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RIGHTS FEES, A HAPPY MEDIUM OF MOVES AND SELLING, WWE CONTRACTS AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2020-01-01 10:00:00

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First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Who own's Taz's 'Survive if I Let You' entrance theme?  WWE used it liberally enough once they bought ECW...now my ears got upset noticing it was changed on one night stand 2006 to the their fake version of War Machine! And I'm certain I've heard it on the network before.

KISS owns it since it’s their song.  Often WWE will pay rights fees to a song for a finite period and after that period expires they replace it with generic music.  The line of thinking is as time goes by, the music means less to the vast majority of fans so they don’t pay to keep the rights fees.

I became a pro wrestling fan in the late 90s, but my interest waned in the mid '00s and I hadn't watched any wrestling for more than a decade until this summer. Who would you say have been wrestling's 'MVPs' over the last decade? What are the top five PPVs from the last decade I should watch?

In WWE it would be the guys that were pushed the hardest, Brock Lesnar and John Cena.  I know some would argue that business overall has been down in that period but when you look at the massive TV rights fees deals that just started in October, they helped WWE get that money.  As for what shows you should watch, here’s the thing for me.  Watching PPVs just for the action is only part of the allure to me.  I like watching shows because they have been built up to with storylines and characters that capture my attention.  So to me, if you aren’t into the TV that led up to it, the shows are just matches.  That isn’t a bad thing, but it basically means you could pick five events randomly and watch them.

With the brand split being as it is, and the stars being exclusive to the network, wouldn’t it be logical for Fox to say to Brock “You can quit, but we still own your draft rights and you cannot sign with Raw”, if it comes to him moving to Raw.  They should treat it like the NFL when a team still owns your rights and would have to trade you or release you.  Thoughts?

If it were legitimate sport and they actually had those contractual rights?  Absolutely.  But it isn’t and they don’t.  Plus, given Brock has gone back into hibernation FOX is probably happy he is not their champion.

One of WWE’s flaws has been to bring in part timers/old guys who top the card/win the title/squash the regulars. Now that that pond is drained, it looks like they’re doing the same but with MMA/boxing. Lesnar/Rousey/Velasquez/Fury - these guys come in and are made to look super strong. I know Vince doesn’t look at MMA/boxing as competition but others do and surely this just tells viewers that there are tougher guys/gals outside of wrestling, which after, is supposed to be a ‘fight’. Your thoughts?

If the WWE talents beat the outsiders, Vince is fine with that.  In his world, and to his audience, that means the WWE wrestlers are the tougher ones.

I'm curious if you find the following as jarring and annoying as I do.  The style of wrestling we get from NXT, AEW, and others is much, MUCH more in my wheelhouse than what we get on WWE's main roster.  High impact amazing moves with great back and forth and multiple near falls.  On The Smackdown debut on Fox the WWE Champion is booked not to be able to kick out of one damn move.  It completely turns me off the main roster and always will.  What say you?

First off, I like high impact wrestling and moves as much as the next guy but I also like context.  In the case of Brock killing Kofi the way he did, it was terrible and I hated it.  A lot. But one bad piece of booking won’t make me turn my back on a brand. With that said, I also hate when guys hit repeated finishers and they get no-sold and the talents just go on to the next spot.  I like a happy medium.  

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