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

Transcript

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's welcome everybody.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Welcome to this week's edition of the Story of the
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Show EPISOD number seven hundred and sixty two, September nineteenth,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. Welcome to this week's edition of ass
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: R T You. I am one after the show, I
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: am Jeffy Pact. We joined every single week from my
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: cost the onely Doctor Trey Franklin, Doctor Trey. I gotta
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: admit it's kind of strange not doing a preview and
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: prediction or recap interview my friends.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was thinking about that before we came on air,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: and you know, life kind of catches up sometimes you
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: ye a little crazy, a little hag ticket. I went, wait,
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: is there any pay per view event or p A
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: league going on this weekend that I've unaware of? Do
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: we have to do a preview a prediction show or
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: do we just get to talk about, uh a fan
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: being lawn darted into an opponent during a Monday night show.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I'm not sure wwe wants to make that a thing, because,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: as we know, the Internet day and age and all
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: that stuff, people tend to take things a little too seriously.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: And I think anytime you encourage using a fan as
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: a lawn dart, even though it's a plant. For those
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: who didn't know it was a plant, I'm welcome to
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. I don't know, I don't know how
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: about how I feel about that doctor try.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it'll probably happen on the indie somewhere.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's not the first time fans have been used.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: I mean the days of was it Mad Dog for
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Shan's leg being used during a match? You know, We've
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: seen the plants be used before, but I've just never
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: seen somebody get ray mysterioed out of the crowd.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: You know, it's been a good long time, thankfully that
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: we haven't had a situation where like a fan tried
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: to get involved in a or go after a wrestler.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I think the ones that come to mind was, I
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: know there was like a seth rollins entrance on a
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: raw where he was coming out and a fan got involved. Obviously,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: the most recent famous one was the one when Brett
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Hart got attacked when the Heart Foundation was going into
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame and then that dude got his
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: ass handed to him, rightfully. So the one I always
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: think of is I think two thousand and two ladder
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: match ic title Eddie Guarrero Rob Van Dam. Guerrero is
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: climbing the ladder to go after the title, and a
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: fan they're in Canada, because I think the guy was
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: like wearing a Toronto maple leafs hockey jersey pushes Guerrero
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: off the ladder and Guerrero takes several swings at him.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I actually just read a story too. I think it
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: was maybe Mark Henry mention this that if you strike
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: a fan when you would come in the ring in
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: we that they would get fine ten thousand dollars the wrestlers.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: I'm like, that doesn't make any sense.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: But yeah, where there was the house show where somebody
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: jumped in on it was Awestin in Triple H leave.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they went to attack Austin and Triple H like
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: took them down.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I don't know if the fine is because
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: you in his insuies like that where like two guys
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: are squaring off and then the you know, Triple Acer
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: is beating up the guy trying to attack Austin if
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: you're kind of breaking k fav. I don't know if
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: that was event's rule, because you know, Evins had weird
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: rules about breaking k favorite times, so I don't know
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: what that's like in the On the Indies, I've seen
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: fans get involved. I've seen punches get thrown, but you know,
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've had fans threaten to show up out,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: you know, to meet me outside in the parking lot,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: to knife me and stuff like that, but I've never
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: had anybody not back. I've had one lady put her
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: hands on me and actually swing at me because I
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: had her so riled up. But on the Indies, if
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: you cross that barricade and touch a wrestler, they're going
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: to beat the crap out of you. That's just what
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: and the whole locker room will empty to do it.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: You know what's funny about this type of source of entertainment,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Doctor Trey, is if I went to a movie and
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I want to star Wars movie and let's just say
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Darth Vader's watching it with me, movie ends, I'm not
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: challenging Darth Vader to a lightsaber duel out in the hallway.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Well think about Like it's hard to compare to the movies,
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: but like in Broadway, like if you go to watch
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: Cats and I've never seen cats, I'm sure there's a
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: event that you've wanted to Yes, obviously I've wanted to
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: dress up and do the whole production.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: But I'm sure there's a villain in Cats.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Could you imagine sething in the front row, a calling
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: that person names throughout the entire show, be challenging him
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: to a fight, and then see jumping up on stage
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: to go after the villain in Cats because apparently to him,
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: the Cats are still real.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I mean it's a very odd source of
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: entertainment that we know and love and enjoy. And I
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: guess is it because we are? Okay, I guess I'm
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: gonna say we. I really shouldn't hear because I'm not
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: the fan that like goes to the event. I'm like, damn,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: I hate that John Moxley, you know, why is he
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: doing this? Brian Danielson. I find a lot of an
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: entertainment in it. But I know what I'm watching is
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: is wrestling the most immersive form of entertainment that we
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: have in the world?
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Then?
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Uh?
