189k viewers for Collision.

I heard Bret say it's Goldbergs fault

Thats the most reliable piece of information ever posted on this flrum

Goldberg has an airtight alibi. He has been whinging online for the past 6 months.

It’s CM Punk’s fault that WBD is billions of dollars in debt.

And we’re back again. Hope everyone has been enjoying seeing people stab each other with needles.

AEW is a super Indy with a TV deal basically.

Renewal is going to be finalized any day now. Current contract was 175mil for 4 years. Last i heard the new deal could be around 110mil per year for 5 years. Not following it super close so that might not be whats coming out now. Pretty insane bump obviously if true.

Suttlebutt is theyre trying to leverage another station. Dunno if theyre wanting more or to be on mutliple networks. Eitherway its dumb. Sign the contract before they realize theyre overspending.

Yes.

Everyone is basically really stupid and only shocked by novelty. People got numb to thumbtacks - hundreds of thick spikes going into people's bodies which they're completely fine with, and decided to get scandalised by a needle, a thing designed to go through skin.

Wrestling is a succession of novel and interesting spectacles, and it seems the audience today has decided to be as aggressively stupid about it as they can. As if it's their job. There are some people that do have that as a job, and other people imitate them, for free.

The sad thing with the site being down is that we missed 29 confirmed new TV deal announcements.

Ask yourself: Why would Tony Khan brag about a deal that hasn’t been done yet.

Its getting renewed. That's certain

Bryan vs Nigel on national television. 2007 me used to dream for times like this.

Looking for that coveted 2007 IWC Nerd ratings bump

That was peak wrestling though. I think it was a little into the Morishima run that Gabe Sapolski eneded his RoH run but damn it if it wasnt absolute lightening in a bottle up until then. Pure champ Nigel era was tops.

I believe Warner Bros Discovers is going to give a company that has lost 40% of their viewers a 300% rights increase solely because... OF COURSE a company that lost $9.1 BILLION last quarter would grossly overpay for a TV show that has no need to ever turn a profit. You don't lose $9.1 BILLION without making sound business decisions like that!

Good job!

haven't watched AEW in a few weeks but they're getting renewed so it looks like they don't need me

AEW overdelivered, Smackdown underdelivered. If you can't understand the fundamentals of business, you must be stupid and do things like post on a forum that doesn't even fucking work

Haha.

Is it certain? Tony Khan says that. Dave Meltzer says that. Andrew Zarian says that. Take a step back and look at things from outside the wrestling nerd bubble.

AEW probably generates something like $120 million in advertising revenue. With a generous split so WBD feels secure in the decision, you’re looking at the entire AEW package being bought for $25 million. At what point does that become throwing money down a well?

Now you’re hearing rumors of Fox networks getting involved. The thing is, that isn’t going to leverage a larger deal, because Fox Sports 1 would get, what? About 300k for Dynamite? Is Tony walking into WBD offices bragging about a $15 million per year offer from Fox Sports?

All the basic cable players would have their schedules worked out. Paramount isn’t likely waiting on the line for a show that would need to be picked up and marketed for January. There’s no one else. And at what point do you just accept that maybe AEW is just undesirable content?

They’re losing their TV deals internationally. It’d only be shocking to wrestling fans because the propaganda patrol has told you how smart and sexy Tony Khan is. And everyone kind of gets pressured into saying “well of course they’re getting renewed” because they’re too scared to be wrong.

I think it wound be more shocking to see AEW actually pull off a successful deal than stumble over their own feet at this point. I’m calling Triller.

Nothing is stopping Tony from announcing something for Rampage, Collision or ROH. He could very easily announce a deal for Collision while keeping WBD on the line. But the problem is that someone would actually want it.

Tony failing to get anything for ROH was the tip off that there just aren’t people out there who want it, but people slept on that because the wrestling media is terrible.

Tl;dr: I’ll believe a deal when I see it.

