A New Era for the Wrestling Thread

[Dr. Evil]

So Ray Rowe and Sarah Logan had a Viking wedding:

 

[JabarR]

Impact has found a network even smaller than Pop.

Starting in January Impact is moving to Pursuit Channel, which is a tiny hunting-focused channel I don't even get.

It's owned by Anthem, Impact's parent company, so it's safe to say no other networks offered them anything close to a good deal.

Also, they are moving to Friday nights. That will put them head to head with both Smackdown on Fox and MLW Fusuin on BeIn Sports.

You forgot about NJPW and WOW: Women Of Wrestling (coming in January also) on AXS.TV

 

[Dr. Evil]

Here's a bit of a shocker....John Cena has never won the IC Championship. It is the only main roster title he has not won that he's eligible for.

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Mani-Man]

Here's a bit of a shocker....John Cena has never won the IC Championship. It is the only main roster title he has not won that he's eligible for.

Wait, doesnt that mean he never was Grand Slam champion? I cant believe it...John Cena never winning the IC Title...thats so strange.
But Cena always was more of a US champion guy to me either way.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Wait, doesnt that mean he never was Grand Slam champion? I cant believe it...John Cena never winning the IC Title...thats so strange.
But Cena always was more of a US champion guy to me either way.

He has never won the IC Championship nor ever competed for it. Speaking of Cena, saw him on the Today Show, he looks old.

 

[NDX]

Yeah, he seems to have had better days. If he never returned to the ring I think at this point I wouldn't miss him.

 

[Dr. Evil]

 

[Dr. Evil]

Yeah, he seems to have had better days. If he never returned to the ring I think at this point I wouldn't miss him.

It's not like he's going to disappear once he's done with the WWE for good. Who knows, maybe he'll have a movie lined up at every major Hollywood studio like the Rock has. Cena has now apologized to the Rock for comments he made back when he was full time about Dwayne abandoning WWE for movies.

 

[Flash525]

It's not like he's going to disappear once he's done with the WWE for good. Who knows, maybe he'll have a movie lined up at every major Hollywood studio like the Rock has. Cena has now apologized to the Rock for comments he made back when he was full time about Dwayne abandoning WWE for movies.

Do you have a link/source for this? I'd like to see it.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Do you have a link/source for this? I'd like to see it.

About 4 minutes in, 4:13

 

[WereCoyote]

Sooner or later, John Cena will be gone from WWE TV for a year or more because of Hollywood. He's scheduled to return in January, so I wonder how the WWE is going to deal with Cena being gone for a year or more? At this point, he's like the Rock, a glorified WWE Ambassador at this point and if Bumblebee does very well, Cena may be forced to hang up his baseball cap and jorts because the film roles will start piling up to the point where he cannot appear in the WWE every few months anymore like he has been.

So I should go watch Bumblebee a lot of times then.

 

[WereCoyote]

Yeah, he seems to have had better days. If he never returned to the ring I think at this point I wouldn't miss him.

I was more annoyed that Vince called him the greatest of all time when he announced his return, than pretty much anything else about sucky Cena.

 

[Dr. Evil]

So I should go watch Bumblebee a lot of times then.

Only if you like it enough to want to watch it more than once. It is the best film of the Franchise and that isn't saying much.

Saw NXT tonight and son of a......they got me looking forward to Takeover: Phoenix moreso than ever, first with this:



and then maybe with

Spoiler

Gargano vs. Ricochet for the North American Championship

 

[JabarR]

 

[Mani-Man]

About 4 minutes in, 4:13

I cant, i just cant.
He feels so fake and stiff, unnatural with all he says and does...i just cant help it.

He seems friendly and well spoken, thinks before he speaks and seems open minded...but it all feels like an act instead of genuine.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I cant, i just cant.
He feels so fake and stiff, unnatural with all he says and does...i just cant help it.

He seems friendly and well spoken, thinks before he speaks and seems open minded...but it all feels like an act instead of genuine.

Same can be said for the majority of Hollywood though, so all he's doing is trying to fit in.

 

[JabarR]

 

[S. Grundy]

That is incredibly suspect. Meltzer reports that it's "not a secret" but literally everyone is just now reporting it after he reported it. Stinks of BS to me.

Also, why is it bad for IMPACT that Anthem put them on a network they have a stake in when that is exactly what Sinclair does with ROH, only ROH airs at random times in syndication. Meltzer just pulling **** out of his ass.

