Connect with us

Opinion

Andrew’s WWE Raw & SmackDown Live Ratings & Analysis (3/25 + 3/26/2019)

Andrew breaks down the two main roster WWE shows! Did SmackDown run away with the quality again? Does Raw at least put up a fight?

Published

on

Andrew breaks down the two main roster WWE shows! Did SmackDown run away with the quality again?

Right before Raw, we got confirmation that the Ronda, Becky and Charlotte match will go on last. So that starts off great momentum for the flagship show.

SmackDown Live still has to reveal how we’re getting Kofi to WrestleMania. Most of us believe it’s inevitable, but how do we get their?

Let’s find out!

Raw Ratings:

  • Ronda Rousey vs Sarah Logan: Rousey wins via Armbar – N/A
  • Charlotte Flair vs Ruby Riott: No Contest – N/A
  • Becky Lynch vs Liv Morgan: Lynch wins via Jacknife Cradle – N/A
  • Bobby Lashley & Jinder Mahal vs Finn Balor: Balor wins via Coup de Grace – * ½
  • Aleister Black & Ricochet vs The Revival: Ricochet wins via 630 Senton – ** 1/2
  • Sasha Banks vs Natalya: Sasha wins via DQ – **
  • Baron Corbin vs Apollo Crews: Corbin wins via End of Days – * ¼
  • Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe: Angle wins via Submission Counter Pinfall – * ¾
  • Last Man Standing: Drew McIntyre vs Dean Ambrose: McIntyre wins via Claymore – ** 1/4

 

Analysis:

We start off with a bad promo from Ronda with 3 mic drops, a lame Beat the Clock challenge…great…Raw is off to a roaring start.

Then we get another real gem with a microphone, ugh, Lio Rush tries to string together a sentence to say that he isn’t cleared so for Finn’s handicap match Jinder will take his place. Now I don’t mind Jinder as much as the rest of the IWC, but I’m not blind enough to not realize Jinder has no build, no heat, and is just a pointless body to eat the pin. Lashley did play Fling the Singh at the end of this travesty, so that was a redeeming factor.

Elias skits in New York, yeah…these are dumb. I completely hate what they’ve been doing with Elias the last month or so. I liked his mini-feud with Jarrett and Road Dogg, and then he’s been in limbo looking like a jabroni.

Now sadly what I consider the best match of the night is next up, and it still wasn’t great. Lots of poorly timed moves, odd camera angles, just general sloppiness made this match more of a chore than it should’ve been. Also the one dimensional way they are portraying Aleister and Ricochet as Kicks and Flips can only last so long before it’s boring. And…I’m bored.

So if you listen to any of the podcasts I’m on, you should know I love Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre. But Samoan Sex Machine and Scottish Psychopath aren’t enough to save this sinking ship. Drew storms out and says nothing new, just rehashes everything he said last week. Roman answers, and the best line of this exchange was Roman saying ” Roman accepts your challenge”, or something like that. Since Drew was playing with the real name paints, Roman drawing the hard line and reciprocating the imagery was perfect. The brawl was fine, but Drew taking the short cut shows a confusion in his character. Mister Hardwork and no short cuts when he came back, has been all about short cuts since he first teamed with Corbin. So I just don’t like the stereotypical heel direction when he was doing well with the previous concept.

Dean wants a Last Man Standing match with Drew. Why? Dean can’t beat Drew and this challenge is received with the malaise of a fart in church. Leaving or not, Dean needs a goddamn point.

I feel like my take on this match may have been hampered by general disdain for the overall show up to this point. The match was fairly solid, but the DQ finish was obvious and when the Samoans showed up I just felt my eyes roll so hard I got Yahtzee. The crap after made Beth look strong, even receiving the YOU STILL GOT IT, chants, but what no one has got, is my attention.

