Only a handful of people are able to accomplish that and become big draws for the indies. Even though The Elite proved it can be done people need to realize they're the exception, not the rule. Just like it happens with WWE and NJPW, the indies only have a limited amount of spots and there is a limited amount of money too
May Wrasslin' |OT| May I Fancy You To A Nice Arse Whipping?
- Thread starter Bluekaveli
- Start date
31GhostsIV
Banned
Picked a random 2000 Nitro on the network.
Who in the blue fuck is Mike Sanders?
Also, the Coach Kevin Nash angle. Why.
Who in the blue fuck is Mike Sanders?
Also, the Coach Kevin Nash angle. Why.
I really hope the LA show/Access TV deal gives New Japan some kind of footing in North America.
They're our only hope for legit competition with WWE. They have the star power.
Praying the ratings keep going down so WWE can't just throw money and steal talent away from New Japan.
They're our only hope for legit competition with WWE. They have the star power.
Praying the ratings keep going down so WWE can't just throw money and steal talent away from New Japan.
serenewarfare
Banned
The only way I see Kenny not going to WWE next year is if he's IWGP champ when his contract expires after WK, and that's not happening as long as Okada is alive.
BewareTheBatsie
Member
I haven't seen anything impact in a long time.
Weird, weird times.
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
What is everyone's opinions on the NEVER openweight belts?
slightconfuse
Banned
How can wwe afford all this talent? They really need a big tv deal otherwise they will have to cut people
mightynine
Member
What's incredibly frustrating is that the Cruiserweight Classic showed it was possible.
But 205 Live completely killed that by doing Another Hour Of WWE Television With Smaller Dudes Wrestling WWE Style
Biggest-Geek-Ever
Member
No man can kill Vince McMahon.
All gedo has to do is that he can feud with tiger mask W .
slightconfuse
Banned
Problem with the CWs and women is that they are better off incorporated into NXT then the phantom zone
SallyIsNow
Banned
Lol
Wai saying that this guy suing Titus would've been the ultimate swerve. Holy fuckinf shit lol
Wai saying that this guy suing Titus would've been the ultimate swerve. Holy fuckinf shit lol
serenewarfare
Banned
They really aren't though. As much as I love New Japan, they aren't even close to WWE's level. If they ever became an actual threat to do anything significant at all, WWE has the resources to cut their knees out from under them (steal talent, make arenas not run their shows, etc.) Hell, from a money and backing standpoint, ROH is a bigger threat.
Sweeney Tom
Banned
Scott Steiner's coming soon
BewareTheBatsie
Member
Havent ESPN tried to walk that back slightly after the Mauro thing and especially Jonathan "if he's not on WWEs payroll still then he should be" Coachman's comments on that situation?
I found it hilarious when he said that he was stopping covering then exactly after that, then claimed the coverage he does do was on his own time and said "got a big project coming". What, the WWE work was free?
31GhostsIV
Banned
Now Booker T is spouting is usual indecipherable guff.
Edit - Ooooh here comes Steiner so the indecipherable guff factor is through the roof.
What you should be hoping for is that njpw become more mainstream in Japan. Which is slowly happening.
BewareTheBatsie
Member
serenewarfare
Banned
Keep in mind everyone in NXT is making like $50,000-$80,000/year at the absolute most barring exceptions like Nakamura.
But yes, the TV deal helps them keep their position, but they aren't likely to lose that income next go-around unless USA finds new hits. As low as their ratings are, WWE is still very important to USA and NBCUniversal.
Basically right now is Rosemary and Sienna under contract who wrestle as well as Allie. Plus the women that they wanted to feud with Rosemary screwed up her shoulder.
There problem is they can't get any of the good women under contract cause of the women's tournament.
That's why the ratings going down is so key. They can't keep paying the big bucks for all these New Japan guys when their ratings keep going down, house show business going down, revenue is the absolute shits... if their TV deal goes down, they'll have to make some serious budget cuts. That means releasing talent, lower budgets for shows (goodbye massive insane Mania stage), and having to be real selective when it comes to signing dudes from New Japan. Omega, Bucks, Ricochet... these guys are making dollars doing what they do now, New Japan + shit load of indies. They aren't going to take a pay cut to work for a 70 year old senile fuck that takes all the fun out of their lives.
"Above Average" Mike Sanders was fantastic.
Sweeney Tom
Banned
holla
BewareTheBatsie
Member
Isn't Gail married to a pretty famous chef? Not sure if she needs the money.
Is Gail doing nothing?
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
Thanks for the warning.
serenewarfare
Banned
Gail is currently out injured.
And Jade (their other recent top woman) is almost certainly going to WWE.
SallyIsNow
Banned
Lol
John calling out the positivity police
Guys, Fire Pro is fucking awful.
John calling out the positivity police
Guys, Fire Pro is fucking awful.
Exactly, the show didn't have good enough booking/wrestling to attract the NXT audience and it didn't have stars to attract the people who watch and attend main roster shows.
I mean, the times the guys put on great matches they were still shit on by the audience, because main roster audiences don't give a shit about them, and honestly there's no one willing to buy a ticket to watch indie wrestlers put on mediocre matches on a WWE ring, there's nothing appealing about that.
