2014 Pro Wrestling Thread

A few thoughts ...

- Read some reports that one reason Punk is unhappy is because talent is in the dark on how their PPV checks will look like if buyrates drop because of people jumping to The Network. Sounds like a fair grievance to me. I'd certainly would want to know more if I were in that spot. Not that he probably needs more money, but the principle ...

- Noticed the PPV calendar published somewhere online earlier today. If it's accurate, only two changes worth noting.

1. Two shows in June, rather than October.
2. The second June show is Money in the Bank, while Battleground takes the July spot. Everything else stays the same.

Also, Extreme Rules in May is in seattle. Expect hometown hero Bryan to job cleanly to El Torrito. Because how much longer will people pull for Bryan if they don't think they'll ever see a payoff? Punk cooled off and was a midcarder for 2013. Hell, he was a midcard world champ for all of 2012 unless Cena was involved in the title picture. Fans won't wait forever.

- I just don't understand the thought pricess in creative. If fans are hijacking shows to the extent that major shows are looking bad to the home audience, why not work toward a payoff? Bryan's major push has been going since July. Time to do something more with it. And if fans cool off too soon? Well, that's why they should be building more than one guy as a future main eventer, which should be Roman. Just thinking out loud.

- One last thing, Figure 4 Online posted an anonymous letter they claim is from a top WWE star. Basically, this anonymous letter wants fans to stop spoiling shows, shut up, and enjoy what we're given. Could you imagine if that were the mindset in other venues? My God, if that were true in college football, Mike Shula would still coach my Crimson Tide. Yeah, probably a work.

 

This seems like the furthest thing from reasonable to me. I understand wanting to know about some sort of general plan, but the Network is set to be the single largest driver of growth in the history of your entire profession. It only makes sense that the increased income would trickle down to the talent.

It's not like VKM is going to expect all of the talent to only accept PPV buys as a basis for their paycheck when they (potentially) will have hundreds of millions of new revenue. There are a lot of criticisms of VKM, but it seems like he has been pretty damn good in paying guys well over the past 15 years.

If anything, I would say the move to the Network, if a success, would lead to much more stable/guaranteed money for the wrestlers. If you have 2 million people subscribing for the past X years, you've got a pretty decent projection of income.

 

Perhaps I am, but I'd have to think an over-the-top streaming presence is still going to be cheaper than running a cable network, which was the original plan. Most of the content is either in the can (archives), stuff they're doing anyway (NXT, PPVs, whatever YouTube shows migrate over) or can be produced on the cheap (reality shows, studio shows).

Given the weakness of the PPV market and its seemingly poor future (especially if UFC commits to over-the-top and moves its major shows there), if the network underperforms or it's not economically sound to include their live broadcasts on it, they'd probably be better off packaging the PPV-level shows and selling them like they are Raw and Smackdown. And it's very likely they'll triple their rights fees with this contract at a mininum, because wrestling is one of the few programming options that are immune to time shifting. Nobody's going to wait for the "season" to end and binge-watch six months worth of shows to catch up. With that in mind, they could make more money selling the PPV-level show package to Turner or FOX or whoever than they would continuing the PPV format.

 

The problem is the same as it always has been: Bryan may get the crowd going, but he doesn't move the needle on ratings and he doesn't move merchandise. They are in an uncomfortable spot of trying to make several very distinct groups of fans happy simultaneously.

 

Vince had to lose a lawsuit in order for wrestlers to get a percentage of the cut of merchandising and T-shirt sales (i.e., Ventura). The pay went up, and the schedule eased somewhat, only because WCW was offering more money and a lighter schedule to lure his stars away, and even though they went out of business, he really couldn't go back to the old way or his talent would revolt.

He also admitted that he was providing rehab for the wrestlers who needed it only for publicity reasons, because Congress and the public were pissed off at him after the Benoit case.

He had a steroid policy in the early 90s because of the controversy surrounding Zahorian and his own trial, then the policy quietly went away in the late 90s, only to reappear after Benoit.

Basically, Vince only does things because he is forced to. I can't blame the talent for not being satisfied with a "Let's wait and see, don't worry, it'll trickle down", response from the boss.

 

At least according to the latest Observer, it's actually the new TV contract - expected to double the WWE's yearly fee from $250M to $480M or so - that's going to have a much bigger impact on the bottom line.

 

By the by, while Raw's on now, I'd be remiss not to mention the Wyatt Family's promo on the Shield during last week's Smackdown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pJvOGkbs45Q

Favorite line was not from Bray, but from Luke Harper, who told the Shield that "you boys picked a beautiful hill to die on." That guy has superstar written all over him -- the most Bruiser Brody like guy since the original. Hope he checks himself when he goes to Puerto Rico ...

 

This weeks Wyatt promo was also awesome, with Bray comparing the Shield to pawns on a chessboard, only able to move forward one step at a time to their goal, always willing to sacrifice themselves for their king, and getting knocked off in the end.

 

Don't forget Harper's cryptic line, "He has always been lurking."
Reference to Undertaker, perhaps?

 

Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes delivers a HOLY FUCKING SHIT moment with a moonsault off the top of the cage.
Awesome, ridiculous move, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he snapped his arm in two. He came down almost straight on top of his left elbow. Road Dogg broke his fall a little, but not much. The Fame-asser that followed and drove the same arm into the mat probably didn't help matters.

 

Fandango's character has his issues, and dance offs are incredibly stupid, but damn, Summer Rae is an absolute smokeshow. Makes me long for the Attitude Era days when we could bank on her stripping down for Playboy at some point.

 

I definitely appreciated that.