1. Billionaires don't get that way by throwing a bunch of money around. How fast does Khan pull the plug when they lose $20 Million.
2. The Jaguars suck, they have the lowest attendance in the NFL, but this dude is gonna run a wrestling company that draws? He can't even draw is his main business.
3. I was looking forward to this, but the amount of people nutting in their pants over how amazing this is gonna be is already annoying me.
4. Good for the wrestlers finding another ATM owner. They convinced this Mark to pony up money just like Anthem, and Panda Energy before that, and Ted Turner before that.
5. Good for the non wrestlers past their prime like Jim Ross getting one more run and collecting a paycheck.

Can't wait until Vince Russo gets the book and Hulkamania tries to run wild...

The old XFL wasn't trying to compete with the NFL. Is the new one?

I've seen some people express concerns about the Bucks booking their own promotion, saying they'll try to get themselves over, etc.

I dunno, guess I must've missed that Jado IWGP Heavyweight Title run.

Yeah the thing that bothers me about this promotion is that they are going to be booking themselves. That usually ends up sucking.

Well the fact they in a time crunch during the main event of their first ever PPV they chose to cut their spots and highlight the guest stars more says a lot about their priorities. Of course keeping the Young Bucks brand alive is important but I don't think they are going to be mark booking themselves like Hogan or something.

Have some goddamn faith

https://nexttvc.com/wp-content/uploa...ou120513-1.jpg

I don't particularly like the Young Bucks at all. They're like wrestling hipsters and quite annoying. That said, I'll still check this out.

I do worry that Cody and The Bucks have a disproportionately high opinion of themselves. Like, do they think it is genuinely them and their personalities that drew that crowd to All In? If they do, then that could be a problem.

I watched a bit of that "Being the Elite" YouTube show once and it was incredibly cringe-worthy and I couldn't finish it...... so hopefully this is nothing like that.

Signed:

Cody
Young Bucks
Page

Mrs. Cody Rhodes
Britt Baker

Likely:

Christopher Daniels

Some sort of role:

Goldberg
Jericho

Am I missing anyone? I'm trying to come up with a list of who could/would join up. Bubba Ray, perhaps?

Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky will likely be involved.

I fucking hate The Young Bucks, in truth, haha. The only thing more annoying than them are their hipster fans. I hope they have plans to settle down and expand their fan-base as opposed to relying on them.

Yeah, what I've seen from BTE is awful.

Is Jericho good these days or has he become cringe-worthy? Last I saw of him he was doing a Shannon Moore gimmick and also using curse words..... not my cup of tea.....

Has Jericho said he will be in this or is that just Internet Speculation?

It's just speculation, but it's fairly strong speculation. Jericho has dropped hints, etc. Plus he was part of the initial news. I think Jericho is much better in New Japan than he is in WWE. He gets to play pro-wrestling heel there, as opposed to sports entertainment comedian.

Nakamura did an interview with Sports Illustrated where he said that most of the WWE's main roster is underrated and they don't get to show it on TV. It obviously doesn't mean much and the question as to who is underrated could lead to that answer, but it certainly adds fuel to the speculation that Nakamura might be frustrated with creative limitations.

I'd just like them to get a good roster started and bring back a decent tag team division.

Please don't rush a women division (their marketer and britt being the only gals right meow).

Main title, 2nd title, Tag

Emphasizing tag teams would make a lot of sense since WWE nor New Japan really puts emphasis on that. They've already got The Young Bucks and Daniels & Kazarian. It's likely Gallows & Anderson could end up there and also The Revival whenever their deals are up. I'd like it if they worked out something with ROH and had The Briscoes show up there. Jim Cornette is done with managing, but I'd like it if he were a "sponsor" of The Briscoes and got to cut some promos on The Bucks.

Women are going to be a part of this from the get-go. I think they are going to have to work out deals with a bunch of promotions. There's that Women of Wrestling thing starting up, which seems largely built around Tessa Blanchard. Is there a way to get around her TNA involvement? Jazz had a great women's match at the NWA 70th show. Kiera Hogan is a name I constantly hear. Amazing Kong has some exposure thanks to GLOW. I'd throw money at Gail Kim and Molly Holly to come in and work as veterans. Meiko Satomura had a good run in the Mae Young Classic. You can probably bring in Nicole Matthews. Santana Garrett has got babyface potential. There's stuff you can do.

