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[Bullet Club]

Rasslin's back, boys!






All Elite Wrestling and Double or Nothing officially announced

After weeks of speculation, All Elite Wrestling is now official.

AEW was officially announced at the end of a Being the Elite episode that was uploaded at midnight Pacific time on January 1, 2019. In addition to the promotion, the episode also announced "Double or Nothing" -- the sequel to All In.

The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, and Hangman Page were included in the reveal of AEW and Double or Nothing. SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky) were also part of the episode.

There will be a Double or Nothing rally at TIAA Bank Field (the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars) in Jacksonville, Florida at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, January 8, with more information about Double or Nothing and AEW being revealed then. The advertisement notes that the rally will include a "special announcement from The Elite." The Young Bucks, Cody & Brandi Rhodes, Hangman Page, Daniels, Kazarian, and Sky are featured on the ad, and it says that there will be more special guests.

The rally will be free to attend and will be taking place at the parking lot in front of West Club at TIAA Bank Field. Live stream information for it will be announced soon.

AEW has been rumored since October, with trademarks for the promotion being filed in November.

As the announcement was made, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed the details of AEW on Wrestling Observer Radio. Here are some notes from the episode:

- There are guys signed to the promotion, including Cody. The Young Bucks aren't officially signed yet but could be within 24-48 hours.

- There's no television deal for AEW yet, but there are "multiple offers out there." Meltzer said he's confident enough to say that he thinks it will happen.

- People are being signed to multi-year contracts.

- Tony Khan (of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC) is the head of the company. He's a longtime professional wrestling fan and the son of billionaire Shahid Khan.

- What happens with AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling is "100 percent up in the air." Everyone in All Elite would like to have a relationship with NJPW and would like to continue working with them. Whether or not NJPW will do it is up in the air.

- The success of All In wasn't lost on certain people in the TV industry. Those who watched it were very impressed.

- Meltzer doesn't think ROH talent will be working for AEW -- they'll be competing for the same wrestlers. Meltzer called this the greatest thing for talent since the WWF/WCW war, with WWE, AEW, and ROH now all competing for talent. They all wanted Bandido, and ROH got him.

Source: Wrestling Observer

 

[Ovek]

Will be interesting who they manage to sign as most if not all top rated wrestlers are already signed up to multi year deals with NJPW, WWE or ROH. Are they even going to get Kenny, his absence in these promos is telling.

They could raid the indy promotions especially in hot areas like the UK but WWE has already beaten them to it.

 

[Bullet Club]

I think Kenny will stick with NJPW but could still appear in AEW.

They should end up having a decent roster.

 

[DiscoJer]

With wrestling though, can't they just invent new wrestlers? I mean, there's all sorts of wrestling schools that produce wrestlers. Just take some of them, come up with an interesting character/theme. El Rey did that with their Lucha Underground, they had some Mexican wrestlers, but mostly used nobodies or retreads and gave them new names.

 

[Bullet Club]

With wrestling though, can't they just invent new wrestlers? I mean, there's all sorts of wrestling schools that produce wrestlers. Just take some of them, come up with an interesting character/theme. El Rey did that with their Lucha Underground, they had some Mexican wrestlers, but mostly used nobodies or retreads and gave them new names.

They can get young guys from the indies, and I hope they do, but they need name talent to get a good TV deal. The Elite & Jericho are pretty big names and if they can get a few more they should be fine.

 

[Halo0629]

Well time to get enzo and cass.

 

[DKehoe]

With wrestling though, can't they just invent new wrestlers? I mean, there's all sorts of wrestling schools that produce wrestlers. Just take some of them, come up with an interesting character/theme. El Rey did that with their Lucha Underground, they had some Mexican wrestlers, but mostly used nobodies or retreads and gave them new names.

The Lucha Underground roster wasn’t total nobodies though. Guys like Jeff Cobb had somewhat of a name on the indy scene. Between WWE being more aggressive about signing people up and there already being Impact, ROH, MLW and Lucha Underground it’s getting harder to find the next stars. Also, everyone is going to be signing anyone who shows the slightest bit of potential, so those wrestlers will have less time to work the Indy circuit to develop themselves.

 

[Bullet Club]

Well time to get enzo and cass.

They would be better suited to Impact.

Spoiler

Because I don't watch Impact.

 

[The Elite]

I think Kenny will stick with NJPW but could still appear in AEW.

They should end up having a decent roster.

Isn’t Kenny’s contract up at the end of January?

I thought the plan was for the Elite to stick together.

