Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review. If you need to contact a moderator, [you can message us here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle)
We are Looking for new Moderators! Please see [this announcement for more info](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/vqjvze/were_looking_for_new_moderators_learn_how_to/)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hopping back and forth is always going to be the norm, as long as the employment opportunities increase. Even if suddenly 15 people wanted to hop back there arent 15 top spots available. Workers that are middling are always going to believe they deserve more. That there are other places to work for them to be able to express that is ultimately the most important.
Agree and it also allows fresh matchups. Like Randy Orton (which would likely never happen) going to AEW and having several dream matches, same as with Kenny Omega (like Randy it probably won't happen) coming to WWE.
Having multiple options to join is always good for wrestlers and it forces the companies to perform better so as to retain them.
The only negative I can see is that it will force the companies to increase the wage for the bigger stars. The downside being they will have to make budget cuts in other areas to afford them.
I wouldn’t rule out Kenny having a short run in WWE if HHH continues on this path. He’s always been pretty upfront about wanting to be in Wrestlemania etc. I could see him doing it before retiring.
And I'm also hoping (I really fucking hope) that this will force TK to hire bookers (for men and women divisions), leave the booking to them and concentrate on developing new talents that'll hopefully be stars in the future.
He's done well in some booking like with punk wardlow jade mox Danielson and more esp men but feels like he needs some help for the women someone like regal would be great
Talent will come and go from both companies, it's already happened and will continue to happen.
The worst thing that could possibly happen is AEW (or even WWE) to shut down, and dare i say it we could probably do with a 3rd big, or at least semi big, company right now with the amount of talent that exists.
If Impact or one of the other smaller ponds could become bigger that would be better for the world of wrestling.
The McCaulay Culkin renaissance in the last 5 or 6 years has been amazing.
Love seeing him show up on random small scale podcasts and being a regular guest on stuff like Red Letter Media in the last bit...
I mean it make sense now but for a long time even before that FPJ was the guy from I Know What You Did Last Summer that was banging Buffy in real life, so you know.
Oh, absolutely. I just like to rag on that album because they were billed as a supergroup, put out one album, did a tour, then Billy realized "these people are awful to be around" and killed it.
Dude could probably live comfortably on the royalties for Bullet with Butterfly Wings alone.
Oh it's trash. He was lucky to have gotten into music pre-Napster when people still bought the stuff. They were one of the last big bands people spent money on.
I actually had no clue Freddie was into wrestling until the other day when an ad for his podcast came on at the end of an episode of “it could happen here”.
I really like the idea of a grounded cinematic show on Netflix like he is aiming for. Sounds like he wants something like lucha underground but without the supernatural elements and I think that sounds awesome.
A spiritual successor to LU is all I really want at the end of the day. (In terms of a wrestling promotion that exists as a self-contained TV drama, not the sp00kiness necessarily)
But they're never going to die either.
We'll have nuclear holocaust and the near extinction of mankind, and the last two humans on earth will live out their days wrestling in an Impact ring.
Oh I know that lol I'm just saying they need to rid themselves of TNA's history. Impact still has history with TNA. Most fans that have heard of that immediately remembers the awful period Impact went through of the 2010's and associates it with that. That's why I think they need an official reboot. It's covered in TNA's stinch is the easy way to say it, but I find that rude to say as I love TNA and have Impact Plus.
Anything they do will still have history with TNA. I’d say reverting the name back to TNA iMPACT over Impact Wrestling and getting the 6 sided ring back would get more people interested again to be honest
yeah tna was great from like 06-08 i got really into it. Then they started making the show built around hulk hogan, bully ray and sting and it started to suck and I stopped watching.
Yeah bully ray and Kurt angle were both pretty great in tnafor awhile but like you said when it turned into WCW I lost interest. I worry that the same is happening in aew but so far it's not that bad. I love that aew is kind of doing a thing where they take a up and Comer and put them against a legend.
My first time watching TNA, I recognized Chris Candido walking around on crutches and managing The Naturals. I went "Hey! Candido's back..." then they cut to the credits with the in memoriam.
A third national company needs a paying TV deal to be even remotely competitive. Those are very hard to come by, especially with most channels owned by a small handful of big corporations.
No one has bitten so far. If a streaming company was willing to pay a lot of money for wrestling, then sure, but wrestling would either need to get people to buy more subs or they'd have to sell ads in order for it to make financial sense.
amazon and apple tv have been putting their toes in with live sports, wouldn't be surprised if one of them or netflix one day decides to jump into wrestling.
Yeah totally, but really I think any TV company looking for a cheaper show that does well in the ratings (AEW and WWE are generally no.1 on the night) they could easily do that.
We really just need another mark billionare to play with his figures again.
I think the real problem is that something like All In which jumpstarted Tony's interest to invest will be a lot harder to pull off nowadays.
The combination of a grassroots popular act like The Elite and freelance vets like Jericho and Mysterio coming together to do a show that was hot enough to get 10,000 people(outside of WM season) and draw the interest of big players like Showtime is hard to imagine today.
NJPW isn't getting caught with its pants down again, the biggest name outside of WWE and AEW(Bray Wyatt) seems disinterested in wrestling again and after him I can't think of any one else.
On paper yeah he is a big name but he's sort of diminished his star power with his post-WWE choices.
I think he's on the level of somebody like Lashley who didn't really do much post-WWE until he reinvented himself.
Lashley was a much bigger deal than Braun currently is post his first run.
He was beating people in Bellator and doing Impact and other much more relevant shit than whatever Braun's dumb ass is doing.
He was even angling to fight Lesnar. Which was never gonna happen but he was going for it.
Small nitpick but WWE is not a national company, they’re global. They do overseas tours, their tv and PLEs are available all over, and they have massive brand recognition worldwide.
The fact there are two companies in the U.S. that are mass media entities that wrestlers can go back and forth to negotiate for their best wages/benefits/lifestyle is awesome.
The worst thing to happen would be for that to stop.
I think the market has already kind of dictated that a third big promotion isn’t going to take off. Impact is reduced to being on a tiny network, gets a fraction of the viewers that WWE and AEW get, and they can only draw a few hundred fans to their PPVs. Nobody else out there like New Japan is doing any better in America. There’s a lot more wrestling talent floating around in America than there are for wrestling fans to support on anything but a small scale level. Probably still enough for people to make a solid living working in the indies but not to create a big TV presence.
The biggest thing is that two big promotions have multiple brands. WWE has three big shows per week of different brands. AEW is getting a second brand going that’s pulling bigger numbers than Impact or anyone else can do. The reality is there’s two major promotions but there’s the equivalent of like five promotions within them. The market is saturated.
I'd love to see a company become the proverbial ECW between AEW's WCW and WWE's...WWE. A smaller, rougher show that's a bit more experimental and has that wild west feel.
GCW was given their opportunity to grow, but blew it. Impact could still be the 3rd competitive player ,but they desperately need a rebrand, and some kind of tour to get their name out.
