Sept. 19, 2024

Why Is AEW Dealing With Noticeable Attendance Issues? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #762 – 9/19/24

Why Is AEW Dealing With Noticeable Attendance Issues? | The Still Real to Us Show | Episode #762 – 9/19/24

On this episode of The Still Real to Us Show:

- -- Why do you think WWE is doing fewer house shows?
- -- Who should get the early nod for the War Games matches in November?
- -- Why is AEW still dealing with noticeable attendance issues?
- -- And how...

On this episode of The Still Real to Us Show:

  • -- Why do you think WWE is doing fewer house shows?
  • -- Who should get the early nod for the War Games matches in November?
  • -- Why is AEW still dealing with noticeable attendance issues?
  • -- And how much is riding on the line for AEW's Grand Slam event to be a success?



WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:17.399
It's welcome everybody.

2
00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:20.239
Welcome to this week's edition of the Story of the

3
00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:23.760
Show EPISOD number seven hundred and sixty two, September nineteenth,

4
00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:27.519
twenty twenty four. Welcome to this week's edition of ass

5
00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:31.160
R T You. I am one after the show, I

6
00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:33.719
am Jeffy Pact. We joined every single week from my

7
00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:36.799
cost the onely Doctor Trey Franklin, Doctor Trey. I gotta

8
00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:38.840
admit it's kind of strange not doing a preview and

9
00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:40.799
prediction or recap interview my friends.

10
00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:44.280
Yeah, I was thinking about that before we came on air,

11
00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:46.799
and you know, life kind of catches up sometimes you

12
00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.439
ye a little crazy, a little hag ticket. I went, wait,

13
00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:51.719
is there any pay per view event or p A

14
00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:55.119
league going on this weekend that I've unaware of? Do

15
00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:57.560
we have to do a preview a prediction show or

16
00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.439
do we just get to talk about, uh a fan

17
00:01:01.159 --> 00:01:04.200
being lawn darted into an opponent during a Monday night show.

18
00:01:04.359 --> 00:01:08.719
Yeah? I'm not sure wwe wants to make that a thing, because,

19
00:01:09.319 --> 00:01:12.120
as we know, the Internet day and age and all

20
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:16.359
that stuff, people tend to take things a little too seriously.

21
00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:21.560
And I think anytime you encourage using a fan as

22
00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.239
a lawn dart, even though it's a plant. For those

23
00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:26.640
who didn't know it was a plant, I'm welcome to

24
00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:29.519
twenty twenty four. I don't know, I don't know how

25
00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:31.319
about how I feel about that doctor try.

26
00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:34.640
Yeah, I mean, it'll probably happen on the indie somewhere.

27
00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:37.439
I mean, it's not the first time fans have been used.

28
00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:40.920
I mean the days of was it Mad Dog for

29
00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:45.120
Shan's leg being used during a match? You know, We've

30
00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:48.799
seen the plants be used before, but I've just never

31
00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:52.280
seen somebody get ray mysterioed out of the crowd.

32
00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.280
You know, it's been a good long time, thankfully that

33
00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:58.879
we haven't had a situation where like a fan tried

34
00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:02.079
to get involved in a or go after a wrestler.

35
00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:04.200
I think the ones that come to mind was, I

36
00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:06.480
know there was like a seth rollins entrance on a

37
00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.840
raw where he was coming out and a fan got involved. Obviously,

38
00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:11.879
the most recent famous one was the one when Brett

39
00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:14.080
Hart got attacked when the Heart Foundation was going into

40
00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:15.439
the Hall of Fame and then that dude got his

41
00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:18.439
ass handed to him, rightfully. So the one I always

42
00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:21.360
think of is I think two thousand and two ladder

43
00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:25.319
match ic title Eddie Guarrero Rob Van Dam. Guerrero is

44
00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:28.520
climbing the ladder to go after the title, and a

45
00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:30.280
fan they're in Canada, because I think the guy was

46
00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:34.039
like wearing a Toronto maple leafs hockey jersey pushes Guerrero

47
00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:37.759
off the ladder and Guerrero takes several swings at him.

48
00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:40.199
I actually just read a story too. I think it

49
00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:43.759
was maybe Mark Henry mention this that if you strike

50
00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:45.960
a fan when you would come in the ring in

51
00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.000
we that they would get fine ten thousand dollars the wrestlers.

52
00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:51.919
I'm like, that doesn't make any sense.

53
00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:57.199
But yeah, where there was the house show where somebody

54
00:02:57.319 --> 00:03:00.280
jumped in on it was Awestin in Triple H leave.

55
00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:03.039
Yeah, they went to attack Austin and Triple H like

56
00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:03.759
took them down.

57
00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:06.560
Yeah, And I don't know if the fine is because

58
00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:08.879
you in his insuies like that where like two guys

59
00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:11.479
are squaring off and then the you know, Triple Acer

60
00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:14.159
is beating up the guy trying to attack Austin if

61
00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:15.879
you're kind of breaking k fav. I don't know if

62
00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:18.240
that was event's rule, because you know, Evins had weird

63
00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:22.039
rules about breaking k favorite times, so I don't know

64
00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:24.479
what that's like in the On the Indies, I've seen

65
00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:28.840
fans get involved. I've seen punches get thrown, but you know,

66
00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:31.639
I mean, I've had fans threaten to show up out,

67
00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:33.840
you know, to meet me outside in the parking lot,

68
00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:37.400
to knife me and stuff like that, but I've never

69
00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:41.360
had anybody not back. I've had one lady put her

70
00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.080
hands on me and actually swing at me because I

71
00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:46.520
had her so riled up. But on the Indies, if

72
00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:49.800
you cross that barricade and touch a wrestler, they're going

73
00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:51.439
to beat the crap out of you. That's just what

74
00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:53.719
and the whole locker room will empty to do it.

75
00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:57.319
You know what's funny about this type of source of entertainment,

76
00:03:57.319 --> 00:03:59.639
Doctor Trey, is if I went to a movie and

77
00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:01.960
I want to star Wars movie and let's just say

78
00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:05.319
Darth Vader's watching it with me, movie ends, I'm not

79
00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:08.560
challenging Darth Vader to a lightsaber duel out in the hallway.

80
00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:11.560
Well think about Like it's hard to compare to the movies,

81
00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:14.199
but like in Broadway, like if you go to watch

82
00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:17.079
Cats and I've never seen cats, I'm sure there's a

83
00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:20.040
event that you've wanted to Yes, obviously I've wanted to

84
00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:21.519
dress up and do the whole production.

85
00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:24.399
But I'm sure there's a villain in Cats.

86
00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:28.639
Could you imagine sething in the front row, a calling

87
00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:33.120
that person names throughout the entire show, be challenging him

88
00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:36.959
to a fight, and then see jumping up on stage

89
00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:41.519
to go after the villain in Cats because apparently to him,

90
00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:42.639
the Cats are still real.

91
00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:45.079
Yeah. No, I mean it's a very odd source of

92
00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:48.199
entertainment that we know and love and enjoy. And I

93
00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:52.720
guess is it because we are? Okay, I guess I'm

94
00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:54.839
gonna say we. I really shouldn't hear because I'm not

95
00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:57.639
the fan that like goes to the event. I'm like, damn,

96
00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:59.519
I hate that John Moxley, you know, why is he

97
00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:01.600
doing this? Brian Danielson. I find a lot of an

98
00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:05.600
entertainment in it. But I know what I'm watching is

99
00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.800
is wrestling the most immersive form of entertainment that we

100
00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:10.160
have in the world?

101
00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:10.360
Then?

102
00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:11.639
Uh?

103
00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.240
That and maybe music in the sense of like when

104
00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:18.519
they bring the fan up on stage to sing for them,

105
00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:22.360
But I mean wrestling, especially like on the Indies, maybe

106
00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:24.439
not so much the bigger shows when you got you know,

107
00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:28.040
fifteen twenty thousand people and you're you know, the front

108
00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.879
row is still about twenty feet set back on the indies,

109
00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:34.879
it's like five feet six feet maybe eight feet. You know,

110
00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:40.079
you really get a one on one interaction with the performers,

111
00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.759
and I don't you don't get that anywhere else, Like

112
00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:46.000
you can actually have somebody like me in your face

113
00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.920
calling you names and you're firing back insults as well.

114
00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:52.399
I mean, honestly, that's I've told this story before. That

115
00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:54.199
was one of the things that hooked me as a

116
00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:59.480
kid was going to a WWF live event watching Jimmy

117
00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:02.920
Hart bring King Harley Race out to the ring and

118
00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:06.319
me throwing a spitwat at him and him turning around

119
00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:10.800
and walking towards me, and that little interaction is kind

120
00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:13.839
of what hooked me because you're not going to get

121
00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:17.839
that one on one, you know, feeling in any other

122
00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:22.360
genre other than maybe you know, the music scene when

123
00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:24.240
you know bands are kind of breaking in.

