FINALLY NEW TV DEAL W/STREAMING AND PPV at a cost (p138)

[dreidemy]

Stream Rampage on Youtube

[Hayabusa]

The quarterly specials would've been better if each one had a theme. They were in late night slots so it's not like there was much pressure to deliver a rating and they could've experimented.

One could have like two Survivor Series style matches, one men and one women. One could be a one-hour gauntlet match for a shot at a title. One could be an international showcase featuring AEW/CMLL stars or AEW/NJPW stars. One could be a one-night tournament between four promising indy wrestlers for an AEW contract, sort of like the original NXT perhaps each with a endorser in the form of an AEW talent.

[Lizuka #BLM]

I feel like they would have had to actively try to have made Battle of the Belts more useless than it was.

[daaave]

Oct 16, 2024 13:50:37 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I feel like they would have had to actively try to have made Battle of the Belts more useless than it was.

It felt like a rib WBD were playing on TK

[toodarkmark]

I was having a bad day, but pg. 138 on is a really nice read, and made me feel better.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Oct 16, 2024 13:17:08 GMT -5 Chiral said:

I remember when I heard about the TV specials being announced I pictured 4 PPV tier cards on Saturday nights, big TV events that you HAD to tune into that would supplement and be big events between the big 4 PPVs.

Then we got Battle of the Belts, with sub-Rampage tier cards put together at the last minute, and despite the name featured approximately 2 title changes over its 12 or so specials.

I remember they were going to be like Mini-PPVs, then the report came out that they'd only be an hour long, something that Khan himself seemed to be blindsided by, he was expecting two hour specials

Once that happened, this show immediately got shoved to the side, it sucks because I remember the initial advertisements being hype, but the second it got revealed it was an hour it was over lol

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Oct 16, 2024 15:58:55 GMT -5 toodarkmark said:

I was having a bad day, but pg. 138 on is a really nice read, and made me feel better.

Hey welcome back man!

[Final Countdown Jones]

Battle of the Belts had a couple really crazy matches on them, andh onestly they should have leaned on that front. Insane matches you can't sell a PPV on but which can go super hard. Takeshita vs. Claudio was probably their peak for a reason.

[Dub H]

Oct 16, 2024 15:58:55 GMT -5 toodarkmark said:

I was having a bad day, but pg. 138 on is a really nice read, and made me feel better.

Hoping you keep feeling better!

[Mozenrath]

Oct 16, 2024 13:50:37 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I feel like they would have had to actively try to have made Battle of the Belts more useless than it was.

I genuinely can't recall, did even ONE title change ever happen on one of these shows?

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Oct 16, 2024 10:06:46 GMT -5 Zone Was Wrong said:

Now what am I going to forget to watch when my D&D night gets called off because someone has plans they didn't tell me about 2 hours before we were supposed to play?

see that's why don't schedule D&D on weekends... people make plans on weekends... even shut in nerds!

[sassafrastaz]

Oct 16, 2024 19:34:07 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Oct 16, 2024 13:50:37 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I feel like they would have had to actively try to have made Battle of the Belts more useless than it was.

I genuinely can't recall, did even ONE title change ever happen on one of these shows?

Technically three. Only one where the actual title holder lost the belt.

Sammy Guevara beat Dustin Rhodes at the first BotB for the interim TNT Championship when Cody Rhodes (who was the TNT Champ) was out (for a week) with Covid-19. Guevara then beat Scorpio Sky to win the TNT Championship again at the next BotB. The only other championship win came when Dustin and the Von Erichs beat the Undisputed Kingdom for the vacant ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championship at the most recent BotB.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Oct 16, 2024 16:21:09 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

Battle of the Belts had a couple really crazy matches on them, andh onestly they should have leaned on that front. Insane matches you can't sell a PPV on but which can go super hard. Takeshita vs. Claudio was probably their peak for a reason.

YEah, I mean the original Saturday night's main event was only an hour long too... treat it like that with matches that are gonna be great but not necessarily PPV sellers. Then it gets the reputation that's what it is, and hell maybe the next time you run the match it could sell a PPV.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Oct 16, 2024 21:21:46 GMT -5 sassafrastaz said:

Oct 16, 2024 19:34:07 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I genuinely can't recall, did even ONE title change ever happen on one of these shows?

Technically three. Only one where the actual title holder lost the belt.

Sammy Guevara beat Dustin Rhodes at the first BotB for the interim TNT Championship when Cody Rhodes (who was the TNT Champ) was out (for a week) with Covid-19. Guevara then beat Scorpio Sky to win the TNT Championship again at the next BotB. The only other championship win came when Dustin and the Von Erichs beat the Undisputed Kingdom for the vacant ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championship at the most recent BotB.