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: That and maybe music in the sense of like when
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: they bring the fan up on stage to sing for them,
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: But I mean wrestling, especially like on the Indies, maybe
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: not so much the bigger shows when you got you know,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: fifteen twenty thousand people and you're you know, the front
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: row is still about twenty feet set back on the indies,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: it's like five feet six feet maybe eight feet. You know,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: you really get a one on one interaction with the performers,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: and I don't you don't get that anywhere else, Like
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: you can actually have somebody like me in your face
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: calling you names and you're firing back insults as well.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, that's I've told this story before. That
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: was one of the things that hooked me as a
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: kid was going to a WWF live event watching Jimmy
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Hart bring King Harley Race out to the ring and
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: me throwing a spitwat at him and him turning around
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: and walking towards me, and that little interaction is kind
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: of what hooked me because you're not going to get
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: that one on one, you know, feeling in any other
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: genre other than maybe you know, the music scene when
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: you know bands are kind of breaking in.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, now it's it's bizarre, but I mean it's it's
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: very funny. We're going down on this avenue because there's
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: something I want to bring up here that I have
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: on the rundown here that really ties his song in,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: which is hilarious. But do you think that there's times
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Doctor Trey and You've done this on the independent wrestling
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: scene that wrestlers go too far? Because I think of MJF,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: who I think is one of the best modern day
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: heels in the company, in the entire professional wrestling today,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: obviously the best one in AW and you go back
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: and I forget what pay per view it was. I
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: think it was like a full gear where MJF takes
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: an alcoholic drink and throws it on a kid, and
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: the people went like nuts about it. The kid was
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: not a plant. They had to send out Amanda Huber,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: John Huber's wife Brodie Lee, who was handling like community
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: relations at the time, to go out there smooth things over. Reportedly,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Tony Kahm was very upset by the entire situation, did
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: not like that he did that, And I was like,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: you know, the wrestling fan in me loves this because
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: it's nineteen seventies, nineteen eighties type of professional wrestling in
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: the twenty twenties, but also it also makes me think like, Okay,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: MGF went too far there. You don't throw a drink,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: let alone an alcoholic drink on a child to gain
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: some heat. There are certainly ways to go about this,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: and I feel like we talked about this on that
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: show when this incident took place. Do you think nowadays
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: have wrestlers or do wrestlers go too far where they
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: exude these types of emotions?
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think you get caught up in
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: the moment, especially for like the guys I don't want
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: to say the guys in my generation, but people like
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: you know, the wrestlers that are in their thirties and
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: forties who kind of grew up on that type of wrestling.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: You get caught up in the moment and you'll start
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: to say something or do something that was fine in
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: the air that we watched, but now like the line
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: has been pulled in a little bit, Like you don't
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: want to throw a I don't like throwing drinks of
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: any kind at kids. For me, I always tell the
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: you know, the guys on my show, like, hey, work
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: the kids, you know, get them fired up, get them
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: to love you, get them to hate you, because that's
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: what hooks the parents as well. But there are lines
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: you don't want to cross. But it goes for the
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: fans as well, Like there are lines that you know,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: you don't want to say things to a wrestler that
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: you wouldn't say to a stranger in the streets, you know,
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: in a sense, like you don't want to call it
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: their sexuality or their race or the things like that,
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: which thirty years ago, thirty forty years ago, was perfectly
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: fine to do at a wrestling show. But now it's like,
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: you you got to watch that line a little bit.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: But it goes both ways, like there are ways of
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: getting you know, heats without crossing that line, but sometimes
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: in the heat of the moment, you just react and
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: it's almost there's a second nature to it because it's
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: ingrained into your memory the stuff that those dastardly heels
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: did back in the seventies, eighties and even the early nineties.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: See, it's so funny that you bring this up, because
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: here we are, and the lead story I wanted to
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: discuss here this week was w wei's decision to do
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: fewer house shows. So TKO president Mark Shapiro came out
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: during a recent conversation YEA with Goldman Sachs for a
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: conference they were holding in regards to the plan to
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: do less house shows for World Wrestling Entertainment. He said,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: quote the w brand. While we still have to grow it,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: it's on fire right now. We don't need to carry
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: these marginally profitable events. What was three hundred last year
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: will be roughly two hundred and fifty this year, and
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: next year will be close to two hundred. So in
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty five they will have two hundred live events.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Those include the television shows that he's talking about. So
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: fifty two weeks in the year, you know you've got Raw, SmackDown, NXT.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Now it's going to be less house shows on Saturday, Sundays, Fridays, Mondays.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: I don't even know if they do the Friday and
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Mondays swing anymore. They used to do like one crew
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: would do TV on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. I felt
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: like sometimes they used to run house shows against opposite
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: against Raw. I think that they're down nowadays just to
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Saturday and Sundays and the house shows. To me, I'm
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: very torn in this doctory because one, I love that
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the wrestlers are going to be getting more of a
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: break to be home spend time with their families, because
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: you really hate to hear those stories where you know
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: they were on the road three hundred and fifty days
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: a year, barely saw their families. Like anytime I watch
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: an A and e Wa biography, it's that like I
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: was home once or twice a month to see my
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: kids growing up. Like that's extremely hard on a family.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: And most of the time, families don't last long. Most
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: of the time, marriages don't last long. And most of
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: the time, unfortunately, there is some sort of substance abuse
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: issue or personal issue that's going on that makes the
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: situation situation even worse. Keeping those guys on the road
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: because they become creatures of habit creaches of the road,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: and the road can do adasctively things to you as
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: time goes on. But the wrestling fan of me is
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: kind of upset about this because and I don't do
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: house shows anymore, so it's kind of hypocritical for me
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: to say this. But if you're a family and you
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: can't get to a raw, you can't get to a
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: smack down, you can't get to an NXT, and you're
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: because the closest arena where they do television is two
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: hours away. But they're gonna come to a very small
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: arena near you that fits you know, a couple thousand,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: and you get to see that means the world to
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: a lot of those people. And it's these interactions that
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: you're talking about. And then I used to love seeing
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: seeing the interactions that would take place off of television
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: that you normally don't see in television. You've seen Cody
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Roads bring a lot of fans into the ring nowadays