124
00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:31.079
Yeah, now it's it's bizarre, but I mean it's it's

125
00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:32.920
very funny. We're going down on this avenue because there's

126
00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:34.680
something I want to bring up here that I have

127
00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:36.800
on the rundown here that really ties his song in,

128
00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:40.759
which is hilarious. But do you think that there's times

129
00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:43.399
Doctor Trey and You've done this on the independent wrestling

130
00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:48.519
scene that wrestlers go too far? Because I think of MJF,

131
00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.360
who I think is one of the best modern day

132
00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:53.680
heels in the company, in the entire professional wrestling today,

133
00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.519
obviously the best one in AW and you go back

134
00:06:57.560 --> 00:06:59.360
and I forget what pay per view it was. I

135
00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.600
think it was like a full gear where MJF takes

136
00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.560
an alcoholic drink and throws it on a kid, and

137
00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:07.519
the people went like nuts about it. The kid was

138
00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.680
not a plant. They had to send out Amanda Huber,

139
00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:15.199
John Huber's wife Brodie Lee, who was handling like community

140
00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:18.360
relations at the time, to go out there smooth things over. Reportedly,

141
00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:21.519
Tony Kahm was very upset by the entire situation, did

142
00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:24.040
not like that he did that, And I was like,

143
00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:27.199
you know, the wrestling fan in me loves this because

144
00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:31.680
it's nineteen seventies, nineteen eighties type of professional wrestling in

145
00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:38.600
the twenty twenties, but also it also makes me think like, Okay,

146
00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:42.360
MGF went too far there. You don't throw a drink,

147
00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:46.439
let alone an alcoholic drink on a child to gain

148
00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:48.480
some heat. There are certainly ways to go about this,

149
00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:50.639
and I feel like we talked about this on that

150
00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:54.560
show when this incident took place. Do you think nowadays

151
00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:58.160
have wrestlers or do wrestlers go too far where they

152
00:07:58.199 --> 00:07:59.959
exude these types of emotions?

153
00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:02.839
Yeah, I mean I think you get caught up in

154
00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:06.439
the moment, especially for like the guys I don't want

155
00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:07.920
to say the guys in my generation, but people like

156
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.360
you know, the wrestlers that are in their thirties and

157
00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:13.600
forties who kind of grew up on that type of wrestling.

158
00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:15.480
You get caught up in the moment and you'll start

159
00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:19.279
to say something or do something that was fine in

160
00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:22.240
the air that we watched, but now like the line

161
00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:24.000
has been pulled in a little bit, Like you don't

162
00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:27.079
want to throw a I don't like throwing drinks of

163
00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:29.680
any kind at kids. For me, I always tell the

164
00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:31.879
you know, the guys on my show, like, hey, work

165
00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.440
the kids, you know, get them fired up, get them

166
00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:36.600
to love you, get them to hate you, because that's

167
00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:40.559
what hooks the parents as well. But there are lines

168
00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:42.399
you don't want to cross. But it goes for the

169
00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:44.919
fans as well, Like there are lines that you know,

170
00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:47.000
you don't want to say things to a wrestler that

171
00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:49.360
you wouldn't say to a stranger in the streets, you know,

172
00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:51.000
in a sense, like you don't want to call it

173
00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:54.080
their sexuality or their race or the things like that,

174
00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:57.720
which thirty years ago, thirty forty years ago, was perfectly

175
00:08:57.720 --> 00:08:59.720
fine to do at a wrestling show. But now it's like,

176
00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:01.639
you you got to watch that line a little bit.

177
00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:04.200
But it goes both ways, like there are ways of

178
00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:09.080
getting you know, heats without crossing that line, but sometimes

179
00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:11.559
in the heat of the moment, you just react and

180
00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.279
it's almost there's a second nature to it because it's

181
00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:17.720
ingrained into your memory the stuff that those dastardly heels

182
00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:20.279
did back in the seventies, eighties and even the early nineties.

183
00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.480
See, it's so funny that you bring this up, because

184
00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:27.120
here we are, and the lead story I wanted to

185
00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.919
discuss here this week was w wei's decision to do

186
00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:34.240
fewer house shows. So TKO president Mark Shapiro came out

187
00:09:34.679 --> 00:09:38.000
during a recent conversation YEA with Goldman Sachs for a

188
00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:42.080
conference they were holding in regards to the plan to

189
00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:46.240
do less house shows for World Wrestling Entertainment. He said,

190
00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:48.600
quote the w brand. While we still have to grow it,

191
00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:50.840
it's on fire right now. We don't need to carry

192
00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:53.879
these marginally profitable events. What was three hundred last year

193
00:09:53.879 --> 00:09:55.960
will be roughly two hundred and fifty this year, and

194
00:09:56.120 --> 00:09:58.559
next year will be close to two hundred. So in

195
00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:02.080
twenty twenty five they will have two hundred live events.

196
00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:06.720
Those include the television shows that he's talking about. So

197
00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.159
fifty two weeks in the year, you know you've got Raw, SmackDown, NXT.

198
00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:15.799
Now it's going to be less house shows on Saturday, Sundays, Fridays, Mondays.

199
00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:16.919
I don't even know if they do the Friday and

200
00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:19.480
Mondays swing anymore. They used to do like one crew

201
00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.919
would do TV on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. I felt

202
00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:25.120
like sometimes they used to run house shows against opposite

203
00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:27.960
against Raw. I think that they're down nowadays just to

204
00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:32.440
Saturday and Sundays and the house shows. To me, I'm

205
00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:35.840
very torn in this doctory because one, I love that

206
00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:37.399
the wrestlers are going to be getting more of a

207
00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:40.120
break to be home spend time with their families, because

208
00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:43.080
you really hate to hear those stories where you know

209
00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:44.720
they were on the road three hundred and fifty days

210
00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:47.000
a year, barely saw their families. Like anytime I watch

211
00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.399
an A and e Wa biography, it's that like I

212
00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:52.279
was home once or twice a month to see my

213
00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:55.960
kids growing up. Like that's extremely hard on a family.

214
00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.360
And most of the time, families don't last long. Most

215
00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:00.600
of the time, marriages don't last long. And most of

216
00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.600
the time, unfortunately, there is some sort of substance abuse

217
00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:06.399
issue or personal issue that's going on that makes the

218
00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:09.159
situation situation even worse. Keeping those guys on the road

219
00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:11.799
because they become creatures of habit creaches of the road,

220
00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:14.440
and the road can do adasctively things to you as

221
00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.600
time goes on. But the wrestling fan of me is

222
00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:19.759
kind of upset about this because and I don't do

223
00:11:19.799 --> 00:11:22.159
house shows anymore, so it's kind of hypocritical for me

224
00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:25.559
to say this. But if you're a family and you

225
00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:27.080
can't get to a raw, you can't get to a

226
00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:30.559
smack down, you can't get to an NXT, and you're

227
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.399
because the closest arena where they do television is two

228
00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.279
hours away. But they're gonna come to a very small

229
00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:40.399
arena near you that fits you know, a couple thousand,

230
00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.240
and you get to see that means the world to

231
00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:46.279
a lot of those people. And it's these interactions that

232
00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:48.360
you're talking about. And then I used to love seeing

233
00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:52.120
seeing the interactions that would take place off of television

234
00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:55.399
that you normally don't see in television. You've seen Cody

235
00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:57.559
Roads bring a lot of fans into the ring nowadays

236
00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.240
and they mimic his the part in this theme song

237
00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:03.919
where the arms go back, everybody goes oh, and everybody

238
00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:06.799
loses their mind. You have very funny moments where there's

239
00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:09.360
these funny interactions. A lot of videos of Rhea Ripley

240
00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:12.639
with fans at ringside filming and how much fun she

241
00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:16.279
plays with all of them. You lose that stuff as

242
00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:20.120
time goes on and you're not gonna have that anymore.

243
00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:24.279
So it's a very interesting thing here, doctor Trey, because

244
00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:27.440
longtime wrestling fans like you and I know how much

245
00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:30.639
househo shows and how show loops are important to professional wrestling.