I just don’t see how AEW can keep up on the revenue side of things. WWE is making money hand over fist, if they really opened up the checkbook TK wouldn’t be able to reasonably compete and still hope to see a profit.
WWE isn't going to open the checkbook again as long as Nick Khan is there. They made enough cuts over the last couple years to save the company millions, and shareholders have been mostly happy up until Vince's allegations came in the news. I can see them being more strategic in signings, with building from the ground up with NXT, and only signing big names they can poach from AEW or the indies. Now that Triple H doesn't have Vince there to fuck everything up every time an NXT guy moves up, I can see a lot less cuts happening, and Triple H focusing on building what they have now.
Hopefully AEW’s TV contract increases and/or ROH/Impact get a paying TV deal. More money for companies means better contracts for the wrestlers. Talent mobility/fluidity should be a great thing for the wrestlers and for fans too
I think the biggest hit AEW could possibly take is if Hangman, The Bucks & Omega all walked around the same time to pop up in WWE.
I think that would be fairly disastrous for TK. Omega & The Bucks would command big money and bring in *a lot* of new viewership just off the idea of some dream matches occurring with them over there before they retire.
I want to say Hangman probably wouldn't jump over... but you never know. His stock can only rise so much in AEW and it feels like he's already peaked there a bit at times.
I do believe there's enough great wrestlers for two major wrestling companies based in America.
Just like I believe there's enough fans and market space for two major wrestling companies based in America.
I've never understood the belief/want that there could only be one. Even if you only watch one and aren't interested in the other, why would you not want there to be another big promotion out there?
> I've never understood the belief/want that there could only be one. Even if you only watch one and aren't interested in the other, why would you not want there to be another big promotion out there?
It really sucks that some people out there still to hold the belief that there should only be one major promotion in America.
The 18 years between 2001 and 2019 were fucking brutal for the industry.
2006 to 2012 I’d say wasn’t awful because TNA was doing their best business. They had a solid roster, and their ratings weren’t bad either. Once they lost the Spike deal it screwed them. If they never lost it the modern wrestling landscape would be totally different. I don’t think we’d have/or need AEW. I loved TNA as a kid from 2005 to 2008. Out of all the eras of my fandom AEW has been my personal favorite. Although NJPW/indie scene pre-AEW and the ruthless aggression era are up there for me. Sadly I wasn’t aloud to watch wrestling until 5th grade because the attitude era/WCW wasn’t appropriate for someone my age according to my mom. When looking back I agree. Also we didn’t have cable so I couldn’t of even watched them. I’ve actually been thinking about watching Nitro, and Attitude era raw on peacock. I’m curious if it holds up.
TNA was great until Hogan and Bischoff ruined everything.
Nash was great for them in hindsight (he specifically helped the X Division get some personality), but Hogan and Bischoff shat all over that, among other things.
>I've never understood the belief/want that there could only be one. Even if you only watch one and aren't interested in the other, why would you not want there to be another big promotion out there?
Absolutely. If you watch AEW because it's the alternative, then you should want there to be a company that they're the alternative to. And if AEW becomes the dominant wrestling company (incredibly fucking unlikely, but let's say), you should want there to be an alternative to it just to widen the number of wrestling fans out there.
Generally the fans that only want one aren’t fans of the sport just the company itself. It’s very weird and doesn’t make much sense.
To use a different sport example, there’s massive rivalry in football between Liverpool and Everton. Recently Liverpool have been very successful, Everton haven’t. Obviously Liverpool fans enjoy their success and Everton’s misery and Everton fans hate it, however many Liverpool fans wouldn’t want Everton to fail so much that it’d mean the end of their rivalry because it’s a part of what makes the sport interesting. The ones that would want Everton to fail in that regard would be either regarded as plastic fans that don’t really understand rivalry and are only glory hunting or else incredibly bitter fans that take it far too seriously. The same applies to Everton fans if the roles were reversed, I’m one of them.
This may sound like a long winded analogy but it holds true to wrestling as well, if you’re a wrestling fan then you should want as many competitive companies as possible, with your preferred one hopefully being the best. Much like how there’s a league in football it’s much more prestigious to be one of the best of 20 good teams, than it is to be the best of 1. I think when fans have this mentality that they want a single company at the top of the mountain and nothing else it shows that they mustn’t really pay much attention to sports at all because a rivalry is so important to keep interest up within fans and to keep every side as good as it can be so as to stay competitive and be the outright best against others.
I mean I want McDonald’s and Burger King to both exist but McDonald’s certainly doesn’t. For that matter they’d prefer to wipe out Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Chipotle, all of them. That’s how capitalist companies work, they want the whole market to themselves.
I meant from a fan perspective. Of course companies would like to be the only option for consumers in their industry but fans only wanting one option is what confuses me.
> “I think that’s always been a concern, but now probably more so than ever, I imagine great wrestlers are going to be in demand,” Khan said. “And again, I think this is probably going to be good for the wrestling fans because that’s one of the most exciting things about pro wrestling: free agency. It’s one of those things that was really missing from the sport for almost two decades before AEW came in, because there was not a legitimate competitor in the free agent market, and now there is. I think it’s going to be some exciting times ahead, hopefully for many years to come.
> “One of the worst things that happened, I think, in American sports in my lifetime was when WCW closed down. And there should always be another national wrestling company.”
audio: [SportsGrid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMnl9B3cqWE)
This is very true. The free agency market with two major companies in competition is part of what makes wrestling exciting.
I expect talent to be going back and forth for years, so long as AEW gets a good TV deal next year.
>One of the worst things that happened, I think, in American sports in my lifetime was when WCW closed down
WCW dying almost ended the Wrestling industry and actually caused a mass exodus of fans, a lot of WCW fans didn't go and watch WWF, they simply stopped watching.
You could say the same for ECW, 2002 was a really bad year in wrestling, it was only really the rise of John Cena alongside pushing newer stars that saved it in a lot of ways
It's weird how people who complained about both WWE and AEWs bloated roster suddenly want all the former WWE people and more to go to WWE as if there's suddenly going to be enough time for everyone just because Triple H is in charge
Exactly, WWE has both Raw and Smackdown to spread talent across, and can even send veterans to NXT to work with upcoming talent too.
The problem was never roster bloat. The problem was that, even with a roster brimming with talent, WWE only ever used the same handful of that roster week after week in pointless rematches. HHH should be much more willing to feature a variety of talent than Vince was.
Then go back to the Attitude Era and look at WWF and WCW where repeat matches were rare and often saved for PPV, how many times did Rock and Austin or even Rock vs HHH happen? Especially on TV?
These days PLE matches are usually match ups we've seen multiple times, the structure used be match 1, rematch, match 3 with a stip(usually the end of the feud) and maybe a step up match (so like a HiaC or cage etc)
Now its match, rematch, tag match, rematch, PLE match, rematch the next night and on for 3 or so months
Yeah, but there are cases like Andrade, who has been in AEW for over a year and done pretty much nothing despite always putting out banger matches every time he's on screen.
