Brian Pillman, Jr. is apparently All In, as they say. He’ll also be appearing with Liam O’Rourke, JR and Dave Meltzer on a Brian Pillman panel at Starrcast.

I’ve been quietly hoping that the first match on Tuesday Night Dynamite is Jushin Liger against BPJ.

He’s just not that good man. I’ve seen him live I think in about 7 matches maybe more. His work is bullshit. His promos are bullshit too. Sorry, I know he has a look and a pedigree but he isn’t very good at all.

I thought he was pretty fun live at Janelas spring break 3 PT 2. But then again it was 2 a.m. and I was hammered. And wheatus was doing Nate Webb's Teenage Dirt bag entrance live at the same time BPJ hit a series of awesome moves. So I could see how my opinion would be skewed.

I've seen some questionable stuff from him (comparing something goofy he was doing to something his father did), but I've enjoyed what I've seen. Big paws.

Was just doing some mental masturbation. Last year, the Raw 25 special got 4.5 million people to tune in. They couldn't retain them. Imagine if those 4.5 million people got wind there was a fresh, hot product starting up that wasn't WWE.

I'm not saying that they will beat WWE in the ratings, but I think people look at the WWE's ratings as a reflection of the potential wrestling audience, which has never been the case. It's going to be a very curious time in October.

Sadly that inflated number was for the nostalgia. Had Stone Cold and Undertaker and DX and Scott Hall all became weekly regulars after that, the ratings would have stayed up, for a few more weeks at least, but even then, it's not like they all would suddenly become 30 again.

It's hard to measure what it was. I'm sure nostalgia helped, but it still shows there is something of a lapsed audience out there that is reachable to an extent. I personally think they didn't come back because the show was DREADFUL.

Seating chart for FIGHT FOR THE FALLEN released


https://i.imgur.com/d9gWbAx.gif


https://i.imgur.com/a1p8wWB.jpg

Venue looks cool. Looks like they will use most of the 3rd level for production/cameras. Audience will have seating onstage w/ ring in the 'pit' section


https://www.dailysplace.com/assets/i...9c0e71958c.jpg

https://www.structurflex.com/wp-cont...itheater-5.jpg

https://www.structurflex.com/wp-cont...itheater-1.jpg

It’s going to take some getting used to these layouts, but hey, it’s fresh.

That does look pretty interesting, I wonder how the crowd noise will sound bouncing around in there. That could be another really cool effect.

I’m still hoping they get Jim Johnston to direct the music. I can imagine the guy has a bit of a chip on his shoulder and wants to prove he still has it.

I read something about the Super Smash Bros. and Emma being signed.

So apparently AEW will be paying for t.v time on TNT lol.

Meltzer said on his forum this is not true


https://i.imgur.com/gSeB5fA.png

I really hope for their sake it's false

I trust Meltzer, he's as tight as heck with those guys especially The Bucks.

There’s no way they’re not going to get paid out the ass for Dynamite, but even if they did, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to get their foot in the door. Hell, if they paid for TV, then it might change the market for Vince and without rights fees, WWE is fucked.

Seems AEW's relationship with China's Oriental Wrestling Entertainment is a lot less stable than previously thought.

Them signing CIMA was less of them building up a strong relationship with OWE and instead OWE couldn't afford him due to their investors recently pulled out of the company.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">CIMA leaving for OWE has to do with the company's investors recently pulled out. CIMA was earning 150K CNY per month from the company. The plan is to pick the cream of the crop in OWE and sign them to full-time AEW contracts.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/aewrestling?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#aewrestling</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/owe?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#owe</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pullout?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#pullout</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/STRONGHEARTS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#STRONGHEARTS</a> <a href="https://t.co/TwPEmv399S">pic.twitter.com/TwPEmv399S</a></p>&mdash; KWK (@KShawnng) <a href="https://twitter.com/KShawnng/status/1118370346627993600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
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That’s a shame for them. Probably tidier having them under contract.

