All Elite Wrestling Is Happening

[Spidey Revivey]

I'm sure if you frequent these forums you know a bit about what's going on, so I'll spare you all the detached obligatory news article.

I'm optimistic. I don't think it'll reinvent the wheel or anything, but neither am I going to be That Guy who shits on something he hasn't seen yet. They seem to be in a good spot for something that has only just been confirmed. Having a backer who likes wrestling and has deeper pockets than Vince McMahon also helps and of course this brings to mind what Ted Turner did for WCW and how fun that was back then. Still, reservations and all until we get some shows - hopefully a TV deal, as that would be a huge factor in how well they'll stand out against the plethora of indy promotions out there.

Thoughts?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm skeptical as to how big they can get and how fast they can get there. You're taking a subset of a subset of a population where another organization controls most of said population and has the means to lock up their talent for a considerable amount of time. It should be a huge cash grab for the major players in all of this since the mark is loaded but I'm not sure he is Carter level of patient.

We will see.

 

[johnnybbad78]

What I don't get is I keep seeing people say, "Now that a real billionaire is backing a company they will crush WWE." Um...WCW was backed by a billionaire, and ran by people who supposedly knew the business. Impact was backed by a billionaire. The problem is if you just sign indy guys, and old WWE guys, you fall into the same categories as the companies I mentioned. They need a big sign....and while we don't know yet about Omega, how many WWE fans that don't follow other companies even know about him? I was only introduced to him 2 years ago. I'm a die hard WWE, but I think the competition could be good for them, force them to make changes, like they did when WCW started beating them. If AEW could get a top WWE name to jump ship it could make things interesting. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

What scares me about the whole thing is the way they announce it. It made me remember the tragedy that was Global force wrestling. I know they wanted to make a big announcement on new year day because Cody and the bucks where free agents on that day. But they did it without any concrete info about the whole thing. All we know now is that the president is the financial backer of the promotion, Cody as a executive role and the bucks are bookers and they name a few wrestlers that will join them plus they have a store at pro wrestling tees and they already have a date for their first PPV.

That's pretty much what Jarrett had when he announce Global force wrestling a few years back and look what happened. IT pretty much blew up in his face. Fans are all exited because the company is backed by a real billionaire. but like the previous post mention, WCW was backed by a billionnaire and failed, TNA was and is still backed by a billionnaire and they are hanging by a thread, Heck, ROH is back by a billionnaire and the guy just started to put money in the company because he was scared of what AEW would be.

Personally, i hope that they realize how hard it is to start a new promotion and don't take that lightly. IT's one thing to be able to promote a successful PPV, it's another thing to make a whole promotion successful. I really wish them the best and i really hope that Cody and the bucks are smart enough to not fall for the same mistake other start up promotion did in the past like trying to sign to many ex WWE stars or going to rapidly in competition with WWE because that will be there death nail before they even start the promotion if they go that route. Take this slowly, get a solid tv deal, build your fanbase slowly, try to get the number 2 spot away from ROH and after that when you have all of that then go and slowly try to build up the company to where you might have a chance of being competition for WWE, but they need to build their fanbase first and get the diehard WWE fans to at less give them a chance if they want to succeed and that start with a good tv deal and some aggressive promotion. So will see what happens with this. I wish them the best and i really hope that this doesn't turn out the dame way GFW turn out a few years ago, a big overhype pill of nothing.

 

[OYDK]

I think if they can secure a TV deal, even if it's on a little-known network which, let's be honest, is really their only hope at such an early stage, they should be in a good position to become one of the top indie companies going forward. Just having The Young Bucks and Cody means they're going to be able to draw crowds as there are fans who will flock to wherever these guys go. Plus, they know how to promote. If they can back up the hype with a good product and an easily accessible way to watch their shows, they can very easily be on level with ROH. Plus, there's the likely potential of partnering with ROH and NJPW to give them access to some of the top names in the business.

All in all, I think AEW is in a good position to succeed early on. Of course, these are all just hypotheticals at this point and we won't know jack until they actually produce their first shows but, things seem to look relatively good for them early on.