246
00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:31.960
You find you in the craft. You come to a

247
00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.919
smaller town and you get to get a little bit

248
00:12:34.919 --> 00:12:36.879
closer to the fan base than you normally would if

249
00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:39.279
there was a television taping. But we're also in a

250
00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:42.720
new age of professional wrestling thanks to AAW where AW

251
00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:46.480
T and A even is just solely a television company

252
00:12:46.519 --> 00:12:49.840
at this point. They don't tour, they don't do house shows,

253
00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:53.039
they don't do loops, they don't go overseas to do

254
00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:57.320
house shows tours, and that is very appealing to a

255
00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.919
lot of these wrestlers nowadays because they work their asses

256
00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:03.240
off every weekend on an independent scene to get to

257
00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:06.559
these big wrestling promotions, and then this is their full

258
00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:08.600
time job and they want to be home with family.

259
00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:11.159
So I'm really torn on this, and we're going to

260
00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:13.080
dig a little bit deeper into this, but here you've

261
00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:16.879
got TKO president of Mark Shapiro saying about this and

262
00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:19.320
their desire of cutting it down from three hundred to

263
00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:22.159
two fifty this year to two hundred next year. Where

264
00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:24.120
do you stand on this entire thing as a wrestling

265
00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:26.759
fan and as someone who obviously wants to keep in

266
00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:29.159
mind the health of the professional wrestlers as well.

267
00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:32.360
I mean, as a wrestling fan, it is sad because

268
00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:34.639
I mean, you live in certain areas and you're not

269
00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:37.200
going to get a raw or SmackDown come to your ara.

270
00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:41.320
I know, like when I lived in Oklahoma as a kid,

271
00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:43.600
like we didn't get many Like you got to go

272
00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:45.039
to Oklahoma City, which is like an hour and a

273
00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:47.600
half drive, and if your your parents work and they

274
00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:49.519
don't go for work till five o'clock and the show

275
00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:52.720
starts at like seven, and it's like you can't make it.

276
00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:55.960
So getting the house shows was the thing to do.

277
00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:56.960
And you know, some of.

278
00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:59.840
My best, you know, my favorite memories even as a

279
00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:03.279
young adults, were from house shows. Like I remember as

280
00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:05.519
a teenager getting on Ken Shamrock when he was a

281
00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:09.000
babyface and me making fun of him having zero personality,

282
00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:11.240
and it was just ironic that it was a short

283
00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:14.679
time after that that he turned heel. I remember going

284
00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:19.559
to a TNA show in Fayetville, North Carolina and getting

285
00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:23.240
and watching Tyson tom Coo interact with the fans during

286
00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:25.559
a match with Samoa Joe, and some of that stuff

287
00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:28.759
is just funny as hell. And then you know, there's

288
00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:32.080
some great videos of stuff of just some funny moments

289
00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:34.159
that guys do at house shows on the loops just

290
00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:35.559
to keep themselves entertained.

291
00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:36.519
Like that that.

292
00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:39.559
Part of what of wrestling is what really drives it

293
00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.000
home to fans and makes some lifelong fans. But you know,

294
00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.960
as somebody who's worked in the independent scene and somebody

295
00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:48.440
who you know runs business, you know, is ran businesses

296
00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:51.360
and managing businesses, I get the other side. Do you

297
00:14:51.399 --> 00:14:54.759
want to keep your performers healthy? Less house shows keeps

298
00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:59.720
them healthier and more able to performm you know, on TV,

299
00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:02.639
you're not losing them for months on end to injuries

300
00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:04.879
because you're cutting down the war it's air on their body.

301
00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:07.960
And as a business I get it, like if I'm

302
00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:10.440
going to and I hate saying using this town is

303
00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:12.720
my go to but it's just a funny name. But

304
00:15:12.759 --> 00:15:15.159
if I'm going to Paducah, Kentucky for a house show

305
00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.440
and we're only going to make like a five thousand

306
00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.519
dollars profit, is it really worthwhile to go to Paducah,

307
00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.879
you know, and just saving those resources and using that

308
00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:31.799
for you know, other areas of marketing, branding, merchandise, TV,

309
00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:35.080
you know, putting those assets to use in other areas.

310
00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.200
So it's a double edged sword because you know, from

311
00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:42.840
a fan point, it sucks because it's you're losing those opportunities.

312
00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:44.840
But from a business I totally get it as well.

313
00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:48.840
Dave Meltzer from The Wrestling Reserver Radio said the following

314
00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:50.440
in regards to the house shows, This comes to us

315
00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:52.679
from Wrestling Ink as well, saying, quote, the house show

316
00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:56.200
business is marginally profitable, but they're looking at it profit margins,

317
00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:59.000
and the profit margin of USC is forty percent. Meltz explained,

318
00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:01.000
if you cut out the expenses of house shows, it

319
00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.639
takes the percentage down even though the profits are higher.

320
00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:05.960
He said, you could really make an argument when the

321
00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:07.879
money comes from television, it makes no sense to around

322
00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:09.960
house shows because you're risking the health of the talent.

323
00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.159
Melzer continued, note and then being booked on house shows

324
00:16:13.399 --> 00:16:15.159
is now seen as a good thing as opposed to

325
00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.480
the old days when it was necessary part of the

326
00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:21.720
schedule end quote. So a lot of changes in professional wrestling,

327
00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:25.279
doctor trade. This is the evolution of professional wrestling. I mean,

328
00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:28.360
how often do we see a story of a major

329
00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:31.000
injury that takes places takes place on a house show?

330
00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:35.279
Most recently from the NXC standpoint of record, Jade toward

331
00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:37.840
her acl again on a house show. I always think

332
00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:40.600
of Seth Rohalms blowing out his knee on a European tour,

333
00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:44.919
which mind you will continue and then Soreya slash page.

334
00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:48.679
Her career ended at a house show shortly after Christmas time,

335
00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:50.679
I believe in like Long Island, New York, during an

336
00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.919
attack team match, and she never wrestled in the we

337
00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.960
again and obviously wrestled in aaw but that took place

338
00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.840
on a house show. Would those bumps with those bruises

339
00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:04.279
where those injuries have taken place on television? Possibly one

340
00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.200
will ever know if there was already wear and tear

341
00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:10.440
taking place, But there are these higher risks of injuries

342
00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.200
taking place on non televised events rather than those that

343
00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:15.880
take place on televised events. I guess if there is

344
00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:20.000
a silver lining to it, so, I mean, w is

345
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.440
doing really good business right now. They don't need to

346
00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:25.920
be running house shows. As much as it sucks to

347
00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:29.079
see that, the house show business is potentially changing for

348
00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:30.839
the good stuff that you tend to see from time

349
00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.640
to time on the house shows and the loops and

350
00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.240
going into talents that you may not to may not

351
00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:37.279
be able to doctor trey. I think the final end

352
00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:40.079
result in this entire thing, from my standpoint is, in

353
00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:42.119
the long run, this is a good thing. For WA.

354
00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:43.920
It's a good thing for the health of the talent,

355
00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:47.680
both physically and mentally. And more importantly, this evens the

356
00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:51.000
playing field with AW. If you're a wrestler who is

357
00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:53.960
a veteran who doesn't want to do the house show

358
00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.880
loop anymore and you want to just do televisions, you

359
00:17:56.920 --> 00:17:59.640
don't have to go to AW. You can just stick

360
00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:03.480
with W now and potentially make better money than you

361
00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:05.759
would in AAW. So I think this is the right

362
00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:09.119
move for AW, or excuse me for WE ultimately, because

363
00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:14.039
now again the competitive field is being leveled with the

364
00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:17.599
things that make AW stand out more than W would

365
00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:19.880
if I was a free agent professional wrestling.

366
00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:23.119
And we've seen it. It's in sports as well. I

367
00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:25.720
mean in baseball, the spring training, you know, you're not

368
00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:28.240
seeing those guys out there as much as you did

369
00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:30.119
in the eighties and nineties.

370
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:32.000
In the NBA is kind of the same thing. I mean,

371
00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:32.799
look at the NFL.

372
00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:36.720
The NFL not only cut one preseason game completely, but

373
00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:40.119
you watch a preseason game and you're definitely not seeing

374
00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.359
Aaron Rodgers, You're not seeing Patrick Mahomes. And if you

375
00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.079
do this for about three minutes, because they don't want

376
00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:48.119
to risk the chance of injury in something that doesn't

377
00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:51.240
really mean anything to the product.

378
00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:51.359
As a whole.

379
00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:53.400
I mean I saw an interview with beyond Or with

380
00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:57.680
Jay Cargills talking about how the travel schedule in WWE

381
00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:00.559
is so much more difficult than AW. Well, yeah, they

382
00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:04.119
didn't really have to travel schedule at AW. Uh and

383
00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:08.079
this one's not as bad currently as it was just

384
00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:10.799
a couple of years ago. So it does level the

385
00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:14.480
playing field, it does equal things out. And you know

386
00:19:14.759 --> 00:19:17.720
you've heard t KO and even Triple h and and

387
00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:21.920
Nick con mentioned that there going. This is a television product,

388
00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:25.279
So why risk the health of your talent on non

389
00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:29.799
televised events if your business is being a television product.

