts over the last year and the change of emphasis with WWE’s hiring process, are you guys surprised that NXT UK hasn’t been affected? Do you think there’s still a chance for it to be the pathway to WWE that the talent were promised, or is it just a TV product for their BT Sport deal?
Thanks for all the content and I’ve been loving the news updates

Diego from San Antonio

Can we anticipate a review for Rocky IV: Rocky Vs Drago (The Director’s Cut) anytime in the future?

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Generally speaking, what is your interest level in politics on a local and national level? What were some of the events, issues or figures that first sparked your interest in either local or national politics?