CI Wrestling Thread #56

[K-mac18]

And now we can all move on with our lives. Looks like around 150 million per year.

AEW to Stream on Max Following New Multi-Year Rights Deal With Warner Bros. Discovery

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has officially signed a new multi-year multimedia rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.

variety.com

 

[K-mac18]

The debut of NXT on CW did 895,000 viewers and a .26 in the demo.

Dynamite 5th Anniversary, sounds like it may run over by 30 minutes.

AEW Champion Bryan Danielson vs. AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada - Title vs. Title.
AEW International Champion Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet.
Serena Deeb vs. Dr. Britt Baker.
Hangman Page vs. Juice Robinson

 

[Wesley91581]

The debut of NXT on CW did 895,000 viewers and a .26 in the demo.

Dynamite 5th Anniversary, sounds like it may run over by 30 minutes.

AEW Champion Bryan Danielson vs. AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada - Title vs. Title.
AEW International Champion Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet.
Serena Deeb vs. Dr. Britt Baker.
Hangman Page vs. Juice Robinson

Danielson/Okada going an hour?

 

[HeismaNole]

Jay White just returned and attacked Hangman.

 

[GeraldV]

Jay White just returned and attacked Hangman.

That should be a fun feud.

 

[Wesley91581]

That should be a fun feud.

Jay White looked great - I hope they book him like he should have been booked all along. Time will tell but he deserves a main event push.

 

[TheBlueCat]

 

[GeraldV]

View embedded media

You kidding me? A reduced rate on ppv’s with a streaming service I already get for free because I subscribe to HBO. That’s amazing!

 

[Strokin_Bandit]

Just a drop in the bucket for AEW fans, or so I've been told.

I still don't get Jay White. I understand the freshening up hiatus to re-establish the gimmick, but not sure reigniting the feud with Hangman is the way to go. Is he a heel? Face? Serious and unhinged face out for redemption? Comic face with a life-size cardboard cutout? Chicken heel? Real life edgy? Where are we going here?

How long is Swerve out?

 

[AmericanDragon]

A whole lot of people, including some on this very message board, looking like really huge dumbasses with this new AEW media rights deal.

 

[AmericanDragon]

That PPV revenue is a lot of revenue to give up and once you do it there's no realistic way of going back.

On the very low end average of 100K buys and $40 (international buyers only pay $25 but there are far less international buyers), that's $4 million per. Obviously AEW doesn't get all of that though since the carrier gets a cut of it.

And AEW PPVs generally do 120-130K+ buys, so $4 million per would be on the pretty low end.

By going the WWE way with PLEs, you're gambling on some downstream, long-term financial benefits to offset the PPV revenue, and I don't think right now is exactly the best time for AEW to be taking that gamble. PPV buys are the one variable revenue source they have that is doing consistently well year-over-year as I assume merch sales are down with popularity/attendance being down.

I do think the PPV should be price no higher than $20, $10 would be what they should be going for. AEW has to know that some US buyers are smart enough to VPN internationally to get $25 PPVs - hell SRS encourages people to do that with Fightful's Nord VPN sponsorship and you know infinitely online TK has to be aware of that - so it would be stupid of them to price it more than $25. And a discount compared to the international price would encourage people to move their buying habits over to Max instead of keeping their purchased PPV library on Triller.

 

[AmericanDragon]

And now we can all move on with our lives. Looks like around 150 million per year.

AEW to Stream on Max Following New Multi-Year Rights Deal With Warner Bros. Discovery

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has officially signed a new multi-year multimedia rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.

variety.com

For the record it says "upwards" of $150 million, which means $150 million is the minimum. Don't know why they just don't give the actual average yearly amount but that's how they wanted to announce so it is what it is.

 

[AmericanDragon]

Despite poor ticket sales and social media trolling, AEW continues to conduct weekly episodes at big arenas. Many fans have suggested Tony Khan to move to smaller arenas like NXT and TNA do, but Tony doesn't listen.

Now, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful has disclosed why Tony Khan prefers doing shows at big arenas only -

"I've asked about this a number of times and I've been given a number of reasons they book the venues they do. It's very common for music acts to book large venues and curtain them off as well. Amenities, how nice the venue is, ease of access, parking, mailing lists, the ability to open up additional sections, concession staff are all reasons AEW chooses to run bigger venues."

In one of the YouTube live streams he did talking about this topic, someone who works in events crew in some capacity for non-wrestling stuff said that many smaller venues wouldn't be able to handle the electrical load of an AEW production. I obviously would have no way of knowing if that is true or not but thought that was an interesting comment.

 

[AmericanDragon]

Ya but didn’t Tony just say he’s focusing on week to week booking so that’s the opposite of story focused?

Also when you have a handful of people with creative control they aren’t looking at the big picture.

I think the reason TK gets trolled online is b/c AEW is more and more just a kid playing with his wrestling figures and nothing about business minded decisions.

Any other wrestling company would scale down the venue but TK is absent minded in that regard.

It also doesn’t help the jags are the laughing stock of the nfl and he’s the jags director of analytics.

So ya I think that’s why TK is getting trolled b/c he’s just wasting money and he’s like ehh who cares.

Tony never said that.

And that kid not making any business minded decisions is about to make AEW the second most profitable wrestling company in history. When's the last time you started a company and made it the second most profitable business in its industry in well under 10 years?