390
00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:32.160
I mean, you don't see the guys from you know,

391
00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:36.000
The Walking Dead out there trying to kill zombies during

392
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:39.640
you know, Halloween season in Universal Studios, so you know.

393
00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:40.640
They're not practicing that.

394
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:43.240
So just if you're a television product, do a television

395
00:19:43.240 --> 00:19:45.519
product and you know, cut back down. But I still

396
00:19:45.559 --> 00:19:49.279
do think you need some ring time and live audience

397
00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:51.720
feel to hone your craft. But you can definitely scale

398
00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:54.400
it back and make it fit your product.

399
00:19:54.519 --> 00:19:56.799
Uh, you know, product as a whole.

400
00:19:57.400 --> 00:19:59.640
Do you think these last things here Doctor trying to Starling.

401
00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:01.400
Do you think these changes would have been made if

402
00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:04.920
the aw's business model didn't reflect no house shows and

403
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:06.079
just being a television product.

404
00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:11.119
I think it would have eventually, just because eventually events.

405
00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:15.079
Would have died, so yes, or screwed everything up.

406
00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.039
Yeah, but I think that the merger.

407
00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:21.279
I mean, UFC is not running house show loops, and

408
00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:23.000
it's one of those things where like our products, the

409
00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:27.119
products are very similar. UFC is a pay per view

410
00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:31.119
event driven product with some television ww's Intellvision product with

411
00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:31.559
some pay.

412
00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:34.079
Per view, but you don't need the house loop stuff.

413
00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:39.279
And if your main competitor and even your secondary competitor TNA, aren't.

414
00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:42.480
Running these house show loops like you are, then it does.

415
00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:44.799
Put you at a strategic disadvantage when you're going to

416
00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:46.519
cultivate new talent to bring them in.

417
00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:48.799
If you can scale it back and say, look, you

418
00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:49.319
know your.

419
00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:51.680
Young kid, sign with us, You've got n next, you'll

420
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.000
do so a little bit of touring in Florida main

421
00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:56.880
roster a little bit, but not nearly to the levels

422
00:20:56.920 --> 00:20:59.079
of what it was before. It is more inviting, but

423
00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:02.200
it may make sense for a business model to adapt

424
00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:04.559
the new format that everybody else has been going to.

425
00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:08.119
Switching gears here, Doctor Trey. It's it's a little over

426
00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:10.000
two months out, but it's one of my favorite things

427
00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:12.160
to look at over the last several years because I

428
00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:16.160
find the booking of this entire thing to be very

429
00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:19.480
interesting and strategic for WWE, and I think you're starting

430
00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:22.960
to see the direction potentially of where things may be

431
00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:25.039
going for this match, but obviously they're hyping up a

432
00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:27.480
lot right now. Tickets went on sale, I believe, last

433
00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:31.960
week over in Vancouver for We Survivor series of Wargames

434
00:21:32.119 --> 00:21:35.240
and the Wargames matches historically, each year they've had a

435
00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:37.720
men's match, they've had a women's match. And as I

436
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:40.039
was watching Raw this past Monday night and I saw

437
00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.880
Damian pre skinning attacked by the judgment day jay Uso

438
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.400
making the save, some interactions with Ilia Dragonoff, it got

439
00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:50.799
me starting to think, like, what is the early nod

440
00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:55.319
right now for the Wargames matches this November. Going back

441
00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:57.440
even a couple months ago, I was talking about the

442
00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:00.920
direction of the Solo Socoa new bloodline Roman Reign's return,

443
00:22:01.319 --> 00:22:03.440
and I felt like you could do a new blood

444
00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:07.440
Line versus old blood Line taking place at Sarava series

445
00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:09.799
war Games, and I think that is still obviously an option.

446
00:22:09.880 --> 00:22:12.359
I think it comes down to the blood lines again,

447
00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:15.519
the bloodline storyline and the Judgment Day storyline. I could

448
00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:18.920
see a men's situation where again you've got New blood

449
00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:22.079
Line two point zero blood line. God, I just shivered

450
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:24.119
a little bit thinking about NXC two point zero and

451
00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:28.480
then the og blood line with Roman Jimmy Sammy Zay

452
00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:34.839
jay Uso taking on the Jacob Fatu, Tangaloa Tamatunga and

453
00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.720
Solosakoa in a War Games match. I think that is

454
00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:40.960
potentially the most concrete option that's out there, and I

455
00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:44.079
think would get the fans very, very excited. The second

456
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:48.079
one is the Judgment Day of JD McDonough, Dirty Dumb,

457
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.119
Finn Balor Carlito taking on like team Damien Priest, which

458
00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:56.240
I could see it being Damian Elie dragonoff jay Uso,

459
00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:00.200
and maybe one more so from the men's standpoint out

460
00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:01.440
to Trey and I don't think it's too early it

461
00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:03.119
ever to take a look and go, Okay, what is

462
00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:05.599
the direction they're going right now with these War Games matches?

463
00:23:06.279 --> 00:23:09.319
What is your early feelings and vibes, because I think

464
00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.000
we're going to start to see that build take place

465
00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:12.319
a little bit the way that w WWE has been

466
00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:15.359
doing their creative booking on how at least the Men's

467
00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:17.359
Wargames match will look in late November.

468
00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:23.839
I still lean towards the Bloodline matchup, just because I

469
00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:26.920
think it's a bigger draw and a bigger attraction, and

470
00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:29.640
if that's what you want to make an event with,

471
00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:33.400
it makes a lot of sense. I don't know how

472
00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:35.880
we start moving some of these parts around because we

473
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:38.559
have Sammy challenging Gunther for the world title, you have

474
00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:41.759
Jay and and you know just challenging for the intern

475
00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:46.480
Continental title. You know, do Jimmy's not back on TV,

476
00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:49.720
we haven't seen Paul Hayman yet, and it's two months out,

477
00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:52.079
So like, do we start moving that thing here in

478
00:23:52.119 --> 00:23:55.680
the next few weeks after bash It or not? What's

479
00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:58.000
the next what's the next event? I forgotry for the name.

480
00:23:57.880 --> 00:23:59.680
Of it, the next event for.

481
00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:04.200
Bad Blood Bad Blood? Like, do we start moving it

482
00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:07.000
immediately after Bad Blood? Or Hey, do we take one

483
00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:10.240
of these these og Bloodline members that you know are

484
00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:14.160
on Raw and do we slide a Cody into their spot,

485
00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:16.880
you know, because we're seeing Cody and Roman team up

486
00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:19.400
at Bad Blood. But I think, you know, with the

487
00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:21.920
Steel Kh stuff a couple of weeks ago and everything else,

488
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.480
I think that kind of is your precursor for where

489
00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:29.559
it goes. Judgment Day is not a bad backup plan.

490
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:32.960
But to me right now, like it still feels like,

491
00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:36.759
you know, Rhea and Live and Finn and Damien and

492
00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:38.880
the rest of the guys are in it too, but

493
00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:43.640
just not you know, Dom's involved. But that's kind of

494
00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:45.880
a weird love triangle. If you throw Jimmy into it,

495
00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:49.519
then you got that. But I just Illia to a degree.

496
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:53.119
I just don't feel it's as stable a situation as

497
00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:56.319
what you can do with you know, Bloodline, og, Bloodline

498
00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:59.200
two point zero, whatever you want to call it, New Bloodline,

499
00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:01.480
Old blood Line, Bad Blood.

500
00:25:01.960 --> 00:25:03.880
What was the other thing, new Blood Rising.

501
00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:04.519
And the.

502
00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:06.359
Brood?

503
00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:09.359
What was it? What was it? The w CW I

504
00:25:09.400 --> 00:25:11.440
know is there's New Blood Rising? Was a papery? Was

505
00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:13.720
it just the new Blood? Yes, it was the new

506
00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:16.160
Blood and the Million Dollars Club or whatever the hell

507
00:25:16.279 --> 00:25:18.680
it was with the Magnificent Seven, I think it was

508
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.640
as well. That was great ww got a leve old WSW.

509
00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:25.279
What about the women's match Dot Trey. I mean there's

510
00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:26.880
a lot of different things out there right now. I

511
00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:29.680
could see something with like Team Rea versus Team Live.