Those folks who know who to talk to seem to be saying that the AEW contracts are competitive with WWE, and have been described as "WCW level." This isn't really surprising given how much money the Khans have and how much they want TV networks and other potential business partners to know it.

Guys with their contracts up or coming up are in an excellent position for themselves. And I do stand by my bold prediction that AJ Styles could very well jump. The Khans were about to spend $800 million on a stadium. That much money is enough to pay AJ Styles $2 million for 400 years. They can back the truck up and it's important that they get perceived as big-time players when negotiating TV deals, merchandising deals, etc. If they want deals with WarnerMedia, Hasbro and the like, then looking like they can poach Vince McMahon's top guys, biggest stars and biggest merchandise movers is a great start. If it lands them a good toy deal, a video game and great slot on basic cable, then the insane amount of money they can pay Styles would be justified.

Guys like Styles, Nakamura and Omega are in a position to write themselves a blank cheque with the Khans. And that's something that Vince McMahon can't necessarily match in fear of blowing up his pay-scale. Is Omega going to be able to ask for $5 million a year if John Cena and Undertaker aren't making that much? If Omega gets $5 million, then does Styles get $5 million? What about Nakamura? How much does Becky Lynch ask for when her contract is up?

The difference between this and WCW is that the Khans don't necessarily have to build creative control into the contracts, they can learn that pushing these guys once they are way past their prime is going to chase people away, etc. And they don't need to be so focused on ratings. It's all about securing those TV rights fees and establishing those business partnerships that are going to get you visibility enough to nurture your revenue streams.

They're also a private company, so they don't need to justify the money to anyone but themselves. If Vince McMahon blows up his own pay structure and talent salaries go right up and profit margins therefore come down, investors are going to start asking questions about how vulnerable they are to other market forces.

AEW actually have a huge edge when negotiating with talent. If they decided to offer Omega, Nakamura and Styles five-year deals for $5 million a piece -- let's just go ridiculous with it -- that's $75 million between them over 5 years. But if they snagged them and got a television deal. Let's say that they manage to get something for $50 million a year. That's $250 million which is more than enough to pay off those contracts. It doesn't factor in any other expenses or revenue streams, mind you -- but it's really not insane when you're trying to get your presence felt.

If they sign Joey Ryan I'm all out.

They will sign Joey Ryan, I fear. :(

Another edge AEW has -- they don't need to tie their talent down exclusively. Now if AJ Styles did hypothetically sign with AEW, I'm sure Vince would be incredibly frustrated, throw a fit, toss things around and damn AJ to hell and may never want to speak his name again. But AEW can structure their contracts where Styles absolutely has the freedom to work a number of dates with WWE. There's nothing to stop the Khans paying Styles $5.2 million a year ($100,000 a week) downside guarantee for a retainer, but still allow him to work select dates with WWE. If Vince McMahon wants AJ Styles so bad, they could still lend him to Vince for WrestleMania, for example. It would be Vince throwing his toys out the pram, so to speak.

They can approach talent in such a non-aggressive way that it would almost seem like a no-brainer to sign with them, haha. We're just so used to Vince McMahon's "all or nothing" approach. Couple that with the idea I had earlier of possibly giving talent who serve the promotion for a set amount of time "pensions" in order to retain their licencing rights (like the WWE's legends deals, but not as shitty) and you can really shift things to a post-needing Vince world.

if they have a big tv deal they might not sign him, like jim cornet said they can't do the dick flip.

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LOL, where are you guys coming up with these numbers?

I wonder if AWE will show on-camera marijuana use on their Canadian TV events?

XD

FYI, it's not like the Khans just have $6 billion laying around. What matters is what they have in hand. That's why Vince McMahons net worth is $3 billion, but when he needed actual cash for the XFL, he had to sell stock to get his hands on that money, and pay taxes on the money he got from the stocks.

No billionaire is rocking a Scrooge McDuck vault.

What do you even mean? They’re hypotheticals that the Khans could obviously afford. Could be lower, could be higher. And yeah, money gets wrapped up, but you can access it pretty easily. $800 million for Wembley.

Seems there is a bidding war going on right now between Impact Wrestling and AEW for Pentagon Jr and Fenix.

AEW supposedly made an offer recently which lead to Impact bumping up their own offer to a "low six figure" per year type deal. Only downside to both offers is that AEW wants exclusivity and Impact wants a cut of their indies pay going forward.

Could be settled as early as this Tuesday since AEW wants both guys to be at their press conference in Jacksonville.

