NWA May Have Just Snorted Away CW TV Deal

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

Nov 7, 2023 17:43:38 GMT -5 markymark said:

"Samantha Starr, one of Billy Corgan top females ,was on the PTR podcast a week or two ago talking about the TV deal. She claims that CW had spent most of the last year filming a reality TV show about the promotion and it was nearing completion, so they clearly had more than simple agreement."

I feel like Billy might not have been honest with talent or may have been misleading them, because even a new show being greenlit like that would have been picked up by entertainment trades and there was no word of that whatsoever. It was pointed out in another thread that maybe Billy was going to buy time, which seems more realistic to me at this point. Who knows. Very strange.

[MiLB Fan]

[Billy] never knew the rules.
Hung down with the freaks and ghouls.

[HMARK Center]

Nov 7, 2023 17:47:01 GMT -5 booty2shoes said:

Nov 7, 2023 17:13:52 GMT -5 Feargus McReddit said:

Another report said that CW were scouting many wrestling promotions to fill the spots so I guess it could be argued WWE made the best argument and Corgan’s mistake was being the one to leak that they were apparently the top choice when they very much weren’t.

Some people are asking Mike Johnson (of PWInsider) on his Facebook page about the NWA's deal in light of the WWE announcement, and he had an interesting response... basically saying that he never reported the NWA deal as being a real thing, other people did. It's hilarious if there never was a CW/NWA deal to begin with, and newz sitez just ran with it anyway and nobody ever reported the true story. Did the CW ever actually announce anything about a deal with NWA? Or was it all just wrestling sites?

There wouldn't have been an announcement from CW, I think, and it's possible that newz sites ran with the idea off hearsay, but man, if NWA actually misled people in some way, that's a much bigger story.

[The Captain]

TBH, the CW is probably a downgrade over USA at this point. Though it sounds like WWE knew that and got way more money out of CW than they would've from the 'Cock.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Nov 7, 2023 18:53:21 GMT -5 The Captain said:

TBH, the CW is probably a downgrade over USA at this point. Though it sounds like WWE knew that and got way more money out of CW than they would've from the 'Cock.

Meh it depends. NXT got the money. CW is in more households than USA. CW is backing to bring all those viewers which would make them easily the #1 show on the network period. The question becomes if the fans make the change very well or more jump on to watch.

[THE FVNKER]

Im no TV exec but I don't think that these types of deals just get pivoted on that quickly, even in situations like this. NXT was likely always the wrestling content CW was going to show given the profile of the WWE/UFC company.

I can't imagine that with millions of dollars at stake the deal goes:

- NWA has/is negotiating CW TV deal.
- NWA does dumb skit on show no one sees.
- In a week's worth of time (give or take) CW has now had discussions with all parties involved in NWA, attorneys and all, officially renigs on the deal, opens lines of communication back up for content from other wrestling companies, contacted whoever sets up deals at WWE and gets all that done, so much so that it's officially announced on Twitter with a graphic.

Maybe I'm wrong.. but what do we all think is the likely story here..

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Nov 7, 2023 19:36:14 GMT -5 Can you afford to pay me, Gah said:

Nov 7, 2023 18:53:21 GMT -5 The Captain said:

TBH, the CW is probably a downgrade over USA at this point. Though it sounds like WWE knew that and got way more money out of CW than they would've from the 'Cock.

Meh it depends. NXT got the money. CW is in more households than USA. CW is backing to bring all those viewers which would make them easily the #1 show on the network period. The question becomes if the fans make the change very well or more jump on to watch.

CW is a broadcast station, USA is a Cable Station. That alone is worth more. National exposure to every household is better than a cable subscription where USA is either part of a package or is a paid add on.

You add in the revenue and its a win-win for WWE.

USA sounds like it has more prestige, given that its been around forever but CW reaches more homes and will pay more for the content.

The best analogy is the recent CW TV deal with the Atlantic Coast Conference. By becoming a broadcast partner for the ACC, they replaced ACC's traditional syndicated/web broadcasted sporting events with a national network that may be 5th to NBC, Fox, CBS, and ABC, is still a better option than having to get a separate subscription or have to use your guide to find what channel its airing on. Doing so gave the ACC a 2nd National broadcaster with ABC being the primary and ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ACC Network as their Cable networks.

Another college example is the Big Ten Conference, having gone from a TV deal with Fox/ABC/FS1/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/Big Ten Network to Fox/NBC/CBS/FS1/Peacock/Big Ten Network, taking them from two broadcast networks and five cable networks to three broadcast networks, two cable networks, and one streaming partner, this change allowed for 3 National TV slots a week for football on 3 different networks minimum a week, two cable networks, one a large sports broadcaster and the other a network dedicated to their own content and a streaming platform creating a third broadcasting source of revenue.

The CW deal allowed the ACC an extra revenue stream, but the Fox/NBC/CBS deal allowed the Big Ten to make 100 million per school based on network revenue.

It truly does matter. Fox was huge for WWE but it flopped for Fox, yet WWE will be rich off of it.

[Urethra Franklin]

SRS reported this afternoon that the WWE sources he spoke to were under the impression that the NWA deal is off.

[Rave]

Straight out of the Heyman playbook.

[cjb01: Limited Edition Item!]

Nov 7, 2023 21:48:29 GMT -5 Urethra Franklin said:

SRS reported this afternoon that the WWE sources he spoke to were under the impression that the NWA deal is off.

