There’s so much going on in pro-wrestling right now, I figured it might be time to do a non-review write up of what’s going on in American wrestling since I normally only reserve my thoughts for AEW Dynamite Reviews. Despite how I’m still not a fan of the current era of pro-wrestling, I am interested in what’s going on regarding pro-wrestling, which is why I wanted to put some thoughts down.
This morning I woke up reading an article about the current situation with NXT/HHH. In recent weeks, there had been a large number of firings from NXT in particular. It was said that Vince McMahon personally had flown down to NXT to examine the people. One could say he probably took a top down view and just picked out what he thought would make the roster and most likely asked Johnny Ace (Laurenitis) and Bruce Pritchard to finish up.
So part of the situation from that though is that the so-called ratings “war” between NXT and AEW on Wednesdays with NXT eventually moving to Tuesday was seen as a failure on HHH’s part, which allowed others inside the company (most likely Ace and Pritchard) to get in Vince’s ear to discredit HHH. Supposedly, the cuts occurred without HHH and HBK’s knowledge beforehand.
It’s a very strange situation since HHH is Vince’s son-in-law with Stephanie being probably the 2nd most powerful person in the WWE behind her father. At the same time, it’s not surprising given how the WWE has operated this past year with the huge number of talent cuts and the general decline, which mostly is the result of COVID-19. However, one could argue that the situation was used as the perfect storm to clean house.
With regards to the talent cuts, I’m pretty much a proponent of it. The problem with wrestling these days is that people on the roster tend to stay far too long and don’t have the opportunity for a fresh start. At least with AEW’s growth, one could say that there are more opportunities to make good money but more importantly freshen up the look of the company.
Yet the internal strife is the most interesting aspect in all of this. I don’t know what Ace nor Pritchard get out of this beyond more pull and resentment from the talent. But is their collective goal to try and push HHH and Stephanie out down the line? Up until this moment, there has been tremendous speculation that with Nick Khan’s promotion to president and these talent cuts that the WWE is being set up for a potential sale. If that’s the case, are Bruce and Ace attempting to gain enough control to wrest it away if and when that happens?
Moving on in a semi-related note, let’s talk about Ric Flair. The latest rumor is that he’s a deadlock for AEW and I’m certain most people won’t be surprised to see him show up there. He himself on Instagram had a post where he admits that he refuses to retire. While he might not be an active in ring performer any longer, I’m sure Flair is looking down at his friends, seeing how “legends” are getting screen time and having their moments and thinking to himself, “I need to be a part of this!”
Now, this comes at a time after he was involved in a terrible story line with Lacey Evans being pregnant and the father implied as Flair. While that could’ve been the creative last straw, my gut tells me that he’s just eyeing the growth that AEW is experiencing and probably wants in, giving the creative situation as an upfront excuse to get out of his contract (after all, Flair isn’t really known as someone who is direct)
I wouldn’t doubt seeing Flair involved in a last time Horsemen story or even one major moment that gives them a proper send off (similar to how Tully got his sort-of retirement match with FTR), possibly even involving Sting (maybe as a Horsemen if Barry doesn’t show up). I think with all the young talent being marks for the veterans there, his presence would be seen as a warm welcome and he would get the final respect he wants before feeling perhaps that he can leave on his own terms. Plus, I think as a backstage coach he could make a great asset as long as he can keep his behavior in check.
Next, let’s discuss the widening of the Forbidden Door. On AEW Dynamite, they had Christian Cage challenging Kenny Omega on Rampage (tonight) for the Impact title while Kamille from the NWA, who is their women’s title holder, showed up to talk about her future challenge of Leyla Hirsh. On Impact, JR, Schiavone and Christian showed up to further discuss Christian’s challenge for Rampage and how he would be grateful as a new Impact champion by actually not deflecting challengers (not to mention his connection with TNA’s history). Also, Melina had returned more of the NWA Empowerrr angle that’s growing.
Then tomorrow (Saturday), Andrade is challenging Kenny Omega for the AAA title while Lance Archer, on the same day, will face Tanahashi for the IWGP US title. And on that card, we’ll be seeing ROH, Impact and AEW in addition to the NJPW, which is pretty crazy if you think about things. One could easily say that the amount of interpromotional stuff is at an all time high and for pro-wrestling fans, it’s a great time.
Now, for myself, I keep thinking that if the promoters are smart in all of this, they’ll see the bigger picture in that they need to continue to work together to help strengthen each other up in order to rebuild the pro-wrestling scene around the world. While I doubt we’ll ever see another territory system in place, I do think we can at least have a certain brand awareness that allows these promotions to thrive for the coming years.
The thing with the WWE is that when they had gobbled up all the major competition, they practically left too much of a vacuum and tried to engender a single form of pro-wrestling, which really wasn’t what their end goal was. However, many fans had been alienated because more traditional forms of pro-wrestling died when WCW was bought and ECW folded. And in Japan, things were terrible because of how splintered things had become. The end result was a discombobulated notion of wrestling that formed the indy scene, which is great in that wrestlers can still earn a living but the mainstream audience has slowly died off due to increasing lack of accessibility.
Now, the internet with streaming, YouTube, social media, etc. some of that audience has been resurrected. Instead of underground tape trading, you have the ease and convenience of sharing links to bring new awareness of people along with social media giving these wrestlers their own opportunity to create their own brands and have an individual voice. And as the streaming platforms have matured, these smaller brands more opportunities than ever to be seen and even make legitimate money through reasonably priced subscription services. It’s a pretty amazing environment if you really think about it.