By the way, Kathleen Finch, the head of TBS and TNT has literally announced her retirement without an AEW deal being made. And you’ve got Tony going on TV bragging about how much they love him.

If I was TNA, I’d be calling WBD and offering to do better wrestling on a slightly smaller scale for a much lower price. If you’re WBD, which deal would you make? Stick with the sinking ship or go with the guys with a WWE relationship? One’s got less bodily fluid consumption these days too.

Yeah its certain. Its so certain its not worth talking about. I know you want them to fail, and they will in time, but that day isnt today.

If a deal was actually certain, something would have been announced a year ago. Nothing is certain when you’re still negotiating in Q4 2024 when your deal expires in Q4 2024. And you definitely don’t go on national television and brag about a deal that hasn’t been made. Even if AEW were healthy, the shape of WBD alone should make a reasonable person question. Tony’s bravado seems to imply he’s got nothing.

I think the day they failed has actually passed, but the wrestling media just refused to call it.

We’re hearing that AEW is having talks with Fox Sports. If they extend a deal, it’s not going to be a TBS-sized one because of the network scope. But if he’s having talks with Fox Sports no then what sort of leverage could he possibly have.

The big offers would come from platforms where the TBS numbers could be reasonably sustained. USA, Paramount, your major streaming services. The window has probably closed for all of them now lol. That’s why you’re hearing about the baby Fox networks.

If AEW generated $120 million a year in ad revenue, there would be a logical pathway forward from that. $25 million or whatever. But chances are it does worse than that, hence why WBD was out $9.1 billion or whatever. Whoopsies.

If AEW generated significant ad revenue, those numbers would have someone knocking at their door trying to put AEW on their networks. A FS1 would take a Rampage for $10 million or whatever. Then you’ve at least got something on. But there’s literally nothing except FS1 gossip and promises that everything is going fine.

Lol at several tldr posts by Noid not believing a deal will/is done

This is what we're missing on the other boards

Quality entertainment

He has AEW derangement syndrome. He cant connect with any reality where its not the worst scenrio every time. Its silly and not worth engaging with. There's zero objectivity.

It’s not always the worst scenario possible. I can see them getting Triller.

What makes you think a deal is done?

Please let me know how to keep up with your thoughts if the forum is down

What’s going on here boys?

I see a poster that never posts lambasting a poster that most definitely posts about posting when the forum barely works.

Is that what we’re doing boys? Insulting ourselves now?

Rogerer you shut your face you stupid tit. I see what you’re up to and I will not stand for it. Noid, beat feet. I have your back.

Let the line be drawn.

Noid is not for outsiders to toy with.

Rog you can come back when you have enough self respect to acknowledge that you are an obese forty five year old who can’t get a proper erection because he has wanked his life away.

Alternatively you can apologise to Noid for being Irish.

It’s six of one and half of whatever your smelly old wife makes on the fish market selling her skate.

fat jericho makes me deeply sad

It’s kind of crazy how far he’s fallen off with almost everyone. He could no wrong for a couple of decades there.

Remember when he said he was getting fat to be a better heel in Japan? I think he’s been booked there once since then, if that lol.

So you want to turn Moxley heel on Bryan, right? Why wouldn’t you wait to do that until Bryan had a schedule cleared of opponents? Shouldn’t that have happened, say, at Grand Slam?

Mox and Darby could wrestle for a title shot. Mox can be weird on the side around Bryan or something. Mix can beat Darby then turn heel after Bryan finishes with Nigel — who could have actually won the Wembley gauntlet. Then you can have Darby show up and stake his claim as an ally to Bryan.

Then you can go into WrestleDream with Bryan vs. Mox, Darby vs. PAC, Nigel vs. Claudio…that sort of thing. Instead you’re going to either step on Mox’s heat or have Darby fail to defend his hometown title shot and have Bryan/Nigel happen without any focus whatsoever.