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: and they mimic his the part in this theme song
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: where the arms go back, everybody goes oh, and everybody
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: loses their mind. You have very funny moments where there's
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: these funny interactions. A lot of videos of Rhea Ripley
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: with fans at ringside filming and how much fun she
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: plays with all of them. You lose that stuff as
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: time goes on and you're not gonna have that anymore.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: So it's a very interesting thing here, doctor Trey, because
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: longtime wrestling fans like you and I know how much
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: househo shows and how show loops are important to professional wrestling.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: You find you in the craft. You come to a
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: smaller town and you get to get a little bit
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: closer to the fan base than you normally would if
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: there was a television taping. But we're also in a
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: new age of professional wrestling thanks to AAW where AW
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: T and A even is just solely a television company
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: at this point. They don't tour, they don't do house shows,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: they don't do loops, they don't go overseas to do
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: house shows tours, and that is very appealing to a
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: lot of these wrestlers nowadays because they work their asses
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: off every weekend on an independent scene to get to
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: these big wrestling promotions, and then this is their full
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: time job and they want to be home with family.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: So I'm really torn on this, and we're going to
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: dig a little bit deeper into this, but here you've
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: got TKO president of Mark Shapiro saying about this and
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: their desire of cutting it down from three hundred to
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: two fifty this year to two hundred next year. Where
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: do you stand on this entire thing as a wrestling
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: fan and as someone who obviously wants to keep in
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: mind the health of the professional wrestlers as well.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, as a wrestling fan, it is sad because
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: I mean, you live in certain areas and you're not
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: going to get a raw or SmackDown come to your ara.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: I know, like when I lived in Oklahoma as a kid,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: like we didn't get many Like you got to go
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: to Oklahoma City, which is like an hour and a
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: half drive, and if your your parents work and they
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: don't go for work till five o'clock and the show
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: starts at like seven, and it's like you can't make it.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: So getting the house shows was the thing to do.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: And you know, some of.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: My best, you know, my favorite memories even as a
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: young adults, were from house shows. Like I remember as
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: a teenager getting on Ken Shamrock when he was a
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: babyface and me making fun of him having zero personality,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: and it was just ironic that it was a short
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: time after that that he turned heel. I remember going
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: to a TNA show in Fayetville, North Carolina and getting
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: and watching Tyson tom Coo interact with the fans during
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: a match with Samoa Joe, and some of that stuff
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: is just funny as hell. And then you know, there's
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: some great videos of stuff of just some funny moments
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: that guys do at house shows on the loops just
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: to keep themselves entertained.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: Like that that.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Part of what of wrestling is what really drives it
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: home to fans and makes some lifelong fans. But you know,
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: as somebody who's worked in the independent scene and somebody
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: who you know runs business, you know, is ran businesses
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: and managing businesses, I get the other side. Do you
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: want to keep your performers healthy? Less house shows keeps
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: them healthier and more able to performm you know, on TV,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: you're not losing them for months on end to injuries
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: because you're cutting down the war it's air on their body.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: And as a business I get it, like if I'm
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: going to and I hate saying using this town is
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: my go to but it's just a funny name. But
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: if I'm going to Paducah, Kentucky for a house show
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: and we're only going to make like a five thousand
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: dollars profit, is it really worthwhile to go to Paducah,
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: you know, and just saving those resources and using that
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: for you know, other areas of marketing, branding, merchandise, TV,
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: you know, putting those assets to use in other areas.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: So it's a double edged sword because you know, from
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: a fan point, it sucks because it's you're losing those opportunities.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: But from a business I totally get it as well.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Dave Meltzer from The Wrestling Reserver Radio said the following
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: in regards to the house shows, This comes to us
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: from Wrestling Ink as well, saying, quote, the house show
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: business is marginally profitable, but they're looking at it profit margins,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: and the profit margin of USC is forty percent. Meltz explained,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: if you cut out the expenses of house shows, it
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: takes the percentage down even though the profits are higher.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: He said, you could really make an argument when the
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: money comes from television, it makes no sense to around
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: house shows because you're risking the health of the talent.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Melzer continued, note and then being booked on house shows
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: is now seen as a good thing as opposed to
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: the old days when it was necessary part of the
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: schedule end quote. So a lot of changes in professional wrestling,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: doctor trade. This is the evolution of professional wrestling. I mean,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: how often do we see a story of a major
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: injury that takes places takes place on a house show?
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Most recently from the NXC standpoint of record, Jade toward
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: her acl again on a house show. I always think
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: of Seth Rohalms blowing out his knee on a European tour,
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: which mind you will continue and then Soreya slash page.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Her career ended at a house show shortly after Christmas time,
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: I believe in like Long Island, New York, during an
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: attack team match, and she never wrestled in the we
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: again and obviously wrestled in aaw but that took place
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: on a house show. Would those bumps with those bruises
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: where those injuries have taken place on television? Possibly one
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: will ever know if there was already wear and tear
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: taking place, But there are these higher risks of injuries
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: taking place on non televised events rather than those that
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: take place on televised events. I guess if there is
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: a silver lining to it, so, I mean, w is
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: doing really good business right now. They don't need to
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: be running house shows. As much as it sucks to
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: see that, the house show business is potentially changing for
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: the good stuff that you tend to see from time
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: to time on the house shows and the loops and
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: going into talents that you may not to may not
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: be able to doctor trey. I think the final end
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: result in this entire thing, from my standpoint is, in
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: the long run, this is a good thing. For WA.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: It's a good thing for the health of the talent,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: both physically and mentally. And more importantly, this evens the
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: playing field with AW. If you're a wrestler who is
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: a veteran who doesn't want to do the house show
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: loop anymore and you want to just do televisions, you
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: don't have to go to AW. You can just stick
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: with W now and potentially make better money than you
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: would in AAW. So I think this is the right
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: move for AW, or excuse me for WE ultimately, because
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: now again the competitive field is being leveled with the
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: things that make AW stand out more than W would
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: if I was a free agent professional wrestling.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: And we've seen it. It's in sports as well. I
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: mean in baseball, the spring training, you know, you're not
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: seeing those guys out there as much as you did
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: in the eighties and nineties.