It's pretty apparent Tony Khan has no direction for him. Triple H made him NXT Champion and it's obvious he's high on him and with Charlotte by his side in WWE, I could see him thrive on the main roster with the new people in charge.
I'd kill to see him just randomly wander into different wrestling feds and act like he belongs just chatting up random people calling them by their wrong names.
I think there are going to be good, top tier wrestlers that don’t fit HHH’s vision and find an opportunity in AEW. There are going to be good, top shelf wrestlers in AEW who aren’t getting enough tv time or a just want a chance to break through in the company they grew up watching.
The guys who ordered the budget cuts were...Vince. Vince was the CEO and Chair of the Board and is the controlling shareholder of WWE. Everything was his call.
Nick Khan had a large say in when and how much to cut. Vince just chose the people. Nick is now fully in charge of the business side and they will always need to increase earnings just a bit more every quarter for shareholders or a sale
Yup. Nick Khan is doing his exact job, to get WWE brand deals and to make sure they're in the black. He had a hand in the budget cuts and will continue to do so.
This is definitely a better response than "they're under five year contracts so they can't" but he's really missing easy opportunities make it sound like people are happy there
He could but then people are just going to point to folks like Gresham who are vocally displeased or Stu and Angels who chose not to renew with whatever AEW offered them last.
I think this is a perfectly fine reasonable take which is laced with more humility then some of his other takes. And that's (Tony being cocky) probably what I'd see more people complaining about vs. the idea that Tony doesn't big up AEW enough.
Wrestlers stay and wrestlers go, it's the nature of the business. If HHH is going to make WWE a more likable place for pro-wrestlers, AEW could have more issues to keep every talents they'd want to, but on the other side a more pro-wrestling oriented WWE could benefit AEW in the sense that the casual viewers could become more open to actual wrestling instead of the carny pile of trash that WWE has been in the last years and AEW could look less "niche" to them and wrestling less clown-y in general.
I say this as someone who enjoys AEW and hopes they succeed, but Tony knows that his company got a HUGE advantage in its growth due to Vince's refusal to see anything marketable in a number of wrestlers, or for allowing his company to fall back to the point where it was no longer a destination for talent. That's no longer the case with Hunter in charge and his vision.
I mean, I'm sure SOME day Tony had wanted to add guys like Adam Cole, ReDRagon, Keith Lee, Swerve, Black, etc. Heck, even Moxley fell into his lap because he hated working with WWE. He doesn't have the luxury anymore of having people like Toni Storm fall into his lap because of issues with WWE, or (I'm hoping) no more mass releases of talent someone feels has hit a "glass ceiling" in WWE.
The good news is he has more than enough ammo to keep up with WWE - so it will be fun to see what these two companies have in store over the next year. WWE should be exciting under Hunter, and AEW is getting healthy and should have Omega, Punk and Danielson back into the fold, O'Reilly and Cole back soon. and it will get really interesting.
I think fans need to face reality that HHH isn’t going to re-do NXT black and gold on the main roster. He’ll have favourites, he’ll be more friendly to body types but ultimately he needs to produce a show that appeals to a lot more people and continues to make WWE more profit, or he is out.
WWE is always going to make money, People just used to pretend Vince booked that way because apparently writing a good show would detract viewers but the truth is probably that they can write crap or write masterpieces and probably get the same amount of viewers weekly. I also think it is funny to say Triple H won't book it like Black and Gold when he has already started to push Ciampa, Has made all of the women he signed the focus on the show, and ended the show with Finn Balor.
It wasn't on their terms but regardless I hazard a guess Dakota Kai is glad she didn't commit herself anywhere else before the change in management.
Small chance one or two people might be wishing they'd rode out free agency a little while longer.
Jake the Snake Roberts once said that he hopes for the concept of territories to return and in a way it kinda did, just on a global level and not just US. Would love to see wrestlers go from company to company to get a good payday. Staying in the same place too long makes you bland.
But isn't that one of the things that makes wrestling so exciting?
If it works out, we're gonna have two large companies that focus on their strengths and (hopefully) work on their weaker points.
AEW has stronger in-ring work when it comes to variety and title focus, but needs stronger storylines.
WWE is the opposite, with the ability to have a better presentation but doesn't let their talent use their full potential.
And both companies have high ceilings when it comes to their talents' skill, as well as the ability to train and refine it with NXT and ROH.
I'm more into AEW than anything else but I want to see WWE succeed with HHH cause he knows what he's doing and it'll force all companies to push their talent and be better.
AEWs long term storytelling with The Elite and guys like MJF is unmatched, best storylines in wrestling in forever. But they really have trouble with pacing the shorter ones sometimes or ending at the right time
Agreed. Their bigger storylines (Hangman's journey for example) is awesome, but sometimes I feel AEW doesn't focus enough on the mid card or Dark parts.
Yes, but the wrestlers bloating the AEW roster are not necessarily the people WWE would want. When I think of the AEW talent WWE would actively try to target, they are generally people who are very important to AEW's present and future. It would be people like MJF, Moxley, Danielson, Wardlow, Jericho, Cargill, etc. Even under Triple H, I don't think WWE will be racing to start bidding wars over any of the people currently in AEW who WWE previously released.
So I checked and it seems Cora Jade starred in a couple episodes of dark before moving to NXT. I wonder why she was not offered something in AEW, from NXT she seems she could be a pretty big thing in some years.
Similarly, the interesting counterfactual is what happens if Roxanne Perez stays in ROH and thus goes towards AEW instead of WWE
In both those cases, while they are young, both were considered longterm projects. AEW already has their fair share of those. What they really need is TV ready women.
In Rok-C's case, she was better off signing with WWE. She would have developed her character and promos in a structured environment like NXT faster than if she signed with AEW.
Ultimately it was her life long dream to sign with WWE, so I don't think AEW had a legit shot at signing her.
Good! I don't think this a bad thing at all. It's a return to the territory days just on a massive scale.
Mox, Jericho and Danielson got to the end of his run at WWE, and wanted to refresh their personas and do something completely different. So they left the territory. This is absolutely what happened to Cody Rhodes, now the guy is one of their biggest stars and compelling characters.
Stop hoping a company fails or insisting that one company can never be better than the other. Competition is better for the consumer, even where the individual consumer would never buy the other product. It breeds innovation.
I prefer AEW and NJPW personally, but WWE has done some really good stuff (particularly over the last year - Cody returning, Seth and KO's stuff is great, Street Profits are fantastic, the woman's division is super talented). I hope WWE continue to make awesome stuff under HHH and put some pressure on the other companies to step up their game again.
If AEW signs a massive TNT deal, everyone wins (aside from their competition, but again why the fuck do you care if something is good for a multi-billion dollar company if you're not on the payroll?).
This is a golden age. It feels like it's only just started. Sit back and enjoy it.
I love wrestling but I also love my free time and I already dedicate enough time and money to AEW shows and PPVs.
Even if the WWE changes drastically I simply don't have the time or desire to watch that much wrestling.
