Wrestling

[The Unknown Poster]

 

[The Unknown Poster]

I ordered a few copies. Low price. Check out their website. 

 

[The Unknown Poster]

Great story on Kenny. Comments from Hogan (surprisingly insightful), Jericho, Van Dam, Ross, Kofi and more. 

Kenny talks about staying or going to WWE

 

 

[JCon]

35 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Great story on Kenny. Comments from Hogan (surprisingly insightful), Jericho, Van Dam, Ross, Kofi and more. 

Kenny talks about staying or going to WWE

 

Thank-you. That was a great read. 

 

I have a question about the business that has always bothered me... Omega is signed to New Japan. How can he do All In? Does New Japan get a cut? Isn't it risky to let your top talent fight on an indie card? 

In general, this has always seemed odd to me. 

Edited August 31, 2018 by JCon

[The Unknown Poster]

1 hour ago, JCon said:

Thank-you. That was a great read. 

 

I have a question about the business that has always bothered me... Omega is signed to New Japan. How can he do All In? Does New Japan get a cut? Isn't it risky to let your top talent fight on an indie card? 

In general, this has always seemed odd to me. 

He’s free to work outside of japan. By contrast trade the bucks have a ROH contest so they are restricted by what tv etc they can work.  

Saying that Kenny would be expected to be respectful of new japan. Ie not losing etc 

[The Unknown Poster]

On 2018-08-19 at 11:27 AM, The Unknown Poster said:

 

A source told me there is a belief Jericho shows up as a surprise at all in.  

Called it! 

Kenny/Penta is match of the night so far. 

[Goalie]

Great show. Now if it was an actual promotion instead of basically a bunch of indy feds teaming up.. You might have some legit competition for WWE. Maybe that's coming tho. 

[The Unknown Poster]

3 hours ago, Goalie said:

Great show. Now if it was an actual promotion instead of basically a bunch of indy feds teaming up.. You might have some legit competition for WWE. Maybe that's coming tho. 

I doubt it. It would take new japan and roh combining and having a major us tv deal and even then WWE is just too rich. 

But All In shows is that if guys choose not to go to WWE they can make a show that is on the level of wwe. Of course it’s one show.  

Vince will heavily be after Kenny, Bucks, Cody, page etc to make sure this doesn’t happen again.  But I suspect they all stay together for one more year. 

[The Unknown Poster]

Very historic show though.  Like really really historic.  To do what they did. Self financed by Cody and the bucks. 

I think Kenny/Penta was match of the night.  Main event could have been but they got it from 28 minutes to 12 and actually nearly missed the finish before going off the PPV. 

Cody winning the NWA title obviously meant a lot to him. 

And those guys were all talking about this changing things.  The road blocks are always contracts. But they could form their own promotion where they work with everyone. Not bigger than wwe but different and providing options.  

Definitelt a show that will always be remembered as very historic. 

[The Unknown Poster]

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.

[The Unknown Poster]

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.

[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.

 

 

[The Unknown Poster]

VERY preliminary but working on a Kenny Omega return in October.  I reluctantly feel I should raise ticket prices as his last appearance for us was a gong show (way too many people for too few tickets).  It would be a Friday night.  I've thought of booking a larger venue but Im not sure we have the time to do it justice but I have talked about a "big show" with Kenny & The Bucks in Winnipeg...

[JCon]

3 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

VERY preliminary but working on a Kenny Omega return in October.  I reluctantly feel I should raise ticket prices as his last appearance for us was a gong show (way too many people for too few tickets).  It would be a Friday night.  I've thought of booking a larger venue but Im not sure we have the time to do it justice but I have talked about a "big show" with Kenny & The Bucks in Winnipeg...

That would be interesting. I wonder if I could get my friends out for that?

[The Unknown Poster]

46 minutes ago, JCon said:

That would be interesting. I wonder if I could get my friends out for that?

Kenny and the Bucks or just Kenny?  I usually undershoot my estimates but I think a Kenny & Bucks show would attract fans from SK, AB and the US, to be honest if its marketed properly.   Huge expense but chance to really explode.  The record for indy in Winnipeg is 1750 people for a PCW event in 2002 that had Eddie Guerrero on top.  I think we could beat that.  

[JCon]

14 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Kenny and the Bucks or just Kenny?  I usually undershoot my estimates but I think a Kenny & Bucks show would attract fans from SK, AB and the US, to be honest if its marketed properly.   Huge expense but chance to really explode.  The record for indy in Winnipeg is 1750 people for a PCW event in 2002 that had Eddie Guerrero on top.  I think we could beat that.  

I think Omega would be the draw that might entice my friends. However, these are guys that used to be huge fans, went to lots of local indie promos here and watched wrestling on TV.

They never got into ECW or WCW (and all the non-WWE promotions) like I did. I loved those promotions to provide something different and unique. 