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: In the NBA is kind of the same thing. I mean,
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: look at the NFL.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: The NFL not only cut one preseason game completely, but
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: you watch a preseason game and you're definitely not seeing
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers, You're not seeing Patrick Mahomes. And if you
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: do this for about three minutes, because they don't want
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: to risk the chance of injury in something that doesn't
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: really mean anything to the product.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: As a whole.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: I mean I saw an interview with beyond Or with
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: Jay Cargills talking about how the travel schedule in WWE
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: is so much more difficult than AW. Well, yeah, they
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: didn't really have to travel schedule at AW. Uh and
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: this one's not as bad currently as it was just
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: a couple of years ago. So it does level the
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: playing field, it does equal things out. And you know
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: you've heard t KO and even Triple h and and
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: Nick con mentioned that there going. This is a television product,
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: So why risk the health of your talent on non
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: televised events if your business is being a television product.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, you don't see the guys from you know,
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: The Walking Dead out there trying to kill zombies during
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: you know, Halloween season in Universal Studios, so you know.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: They're not practicing that.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: So just if you're a television product, do a television
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: product and you know, cut back down. But I still
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: do think you need some ring time and live audience
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: feel to hone your craft. But you can definitely scale
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: it back and make it fit your product.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: Uh, you know, product as a whole.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: Do you think these last things here Doctor trying to Starling.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Do you think these changes would have been made if
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: the aw's business model didn't reflect no house shows and
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: just being a television product.
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: I think it would have eventually, just because eventually events.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Would have died, so yes, or screwed everything up.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I think that the merger.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: I mean, UFC is not running house show loops, and
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: it's one of those things where like our products, the
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: products are very similar. UFC is a pay per view
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: event driven product with some television ww's Intellvision product with
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: some pay.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: Per view, but you don't need the house loop stuff.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: And if your main competitor and even your secondary competitor TNA, aren't.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: Running these house show loops like you are, then it does.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Put you at a strategic disadvantage when you're going to
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: cultivate new talent to bring them in.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: If you can scale it back and say, look, you
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: know your.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: Young kid, sign with us, You've got n next, you'll
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: do so a little bit of touring in Florida main
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: roster a little bit, but not nearly to the levels
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: of what it was before. It is more inviting, but
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: it may make sense for a business model to adapt
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: the new format that everybody else has been going to.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Switching gears here, Doctor Trey. It's it's a little over
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: two months out, but it's one of my favorite things
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: to look at over the last several years because I
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: find the booking of this entire thing to be very
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: interesting and strategic for WWE, and I think you're starting
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: to see the direction potentially of where things may be
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: going for this match, but obviously they're hyping up a
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: lot right now. Tickets went on sale, I believe, last
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: week over in Vancouver for We Survivor series of Wargames
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: and the Wargames matches historically, each year they've had a
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: men's match, they've had a women's match. And as I
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: was watching Raw this past Monday night and I saw
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Damian pre skinning attacked by the judgment day jay Uso
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: making the save, some interactions with Ilia Dragonoff, it got
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: me starting to think, like, what is the early nod
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: right now for the Wargames matches this November. Going back
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: even a couple months ago, I was talking about the
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: direction of the Solo Socoa new bloodline Roman Reign's return,
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: and I felt like you could do a new blood
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Line versus old blood Line taking place at Sarava series
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: war Games, and I think that is still obviously an option.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I think it comes down to the blood lines again,
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: the bloodline storyline and the Judgment Day storyline. I could
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: see a men's situation where again you've got New blood
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Line two point zero blood line. God, I just shivered
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: a little bit thinking about NXC two point zero and
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: then the og blood line with Roman Jimmy Sammy Zay
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: jay Uso taking on the Jacob Fatu, Tangaloa Tamatunga and
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Solosakoa in a War Games match. I think that is
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: potentially the most concrete option that's out there, and I
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: think would get the fans very, very excited. The second
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: one is the Judgment Day of JD McDonough, Dirty Dumb,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Finn Balor Carlito taking on like team Damien Priest, which
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I could see it being Damian Elie dragonoff jay Uso,
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: and maybe one more so from the men's standpoint out
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: to Trey and I don't think it's too early it
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: ever to take a look and go, Okay, what is
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: the direction they're going right now with these War Games matches?