512
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:32.200
I think that is the most likely scenario. Maybe you

513
00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:37.119
see something with Team Naya versus Team Bailey over in

514
00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:41.359
War Games. Uh, could you see something with the what

515
00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:47.119
is it Pure Fusion collective with Sonya Deville, Shannon Basler

516
00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:49.640
and Zoe Star teaming with somebody or adding somebody to

517
00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:54.480
take on maybe damage Control? Uh? Do you put Bianca

518
00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:56.839
and Jade Cargill in that match? Maybe they join up

519
00:25:56.839 --> 00:25:59.039
with Team Rhea. What do you think is the direction

520
00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:01.079
right now for women's match for War Games?

521
00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:04.960
Well, it's interesting because you're having the loser leaves SmackDown match,

522
00:26:05.400 --> 00:26:08.200
you know Friday, you know Friday on SmackDown, So you know,

523
00:26:08.279 --> 00:26:12.039
does does one of those women between Bailey, Naomi, Nia,

524
00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:14.039
and Tiffany get moved over to Raw and I.

525
00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:15.119
Fa'st the case is that?

526
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:16.000
Then?

527
00:26:16.279 --> 00:26:19.720
Do a Team Rea versus Team Live type situation? I mean,

528
00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:23.319
if you did Team Ria and you did Ria, Bianca, Jade,

529
00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:28.559
and you know one other random person, let's say Natalia,

530
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:30.680
you know, just because for old time sake, and then

531
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:34.359
you got Team Live but with Alba Fire and Isla

532
00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:38.640
Don and then you know, Sonya Deville. You know, then

533
00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:40.039
then there you go. You could do something like that.

534
00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:42.799
I think the raw women's division seems to be deeper

535
00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:45.599
right now than the SmackDown side, especially if you move

536
00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:49.759
one of those four ladies over from SmackDown to Raw.

537
00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:54.119
So I think it will be some kind of conglomeration.

538
00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:57.519
And not the AW group. Yes, amalgamy, heir, there you go.

539
00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:00.440
I'll go with amalgamy, some kind of amalgam of raw

540
00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:02.279
women in that Survivor Series match.

541
00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:05.160
It's one of my favorite things to predict right now

542
00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:11.039
because I think in mid September, definitely October time, you

543
00:27:11.079 --> 00:27:14.079
could start to see the direction of everything and then

544
00:27:14.119 --> 00:27:16.759
there's some lead dogs, some lead horses, and I think

545
00:27:16.759 --> 00:27:19.279
it's a really important match. I think it's really cool

546
00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:22.480
to see, of all things, a WSW type match or

547
00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:27.079
you know, WSW developed match has a huge standing at

548
00:27:27.119 --> 00:27:30.279
a major big four WE pay per view, and I

549
00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:35.119
think it does. It's it's probably, you know, the last

550
00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:38.839
thing you look forward to before the road to WrestleMania begins.

551
00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:40.759
Doctor Trey and I think it's a really nice way

552
00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:44.079
from the WE calendar side of things to really close

553
00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:46.599
things out and end the year on a high note

554
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:48.319
because that match has been and that pay per view

555
00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:50.079
has been a lot of fun the last couple of

556
00:27:50.119 --> 00:27:53.480
years that they switch from or added war games to

557
00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:54.400
the Survivor series.

558
00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:56.839
Yeah, I just wish they'd bring the top back to

559
00:27:56.920 --> 00:27:57.279
the cage.

560
00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.759
Agreed, one hundred percent agree. But how the hell's e

561
00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:02.039
got to jump off with a garbage can on her?

562
00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:04.559
Yeah, but then if you throw a bron breaker into

563
00:28:04.599 --> 00:28:06.440
the match, you get the throwback to win either Doctor

564
00:28:06.519 --> 00:28:08.960
Death or the Roadwars. Did the military press of a

565
00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:10.279
guy into the top.

566
00:28:10.119 --> 00:28:10.599
Of the cage?

567
00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:13.720
Isn't that how JJ Dillon like broke his collar bone?

568
00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:15.240
Yeah? I think so.

569
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:17.720
Yeah, I think he did. He do a doomsday device

570
00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:20.640
off the top of and they like there's no room.

571
00:28:20.759 --> 00:28:21.799
Was it a doomsday device?

572
00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:24.680
It was something like that where like the Roadwarers hit

573
00:28:24.759 --> 00:28:26.519
it and they couldn't get the flip.

574
00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:30.880
Right because he just basically landed on his arm right.

575
00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:32.240
On his shoulder, neck and collar bone.

576
00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:35.000
Yeah, yeah, I remember that one. JJ Dillon always seems

577
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:36.960
to talk about that when it comes to war games,

578
00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:43.079
switching gears to AW Doctor Trey. There is a lot

579
00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:46.039
of concern. We've discussed this and I'm starting to see

580
00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:49.000
it on social media a lot. More is the attendance

581
00:28:49.079 --> 00:28:53.279
woes for AW television is not great. They did a

582
00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:57.759
show in Kentucky recently at the Rapperino where the University

583
00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:01.359
Kentucky Wildcats played basketball. Well, I believe that it is

584
00:29:01.480 --> 00:29:04.440
like a between a sixteen to eighteen thousand seed arena,

585
00:29:04.839 --> 00:29:07.559
and they only had two thousand people the most recent

586
00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:11.759
collision that they taped, I mean they barely had like

587
00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:15.880
anyone there. I mean it was awful. It was not

588
00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:18.799
a good look at all. And that is something that

589
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:21.440
we tend to see more often lately when it comes

590
00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:26.839
to attendance for television shows. For all the wrestling, we

591
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:29.960
say this every week. I feel like Dynamite is a

592
00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:33.519
musty show. I think you can do without rampage, you

593
00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:36.400
can do without collision. That is stuff that you're also

594
00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:40.200
seeing play out in viewership and it does not bode

595
00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:44.759
well for attendance. For going back to our initial story

596
00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.759
to kick off the show here, if you're just a

597
00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:51.519
solely television product, you need to pack the house pretty

598
00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:55.519
damn well. And there's some videos recently where I saw him.

599
00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:57.440
We're coming up on the a five year anniversary of Dynamite,

600
00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:01.599
and I was looking at those early years of AW

601
00:30:01.799 --> 00:30:07.000
Dynamite and the place was absolutely packed to the rafters legitimately,

602
00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:10.119
and it was like a really welcome sight to see.

603
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:14.440
We've been critical of all the wrestling when needed, because

604
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:17.319
there's times that the creative is not very good, the

605
00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:19.799
booking has not been very good, but we also praise

606
00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:21.519
them when the match has been very good. The booking

607
00:30:21.559 --> 00:30:24.480
has been very good and they've done a good job.

608
00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:26.599
And I feel like for the most part this year,

609
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:30.279
AW has had a really good swing since like Revolution

610
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:35.119
in March to now to present time, but for whatever reason,

611
00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:39.960
it's not panning out well on the television the ticket sales,

612
00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:42.960
and that's very concerning Doctor Trey. They're going to be

613
00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:44.839
a Grand Slam, which we're going to talk about here

614
00:30:45.720 --> 00:30:48.839
in just a few minutes as well next week this

615
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:52.400
upcoming Wednesday for their annual show at Arthur Ashey Stadium

616
00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:58.200
in New York City, and that show originally had between

617
00:30:58.279 --> 00:31:01.160
like sixteen to eighteen thousand people on the initial show,

618
00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:03.160
and I think as time went on, it dwindled a

619
00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:06.240
little bit, but it was still in a very high range.

620
00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:08.440
I think at one time it was the highest. It

621
00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:11.319
was like the most people that attended a dynamite And

622
00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:13.720
I think that record may have been broken by I

623
00:31:13.799 --> 00:31:16.160
want to say the United Center in Chicago. I think

624
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:20.160
Rampage when Punk came back. Oddly enough, that was the

625
00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:23.720
record I believe for a live event television show for AW.

626
00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:29.319
With that said, Doctor Trey, the noticeable attendance issues is concerning.

627
00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:33.400
Do are you concerned? Are you seeing these photos? And

628
00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:36.680
what does AW need to do to fix this outside

629
00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:39.519
of just better creative I.

630
00:31:39.559 --> 00:31:40.920
Mean, obviously it's concerning.

631
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:44.039
Like when you see pictures of a fifteen thousand seed

632
00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:48.960
arena and half the arena's tarped off or blacked out

633
00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:51.559
or whatever you want to call it, and you've only

634
00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:54.880
got two to three thousand people in the building, it

635
00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:58.799
not only is bad for business, but it's bad for morale. Like,

636
00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:01.880
you know, these guys go out there and bust their

637
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:03.559
ass and they're putting their bodies in the line, and

638
00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:05.920
they look out into the arena and three cores in

639
00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:06.759
the arena's empty.