I thought lucha libra had both of them and loaning both to impact and mlw. aew is pissing off the other feds.

If I remember, neither guy are locked into AAA or CMLL which is how they can work for both and also keep control over their indies schedule.

If AEW manages to get a deal done with NJPW, that could open up CMLL for a partnership and solve a couple of potential problems for them. Same for how strict their exclusivity actually is since it could just be for the US indies and/or US indies with tv deals.

I can’t imagine they won’t. They let him do his shtick on All In. Clearly Cody doesn’t feel the embarrassment about him that he should.

:rofl:

Impact wants a cut of their indy pay?

This decision should be a no-brainer then.

:lol:

I imagine you're right with that. I can see him being switched to a heel that complains he can't do his shtick in AEW because of "standards and practices." Make him Vince Russo, the wrestler.

Hopefully we can get a hold of those quarter-hour ratings when he comes out with penis druids.

I heard that TNA offered Pentagon and Fenix low six figures each but AEW came back with triple the offer. So that's at least $300,000.

I heard that AEW offered Paul London a 6 year $39.5 million fully guaranteed deal.

Of course it's true, cause the Khans could afford it.

I heard AEW is pushing hard to sign Braden Walker and Heidenreich for their tag team division.

They also want Justice from Tough Enough and the American Gladiators reboot.

Cody has big plans to push his Uncle Fred as Shockmaster 3000.

Tony Khan is gonna offer Le'veon Bell a contract to join the Jaguars.

His signing bonus will be to have a few matches in AEW like that other Steelers running back had in TNA.

As long as Jarrett, Russo, and Dixie aren't involved in this, I am very optimistic about this promotion.

I wonder if they'd want to partner with Corgan...His head sees to be on straight these days. NWA could be the NXT for AEW.

Why would they want Paul London that badly?

Because they can afford it.

They could afford a troupe of circus elephants too. That doesn’t answer the question.

Well good fuck em if they do. Just needed one reason to not watch this. If he's all in. I'm all out forever.

I actually heard they are gonna sign multiple circus personalities to multi year deals, including the famous Elite Eight Elephants, or "3E" as they are known on the circuit.

Imagine thinking that wanting someone because you’ve got the money and wanting someone and having the money are the same thing.

I get the frustration there. Maybe they just give him a pay-day to get Speared by Goldberg? Or maybe he plays a heel manager that wants a big AEW contract but they don’t hire him because he’s a crooked promoter who got people to play with his dick? I dunno, I’m trying to be optimistic.

If they book Tampon Lady also.

Just saw that spot, re: Tampon Lady

She's not getting booked anywhere in a major fed after that, would be a bad PR move

Lol what? Who wouldn't want to lockdown a talent like smiling Paul London up???

This will do absolutely nothing. They are appealing to the niche audience of a niche audience. Brand recognition will kill them.

Btw, how's the NWA doing. I remember people getting upset when I said it would go nowhere after Cody won the title.

They need to get a battle midget that is heavily armored for this fed to even have a chance

What is the deal with Joey Ryan and Tampon Girl? Confused.

Joey Ryan is the dick flip guy.

I don't know who Tampon Girl is.

Fickle fickle fickle
That is why shit goes nowhere, why invest time and energy into anythingwhen the fans will shit all over it at the drop of a #

Because they've done absolutely nothing since? I'm sorry for being realistic.

What exactly are you looking at from this promotion?
The belt is being defended...
Outside of NJPW everything else is Mickey Mouse compared to the WWe.
Hell, I bet Netflixs' Glow got more views per episode than anything ROH, impact or any other indy promotion has gotten in yeaars.

glow may be beating raw eps as many people stoped watching raw.

if it keeps going. Second season of Glow averaged 700k viewers / episode.
We are heading back towards the days of territories and I for one could care less as long as the shows that these organizations are putting on are entertaining to the crowds sitting in the seats and not the neckbeards sitting on the couch or hooked up to the computer saying they could do better.

The belt has always been defended. I'm talking about the "Cody won the NWA Title and now it's gonna mean something" crowd.

How'd that work out

Lol we are not heading towards the days of Territories. Stop. It's the a WWE and everyone else

Haha, did anybody really buy Cody beating Magnus as some sort of return to glory for the NWA? I don’t remember reading that here. The only thing I saw was people saying it felt old-school and serious and that it should have been the main event.