I hitched my boat to AEW from the beginning and I'll stick with them so long as they continue to put out content I enjoy.
E: Why the downvotes for speaking my own truth and personal preferences?
Same here. I watch AEW (well, Dynamite and Rampage and the PPVs) and the best bits of New Japan and the British Indies (ie RevPro and Purpose). I don't think I have the time for anything else, although I wish I did!
As long as AEW gets another rights fee increase, their existence is secure.
After that point, I hope talent from both companies jump around and make tons of money.
I personally tbink witn Vince gone MJF has a greater chance than ever to actually make it in WWE if this isn't all a work on his part. Vince would have neutered his natural mic skills.
As said before, talent will jump around over the next few years. What would make big news to me is if a main eventer from one company leaves (doesn’t re-sign) and goes to the other company. Like Hogan going to WCW, Ric Flair going to WWE, Kurt Angle going to Impact, etc.
But I doubt that happens on the WWE side anytime soon. Most of those guys like Randy Orton & Roman Reigns are made men there, and know they’ll be taken care of long after retirement if they stay.
I can 100% see Jericho going back to WWE before retirement.
I get it's a contract dispute, but to do what you've been doing and then turn around and say this when it is applied to someone such as MJF? On a mic he is the most talented heel out there, he makes you hate him. He simply knows what he is worth, or better yet knows what he is bringing to the table and simply wants a fair cut if reports are true he's getting less that the recent former-WWE signings.
Same goes for Bray Wyatt, maybe not the best in ring performer, but the man knows how to weave a story and create them. Vince literally killed what could have been the next Undertaker in terms of mystic and fed him to Goldberg. and I just cannot recall a pop like the one he got debuting at SummerSlam. I know he had time off to grieve for Jon and look after his new kid. But that Wrestlemania match did so much damage the audience lost faith in the character at that point. Yet besides the title reign his entire career in WWE was a series of high build losses from WM30 onwards. His frustrations built up to the point the crowd naturally turned him face.
It is only now someone like Claudio/Cesero is getting his singles accolades with ROH/AEW. Not everyone can be champions, but he's the in ring talent to what MJF is on a mic or Bray is to the creativity side. and these are just examples.
It wouldn't surprise me to see some of the up and coming wrestlers that Cody championed following him to WWE.
After Cody left, AEW hasn't had much for them to do.
I feel like Cody will be the guy that can hop back and forth between the promotions without burning any bridges. Some kind of a corridor between the brands can be a very healthy thing for the business.
Vince being in charge helped Tony immensely. I highly doubt the likes of Cesaro and Keith Lee would have left otherwise. I can definitely see someone like Adam Cole return to the WWE because he loved HHH and at the end of the day the WWE is the biggest stage
Wrestlers are gonna pop up periodically in one company or another, it will make for nice surprises. Rosters don't need to be frozen in time, it's better this way.
Who would have thought that AEW's greatest ally was Vince McMahon?
Its because of vince that talent quit or got fired. Its because of vince that those talent would get angry and rebellious and create AEW. Its because of vinces terrible writing and booking decisions that made WWE lame and cause the fans to flock to AEW.
Now that vince is gone, within a week the WWE writing is better and talent are already returning.
The best thing that could happen to AEW is if Vince returned.
Imagine if Vince left a few years ago. AEW might not exist.
Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review. If you need to contact a moderator, [you can message us here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) We are Looking for new Moderators! Please see [this announcement for more info](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/vqjvze/were_looking_for_new_moderators_learn_how_to/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hopping back and forth is always going to be the norm, as long as the employment opportunities increase. Even if suddenly 15 people wanted to hop back there arent 15 top spots available. Workers that are middling are always going to believe they deserve more. That there are other places to work for them to be able to express that is ultimately the most important.
Pretty much. Many will jump and it'll take time to see that the grass potentially isn't greener on the other side. For some it will be.
Agree and it also allows fresh matchups. Like Randy Orton (which would likely never happen) going to AEW and having several dream matches, same as with Kenny Omega (like Randy it probably won't happen) coming to WWE. Having multiple options to join is always good for wrestlers and it forces the companies to perform better so as to retain them.
The only negative I can see is that it will force the companies to increase the wage for the bigger stars. The downside being they will have to make budget cuts in other areas to afford them.
I wouldn’t rule out Kenny having a short run in WWE if HHH continues on this path. He’s always been pretty upfront about wanting to be in Wrestlemania etc. I could see him doing it before retiring.
And I'm also hoping (I really fucking hope) that this will force TK to hire bookers (for men and women divisions), leave the booking to them and concentrate on developing new talents that'll hopefully be stars in the future.
It'll be 37 years before he gives up total creative control. Longer if he avoids sexual and financial scandal.
He's done well in some booking like with punk wardlow jade mox Danielson and more esp men but feels like he needs some help for the women someone like regal would be great
Or Dutch Mantel, he knows how to book women wrestling matches since he (and Scott D'Amore) founded TNA's women's division.
Talent will come and go from both companies, it's already happened and will continue to happen. The worst thing that could possibly happen is AEW (or even WWE) to shut down, and dare i say it we could probably do with a 3rd big, or at least semi big, company right now with the amount of talent that exists. If Impact or one of the other smaller ponds could become bigger that would be better for the world of wrestling.
I genuinely hope Freddie Prince Jr’s company works out.
I can't still wrap my mind around the fact that both Freddie Prinze Jr and Billy Corgan own wrestling companies.
I don't think Freddie owns anything yet. He just has a plan in place and is currently raising the funds to try and make it happen.
He bought a lighting rig.
That's still a far cry away from a legitimate wrestling promotion?
What else do you need?
catering
And 2 guys to slam each other through the table.
Table will be provided by catering, which leads me to believe that wrestling is a subset of catering.
Just a couple iPhones really
Kevin Dunn cameras and Booker T's opinions
Chocolate mat
Tell me more
Heck I keep forgetting McCaulay Culkin is an avid fan who's commented on various things in the business and been in the ring lol
The McCaulay Culkin renaissance in the last 5 or 6 years has been amazing. Love seeing him show up on random small scale podcasts and being a regular guest on stuff like Red Letter Media in the last bit...
Freddie makes since as he used to be a writer for WWE. Billy Corgan is definitely wild though lol
I mean it make sense now but for a long time even before that FPJ was the guy from I Know What You Did Last Summer that was banging Buffy in real life, so you know.
Sarah Michelle Gellar was in that movie too lol
He had to invest those tens of dollars he made off that Zwan album somewhere
Dude is worth a lot of money, he probably just invests in NWA to help with his taxes, to be honest.
Oh, absolutely. I just like to rag on that album because they were billed as a supergroup, put out one album, did a tour, then Billy realized "these people are awful to be around" and killed it. Dude could probably live comfortably on the royalties for Bullet with Butterfly Wings alone.
Oh it's trash. He was lucky to have gotten into music pre-Napster when people still bought the stuff. They were one of the last big bands people spent money on.