640
00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:09.359
It's gonna kind of you know, give you a little

641
00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:10.559
shock to the system.

642
00:32:11.319 --> 00:32:14.400
For me creative wise, when you look at AW, I

643
00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:17.000
just kind of go back to the old adage we've

644
00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:20.480
brought in the show. Who's your hot attraction, who's your

645
00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:23.720
guy that is driving viewership? Who's your must see person,

646
00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:26.640
Who's the guy that you go man, I have to

647
00:32:26.759 --> 00:32:30.279
see what this person does. And one of the issues

648
00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:33.359
I've had with AW over the years is when somebody

649
00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:36.200
kind of gets hot and you feel like they're really

650
00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:38.599
pushing them boom all of a sudden, they're not on

651
00:32:38.839 --> 00:32:41.680
TV for a little bit and they're kind of shooting

652
00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:45.240
themselves into the foot in a sense. Like I did

653
00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:48.880
not watch Dynamite last night, so I don't know what

654
00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:51.880
happened on the show. But did we have Swerve on

655
00:32:51.960 --> 00:32:54.119
the show? Did we have Adam Page? Do we have

656
00:32:54.599 --> 00:32:57.920
any of the stuff that has really grabbed our attention?

657
00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:01.279
Was theready Full Ryan Danilson not on the I don't

658
00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:04.000
think it was on the show last night, Like it's

659
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:07.720
The Osprey Show right now, which he's the hot guy.

660
00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:11.559
But when swer was hot, then you take the belts

661
00:33:11.599 --> 00:33:11.880
off him.

662
00:33:11.880 --> 00:33:14.640
He's not on TV. Hang Man, was hot? Not on TV?

663
00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:17.119
When you find that hot hand.

664
00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:20.720
You kind of have to ride that horse into the

665
00:33:20.839 --> 00:33:24.359
ground until the next one comes up. And you know,

666
00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:28.599
we saw that during every great boom of professional wrestling

667
00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:32.000
in WWF, it was whoever got hot, they rode that

668
00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:36.119
guy into the ground until the next guy was ready

669
00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:40.200
to take up. There's always been transitions set up for that.

670
00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:43.119
I just don't think aw's ever kind of figured that

671
00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:43.759
out so far.

672
00:33:44.440 --> 00:33:48.680
Yeah, there's a lot of things that I mean, I

673
00:33:48.839 --> 00:33:53.240
watched Rampage and Collision for this podcast, so I can

674
00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:55.759
stay up on it, and you know, there's there's parts

675
00:33:55.759 --> 00:33:58.880
of it that are entertaining, Like I have been watching

676
00:33:58.920 --> 00:34:01.920
Collision last this entire time. I've never missed a Collision episode,

677
00:34:01.960 --> 00:34:03.839
and over the summer, I felt like the outrunners are

678
00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:06.519
really starting to get a lot of momentum, and now

679
00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:08.840
you're seeing that play out on AW television. The fans

680
00:34:08.840 --> 00:34:10.159
are behind them. I think they're one of the best

681
00:34:10.599 --> 00:34:13.480
sellers merchandise wise and AW and it's like, that's really

682
00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:15.360
cool to see. And I don't think they would have

683
00:34:15.400 --> 00:34:17.679
had that opportunity if it was you know, just they

684
00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:19.840
were if they weren't on, if there was just Dynamite

685
00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:22.760
or Rampage, So to see them get that opportunities is

686
00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:25.400
really cool and that's how like the acclaim started to

687
00:34:25.400 --> 00:34:27.639
get bigger as time went on, and you've seen that

688
00:34:27.719 --> 00:34:32.519
with other aw wrestlers. But Collision is like extremely it's

689
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:35.760
gotten very unwatchable. It was it was not a solid show.

690
00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:38.320
There are things that are bright spots, but it is

691
00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:41.639
missing a lot of what I would say like the

692
00:34:41.719 --> 00:34:44.880
a talent in a sense like FTR is there. There's

693
00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:47.840
a lot of obvious talented wrestlers, but you don't have

694
00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:50.559
the full gambit of people that you want to pay

695
00:34:50.639 --> 00:34:52.719
a ticket to see. And that was kind of what

696
00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:55.480
the original premise of Collision was. This is gonna be

697
00:34:55.519 --> 00:34:57.800
opportunity to see guys and girls that you typically don't

698
00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:02.079
see often. Scorpio, Sky, Miro, you know, people that were

699
00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:03.719
off television for a while. They are could be featured

700
00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:07.679
on just solely Collision, and that just has not happened.

701
00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:11.840
And that's concerning, you know the fact that there is

702
00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:15.960
going back to that, like where is Scorpio's guy? Where

703
00:35:16.119 --> 00:35:18.039
is Miro? I mentioned on the last week's show, where

704
00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:21.400
is Wardlow? Like where where are the Where's Keith Lee?

705
00:35:21.559 --> 00:35:24.239
Where are these people who have been off television for

706
00:35:24.440 --> 00:35:27.440
months and months and months, and why does an AW

707
00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:30.239
give some sort of injury update or a timeline of

708
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:33.400
when they will be back or what's going on with them.

709
00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:36.760
Ricky Starks is another, and that's just issues with with

710
00:35:36.920 --> 00:35:39.440
all lead wrestling creative in general. It's just it's a

711
00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:42.760
week show. It needs some some bump to it. That's

712
00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:45.840
where I would start, is you know it. And that's

713
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:47.760
another thing that will bleed into this is is the

714
00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:51.880
AW Warner Brothers Discovery deal, according to reports, is basically

715
00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:55.320
a foregone conclusion for being complete. It's got to come back.

716
00:35:55.719 --> 00:35:57.920
Collision will remain, Dynamite will remain. The one thing that

717
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:01.519
may be gone is actually Rampa, and there's rumors that

718
00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:03.639
they're going to have a show called Shockwave that'll be

719
00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:05.480
airing on FS one and which I guess will be

720
00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:09.760
another form of Rampage. The thing is, if I wasn't

721
00:36:09.800 --> 00:36:15.199
doing a podcast, I would probably just watch Dynamite and

722
00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:19.239
I probably would just check out Collision and Rampage on

723
00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:22.280
YouTube or highlights or read about them or social media

724
00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:24.360
ware to get caught up on it and get that

725
00:36:24.480 --> 00:36:28.320
time back. It's it's concerning from that standpoint. So you

726
00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:32.400
got to make those show shows more creatively appealing. And

727
00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:35.360
you can't just throw these matches together all the time

728
00:36:35.400 --> 00:36:36.800
and hope that someone's going to tune and want to

729
00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:39.440
check out Mark Brisco ticket on the Beast Mortos for

730
00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:42.320
no freaking reason. The second thing is I think AW

731
00:36:42.519 --> 00:36:44.840
needs to start looking at smaller venues to do their shows.

732
00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:48.119
Wwe just did this recently with their debut in Saint

733
00:36:48.199 --> 00:36:51.480
Louis where with NXT where they had a bigger arena

734
00:36:51.480 --> 00:36:54.760
I believe it's called the Enterprise Arena. This ticket sales

735
00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:56.440
weren't going well, so now they're gonna be going to

736
00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:59.280
a smaller venue called the Factory. You got to start

737
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:05.639
doing that with a to begin with. And yeah, I

738
00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:09.719
just think that they need to start making these shows

739
00:37:10.119 --> 00:37:15.119
more appealing overall and aesthetically appealing as well. I've noticed

740
00:37:15.159 --> 00:37:17.960
on these shows Doctor Trey that it's it's kind of

741
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:20.400
echoey in a way. There's there's you can tell there's

742
00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:24.320
not a lot of crowd noise. That's concerning the last

743
00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:27.440
thing I'll say, which is a little off topic here,

744
00:37:27.800 --> 00:37:30.480
going back to the YouTube stuff. To check out AW

745
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:33.320
and YouTube, I'll check out the WA numbers for their

746
00:37:33.400 --> 00:37:36.079
videos and their numbers get anywhere between like one hundred

747
00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:41.159
thousand viewers to five hundred thousand viewers. The AAW stuff

748
00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:45.320
ranges between like twenty thousand and eighty thousand viewers on YouTube.

