The inaugural All Elite Wrestling thread

When the gong hits in Vegas and the Deadman walks down the strip for the longest entrance in the history of entrances. Well that’ll be something.

I can’t believe how many guys are going to push over WWE into huge bad deals because their is competition. AEW should be getting a kickback. What a bad time to be in charge of WWE payroll. Everyone knows they are flush with cash and now this.

Get paid!

You think papa Khan is going to keep funnelling his kid his money to play wrestle because he was a mark?

Be assured that dude is going to be collecting insurance money after he declares bankruptcy if this investment doesn’t pan out.

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Bankruptcy? For AEW? That’s to say he has creditors to pay which I’m not sure he will. Maybe so e production costs but we have t even got news of the TV deal so I suspect they’ll have cash flow from that for a little.

And a Mark making a show for Marks - what a novel idea?! Who do you think watches Raw or Smackdown Live anymore? If WWE booked for Marks the shows wouldn’t be as bad as they typically are.

I want to be on record as saying Wrestling should be booked for Marks because they are the ones who will spend money, stick around during the down cycles, and provide the base support. And the rest of the casual fan base will either tune in for attractions or just for the brand name which isn’t who AEW is trying to draw just yet (not by actions at least).

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I like Daniels and Kazarian but they are they are so played out and have worked at so many places for years at this point. Having them there just makes it feel minor league. I hope they are mainly doing jobs behind the scenes and possibly working as agents.

Just to clarify my sharing of Mike Johnson’s post - I just wanted to share that info.

With all the names thrown out there in the last week that people seem to be talking about, I figured I’d share that.

Of all the talent listed, the most realistic to me, I’d say are the Usos. They are a team who have done everything they can do - and have basically no upward mobility where they are. They above all others could really do well for themselves joining a promotion that actually seems to be focused on promoting teams as top talents (assuming as much based on who behind it.)

I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, but we also have to consider that the Usos are from a family that has been connected to the WWE/McMahons for somewhere around 60 years.

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And yes - that is obviously the biggest roadblock in everything I’ve said. But I think they’d realistically have the most long-term to offer an upstart.

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I don’t think any wrestler views being loyal to the WWE as a thing anymore. It has been the evil empire trying to monopolize the industry for a while at this point. It’s like being loyal to Wal Mart. Wrestlers should be loyal to what’s best for the business as a whole.

They have done all they can do at WWE and quite frankly were never all that over while there for the 10 years now. No tag team should ever be with one company for 10 years. I don’t see WWE letting them try to be singles stars either so what’s left for them to do at this point in WWE?

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Exactly. They have absolutely nothing more they can achieve in the WWE.

I’d think as artists, they’d be excited at the possibility of working with teams like the Bucks, the Lucha Bros, Golden Lovers, etc - and being recognized as one of the best at what they do vs. being in the never ending rotation of “heat up team A for a PPV, do some TV, disappear for a month, rinse and repeat”.

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As far as the uso’s are concern, i feel it all depends on how naomi feel about it because i’m sure they will discuss anything concerning they’re career with her since one of them is married to her. Plus, like somebody mention before, WWE is pretty much a second family to them, so i feel it would be hard leaving it even if it’s for a better opportunity which i’m still not sold that AEW will be.

That’S the big gamble for anybody that’S thinking about Leaving WWE right now, do you play it safe a stick with guaranteed money and stay with WWE or go out and sign with a unknown entity like AEW that you’re not sure if it will even last a year. That’s the choice these wrestlers have to make at this point because it’s all well and good now because the kahn will put money into the company kinda like turner did in the 90’s with WCW. But if it fail to get a decent audience within the first year, will they be willing to put as much money int the company or will they just give up and put as little as possible and let it die like so many other investors that where big wrestling fans did before them.

Glad you are.not running any business. The entire point of business is to try bring your product to the masses. If Marvel stuck to being faithful to the comics and their nerds…they’d be worse off than before the Disney buy out.

And guess what…you think Jericho isn’t some attraction act? Or thise rumours of trying to get Lesnar? Orton?

Sure those are just rumours but im still going to LOL at your terrible business vibe…work for the base only…hahahahahah thats so asinine.

So let me get this straight. You want to swing for the fences before you can hit a ball off a tee? Excellent. Let me know how that goes!