I somehow missed that Brandi vs. Allie and Omega vs. CIMA are official for Fight for the Fallen. Good stuff.

Well OWE is not very good so I don't really consider this a bad thing. Take CIMA's best trainee's and off we go.

AWE would be wise to set up an agreement with PWG for spot talent. Those cameo's that can pop the crowd with a sick match we've not seen before. Probably already in the works considering the announcer.

I don’t really think PWG is big enough to really need a working agreement in place. AEW could probably inhale and suck the whole thing up.

Yeah I don't really see a PWG working agreement. I could see them partnering on a few things here and there though due to the Bucks' relationship with the promotion.

Like the eventual PWG champion (probably not Cobb as I think he's on the verge of signing with NJPW) having a showcase match on an AEW PPV while an AEW performer enters the BOLA tournament.

Yeah that would be great. I wouldn't rule out some sort of official partnership in the future considering Excalibur is AEW's announcer and part owner of PWG.

Do PWG even sign their talent?

No they are an indie super show basically. But if they wanted to be a feeder for AEW instead of NXT they could make that happen.

I think it would be too disorganized and structurally incomplete to work as a developmental. It’s way too early for them to be thinking about that, but I could see OVW acting as a school of choice down the line, with something possibly eventually being set up in Florida so it’s close to HQ.

I expect to see Rick Knox go there as a referee. I can see Jack Doan being senior official. Jimmy Korderas would be feel-good, but north of 50, he might be too old. Maybe Korderas for a year and then he can pass it on to Doan? I hope they get Brian Hebner too. Always liked him as a ref. Apparently Earl’s daughter, Katie, is a ref too. Aaron Mahoney from OVW and a brief WWE spell could be serviceable too.

Keith Mitchell is apparently going to be heading up production.

Cody announcing who he faces at All or Nothing tomorrow. Any final guesses?

Seems weird to announce Moxley if he's still technically under WWE contract. Unless there's like a thing where his contract expires and that's when Cody does the announcement, but it seems to be ill-timed.

I'm going to guess Joey Ryan, so I am not disappointed.

I've been low-key hoping for Orton. I'm not sure what the chances are, but word on his contract expiring has been pretty hush-hush, and he's kind of been kept quiet. WWE just filed some trademarks for "RKO" clothing and marketing stuff, which could mean that they plan to market him, but it could also be a pre-emptive "oh no you don't" kind of block on him.

With AEW being willing to work with Impact, the announcement being on 4/20 has me thinking it’ll be Rob Van Dam.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Commentary “drills”<br><br>It was a privilege to hear these guys put in the work today! <a href="https://t.co/oZB893hgKX">pic.twitter.com/oZB893hgKX</a></p>&mdash; Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) <a href="https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1119027572015345664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
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RIP any interest in the entire company if they bring in RVD

Lol at JR’s nameplate. RVD is a good shout.

A report is saying that Turner has been somewhat caught off guard by AEW apparently having Showtime talks on the go too.

Fightful has a pretty good article about the time buy rumor regarding AEW's potential tv deal and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff regarding the networks involved in the talks.

Seems its something that AEW is considering as a backup option but only if TNT and TBS get cold feet on any potential deal and AEW doesn't feel they can succeed on premium cable via Showtime. TNT and TBS supposedly lost a lot of luster in wanting AEW when they found out it was ROH who handled the production side of All In.

For some reference, "Dark Twitter" in the tweets listed usually is assumed to be just DMs being sent back and forth with sources and in some cases, when stuff is being made up. Some like using the term since it makes things sound more a lot more juicy for rumors.

Link: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/s...-and-time-buys

Nothing about it seems too unusual. Makes sense that Turner would want to edge them out of money where they can. That being said, I’ve always assumed that is why a deal wasn’t penned as soon as it came and prior to Double or Nothing. After that show, hopefully, there isn’t room for Turner to use the doubting of production as an excuse to rescind (although they don’t really need one).