749
00:37:45.800 --> 00:37:49.400
I'm really starting to wonder if you know, AW will

750
00:37:49.400 --> 00:37:51.920
be a really nice solid number two, will never really

751
00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:55.079
truly compete with w They'll push W but they'll never

752
00:37:55.119 --> 00:37:58.599
truly compete with WAE. But as a company is if

753
00:37:58.679 --> 00:38:02.280
they start to not improve more, I think more people

754
00:38:02.280 --> 00:38:04.760
are gonna abandon ship here and watching AW, especially if

755
00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:05.920
WWE's doing a better job.

756
00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:10.400
Yeah, I mean the thing with AAW and this has

757
00:38:10.480 --> 00:38:14.079
been kind of the same. The sentiment I've been echoing

758
00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:19.519
for years is they're a really cool niche product, but

759
00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:24.599
they've never really done anything to broaden their appeal. And

760
00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:28.519
it's a little bit like you watch one AW match,

761
00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:32.039
you watch five eight dimensions, they all kind of have

762
00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:35.639
the same formula to them. They're all kind of very similar.

763
00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:38.800
The guys are all kind of the same size, Like

764
00:38:39.000 --> 00:38:41.519
there's nothing really stands out.

765
00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:43.400
And that's why when you see somebody.

766
00:38:43.199 --> 00:38:48.679
Like the Outrunners catch fire, why they're different from everything else.

767
00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:51.280
When Dan Hausen was getting his little bit of a push.

768
00:38:51.639 --> 00:38:54.639
He was different from everything else. The acclaimed we're different

769
00:38:54.679 --> 00:38:57.559
from everything else on the show Bang Banggang. When they

770
00:38:57.599 --> 00:38:59.679
got hot for a little bit, they were different from

771
00:38:59.719 --> 00:39:03.039
everything else in the show. That's what catches people's attention,

772
00:39:03.239 --> 00:39:05.400
is like, if everybody looks the same and it's built

773
00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:08.039
the same and wrestles the same, I'm going to pay

774
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:10.960
attention to stuff that's different. And that's one thing about

775
00:39:11.079 --> 00:39:14.840
WWE that they've always had that smorgus board of wrestling.

776
00:39:14.840 --> 00:39:16.559
They got a little bit of comedy, a little bit

777
00:39:16.599 --> 00:39:18.800
of drama. You got your giants, you got your high flyers, you.

778
00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:19.360
Got your tags.

779
00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:22.440
Like they've had a little bit of everything, where AW

780
00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:26.679
kind of has their own little formula, but it doesn't

781
00:39:26.760 --> 00:39:31.079
appeal to mass culture so far. And that's the one

782
00:39:31.159 --> 00:39:33.159
thing I think they've always kind of missed out on

783
00:39:33.480 --> 00:39:37.119
is as much as they try to be different from WWE,

784
00:39:37.559 --> 00:39:40.440
the thing that makes WWE great is their mass appeal,

785
00:39:40.519 --> 00:39:43.000
and I think Aw's always kind of missed out on it,

786
00:39:43.360 --> 00:39:46.519
which also goes back to when somebody gets hot, I

787
00:39:46.599 --> 00:39:48.719
got to market this guy. I got to get him

788
00:39:48.760 --> 00:39:51.239
out there on everything I can possibly get him out on.

789
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:54.719
To get people to tune into our product, and then

790
00:39:54.760 --> 00:39:57.280
they tune in to C MJF and they go, Oh,

791
00:39:57.360 --> 00:40:00.280
this Osprey guy's fantastic. I want to see more of

792
00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:03.239
him as well. Oh I also like this guy. Oh,

793
00:40:03.320 --> 00:40:06.000
I also like these guys. That's how you grow your base.

794
00:40:06.119 --> 00:40:08.760
And I don't think AAW has really done anything in

795
00:40:08.920 --> 00:40:14.079
five years to grow their base audience, where WW is

796
00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:16.119
always looking to expand their base and grow it in

797
00:40:16.159 --> 00:40:17.400
different markets in different ways.

798
00:40:18.119 --> 00:40:20.559
There was a quote from a interview with Q T.

799
00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:24.719
Marshall and it was something like he said, I wish

800
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:29.519
our fans had like friends to tell their friends to

801
00:40:29.599 --> 00:40:33.519
watch the show, which was like a very interesting line

802
00:40:33.559 --> 00:40:35.360
to me, but he was basically saying like these are

803
00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:40.280
just die hard too. This is their niche product, and

804
00:40:40.360 --> 00:40:43.400
they wish their fans had friends to say like, hey,

805
00:40:43.519 --> 00:40:47.800
check this out, which I thought was bizarre, but yeah,

806
00:40:47.840 --> 00:40:52.440
I mean it's it's noticeable. It's really noticeable. The attendance

807
00:40:52.599 --> 00:40:56.519
was from AAW and I don't know, I really really

808
00:40:56.719 --> 00:40:58.840
really want the company to do well, and I think

809
00:40:58.880 --> 00:41:01.159
anytime we have these conver stations, people call us out

810
00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:03.199
for saying like that we're not fans of AW and

811
00:41:03.239 --> 00:41:05.960
that is far from the truth. I literally have never

812
00:41:06.079 --> 00:41:11.239
missed a dynamite, rampage or collision in the entire existence

813
00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:13.719
of AAW. I wanted to succeed, I wanted to improve

814
00:41:13.719 --> 00:41:16.199
it as push professional wrestling to be better. It's push

815
00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:19.559
we to be better, and I want them to be better.

816
00:41:19.719 --> 00:41:21.920
But they can't keep running out these shows where like

817
00:41:21.960 --> 00:41:25.519
collision and rampage are just complete throwaway shows because the

818
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:29.440
attendance is now suffering from it. It's extremely noticeable when

819
00:41:29.480 --> 00:41:33.159
you watch and listen at home on a Saturday night

820
00:41:33.239 --> 00:41:35.480
or on a Friday night, or even with some of

821
00:41:35.519 --> 00:41:39.679
the dynamites as well. So hopefully AW turns it around.

822
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:42.960
They're not going anywhere. They're reportedly staying with Warner Bros's Discovery,

823
00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:45.719
which is a good thing. They will be featured on TNT, TBS,

824
00:41:45.880 --> 00:41:49.559
True TV, according to reports. That deal has not yet

825
00:41:49.679 --> 00:41:52.199
been announced, but they're gonna be making hundreds of millions

826
00:41:52.239 --> 00:41:55.559
of dollars to remain again, so obviously TNT, Warner brother

827
00:41:55.559 --> 00:41:58.559
Discovery likes what they see from AAW and hopefully they

828
00:41:58.679 --> 00:42:02.320
use this opportunity to continue and be a substantial player

829
00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:06.599
in the world professional wrestling. With that said Doctor Trey.

830
00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:09.159
AW Grand Slam is this Wednesday, and right now it

831
00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:11.639
is a very very stacked card. You've got John Moxley

832
00:42:11.719 --> 00:42:13.719
taken on Darby Allen, You've got the Young Bucks taken

833
00:42:13.760 --> 00:42:17.360
on Will Ospring, Kyle Fletcher, you potentially have Brian Danielson

834
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:21.480
taken on Nigel McGinnis. How much is riding on the

835
00:42:21.639 --> 00:42:25.280
line for this upcoming Wednesday's episode of Dynamite AW Grand

836
00:42:25.360 --> 00:42:28.280
Slam for it to be a success. AW is going

837
00:42:28.320 --> 00:42:30.599
out there, guns are blazing. They're gonna have back to

838
00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:33.239
back weeks with some big shows. You've got the Grand

839
00:42:33.280 --> 00:42:35.000
Slam this week. In two weeks will be the five

840
00:42:35.079 --> 00:42:37.199
year Anniversary that is already gonna be headliner. Or they're

841
00:42:37.199 --> 00:42:40.719
gonna have Ricochet versus Will Osprey for the International Championship

842
00:42:40.760 --> 00:42:43.000
taking place on that show. And then I think there's

843
00:42:43.079 --> 00:42:44.679
Title Tuesday in a couple of weeks when they go

844
00:42:44.719 --> 00:42:48.000
head ahead with NXT with the MLB Playoffs taking place.

845
00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:50.719
But looking at on the short term right now, how

846
00:42:50.840 --> 00:42:53.840
much is on the line for Aw's Grand Slam event

847
00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:55.159
to be success this Wednesday.