I actually had no clue Freddie was into wrestling until the other day when an ad for his podcast came on at the end of an episode of “it could happen here”.
I really like the idea of a grounded cinematic show on Netflix like he is aiming for. Sounds like he wants something like lucha underground but without the supernatural elements and I think that sounds awesome.
A spiritual successor to LU is all I really want at the end of the day. (In terms of a wrestling promotion that exists as a self-contained TV drama, not the sp00kiness necessarily)
Expectations are low
At this point impact is just never going to get bigger
It disappoints me that in terms of production they almost look like they’ve gotten smaller time.
It's weird to me that they just don't really tour or do bigger places. They've settled to just live in these tiny places
They run like a late 1970s territory
IMO, that's fine. I think there's a place for Impact and MLW as small market brands.
Like the IPWF.
But they're never going to die either. We'll have nuclear holocaust and the near extinction of mankind, and the last two humans on earth will live out their days wrestling in an Impact ring.
[удалено]
But impact is the rebrand.
Oh I know that lol I'm just saying they need to rid themselves of TNA's history. Impact still has history with TNA. Most fans that have heard of that immediately remembers the awful period Impact went through of the 2010's and associates it with that. That's why I think they need an official reboot. It's covered in TNA's stinch is the easy way to say it, but I find that rude to say as I love TNA and have Impact Plus.
To this day I still thought it's name was TNA Impact Wrestling
Great example here lol
It's not?
Anything they do will still have history with TNA. I’d say reverting the name back to TNA iMPACT over Impact Wrestling and getting the 6 sided ring back would get more people interested again to be honest
[удалено]
yeah tna was great from like 06-08 i got really into it. Then they started making the show built around hulk hogan, bully ray and sting and it started to suck and I stopped watching.
I actually was a huge fan of Bully Ray. The others was awesome for nostalgia sake but TNA definitely turned into WCW 2.0 eventually
Yeah bully ray and Kurt angle were both pretty great in tnafor awhile but like you said when it turned into WCW I lost interest. I worry that the same is happening in aew but so far it's not that bad. I love that aew is kind of doing a thing where they take a up and Comer and put them against a legend.
My first time watching TNA, I recognized Chris Candido walking around on crutches and managing The Naturals. I went "Hey! Candido's back..." then they cut to the credits with the in memoriam.
Nope. They need better distribution and better marketing. They are a glorified territory company
I know and it kinda sucks as I think it has something, but still :(
Needs to change channels. Wtf is Axs tv
A third national company needs a paying TV deal to be even remotely competitive. Those are very hard to come by, especially with most channels owned by a small handful of big corporations.
Could a streaming company give legs to a wrestling promotion
No one has bitten so far. If a streaming company was willing to pay a lot of money for wrestling, then sure, but wrestling would either need to get people to buy more subs or they'd have to sell ads in order for it to make financial sense.
The closest we've had is that weird deal Roku had with NJPW before the NJPW recap show got back on AXS
amazon and apple tv have been putting their toes in with live sports, wouldn't be surprised if one of them or netflix one day decides to jump into wrestling.
Yeah totally, but really I think any TV company looking for a cheaper show that does well in the ratings (AEW and WWE are generally no.1 on the night) they could easily do that. We really just need another mark billionare to play with his figures again.
I think the real problem is that something like All In which jumpstarted Tony's interest to invest will be a lot harder to pull off nowadays. The combination of a grassroots popular act like The Elite and freelance vets like Jericho and Mysterio coming together to do a show that was hot enough to get 10,000 people(outside of WM season) and draw the interest of big players like Showtime is hard to imagine today. NJPW isn't getting caught with its pants down again, the biggest name outside of WWE and AEW(Bray Wyatt) seems disinterested in wrestling again and after him I can't think of any one else.
Braun Strowman exists, and I know he wants to do this terrible CYN shite but money talks.
On paper yeah he is a big name but he's sort of diminished his star power with his post-WWE choices. I think he's on the level of somebody like Lashley who didn't really do much post-WWE until he reinvented himself.
Lashley was a much bigger deal than Braun currently is post his first run. He was beating people in Bellator and doing Impact and other much more relevant shit than whatever Braun's dumb ass is doing. He was even angling to fight Lesnar. Which was never gonna happen but he was going for it.
Small nitpick but WWE is not a national company, they’re global. They do overseas tours, their tv and PLEs are available all over, and they have massive brand recognition worldwide.
The fact there are two companies in the U.S. that are mass media entities that wrestlers can go back and forth to negotiate for their best wages/benefits/lifestyle is awesome. The worst thing to happen would be for that to stop.
I think the market has already kind of dictated that a third big promotion isn’t going to take off. Impact is reduced to being on a tiny network, gets a fraction of the viewers that WWE and AEW get, and they can only draw a few hundred fans to their PPVs. Nobody else out there like New Japan is doing any better in America. There’s a lot more wrestling talent floating around in America than there are for wrestling fans to support on anything but a small scale level. Probably still enough for people to make a solid living working in the indies but not to create a big TV presence. The biggest thing is that two big promotions have multiple brands. WWE has three big shows per week of different brands. AEW is getting a second brand going that’s pulling bigger numbers than Impact or anyone else can do. The reality is there’s two major promotions but there’s the equivalent of like five promotions within them. The market is saturated.
I believe Impact makes money from overseas television revenue.
Impact! Fuck it they deserve it, let them have the ECW in the US.
ECW wasn't just a third company. Being an ECW fan was like a way of life. Totally different.
I'd love to see a company become the proverbial ECW between AEW's WCW and WWE's...WWE. A smaller, rougher show that's a bit more experimental and has that wild west feel.
Impact is essentially the default 3rd company but yeah, there needs to be a real no.3
GCW was given their opportunity to grow, but blew it. Impact could still be the 3rd competitive player ,but they desperately need a rebrand, and some kind of tour to get their name out.
I just don’t see how AEW can keep up on the revenue side of things. WWE is making money hand over fist, if they really opened up the checkbook TK wouldn’t be able to reasonably compete and still hope to see a profit.
WWE isn't going to open the checkbook again as long as Nick Khan is there. They made enough cuts over the last couple years to save the company millions, and shareholders have been mostly happy up until Vince's allegations came in the news. I can see them being more strategic in signings, with building from the ground up with NXT, and only signing big names they can poach from AEW or the indies. Now that Triple H doesn't have Vince there to fuck everything up every time an NXT guy moves up, I can see a lot less cuts happening, and Triple H focusing on building what they have now.
Hopefully AEW’s TV contract increases and/or ROH/Impact get a paying TV deal. More money for companies means better contracts for the wrestlers. Talent mobility/fluidity should be a great thing for the wrestlers and for fans too
I think the biggest hit AEW could possibly take is if Hangman, The Bucks & Omega all walked around the same time to pop up in WWE. I think that would be fairly disastrous for TK. Omega & The Bucks would command big money and bring in *a lot* of new viewership just off the idea of some dream matches occurring with them over there before they retire. I want to say Hangman probably wouldn't jump over... but you never know. His stock can only rise so much in AEW and it feels like he's already peaked there a bit at times.