Hart Foundation gets announced as Hall of Fame inductees, basically so we can watch Nattie cry again. For cryin out loud…

Moment of Bliss with Braun and the SNL morons. If I didn’t have to cover this, I would’ve changed the channel to literally anything else. The SNL guys are overacting and stiff in their delivery all at the same time. The attempted jokes are so bad Carlos Mencia wouldn’t steal them and I was so happy when this was over. Alexa was the only decent one in this when she had her cute little evil way of making things official. Also before it gets said, we should be used to celebrities having matches or getting involved in things for WrestleMania. I’m not mad they’re in the match, I’m mad they aren’t funny or talented enough to not just be a walking Cringe Storm.

Baron Corbin Sucks, buy the damn shirt.

Seth Rollins uses other people’s names to try and pop the crowd. Sheesh, and people say Triple H always needs help getting over? Seth is more inept alone than Wes Briscoe, okay maybe not that bad since Seth at least has a formula for decent enough matches. But damn dude, try and get over without name dropping a list longer than Jericho’s 1004 Holds.

The best part of the Joe vs Angle match was the beginning. Joe walks up, they have a few words and he rocks Angle with a headbutt, hearkening back to Angle’s TNA debut when the headbutt roles were flipped. As for the match, Joe carried it to something presentable, but Angle’s farewell tour has been…let’s say, rough.

Triple H comes out to respond to Batista and it was done with more levity than some people expected. But let’s remember the set up for this match was because Trips wouldn’t take Batista’s claim seriously. So in no way, shape or form, should Hunter be taking this seriously when he believes Batista is a washed up quitter who had to beat up an old man to make a point. I fully expect Trips to not take the match seriously at first until Batista fires up and some of ‘The Animal’ comes back, forcing Trips to take it seriously, winning and preserving his career by the skin of his teeth.

Drew and Dean is a worse match than 2 weeks ago when we thought Dean was murdered. Not many weapons were used, Dean pulled himself under the ring, the whole thing was just devoid of suspense or intrigue. At least Drew won.

 

Overall Score: 4/10

Holy lame Groundhog’s Day Batman! I understand the Beat the Clock challenge was a good way to showcase all three women without the risk of either taking a pin or look weak, but ugh. Riott Job needs to get revamped or validated for these to matter even a little. Everything just felt like hollow matches we’ve already seen, somehow with less meaning than the last time and lower quality all around.

Mediocre wrestling and uninspired match participants just killed whatever momentum this show had.

 

SmackDown Live Ratings:

  • SmackDown Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs Charlotte: Charlotte wins via Figure 8 – *** ½TITLE CHANGE!!!
  • Kurt Angle vs AJ Styles: AJ wins via DQ – N/A
  • Tag Team Gauntlet: ****
  • Xavier Woods & Big E vs The Club: New Day wins via Up Up Down Down
  • Xavier Woods & Big E vs Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura:  New Day wins via Up Up Down Down
  • Xavier Woods & Big E vs The Bar: Xavier wins via Roll-Up
  • Xavier Woods & Big E vs The Usos: New Day wins via forfeit
  • Xavier Woods & Big E vs Rowan & Daniel Bryan: New Day win via Count-Out

 

Analysis:

I like the opening. Even though Gauntlet matches are getting a little old, Vince’s concept of put up or shut up was nice. I also liked New Day pointing out that Daniel Bryan is a hypocrite. Good emotion from New Day, Daniel played the bratty heel well and Vince was actually really good.

Charlotte gets handed a match – wait – a match against Asuka – wait- a title match! Now this was a pretty damn good match, if there weren’t two commercial breaks and that picture in picture thing, the match might’ve ranked higher. Charlotte had a level of desperation and Asuka was a little quicker and frenetic with her movements compared to their match at last year’s WrestleMania. Not gonna lie, I expected Mandy Rose or Sonya Deville to interfere, but Charlotte winning is generally better. SmackDown’s women’s division is pretty depleted and awful with Becky and Charlotte on Raw, so instead of struggling to try and make an opponent for Asuka, give everyone a damn good match and put it on a perceived top talent. Maybe this leads to the Mania match being a unification match, but honestly Asuka is off the hook. People can’t be upset she lost the title when they poke fun at the fact that Asuka’s reign has been about as uninspired as Shinsuke’s first US reign.