Still can't believe that Corgan's grand plan for the belt following All In was to just give it right back to Aldis a month later.

Like a textbook example of what not to do with all the new interest and hype that was built up for the belt coming out of All In.

Lol its so ridiculous

I didn't expect Cody to hold the belt for long anyway. It was a cute little moment for him at All In. Was Corgan going to be super-stoked about having his "World Champion" work as a mid-carder in New Japan anyway?

To me, this AEW project depends greatly on how much money the Khans are going to put in. It's very exciting whenever something new comes around, because WWE is objectively bad television. It's filmed bad, it's redundant, the acting is terrible and the scripts are Razzie worthy. It sucks. People want something different. Okay.

Vince getting a $2.1 billion deal for his TV is a huge deal that has switched people on and made things look possible. It's a different climinate to how it has been since 2001. Anyway, we all know this.

If this is just Tony Khan plunking down a few million to have an indy promotion built around Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks, then I'll agree with people who project grim things for it and a ceiling on AXS or WGN America. I'm really hoping that people with that much money trying to get into the game see the potential to secure huge television deals by offering a viable alternative to WWE. If you spend a few hundred million, you can make that back in TV rights money over the next five years.

In the history of wrestling, I don't think there has ever been a billionaire that has privately gotten involved in wrestling. You can talk about the NWA, GFW and WCW -- but they either don't have the same conceivable funds or were run publicly.

I’m rooting for this to be a success and provide a true alternative but they’ve an uphill battle on their hands because...

Kenny Omega confirmed to be leaving NJPW.

WWE are said to have offered him comparable money to what AJ Styles got, which would presumably make it the highest offer they've made to him in the several times they've tried to pry him away. He's said in interviews previously that he feels WWE would be stifling creatively, and nothing they've done of late would suggest that isn't still the case, so it's really just a question on whether or not there's a pricepoint where he's willing to sacrifice the creativity.

Meltzer's been saying for a few months that the Elite guys' pact to stick together wasn't just lip service. With Cody and the Bucks creating AEW and Hangman joining them, I think that's going to be where Kenny winds up. With Khan backing it, they can probably pay him quite well.

If he does sign with AEW, likely just a matter of time before Ibushi follows him afterwards considering how close those two are as buddies and Ibushi is only working as a freelancer in NJPW.

If rumors are to be believed, Kenny and Kota are more than just buddies and the Golden Lovers angle is based off an element of truth.

But yeah, I think Kota would do some AEW work, but he seems to enjoy being a freelancer regardless of what company it is.

I don't think Kenny is done with NJPW in the long term. I do see him doing something in the US for a year before returning to NJPW. That leaves alot open though. I dont think WWE would offer a 1 year deal but AWE, ROH, and Impact could all be options for Omega during his rebuild year.

He's part of the Elite and makes since he would join his friends in AEW

He's also close to Don Callis who could sway him to Impact for a year before returning to NJPW.

ROH still has the working relationship with NJPW which could allow him to stay close to NJPW while being closer to home as well.

Ibushi likes his freedom for now, but elements to consider there is the creative freedom versus the money on the table. He might not have wanted to sign with “corporate wrestling” for the money on the table. AEW seems more to his speed, but they might also be offering better money than what was previously there. Ibushi might actually get to keep his freedom too.

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Poor Marty, Villians Enterprises is bad ass though with PCO and Brody King.

I ship them

Omega’s stock would plummet if he went to Impact any time soon.

Why? Impact is putting out a good product and if he wants a cool down year it makes sense. I don't think he'll go there but I also don't see how it would hurt his stock.

Simulcasting on Twitch was a smart move.

Probably a good idea seing as alot of people don't get Pursuit, which shocked me. Pursuit use to be free on Direct TV.

If you see a burning house, is your initial reaction to go inside for a lie down? Unless their are trapped babies in TNA, Omega is not going to sign with them. I’d rate that as being much closer to 0 than AJ Styles signing with AEW.

New Japan has categorically ruled out working with AEW.

How is Impact a burning house exactly? I know you don't watch so you have no clue what you are talking about but he doesn't have to sign with them. A few appearances isn't out of the realm of possibility. I just hope he doesn't sign with WWE, would probably be great financially but I feel he'd fall into the same position Shinsuke has.

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SCU

Makes sense because of the G1 Supercard show they have coming up in a few months with ROH. Observer mentioned NJPW probably didn't want to risk anything happening to that show and might rethink everything afterwards.

