All Elite Wrestling

[KawadaSmile]

That would be a historical bag fumbling, really. Based on all accounts, MitB was an absurd financial success, and SS92 is still one of their top PPVs in terms of live attendance. Not running WM there would be insane, and we know they have tried more outrageous things before (WM2).

Really dope seeing wrestling companies have crazy huge events overseas. I wish companies could see Brazil as a viable touring spot. Chile has become a favorite location among some wrestlers, shame we don't really have that same vibe.

[NintendoLogic]

WWE's overseas PLEs have mostly been subsidized by the governments or tourism boards of the countries they were run in. It seems unlikely that running Mania at Wembley would be more profitable than running it at a US stadium unless London was willing to pay up. WWE is a publicly traded company that has shareholders to answer to, so they're not in a position to put bragging rights ahead of making money.

[Mr JMML]

20 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

The crazy bastards really are going for 90k at Wembley, and they might just pull it off.

https://twitter.com/WrestleTix/status/1676335490121846784

It's still difficult to believe that they will pull it off.

[Robert S]

21 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

WWE's overseas PLEs have mostly been subsidized by the governments or tourism boards of the countries they were run in. It seems unlikely that running Mania at Wembley would be more profitable than running it at a US stadium unless London was willing to pay up. WWE is a publicly traded company that has shareholders to answer to, so they're not in a position to put bragging rights ahead of making money.

Not that I don't agree that WWE will very likely not run Wrestlemania outside of North America (or at least not in Europe, the Saudis might be crazy enough to spend nine-figures on a Mania) within the next 10 years, but they went public 24 years ago and have done A LOT of things where bragging rights went over making money (the whole booking of the Invasion, for one). Endeavor taking over should change things, obviously.

[Robert S]

On 7/2/2023 at 10:18 AM, Stiva said:

To be fair, it’s not even the actual cost of the ticket, it’s more the hotel and travel that will knock the price up. I have a feeling that TK has something wild up his sleeve for Wembley so I think I’m going to bite the bullet and head down for it. Even if I have to watch through golden binoculars 

I am still on the fence regarding going to the show. Flights still are pretty cheap (roundtrips are in the 120 to 170 Euro range), and there still seem to be decent but affordable tickets available. The date itself would also be fine (I have vacation the week before and the one after). Thing only is, I am lazy. ;-) (also, I suppose London in August is not the best time for tourist stuff)

[Jmare007]

2 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

That would be a historical bag fumbling, really. Based on all accounts, MitB was an absurd financial success, and SS92 is still one of their top PPVs in terms of live attendance. Not running WM there would be insane, and we know they have tried more outrageous things before (WM2).

Really dope seeing wrestling companies have crazy huge events overseas. I wish companies could see Brazil as a viable touring spot. Chile has become a favorite location among some wrestlers, shame we don't really have that same vibe.

Sadly, I think the hardcore wrestling fanbase here has died down in the last decade. In the late 00s-early 10s there was a mix of fans that grew up with 97-2002 WWF/E (myself included) and the younger audience that was picking up from 2007 when wrestling was once again on national TV. 

Once Fox Sports got the rights I feel things died down considerably.

On the other hand though, I've seen every musical act you can imagine run big stadiums or multiple arena dates to sold out crowds with embarrassingly high ticket prices so WWE running a big show might get some numbers anyway, lol.

[strobogo]

The game had me kind of wanting to revisit some of the early classics in AEW canon. Cody vs Dustin. The thing that stuck out the most is my god JR's decline is aggressive. At DON 2019, he sounds so full of excitement and energy, probably like mid 00s levels. It's also interesting to have Excalibur in the Tenay-esque color man, fighting his instincts to be the play by play every 30 seconds. And JR just speaks louder when he doesn't give a shit about what Ex is saying. 

Cody's presentation and poise and just feeling is so much better as a face in WWE. Part of that has come with age and experience, part of it is that it just feels so much more natural for him to be that almost 70s style earnest babyface. The throne thing is still so lmao. Has that ever come up in a post show scrum or one of WWE's webshows? Banger of a match, though. Dustin's head just straight pouring blood. 

Wish they'd bring back the mat logos. Having Cody/Dustin followed by Bucks/Lucha Bros is really AEW in a nutshell.

[Jmare007]

Grand Slam 3 at Arthur Ashe confirmed. Sept 20th

 

[C.S.]

Brian Pillman Jr. is apparently gone.

He looked like an absolute dork in his feud with MJF, but he also exposes AEW's complete inability to pivot when something doesn't go according to plan. Why not even try a heel turn to see what would happen? (Or did they do that on Dark/Elevation and I missed it?)

[Alucard]

Thought he and Brock Anderson would have potential as a heel Horsemen type team, but after the cool segment where Arn kind of put them together, nothing much ever came of it.

[MLB]

Probably best for Pillman Jr. and AEW to part ways for now.  I'm guessing he goes back with MLW.

[strobogo]

6 hours ago, C.S. said:

Brian Pillman Jr. is apparently gone.

He looked like an absolute dork in his feud with MJF, but he also exposes AEW's complete inability to pivot when something doesn't go according to plan. Why not even try a heel turn to see what would happen? (Or did they do that on Dark/Elevation and I missed it?)