Kurt and AJ has a small exchange before Randy Orton pops in and RKO’s AJ. So technically, Kurt loses this match unless WWE changes it to a no contest, but this was a fine way to have Kurt rescue AJ by Olympic Slamming Orton and the two fan favorites standing tall.

Miz is soooo damn good. The match didn’t need a gimmick, but Falls Count Anywhere gives Shane something to jump off of and with how this all played out Miz got to look kind of badass. Maybe he tapped into his Marine character a little. ALSO SAnitY was on TV for a solid enough chunk of time. So that’s good for them.

Well now, I love how hot New Day started things off. They dispatched of Gallows and Anderson in what felt like 2 minutes and was more than ready for Rusev and Shinsuke. Rusev and Shinsuke do get in some solid offense and look good, so at least they haven’t gotten fully relegated to trash, but New Day gets the best of Shinsuke and hits the Up Up Down Down. The Bar coming out in the third position was really great since they’ve had close battles at 100%, so New Day would have to dig deep with some damage on themselves. Hard fought match where Big E took a hell of a beating, but knocking Cesaro off the apron and rolling up Sheamus was enough to edge out the win. The angry Bar puts E through a table and then we hear The Usos music. Usos stay very true to character and a beaten New Day looks up while they grab mics and say they already have their respect and Kofi deserves the spot, so they forfeit the match. Thanks to the small promo and the friendship/respect the Usos have for them, New Day was able to get a small breather before Rowan and Bryan come out. Though the finish was a little goofy, with everything New Day and Kofi have been through, the emotional investment was there. Not an overly solid announce table on top of a 6’8″ behemoth, keeping him down for a 10 count is believable, when you already have the crowd bought in. Rowan could’ve been covered in Teletubbies and we all would’ve just been happy to see New Day finally overcome the odds for Kofi.

 

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Great show! Surprising title match, that ended up being a quality match, story advancements for all of the main SmackDown matches at WrestleMania and the feel good moment at the end with New Day granting Kofi his well deserved shot at the belt. This was one of those shows where everything felt like it had weight. Plus the face locker room surrounding the ring to congratulate New Day and even Byron Saxton basically saying “screw this, I’m gonna celebrate too” was a nice way to cap off how much it meant. Hell Asuka was seen around the TV with the faces, she just lost her title, but supporting Kofi outweighed her own disappointment.

Little things really helped make this something special, and then getting the big pay offs really made this feel like a big special road to WrestleMania.


Powered by RedCircle


Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Opinion

Greg DeMarco’s 2024 WWE Royal Rumble Reaction

It’s the Royal Rumble! A favorite of many fans, the Rumble kicks off the Road To WrestleMania. Greg DeMarco is here with his live reactions to the event!

Published

on

WWE Royal Rumble 2024 Results

It’s the Royal Rumble! A favorite of many fans, the Rumble kicks off the Road To WrestleMania. Greg DeMarco is here with his live reactions to the event!

The WWE Royal Rumble is upon us, and while the Men’s Royal Rumble Match isn’t for the World Heavyweight Championship like I suggested, it’s still the most anticipated event of the year.

Why? The Unknown.

That’s right–in this age of the internet (usually incorrectly) telling us everything it possibly can about what is going to happen in the world of wrestling, the Royal Rumble stands out because despite what we’re told (or, more importantly, what we choose to listen to), the event is always full of fun and surprises.


Check out Steven Mitchell’s 2024 WWE Royal Rumble Results & Review!


