On paper, they might have all the elements to be a true alternative to WWE. You have a big superstar in Jericho to help with bringing some mainstream attention, You have the 2 biggest acts on the indies with cody and the bucks and if the rumors are true, they will get the biggest attraction on the indy scene at the end of the month in kenny omega. They have billionaires that really seem like they want this thing to succeed. So outside of a great TV deal, everything seem to be in place for them to make a go at it.
The thing is that while everything looks good on paper, were not in the early 2000 when WWE had no competition and their really wasn’t a lot of Indy wrestling promotions trying to take WCW or ECW’s place. So it was easier for a upstart promotion to get momemtum because nobody was there to go against them.
In 2019, that’s a different thing, we have already a lot of big super indy with guy that have a ton of money trying to get into that spot, not counting WWE who’s already proving that they are able to create their own indy style promotion with NXT. So it’s harder to get people invested in yet another wrestling show when they so many already on. So that’s going to be a problem right off the bat in that AEW will have the hardcore base of fans right off the bat, but how do you get new fans to give it a chance when you have so many options to choose from.
The other thing and that’s something that got brought on SNME and i agree with agnew on this point. The press conference was a way to try and make a first good impression. the production was horrible first of all, so they look like amateur which isn’t good when you’re shopping for a tv deal. Then it would have made sense to have the Kahns on camera during the press conference. It would have giving them much more mainstream attention then Jericho did mostly on sports news channels because of their connection to the jaguars.
The other thing when you take the time to look at it is, the you’re not getting ALL IN with this promotion, you’re getting ALL ELITE. By that i means that ALL IN you had guys from different company working together to put on the best wrestling show possible, ALL Elite is pretty much who’s not bound by a contract from the other big promotions, So for a while, you might get stuck with the same guys wrestling each other and won’t get the dream matches that you were able to get with ALL In. They’re a lot more restrictions in running a promotion.
Anyway, until everything is announce including the start date, it’s just fun discussing a lot of what if, So i will leave you with this question that was ask on SNME, Is there a place for another promoition in this era of wrestling or will the launch of AEW kill some of the older promotions?
This is just a rumor at this point and i doubt that they’re too much into this. The revival without the revival name isn’T worth shit to anybody, they are just another random tag team.
I doubt that they would leave a steady paycheck and stable job that they work so hard to get just to jump to a start up that isn’t a proven commodity and have to rebuild everything they work hard for.
Thats crazy. They were awesome in NXT way before the revival name. Even with new names they are amazing performers and if they choose a name thay starts with R the #FTR still works.
Who cares about a name? kenny omega is silly as hell. Cody is a first name. Its talent that matters.
No way are they leaving. Aside from the money and job security they are in the title mix and are far from being totally ruined. I wouldn’t be shocked if Gallows and Anderson leave though. The longer they are in WWE the less valuable they are outside of WWE. Then again they both have families and I don’t think WWE is ever going to release anyone ever again unless it is do to behavior. problems.
Look thru their comments on Twitter. Sure seems like they are fed up with tag team wrestling on the main roster. I’ve always wondered which guys value the art of wrestling and creative freedom (like Bryan described in the Nigel doc) vs which guys care about the downside pay.
People saying guys need to leave WWE …please. Zack Ryder has a sweet new house in Orlando while Colt Cabana is living in a studio apartment. No way Zack could ever get that house if left 5 years ago rather than work “Main Event” and Superstars matches for 5 straight years now.
The fact is, with his knee injury, Dawson has at best 5 or 6 good years of wrestling left. So if they wanted to make the most out of this, they are better off leaving wwe now because in wwe, they pretty much going to be stuck on the level they are know.
The biggest trouble they will have is that for a lot of casual fans, the know them as the revival and are not a big enough name on the wwe totem pole for being a top act that will attract new fans to any promotion. So if they aren’t happy and want to leave then I would give them they’re release because they aren’t very important to the company and sadly team like them are a dime a dozen in wrestling so they can easily sign a new team and put them.
Kanellis’ would be a bunch of ungrateful fucks if that’s true…they signed both of them and one goes directly to rehab and the other gets knocked up on the companies dime.
Revival were.never going to draw shit outside of a few people wanting to see a good match…they’re not the Midnight Express or Tully and Arn…Tully and Arn had actual personalities people gave a shit about and the Express gad Jim Cornette…those two have nothing to offer other than a damn good match…that’s a dime a dozen.
I love this talk about how guys can only make money in WWE. Do people think Jericho or anyone is lying about AEW paying great money to known guys in wrestling much less just decent livings. What you wanna tell me Dash and Dawson are making 7 figures in WWE and any merch money they make is as much because of BTE as it is WWE. Oh and Zack Ryder isn’t a big enough star. The dude has charisma, got popular with an audience and was punished for it. Got a bootleg push and doesn’t show up on real TV. Why the F shouldn’t he go try to be a star in somebody else’s company.
But noooo The Elite and Tony Khan and Jericho are lying when they say they don’t want to beat WWE - just be an alternative to wrestling fans. How dumb would they be to try and grab casual fans who barely tune into Raw anymore? You know who may do really well on a wrestling show that is made for wrestling fans (of which there are more than enough to tune in to make a Network happy for a fraction Fox just paid WWE). Hey Wrestling fan - can’t see guys you would like a chance to see used creatively, here, watch AEW? Doesn’t sound like a terrible concept. If it’s hot and a major success more people will tune in because it’s good not because Brock Lesner is showing up. That barely pops a rating anymore like it used to. So I’m all for seeing the forgotten worker getting a shot with a mix of people I already trust will entertain me and known good workers.