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: What is your early feelings and vibes, because I think
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: we're going to start to see that build take place
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: a little bit the way that w WWE has been
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: doing their creative booking on how at least the Men's
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Wargames match will look in late November.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: I still lean towards the Bloodline matchup, just because I
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: think it's a bigger draw and a bigger attraction, and
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: if that's what you want to make an event with,
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: it makes a lot of sense. I don't know how
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: we start moving some of these parts around because we
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: have Sammy challenging Gunther for the world title, you have
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: Jay and and you know just challenging for the intern
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: Continental title. You know, do Jimmy's not back on TV,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: we haven't seen Paul Hayman yet, and it's two months out,
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: So like, do we start moving that thing here in
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: the next few weeks after bash It or not? What's
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: the next what's the next event? I forgotry for the name.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Of it, the next event for.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Bad Blood Bad Blood? Like, do we start moving it
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: immediately after Bad Blood? Or Hey, do we take one
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: of these these og Bloodline members that you know are
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: on Raw and do we slide a Cody into their spot,
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: you know, because we're seeing Cody and Roman team up
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: at Bad Blood. But I think, you know, with the
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: Steel Kh stuff a couple of weeks ago and everything else,
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: I think that kind of is your precursor for where
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: it goes. Judgment Day is not a bad backup plan.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: But to me right now, like it still feels like,
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: you know, Rhea and Live and Finn and Damien and
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: the rest of the guys are in it too, but
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: just not you know, Dom's involved. But that's kind of
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: a weird love triangle. If you throw Jimmy into it,
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: then you got that. But I just Illia to a degree.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: I just don't feel it's as stable a situation as
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: what you can do with you know, Bloodline, og, Bloodline
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: two point zero, whatever you want to call it, New Bloodline,
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: Old blood Line, Bad Blood.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: What was the other thing, new Blood Rising.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: And the.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Brood?
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: What was it? What was it? The w CW I
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: know is there's New Blood Rising? Was a papery? Was
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: it just the new Blood? Yes, it was the new
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: Blood and the Million Dollars Club or whatever the hell
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: it was with the Magnificent Seven, I think it was
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: as well. That was great ww got a leve old WSW.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: What about the women's match Dot Trey. I mean there's
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of different things out there right now. I
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: could see something with like Team Rea versus Team Live.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: I think that is the most likely scenario. Maybe you
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: see something with Team Naya versus Team Bailey over in
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: War Games. Uh, could you see something with the what
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: is it Pure Fusion collective with Sonya Deville, Shannon Basler
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: and Zoe Star teaming with somebody or adding somebody to
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: take on maybe damage Control? Uh? Do you put Bianca
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: and Jade Cargill in that match? Maybe they join up
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: with Team Rhea. What do you think is the direction
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: right now for women's match for War Games?
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting because you're having the loser leaves SmackDown match,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: you know Friday, you know Friday on SmackDown, So you know,
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: does does one of those women between Bailey, Naomi, Nia,
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: and Tiffany get moved over to Raw and I.
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: Fa'st the case is that?
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Then?
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: Do a Team Rea versus Team Live type situation? I mean,
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: if you did Team Ria and you did Ria, Bianca, Jade,
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: and you know one other random person, let's say Natalia,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: you know, just because for old time sake, and then
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: you got Team Live but with Alba Fire and Isla
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Don and then you know, Sonya Deville. You know, then
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: then there you go. You could do something like that.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: I think the raw women's division seems to be deeper
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: right now than the SmackDown side, especially if you move
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: one of those four ladies over from SmackDown to Raw.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: So I think it will be some kind of conglomeration.
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: And not the AW group. Yes, amalgamy, heir, there you go.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: I'll go with amalgamy, some kind of amalgam of raw
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: women in that Survivor Series match.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: It's one of my favorite things to predict right now
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: because I think in mid September, definitely October time, you
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: could start to see the direction of everything and then
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: there's some lead dogs, some lead horses, and I think
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: it's a really important match. I think it's really cool
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: to see, of all things, a WSW type match or
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: you know, WSW developed match has a huge standing at
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: a major big four WE pay per view, and I
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: think it does. It's it's probably, you know, the last
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: thing you look forward to before the road to WrestleMania begins.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Doctor Trey and I think it's a really nice way
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: from the WE calendar side of things to really close
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: things out and end the year on a high note
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: because that match has been and that pay per view
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: has been a lot of fun the last couple of
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: years that they switch from or added war games to
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: the Survivor series.
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I just wish they'd bring the top back to
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: the cage.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Agreed, one hundred percent agree. But how the hell's e
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: got to jump off with a garbage can on her?
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but then if you throw a bron breaker into
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: the match, you get the throwback to win either Doctor
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Death or the Roadwars. Did the military press of a
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: guy into the top.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: Of the cage?
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Isn't that how JJ Dillon like broke his collar bone?
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah? I think so.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he did. He do a doomsday device
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: off the top of and they like there's no room.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Was it a doomsday device?