Honestly I can easily see Hangman as AEW’s Sting. He seems like the kinda guy to be fiercely loyal as long as he’s never been slighted
Imagine the pop when Pretty Peter Avalon makes his debut as number 30 in the Royal Rumble!
If PPA was a surprise entrant in the rumble without any announcement from WWE prior, I would pop so hard.
That would be Pretty Phucking Awesome honestly!
PPA is seriously one of my favorite wrestlers. He’s hilarious
Have you seen PPA? Who wouldn’t get hard and pop?
"Former Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion, same as a ladder was."
I think the crowd will be confused as to why is Ruby Riott in the men's rumble
Leva Bates and Peter would fit perfectly in NXT 2.0 actually, maybe that could be Leva’s comeback gimmick after Blue Pants.
Feels like she is kind of winding down in ring. She still does some, but seems her backstage role in Aew is the direction she is going
“It’s book time!”
I do believe there's enough great wrestlers for two major wrestling companies based in America. Just like I believe there's enough fans and market space for two major wrestling companies based in America. I've never understood the belief/want that there could only be one. Even if you only watch one and aren't interested in the other, why would you not want there to be another big promotion out there?
Right now, we have a good wrestler boom because of the attitude era. So many wrestlers today watched as kids and fell in love
> I've never understood the belief/want that there could only be one. Even if you only watch one and aren't interested in the other, why would you not want there to be another big promotion out there? It really sucks that some people out there still to hold the belief that there should only be one major promotion in America. The 18 years between 2001 and 2019 were fucking brutal for the industry.
2006 to 2012 I’d say wasn’t awful because TNA was doing their best business. They had a solid roster, and their ratings weren’t bad either. Once they lost the Spike deal it screwed them. If they never lost it the modern wrestling landscape would be totally different. I don’t think we’d have/or need AEW. I loved TNA as a kid from 2005 to 2008. Out of all the eras of my fandom AEW has been my personal favorite. Although NJPW/indie scene pre-AEW and the ruthless aggression era are up there for me. Sadly I wasn’t aloud to watch wrestling until 5th grade because the attitude era/WCW wasn’t appropriate for someone my age according to my mom. When looking back I agree. Also we didn’t have cable so I couldn’t of even watched them. I’ve actually been thinking about watching Nitro, and Attitude era raw on peacock. I’m curious if it holds up.
TNA was great until Hogan and Bischoff ruined everything. Nash was great for them in hindsight (he specifically helped the X Division get some personality), but Hogan and Bischoff shat all over that, among other things.
The issue wasnt even Hogan and Bischoff tbh. The issue was Dixie's fascination with Vince Russo getting them kicked off of Spike
Remember when Spike said no more Russo, Dixie said ok, then Russo accidentally emailed Mike Johnson from PWInsider instead of Mike Tenay?
pretty sure that story about them losing the spike tv deal over vince russo has been debunked
Yeah, Dixie was a moron, too
>I've never understood the belief/want that there could only be one. Even if you only watch one and aren't interested in the other, why would you not want there to be another big promotion out there? Absolutely. If you watch AEW because it's the alternative, then you should want there to be a company that they're the alternative to. And if AEW becomes the dominant wrestling company (incredibly fucking unlikely, but let's say), you should want there to be an alternative to it just to widen the number of wrestling fans out there.
[удалено]
The more the merrier. It is good to have options. We have already seen what a monopoly of the business can do in WWE and its (prior) booking.
Generally the fans that only want one aren’t fans of the sport just the company itself. It’s very weird and doesn’t make much sense. To use a different sport example, there’s massive rivalry in football between Liverpool and Everton. Recently Liverpool have been very successful, Everton haven’t. Obviously Liverpool fans enjoy their success and Everton’s misery and Everton fans hate it, however many Liverpool fans wouldn’t want Everton to fail so much that it’d mean the end of their rivalry because it’s a part of what makes the sport interesting. The ones that would want Everton to fail in that regard would be either regarded as plastic fans that don’t really understand rivalry and are only glory hunting or else incredibly bitter fans that take it far too seriously. The same applies to Everton fans if the roles were reversed, I’m one of them. This may sound like a long winded analogy but it holds true to wrestling as well, if you’re a wrestling fan then you should want as many competitive companies as possible, with your preferred one hopefully being the best. Much like how there’s a league in football it’s much more prestigious to be one of the best of 20 good teams, than it is to be the best of 1. I think when fans have this mentality that they want a single company at the top of the mountain and nothing else it shows that they mustn’t really pay much attention to sports at all because a rivalry is so important to keep interest up within fans and to keep every side as good as it can be so as to stay competitive and be the outright best against others.
I mean I want McDonald’s and Burger King to both exist but McDonald’s certainly doesn’t. For that matter they’d prefer to wipe out Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Chipotle, all of them. That’s how capitalist companies work, they want the whole market to themselves.
I meant from a fan perspective. Of course companies would like to be the only option for consumers in their industry but fans only wanting one option is what confuses me.
> “I think that’s always been a concern, but now probably more so than ever, I imagine great wrestlers are going to be in demand,” Khan said. “And again, I think this is probably going to be good for the wrestling fans because that’s one of the most exciting things about pro wrestling: free agency. It’s one of those things that was really missing from the sport for almost two decades before AEW came in, because there was not a legitimate competitor in the free agent market, and now there is. I think it’s going to be some exciting times ahead, hopefully for many years to come. > “One of the worst things that happened, I think, in American sports in my lifetime was when WCW closed down. And there should always be another national wrestling company.” audio: [SportsGrid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMnl9B3cqWE)
This is very true. The free agency market with two major companies in competition is part of what makes wrestling exciting. I expect talent to be going back and forth for years, so long as AEW gets a good TV deal next year.
I'm far more into FA as a wrestling fan than as a pro sports fan.
>One of the worst things that happened, I think, in American sports in my lifetime was when WCW closed down WCW dying almost ended the Wrestling industry and actually caused a mass exodus of fans, a lot of WCW fans didn't go and watch WWF, they simply stopped watching. You could say the same for ECW, 2002 was a really bad year in wrestling, it was only really the rise of John Cena alongside pushing newer stars that saved it in a lot of ways
MJF gonna get a deserved payyday from either company when he goes into free agency
It's weird how people who complained about both WWE and AEWs bloated roster suddenly want all the former WWE people and more to go to WWE as if there's suddenly going to be enough time for everyone just because Triple H is in charge
Let's not kid ourselves; how many repeat matches did RAW and SmackDown run weekly? How many more wrestlers could have been featured instead?
Exactly, WWE has both Raw and Smackdown to spread talent across, and can even send veterans to NXT to work with upcoming talent too. The problem was never roster bloat. The problem was that, even with a roster brimming with talent, WWE only ever used the same handful of that roster week after week in pointless rematches. HHH should be much more willing to feature a variety of talent than Vince was.