HashtagLapsed
Member
I think so too. Omega said he doesnt really care about money for now (but still, who knows what would happen with a big enough deal).
If Omega beats Okada and drops the title at WK to enter a program with Ibushi I dont think he would sign with WWE.
As for the size of NJPW. They are the second biggest promotion but still like 1/20th the size of WWE. They need to build more in Japan as well as expand.
Wrestling as a whole is still niche as fuck. The board game subreddit has more subscribers than the wrestling one and modern board gaming is a niche as fuck hobby.
Sweeney Tom
Banned
Hasn't been under contract since March. Wants to return when she's cleared from a bad back injury
Biggest-Geek-Ever
Member
That the WWE can afford to buy all these guys should tell you all you need to know about the financial situation of other wrestling companies and why, all jokes aside, WWE is not dying in 5 years. Maybe in 5 years they'll cut costs by not bringing around 500 LED screens to every arena.
One of the good things about NJPW is from all accounts that they slowly getting bigger and more popular.
Of course not. Not yet.
My point is NJPW is growing, and WWE's popularity is going down. If WWE is forced to cut people and they all go to New Japan, who is trying to get more and more of a presence in the West... you never know.
Look what they've done with fucking Juice Robinson. How many Juice Robinson's are probably in WWE or NXT being underutilized right now?
ROH has been treading water for like 10 years, so I don't consider them to be relevant at all.
I'll raise you this though -- that board game subreddit has about 800 people currently active on it. SquaredCircle? Nearly 4800.
SC is far more popular.
serenewarfare
Banned
Really I think what killed the CWs was a combination of two things. One, the writing and character work for them was generally terrible.
But most importantly, they didn't stand out. In WCW, the CWs worked because they were completely different from anyone else on the entire show. It was like a different thing entirely. And I think that was the original goal for Triple H with this division, which is why they went with the different colored ropes and different announce teams. But at the end of the day they were forced to work the same WWE style as everyone else, so they just became a segregated group of smaller guys working the same matches as the bigger guys.
But most importantly, they didn't stand out. In WCW, the CWs worked because they were completely different from anyone else on the entire show. It was like a different thing entirely. And I think that was the original goal for Triple H with this division, which is why they went with the different colored ropes and different announce teams. But at the end of the day they were forced to work the same WWE style as everyone else, so they just became a segregated group of smaller guys working the same matches as the bigger guys.
BewareTheBatsie
Member
It's not like every guy on the independent scene is worth a few million bucks to bring in. Kenny and the Bucks are probably the only ones they'd need to bring out the mega money for.
HashtagLapsed
Member
It is good for NJPW. Even losing AJ, Nak etc they still drew more for WK. Helps they actually want to make stars and booking is pretty good. They took Juice who was a jobber on NXT and look what they did with him.
Still, I cant imagine what it would be like to work for WWE. They are a promotion in that, they promote their talent on TV and in live shows. Imagine having your public image and promotion controlled by an insane old man and the maniac stories he comes up with.
serenewarfare
Banned
NJPW is growing and WWE is going down yes, but there's such a chasm between the two that it would take something unrealistically drastic for NJPW to ever be a realistic threat.
It's like comparing a sequoia to an apple tree. One can grow and one can shrink, but one will always be bigger than the other, no matter how much more useful the smaller one is. NJPW just doesn't have the resources to be a threat to WWE anytime soon.
And I think people are in for a rude awakening if they think USA is just gonna cut bait with WWE in a few years. Even if WWE drops another million viewers in the next year, they'd still likely only take a slight paycut from NBCUniversal because they would still be drawing in more viewers than most anything the USA Network can put out.
I'm not saying he will be murdered, you madman!
half a moon
Banned
Isn't smackdown on? Why no spoilers?
serenewarfare
Banned
It ended a few hours ago. I posted spoilers earlier in the thread. But here's the quick results:
Natalya b. Becky
Rowan b. Harper
Breezango b. Ascension
Jinder pinned Orton to win a six man tag of Jinder/Corbin/Owens vs. Orton/Styles/Zayn
Rowan b. Harper
Breezango b. Ascension
Jinder pinned Orton to win a six man tag of Jinder/Corbin/Owens vs. Orton/Styles/Zayn
Spoiler it sounds shit
This will always make me smile
You were right when you said wrestling fans are all bronnies and you are right regarding what we would watch as well. You are bizarro imBask.
Pff, what a geek.
On a serious note, One Punch Man is great. First anime I enjoyed since og Fullmetal Alchemist.
No bright side then.
You also said that if Jinder wasn't dead by now that would mean he's all natural, scientifically speaking.
I don't know if I can trust you.
Spoilers are old news breh
Wrestling is a volatile industry. Who would have expected WCW to be DEAD after 3 years in 1998? Shit can go down fast.
The ratings going down is a domino effect. If they get a lower TV deal, they can't afford to pay for new talent. They have to let go of talent. This lowers the depth pool, which makes a stale product even more stale. Ratings continue to drop. Network subscribers continue to dwindle.
They're down to $897k in profits this first quarter vs. $14 million during the same period last year. Who's to say that number isn't in the red next year?
They'll fire JR again. Suddenly you have Mauro and JR calling New Japan shows in the west. More and more talent migrate to New Japan. These things add up, assuming WWE doesn't make massive changes.