And a nice Orlando home isn’t breaking any professional wrestling talent paid by Vince for the last 10 years. And I doubt Khan is handing out minimum wage. That’s not how you do business and he knows that. He runs two legit sports teams and I mean they paid Blake Bortles
Oh and this might be incoherent…rambling while drinking. But it’s funny to me people who will rag on WWE will hate on anything different or not give it a chance. At the worst it’s another wrestling company capable of running a great show on any given night. At best, it gets a good TV deal. Breaks the wheel. And some network is thrilled they didn’t pay 2 billion dollars for it. Yes, Jericho and Goldberg and some names help sell it to the hesitant exec, but if they are offering Live programming that can draw on the coup WWE just landed and be a fraction of the price. Do you realize for 1/50th of the price a network can get a property that may be able to draw 50% the rating WWE does and it would be a win for everyone? ROH is held up by Sinclair or I’m sure they would have tried. Impact was on life support and is in such a bad way with Anthem they were placed in a make good arrangement TV deal. It’s ridiculous people don’t see how viable this can be if they can simply put together a well produced version of Raw which nobody even finds entertaining anymore. I’m not willing to say it’s going to be a home run but the math on it and the opportunity for talent is full of real possibility.
Give me one promo in NXT they gave that’s memorable.
You can go to WWE’s youtube page and they’re all over it cutting promos on Lucha House party and their Raw Tag title matches…and guess what…unremarkable.
Don’t give me that BS about lack of primo time…they got it…biggest thing they ever said was “that’s right…we said WRESTLING”…wow pipe bomb.
Here my take on this, AEW is a start up and got a lot of variable going for and against them right now.
I know fans want to believe that this will be this great thing that will compete with WWE and that it’s going to be the be all and all as far as a wrestling company is concern. They might be, they might not we don’t know.
But going after former WWE isn’t the answer to make a impact especially if you got after the mid and lower mid card guys. That’s the best way to get the reputation of being wwe lite. Nothing against the revival or for that case Mike and Maria, because I’m fans of both act, but They’re not going be bringing new eyes to the product
WWE fans are a fickle bunch especially WWE loyalist. It going to take a lot more then a few guys leaving WWE to make us watch any other product outside WWE. We’re going to stick with WWE no matter what and forget all about thoses that left.
That’s the group of fans AEW need to convince if they want to even have a chance to compete with the big dog that is WWE and it’s not by signing lower mid card talent that they will be do that.
Right now, as a start up, they are in a serious threat to other federation on their level and under. MLW Will be the main casualty of the AEW start up. Impact might be in trouble also. But let face it, without the revival gimmick or the character name, both guys are Less then nothing in the wrestling business as is most of the lower mid card of the wwe. Sure they can make as much money going to aew and be able to have more freedom, but it won’t move the needle as far as bringing new fans to AEW.
IF they want to compete.
OR they can be very happy to serve the rather sizable wrestling fanbase who would enjoy an alternative to WWE’s idea of wrestling. And maybe make new fans that aren’t the “casual WWE fans” who purely watch based on brand name alone - of which I know several that will watch Rumble, Mania, etc. but would not give another product a chance. In the words of Fale - Fuck’em.
I am amused by the antiquated way of thinking that for success in wrestling it has to be WWE level.
I am as well, but ever since this project as been announce is that a good chunk of the fan base and even some in the wrestling media have been talking about how they are in a position to compete with WWE and if they want to be successful they need to get the mainstream audience to turn.
Personally, I feel like they can be successful without trying to be like wwe. Try to get the hardcore fan base to give their product a chance.
The other thing that bugs me is that we saw a news like the revival ask for their release or Mike and Maria ask for their release and some of the fans think that they will be the hire that will bring in more fans. Their not going to change a thing
First of all, even if That’s true and they ask for the release, They’re not over enough to bring in New fans to AEW same goes for Mike and Maria. Secondly, if HHH and the peoples in charge of talent relation are smart, they would release them so that they 90 days no compete clause ends after the double of nothing event so that AEW can’t sign them for the event.
The thing is the revival are over with the fans that live in this wrestling bubble like you and I, but outside of that nobody care about them and the fact that they will be three months without any exposure will kill any momentum they would have. Yeah you can market them as former WWE wrestlers but really outside the hardcore wrestling fan base, who will really cares. The good side of this for them is that while they will get probably get paid the same as what they were doing in wwe, at less they will be able to do what they love and with Dawson knee problem, you don’t know how long he got left in his career as knee injuries are a tricky thing.
So for me, the last thing I want for AEW is that they try to compete with WWE because they will lose before they even start, they can be successful without trying to be on the level of wwe in my opinion, they will need to get some of the wwe crowd to watch Their product so that they can at some point be more successful.
and any merch money they make is as much because of BTE as it is WWE. Oh and Zack Ryder isn’t a big enough star. The dude has charisma, got popular with an audience and was punished for it. Got a bootleg push and doesn’t show up on real TV. Why the F shouldn’t he go try to be a star in somebody else’s company.