The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania XL - 6/7 April 2024

Fed up talking videogames? Why?
Corazon de Leon

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by Corazon de Leon » Tue Jun 25, 2019 5:18 pm

That's strawberry floated on a WCW scale. The WWE are in trouble, surely.

User avatar
KK
Moderator
Joined in 2008
Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by KK » Tue Jun 25, 2019 6:30 pm

Under old metrics they absolutely would be (that attendance for a RAW coming off a PPV in a pretty average sized venue is straight out of 1995), but TV deals and the Saudis/international events are currently saving them, so the fact their TV ratings are the lowest in history and attendance is terrible is currently an irrelevance. SmackDown moves to FOX in September though, and they won’t put up with ratings at their current levels (1.8-2mill). It’ll be moved to Fox Sports 1 and then risk cancellation were it to go much lower.

WWE’s next conference call should also reveal what they’re getting from their BT Sport deal. If it’s low then Sky either weren’t interested at all or low balled WWE big time (understandable with very low viewership numbers and Box Office buys probably non-existent). If it’s big, then it just goes to show how desperate BT Sport are for content, and must surely believe they can get the WWE fanbase who watch via Sky to swap over (tops out at around 100,000 on a good week for RAW/SD when you tot up every single airing including the hour highlight shows) but some of those are obviously going to be the very casual fan and kids after school, watching RAW on up to a 1 week delay.

Image
User avatar
Mafro
Moderator
Joined in 2008
AKA: based
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by Mafro » Tue Jun 25, 2019 8:39 pm

Enjoying Rollins making a complete arse of himself on Twitter.

Fisher wrote:shyguy64 did you sell weed in animal crossing new horizons today.

Twitter
User avatar
Johnny Ryall
Member
Joined in 2008
AKA: Macraig
Location: Box Elder, MO

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by Johnny Ryall » Tue Jun 25, 2019 8:53 pm

KK wrote:WWE is a long way off from dying, or even reaching the state they were in monetarily during 96/97 (in spite of declining TV ratings and attendance they’re now making more money than ever!) but the state of mainstream wrestling were WWE suddenly cease to exist would depend currently on what happens with AEW. On PPV, albeit for just one show, they’ve already surpassed TNA’s peak (Samoa Joe vs Kurt Angle) and are at the level of a low level WWE PPV prior to the WWE Network. And this is with no weekly TV, belts, mostly unfamiliar names to a wider audience, or much storytelling.

It all depends on how they do on TNT and ITV, really. TNA briefly became more popular than WWE here in the U.K. and packed out big venues but they could never capitalise on it. If AEW fails on ITV I’d say the consequences are worse for interest in wrestling in the U.K. because WWE becomes a lot less visible once they move to BT Sport. And as other sports have found out, you remove that bigger shop window and you sink into irrelevancy. One thing WWE does still have going for them is YouTube; R-Truth regaining the 24/7 title at a wedding, which didn’t air on TV, has had more views than people who watched RAW and SmackDown in the US combined (4.3 million). There are still a lot of wrestling fans out there clearly, they’re just not prepared to pay for the WWE Network or watch the entirety of RAW and SmackDown every week. And people spending a few minutes watching a silly skit doesn’t exactly mean viable engagement in the product.


BT Sport aren't shy about putting certain things on Youtube for free (champions league final comes to mind, although you could argue that was to brag about their broadcasting technologies streaming it in 4K etc) so I wonder if it would be worth their time bringing back something like Sunday Night Heat (or eh main event???) and having it on Youtube for free in the UK. Youtube does have that whole geo blocking thing they can do to make sure it stays in the UK.

User avatar
KK
Moderator
Joined in 2008
Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by KK » Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:04 pm

Mafro wrote:Enjoying Rollins making a complete arse of himself on Twitter.

He’s just helping to...burn it down.

Johnny Ryall wrote:BT Sport aren't shy about putting certain things on Youtube for free (champions league final comes to mind, although you could argue that was to brag about their broadcasting technologies streaming it in 4K etc) so I wonder if it would be worth their time bringing back something like Sunday Night Heat (or eh main event???) and having it on Youtube for free in the UK. Youtube does have that whole geo blocking thing they can do to make sure it stays in the UK.