I guess it all depends on NJPWs relationship with AEW.

 

[cryptoadam]

I am leaning towards Kenny going to WWE, lets see if he drops the title first. But he has been absent from all this AEW rumors and talks. You never hear his name. And NJPW just announced Tanahashi resigned, but we don't know Kenny's status.

Good luck for these guys. Right now how everything seems to be shaking out they aren't going to work with ROH/Impact/NJPW or LU. MLW is probably on the list too since all these companies have their guys locked down. Also all these guys did a big farewell in ROH, if they were going to work with ROH again why would they act like its their last time working their?

Basically I see it being filled with Cody and YB's buddies and a couple of WWE guys who contracts are up soon. As long as wrestlers have a place to get paid its good for the industry.

 

[Dthomp]

Interesting for sure, and will force Wwe to begin utilizing its midcard and undercard talent that could shine elsewhere. As far as Kenny goes, I think he either joins them as the guy for the new company, or gives WWE a run. I fully believe he’d be the only one that could be main event levelsuccessful there anyways, like AJ levels but a higher ceiling. As long as AEW doesn’t make the impact mistake of taking Wwe rejects and making them main eventers it should be solid. Don’t waste money on Zach Ryder’s and such that have no growth left, make plays for guys entering their primes that can make people tune in.

 

[Bullet Club]

There are rumours that Kenny will be meeting with Vince & Hunter soon, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens with him.

 

[Soleil rouge]

Meltzer called this the greatest thing for talent since the WWF/WCW war

lol Nice try Meltz, but most of us are far too jaded to ever get excited over possibly legit competition for the WWE.

*subscribes to thread*

 

[Bullet Club]

Here are some juicy rumours and innuendo.

Jim Ross & Chris Jericho to be Involved with AEW; More Exclusive News & Notes

Tony Khan, co-owner of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, is indeed involved as a top executive and as the company's major financial backer. According to a well placed source, Khan is fronting $100 million for the launch of AEW.

Jim Ross, who has repeatedly denied involvement with AEW, will be heavily involved - both on commentary and in a backstage capacity. Ross is likely not commenting on this situation because technically he is still under contract to WWE for a few more months. JR and WWE will not be renewing their contract so you can expect that once he is officially out, his involvement will be publicized.

Sports agent Barry Bloom, who already represents many prolific talent in the industry, is involved from a recruitment perspective. According to our source, AEW will "go hard" at WWE for stars whose deals will be expiring and they will be "mixing in legends" as well. One name that has been brought up is Goldberg, who I believe is already a client of Bloom's. Chris Jericho - who has also been rumored to be connected to this new promotion - is going to be involved "in depth" as well, as per our source. There are other WWE employees/contractors (note, this does not necessarily mean wrestlers) who AEW is going to pursue aggressively when they are legally able to.

It was previously rumored that AEW was working on a national TV deal. As per our sources, Khan is indeed using his connections to work on a prospective TV deal and one of the networks that they are negotiating with is Time Warner to have AEW air on TNT/TBS.

While Cody and the Young Bucks have been announced as EVPs of All Elite Wrestling, we were told that they will focus mainly on wrestling and not necessarily in the creative aspect of the promotion.

Source: Rajah

 

[The Elite]

Hopefully they don't go too crazy for legends and they should be only brought in as a draw for people to see the rising young talent.

Khan negotiating with TBS...

Also, prowrestlingtees is apparently having a sale on the weekend. I will grab my AEW shirt then.

 

[jufonuk]

Man I hope this is good. I’ve only just started to get into NJPW and that looks like a lot of fun.

Been a fan of wwe on and off but it seems to be losing its edge. Attitude era was amazing. TNA looked fun then got more and more rubbish.

I think if Vince has competition that is a good thing as it will force the wwe to adapt and stop them stagnating

Anyway good luck to them. I hope they do good things

 

[Fox Mulder]

I fell out of wrestling for years because the WWE fucking sucks. I'm not hate watching hours of trash each week like some people. The bullet club stuff interested me and I got into njpw a bit and followed the BTE guys. It's fun and All In was great.

Excited to see how this goes. There's lots of talent wasted in WWE that could shine elsewhere, but the paychecks are stable there. A new place backed by a multibillionaire fan could really do things.

 

[CDiggity]

So this is the new feeder system into NXT.

I kid, but I would imagine that the contract lengths for the wrestlers in AEW would be short given the uncertainty of a new promotion. If a wrestler makes a big enough splash, I would not be surprised when WWE comes knocking at the end of an AEW 1-2 year contract with an offer that can't be beat.