 

[GeraldV]

For the record it says "upwards" of $150 million, which means $150 million is the minimum. Don't know why they just don't give the actual average yearly amount but that's how they wanted to announce so it is what it is.

SRS and another outfit posted yesterday that it was 185.

 

[AmericanDragon]

You're correct. Week-to-week booking is the opposite of the strategy you need to get new fans

I listen to 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff and I've also heard Russo (as annoying as his accent is) discuss AEW and I absolutely believe AEW could benefit by having an outsider be brought in who has actually lived this, understands TV, and what to do to bring new fans to the product (and keep them), and also knows what doesn't work.

I like AEW a lot (I was a big ROH guy). They obviously have flaws but they have an incredible roster of talent. Still, you gotta do something that moves the needle instead of catering to the smarks. That's a very niche base. Drop the blood in nearly every match for one, but like Bischoff and Russo say, without a story, two guys in the ring doesn't mean shit.

Bischoff and Russo, you mean the two guys that helped both got fired and helped kill WCW and then both got fired by TNA after they ran that into the ground too?

 

[AmericanDragon]

SRS and another outfit posted yesterday that it was 185.

Yeah Fightful, WON, Andrew Zarian, and WrestleVotes. Don't know how WrestleVotes got their information, they almost never post about AEW. Only other thing I saw them post about AEW within the last two months was that lawsuit filed by Kevin Kelly and the Tate twins.

 

[HeismaNole]

Bischoff and Russo, you mean the two guys that helped both got fired and helped kill WCW and then both got fired by TNA after they ran that into the ground too?

Yes. It’s not much different than you trying to help your kids not make the same mistakes you made.

Bischoff did correct things and had failures. I think he’s very knowledgeable. No one is going to score 100% in business. Clearly what’s occurring right now is not growing the company. I want the company to succeed and definitely think outsiders are driven more to story focused aspects. Two guys in the ring with no story isn’t that interesting to most.

Also to be fair to WCW, there was so many factors. Definitely not on one guy's shoulders.

 

[Col. Angus]

Goddamnit

 

[WildcatFan1982]

Goddamnit

Did WWE declare sharia law and make all the women cover up?

 

[Col. Angus]

Did WWE declare sharia law and make all the women cover up?

Worse. Poster word diarrhea.

 

[billCgmx]

Bischoff and Russo, you mean the two guys that helped both got fired and helped kill WCW and then both got fired by TNA after they ran that into the ground too?

It's too bad that Time Warner and AOL didn't back up WCW the way WBD backs AEW.

That's all I got to say about that.

 

[Wesley91581]

Tony never said that.

And that kid not making any business minded decisions is about to make AEW the second most profitable wrestling company in history. When's the last time you started a company and made it the second most profitable business in its industry in well under 10 years?

Show me it’s the second most profitable - consider all the expenses TK takes care of plus salaries plus all the expenses running the production and venues. It might be a small profit but second most in history is a stretch.

 

[HeismaNole]

Show me it’s the second most profitable - consider all the expenses TK takes care of plus salaries plus all the expenses running the production and venues. It might be a small profit but second most in history is a stretch.

I would be absolutely shocked if AEW was in the black. SHOCKED!

 

[AmericanDragon]

Yes. It’s not much different than you trying to help your kids not make the same mistakes you made.

Bischoff did correct things and had failures. I think he’s very knowledgeable. No one is going to score 100% in business. Clearly what’s occurring right now is not growing the company. I want the company to succeed and definitely think outsiders are driven more to story focused aspects. Two guys in the ring with no story isn’t that interesting to most.

Also to be fair to WCW, there was so many factors. Definitely not on one guy's shoulders.

Grew the company to the tune of an approximately $110 million annual increase in media rights.

 

[AmericanDragon]

Show me it’s the second most profitable - consider all the expenses TK takes care of plus salaries plus all the expenses running the production and venues. It might be a small profit but second most in history is a stretch.

You were the one saying AEW was going to get canceled because why would WBD renew them when they can put Big Bang Theory in their spot, so go suck it you know-nothing mark.

 

[Wesley91581]

You were the one saying AEW was going to get canceled because why would WBD renew them when they can put Big Bang Theory in their spot, so go suck it you know-nothing mark.

Good bot.

 

[K-mac18]

Even though they have a new deal I guess the ratings still matter.
Dynamite did 680,000 and a .20 last night, down from last week and honestly a little disappointing after the events of yesterday.
They were 7th for the night behind baseball, Fox News and MTV's The Challenge.

 

[Nightwish84]

AEW is doing a mini-version of what WWE just did - keep a home on cable and plant a flag on a streamer. WBD lost the NBA and like any streamer, Max needs millions of hours of content. AEW isn't "hot" but it's inexpensive and proven to have a dedicated following, even if it's shrinking every year.

They're continuing to bring in elder WWE guys and have dream matches with little build. Ospreay vs Ricochet already happened with no build but it got some fans to post "we're eatin' good tonight boys" and "inject this into my veins" so it was worth it I guess.

I don't see their attendance numbers, ratings, storylines, etc. improving. Take Owens, Styles, Finn, Sheamus, bring in Shane - I just don't think it matters with TK at the helm. I was told by wrestling "experts" getting Mercedes would be a game changer. Because of the booking, she's the equivalent of having Zelina Vega on the roster now.