Women’s Royal Rumble Match

  • They really are driving home the “main event WrestleMania” point this year–strengthens my thought that women will main event Night 1. Triple H would catch a ton of heat if he keeps women out for the third straight year.
  • NAOMI! Good to see her back, and the emotional response she had.
  • Love Michael Cole calling out Naomi’s time in TNA, and recognizing her as a former Knockouts Champion.
  • Entering #3 doesn’t bode well for Bayley. I honestly don’t think she is gonna win.
  • JORDYNNE GRACE! I saw the reports earlier today. This is a much bigger deal than Mickie James, because Mickie was a returning legend.
  • “TNA HAS A WEAPON!” So glad to have Pat McAfee on the call.
  • Honestly, Jordynne Grace belongs in WWE.

  • Asuka comes in, and they sell the surprise of Bayley. STORYTELLING, people!
  • Something tells me when we get Kairi Sane in there, The Kabuki Warriors will eliminate Bayley.
  • Ivy Nile enters, and I immediately want to see her go toe-to-toe with Jordynne Grace.
  • What if they pulled some crazy sh*t and had Jordynne Grace win???
  • Just step through the ropes next time, Bianca.
  • When I first saw the C4 clock, I thought I would get tired of it But I am already used to it.
  • Here’s Kairi Sane, time to set the plan into motion!
  • This crowd does not appear to like Tegan Nox.
  • Welp, there goes my idea o Asuka and Kairi eliminating Bayley.
  • That was a hell of a way for Jordynne Grace to go out.

  • I think Michael Cole secretly loves to call a Meteora.
  • There’s a reason Maxxine Dupri doesn’t wrestle much.
  • That tandem Code Red was very Young Buckish. And that’s not a compliment.
  • Hair,…gear…this might be the messiest Royal Rumble yet.
  • Ah, here comes the winner, Becky Lynch (I am calling Becky eliminates Bayley to win her second Royal Rumble).
  • LOVE the scoreboard of time in the Rumble for selected wrestlers.

  • R-TRUTH?!?! (Funny story, it was Truth’s spot that Nia Jax took in 2019.)
  • If you push Mia Yim, she’ll take it further than you could imagine.
  • “How is everybody the most athletic person on Earth?” – Pat McAfee
  • Surprising that Roxanne Perez, at #27, is the first NXT entrant. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Tiffany Stratton of Blair Davenport since we only have 3 more to come.
  • Amazing reaction for Jade Cargill. Give her time, she’s definitely going to be a huge star.
  • JUST GIVE HER TIME.
  • Seriously, Nia Jax had to help Jade eliminate her–A LOT.

  • Greg Was Wrong: It is indeed Tiffy Time in the Royal Rumble.
  • Back to Jade–she is insanely over.
  • I know it won’t be, but this should be Tiffany Stratton’s official main roster call-up.
  • Liv Morgan returns at #30, and good for Liv. She nearly went wire-to-wire last year.
  • Liv Morgan: “Thank you!” Pat McAfee: “No problem.”
  • Tiffany Stratton eliminating Roxanne Perez is, to me, an invitation for a match with them on Raw this Monday.
  • Still love the scoreboard as Naomi passes an hour.
  • The camera is catching a lot of in-ring communications right now.
  • And Jade Cargill eliminates my pick to win. Bye Becky.
  • Jade Cargill in the final three of the Royal Rumble (with Liv Morgan and Bayley) is huge for her.
  • Hell of a debut for Jade Cargill.
  • And a huge win for Bayley.

Winner of the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble Match: Bayley (eliminating Liv Morgan to win)

Fatal 4-Way Match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Randy Orton vs AJ Styles vs. LA Knight vs. Roman Reigns (champion, with Paul Heyman)

  • Glad to see AJ Styles got his tights back. Pants AJ Styles (but still with the football gloves) was not working. Not just bring the beard back to your face Allen–the think beard also ain’t working.

  • Pat McAfee campaigning for Roman Reigns to be given at least a 26% chance is amazing.
  • Say what you want about LA Knight, he’s a damn star and totally belongs in this match.
  • Roman completely sandbagged Randy on the table drop. I don’t think it was on purpose, but he definitely didn’t jump.
  • Roman Reigns is very much like Gunther in that he does the simple things SO WELL, like a jumping clothesline. That’s how you do it.
  • Yes, I compared Roman Reigns to Gunther. Don’t @ me, I’m right.