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: It was something like that where like the Roadwarers hit
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: it and they couldn't get the flip.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Right because he just basically landed on his arm right.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: On his shoulder, neck and collar bone.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I remember that one. JJ Dillon always seems
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: to talk about that when it comes to war games,
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: switching gears to AW Doctor Trey. There is a lot
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: of concern. We've discussed this and I'm starting to see
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: it on social media a lot. More is the attendance
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: woes for AW television is not great. They did a
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: show in Kentucky recently at the Rapperino where the University
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Kentucky Wildcats played basketball. Well, I believe that it is
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: like a between a sixteen to eighteen thousand seed arena,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: and they only had two thousand people the most recent
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: collision that they taped, I mean they barely had like
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: anyone there. I mean it was awful. It was not
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: a good look at all. And that is something that
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: we tend to see more often lately when it comes
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: to attendance for television shows. For all the wrestling, we
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: say this every week. I feel like Dynamite is a
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: musty show. I think you can do without rampage, you
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: can do without collision. That is stuff that you're also
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: seeing play out in viewership and it does not bode
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: well for attendance. For going back to our initial story
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: to kick off the show here, if you're just a
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: solely television product, you need to pack the house pretty
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: damn well. And there's some videos recently where I saw him.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: We're coming up on the a five year anniversary of Dynamite,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: and I was looking at those early years of AW
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Dynamite and the place was absolutely packed to the rafters legitimately,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: and it was like a really welcome sight to see.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: We've been critical of all the wrestling when needed, because
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: there's times that the creative is not very good, the
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: booking has not been very good, but we also praise
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: them when the match has been very good. The booking
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: has been very good and they've done a good job.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: And I feel like for the most part this year,
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: AW has had a really good swing since like Revolution
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: in March to now to present time, but for whatever reason,
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: it's not panning out well on the television the ticket sales,
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: and that's very concerning Doctor Trey. They're going to be
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: a Grand Slam, which we're going to talk about here
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: in just a few minutes as well next week this
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: upcoming Wednesday for their annual show at Arthur Ashey Stadium
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: in New York City, and that show originally had between
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: like sixteen to eighteen thousand people on the initial show,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: and I think as time went on, it dwindled a
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: little bit, but it was still in a very high range.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: I think at one time it was the highest. It
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: was like the most people that attended a dynamite And
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: I think that record may have been broken by I
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: want to say the United Center in Chicago. I think
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Rampage when Punk came back. Oddly enough, that was the
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: record I believe for a live event television show for AW.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: With that said, Doctor Trey, the noticeable attendance issues is concerning.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Do are you concerned? Are you seeing these photos? And
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: what does AW need to do to fix this outside
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: of just better creative I.
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: Mean, obviously it's concerning.
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: Like when you see pictures of a fifteen thousand seed
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: arena and half the arena's tarped off or blacked out
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: or whatever you want to call it, and you've only
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: got two to three thousand people in the building, it
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: not only is bad for business, but it's bad for morale. Like,
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: you know, these guys go out there and bust their
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: ass and they're putting their bodies in the line, and
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: they look out into the arena and three cores in
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: the arena's empty.
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: It's gonna kind of you know, give you a little
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: shock to the system.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: For me creative wise, when you look at AW, I
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: just kind of go back to the old adage we've
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: brought in the show. Who's your hot attraction, who's your
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: guy that is driving viewership? Who's your must see person,
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Who's the guy that you go man, I have to
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: see what this person does. And one of the issues
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: I've had with AW over the years is when somebody
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: kind of gets hot and you feel like they're really
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: pushing them boom all of a sudden, they're not on
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: TV for a little bit and they're kind of shooting
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: themselves into the foot in a sense. Like I did
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: not watch Dynamite last night, so I don't know what
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: happened on the show. But did we have Swerve on
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: the show? Did we have Adam Page? Do we have
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: any of the stuff that has really grabbed our attention?
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: Was theready Full Ryan Danilson not on the I don't
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: think it was on the show last night, Like it's
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: The Osprey Show right now, which he's the hot guy.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: But when swer was hot, then you take the belts
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: off him.
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: He's not on TV. Hang Man, was hot? Not on TV?
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: When you find that hot hand.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: You kind of have to ride that horse into the
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: ground until the next one comes up. And you know,
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: we saw that during every great boom of professional wrestling
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: in WWF, it was whoever got hot, they rode that
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: guy into the ground until the next guy was ready
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: to take up. There's always been transitions set up for that.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: I just don't think aw's ever kind of figured that
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: out so far.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of things that I mean, I
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: watched Rampage and Collision for this podcast, so I can
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: stay up on it, and you know, there's there's parts
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: of it that are entertaining, Like I have been watching
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: Collision last this entire time. I've never missed a Collision episode,
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: and over the summer, I felt like the outrunners are
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: really starting to get a lot of momentum, and now
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: you're seeing that play out on AW television. The fans
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: are behind them. I think they're one of the best
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: sellers merchandise wise and AW and it's like, that's really
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: cool to see. And I don't think they would have
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: had that opportunity if it was you know, just they
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: were if they weren't on, if there was just Dynamite
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: or Rampage, So to see them get that opportunities is
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: really cool and that's how like the acclaim started to
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: get bigger as time went on, and you've seen that
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: with other aw wrestlers. But Collision is like extremely it's
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: gotten very unwatchable. It was it was not a solid show.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: There are things that are bright spots, but it is
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: missing a lot of what I would say like the
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: a talent in a sense like FTR is there. There's
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: a lot of obvious talented wrestlers, but you don't have
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: the full gambit of people that you want to pay
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: a ticket to see. And that was kind of what
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: the original premise of Collision was. This is gonna be
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: opportunity to see guys and girls that you typically don't
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: see often. Scorpio, Sky, Miro, you know, people that were
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: off television for a while. They are could be featured
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: on just solely Collision, and that just has not happened.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: And that's concerning, you know the fact that there is
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: going back to that, like where is Scorpio's guy? Where
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: is Miro? I mentioned on the last week's show, where
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: is Wardlow? Like where where are the Where's Keith Lee?