I would say it's actually the opposite. usually when something isn't working or doesn't go according to plan, they over pivot the other direction and make sure you know they're doing so.

[NintendoLogic]

For better or worse, AEW is largely a sink-or-swim environment. If you're not one of the company's pet projects, you're pretty much on your own when it comes to getting yourself over. That can be great for those who are exceptionally creative or driven, but it isn't nearly as great for those who would benefit from a more structured setting. Another downside is that it incentivizes doing whatever you can to get over even it comes at the expense of your opponent or the bigger picture, which in several cases has led to legitimate bad blood.

[MLB]

Appears WWE is pouncing on Pillman Jr. quickly, he was seen at the PC yesterday. 

[Jmare007]

According to Zarian, All In will be on PPV because HBO Max/MAX is not prepared to stream live a show like that right now as they don't have built-in infrastructure. It seems AEW will try to work a PPV bundle to get All In and All Out cheaper, considering they are 1 week apart.

I have a very hard time figuring out how MAX doesn't have the capability to stream a live wrestling show but they do have it to stream futbol games?

[TheDuke]

It looks like Collision and Rampage are off TV in Canada again as my PVR is showing no episodes scheduled to be recorded.  Which is whatever for Rampage but I liked Collision. 

[The Thread Killer]

1 hour ago, TheDuke said:

It looks like Collision and Rampage are off TV in Canada again as my PVR is showing no episodes scheduled to be recorded.  Which is whatever for Rampage but I liked Collision. 

Apparently that’s because the CRTC (the Canadian equivalent of the FTC) has regulations in place that mandate Canadian channels have show a predetermined percentage of “Canadian Content.” That explains why although TSN has 5 different channels, they still show some bizarre and obscure Canadian sports programming rather than more popular American sports or events. It turns out they have to, in order to keep their broadcasting license.

For the past month, both Collision and Rampage have qualified as Canadian because they have originated from Canadian locations and have featured Canadian talent. That is apparently one of the reasons that the shows have prominently featured talents like Ethan Page and Shawn Spears. That was the trade-off for getting them on the air in Canada.

Now that the Canadian tour is over, that no longer applies and Collision and Rampage both go back to being exclusive to the TSN+ app. AEW apparently has some sort of deal in place already to keep Dynamite on the air, so that stays the same.

At first, I was super pissed off about this whole situation, but having looked into it a bit further I am not quite as angry. When Collision was first announced, I had a Smart TV but it was a pretty old model. OK, it was a very old model. I had some apps on it, but I could not download new ones. There was no way to do it. I didn’t even have Disney+ on my TV because it was not a thing at the time my TV was manufactured. I had YouTube and Netflix and a couple of other apps, but there were so many apps that I did not have on that TV and I could not add any.

I have since purchased a brand new TV (not because of this) and in settling it up I discovered a couple of things. Firstly, if you are already a subscriber to TSN as part of your normal cable package, it turns out you do not have to pay extra for the TSN+ app and secondly, on the newer model Smart TV’s you can easily add the TSN+ app to your actual channel lineup. This was not the case with my old TV, so I had no way of watching TSN+ on my TV. I don’t know why, but with the newer model Smart TV’s, you can add pretty much any app to your TV. I now have the FITE, ROH and New Japan World apps downloaded and available to watch on my beautiful new 65 inch Smart TV, which makes things much easier. It means I don’t have to watch stuff on my tablet or phone, because I really don’t like watching TV that way.

The upshot is, if you have a fairly modern model Smart TV and you get TSN as part of your cable package, then you can still easily watch Collision and Rampage on TSN+ on your TV. And it is commercial free, which is even better. They do not go to picture-in-picture during the breaks. The bad news is, shows cannot be recorded on your PVR from an app, so if you can’t watch it live, you are going to miss it.

The other thing I have discovered is that you can easily download a VPN on the newer model Smart TVs. In that case, you can easily use the VPN to change your geographic location, and then use the FITE app to order AEW Plus. You just have to change your location to Australia, or certain parts of the UK and you can watch all of the AEW programming with no commercials, live as it happens.

So while it does suck that Collision is not available on broadcast television in Canada live as it happens, it’s not as bad as I thought. I actually watched Collision live using TSN+ the past two weeks, rather than waiting for the broadcast version at midnight, and it worked out pretty well for me.

But in the bigger picture, it’s pretty stupid that AEW does not have a broadcast television deal in Canada, especially since they seem so intent on running so many shows here. It’s a small wonder they had a hard time selling tickets to some of those shows.

[Mr Wrestling 2000]

It never even dawned on me that the can con regulations would apply to sports. Ive been lucky that TSN+ has been good because some people i know have had bad luck with the app. That said I am going to get aew+ thing going soon, i cant take seeing the same ad 3 times in the same break during Dynamite.

[TheDuke]

The regulations must have changed since the 90s when TSN showed both 2 hour RAW and three hour Nitro. Also, Sportsnet in Canada must have a special deal because they show RAW, SmackDown, NXT, and WWE Main Event so like 8 hours of wrestling each week.