Not sure what WWE is doing with Main Event actually as it wasn’t mentioned in BT’s press release. I don’t know if WWE is going to continue taping it for BT and Hulu, return it to the WWE Network or bin it. WWE themselves put up a lot of content on their YT channel (45-50 minutes of RAW, 25 minutes of SmackDown, 10 minutes of NXT). Maybe BT will put out their first Live episode of RAW or SmackDown in 2020 on YT to boost awareness.

Image
User avatar
Mafro
Moderator
Joined in 2008
AKA: based
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by Mafro » Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:20 pm

Johnny Ryall wrote:
KK wrote:WWE is a long way off from dying, or even reaching the state they were in monetarily during 96/97 (in spite of declining TV ratings and attendance they’re now making more money than ever!) but the state of mainstream wrestling were WWE suddenly cease to exist would depend currently on what happens with AEW. On PPV, albeit for just one show, they’ve already surpassed TNA’s peak (Samoa Joe vs Kurt Angle) and are at the level of a low level WWE PPV prior to the WWE Network. And this is with no weekly TV, belts, mostly unfamiliar names to a wider audience, or much storytelling.

It all depends on how they do on TNT and ITV, really. TNA briefly became more popular than WWE here in the U.K. and packed out big venues but they could never capitalise on it. If AEW fails on ITV I’d say the consequences are worse for interest in wrestling in the U.K. because WWE becomes a lot less visible once they move to BT Sport. And as other sports have found out, you remove that bigger shop window and you sink into irrelevancy. One thing WWE does still have going for them is YouTube; R-Truth regaining the 24/7 title at a wedding, which didn’t air on TV, has had more views than people who watched RAW and SmackDown in the US combined (4.3 million). There are still a lot of wrestling fans out there clearly, they’re just not prepared to pay for the WWE Network or watch the entirety of RAW and SmackDown every week. And people spending a few minutes watching a silly skit doesn’t exactly mean viable engagement in the product.


BT Sport aren't shy about putting certain things on Youtube for free (champions league final comes to mind, although you could argue that was to brag about their broadcasting technologies streaming it in 4K etc) so I wonder if it would be worth their time bringing back something like Sunday Night Heat (or eh main event???) and having it on Youtube for free in the UK. Youtube does have that whole geo blocking thing they can do to make sure it stays in the UK.

The Champions League and Europa League final have to be free-to-air, it's always been part of the contract with UEFA that it isn't restricted behind a paywalled channel. They made them available for free on their app as well.

Fisher wrote:shyguy64 did you sell weed in animal crossing new horizons today.

Twitter
User avatar
Johnny Ryall
Member
Joined in 2008
AKA: Macraig
Location: Box Elder, MO

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by Johnny Ryall » Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:22 pm

Ah right, well ok then maybe disregard the above lol.

User avatar
captain red dog
Member
Joined in 2008
Location: Bristol, UK

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by captain red dog » Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:59 pm

Seth Rollins seems to have a very high opinion of himself doesn't he! Seems to think he is Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart or something. He talks about being the best out there, but honestly I can't think of one match he has done over the last 12 months that is truly memorable.

Don't get me wrong, he is a good worker in WWE and his lack of memorable matches probably has far more to do with the WWE system than his own ability. But he is totally kidding himself if he thinks the WWE product is the best out there, or that he is some kind of Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels!

User avatar
KK
Moderator
Joined in 2008
Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by KK » Tue Jun 25, 2019 10:20 pm

Watching RAW on YT and they’re filming it like WCW with the cameraman on the corner apron, in this case to try and hide the fact the building is empty. On the flip-side it’s at least making the show look a bit different from normal as they’re shooting so much of the match from a diagonal, and the hard camera is also slightly tilted downwards.

This business with no commercial breaks during matches though. :fp:

Image
User avatar
KK
Moderator
Joined in 2008
Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by KK » Tue Jun 25, 2019 10:35 pm

Christ, Undertaker looks even worse than he did in the desert. :dread:

Image

Receding hairline, bald on top, and a poor Just For Men job showing off the ginge.

Image
User avatar
coldspice
Member
Joined in 2008
Location: Nottinghamshire

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by coldspice » Wed Jun 26, 2019 7:17 am


User avatar
KK
Moderator
Joined in 2008
Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by KK » Wed Jun 26, 2019 12:13 pm

The official song for WWE Extreme Rules:



Notable because it's been ages since WWE used this type of music for one of their main shows. Never heard of them before, but the AC/DC, Guns N' Roses influence is blatant.

