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50 BUCKS IS TOO MUCH TO PAY FOR A PPV, WWE KNOWING NXT’S WORTH, TOP CRUISERS AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2019-11-12 10:00:00

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If I said the five most influential Cruiserweights of all time were the first Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, Ultimo Dragon, Dynamite Kid and Brian Pillman how would you assess and agree/disagree with these choices with your own preferences.

I think you make a great list.  Tiger Mask and Liger are one and two, for sure, given what they have meant to the division.  I can’t argue with your 3-5 either.

After reading your story about ROH debuting on the old Fox Sports stations, it looks like the NYC market still has no access to ROH TV.    Do you see that changing anytime soon?   Can’t they syndicate the show on one of the stations in NYC?

Honestly?  No, I don’t.  Sinclair has shown no inclination to pay for a slot.  ROH is a product that they own to air on their networks as part of the corporate synergy.

I know an important part in comparing AEW and NXT is live viewership, as this directly ties to advertising dollars, but for WWE do they also factor in replay views on the network into a total picture of fan interest?  I personally watch NXT on Thursday via the network and wondered how, if at all, WWE takes that segment of the viewership into account.

WWE knows all of that information, for sure.  They are aware of everything that gets watched on the Network so they know what kind of draw NXT on Thursday is for them.  They don’t comment on it, but they definitely know.  And yes, I am sure they take it into account where interest in the product is concerned.  At the end of the day, NXT is important to them as both a TV property and a Network property.

I hear what you are saying about putting your money where your mouth is when it comes to AEW.  I just to a look and this weekends Full Gear is on B\R live for $50...This will be the second PPV from AEW that I will not be purchasing.  I gave them a pass when they were spitting out free shows.  Now they are on TV, I can watch them on Wednesday night.  I don't and won't pay $50 for a PPV anymore.  Sorry AEW now there is MLW and TNA and a TON of independent shows on IWTV.  AEW is not the only alternative out there.  Hell half their roster is on MLW anyway...

You didn’t really ask a question but you made a great point.  With TNT putting on Dynamite every Wednesday for free, it does make it a lot easier for at least some fans to skip laying out $50.  Given that we can get so much content via WWE, Honor Club, Highspots, Impact, New Japan World, etc. for ten bucks or so a month, it’s a tough sell to have people pay far more than that for just one show.  If AEW is in this for the long haul, they really need to look into starting their own streaming service right now.  Even if they charge $19.99, I think a lot more people would be willing to support them if they do so and if they did one PPV a month they would get solid support.  They are currently using the outdated “don’t make much on your TV deal to gain revenue through PPV model” that was starting to die when WWE started their own Network.

There was so much talk over the weekend about the issues coming home from Saudi Arabia. One of your competitors got a lot of traction with the story of Vince leaving the talent while he went home. There was no mention on the site (that I saw) at all of this aspect of the story. I'm curious as to what the reasoning was? Was it a case of wanting to get talent on the record? 

Here’s the reasoning.  One, we don’t post stories to get traction unless the story is actually true, or a story.  Two, there was nothing to the “Vince leaving them behind” take that others took on the issue in our opinion.  Vince has his own plane and always leaves when he leaves.  The “leaving them behind” take came out of another incorrect assumption that the Saudi Government was doing something nefarious to the talent, which they weren’t.  But let’s just say they were.  Let’s say that the Saudis were purposely detaining the talent.  What sense would it make for Vince McMahon to put himself in a position to be detained too?  None in my opinion.  He had his plane and he was able to leave right away, which is always the case in a situation like this.  Brock Lesnar did the same thing.  So to us, making that a “story” amounted to clickbait.   And once the whole story came out, the people that made it a story wish that they hadn’t.

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