When you start something from scratch and need to prove the concept you play to your strengths. In the wrestling industry that is the Mark. The fan who spends dollars and will support it while it gets its feet under itself.

I’ll stick with your example: imagine Marvel never built up an audience or following that proved viable/profitable/valuable for Disney to buy. Where would t be now if not for the Comic crowd showing Disney how they support the genre and products.

AEW became a reality because All In succeeded and that was a show for the Marks. It will land on TV because they have demo tapes of All In being sold out and a rabid audience that made the show come to life. Why would they now go another direction and focuse on an audience that won’t even tune in for the flagship wrestling show Monday Night Raw

Barstool Sports was a niche site catering to its fan base for years before they made it huge. And what made it huge was a dedicated fan base that allowed them to get more ambitious. And along game Chernin once the site was valuable.

Netflix offered niche movie delivery services before starting their own shows - but I wonder how they would have done if they decided to just go right after cable companies first and asked a global audience to watch their own TV and Movies. Again, gotta go for the masses first, right :thinking:

You know who went after the masses right off the bat: FS1 when they launched. And outside of its live sports that network floundered (go look at Skip’s ratings who they spent 6 million on to draw the First Take crowd/masses) instead of building up their own original ideas or talent.

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You have to start by having a clear cut identity before democratizing your product (and thus lose some of your identity). Start with the smarts and then go from there.

Dont switch your narrative.

You said and i quote

Also. The point of a business is to make money.
Not

And as for my narrative: Marks spend money. Marks fly around the world to shows. Marks buy subscriptions. Marks buy merch. Marks watch TV when it’s terrible. Marks listen to podcasts. Marks try new things in wrestling despite the unknown.

And all of that make money!

A new business starting out should:

  • Make Money from target audience
  • Be Popular regardless of whether audience spends

0 voters

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Placating the core base will do nothing but hold businesses back.

They’re the dumb fucks with the crab bucket mentality who will turn and shit all over a growing business when it looks like they’re being moved on from.

Thus…fuck em…you already have their money.

They’re not abandoning WWE, MLW, ROH, New Japan anything wrestling related and have subscriptions to the WWE network and New Japans subscription.

Guess what? Those people who watch the youtube show are not going to make them anything. The core base of pro wrestling fans is tiny.

:man_facepalming:

Yup. Being The Elite never drew a dime

LOL what happens when the novelty of it runs out?

Those marks cant go to every show.

Ultimately, yes, a business needs to expand. But having tracked WWE’s audience growth (or contraction), there is a strong case to be made that in Wrestling today more money is spent on the product by less fans than ever before, and that is not a bad thing, if you are making more money than ever before (which clearly the WWE is doing).

Back to my original take that Wrestling should be booked for Marks (not trying to argue it, but rather explain more fully):

Marks are the ones who are always going to tune in and be the constant, and spend the money. They are the ones who will shit on the product when it is bad, and get very into it when it is hot. When Marks are into the product, the show and therefore the talent get over because the audience brings the talent and characters to life in ways the casual fan gravitates to. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Rusev Day, Becky Lynch, just to name a few of the recent cases of this.

“Marks” (not a bad term, despite what some would have you believe), have time and time again got behind somebody and made them feel more important or more over than where they were slated to be.
And that has a real impact on how casual fans view the product. When the crowd is hot, they think it means good and they are more likely to get invested. The casual fans defer to the “Mark” as the taste-makers.

If a company were to book more to Marks, it would be satisfying the core fan base, which in turn, would make the product seem more favorable by those watching all the time. When a casual fan tunes in and sees a hot crowd, or goes online and sees people into something or someone, they are more likely to be drawn in than when they see criticisms all the time.

The YES chant was the epitome of this and that was not a design of the WWE booking, but a genuine reaction by Marks who wanted to see more of Bryan. It was Marks who made it a thing all on their own, which caught fire, just like Becky right now. She wasn’t the chosen one by creative, she was chosen by the people who love wrestilng, and in that reaction to her, casual fans have rallied behind her too.

All the while, if you continue to cater to (or milk) the core audience which are the ones willing to spend on you in the first place, you satisfy your business objectives and have a more likely shot at drawing in others by word of mouth, or interest in something receiving praise, not ridicule.

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