848
00:42:56.559 --> 00:43:00.199
I think it needs to be an attendance success. Like

849
00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:04.960
I'm hoping they draw really, really well. As far as

850
00:43:05.400 --> 00:43:09.960
the show itself, I don't think as much as writing

851
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:12.159
on these shows in the next couple weeks as far

852
00:43:12.199 --> 00:43:15.000
as television wise and what we see, as much as

853
00:43:15.079 --> 00:43:18.559
it is the promotion aspect of it. Like, you want

854
00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:21.039
to make sure that you're drawing some viewers in, you

855
00:43:21.119 --> 00:43:22.719
want to make sure you're drawing your attendance in. But

856
00:43:23.639 --> 00:43:25.519
the other thing is like, when you're running these special

857
00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:29.400
shows so frequently, you lose the specialness factor. It's a

858
00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:32.639
little bit like a Tony con special announcement or a

859
00:43:32.719 --> 00:43:36.320
major announcement. Well, if you do want every couple of weeks,

860
00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:40.760
then you start losing that factor of how special is

861
00:43:40.840 --> 00:43:43.400
it or how meaningful is it? You know, some of

862
00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:46.280
these matches I look at, I'm like, man, why aren't

863
00:43:46.280 --> 00:43:49.480
you saving this for a poe to draw people into

864
00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:54.360
buy this instead of giving it away for free? You know,

865
00:43:55.400 --> 00:43:57.960
the wrestling is going to be great. If aw Never

866
00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:01.039
sucks at wrestling, they're good at that. Their issue is

867
00:44:01.559 --> 00:44:03.880
can I get the butts in the seats and can

868
00:44:03.960 --> 00:44:06.960
I get the butts to watch on TV? And I'm

869
00:44:07.079 --> 00:44:09.719
hoping that the promotion gets that part in. So as

870
00:44:09.760 --> 00:44:13.039
long as that part successful, the wrestling takes care of itself.

871
00:44:13.559 --> 00:44:18.559
Yeah, it's it's an interesting time for AW. It's it's

872
00:44:18.599 --> 00:44:21.199
so much it's it's like it's up, it's down, it's up,

873
00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:24.000
it's down. As the product itself, it has stayed very,

874
00:44:24.119 --> 00:44:26.840
very constant, but it's the business side of it that's

875
00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:29.519
getting very noticeable. Doctor Try. That is is concerning for

876
00:44:29.639 --> 00:44:33.719
me as a fan because you know, if if business dwindles,

877
00:44:34.079 --> 00:44:37.039
how will this affect aw's bottom line. Will they be

878
00:44:37.119 --> 00:44:39.920
able to keep the surplus going with the television deal

879
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:45.599
and keep the wrestlers that we like under contract. It's interesting,

880
00:44:45.639 --> 00:44:49.159
it's five years is coming up here, And do you

881
00:44:49.199 --> 00:44:53.079
think we've identified what the identity of AW is at

882
00:44:53.079 --> 00:44:53.480
this point?

883
00:44:54.880 --> 00:44:56.840
I think, you know, I gotta say earlier like they

884
00:44:56.880 --> 00:45:02.800
are a like a new era super indie show. Like

885
00:45:02.920 --> 00:45:04.840
I think that's what they are, and I think they're

886
00:45:04.960 --> 00:45:07.480
I think for a lot of those guys, that's they're

887
00:45:07.559 --> 00:45:08.079
fine with that.

888
00:45:08.840 --> 00:45:11.159
That's what they know. That's what they kind of.

889
00:45:11.199 --> 00:45:14.239
Grew up in this business doing, was the super indie shows.

890
00:45:14.320 --> 00:45:18.239
But you know, if you're running an event in Arthur

891
00:45:18.280 --> 00:45:20.920
ash Stadium, you know what's around Arthur ash Stadium. A

892
00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:24.400
whole bunch of media and why aren't these guys, Why

893
00:45:24.440 --> 00:45:26.440
aren't you getting these guys on Good Morning America? Why

894
00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:28.119
aren't you getting these guys on ESPN?

895
00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:28.639
Why aren't you.

896
00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:32.039
Getting those guys out there to promote your show to

897
00:45:32.280 --> 00:45:36.360
make people tune in to watch. And that's the issue

898
00:45:36.400 --> 00:45:38.679
I think they have with AW is that they're they're

899
00:45:38.679 --> 00:45:43.440
they're They're branding is centered on those diehard fans and not,

900
00:45:44.400 --> 00:45:48.440
you know, the the younger generation that WW is drawing.

901
00:45:48.519 --> 00:45:52.760
In interesting discussions this week as the business model professional

902
00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:55.440
wrestling continues to evolve and change and has to be

903
00:45:55.920 --> 00:45:58.079
picked apart a little bit here and there, whether it's

904
00:45:58.679 --> 00:46:01.559
changes in the business model of World Wrestling Entertainment or

905
00:46:01.599 --> 00:46:03.440
potential chains that need to take place in the business

906
00:46:03.480 --> 00:46:06.519
model of all Elite wrestling. It is an intriguing time

907
00:46:06.599 --> 00:46:09.880
for professional wrestling. It's a very successful time for professional wrestling,

908
00:46:10.199 --> 00:46:12.360
but we wanted to see it remain successful. For that

909
00:46:12.480 --> 00:46:15.239
to happen, changes definitely need to be made with both companies,

910
00:46:15.559 --> 00:46:18.039
sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I think

911
00:46:18.039 --> 00:46:20.119
there's a lot of things that we and AW could

912
00:46:20.119 --> 00:46:22.920
be doing right now to make things better. And you

913
00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:25.559
make a case that house show business going away is

914
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:28.960
better for we and maybe looking at some smaller venues

915
00:46:28.960 --> 00:46:33.000
and getting some more constant, consistent creative is one that

916
00:46:33.079 --> 00:46:37.119
will really benefit all elite wrestling so interesting times indeed

917
00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:40.719
for the world that we love known as wrestling Doctor Trey.

918
00:46:41.719 --> 00:46:43.960
With that said, let's get a couple plugs and sponsors

919
00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:45.280
out of the way. You could download the show every

920
00:46:45.280 --> 00:46:47.559
Thursday or Friday at Real Guy Radio dot com, Wrestle

921
00:46:47.639 --> 00:46:50.000
chattinget on X and the still growth the show iTunes feed.

922
00:46:50.280 --> 00:46:52.239
Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help USC

923
00:46:52.239 --> 00:46:54.639
on charts on iTunes. You could follow us individually on

924
00:46:54.840 --> 00:46:57.199
X for myself at SRTU Jeff and for Doctor Try

925
00:46:57.239 --> 00:46:59.559
Franklin at The Doctor Trey. And of course don't forget

926
00:46:59.559 --> 00:47:02.480
to follow show on X at SRTU podcast. With that

927
00:47:02.599 --> 00:47:04.280
being said, what's going on the one for world of

928
00:47:04.320 --> 00:47:05.559
Doctor Franklin this week?

929
00:47:06.280 --> 00:47:08.039
Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on X

930
00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:10.719
at The Doctor Trey. You can find me on Facebook

931
00:47:10.760 --> 00:47:14.000
at Instagram Doctor Trey Franklin. When you're on Facebook, check

932
00:47:14.039 --> 00:47:16.679
out rock a City Championship Wrestling. We got a big

933
00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:20.000
show coming up this Saturday, A Rocket City. Next Saturday,

934
00:47:20.079 --> 00:47:22.880
I'll be a Spartan Pro or Spartan Championship Wrestling and

935
00:47:22.920 --> 00:47:25.199
gas in Alabama, so be sure check them out. And

936
00:47:25.320 --> 00:47:27.840
then the newest show that I'm a part of, game

937
00:47:27.960 --> 00:47:32.360
Time Wrestling and Warrior Alabama. Jeff, I got to cut

938
00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:36.039
my first promo video since my surgery. It felt good

939
00:47:36.119 --> 00:47:39.199
to actually be in front of the camera talking smack trying.

940
00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:39.639
To drop people in.

941
00:47:40.320 --> 00:47:43.159
But check those guys out on Facebook, game Time Championship

942
00:47:43.199 --> 00:47:44.119
Wrestling as well, so.

943
00:47:44.199 --> 00:47:46.320
You go support all the great things at support SRTU.

944
00:47:46.480 --> 00:47:48.719
Thank you for downloading this week's show. Anything we discussed,

945
00:47:48.719 --> 00:47:50.800
feel free to hits up on Facebook, Facebook dot com.

946
00:47:50.880 --> 00:47:53.000
Slash is still wrote us show or hit us up

947
00:47:53.039 --> 00:47:57.079
on x once again at SRTU podcast. With that being said,

948
00:47:57.159 --> 00:47:59.079
have a good rest of your week, have a good weekend,

949
00:47:59.199 --> 00:48:01.079
spread the word about it s r t U and

950
00:48:01.239 --> 00:48:04.280
until next week for doctory Franklin, I'm Jeff Pack. This

951
00:48:04.519 --> 00:48:06.000
is the story of the show.