The Unknown Poster

Some wrestling news & notes from Meltzer and others: - All In drew 11,263 people (and those masters of merch had shirts with that number on them for sale right after lol) - That number was 100% utilization of the arena which is rare as it included all the suites being fully packed. They easily could have drawn a lot more, maybe double...maybe more. And tickets were well under-priced. - Live gate was about $460,000 - All merch brought to the event...every single thing...sold out. The "All In" shirt sold out before the show even began. They could have sold a lot more had they brought more (and I suspect they had a ton since Pro Wrestling Tees is based in Chicago and was involved with the show). They only had two merch stands and the lines were over an hour long...but people waited and bought everything. -Pro Wrestling Tees did $500,000 in merch sales over the weekend (much of the in-arena show-day merch would be theirs). - Highspots had their biggest merch sales for any show ever...which is saying something because they are always there for Wrestlemania. - Internet PPV was around 20,000 buys which was far more than expected. FITE TV did $1 million for the weekend on IPPV - 196,000 viewers on WGN for the pre-show, highest rated show of the day on WGN and in line with their top rated prime time shows. Its not considered a blow away number in general but very good for WGN. - Traditional PPV numbers arent in yet. - Apparently, they were frantically calling satellite companies to beg for an additional 60 seconds of air time and Gorilla was yelling at the guys in the ring (via the ref ear piece) to take it home. They signed off with 3 seconds to spare. - Ringside fans said they could hear officials ordering Okada & Scurll to take it home for several minutes and they ignored the order (Scurll claims this isnt true and he was told not to cut anything out, but they went 12 minutes long) - Lots of acclaim for the Bucks who, with their match cut from 28 mins to 12 that most of the things they cut were their own highspots and made sure Bandido got a lot of shine to help get him over to the national audience. Very unselfish guys. - Jericho's appearance was his first in the US for non-WWE in over 20 years. I was told he was going to be there a few weeks ago because I knew he was in Chicago that night (due to a project we're both a part of). He snuck into Chicago and was kept hidden. - The NWA World Championship match had a real sports feel to it with both guys coming out with their entourage. Cody had DDP, Brandi, his dog, Tommy Dreamer & Glacier. Nick Aldis had Jeff Jarrett, Tim Storm (both former NWA World Champions), Sam Shaw & Shawn Daivari. They tried to get Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay to do commentary but they were unavailable. Supposedly Tenay wanted Dave Meltzer to do colour if he did Play by Play. - There was a storyline being considered where they'd announce 9,999 tickets sold (missing their goal of 10,000) and that Dave Meltzer would walk up and buy the 10,,000th ticket lol - The 5 key players (Cody, Omega, Bucks, Page) have said their vow to stick together is legit. Most take that as not going to WWE but all contracts expire by the end of January and WWE would take them all...and apparently has reached out and has a general idea that theyd bring them in as a group (a variation on the Invasion angle). - Michaels/Undertaker was a great segment on RAW and it now looks like Michaels will come out of retirement for the Saudi Arabia show (November I think). That Saudi show is such huge money and the government are marks from years ago and want the big nostalgia acts so likely, Michaels was offered ridiculous money. Supposedly its not a singles match. - Daniel Bryan signed his new WWE contract. It was tough because WWE made it clear that although it seemingly expired Sept 1, they felt they could extend it for another year based on missed time. That would make me want to tell WWE to get lost but it wasnt worth the legal battle for Bryan when he was leaning to staying anyway. He said it was the first contract he ever had a lawyer look over so lets hope he is fully protected from WWE's heavy-handed "extension" options.

Was there a burning need for slower traffic? There has been no issue with kids being hit by cars. And I suspect the reckless drivers still exist. There is no safety issue with a car going 45 at 5:15 with zero kids around vs a car going 50 at 5:45 when an after-school program lets out and kids are everywhere. Thats why targeted enforcement by the police is much better. Plus better signage and education about slowing down when kids are present (whether its during strict hours or not. There are plenty of times kids are around schools on the weekends too. My point being, it was done for cash not safety and is unfairly enforced to maximize revenue. That's unfair to taxpayers and car owners.

Trump has been raging and trying to flex muscles he doesn't have, demanding the NY Times turn over the Op-Ed author for national security reasons. I suspect, if he tried anything crazy, his military leaders would talk him down. Barring that, they'd threaten to resign (which usually backs Trump down). Even the alt-right in his orbit want him out and want Pence in. if the Dems can take the House to a significant degree and assuming the Mueller Investigation will be damning, you might actually see the GOP Senators side with impeachment. Rudy G was on CNN last night and said its ridiculous because you'd never get enough GOP Senators....we shall see.

I mentioned this in the movies thread. I have a friend who works on films in Winnipeg. Pretty exciting!

What’s great is THIS exert is NOT true but I had to double check to see if it was or wasn’t.

Al In's Zero Hour on WGN (the pre show) drew 196,000 viewers. Thats remarkably good. Thats almost TNA numbers and its a one off with limited promotion. Now...you start talking about how this changes the business. WGN has to be impressed...and they were in attendance at the show.