 

[famicommander]

That is incredibly suspect. Meltzer reports that it's "not a secret" but literally everyone is just now reporting it after he reported it. Stinks of BS to me.

Also, why is it bad for IMPACT that Anthem put them on a network they have a stake in when that is exactly what Sinclair does with ROH, only ROH airs at random times in syndication. Meltzer just pulling **** out of his ass.

Television is the primary source of revenue for Impact. If they're not getting TV fees, they're not making money. They barely run any shows, they barely draw any crowds, they barely get any PPV or subscription buys, they barely sell any merch.

Impact tried to sell the exclusive rights to its TV show in the US and got zero takers. They were put on their parent company's smallest station in their worst timeslot because there was no alternative.

They're going from being available in almost 70 million homes per week to fewer than 28 million. There is no possible way that could be portrayed as anything but a horrible thing.

Sinclair would never even consider selling exclusive rights to ROH TV to a cable outlet. That's why ROH is syndicated. The reason Sinclair bought ROH in the first place is to provide cheap programming for their local television stations, which are their primary source of revenue. Sinclair owns tons of platforms but almost no content of their own to put on them.

ROH TV is on local Sinclair stations, Honor Club, ROH's website, Charge, Charge's website, Stadium, Stadium's website and social media feeds, and Fite TV just in the US every week. Not to mention, ROH itself is profitable. They sell tickets, they sell merch, they sell PPVs and subscriptions. The TV show is essentially an hour long commercial every week for other products ROH sells.

Just one network that airs ROH TV - Charge (which airs them in primetime, by the way) - is in more homes than Pursuit Channel. You're comparing two entirely different business models and grasping at straws.

For Impact, the TV show IS the product. They're trying to rebuild the other aspects of the business but it isn't working.

Meltzer is incredibly close with the Young Bucks. Any scoop he reports on AEW is almost definitely true.

 

[S. Grundy]

Well, Pursuit is non-exclusive and for anyone knows they are still negotiating with networks. Also, they get 100% of ad revenue, so they aren't getting nothing out of it.

Pursuit is not wholly owned, they only have a minority stake and it's the only network they have with any real reach in the U.S., also it's 45 million not 28 million. If Charge! is in more homes than Pursuit, it's probably not by a lot, it's a standard def sub-channel that appears in certain markers Sinclair runs. That the definition of a small station with no alternative.

Also, ROH is stagnant. Sinclair is unwilling to let it grow, and the only reason it is doing any decent business is they rely so heavily on NJPW guys at the expense of their own roster. MSG sold without NJPW, hell they couldn't even fill up half the Orleans arena for Death Before Dishonor.

 

[famicommander]

Well, Pursuit is non-exclusive and for anyone knows they are still negotiating with networks. Also, they get 100% of ad revenue, so they aren't getting nothing out of it.

Pursuit is not wholly owned, they only have a minority stake and it's the only network they have with any real reach in the U.S., also it's 45 million not 28 million. If Charge! is in more homes than Pursuit, it's probably not by a lot, it's a standard def sub-channel that appears in certain markers Sinclair runs. That the definition of a small station with no alternative.

Also, ROH is stagnant. Sinclair is unwilling to let it grow, and the only reason it is doing any decent business is they rely so heavily on NJPW guys at the expense of their own roster. MSG sold without NJPW, hell they couldn't even fill up half the Orleans arena for Death Before Dishonor.

1. No, Pursuit does not reach 45 million homes. At one point they did but they were dropped by certain providers. It's 30 million:
https://www.bassmaster.com/news/pursuit-channel-air-bassmasters-and-other-bass-programming-2019

2. Charge is available in 43.11% of US TV households, which is over 55 million homes. And again, it's also available elsewhere. Anyone on earth can watch ROH for free.

3. New York is not Las Vegas. New York is a great wrestling market, Vegas is a horrible one.

4. If NJPW could sell out MSG without ROH, they'd have dumped ROH ages ago. This is such a horrible line of argument. If NJPW could draw without ROH, they wouldn't work with ROH.

5. 100% of ad revenue doesn't mean more money if total ad revenue is way lower.

You really have no idea what you're talking about.

And as for ROH being "stagnant", they did an average of 1,215 fans per show in 2018 (source: Lavie Margolin, known insider and Sinclair stockholder). That's an increase of nearly 10% over last year, which was the previous best year in ROH history.

10% attendance growth year over year is not stagnation.

 

[Dr. Evil]

The Wrestling Thread is Fickle!

 

[JabarR]

 

[Dr. Evil]

They need to stop with the making history stuff. It's getting old.