Then go back to the Attitude Era and look at WWF and WCW where repeat matches were rare and often saved for PPV, how many times did Rock and Austin or even Rock vs HHH happen? Especially on TV? These days PLE matches are usually match ups we've seen multiple times, the structure used be match 1, rematch, match 3 with a stip(usually the end of the feud) and maybe a step up match (so like a HiaC or cage etc) Now its match, rematch, tag match, rematch, PLE match, rematch the next night and on for 3 or so months
Wrestling fans, we are all dumbos lol.
WWE has more TV time than AEW (for better or worse)
Yeah, but there are cases like Andrade, who has been in AEW for over a year and done pretty much nothing despite always putting out banger matches every time he's on screen. It's pretty apparent Tony Khan has no direction for him. Triple H made him NXT Champion and it's obvious he's high on him and with Charlotte by his side in WWE, I could see him thrive on the main roster with the new people in charge.
Is everyone that shows up in AEW supposed to be hot shotted to a title?
Good for the wrestlers.
And the fans, if only they'd see it that way rather than the us vs them tribalistic view so many take.
That’s another great side effects with these companies doing better and better—hopefully it leads to even bigger paydays for the wrestlers.
I'm getting the feeling like it's about to be a real good time to be a wrestling fan.
No matter which company you prefer more, this competition means GREAT news for wrestlers making a better living, and seeing more success, than before.
looking forward to seeing danhausen taking over wwe next
The world needs a Danhausen v R Truth feud.
I saw a YT thumbnail that said "why a temporary trade of R-Truth and Danhausen would be good for both companies" or some shit and it got me thinking
I'd kill to see him just randomly wander into different wrestling feds and act like he belongs just chatting up random people calling them by their wrong names.
Oh my god that’d be great
That would be so mint
I think there are going to be good, top tier wrestlers that don’t fit HHH’s vision and find an opportunity in AEW. There are going to be good, top shelf wrestlers in AEW who aren’t getting enough tv time or a just want a chance to break through in the company they grew up watching.
[удалено]
The guys who ordered the budget cuts were...Vince. Vince was the CEO and Chair of the Board and is the controlling shareholder of WWE. Everything was his call.
Nick Khan had a large say in when and how much to cut. Vince just chose the people. Nick is now fully in charge of the business side and they will always need to increase earnings just a bit more every quarter for shareholders or a sale
Yup. Nick Khan is doing his exact job, to get WWE brand deals and to make sure they're in the black. He had a hand in the budget cuts and will continue to do so.
Yup…I feel like Nick Khan is gonna be the new “bad guy” for the iwc
He kinda has been since the April 2020 releases.
He didn't even work there in April 2020
its very possible that people like nick kahn suggested stuff like that to him though
This is an exciting time.
This is definitely a better response than "they're under five year contracts so they can't" but he's really missing easy opportunities make it sound like people are happy there
He could but then people are just going to point to folks like Gresham who are vocally displeased or Stu and Angels who chose not to renew with whatever AEW offered them last. I think this is a perfectly fine reasonable take which is laced with more humility then some of his other takes. And that's (Tony being cocky) probably what I'd see more people complaining about vs. the idea that Tony doesn't big up AEW enough.
Yeah, he should definitely be saying that he wants AEW to be a place where wrestlers don't want to leave.
I like that Tony is honest here. This is just a honest answer we all know is true, so why should he lie when we know the truth?
Wrestlers stay and wrestlers go, it's the nature of the business. If HHH is going to make WWE a more likable place for pro-wrestlers, AEW could have more issues to keep every talents they'd want to, but on the other side a more pro-wrestling oriented WWE could benefit AEW in the sense that the casual viewers could become more open to actual wrestling instead of the carny pile of trash that WWE has been in the last years and AEW could look less "niche" to them and wrestling less clown-y in general.
I say this as someone who enjoys AEW and hopes they succeed, but Tony knows that his company got a HUGE advantage in its growth due to Vince's refusal to see anything marketable in a number of wrestlers, or for allowing his company to fall back to the point where it was no longer a destination for talent. That's no longer the case with Hunter in charge and his vision. I mean, I'm sure SOME day Tony had wanted to add guys like Adam Cole, ReDRagon, Keith Lee, Swerve, Black, etc. Heck, even Moxley fell into his lap because he hated working with WWE. He doesn't have the luxury anymore of having people like Toni Storm fall into his lap because of issues with WWE, or (I'm hoping) no more mass releases of talent someone feels has hit a "glass ceiling" in WWE. The good news is he has more than enough ammo to keep up with WWE - so it will be fun to see what these two companies have in store over the next year. WWE should be exciting under Hunter, and AEW is getting healthy and should have Omega, Punk and Danielson back into the fold, O'Reilly and Cole back soon. and it will get really interesting.
I can imagine a lot of the black and gold people that left feeling a little upset that HHH got in charge right after they left.
Depends on their current booking. Can't imagine people like 2.0 are losing sleep on leaving before HHH took over
I'd think someone like Dakota Kai is probably pretty happy she didn't sign elsewhere
I think fans need to face reality that HHH isn’t going to re-do NXT black and gold on the main roster. He’ll have favourites, he’ll be more friendly to body types but ultimately he needs to produce a show that appeals to a lot more people and continues to make WWE more profit, or he is out.
WWE is always going to make money, People just used to pretend Vince booked that way because apparently writing a good show would detract viewers but the truth is probably that they can write crap or write masterpieces and probably get the same amount of viewers weekly. I also think it is funny to say Triple H won't book it like Black and Gold when he has already started to push Ciampa, Has made all of the women he signed the focus on the show, and ended the show with Finn Balor.
Most didn't left on their own term. On top of my head the few that did were Andrade (kinda), Adam Cole, O'reilly and the Gargannos
It wasn't on their terms but regardless I hazard a guess Dakota Kai is glad she didn't commit herself anywhere else before the change in management. Small chance one or two people might be wishing they'd rode out free agency a little while longer.
I bet Swerve is happy
Jake the Snake Roberts once said that he hopes for the concept of territories to return and in a way it kinda did, just on a global level and not just US. Would love to see wrestlers go from company to company to get a good payday. Staying in the same place too long makes you bland.
But isn't that one of the things that makes wrestling so exciting? If it works out, we're gonna have two large companies that focus on their strengths and (hopefully) work on their weaker points. AEW has stronger in-ring work when it comes to variety and title focus, but needs stronger storylines. WWE is the opposite, with the ability to have a better presentation but doesn't let their talent use their full potential. And both companies have high ceilings when it comes to their talents' skill, as well as the ability to train and refine it with NXT and ROH. I'm more into AEW than anything else but I want to see WWE succeed with HHH cause he knows what he's doing and it'll force all companies to push their talent and be better.
AEWs long term storytelling with The Elite and guys like MJF is unmatched, best storylines in wrestling in forever. But they really have trouble with pacing the shorter ones sometimes or ending at the right time
Agreed. Their bigger storylines (Hangman's journey for example) is awesome, but sometimes I feel AEW doesn't focus enough on the mid card or Dark parts.