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: Where are these people who have been off television for
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: months and months and months, and why does an AW
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: give some sort of injury update or a timeline of
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: when they will be back or what's going on with them.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: Ricky Starks is another, and that's just issues with with
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: all lead wrestling creative in general. It's just it's a
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: week show. It needs some some bump to it. That's
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: where I would start, is you know it. And that's
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: another thing that will bleed into this is is the
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: AW Warner Brothers Discovery deal, according to reports, is basically
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: a foregone conclusion for being complete. It's got to come back.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Collision will remain, Dynamite will remain. The one thing that
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: may be gone is actually Rampa, and there's rumors that
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: they're going to have a show called Shockwave that'll be
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: airing on FS one and which I guess will be
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: another form of Rampage. The thing is, if I wasn't
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: doing a podcast, I would probably just watch Dynamite and
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: I probably would just check out Collision and Rampage on
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: YouTube or highlights or read about them or social media
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: ware to get caught up on it and get that
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: time back. It's it's concerning from that standpoint. So you
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: got to make those show shows more creatively appealing. And
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: you can't just throw these matches together all the time
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: and hope that someone's going to tune and want to
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: check out Mark Brisco ticket on the Beast Mortos for
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: no freaking reason. The second thing is I think AW
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: needs to start looking at smaller venues to do their shows.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Wwe just did this recently with their debut in Saint
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: Louis where with NXT where they had a bigger arena
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: I believe it's called the Enterprise Arena. This ticket sales
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: weren't going well, so now they're gonna be going to
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: a smaller venue called the Factory. You got to start
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: doing that with a to begin with. And yeah, I
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: just think that they need to start making these shows
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: more appealing overall and aesthetically appealing as well. I've noticed
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: on these shows Doctor Trey that it's it's kind of
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: echoey in a way. There's there's you can tell there's
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: not a lot of crowd noise. That's concerning the last
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: thing I'll say, which is a little off topic here,
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: going back to the YouTube stuff. To check out AW
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: and YouTube, I'll check out the WA numbers for their
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: videos and their numbers get anywhere between like one hundred
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: thousand viewers to five hundred thousand viewers. The AAW stuff
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: ranges between like twenty thousand and eighty thousand viewers on YouTube.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: I'm really starting to wonder if you know, AW will
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: be a really nice solid number two, will never really
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: truly compete with w They'll push W but they'll never
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: truly compete with WAE. But as a company is if
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: they start to not improve more, I think more people
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: are gonna abandon ship here and watching AW, especially if
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: WWE's doing a better job.
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the thing with AAW and this has
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: been kind of the same. The sentiment I've been echoing
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: for years is they're a really cool niche product, but
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: they've never really done anything to broaden their appeal. And
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: it's a little bit like you watch one AW match,
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: you watch five eight dimensions, they all kind of have
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: the same formula to them. They're all kind of very similar.
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: The guys are all kind of the same size, Like
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: there's nothing really stands out.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: And that's why when you see somebody.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: Like the Outrunners catch fire, why they're different from everything else.
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: When Dan Hausen was getting his little bit of a push.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: He was different from everything else. The acclaimed we're different
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: from everything else on the show Bang Banggang. When they
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: got hot for a little bit, they were different from
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: everything else in the show. That's what catches people's attention,
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: is like, if everybody looks the same and it's built
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: the same and wrestles the same, I'm going to pay
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: attention to stuff that's different. And that's one thing about
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: WWE that they've always had that smorgus board of wrestling.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: They got a little bit of comedy, a little bit
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: of drama. You got your giants, you got your high flyers, you.
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: Got your tags.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: Like they've had a little bit of everything, where AW
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: kind of has their own little formula, but it doesn't
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: appeal to mass culture so far. And that's the one
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: thing I think they've always kind of missed out on
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: is as much as they try to be different from WWE,
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: the thing that makes WWE great is their mass appeal,
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: and I think Aw's always kind of missed out on it,
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: which also goes back to when somebody gets hot, I
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: got to market this guy. I got to get him
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: out there on everything I can possibly get him out on.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: To get people to tune into our product, and then
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: they tune in to C MJF and they go, Oh,
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: this Osprey guy's fantastic. I want to see more of
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: him as well. Oh I also like this guy. Oh,
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: I also like these guys. That's how you grow your base.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: And I don't think AAW has really done anything in
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: five years to grow their base audience, where WW is
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: always looking to expand their base and grow it in
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: different markets in different ways.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: There was a quote from a interview with Q T.
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: Marshall and it was something like he said, I wish
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: our fans had like friends to tell their friends to
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: watch the show, which was like a very interesting line
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: to me, but he was basically saying like these are
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: just die hard too. This is their niche product, and
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: they wish their fans had friends to say like, hey,
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: check this out, which I thought was bizarre, but yeah,
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: I mean it's it's noticeable. It's really noticeable. The attendance
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: was from AAW and I don't know, I really really
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: really want the company to do well, and I think
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: anytime we have these conver stations, people call us out
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: for saying like that we're not fans of AW and
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: that is far from the truth. I literally have never
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: missed a dynamite, rampage or collision in the entire existence
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: of AAW. I wanted to succeed, I wanted to improve
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: it as push professional wrestling to be better. It's push
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: we to be better, and I want them to be better.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: But they can't keep running out these shows where like
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: collision and rampage are just complete throwaway shows because the
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: attendance is now suffering from it. It's extremely noticeable when
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: you watch and listen at home on a Saturday night
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: or on a Friday night, or even with some of
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: the dynamites as well. So hopefully AW turns it around.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: They're not going anywhere. They're reportedly staying with Warner Bros's Discovery,
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: which is a good thing. They will be featured on TNT, TBS,
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: True TV, according to reports. That deal has not yet
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: been announced, but they're gonna be making hundreds of millions
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: of dollars to remain again, so obviously TNT, Warner brother
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: Discovery likes what they see from AAW and hopefully they
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: use this opportunity to continue and be a substantial player
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: in the world professional wrestling. With that said Doctor Trey.