[strobogo]

I mentioned a bit earlier that I was going through some of the classics in the earlier AEW cannon for funsies. Basically, 8.0 and up on cagematch, although I'm skipping Jericho bullshit and some early Dynamite stuff that I actually do remember and have no desire to rewatch. No need to give big write ups or anything.

 

Dustin Rhodes vs Cody 5/25/19 Cagematch Rating: 9.40 WON rating: *****

I agree with the ratings. When Dustin starts breaking out Code Reds while just leaking blood out of his head, after Cody had pretty much dominated him the whole match...whew.

 

Young Bucks vs Lucha Bros 5/25/19 Cagematch Rating: 8.79 WON rating: ****3/4

I agree with the ratings. Some really wild shit in this. Completely different from Dustin/Cody.

 

The Elite vs Laredo Kid/Lucha Bros 6/29/19 Cagematch Rating: 8.17 WON rating ****1/2

Dave's is probably a tad high. Real cool shit of course. Bucks as Ken and Ryu, Kenny as Akuma, and JR confused about it the entire match.

 

Joey Janela vs Jon Moxley 6/29/19 Lights Out Cagematch Rating: 8.03 WON rating ****1/4

Both are too high. Janela just fucking sucks and brings down what otherwise would be a pretty visceral match. 

 

CIMA vs Kenny Omega 7/13/19 Cagematch Rating: 8.31 WON rating ****1/2

Slightly overrated, but not by much. The biggest issue I had was CIMA hits the meteora like 15 times in the last few minutes, after both guys had basically hit every insane move they had up to the OWA.

 

Young Bucks vs Lucha Bros 8/31/19 Ladder Match Cagematch Rating: 9.17 WON rating: *****1/4

Definitely too high from Dave. It's a wild and inventive ladder match, but I can't see any ladder match being "break the scale" good. Again, tons of just bonkers shit. The Canadian Destroyer off the ladder through a table should be an all timer spot but Matt was doing spots a few minutes later anyway.

 

Kenny Omega vs PAC 8/31/19 Cagematch Rating: 8.20 WON rating: ****1/4

Ratings seem about right. Awesome finish with PAC getting the Rings of Saturn on a standing Kenny, Kenny going down in a weird angle and getting choked out by it.

 

Joey Janela vs Kenny Omega 10/9/19 Lights Out Cagematch Rating 8.28 WON rating: ****1/4

Both are too high. Janela just fucking sucks and this match is actually worse than the Moxley one.

 

Jon Moxley vs Kenny Omega 11/9/19 Lights Out Cagematch Rating 8.91 WON rating ****1/2

This is lightyears ahead of either match with Janela, so for Dave to only give it half a star more than both is weird. Some truly wild shit in this, but the real FUCK part to me is Kenny takes a lot of very awful bumps in this. Like yeah, there's the barbed wire and glass and shit, but the multiple bumps on anchor chains, the bumps on the exposed wood, just regular Kenny bumping like a maniac bumps are what had me cringing more than the actual hardcore stuff. Also interesting to see how much bigger he looks now, but also he's certainly slowed down a bit and lost some of that spring in his step. Also, it's time for Moxley to bring back his original music. The Onita "tribute" bullshit ended like a year and a half ago and does not fit with BCC or his current persona/style.

 

 

 

[Stiva]

I wish we had got more of CIMA in AEW. Dude should have got a proper US run at some point in his career, in general

[Tetsujin]

That Lights Out match between Mox and Omega is such a classic, a very important match for the promotion early on and it totally delivered. My favourite part was Mox going through the broken glasses or thumbtacks or whatever in order to reach the ropes while in a cloverleaf.

[TheDuke]

On 7/16/2023 at 6:51 PM, The Thread Killer said:

 

The upshot is, if you have a fairly modern model Smart TV and you get TSN as part of your cable package, then you can still easily watch Collision and Rampage on TSN+ on your TV. And it is commercial free, which is even better. They do not go to picture-in-picture during the breaks. The bad news is, shows cannot be recorded on your PVR from an app, so if you can’t watch it live, you are going to miss it.

....

So while it does suck that Collision is not available on broadcast television in Canada live as it happens, it’s not as bad as I thought. I actually watched Collision live using TSN+ the past two weeks, rather than waiting for the broadcast version at midnight, and it worked out pretty well for me.

So I have am Amazon Firestick and downloaded and signed into the TSN app. I see they have the July 14 Rampage but not the one from last night. When Collision starts tonight, where on the app would I go to watch it? It's not immediately clear.

Edited July 22, 2023 by TheDuke
Typos

[The Thread Killer]

2 hours ago, TheDuke said:

So I have am Amazon Firestick and downloaded and signed into the TSN app. I see they have the July 14 Rampage but not the one from last night. When Collision starts tonight, where on the app would I go to watch it? It's not immediately clear.

When it’s 8:00 PM, just log into the app. The options menu at the top will be “Home” “Live” “News & Highlights” and “TSN+”

Just click on “Live”

That will take you to a list of everything that is being broadcast on the 5 TSN Cable Channels at the time, but it will also have a link to Collision.

[TheDuke]

Awesome.  Thanks.