If a show only matters when it involves Sammy Guevara, does it ever really matter?

[markymark]

[Hayabusa]

Oct 26, 2024 10:26:07 GMT -5 markymark said:

I think a large percentage of serious AEW fans over here watch on Triller anyway, due to ITV airing episodes two days late. I've never watched an episode of AEW on ITV since very early on.

For casual wrestling fans and channel surfers, ITV is the best choice for AEW to reach new eyes since even ITV4 is free-to-air (imagine FOX in America had FOX, FOX2, FOX3 and FOX4 all on free-to-air and AEW was on FOX4). They could replace WWE on TNT Sport, which would likely be more lucrative, but it'd be behind an expensive paywall. ITV + Triller is the best strategy for the UK and has obviously worked out well as evidenced by the turnouts when AEW is over here.

[Lance Uppercut]

Oct 16, 2024 13:41:13 GMT -5 Hayabusa said:

The quarterly specials would've been better if each one had a theme. They were in late night slots so it's not like there was much pressure to deliver a rating and they could've experimented.

One could have like two Survivor Series style matches, one men and one women. One could be a one-hour gauntlet match for a shot at a title. One could be an international showcase featuring AEW/CMLL stars or AEW/NJPW stars. One could be a one-night tournament between four promising indy wrestlers for an AEW contract, sort of like the original NXT perhaps each with a endorser in the form of an AEW talent.

I do enjoy Royal Rampage and would be sad to see that go

[Hayabusa]

I wonder if WWE's new attempt to take control of the indies could put an end to the idea of AEW Dark returning? As someone could impress on Dark only for WWE to give them a WWEID and park them in one of the newly affiliated indies/schools.

[lucas_lee]

Oct 30, 2024 12:15:27 GMT -5 Hayabusa said:

I wonder if WWE's new attempt to take control of the indies could put an end to the idea of AEW Dark returning? As someone could impress on Dark only for WWE to give them a WWEID and park them in one of the newly affiliated indies/schools.

They got a shot at inflating their bargaining chip. I think things will be fine. Let's see how it's implemented first before it's all doom and gloom. Let's not forget the UK indy scene got destroyed by COVID and the majority of it's big names being pests and weirdos before that's brought up.

[Feargus McReddit]

Oct 26, 2024 11:03:44 GMT -5 Hayabusa said:

Oct 26, 2024 10:26:07 GMT -5 markymark said:

I think a large percentage of serious AEW fans over here watch on Triller anyway, due to ITV airing episodes two days late. I've never watched an episode of AEW on ITV since very early on.

For casual wrestling fans and channel surfers, ITV is the best choice for AEW to reach new eyes since even ITV4 is free-to-air (imagine FOX in America had FOX, FOX2, FOX3 and FOX4 all on free-to-air and AEW was on FOX4). They could replace WWE on TNT Sport, which would likely be more lucrative, but it'd be behind an expensive paywall. ITV + Triller is the best strategy for the UK and has obviously worked out well as evidenced by the turnouts when AEW is over here.

From what I heard, it does really well on ITV4 which isn't a high bar to cross but considering like you said Triller is just easier and AEW Plus, whilst flawed, is actually pretty good at rewarding the customer at times with advance ticket links and occasional free shows, the fact it has done that with those odds is pretty good. It is like being one of the highest rated shows on UK TV Gold (or whatever it's called now, U+Gold?) but having people genuinely want to tune into something on a smaller channel in 2024 in the UK is pretty much cause for TV executives to spend a lot at London pubs on a Friday.

Oct 30, 2024 12:27:38 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

Oct 30, 2024 12:15:27 GMT -5 Hayabusa said:

I wonder if WWE's new attempt to take control of the indies could put an end to the idea of AEW Dark returning? As someone could impress on Dark only for WWE to give them a WWEID and park them in one of the newly affiliated indies/schools.

They got a shot at inflating their bargaining chip. I think things will be fine. Let's see how it's implemented first before it's all doom and gloom. Let's not forget the UK indy scene got destroyed by COVID and the majority of it's big names being pests and weirdos before that's brought up.

I don't know, as someone who was watching the scene at the time, I feel taking away WWE's big part in all of that just because SpeakingOut was a bigger deal in terms of what was going on in wrestling promotions in the country is a weird thing to do just because of that. OTT was doing an entire angle around the fact they couldn't get their tag champions back (Moustache Mountain) for literally months and Toni Storm was booked and taken off so many shows, she was probably going to get taken off the match she was booked for the National Stadium if it weren't for COVID. And that's just with the only promotion booking those talents in Ireland.