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: AW Grand Slam is this Wednesday, and right now it
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: is a very very stacked card. You've got John Moxley
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: taken on Darby Allen, You've got the Young Bucks taken
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: on Will Ospring, Kyle Fletcher, you potentially have Brian Danielson
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: taken on Nigel McGinnis. How much is riding on the
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: line for this upcoming Wednesday's episode of Dynamite AW Grand
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: Slam for it to be a success. AW is going
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: out there, guns are blazing. They're gonna have back to
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: back weeks with some big shows. You've got the Grand
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: Slam this week. In two weeks will be the five
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: year Anniversary that is already gonna be headliner. Or they're
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: gonna have Ricochet versus Will Osprey for the International Championship
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: taking place on that show. And then I think there's
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: Title Tuesday in a couple of weeks when they go
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: head ahead with NXT with the MLB Playoffs taking place.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: But looking at on the short term right now, how
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: much is on the line for Aw's Grand Slam event
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: to be success this Wednesday.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: I think it needs to be an attendance success. Like
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: I'm hoping they draw really, really well. As far as
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: the show itself, I don't think as much as writing
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: on these shows in the next couple weeks as far
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: as television wise and what we see, as much as
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: it is the promotion aspect of it. Like, you want
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: to make sure that you're drawing some viewers in, you
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: want to make sure you're drawing your attendance in. But
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: the other thing is like, when you're running these special
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: shows so frequently, you lose the specialness factor. It's a
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: little bit like a Tony con special announcement or a
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: major announcement. Well, if you do want every couple of weeks,
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: then you start losing that factor of how special is
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: it or how meaningful is it? You know, some of
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: these matches I look at, I'm like, man, why aren't
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: you saving this for a poe to draw people into
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: buy this instead of giving it away for free? You know,
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: the wrestling is going to be great. If aw Never
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: sucks at wrestling, they're good at that. Their issue is
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: can I get the butts in the seats and can
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: I get the butts to watch on TV? And I'm
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: hoping that the promotion gets that part in. So as
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: long as that part successful, the wrestling takes care of itself.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's an interesting time for AW. It's it's
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: so much it's it's like it's up, it's down, it's up,
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: it's down. As the product itself, it has stayed very,
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: very constant, but it's the business side of it that's
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: getting very noticeable. Doctor Try. That is is concerning for
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: me as a fan because you know, if if business dwindles,
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: how will this affect aw's bottom line. Will they be
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: able to keep the surplus going with the television deal
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: and keep the wrestlers that we like under contract. It's interesting,
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: it's five years is coming up here, And do you
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: think we've identified what the identity of AW is at
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: this point?
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, I gotta say earlier like they
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: are a like a new era super indie show. Like
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: I think that's what they are, and I think they're
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: I think for a lot of those guys, that's they're
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: fine with that.
• 45:08
  Speaker 4: That's what they know. That's what they kind of.
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: Grew up in this business doing, was the super indie shows.
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: But you know, if you're running an event in Arthur
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: ash Stadium, you know what's around Arthur ash Stadium. A
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: whole bunch of media and why aren't these guys, Why
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: aren't you getting these guys on Good Morning America? Why
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: aren't you getting these guys on ESPN?
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: Why aren't you.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: Getting those guys out there to promote your show to
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: make people tune in to watch. And that's the issue
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: I think they have with AW is that they're they're
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: they're They're branding is centered on those diehard fans and not,
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: you know, the the younger generation that WW is drawing.
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: In interesting discussions this week as the business model professional
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: wrestling continues to evolve and change and has to be
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: picked apart a little bit here and there, whether it's
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: changes in the business model of World Wrestling Entertainment or
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: potential chains that need to take place in the business
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: model of all Elite wrestling. It is an intriguing time
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: for professional wrestling. It's a very successful time for professional wrestling,
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: but we wanted to see it remain successful. For that
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: to happen, changes definitely need to be made with both companies,
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I think
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of things that we and AW could
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: be doing right now to make things better. And you
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: make a case that house show business going away is
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: better for we and maybe looking at some smaller venues
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: and getting some more constant, consistent creative is one that
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: will really benefit all elite wrestling so interesting times indeed
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: for the world that we love known as wrestling Doctor Trey.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: With that said, let's get a couple plugs and sponsors
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: out of the way. You could download the show every
• 46:45
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• 46:47
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• 46:50
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• 46:52
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• 46:54
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• 46:57
  Speaker 2: Franklin at The Doctor Trey. And of course don't forget
• 46:59
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• 47:02
  Speaker 2: being said, what's going on the one for world of
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: Doctor Franklin this week?
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: Well, like Jeff said, you can follow me on X
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: at The Doctor Trey. You can find me on Facebook
• 47:10
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• 47:14
  Speaker 3: out rock a City Championship Wrestling. We got a big
• 47:16
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• 47:20
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• 47:22
  Speaker 3: gas in Alabama, so be sure check them out. And
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: then the newest show that I'm a part of, game
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: Time Wrestling and Warrior Alabama. Jeff, I got to cut
• 47:32
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• 47:36
  Speaker 3: to actually be in front of the camera talking smack trying.
• 47:39
  Speaker 4: To drop people in.
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: But check those guys out on Facebook, game Time Championship
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• 47:44
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• 47:46
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• 47:48
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• 47:53
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• 47:57
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• 47:59
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• 48:01
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• 48:04
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