On the other hand, there are plenty of current WWE talent that creative has no plans for who could thrive here. I think AEW will be a promotion that will let the talent be themselves in and out of the ring, and that is very appealing to those who love the business.

 

[Queso de Grande]

I wish them the best of luck. Competition makes a better product.

 

[The Elite]

So this is the new feeder system into NXT.

I kid, but I would imagine that the contract lengths for the wrestlers in AEW would be short given the uncertainty of a new promotion. If a wrestler makes a big enough splash, I would not be surprised when WWE comes knocking at the end of an AEW 1-2 year contract with an offer that can't be beat.

On the other hand, there are plenty of current WWE talent that creative has no plans for who could thrive here. I think AEW will be a promotion that will let the talent be themselves in and out of the ring, and that is very appealing to those who love the business.

If a wrestler is making a splash and the product is a hit the Khans can outbid WWE easily if they want to. It depends on how much they are willing to invest. It's great that Tony is a big wrestling fan. Having a fan of the product payroll a new promotion with the potential that AEW has is something we've been waiting a long time for. A lot of people assumed that was going to be Mark Cuban but he seemed too hesitant to invest.

Sinclair likes ROH as it is now and they don't seem that interested in investing more money to improve the product. Look how long it took them to get to the HD age.

 

[Bullet Club]

 

[Bullet Club]

 

[jufonuk]

This could be big

 

[The Elite]

Glad they are establishing their women's division already.

 

[loki 16]

They should try to bring Punk.

 

[Dthomp]

Don’t waste the money on Goldberg. People will be interested enough to check you out, Bill isn’t coming cheap and he’s a one trick pony who has no interest in putting others over.

Kenny will be a huge wildcard cause I could see WWE going super hard for him, potentially making him one of the top dudes they build the company around. I’m all for loyalty but I’ll be honest, seeing him as a legit star in the Wwe is something I’d be interested in more then being the biggest fish in what will be a smaller pool for a bit.

AEW will need a decent pool of main event guys, and I don’t see Cody as that and am curious who else is out there they can bring in

 

[switchback27]

I would like to be proven wrong, but I think Punk's star has burned out. Plus it seems like he's fed up with the business as a whole and has burned a lot of bridges.

 

[Super Mario]

I sincerely hope this does well and competes heavily with WWE. I sincerely doubt it though.

We see these companies come and go. Internet wrestling fans say they want one thing, but really don't. Do they want indy wrestling, or Bill Goldberg? I don't think the "indy scene" is going to ever get mass appeal or go bigger than NXT gets. For this to win, it needs to be a version of the attitude era mixed with NXT.

 

[NickFire]

I sincerely hope this does well and competes heavily with WWE. I sincerely doubt it though.

We see these companies come and go. Internet wrestling fans say they want one thing, but really don't. Do they want indy wrestling, or Bill Goldberg? I don't think the "indy scene" is going to ever get mass appeal or go bigger than NXT gets. For this to win, it needs to be a version of the attitude era mixed with NXT.

An attitude era mentality will be needed for someone to really compete in my opinion as well.

 

[Bullet Club]

 

[cryptoadam]

Interesting I though Pentagon and Fenix were already locked up to contracts.

Sounds like the Impact deal is the pitts and it would make more sense for them to go with AEW.

 

[jufonuk]

Interesting I though Pentagon and Fenix were already locked up to contracts.

Sounds like the Impact deal is the pitts and it would make more sense for them to go with AEW.

If AEW offer more both financially and creatively they should go for it

 

[cryptoadam]

If AEW offer more both financially and creatively they should go for it

I agree.

I could of sworn though that both guys singed with MLW, especially fenix. I remember reading WWE was interested in him but he was under contract for a bit. But I could of been wrong I guess.

Interesting is that Impact was able to offer low six figures and AEW trippled that. So even if we go with the lowest number that 100K from impact, and 300K from AEW.

 

[jufonuk]

New BTE guess who is doing a video and mentions they are not using their usual phone and need to find it .



Kennith Amiga
That is right

I am betting AEW are getting him

 

[Nikana]

I sincerely hope this does well and competes heavily with WWE. I sincerely doubt it though.

We see these companies come and go. Internet wrestling fans say they want one thing, but really don't. Do they want indy wrestling, or Bill Goldberg? I don't think the "indy scene" is going to ever get mass appeal or go bigger than NXT gets. For this to win, it needs to be a version of the attitude era mixed with NXT.

All In says hi.