And why does Bryan need to be champ for any of this? I’m not a fan of the guys, but if Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland are going to be headlining All Out, why not just make it a title match? Swerve beats Bryan without the stip. Bryan has at least shown weakness to entice the Mox heel turn.

Miro has requested his release from AEW. The phrase “it’s about fucking time” comes to mind. He has been terribly misused there. The problem is, if Tony sets a precedent with him, how many other wrestlers are going to ask for their release?

AEW’s new media deal has Dynamite and Collision staying in place, Rampage dropped and their content basically being a driver off cable to streaming. Financials were not discussed. Sources say close to $150 million for all aspects of the deal, which even Meltzer was saying wasn’t good. But it may not even be that high.

So they’re basically being whored out. It may not even make AEW profitable. The best thing for AEW would have been for it to get knocked off so changes could actually be made. This deal is likely to see continued erosion on each side of the aisle.

:lol:

The deal that everyone knew was an inevitably except one person has finally been closed. Now we can move on from if it will happen to why its the worse trade deal in the history of trade deals.

Simulcasts are a good call for WBD. Max is their future. There's a good chance they sell the tv divisions on the very cheap over next half decade or so. Also the 3 year deal is great for WBD too. It gives them a way out if groth continues to be poor (or more likely aggressively negative as it has been.) Its a clear signal that they have little faith in the brand and sets the clock on AEW to shit or get off the pot.

hahahaha weoooooooo AEW AEW AEW!!!! Best promotion of all time? Looking like it I guess.

Its a win/win for WBD. Theyve positioned the brand on their streamjng app which is the horse the company is backing long term. So if aew succeeds hey its on the app. Huge win. If it fails theyre out 12 investor reports. Meanwhile they get to go to.those investor meetings with live wrestling to show that theyre making a real push to compete with netflix move (raw) for move (aew.)

And hey, aew gets to live another day which isnt the worst scenrio that some (one) imagined. Theyve a punchers chance. Its not nothing.

How big of a piece WBD owns matters just as much as the dollar amount. If WBD owns 33%, that means $50 million of the reported $150 million would just be them paying themselves. It is a weird dynamic, because the more WBD gives them, the more they get back in whatever weird accounting practices they are doing.

It also has the benefit to Tony that he can keep playing make believe businessman, which is about 35% of the reason AEW even exists.

Also, they were supposed to get a Billion dollars, and if the numbers and years are true, they didnt even get half of that.

I never heard anything about $1B. WBD definitely doesnt have that to spend. Is that what Meltzer was claiming? I dont follow him and tpww has been down.

I don't think it came from Dave, it came from the Sean Ross Sapps and Andrew Zarians, going back to before they even had Collision. Regardless though, I hope they get the library on Max, would be so much easier to watch the few good things they have and skip all the random nonsense.

I wish these streaming sites would post both full shows and have the shows time stamped for individual matches. Sometimes i wanna watch a card. Sometimes i wanna watch a match. If the RoH library goes up especially.

100% the biggest thing I miss from the WWE Network.

The way WWE Network used to be set up was ideal, with the match markers at the beginning of the match, then a marker at the end of the match before the decision. I hope they use something similar

I think its wishful thinking honestly but i agree

Forgive me for not having any faith in AEW to con even a media entity as embarrassing as WBD.

Every "journalist" reporting this deal has increased the amount from the last one. Dave Meltzer now reports is as $555 million with an option 4th year at like $250 million. In 2 days the reports have increased the amount over $100 million total lol

Yeah, sure, like the company with a $600 million TV deal is going to hold the elevator. COME ON!

How much per viewers is WBD paying AEW? 329,000 is not a good rating lol

Its quite bad. At this point trying to brain storm ways to get people behind it again feels so daunting. The audience that has stopped watching, the bulk atleast, will never return. If AEW started putting on the best show producable on earth it wouldnt actually matter. Lines in the sand have been drawn. Its tribalism now.

That portion is a very significant portion of the wrestling audience. So what do you do? Well there's a lot of wrestling fans out there that dont know theyre wrestling fans yet. In theory atleast.