Is the line "you'll miss me when I'm gone" a subliminal message in regards to WWE/The Undertaker's gradual decline... :shifty:

In fact the lyrics to this entire song seem strangely prophetic to the state WWE finds themselves in.

Image
User avatar
KK
Moderator
Joined in 2008
Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by KK » Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:55 pm

twitter.com/superhumman1234/status/1143549543054741505


Image
User avatar
Return_of_the_STAR
Member
Joined in 2008

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by Return_of_the_STAR » Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:59 pm

KK wrote:

twitter.com/superhumman1234/status/1143549543054741505



Exactly how I remember Mick Foley doing it :lol:

Yid Army
User avatar
KK
Moderator
Joined in 2008
Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - Saturday, FITE TV
by KK » Wed Jun 26, 2019 10:11 pm

WWE has announced that EVOLVE will be streaming Live on the WWE Network on Saturday 13th July at 1am, making it the first time a current non-WWE promotion will air on the Network. This was rumoured for a while (as part of a new pricing tier) but it’s funny how they choose to debut it on the same night and time as AEW’s next big event, which is streaming free (in the USA only) and on PPV in the U.K. for the victims of gun violence .

Image
User avatar
Mafro
Moderator
Joined in 2008
AKA: based
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - 12:30am Saturday, YouTube then FITE TV
by Mafro » Thu Jun 27, 2019 2:58 pm

https://www.si.com/wrestling/2019/06/27 ... ce-mcmahon

WWE has named Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as Executive Directors, Sports Illustrated has learned.

Heyman is set to become Executive Director of Monday Night Raw, while Bischoff will fill the same role for SmackDown Live. Both will report directly to WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.

WWE confirmed the news with Sports Illustrated, with an official announcement expected later today.

The two positions are full-time executive roles, with no plans at the current time for this to be introduced as part of a TV storyline.

Fisher wrote:shyguy64 did you sell weed in animal crossing new horizons today.

Twitter
User avatar
Return_of_the_STAR
Member
Joined in 2008

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - 12:30am Saturday, YouTube then FITE TV
by Return_of_the_STAR » Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:26 pm

Mafro wrote:https://www.si.com/wrestling/2019/06/27/wwe-paul-heyman-monday-night-raw-eric-bischoff-smackdown-live-vince-mcmahon

WWE has named Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as Executive Directors, Sports Illustrated has learned.

Heyman is set to become Executive Director of Monday Night Raw, while Bischoff will fill the same role for SmackDown Live. Both will report directly to WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.

WWE confirmed the news with Sports Illustrated, with an official announcement expected later today.

The two positions are full-time executive roles, with no plans at the current time for this to be introduced as part of a TV storyline.


Just been reading about this. I think it's very interesting. I wouldn't seeing heyman and maybe bischoff on TV from time to time still though.

Yid Army
User avatar
KK
Moderator
Joined in 2008
Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - 12:30am Saturday, YouTube then FITE TV
by KK » Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:49 pm

In theory it's big, and Heyman was brilliant writing SmackDown at its peak in I think it was 2003 (RAW meanwhile had become the Triple H show), but it'll depend on how much actual control Vince McMahon gives them both. Is this a 1997-level change where they went from a nothing RAW in Berlin, Germany one week to RAW IS WAR the next? Eric Bischoff's last run in TNA meanwhile wasn't very good. I'm hoping both of them will be allowed to make the shows look different and unique.

I think it shows that these awful TV ratings and AEW has WWE bricking it.

So, how long before they bring back Vince Russo. :msgreen:

Image
User avatar
captain red dog
Member
Joined in 2008
Location: Bristol, UK

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - 12:30am Saturday, YouTube then FITE TV
by captain red dog » Thu Jun 27, 2019 5:59 pm

It's a positive change. I really liked Bischoff's last WWE run. I'd like to seem both of them used on screen sparingly.

However, if it doesn't result in change, I can't see either lasting long. The product needs to change with the times. The PG era is tired. I don't think they need to go back to attitude, but they need to reinvent themselves for a new era.

User avatar
Floex
Member
Joined in 2008
Contact:

PostRe: The Wrestling Thread III: AEW Fyter Fest - 12:30am Saturday, YouTube then FITE TV
by Floex » Thu Jun 27, 2019 7:47 pm

I’m sure money talks but Heyman must have assurances Vince won’t be so hands. Otherwise it’ll be a repeat of last time.



So hyped for this :datass:


Return to “Stuff”