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After seeing the numbers from AEW's debut on TNT head to head with NXT on USA it certainly was a great night for professional wrestling. AEW certainly made an impression with their viewership. My question is a big what if, but say NXT vs AEW turns into a huge ratings war where they doing better numbers than WWE's main roster, does Vince FINALLY realize he's got to put on a better product.
If we get to a point where Wednesday nights are significantly outdrawing Monday and Friday, or that AEW itself is outdrawing Raw or Smackdown, maybe. The only time Vince every moved off of what his vision of wrestling was came over two decades ago when he was losing to WCW. But back then he did so in a battle for survival. Now? He is making over a half billion dollars a year on TV rights fees so my guess is he would wait it out, at least for a while. Maybe three years down the road, as negotiation time for new deals is coming, that could change, but I think for the foreseeable future he would stay the course. He has always believed that his vision is the right one and to be fair, it has made him a billionaire.
Those of us who live in Canada and subscribe to both cable TV and the WWE network can watch AEW live on TSN, but are not able to watch NXT until it airs on the WWE network on Thursday night since we do not have access to the USA channel, at least through traditional means. So for essentially an entire country, there is no Wednesday night war. What impact, if any, do you think will this have on skewing viewer numbers and ratings in AEW's favor, and should WWE take action to get NXT on a major Canadian network ASAP?
None, because the Nielsen numbers we report are for the US only.
Guys like Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone are still very capable announcers, but at this point in their careers, it has to be understood that they won't be working on the lead announce teams of their respective companies for the long term. Do they have exit plans built into their contracts if they decide to leave the booth sooner than their contract lengths, and what would AEW and WWE's contingency plans be if they were to retire sooner than later?
None of those three is looking to hang it up so it’s not an issue. If they were, they are all pros and would give proper notice to their company before leaving.
Great to see Tony Schiavone again. But, it just screams WCW to me seeing him on TNT. He starts off the show saying “We are back on TNT for the first time since 2001”. Isn’t this AEW’s first show on TNT? During the first match, he mentions that Pillman vs Liger was the first ever match on “our old show”. Once again, isn’t this AEW’s first show on TNT? Then, Jim Ross follows that up by saying that they also had that same match back in WCW a few years prior. The only way this makes any sense is if they consider Nitro a TNT show and not WCW’s show. Can you make better sense of this?
You hit the nail on the head, they are referring to wrestling on TNT. That is what they are talking about when they say those things. It’s about TNT at that point.
Long-time reader here. Thumbs up to your team and your website. Any actual prospect for Billy Corgan's NWA, especially the weekly "Power/rrr" TV show? Is it going to be picked by any actual TV network, national or local?
At this point no, which is why they are doing it the way that they are. Obviously, they would love to get a network deal.
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