But if Vince is a control freak, then surely he must be enraged by the fact that he has big names rejecting him at all costs to stay with the company (Dean Ambrose and Daniel Bryan)?
He’s now starting to lose control over his own talent whose heads are being turned very quickly to what AEW are doing.
There are now rumours circulating around Kevin Owens too, who is up for renewal in January and has put out a tease of his own…
Why?
How many people stopped watching RAW, or cancelled their network subscription, or didn't buy a live event because Bryan left?
How many people do any of the above because Kevin Owens is on the card?
The 50/50 booking over the last few years is very deliberate.
I think Bryan is probably the best in ring worker of the last 15 years. I think CM PUNK is probably the best "total package" (sorry lex) in that time as well.
They will make me watch AEW, they didn't/wouldn't make me watch WWE.
If AEW sign Owens, Rotunda, Stroman, Rollings or anyone else will it hurt WWEs bottom line?
I don’t think those stars leaving will hurt their bottom line. The biggest star of WWE is ‘WWE’ itself.
The point I’m making is that Vince must be emotionally affected by what AEW are doing (or at least he will be soon), if he is indeed the control freak he is widely perceived to be.
Otherwise, what was the need to shake up the NXT format? The widely suggested theory is that he would have felt pissed off by losing the Wednesday battle to AEW, and is therefore just resetting the whole thing altogether.
There was no Wednesday night War. Its a thing in the heads of AEW fans. If there was a proper "war" the Rock, Cena etc etc would have turned up. NXT is being revamped because someone, Nick Khan, doesn't like wrestling.
But if Vince is a control freak, then surely he must be enraged by the fact that he has big names rejecting him at all costs to stay with the company (Dean Ambrose and Daniel Bryan)?
He’s now starting to lose control over his own talent whose heads are being turned very quickly to what AEW are doing.
There are now rumours circulating around Kevin Owens too, who is up for renewal in January and has put out a tease of his own…
Why?
How many people stopped watching RAW, or cancelled their network subscription, or didn't buy a live event because Bryan left?
How many people do any of the above because Kevin Owens is on the card?
The 50/50 booking over the last few years is very deliberate.
I think Bryan is probably the best in ring worker of the last 15 years. I think CM PUNK is probably the best "total package" (sorry lex) in that time as well.
They will make me watch AEW, they didn't/wouldn't make me watch WWE.
If AEW sign Owens, Rotunda, Stroman, Rollings or anyone else will it hurt WWEs bottom line?
I don’t think those stars leaving will hurt their bottom line. The biggest star of WWE is ‘WWE’ itself.
The point I’m making is that Vince must be emotionally affected by what AEW are doing (or at least he will be soon), if he is indeed the control freak he is widely perceived to be.
Otherwise, what was the need to shake up the NXT format? The widely suggested theory is that he would have felt pissed off by losing the Wednesday battle to AEW, and is therefore just resetting the whole thing altogether.
There was no Wednesday night War. Its a thing in the heads of AEW fans. If there was a proper "war" the Rock, Cena etc etc would have turned up. NXT is being revamped because someone, Nick Khan, doesn't like wrestling.
Was the move to USA Network not a reaction to AEW announcing a Wednesday night show?
But if Vince is a control freak, then surely he must be enraged by the fact that he has big names rejecting him at all costs to stay with the company (Dean Ambrose and Daniel Bryan)?
He’s now starting to lose control over his own talent whose heads are being turned very quickly to what AEW are doing.
There are now rumours circulating around Kevin Owens too, who is up for renewal in January and has put out a tease of his own…
Why?
How many people stopped watching RAW, or cancelled their network subscription, or didn't buy a live event because Bryan left?
How many people do any of the above because Kevin Owens is on the card?
The 50/50 booking over the last few years is very deliberate.
I think Bryan is probably the best in ring worker of the last 15 years. I think CM PUNK is probably the best "total package" (sorry lex) in that time as well.
They will make me watch AEW, they didn't/wouldn't make me watch WWE.
If AEW sign Owens, Rotunda, Stroman, Rollings or anyone else will it hurt WWEs bottom line?
I don’t think those stars leaving will hurt their bottom line. The biggest star of WWE is ‘WWE’ itself.
The point I’m making is that Vince must be emotionally affected by what AEW are doing (or at least he will be soon), if he is indeed the control freak he is widely perceived to be.
Otherwise, what was the need to shake up the NXT format? The widely suggested theory is that he would have felt pissed off by losing the Wednesday battle to AEW, and is therefore just resetting the whole thing altogether.
