All Elite Wrestling is currently touring Canada and their next stop is Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. They’ll be presenting episodes of Rampage and Collision.
It is official that on Collision, Dax Harwood will be going one-on-one with Tommy Billington, who is the nephew of the late Thomas Billington a.k.a. Dynamite Kid. Tommy has a brother named Mark and they team together as The Billington Bulldogs.
That match is going to be joining a lineup that’ll feature Adam Copeland defending the TNT Championship against Kyle O’Reilly in addition to Bryan Danielson being in action.
I’m all for people getting chances, but how does this announcement do anything beyond help fill a card?
Unless you are family, no one is buying a ticket or watching this show for this match.
To your point @TheBenjamin, why not use people already on the roster for these spots? Again, this is your first trip to this market and this is what you are advertising a few days out trying to sell the last tickets (I.e. over half the building)? You have that roster and you are dedicating TV time in a market debut to a non-factor/well-established wrestlers debut and advertising “Brian Danielson will do something!”, which is supposed to fill the building. How? They must be relying on the massive influx of Cruise ship tourists Vancouver is expecting this weekend they totally knew was coming to fill the building.
No thought here to an unserved fan base, the fact it’s a market debut, or attempting to fill the building at all, save for the all-Canadian main event with a local tie-in. This booking can be interpreted as simply going through the motions and fulfilling content requirements to get paid by a network.
How does this sell tickets, draw viewers, or develop current storylines?
This is not the must-see AEW I stopped watching or check out a PPV for. My complaints aren’t solitary: much of what I’ve said and complained about here for months, Bryan Alvarez has discussed recently as issues with AEW. I’m not alone in my thoughts, so I know I’m not crazy. Lol.
It’s a good look and atmosphere to put 4,000 people in a building that holds over 18,000 people in a second visit to Edmonton. So, 6000 in a building that can hold over 19,000 is better, especially for a debut!
Only in wrestling does the idea exist that small crowds in big empty buildings = perceived prestige and success.
OR, here me out, these are the same types of attendance splits I experienced attending WWE shows in Calgary throughout the 2000s and 2010s that led WWE to stop filming TV altogether and move house shows to the much smaller, outdated Corral, which improved the vibe and atmosphere.
The anti-WWE is awfully reflective of WWE and TNA in a time when the wider audiences continued shrinking, fan bases felt disservice, and literally created the situation for your promotion to exist. I don’t get so much of what this company is doing.
Sometimes I wonder if I am too stupid for pro-wrestling. Honestly.
I get the building being the promoter choice, but it’s just one of those wrestling peculiarities that I struggle with. LOL.
I’ve only seen the O’Reilly interview, these SkyTrain ads, and IIRC, there was a local podcast (Vancolour) Copeland was on a few weeks ago that I didn’t listen to (edit: but I went and found it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZV-N2A6y6w). Nothing else.
Great main event, though. That should be a great match for those in attendance!
They’ve got plenty of time to promote the show then! I mean the show is Saturday, lots of time to do the only makerting they really do well: social media within the wrestling bubble.
I really hope they get closer to half-hockey capacity than where they’re currently at. I don’t think 6,000 people (1/3rd total building capacity) for a market debut is good - it’s fine and nothing to be upset with, but more could have been done.
I’ll be around the building a few times between load in and load out. I’ll let you know if I see any “street teams” doing promo work or attempted papering happening the day of the show?
Him and his brother were both really fun to watch during there brief stint in mlw as the Billington bulldogs. He might not be ready for tv full time yet, As a one off thou, Dax will take him to a good match…I’m at least excited to see it.