So do you start courting new markets? How do you do that without reshaping the entire product from the ground up? That will lose the loyalist on principle. And even if you could Kahn clearly only knows how to do one thing and he cant do that particularly well.

Its just a nightmare of an issue.

This really is a fundamental issue that stems from Kahn. They could have never reached their heights without his wallet but there was never any intent on giving the money mark the book. Once he siezed control of creative it was over. There's no saving it with him and there's no saving it without his money. If he'd bring in talent to book and fuck off to run the front end maybe...i dunno.

Its a nightmare....or a plague...a nightmare about a plague.

Its awesome. AEW is awesome.

This is one of the chief reasons why I am genuinely surprised WBD actually gave them a new deal. Even a deal with equity, performance markers, that takes all the advertising and PPV revenue — a completely lateral, or even more one-sided deal than before — still can’t expect to see any sort of growth. It should actually factor in that WWE can counter-program through streaming via either Netflix or Peacock and absolutely decimate AEW’s viewership.

That Dynamite number was atrocious. And it can and will get that low again. The trend of the show losing viewers as it continues suggests that people get annoyed watching it. They are eventually not going to come back.

The deal has to be absolutely no pressure at all. They’re just taking a bath on AEW because they want to play around with PPV and running live stuff on MAX, etc. Or they’re absolute fucking morons.

Even if they don’t have to pay them the full speculated amount (reports say things like “up to”) — the real estate on basic cable should be way more valuable than to be tanking your nights like that.

According to Tony Schiavone, fans who don’t like The Young Bucks are idiots. And apparently most of them are bots. I don’t know how that explains the dip in viewers every time they’re on, but ok.

Tony Schiavone said AEW would be stupid to hire Samantha Irvin because Justin Roberts is the best announcer in the business, so he clearly is a retard lol

Tony Schiavone said AEW would be stupid to hire Samantha Irvin because Justin Roberts is the best announcer in the business, so he clearly is a retard lol

He also said Bryan Danielson is the greatest of all time and Joe Tessitore won’t be as good at announcing as Excalibur.

He’s clearly having WCW dying days deja vu.

Didn't she leave because she wanted to do more than announce?

she did.

Hopefully Tony Khan has given creative control to Bobby Lashley. If you’ve heard his pitch for a storyline with Gunther, we’re in for a wild ride.

CANT WAIT FOR DYNAMITE TMRW

Shawn Michaels ruining Tiny Klown's life again tonight lol

I wonder if BigCrippyZ still watches? :lol:

It’s kind of funny watching everyone big-up this thing early days go radio silent. It was never good, but a lot of people can’t bring themselves to admit they were taken in by it.

I wanted AEW to be good. I started this thread with optimism. But it was very clear from day dot they didn’t know what they were doing. But buy off a few podcasters and you’re in.

Ive never seen one of thier shows in its entirety but tbf i havent sat down and watched a full card of anything probably 8 years or so.

Well thats not true. Ive watched a few NWA card in their entirety but theyre an hour or so

Powerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

NXT beats Dynamite again. I can't wait for seething Tiny Klown's next meltdown lol!!

Meltzer’s was hilarious.

He’s now trying to spin it into a win for AEW.

No Dave, you don’t work for TBS.

I love how his source is “trust me bro.” This is the same guy who tried to take a speculative post by a mark on his own forums and frame it as an internal memo from WBD.

I don’t know how “beating” NXT means more advertising revenue for AEW — which is a sinking ship in terms of popularity, and leaked viewers until it was in the mid-400s. It’s also weird to still be using 18-49 to calculate cable appeal in 2024. Sounds like Dave is a little out of touch on this one.

Last I read was Meltz said NXT did win, but it was.onky because of ECW lol

Now he’s gone and added that AEW are the real winners if you go by a made-up metric.