There was no Wednesday night War. Its a thing in the heads of AEW fans. If there was a proper "war" the Rock, Cena etc etc would have turned up. NXT is being revamped because someone, Nick Khan, doesn't like wrestling.
Was the move to USA Network not a reaction to AEW announcing a Wednesday night show?
Or did USA Network just stump up a load more cash for more WWE content?
A reaction by whom, I doubt Vince paid for the TV slot.
USA might have wanted to counter program TNT but that's a completely different kettle of fish.
Not sure about the lack of WWE creative. Heel Reigns has been class, hurt business was great. Alexa Bliss is creative, although utter shite IMO. It's been a lot worse, especially when Cena was having his run.
But if Vince is a control freak, then surely he must be enraged by the fact that he has big names rejecting him at all costs to stay with the company (Dean Ambrose and Daniel Bryan)?
He’s now starting to lose control over his own talent whose heads are being turned very quickly to what AEW are doing.
There are now rumours circulating around Kevin Owens too, who is up for renewal in January and has put out a tease of his own…
Why?
How many people stopped watching RAW, or cancelled their network subscription, or didn't buy a live event because Bryan left?
How many people do any of the above because Kevin Owens is on the card?
The 50/50 booking over the last few years is very deliberate.
I think Bryan is probably the best in ring worker of the last 15 years. I think CM PUNK is probably the best "total package" (sorry lex) in that time as well.
They will make me watch AEW, they didn't/wouldn't make me watch WWE.
If AEW sign Owens, Rotunda, Stroman, Rollings or anyone else will it hurt WWEs bottom line?
I don’t think those stars leaving will hurt their bottom line. The biggest star of WWE is ‘WWE’ itself.
The point I’m making is that Vince must be emotionally affected by what AEW are doing (or at least he will be soon), if he is indeed the control freak he is widely perceived to be.
Otherwise, what was the need to shake up the NXT format? The widely suggested theory is that he would have felt pissed off by losing the Wednesday battle to AEW, and is therefore just resetting the whole thing altogether.
There was no Wednesday night War. Its a thing in the heads of AEW fans. If there was a proper "war" the Rock, Cena etc etc would have turned up. NXT is being revamped because someone, Nick Khan, doesn't like wrestling.
Was the move to USA Network not a reaction to AEW announcing a Wednesday night show?
Or did USA Network just stump up a load more cash for more WWE content?
A reaction by whom, I doubt Vince paid for the TV slot.
USA might have wanted to counter program TNT but that's a completely different kettle of fish.
The timing was pretty telling though wasn’t it? After all, NXT had been a hot brand for about 3-4 years up until that point and could have gone to TV at any time.
I also suspect they moved their slot to Tuesday as a result of their inability to trounce AEW.
I have a feeling WWE / Vince have some sort of complex feeling towards AEW, where they see them as competition one minute but change their mind the next, and then change it back etc etc. That’s very much Vince’s scattergun mindset of recent years. Constantly changing their mind on things.
There have been a couple of times they’ve tried to mention AEW in their programming (the Jericho episode on Stone Cold’s show, and Sami Zayn’s promo). It was out of character for them to do this, but part of me thinks it was a way of them trying to just be bold and put on a brave face. “Look at us, we can mention AEW, we’re clearly not scared of them”.
But then their chopping and changing behaviour for NXT programming over the past year has demonstrated that it’s on their mind in some way.
I think they know that deep down they will probably be fine from a revenue standpoint, but AEW will always be niggling in the back of their mind as long as they have this momentum. They can’t just ignore them forever.
If you have got 12 minutes of your life you don't want back watch Flair v Jax from RAW form last week (may actually be the week before). Possibly the worst TV match I have seen in years.
To think that they’ve released the likes of Bray Wyatt yet still insist on Nia Jax really says something. She’s absolutely awful in the ring.
Then again, The Rock is her cousin.
Keeping Nia Jax is wrong, she is absolutely garbage in the ring.
The problem with Wyatt is when you book him like they did you can't really do much with him afterwards.
The problem the WWE have got is their 4 biggest stars have been main eventing for longer than Hogan. Reigns has already been a main eventer longer than Hogan's hulkamania run. Lesner and Cena even longer. At least Lashley went away.
There are only so many people you can push at a time, what do you do with a Wyatt, or a Strowman, when you stop using them as main eventers?
I really hope AEW sigh Charlotte, Tessa and Wyatt and put them in a stable with Brock Anderson. I would believe it if Tess and Ashley beat the bucks
Jax is a liability. She needs to head back to training.