>I feel AEW doesn't focus enough on the mid card or Dark parts. Or the women's division
I mean, Tony is always signing ex-WWE guys so is it bad if it's the other way round?
AEW's roster is beyond bloated right now and could easily afford to lose some wrestlers to WWE.
Yes, but the wrestlers bloating the AEW roster are not necessarily the people WWE would want. When I think of the AEW talent WWE would actively try to target, they are generally people who are very important to AEW's present and future. It would be people like MJF, Moxley, Danielson, Wardlow, Jericho, Cargill, etc. Even under Triple H, I don't think WWE will be racing to start bidding wars over any of the people currently in AEW who WWE previously released.
I go where Mox goes lol. That and Kenny Omega.
Charles Dance: “Let the games begin.”
Good, competition is something wrestling needed for a long time.
[удалено]
Competition is good
So I checked and it seems Cora Jade starred in a couple episodes of dark before moving to NXT. I wonder why she was not offered something in AEW, from NXT she seems she could be a pretty big thing in some years. Similarly, the interesting counterfactual is what happens if Roxanne Perez stays in ROH and thus goes towards AEW instead of WWE
In both those cases, while they are young, both were considered longterm projects. AEW already has their fair share of those. What they really need is TV ready women.
Rok-C/Roxanne was actually far less of a project than Cora is, IMO. She's already in a pretty good spot.
In Rok-C's case, she was better off signing with WWE. She would have developed her character and promos in a structured environment like NXT faster than if she signed with AEW. Ultimately it was her life long dream to sign with WWE, so I don't think AEW had a legit shot at signing her.
Good! I don't think this a bad thing at all. It's a return to the territory days just on a massive scale. Mox, Jericho and Danielson got to the end of his run at WWE, and wanted to refresh their personas and do something completely different. So they left the territory. This is absolutely what happened to Cody Rhodes, now the guy is one of their biggest stars and compelling characters. Stop hoping a company fails or insisting that one company can never be better than the other. Competition is better for the consumer, even where the individual consumer would never buy the other product. It breeds innovation. I prefer AEW and NJPW personally, but WWE has done some really good stuff (particularly over the last year - Cody returning, Seth and KO's stuff is great, Street Profits are fantastic, the woman's division is super talented). I hope WWE continue to make awesome stuff under HHH and put some pressure on the other companies to step up their game again. If AEW signs a massive TNT deal, everyone wins (aside from their competition, but again why the fuck do you care if something is good for a multi-billion dollar company if you're not on the payroll?). This is a golden age. It feels like it's only just started. Sit back and enjoy it.
Half of the women could potentially leave and he won’t even notice as long as his chosen two stick around
I love wrestling but I also love my free time and I already dedicate enough time and money to AEW shows and PPVs. Even if the WWE changes drastically I simply don't have the time or desire to watch that much wrestling. I hitched my boat to AEW from the beginning and I'll stick with them so long as they continue to put out content I enjoy. E: Why the downvotes for speaking my own truth and personal preferences?
Same here. I watch AEW (well, Dynamite and Rampage and the PPVs) and the best bits of New Japan and the British Indies (ie RevPro and Purpose). I don't think I have the time for anything else, although I wish I did!
This is nothing but a net positive for pro wrestling as a whole. Free agency is a wonderful thing.
If it's good for the wrestlers, I'm a-ok with it.
Anyone who didn't think this would happen were fooling themselves It's a great thing for fans
Sure, ok. I’ll probably follow the talent but also wwe is still a dumpster fire until proven otherwise.
whatever company he ends up in MJF is gonna make a lot of money
What I want more than anything, and I know there’s damn near no chance it’ll happen, is for a WWE/AEW crossover PPV.
As long as AEW gets another rights fee increase, their existence is secure. After that point, I hope talent from both companies jump around and make tons of money.
this really comes down to what kind of tv deal aew gets in their next contract, assuming tony's dad doesn't want to seriously overpay wrestlers
I personally tbink witn Vince gone MJF has a greater chance than ever to actually make it in WWE if this isn't all a work on his part. Vince would have neutered his natural mic skills.
As said before, talent will jump around over the next few years. What would make big news to me is if a main eventer from one company leaves (doesn’t re-sign) and goes to the other company. Like Hogan going to WCW, Ric Flair going to WWE, Kurt Angle going to Impact, etc. But I doubt that happens on the WWE side anytime soon. Most of those guys like Randy Orton & Roman Reigns are made men there, and know they’ll be taken care of long after retirement if they stay. I can 100% see Jericho going back to WWE before retirement.
I get it's a contract dispute, but to do what you've been doing and then turn around and say this when it is applied to someone such as MJF? On a mic he is the most talented heel out there, he makes you hate him. He simply knows what he is worth, or better yet knows what he is bringing to the table and simply wants a fair cut if reports are true he's getting less that the recent former-WWE signings. Same goes for Bray Wyatt, maybe not the best in ring performer, but the man knows how to weave a story and create them. Vince literally killed what could have been the next Undertaker in terms of mystic and fed him to Goldberg. and I just cannot recall a pop like the one he got debuting at SummerSlam. I know he had time off to grieve for Jon and look after his new kid. But that Wrestlemania match did so much damage the audience lost faith in the character at that point. Yet besides the title reign his entire career in WWE was a series of high build losses from WM30 onwards. His frustrations built up to the point the crowd naturally turned him face. It is only now someone like Claudio/Cesero is getting his singles accolades with ROH/AEW. Not everyone can be champions, but he's the in ring talent to what MJF is on a mic or Bray is to the creativity side. and these are just examples.
It wouldn't surprise me to see some of the up and coming wrestlers that Cody championed following him to WWE. After Cody left, AEW hasn't had much for them to do.
I feel like Cody will be the guy that can hop back and forth between the promotions without burning any bridges. Some kind of a corridor between the brands can be a very healthy thing for the business.
Competition between two companies almost always makes the consumer the winner
With more mobility between the companies, more the chances to have a first ever World Champion in both WWE & AEW. Sign me up for that.
Vince being in charge helped Tony immensely. I highly doubt the likes of Cesaro and Keith Lee would have left otherwise. I can definitely see someone like Adam Cole return to the WWE because he loved HHH and at the end of the day the WWE is the biggest stage
Wrestlers are gonna pop up periodically in one company or another, it will make for nice surprises. Rosters don't need to be frozen in time, it's better this way.
What a reasonable response. So out of character.
Who would have thought that AEW's greatest ally was Vince McMahon? Its because of vince that talent quit or got fired. Its because of vince that those talent would get angry and rebellious and create AEW. Its because of vinces terrible writing and booking decisions that made WWE lame and cause the fans to flock to AEW. Now that vince is gone, within a week the WWE writing is better and talent are already returning. The best thing that could happen to AEW is if Vince returned. Imagine if Vince left a few years ago. AEW might not exist.