It wasn’t even an ECW show. It was an NXT show featuring ECW alumni using their WWE gimmicks. And I thought AEW was supposed to be the biggest thing since peak WCW anyway? The main focus of the show was on their women’s division.

Still, AEW fears Nunzio.

Why? Confused by this, what should people be using?

I kept meaning to watch NWA. I feel like it would be up my alley. Did you enjoy it?

Meltzer wrote a piece on Dutch Mantell’s health. He couldn’t help but point out that Dutch has been a brutal critic of AEW (even at its popularity peak). Gross.

when it first started i really liked it. I still mostly positive about it but its definitely losing sight of its intent.

Can people stop talking about Dave Meltzer and answer my above question about Dave Meltzer

Who?

No, we aren't talking about Jim Neidhart right now.

Rey Fenix has started talking publicly about AEW. He sounds frustrated that Tony is trying to hold him on injury time because when Fenix needed a doctor, AEW ignored him for months.

Shady

tiny khan

Interest in the AEW product seems to be rapidly diminishing and Tony isn’t doing anything to course correct. I don’t know how anyone can predict anything other than increased drops for them.

Dare we say it, AEW is in Shambles??? :rofl::rofl::rofl:

i don't know the whole story and i don't really care that much but someone asked rey fenix if he tried punching jack perry to get out of AEW and that made me laugh

Dave has taken a new approach. He’s talking about how great AEW is in terms of quality but now acknowledges how it’s doing poorly in the ratings. He’s now admitting that Rampage “only” got 177k viewers. But it was a great Rampage.

Who has more undying love? Jacob Fatu for Solo or Dave for AEW?

Willie Mack has been pulled from GCW shows because of the conflict between those two promotions. For those who haven’t followed, wrestler Effy made comments about AEW running the Hammerstein Ballroom so close to GCW. He pointed out that Tony Khan and AEW had financial advantages that GCW didn’t and made a quip about Tony Khan being paid by Shad to go away.

I had no clue Wille Mack even worked for AEW. His last match was for ROH in October lol.

I think we’re beginning to see Tony Khan crumble. He’s entering his Caligula phase.

I saw Dave say that AEW did better than NXT in terms of coverage area of the key demo. They are literally inventing shit to claim moral victories at this point lol

I’m sure advertisers fall for that and rush to make AEW a more valuable commodity than WWE programming.

Kamille is allegedly unhappy in AEW. I don’t know what she expected.

Dave saying stupid shit like AEW is going to be the second most profitable wrestling company ever when the new TV deal starts shows what an absolute idiot he us. AEW isn't profitable until they make back the initial $100 million startup cost, or the $200 million estimated losses they have had over the last 5 years.

He also doesn't seem to understand that Tony was willing to lose $40 million a year before the new TV deal, yet somehow thinks Tony having access to more money from WBD will make Tony more fiscally responsible. Like Tony won't keep overpaying his roster and buying expensive music and booking 20,000 seat arenas to sell 2000 tickets.

Dave counting his chickens could come back to bite him. If Sesame Street can get dropped by WBD, AEW could be in for a rude shock.

I don’t trust Dave’s Meltzer math on the subject. Tony is just going to spend more even IF the deal isn’t performance-geared.

Why? Confused by this, what should people be using?

AEW’s revenue is almost entirely from TV rights too, which is a relatively modern adjustment — at least to the degree where it is so significant. When Dave gloats about AEW’s “success,” bypassing every metric of actual popularity, he knows that he’s being disingenuous and grading on a sliding scale.

AEW stans will reject the idea of comparing ratings retroactively, but have no problem slipping modern TV rights into the discussion to compare AEW to past promotions.

Dave Meltzer and his ilk will also use AEW’s stadiums as talking points, overlooking that the goal was to run markets more reliability and sustainably back in the day. WCW did have some success in bigger venues, but their goal wasn’t to pack one massive building once a year (something AEW struggles to do anyway). They were also selling out their basketball arenas on the same night as the WWF was running theirs.