She is untrainable, it must be like wrestling a sofa. I can't say I have suffered many of her matches but from that 1 you can see she doesn't have the dexterity or agility to do anything at all.
Will be interesting to see who long term is in the AEW title picture.
They've thrown Christian in there, but in reality he wasn't going to have Omega's number twice.
I could make cases for any of; Black, Rhodes, Page, Punk, Allin, Archer, Jericho, Cole, Danielson, Miro and more, all based on different things, some of them being the best wrestlers around, a couple of them to make them absolute stars you can build an empire on, obviously a couple of names that would make sense in a marketing perspective, and some older stars that could get one final run before handing over the torch.
I look at WWE and I don't see who will dethrone Reigns, other than Lesnar, and most of the other big names just aren't a draw, or are stuck in tag team purgatory
Wild prediction, but I can see a situation where Reigns holds onto the belt for 2-3 years.
And drops it to The Rock at WM 39 in California?
I still couldn’t see that happening. Is The Rock realistically going to stick around to defend the belt…?
About 5 years ago I was adamant that WWE had a potential megastar main-eventer on their hands with Finn Balor.
His ability and background appealed to the die-hards. He’s an incredible looking lad who you could put on a billboard. And he had a superb gimmick (the demon), which perfectly fits WWE’s model of selling merch, appealing to younger audiences, and you could build storylines around it. Literally had everything.
And after he had his injury, they just didn’t seem to want to bother with him.
I think Big E is a potential giant star. Fergal Devitt off to AEW!
Will be interesting to see who long term is in the AEW title picture.
They've thrown Christian in there, but in reality he wasn't going to have Omega's number twice.
I could make cases for any of; Black, Rhodes, Page, Punk, Allin, Archer, Jericho, Cole, Danielson, Miro and more, all based on different things, some of them being the best wrestlers around, a couple of them to make them absolute stars you can build an empire on, obviously a couple of names that would make sense in a marketing perspective, and some older stars that could get one final run before handing over the torch.
I look at WWE and I don't see who will dethrone Reigns, other than Lesnar, and most of the other big names just aren't a draw, or are stuck in tag team purgatory
Wild prediction, but I can see a situation where Reigns holds onto the belt for 2-3 years.
And drops it to The Rock at WM 39 in California?
I still couldn’t see that happening. Is The Rock realistically going to stick around to defend the belt…?
About 5 years ago I was adamant that WWE had a potential megastar main-eventer on their hands with Finn Balor.
His ability and background appealed to the die-hards. He’s an incredible looking lad who you could put on a billboard. And he had a superb gimmick (the demon), which perfectly fits WWE’s model of selling merch, appealing to younger audiences, and you could build storylines around it. Literally had everything.
And after he had his injury, they just didn’t seem to want to bother with him.
I think Big E is a potential giant star. Fergal Devitt off to AEW!
👀
For once WWE got something right. Putting the belt on Big E is the right thing to do
Comments
A reaction by whom, I doubt Vince paid for the TV slot.
USA might have wanted to counter program TNT but that's a completely different kettle of fish.
Maybe this explains why it's gone to shit
There have been a couple of times they’ve tried to mention AEW in their programming (the Jericho episode on Stone Cold’s show, and Sami Zayn’s promo). It was out of character for them to do this, but part of me thinks it was a way of them trying to just be bold and put on a brave face. “Look at us, we can mention AEW, we’re clearly not scared of them”.
But then their chopping and changing behaviour for NXT programming over the past year has demonstrated that it’s on their mind in some way.
I think they know that deep down they will probably be fine from a revenue standpoint, but AEW will always be niggling in the back of their mind as long as they have this momentum. They can’t just ignore them forever.
American Alpha were already a reboot of The World's Greatest Tag Team anyway
Then again, The Rock is her cousin.
The problem with Wyatt is when you book him like they did you can't really do much with him afterwards.
The problem the WWE have got is their 4 biggest stars have been main eventing for longer than Hogan. Reigns has already been a main eventer longer than Hogan's hulkamania run. Lesner and Cena even longer. At least Lashley went away.
There are only so many people you can push at a time, what do you do with a Wyatt, or a Strowman, when you stop using them as main eventers?
I really hope AEW sigh Charlotte, Tessa and Wyatt and put them in a stable with Brock Anderson. I would believe it if Tess and Ashley beat the bucks
I like how there are two Samoan families, the man for has vacanted the NXT title and everyone else.
I'm surprised they've gone with Omega vs Bryan so quickly but I'm still looking forward to seeing it
In nearly every segment there was someone who could legitimately be a top main event star.