  • RKO City, Bitch.
  • Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here’s Solo! (At some point, Solo will get tired of saving Roman’s ass.)
  • Solo ’bout to go through that barricade.
  • Solo indeed went through that barricade.

  • Yes, we had the Solo interference mid-match, but honestly in the end Roman won that clean.

Winner, #ANDSTILL your Undisputed WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns

WWE United States Championship: Kevin Owens vs. Logan Paul (champion)

  • Kevin Owens wearing Zubaz shorts in the Performance Center fight makes me very happy.
  • Logan Paul talking about a full time run, and now he’s putting on size.
  • Logan’s headband didn’t list very long.
  • I honestly hate it when modern-day wrestlers bust out a crotch chop.
  • If you were watching the Royal Rumble and didn’t know who Logan Paul was, you’d just assume he was a pro wrestler. That says everything you need to know about how good he is at this.
  • ANOTHER crotch chop. Now we’re at 2 too many.

  • Cue the “Better Buckshot Than Hangman” tweets. But they might be right.
  • I love the idea of a Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and Grayson Waller stable.
  • C’mon, there’s NO WAY Ryan Tran could see the knucks on Kevin Owens’ hand given his placement. It’s the little things.
  • Finish here tells me we’ll see KO vs. Logan Paul again. I’d guess on TV, if not in Australia.

Winner by disqualification, #ANDSTILL WWE United States Champion: Logan Paul

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

  • Jey Uso coming at #1 was expected thanks to the internet reports. But I still think Jimmy should be #1 and Jey #2, for the reaction shots on Jimmy.
  • Grayson Waller talking himself to the ring is perfect.
  • “No Yeet!” Grayson is a brilliant performer. I’d make a Roddy Piper comparison here, but y’all would get at mad at me.
  • Good to have Andrade back in WWE. Great reaction for him when the mask came off.

  • SmackDown superstar Carmelo Hayes! I really really really hope Trick is also in this match, just for the chants.
  • Melo pointed to the sign, C’mon, man.
  • Do you send Andrade to Smackdown, or do you send him to Raw and let him do his own thing?
  • Oh goody, Karrion Kross is here. Yay.
  • (Yes, that’s sarcasm you read.)
  • Dominik Mysterio is so good. Give him time, he’s going to be a huge star.

  • The Royal Rumble was a great place for the Apple Spot.
  • Here comes Bob Lashley–please just eliminate Karrion Kross.
  • Lashley wearing the WrestleMania white gear more than 2 months early.
  • Austin Theory still gets his concussion effect entrance, despite it being the Rumble.
  • What if–hear me out now–Finn Balor wins the Royal Rumble to get the shot at Seth Rollins, and Priest uses his briefcase to make that match a triple threat at ‘Mania?
  • I know he didn’t, but it sure looked like Jimmy was swerving while he drives in that interaction with Gunther.
  • Kofi did tell us the Rumble Magic wasn’t happening anymore.
  • Give me Ivar vs Gunther!
  • Bron Breakker is a star. It’s inevitable.
  • Of course Omos would be in the Rumble. Good to see MVP on my TV as well.
  • “I didn’t know humans came that big!” – Pat McAfee
  • I half think Pat McAfee didn’t know he was entering the Rumble.
  • Nice moment for Bron Breakker eliminating Omos. WrestleMania match?
  • R-Truth trying to get Dominik (Tom or Nick?) Mysterio to tag him in is brilliant.
  • DOM MADE THE TAG!!!
  • “And now R-Truth is the legal man.” – thank you Michael Cole.
  • Michael Cole delivers multiple TNA references tonight, along with a Dolph Ziggler reference. God Bless Michael Cole.
  • Imagine for a second that this was CM Punk’s actual WWE return.
  • The reaction to Drew McIntyre’s entrance is a reminder that they don’t actually need him.
  • Sami Zayn enters at #30, also known as “Not The Rock.”

