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Re: The Wrestling thread
There have been rumors that Vince might sell the WWE.
Who in the hell would buy it?!?
I don't know how much it's worth but I know one thing....
It's overvalued.
It has several things going against it...
Very few people watch it
I don't know the current statistics but a couple years ago I read that more people watch the old stuff on their network than watch the current product
It's not even a wart on the ass of pop culture. Nobody cares. I know WrestleMania is still pushed as a big event but it flies under the radar regardless of where it takes place.
I don't think pro wrestling has much of a future. It's been on borrowed time since the death of kayfabe.
i have vague memories of the AWA.
Out of all those old feds, I watched AWA the least. From 85 to around early 86... maybe not even that long.
The AWA was a chore to get through. Mediocre roster, pure shit production values, terrible announcers at that point, and the only program they had on TV was the 60 minute show on ESPN.
Unfortunately.... for a brief period....it was must see TV. Why? The Road Warriors were the AWA World Tag Team champs. To see them, had to tune in to AWA and/or read the magazines.
When the Warriors decided to bail, they had them lose in a shocking upset to the thrown together team of Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal (No, not THAT Steve Regal). This made waves...until everyone realized there was no longer a reason to watch it.
Around this same time, Rick Martel was their world champ. He got a lot of coverage in the magazines. For some reason, they had him lose the belt to Stan Hansen of all people. Nobody cared, including Hansen. He essentially shit on the belt. Argued over money, ran over the belt with his truck, and bailed out. I think they had to do a phantom title switch and give it to Bockwinkel...an even worse move. An old man holding your main belt.
It was over at that point. The other feds(WWF, NWA, World Class) left them in the dust.
One of these days I should rewatch 1985 AWA.
Re: The Wrestling thread
There have been rumors that Vince might sell the WWE.
Who in the hell would buy it?!?
I don't know how much it's worth but I know one thing....
It's overvalued.
It has several things going against it...
Very few people watch it
While less and less people might watch WWE than ever, they're making more and more money. They're making more than a 1/4 of a billion quartley during a pandemic with less viewers, empty buildings and bad vanity projects to blow cash on ect. They get like 50 million or something just for promoting Saudia Arabia as a family friendly place. A billion year each from diff us tv deals for raw and smackdown and they're shifting the wwe network to.nbc's peacock (thanks to a better deal).
US capitalism is keeping Vince-ism alive regardess of all the fans old/young bailing.
The company is worth a fortune. There's a chance nbc might buy it once the fox deal is up. Disney also might have interest when it comes.
As for wrestling dying? I also disagree. AEW is making a fortune from just being a start up a few years ago. Prior to covid indie wrestling was booming and in Japan njpw were running multiple domes/stadiums like the 90s again.
ROH is backed by sinclair, impact by anthem.
Only wwe was on the decline prior to the pademic (and the absurd record breaking cash negated everything else).
Re: The Wrestling thread
Yeah, Atari is right, it's this weird thing where WWE is at its worse but it's making tons of money. He made a deal with NBC for the WWE Network and his library for their streaming service for a boatload of cash. It would be a UFC type of sell where his family would probably still run the company... So the same shit show.
If AEW got their act together with a solid booking/writing crew, a creative guy like Paul Heyman, they could make some real waves.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Yeah, Atari is right, it's this weird thing where WWE is at its worse but it's making tons of money. He made a deal with NBC for the WWE Network and his library for their streaming service for a boatload of cash. It would be a UFC type of sell where his family would probably still run the company... So the same shit show.
If AEW got their act together with a solid booking/writing crew, a creative guy like Paul Heyman, they could make some real waves.
It certainly is a weird thing...capitalism can be a weird thing. WWE is unwatchable.
Re: The Wrestling thread
That's my point...well part of it.
New/modern wrestling isn't viable. Old school wrestling is their gravy train.
Majority of old school fans have to be in the 40 and up range. What happens in 10-15 years when a hefty portion of this audience is dead?
The music and concert industry is going to be hitting a similar brick wall in the same time frame. The world will soon be running out of old fans and legacy acts who keep the machine going.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Btw here’s a short list of AWA guys:
Mr Perfect Curt HennigLOD
The only people on your list as they entered 85.
Vince poached their roster in 83-84.
Verne didn't know what to do with all that talent anyways. Had Vince not poached them, they would've fled to the NWA.
Little known fact rarely talked about.....
Hulk Hogan was on the original Starrcade 83 card. Was going to be in a tag team match in the midcard. Just a one off. Something fucked the timing up(Japan commitments?) so it didn't happen. Before the next Starrcade can happen, he's in the WWF and is champ.
It could've changed the course of wrestling.
Edit
Will never cease to amaze me that Verne had Hogan as his top face chasing an old man(Bockwinkel) for the title and Verne refused to give him a run with the title.
Pure stupidity.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Yeah Pro Wrestling is more or less a niche "sport" now. It's not mainstream anymore despite what Vince thinks. As far them selling, I think at some point after Vince dies that might be more realistic.
With them making more money than ever, the motivation to put on interesting shows/characters for WWE is out the window.
OTOH, I often wonder if/when FOX and USA Network will just more or less dump them. Their shows are doing awful ratings. Raw rarely draws 2 million viewers and Smackdown barely gets 3 million viewers weekly.
Oh, the times may change but Vince is still a slimeball promoter/carny.
Re: The Wrestling thread
Yeah Pro Wrestling is more or less a niche "sport" now. It's not mainstream anymore despite what Vince thinks. As far them selling, I think at some point after Vince dies that might be more realistic.
With them making more money than ever, the motivation to put on interesting shows/characters for WWE is out the window.
OTOH, I often wonder if/when FOX and USA Network will just more or less dump them. Their shows are doing awful ratings. Raw rarely draws 2 million viewers and Smackdown barely gets 3 million viewers weekly.
Oh, the times may change but Vince is still a slimeball promoter/carny.
Is there motivation to do anything?
They just keep putting out crap and making more money. The 'new' fans seems to just love whatever shit is put in front of them. The audience never expands as you mentioned.
Vince's whole independent contractor thing to avoid paying taxes is fucked up.
They're just throwing feces at the wall and seeing what sticks.