Tessa Blanchard, who Im a huge fan of, signed with Women of Wrestling (WOW). WOW is a based in Cali and owned by the owner of the LA Lakers. Mark Burnett is also a partner. They run TV on AXS, owned by Mark Cuban. New Japan also runs on AXS. There are a lot of little connections to major power brokers with different promotions....if something could ever happen, the connections are there. WWE dropped the ball letting Tessa go, but in a year two, she'll be in a position to walk onto WWE's main TV with a much bigger contract than she would have gotten in developmental.

So you've changed your mind? 😉 I kid...the term is good and the money is good. Both less than he could get on the open market. Its not a huge discount or favour to the Jets but its certainly a bit of both.

So in reality there is absolutely no incentive to create a safe school zone. The incentive is to catch people speeding. Its about money not safety.

Pretty sure I saw a movie like this

Fox should be ashamed of shaming this guy for working an honest job

I met him at a buddies family gathering as Ab was a cousin. Very nice guy

I think experts would have said the old law worked perfectly fine, proven by the lack of kids being hit by cars and would have instead recommended actual police enforcement in areas where it was deemed necessary. They likely would have recommended increased signage to indicate school zones (I've driven through areas Im not familiar with and some of those school zones sneak up on you). The fact there are still school zones where the signage is not adequate is indicative of the fact its a cash grab. If it werent, the city would gladly "over-signage" the area, if their main goal was to never give out a ticket (because it means everyone is driving slower). Clearly, the city does not want to give out zero tickets. People should slow down where kids are active. That should be everywhere, not just school zones. But speed should not be lowered just to produce revenue. If the speed limit is 60 and the weather is awful and you drive 60, you can be ticketed for not driving to conditions. If kids are present and you fly by, you should be open to ticketing. But that requires real police work. Lowering to 30 all the time in residential areas is just mind-numbing to me. Enforce laws, enforce common sense. Dont create Dukes of Hazzard style speed traps with tax collectors hiding around poorly signed zones on holidays to create revenue from car owners.

I tried to watch Shameless and Emmy Rossum was like the best reason to watch that show. I didnt make it past the first three episodes. Boring and stupid, despite Emmy's best efforts. Whenever I watch Dateline, I end up humming the L&O theme. They should do a cross over.

School Zone enforcement is about making money. Period. Its not about safety. So to me, its a cash grab and the people who defend it arent seeing the big picture. Here's why. You know when the school zones are absolutely, 100% always enforced? When people are more likely to forget they exist and kids are least likely to be out (holidays, before/after school etc). Never fails. Thats not about safety. Secondly, there are tons of activities after 5:30 but apparently the concern for the lives of children ends at 5:30. That tells you its a cash grab. They are being efficient about their enforcement to maximize profits. Thirdly, there was no overwhelming safety issue. We all have stories of idiots driving too fast when kids are around (whether its a school zone, school hours or not) but there was not an immediate and critical need. The streets were not running red with the blood of children. It just wasnt true. When I was in elementary school, we had two serious incidents of kids being hit by cars (one was outside the school zone). The old law was that you were to slow down when kids were present. If there was an issue in a particular area, police would do enforcement. You know, old school, where they pull people over, educate them and give them a ticket. Photo radar is a tax collector on the owner of the car. Thats it. Anyway...thats my two cents.

The AAV is not out of whack for what Wheeler brings to the table right now. If he was a UFA this summer he'd have gotten more money from someone else. Assuming he is more than a PPG this year, he'd have walked into free agency and got more next summer too. He could have demanded more years. Seems like a really fair deal in my mind, the more I look at it. When people talked about Wheeler not fitting the Jets' core or whatever, it didnt make sense to me because he's arguably our best player right now and I'd fear losing his grit and passion in the playoffs. The best case scenario is the Jets win a cup or two, Wheeler plays til the end of his deal and retires a Jet.

Knowing the NHL, they will offer a ridiculous agreement, the players will spout off and in the end, the players will feel lucky to kept most of the status quo. The only way to lower escrow, if I understand it (and I might not), is to lower salaries. Escrow increases because salaries cannot exeed 50% of revenue so at the end of the year, if the players' salaries are 53%, the league claws back money (keeps part of the escrow). The PA can trigger unnatural cap increases which they usually do which ofcourse, increases escrow. I think the PA does this to anger the players against the league. But unless the players want to argue they should get more than 50%, which they might do, its a tough nut to crack. And the players usually lose the public relations battle. Demanding more than 50% or agreeing to 50% but wanting to keep their escrow (meaning they get more than 50%) wont engender a lot of support from the ticket buying public.

I cant see the NHL winning a ratio fight. Its 50-50 and fighting to lower it wont win any PR battles. The PA will want it higher so the NHL maintaining the fair and equitable split makes the most sense to me. I think the fight will be more over Escrow (but since its leverage against the 50-50 split, I dont see how they can, although that might be where the cap rolls back a bit as the PA usually triggers unnatural escalators which pushes up the much-hated escrow) and the definition of "revenue" as it pertains to expansion, and things like World Cup, Olympics etc.

With a lock out looming, who knows. It could also go down (with a wage roll-back) as part of a lock-out "re-set". But assuming they maintain the 50-50 revenue split, there is nothing to suggest revenue will go down. If anything, with more expansion coming, new TV deals eventually etc, revenue should always trend up.