  • In the ring, Drew McIntyre is amazing. Just keep the microphone away from him. (And stop the damn counting!)
  • And there goes my choice for the Men’s Rumble!
  • Love having both Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in the press boxes watching to see who wins.
  • Punk kinda looks like Chris Jericho in there. Seriously.
  • Between Punk and Cody, Cody is the right choice. I really don’t want to watch Punk right now–he needs to hit the cardio, and hard. Given Seth Rollins’ injury and Punk’s conditioning, WWE would be smart to make the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 40 a multi-man match.

Winner of the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble: Cody Rhodes


Overall thoughts on the 2024 WWE Royal Rumble

For at least the second straight year, the Men’s Royal Rumble Match was kinda disappointing. Not the result–that’s fine. But the match itself. It just wasn’t nearly as exciting as the Women’s. Of the four matches, I would place it 4th in terms of enjoyment.

Great moments for both Bayley and Cody Rhodes. Logan Paul continually shows that he deserves to be considered a pro wrestler, not a celebrity who is wrestling. Pat McAfee is a joy on commentary. Jordynne Grace is a WWE Superstar, regardless of what company she is signed to. Bron Breakker is a star.CM Punk is very out of shape. Cody Rhodes is about to become THE guy, and he deserves it.

Overall I give the event a thumbs up, but they have to do something about the Men’s Royal Rumble Match moving forward.


Powered by RedCircle


Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
Continue Reading

Opinion

WWE Raw Heads To Netflix: What Does It Mean?

Monumental news drops as WWE RAW is moving to Netflix. Is it truly a game changing move? Greg DeMarco analyzes this shift for the TV wrestling business.

Published

on

WWE Logo Metalic

Monumental news drops as WWE RAW is moving to Netflix. Is it truly a game changing move? Greg DeMarco analyzes this shift for the TV wrestling business.

Being a wee little kid in the 80s, I am “lucky enough” to remember having 3 TV channels, and my dad explaining what an 8-track is, how shocked I was when I say a laser disc for the first time, when I bought a 6 CD changer, installed my own car stereo, and all the way up to the fact that I have now been watching WWE pay-per-view/premium live events on the WWE Network and Peacock for 10 years. Hell, in the same month (February 2014) I signed up for the WWE Network, cut the cord to drop cable and got Sling TV. I have since moved onto YouTube TV which is highly recommended.

Over the last two years the NFL has put Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, simulcast to various streaming services, and less than 2 weeks ago put a playoff game exclusively on streaming when a Wildcard Weekend showdown between the Chiefs and Dolphins was only shown on Peacock.

And now it’s fully permeated into pro wrestling.

WWE and AEW are both in the midst of a very important time on the business side, with all of their TV rights up for grabs. The first domino fell when SmackDown On FOX became SmackDown on USA Network, and soon after we learned that WWE NXT was moving to broadcast television and joining The CW (which is also rebranding, but just to CW).

The AEW suite of programming that includes Collision, Rampage, and their most successful show Dynamite is up for renewal with Warner Bros/Discovery, and Tony Khan has been optimistic about the relationship and potentially an increase in rights fees.

That brings us to Tuesday morning, and the likely groundbreaking WWE announcement that Raw is moving to Netflix, starting in January 2025. Triple H tweeted that they’re changing the game, and TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro (who knows a thing or two about shifts in media consumption) used the word “transformative” in his statement, and I really think he couldn’t be more right.

But what does it all mean?

Wrestling Remains A Strong Media Product

I have been claiming this for over a year now. As many online will cite a decline in TV viewership for both WWE and AEW, the TV product has been a strong value to networks. Even in dropping SmackDown, FOX themselves said they didn’t pump enough resources into the show, and that the advertising return wasn’t what they wanted. That doesn’t mean the product (TV value, we’re not talking about creative here) isn’t strong. It’s so strong that USA Network picked up SmackDown for $280 million per year, giving WWE an increase over the FOX deal. CW is paying $20-$25 million annually for NXT, and now Netflix is paying $500 million for RAW.

