WWE/NXT/AEW/NJPW Thread

[MattyFos.]

I do not think AEW and WWE's product is for me anymore. I just feel exhaustion even thinking about watching shows ran by Tony Khan and HHH/Vince.

I had stopped watching last year or so and paid attention to the Zayn storyline some this year. I think I am going to check out completely from reading results and talking about wrestling.

I find it difficult to follow just WWE on a weekly basis without losing interest. I've resigned to watching the PLEs and trying to catch local promotions in person to fill the fix.


On an unrelated note. WWE needs to get Sasha back by any means necessary. The Women's division (which used to be their strongest stories/ matches imo) is borderline unwatchable for me at the moment.

 

[Derek]

Takeshita and Omega delivered.

Not sure if Takeshita is defecting to BCC after they attacked him with a screwdriver, but you never know. They certainly planted the seeds.

I can definitely imagine Takeshita returning at DoN to cost The Elite+Page in Anarchy in the Arena and then Ibushi debuting to even the odds for Blood and Guts.

Also, how great was it to see Roddy Strong? Excited to see what he can do moving forward.

 

[LennoxLewis]

Takeshita and Omega delivered.

Not sure if Takeshita is defecting to BCC after they attacked him with a screwdriver, but you never know. They certainly planted the seeds.

I can definitely imagine Takeshita returning at DoN to cost The Elite+Page in Anarchy in the Arena and then Ibushi debuting to even the odds for Blood and Guts.

Also, how great was it to see Roddy Strong? Excited to see what he can do moving forward.

It was an awesome episode last night. Best part about that Roddy debut was the beginning, had everyone guessing until he and his name appeared on screen.

I'm enjoying BCC a lot more as a heel trio as well.

 

[Kbiz]

Already fantasy booking Undisputed Era vs. House of Black for the trios titles in my head. Get well soon KOR man. You are severely missed.

 

[Amherstcavsfan]

Takeshita in BCC is 2nd on my list. Golden Lovers with Shita-Omega-Ibushi would make me a full time AEW dude. I would mark so hard.

 

[Derek]

43k in presales for All In so far. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday.

I think 60k, which would match Clash at the Castle, is a reasonable goal at this point.

 

[Derek]

Things really starting to heat up with DoN quickly approaching.

We have the pillars match set now. Cole/Jericho is very heated. Starks and the Bang Bang Gang have been money. The Outcasts/Homegrown feud finally seems to be progressing with the Britt beatdown and now Shida's arrival. FTR/Lethal-Jarrett is a fine undercard feud (the stuff on the Briscoe farm had me rolling), the House of Black has their own rules for title defenses now, Wardlow vs Christian is just getting started but I'm excited to see Wardlow work a different style after being in programs with Joe and Hobbs the last six months.

Memorial Day weekend can't arrive soon enough, and not just because that's when my summer vacation starts.

 

[Real Deal]

How am I more excited for this than a 'Mania

 

[LennoxLewis]

How am I more excited for this than a 'Mania

AEW seems to do a way better job with PPVs than WWE, especially since AEW isn't running as many.

I'm looking forward to how it looks at Wembley. Not a fan of how bright WWE looks at times where AEW has a happy medium.

Entrances alone should be insane. Can only imagine what ends up being the final card, UE vs The Elite? Or FTR/Punk team up? Okada/Osprey? Hayter/Mercedes?

 

[CBBI]

AEW seems to do a way better job with PPVs than WWE, especially since AEW isn't running as many.

I'm looking forward to how it looks at Wembley. Not a fan of how bright WWE looks at times where AEW has a happy medium.

Entrances alone should be insane. Can only imagine what ends up being the final card, UE vs The Elite? Or FTR/Punk team up? Okada/Osprey? Hayter/Mercedes?

For the record, AEW hasn't announced this as a televised event...

Not saying it won't be, but there's been no indication whatsoever how people will be able to watch this or if they can even watch it at all.

The All Out PPV in Chicago is still tentatively scheduled for the following Sunday and I can't imagine they're gonna run PPV's on back-to-back weeks.

Is it possible All In London is the world's biggest house show?

 

[Derek]

For the record, AEW hasn't announced this as a televised event...

Not saying it won't be, but there's been no indication whatsoever how people will be able to watch this or if they can even watch it at all.

The All Out PPV in Chicago is still tentatively scheduled for the following Sunday and I can't imagine they're gonna run PPV's on back-to-back weeks.

Is it possible All In London is the world's biggest house show?

