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What your honest opinion of Dave Meltzer do you think he has done more harm or good for the industry? Do you respect Dave?
I respect that he was a pioneer in wrestling reporting. He started a newsletter that aimed to bring people the real behind the scenes news at a time when few people were doing it. He succeeded where others failed with his newsletter and has been around for decades. I respect his staying power. He has succeeded where many others have failed. It’s no secret that the only reason you are reading this column is because of Dave Meltzer. I have told this story before, but i will repeat it again. Back in the early 90s, I was giving Dave information that I got from Japan and Mexico. We were friendly, if not friends. ECW came along and I started sharing news on the promotion with him for his newsletter. That’s when things changed. I would tell him factual things, which I knew first hand to be true, but different versions would printed in his newsletter. That made me wonder what else he was printing wasn’t the complete truth and led to me starting my newsletter, The Wrestling Lariat. That led to me coming online at 1Wrestling.com and then starting PWInsider. My goal has always been to report the truth and not someone’s agenda or false narrative. So all I can tell you is that Meltzer had no idea he was doing it, but he changed the course of my life. I can’t exactly thank him for it given how it happened but looking back on it 30 years later I am happy it happened. I honestly don’t think he (or sites like mine) helped or hurt the industry. We are a niche product for a small percentage of the fan base. Just look at his year end awards. Around 1,000 people voted. More than 2 million people watch Smackdown every week.
Just saw Kevin Nash alleging that Vince is purposefully asking too much for WWE. I believe he stated that VKM is looking for $9 billion, but the true value being approximately $6 billion.
Have you guys heard what the current valuation is estimated to be?
First off, that $9B number was thrown out by a financial outlet. It hasn't been confirmed. The only people who know what WWE is asking are the people involved in negotiations. On paper, WWE is worth closer to $6B than $9B based on its stock price. To me though, given about 70% of the company's revenue comes from their TV rights deals, which have about 18 months left on them, it's really hard to give a valuation on WWE's worth without knowing what the new deals will bring.
Also, recognizing that he has a fiduciary duty to shareholders to maximize value, if he is actually asking for an unreasonable amount like 50% higher than actual value; was this all about Vince regaining control under false pretenses?
First, Vince could take control any time he wants to. No false pretenses are needed. If he is starting negotiations at $9M, you could make the case that he is trying maximize value for the company. If it’s worth $6B and he were to get more, he got shareholders more value than their stock was worth.
I read your article on William Regal's role and duties in WWE where he basically critiques wrestlers and matches to help tighten them up. Does AEW have someone like that? Would that be the same role as what their producers should be doing?
The producers help lay out the match and go over the bullet points of what they want done in the match. Regal’s role is to watch what actually happened and offer critiques for improvement. As far as I know, AEW doesn’t have anyone doing that. And when Jim Ross tried to offer something similar a while back, it was not received well by some in the company. It would have been great if AEW used Regal in that role but Tony Khan thinks every match is great (from his own mouth) so I guess he doesn’t see any need to change anything.
I used to enjoy reading the Q&A posts on the website, but the ones by Scherer have become unreadable. It’s perfectly reasonable to criticize AEW’s product, but the vitriol and double standards have ruined the gimmick. For instance, he calls TK childish for the interaction with Helwani, but did Helwani behave like a true pro when he baselessly implied Khan was a coke user? Also, if AEW had brought in a retired wrestler who could no longer work and immediately put a championship on them, I’m sure he’d have a STRONG take. Where was the story and buildup behind that? Not a peep about Lita from him.
Points in order, I get that you can’t accept any honest criticism of AEW so you should probably actually stop reading my Q and As. They aren’t for people like you. It’s great that you love AEW but it’s when you can’t accept legitimate criticism of the product you need to go to more friendly places to read about your beloved promotion. Tony Khan’s Twitter feed is what will make you happy. I said that Tony Khan was childish IN THE INTERVIEW he did with Helwani. Duh. If you want my opinion on their Twitter interaction, here it is. They were both childish but Tony started it and Helwani slammed the door on him. I put more blame on the childish person who starts it than the childish person who shuts the insticator's mouth. The situation only happened because Tony was a baby. Helwani never would have tweeted at him. As for Lita, I did critique her wrestling on two shows that I did this week. If you wanted my opinion in Q and A, you just had to ask. Lita looked very rusty, which I would expect given her age and lack of recent ring reps. I don’t want her to have a long term reign with the belts. My expectation is that Damage CTRL will get the belts back for WrestleMania when Bayley interferes and it will lead to a six woman match with Becky, Lita and Trish taking them on. If it goes that way, I like it a lot because it uses the legends in a spot that is mid-card instead of top of the card. If Becky and Lita have a long reign, my initial reaction is that I don’t think it’s a good idea.
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