 

[JoeMallard]

If they can manage to get a tv deal and some major stars, I have faith that they will succeed.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Here's the thing to remember about All Elite Wrestling: Don't expect too much too soon.

I'm sure that there were a huge number of Cody, Bucks and/or indy fans out there who automatically took to forums or social media saying that WWE's days were numbered or some other kind of nonsense but it's important to remember that's exactly what it is at this point, pure nonsense. They've announced one show, they have a name for their company, Cody has revealed that he's "executive vice president" and they've signed female wrestler Britt Baker, who participated in All In. There are no details as to when Double or Nothing will take place, what venue, what city or any other details.

Speaking of details, we know next to nothing about the inner workings of AEW, such as whether or not they have any sort of major financial backers or partners. There were reports a few months back that mail addressed to All Elite went to the same address as the home stadium of the Jacksonville Jaguars, leading to speculation that the owner of the team, whom the Fortune 400 listed as being worth about $7.5 billion, was in business with them. I don't know if it's true, if there was a deal on the table but it fell through or what but I haven't read anything else about it since. If AEW has access to a lot of financial resources via backers/partners, that's a huge boon for them, though that in and of itself isn't a guarantee as all you have to do is look at the fortunes Panda Energy sunk into TNA or the nigh unlimited resources WCW had access to in order to see the proof of that. AEW isn't a threat to WWE, they're not remotely on WWE's level and they probably won't be for many years, if ever, so I think that people need to keep whatever expectations they have on the realistic side.

This is an opportunity, potentially, for another high profile place for wrestlers to go in order to get work and make money. That in and of itself is a good thing and reason enough to want to see it succeed because, at the end of the day, these are just people ultimately trying to make a living in a pretty uncertain business at times. If AEW can succeed, bring more eyes to wrestling as a whole, then it could work out well for everyone, even WWE though Vince would probably die before coming out and admitting it.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

Here's the thing. The Young Bucks and Cody and Hangman Page aren't the draw people thing they are. They are an indy draw. That can translate to a 10K seat show when it's billed as the Super Bowl of indy wrestling and has talent from a bunch of organizations.

But when you take away NJPW...and ROH...and TNA/impact...and Lucha Underground...and I guess MLW too, there's not a lot left. On top of that, NJPW has a TV deal (and maybe a billionaire with Mark Cuban maybe doing something beyond airing them on his network). ROH has a TV deal. TNA has a (small) TV deal. Lucha Underground has a TV deal. MLW I think has some kind of TV deal but also super small. The point is, not counting WWE, that's or 5 other wrestling companies that already have TV deals.

I'm wondering if this is something they just want to try and have a guarantee of money from the backer (who I don't think is actually a billionaire, his dad is) and their longer term goal is to get WWE to offer healthcare or not classify workers as independent contractors or make a wrestling union. If they fail as a company but get WWE to offer healthcare, that's arguably a bigger win and legacy in pro wrestling.

 

[pbancroft32]

firstly i really hope elite works wwe does need real competition im not saying elite will bring wwe to its knees and no one should want it to but firstly they do need a TV deal, secondly im not sure just how much they need "a big star name" as some have said. The only way to get a big name is get wwe guy and people have already said dont just get wwe guys which i dont agree with anyway.
here is a big thing to think about this year you have braun, aj seth, balor, nakamura and drew all with deals close to expiring.
NOW this is a huge If but lets say elite can get one of those names or even 2 then they could get bums in seats and viewers tuneing in, now if they could manage that then thaty opens the doors for more to come.
Picture elite coming out and saying we have just signed AJ and balor, or braun and seth. im not saying this will or can happen but there are many talents with contracts close to expiring this year and that plus decent money offered and a much smaller schedule could lure big names more so those who feel there not being used properly IE balor

 

[Psykohurricane55]

for anybody that thinks that AEW will be real competion for WWE just because it's backed by a billionaire, keep dreaming. That'S not going to happen anytime soon. Why do i sound so confident about this, it's quite simple, they don't have access to a number of talent that made ALL IN such a success. The other problem is trying to convince the mainstream audience that only watch WWE to watch more wrestling which will be really hard unless you get another big name to put with Jericho.