It'll probably be streamed live on HBO Max (or whatever it's changing to). It'll definitely be broadcasted.

I'm anticipating all of AEW's big events to move to streaming from PPV after seeing how wildly successful WWE's relationship has been with Peacock in regards to getting eyeballs on their product.

 

[CBBI]

It'll probably be streamed live on HBO Max (or whatever it's changing to). It'll definitely be broadcasted.

I'm anticipating all of AEW's big events to move to streaming from PPV after seeing how wildly successful WWE's relationship has been with Peacock in regards to getting eyeballs on their product.

I think you and I have vastly different definitions of "wildly successful"

I’m not sure the bolded is a fair comparison or wise assumption anyway considering AEW is obviously not in the same financial boat as WWE.

AEW gets about $45M annually from its television contract from WBD. Yes that's expected to go up on their next deal, but that's what it is right now.

WWE gets more than 10x that amount (over $450M) from Fox/NBC plus another $100M from Saudi Arabia to run two events.

WWE was in a far different financial position to give up their PPV business for a lump sum of $200M annually because candidly their television contracts and Saudi Arabia deals were so lucrative that they simply didn’t *need* that pay per view revenue anymore to survive.

AEW runs five PPVs a year at a rough estimate of 150K buys per event at $50 bucks apiece. $7.5M in PPV revenue x 5 events a year = $37.5M in PPV revenue.

How much do you think WBD is going to give AEW for exclusive rights to their five PPVs? I'm not sure AEW is in financial a position to give up those rights for less than what they're currently getting by running their own PPVs themselves.

 

[Derek]

I think you and I have vastly different definitions of "wildly successful"

I’m not sure the bolded is a fair comparison or wise assumption anyway considering AEW is obviously not in the same financial boat as WWE.

AEW gets about $45M annually from its television contract from WBD. Yes that's expected to go up on their next deal, but that's what it is right now.

WWE gets more than 10x that amount (over $450M) from Fox/NBC plus another $100M from Saudi Arabia to run two events.

WWE was in a far different financial position to give up their PPV business for a lump sum of $200M annually because candidly their television contracts and Saudi Arabia deals were so lucrative that they simply didn’t *need* that pay per view revenue anymore to survive.

AEW runs five PPVs a year at a rough estimate of 150K buys per event at $50 bucks apiece. $7.5M in PPV revenue x 5 events a year = $37.5M in PPV revenue.

How much do you think WBD is going to give AEW for exclusive rights to their five PPVs? I'm not sure AEW is in financial a position to give up those rights for less than what they're currently getting by running their own PPVs themselves.

I don't know how you could describe the WWE/Peacock relationship as anything but wildly successful. The events themselves might be lackluster, but that's a booking issue aside from the actual business of it.

WBD is about to throw the bag at Khan, and adding AEW to their streaming would be a huge win for all parties.

Back to the original point, there's no doubt as to whether or not All In will be available for viewing. It's going to air as the biggest show in company history. MAX is just the most likely destination for it. Whether they follow suit for all other PPV remains to be seen, but that move seems likely as well with WBD gaining exclusive rights to broadcast all AEW content.

 

[ticon12389]

I don’t know how WBD is going to throw the bag at Khan when they are 49.5 billion in debt (just announced today). That’s something to keep an eye on.

 

[CBBI]

I don't know how you could describe the WWE/Peacock relationship as anything but wildly successful. The events themselves might be lackluster, but that's a booking issue aside from the actual business of it.

Successful for who? Successful in what capacity?

Three days before the WWE Network converted to Peacock back in 2021, RAW drew 1.84M viewers and a 0.56 demo. This past Monday RAW drew 1.77M viewers and a 0.54 demo.

There's been zero uptick in the television ratings since the move to Peacock.

Live event business is doing well, but that's a very small portion (about 10%) of WWE's overall revenue now.

Has WWE actually been successful for NBC either? Peacock lost 2.5B in 2022 and is set to lose 3B in 2023. They are paying $200M annually for a product that only generates about $17.5M in subscriber revenue (at best) and this is me being very generous by suggesting every single person who watched WWE content on the service at least once is only signed up for Peacock because of WWE which we know isn't the case.

So really, outside of the $200M check that NBC cuts to WWE for the PPV rights, what has been the benefit for anyone?

And it is pretty obvious that WWE would make more than $200M in annual revenue simply by bringing PPVs back in house. They just don't want to deal with all the excess work and hassle that goes with that when they can just get a fat licensing check that isn't THAT much less than they'd make without having to do nearly as much work.