Why? Because wrestling isn’t just a strong media product, it’s consistent. And that is key.

Look at this quote from Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria:

“Raw is the best of sports entertainment, blending great characters and storytelling with live action 52 weeks a year and we’re thrilled to be in this long-term partnership with WWE.”

Now cross reference that with a comment from CW President Dennis Miller from back when the CW/NXT deal was announced:

“We are thrilled to welcome the WWE brand into the CW Sports portfolio as they play an integral role in our mission to bring live sporting events to the network year-round.”

What do those statements have in common? The year-round, 52-week nature of wrestling programming. It’s an unbeatable value for networks. It’s cheaper than a deal with a major sports league, and it’s not finite. Wrestling joins news, talk, and sports talk as the only year-round programming available to networks. And WWE and AEW have shows that essentially always land in the Top 5 after you factor out live sports. You can’t beat it.

What Does This Mean for Netflix?

Don’t get it twisted, this is also a huge leap for Netflix. Prior to the WWE Raw deal, Netflix has only experimented with live events, streaming the live Chris Rock “Selective Outrage” special, and showing The Netflix Cup live (a golf event featuring athletes from their F1 series “Drive To Survive” and their golf series “Full Swing).

WWE is the perfect partner for Netflix as it gets into live programming. It’s sports entertainment: sports like programming (which Netflix has done) that focuses on storytelling (which Netflix has obviously done). And no one does it better than WWE. It’s essentially plug-and-play for Netflix, the perfect solution for their live programming aspirations.

The perfect solution that they were willing to pay $5 billion for.

What Does This Mean for AEW?

The biggest risk to an AEW renewal with Warner Bros Discovery was WBD picking up WWE Raw–and that risk has been eliminated by Netflix. Don’t discount that fact–Netflix did Tony Khan a huge favor by throwing $500 million per at WWE. The path is clear for AEW to remain on the Turner networks.

But at what price?

I know I usually write as if I have all the answers, but I have zero idea either way on this one. WBD no longer has any other options if it wants to keep wrestling (except for TNA, who recently expressed a desire to be on a bigger network), and AEW (at least, Dynamite) is a weekly Top 5 program for them on Wednesdays, on cable.

On the other hand, AEW doesn’t exactly have another network begging for their services. The reason WWE could get a yearly increase for Raw, SmackDown, and NXT is because it was truly a bidding war. Unless Tony Khan gets another network involved, any threat of walking away from a deal doesn’t really hold water.

So if I were a betting man (and who would ever bet on this) I would expect an announcement of a renewal for AEW and WBD relatively soon. We may not know the terms of the deal, I will take a shot in the dark and say that AEW gets a small increase (not the “nearly double” that had been reported last year).

Regardless of the increase (or not), given AEW’s recent attendance challenges, this likely renewal would have to be viewed as a win for the company.


Personally, this is simply an amazing time to be a fan. We’ve seen WWE go from one live TV show per week with Monday Night Raw, through the Monday Night Wars, the addition of SmackDown and later NXT, to being this global juggernaut that is commanding half-a-billion dollars per year for Raw. I also think this makes Raw the flagship once again. All of this comes after Vince McMahon is largely out of power, Triple H has taken over creative (and holds a pretty good success rate so far), and the company was sold to Endeavor, and merged with the UFC as a business entity under the TKO banner.

If you know me, you know I am a huge follower of the business side of the wrestling business. I often care less about WHAT wrestling companies do, but HOW they do it. I have always gravitated towards that, since middle school. And for the past near 24 months, I have been like a kid in a candy store.

The Peacock deal for the WWE Network runs out in 2026, right? The fun never stops!


Powered by RedCircle


Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
Continue Reading

Sports

Entertainment

Sports Entertainment

Buy A Chairshot T-Shirt!

Chairshot Radio Network

Trending

WP Twitter Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com