The third problem is that the hardcore audience is already watching a ton of non WWE wrestling show, will they want to watch another hour or 2 of wrestling every week and if they go and decide to watch AEW, will they drop something else.

AEW right now is more in competition with ROH, NJPW and MLW then WWE. When they finally start up, One or more of these promotion will be hurt by them because of it. Don't even get me talking about IMPACT because when AEW start, they will have one foot in the grave because what's left of their audience will jump ship to AEW.

Finally, let's suppose that AEW isn't profitable after 5 years. Do you think that the khans will still stand by the company or do like everybody else and cut the loses before it's too late.

There a lot of hype surrounding this because everybody involve including the fans thing that they will get a ALL IN type of show every week with this promotion when in reality there just getting another wrestling show with wrestlers that are exclusive to the promotion. What made ALL IN so special was that it was all the indy promotions coming together to put on a show, now we don't have that anymore because everybody in the wrestling community see them as competition and they are the new kids on the block so everybody will tried to take them down before they get to big and destroys them.

 

[GhettoV1]

The first company to get damaged by AEW (if they get an TV deal) will be Impact Wrestling.

 

[Rossinater]

I am very excited for the idea of another big wrestling company. I think it could be cool. The main worry is it could turn into wcw where the talent were the bookers and eventually comes to a stalemate. To the smart wrestling fan nowadays how cool can something be if your booking yourselves as the top talent. The elite has a huge following but the big question is How much of the WWE audience are die hard wrestling fans supporting the ELITE. They have some of the coolest talent in the business though. Announcing the deal with OWE does not resonate with the casual wrestling fan which is the market you need. Its like okay that's cool and all but where are you getting all your talent from. I don't know how long it can keep its momentum with the lack of experience hiring all indy wrestlers. Indy wrestling is cool but its indy wrestling. Can AEW really succeed with the indy ideals and can it attract the casual fan? I guess we will have to wait and see. Until then we will have lots of fun speculating!

 

[Rossinater]

I am very excited for the idea of another big wrestling company. I think it could be cool. The main worry is it could turn into wcw where the talent were the bookers and eventually comes to a stalemate. To the smart wrestling fan nowadays how cool can something be if your booking yourselves as the top talent. The elite has a huge following but the big question is How much of the WWE audience are die hard wrestling fans supporting the ELITE. They have some of the coolest talent in the business though. Announcing the deal with OWE does not resonate with the casual wrestling fan which is the market you need. Its like okay that's cool and all but where are you getting all your talent from. The talent in that promotion do not speak English. I don't know how long it can keep its momentum with the lack of experience hiring all indy wrestlers. Indy wrestling is cool but its indy wrestling. Can AEW really succeed with the indy ideals and can it attract the casual fan? I guess we will have to wait and see. Until then we will have lots of fun speculating!

 

[Radical]

It would be nice to see a new pro wrestling company emerge to give a reasonable alternative to WWE and a challenge that hopefully keeps WWE from getting complacent.

What AEW has going for it is no previous track record.

That is why I can't get behind Impact or ROH at all really. Too much damage done in the past to be taken too seriously now.

I liked Lucha Underground's start A LOT. They did a great job building good characters with simple but stylistic storylines with some grit and humor. They did a great job building up championships and having great matches.

But with LU, it was only about a TV show the same location all the time. However, if AEW can do something like that but take it on the road and be willing to go closer to a 14 A rating with some curse words you might hear in the Attitude Era like "bullsh*t" and "a**hole", some blood, some hardcore moments and strong main event storylines, at least, it would be really interesting to see that develop and what fans think. I'd also like to see them put some emphasis on teams/stables that actually matter.

People know pro wrestling is scripted, but I think what turned off a lot of people to WWE after the Attitude Era was too many cheesy segments, childish titles, and poor storytelling.

Hey, Marvel Studios is doing a great job storytelling a comic book characters to kids AND adults by having a combination of gritty, hard-hitting storylines that build to a climax and sprinkling in some fun, humor and super-human strength!

Pro wrestling is best when it's cool, edgy and controversial. With WWE they can't really go back to that because they are publicly traded. But AEW should have free reign.