Two possible things happened here from what I can gather.

Either Corgan lied about the NWA ever going to CW in the first place and there was never a deal concretely in place

Or Corgan had an NWA Deal in place and that Cocaine Segment destroyed it, and that is under the assumption CW was going to take on both them and NXT at the same time

Either way, my take on Corgan being the one of if not the worst wrestling promoter of the last few decades stands lmfao. It's impressive how much he has tanked a brand that was already in the ground...

[Banjo Is Broken]

Nov 7, 2023 18:04:50 GMT -5 Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast said:

[Feargus McReddit]

Nov 7, 2023 19:36:14 GMT -5 Can you afford to pay me, Gah said:

Nov 7, 2023 18:53:21 GMT -5 The Captain said:

TBH, the CW is probably a downgrade over USA at this point. Though it sounds like WWE knew that and got way more money out of CW than they would've from the 'Cock.

Meh it depends. NXT got the money. CW is in more households than USA. CW is backing to bring all those viewers which would make them easily the #1 show on the network period. The question becomes if the fans make the change very well or more jump on to watch.

I think that’s the big thing with it. Best thing that can happen is that NXT’s the top show on the network and it becomes what Raw was to USA, the only real reason to watch, basically making itself almost cancel proof. It’d be different from the FOX deal where it felt like WWE sold them a false bill of goods.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Billy Corgan makes Dixie look like a competent promoter.

Billy, if you're reading this, I want you to think about that.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Nov 7, 2023 15:40:48 GMT -5 Feargus McReddit said:

Nov 7, 2023 15:39:07 GMT -5 Natural Born Farmer said:

Hilarious if true.

But as dumb as it was to give the segment the green light, was it so egregious that The CW can back out of an agreed to and announced deal because of it?

Sure the NWA had already started making some investments in production and promotion in anticipation of it.  Feels more like the CW would have to pay them to go away at that point than just being able to say "changed our minds".

They could have some kind of morality clause or anything like it that would have been more than enough of an excuse to scrap the deal.

Probably. Violating the morality clause is how TSN got rid of Monday Night Raw with no legal penalty of any kind.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

I heard 'Disarm' on Spotify and just thought this is the same dude running a wrestling promotion 30 years later.

[raymondo316]

[chrom]

8 figures for The NWA? You're pulling my leg

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Nov 8, 2023 11:22:37 GMT -5 chrom said:

8 figures for The NWA? You're pulling my leg

It seems reasonable when you consider that WWE and AEW make much more than that on their deals.

[markymark]

Haus of Wrestling has learned that Corgan withdrew from those close to him yesterday and did not want to discuss the situation. As we reported over the weekend, it was Corgan’s idea to do the Father James Mitchell segment at NWA Samhain, which resulted in The CW being inundated with negative social media messages about the spot. One source we spoke with at WWE gave us the impression that talks with The CW accelerated following the incident. They went on to say, “No segment ever done in wrestling has had that severe of consequences to the promotion than the Samhain Coke Spot.”

Haus of Wrestling has also heard from talent within NWA since our report expressing frustration with Corgan’s current leadership. In the past, Dave Lagana and Pat Kenney were names that Corgan leaned on to help with the NWA’s creative process and general communication with talent. Kenney is still with the promotion, but following a stroke he suffered last year, he was moved more into a talent relations role. He is viewed as second in charge next to Billy but is not at every TV taping. One source described him as the “Johnny Ace of the NWA” and as someone you only talk to if you are in trouble or getting signed. Billy is in charge of contract offers and creative.

Due to Corgan’s busy schedule touring with The Smashing Pumpkins, some feel he is unavailable to relay his creative ideas between shows. We heard from multiple people who said they do not know what will happen with their booking at NWA tapings until the day of the show, sometimes as close to an hour before filming. One source we spoke with was empathetic to Corgan’s struggle to balance his music and pro wrestling careers, but they are hopeful he puts a team of creative people around him to help filter his ideas.

Haus of Wrestling was also told that several NWA contracts are set to come up in June and that Corgan intends to start conversations to re-sign many of them in February. Some of those talents are frustrated by Corgan’s leadership and are already looking into other places they can work when their deals are done in hopes of not having to re-sign. WWE announcing a deal to bring NXT to The CW next year has not helped with how talent feels about re-signing.

Haus of Wrestling has also heard of Corgan giving various talents “tests” to see how they react and to prove their loyalty, which has not been well-received. Examples of “tests” were things like making “over” talents who come in to work lose right away, just to see how they react. Or, for Corgan to be overly critical of a talent who has done nothing wrong to see how they take it.

It was also pointed out to us that most NWA talents under contract are younger, usually less than twenty-five years old. We are told that NWA signs younger talent to deals because Corgan would like “first dibs” on these wrestlers before they get big and does not want to see them booked to lose in other promotions like AEW while he is working with them. Older stars who work for the promotion are less likely to be put under contract because Corgan does not have the same investment, and those talents can work elsewhere and take on outside opportunities.

www.hausofwrestling.com/2023/11/08/frustrations-growing-within-nwa-over-billy-corgans-leadership-exclusive/

[Final Countdown Jones]

"People in WWE believe the NWA deal is no longer on the table" doesn't quite sound like what would come back if WWE was always the one who was getting it and Corgan was just blowing smoke up everyone's ass.