But, we're older now, with young fams, and don't watch wrestling. I follow it mostly through the odd word of mouth and read the odd article through this thread. This thread is my main source of wrestling news.

Getting them out means that they're trading off something else and we're going to Headstones in November. Like I said, it's tough to get out. 

I would like to go because I know it would be great and seeing the top performing wrestler in the world would be interesting. Helps that he's a local. The Bucks would be a bonus. 

[The Unknown Poster]

24 minutes ago, JCon said:

I think Omega would be the draw that might entice my friends. However, these are guys that used to be huge fans, went to lots of local indie promos here and watched wrestling on TV.

They never got into ECW or WCW (and all the non-WWE promotions) like I did. I loved those promotions to provide something different and unique. 

But, we're older now, with young fams, and don't watch wrestling. I follow it mostly through the odd word of mouth and read the odd article through this thread. This thread is my main source of wrestling news.

Getting them out means that they're trading off something else and we're going to Headstones in November. Like I said, it's tough to get out. 

I would like to go because I know it would be great and seeing the top performing wrestler in the world would be interesting. Helps that he's a local. The Bucks would be a bonus. 

Its possible we have Kenny in October by himself.  Shoot me a Private Message if I dont send you one first and I'll hook you guys up if you're interested and available in checking it out.  I always love dragging some lapsed fans back into it...even for one night!  Kenny live on this level is a lot of fun (does some hilarious antics and still all his super athletic stuff)

[Jpan85]

If date works that’s a show I would go to. 

[ediger]

On 2018-09-06 at 10:50 AM, The Unknown Poster said:

VERY preliminary but working on a Kenny Omega return in October.  I reluctantly feel I should raise ticket prices as his last appearance for us was a gong show (way too many people for too few tickets).  It would be a Friday night.  I've thought of booking a larger venue but Im not sure we have the time to do it justice but I have talked about a "big show" with Kenny & The Bucks in Winnipeg...

Close to halloween? I need something to do for halloween this year...

[blueandgoldguy]

Where would this show with Omega be held?  University of Manitoba?

[The Unknown Poster]

11 hours ago, blueandgoldguy said:

Where would this show with Omega be held?  University of Manitoba?

Our regular venue is Doubles Bar and thats where Kenny has worked for us for the past 6 years.  The last time was available was last November and it was a gong show because I didnt raise ticket prices at all and we had way more interest than space.  So, a potential october show with Kenny is likely to be Doubles (with a higher ticket price).

My dream scenario of a Kenny/Bucks show, which would take several months of planning, I have two leading ideas for venues.  One is an "easier" environment for organizing and holds about 700+.  The other would be the UofM, giving us 2000 and up for seating but requires more organizing, more money out for staging, seating, staffing etc.  Of course, the revenue is also higher and potentially could be a revenue/attendance level that would be historic for indy wrestling here.  I really need to sit down with Kenny and discuss that whole thing though.

But...Im hoping to find out by next week if Kenny will be here for us in October.  I have a hold on October 19th as a potential date.

[Goalie]

I was more impressed with Joey Janela and his woman and the MJF... 

Those guys are awesome. That MJF is a legit heel. 

[Brandon]

49 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Our regular venue is Doubles Bar and thats where Kenny has worked for us for the past 6 years.  The last time was available was last November and it was a gong show because I didnt raise ticket prices at all and we had way more interest than space.  So, a potential october show with Kenny is likely to be Doubles (with a higher ticket price).

My dream scenario of a Kenny/Bucks show, which would take several months of planning, I have two leading ideas for venues.  One is an "easier" environment for organizing and holds about 700+.  The other would be the UofM, giving us 2000 and up for seating but requires more organizing, more money out for staging, seating, staffing etc.  Of course, the revenue is also higher and potentially could be a revenue/attendance level that would be historic for indy wrestling here.  I really need to sit down with Kenny and discuss that whole thing though.

But...Im hoping to find out by next week if Kenny will be here for us in October.  I have a hold on October 19th as a potential date.

What about the old Christian TV studio on Chevrier?

[The Unknown Poster]

12 minutes ago, Brandon said:

What about the old Christian TV studio on Chevrier?

I have no idea what its even used for anymore.  I dont think it sat over 1000 people did it?  I was never in it.  And they couldn't serve booze either.  

I was watching some old WFX tv shows on youtube and as time progressed, they got that place looking pretty darn good.  Their TV looked very professional by the end.  The booker just didnt understand modern wrestling.

[Goalie]

6 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I have no idea what its even used for anymore.  I dont think it sat over 1000 people did it?  I was never in it.  And they couldn't serve booze either.  

I was watching some old WFX tv shows on youtube and as time progressed, they got that place looking pretty darn good.  Their TV looked very professional by the end.  The booker just didnt understand modern wrestling.

Convention center?