Even though its a step down in terms of appeal, AEW could get a partnership done with Impact Wrestling to fill in the void for the time being. Impact's boss is still open to working with anyone.

Not really sure why NJPW would want to keep the agreement with ROH going when ROH seem to lose a few talents a year to WWE, they've now lost the Elite and SCU to AEW, and who knows who else AEW will be bringing in that could've made a working relationship more attractive to NJPW.

If nothing else, I hope this somehow leads to PCO in the G1.

It's not like it can't happen down the line. Like Smeat said its probably to keep the G1 Supercard together for now.

njpw could be waiting for the tv deal too, an they can't leave roh till after the msg thing.

Seems MLW might be partnering with AEW soon since both sides are rumored to be on very good terms with each other. Add in the potential of a deal with Impact and that's a pretty good partnership to fill the void of losing out on NJPW for the time being.

MLW vs Impact vs AEW would be a cool Wrestlemania weekend show. Alot of crossover on the Impact and MLW rosters.

that's better then the bidding war they were talking about, aew. needs what impact and mlw have backstage people to help run the shows.

Because it’s TNA and it keeps losing viewers, time slots and network deals. How is that not a toxic brand? It’s got nothing to do with me hating the garbage hoke I’ve seen. By the way, I don’t think I can watch TNA in Australia, because they lost their fucking TV deal. Just sign the talent worth a shit (like Morrison, Brian Cage and TPWW’s own Paul Titan) and let the rest crumble into the ocean.

I do imagine that New Japan are quite upset by AEW’s inception. It’s not a wound that won’t heal if All Elite ends up with a great time slot, but if it’s just further competition on AXS or WGN America, it takes a lot away from New Japan and redistributes it elsewhere. The MSG deal is also probably a factor. And general loyalty.

Losing viewers is just part of TV, everyone is losing viewers because they're going to other platforms. Fact is they're still on national TV and soon to be simulcast on Twitch as well. Probably a better deal overall getting off the female dominated Pop and onto a male dominated Pursuit. Said to also allow for an edgier product. TV is just part of it though, they're doing well in most other aspects, live crowds, PPV receptions, and multiple successful partnerships to name a few. It was pretty toxic a couple years ago but it had a good turn around last year and just needs to continue the momentum. Just seems weird to me to shit on this new Impact for once being TNA.

Speaking of the NWA, they've got a former WCW champion in the fold.



They could also be a possibility for a partnership with AEW I think. They're not a true promotion and don't really have any talent other than their champions but could see them as a possibility for Double or Nothing at least.

Impact has had a real good run of shows. I'm definitely attending the next set of t.v tapings that are coming to my city in March. I had a blast last time. It's found its little groove.

You also don't think it is weird to not care about murders when they happen a certain geographical distance from you, as opposed to an arbitrary distance you consider close. And you're an Eli Drake. I don't know which disqualifies your perception of weird more.

We've had this discussion before. Ratings do matter. Television changing is obviously going to be a factor, except some TV deals are going strong, aren't they? Not TNA. They went from 300,000 viewers to 200,000 viewers. They will probably dip even further. But that's 33.3% of these fans tuning out during the "good times." They are on late. Too late to improve. Edgier content is not going to help them. They were already rough around the edges. They were TNA for crying out loud. They have characters that try to murder each other in the woods and Scarlett Bordeaux simulating oral sex on microphones.

They are not doing well in live crowds and they had PPV but lost it. How many do they produce a year? One? How well did that do? Which successful partnerships have been announced? Twitch?

There's a reason Chris Jericho has not shown up for his bestie. It's because he knows he's hot right now and he doesn't want any of that dirty, dirty stank on him.

Lol, Gerty -- you just want to bump into Scarlett Bordeaux again.

Dude as I've said before you really don't understand the wrestling landscape. The GWN has probably 10-15 promotions alone that air on it. Those are successful partnerships. Then you have the major partnership with AAA which has been good to both. They did 3 actual PPVs last year plus their One Night Only PPVs and Twitch specials that were usually done with other promotions.

I don't know why you say they're not doing well with live crowds. Obviously it's because you haven't seen what they are doing. Every PPV and taping had a sold paying crowd. That's alot different than letting everyone in for free at Universal.

Jericho and crew will come eventually. They are not going for a fast rebuild. They've went back to the basics and its been successful, I never thought Jericho would show up last year. That was mostly alot of internet hype from a Jericho interview.