But again, the key here is seeing the big picture of what needs to happen, being that they need each other to survive. And with more revelations of the WWE’s current internal turmoil, it feels like the perfect time for these promotions to fill the void and use that momentum to elevate themselves.
That said, let’s talk about the hard immediate reality in all of this by examining this week’s AEW ratings. The past three weeks had shown a steady increase in AEW Dynamite’s ratings. But this week it fell. With some inspection, it was said that The Challenge was the reason AEW lost people. While that might be the case, it does show that AEW has its limits, which should worry them.
Part of the problem I felt with AEW Dynamite this past week was that it was a very weak show, especially with Rampage debuting tonight. It felt like a glorified Dark or Elevation show with no one that I really cared about in matches that meant nothing. Like with the previous week, the Malakai Black vs Cody match is what I felt was being built up pretty strong. Yet everything else just didn’t stand out and I really believe that Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks end up turning off viewers than bringing them in with their off putting antics.
Then I think the big show coming up in Chicago where CM Punk is reported to be showing up is on a Friday for a 1 hour program. That sounds like a terrible idea. It makes almost no sense to me. I get the idea of having Chicago with the anticipation of CM Punk showing up. But outside of tiny hints, there is no explicit mention of him appearing. This is REALLY bad.
And here’s where the AEW marks cannot discern reality. First, when AEW Dynamite got switched to Friday nights for a few times, they did poorly, managing to hold onto half their audience. I mean, wrestling on Fridays tend to be a bad spot just because the target audience probably are busy or about to sleep in those time slots. Compare that to a prime time slot on a Monday night where people are starting their week and wanting an aggressive shot of adrenaline to deal with the week’s upcoming stress. So even though AEW has been doing a lot to advertise this new show, I cannot imagine it beating the current AEW Dynamite audience on Wednesdays.
Second, the echo chamber that are the AEW fanbase somehow believe that former fans are going to automatically start watching this new show that’s going to be on a cable network TV for CM Punk’s return, which only have been hinted at on dirt sheets. The use case I heard was on Konnan’s podcast where one guy said he can see himself texting his friend on how CM Punk is suddenly on the air. So what? Do you think that friend is going to drop whatever they’re doing, rush home, subscribe to a cable network (or whatever) then suddenly go, “OMG it’s CM Punk!”
NO!
That’s not reality. That’s an echo chamber of a poorly thought out use case. That person is going to simply reply “cool” or whatever and think the other guy is being a mark (without knowing the term because both guys are casuals) and not care. If AEW is intending to have CM Punk show up as a surprise for a brand new show without any direct promotion and believe that this super secretive underground network is going to automatically create its own buzz to get the casual fan to pop up and triple their normal Dynamite ratings, they’ve got another thing coming.
There is a clear reason why TNT did not want anymore surprise guests from AEW. It’s because they can at least market the guy and prepare fans with advertisement, especially the casual fan who might not know nor care about AEW but actually care about someone like a CM Punk who has more mainstream recognition than a jobber like Marko Stunt and promote the guy throughout the week. You can’t internally masturbate each other hoping to get the hot chick pregnant.
Lastly, let me talk a bit about Rampage and Christian Cage tonight. I honestly believe he will win the Impact title tonight just because it’s booked first and that AEW will need to make a statement about staying tuned in for the other two title matches to make their initial Rampage a success. Since it is being labeled as a “historic event”, I imagine that they want their opening segment to be the thing that hits the immediate home run.
The other two matches are pretty worthless though in my book. There really is no point in having Miro challenging Fuego Del Sol for the TNT title and having him receive a contract opportunity. It would even be worse if they try to swerve the situation and move in an actual challenger, which could always be the case (like if they did something ultra stupid and have Christian lose to Omega only to get another title shot against Miro). Also, if this match lasts longer than a few minutes, it’s pretty much missing the point of Miro.
Since Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus are challenging the Young Bucks for the tag titles, I cannot see Jungle Boy getting the immediate shot against Miro. I figure that the match with Fuego will be a short squash with someone major coming in to challenge Miro. At this point, there’s no way it’ll be Daniel Bryan. The only logical person I can see (to my chagrin) given the rankings is Orange Cassidy. But I think he’s still mired in a midcard feud with Matt Hardy and his group, which is fine for me.
However, the money match to me would be Miro vs Jon Moxley. They could do Miro vs Brian Cage but I think Brian is still in the endless feud against Team Taz. But Moxley seems like the free wild card that would be worth something. So say Fuego gets squashed badly by Miro. Maybe have Moxley come in to save the guy and make the challenge. Moxley doesn’t have to win that match but I would use that as a possible platform for a heel turn for Moxley.
Then there’s the Red Velvet vs Britt Baker title match. Really don’t think Red Velvet will win here but I’m hoping it won’t go long. If it does, it’s a mistake and I think both might panic and try to do something crazy that might get them injured. I’m predicting something that goes around the 12 minute mark at most with Britt pulling out a devastating win. From there they might try and setup an angle. The natural thing would be to bring in Thunder Rosa and have that match occur at All Out. Given the NWA Empowerrr situation, I think a far more exciting thing would be for Mickey James to show up and further open that Forbidden Door. Heck, bring out the other women from ROH and Impact as well to get a showing.
At any rate, these are just my 2 cents for what they’re worth.
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