AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
Reminder....for those reading this blog on Monday, remember
that RAW airs live on Netflix today at 3:00 pm ET/12 noon PT
with replays available afterwards, due to the show
originating in Europe. This will continue for RAW on the
European tours, and will also take place for Smackdown
viewers internationally (or with a VPN).
As announced in this blog two weeks ago, Warner Brothers
Discovery's press release on major MAX events in March broke
the news that AEW Collision will get two major post-sports
prime slots for Collision after NCAA March Madness second
round coverage on March 22 and 23 with Collision airing as
two one-hour episodes each night, under the label Slam Dunk
Saturday Collision and Slam Dunk Sunday Collision; starting
at 11:00 pm ET/8:00 pm PT (or whenever the TNT coverage of
the March Madness basketball tournament ends); to give each
show a solid lead-in from the March Madness tournament.
This special scheduling most recently happened with Grand
Slam Australia Collision, which aired beginning on TNT/MAX
at 10:52 pm ET, following the NBA All-Star Saturday Night
event, and saw 502,000 viewers (up 115,000 viewers) from the
last episode with an 0.21 rating (up .11 from last week) in
18-49 cable (and the first quarter with Omega/Ospreay vs.
Takeshita/Fletcher topping 1 million). The other instance
also took place after the NCAA College Football playoffs
with good ratings.
The March 22/23 broadcasts will be recorded this Wednesday,
with a live Dynamite from the Liberty First Credit Union
Arena in Omaha, NB.
Another reminder that while Warner Brothers Discovery
announced changes on what B/R Sports content will be
available to certain MAX subscribers as of March 30;
multiple sources have made clear that AEW Dynamite and
Collision will remain accessible to all tiers.
AEW programming is currently found under the B/R Sports
section, and fans were concerned that those subscribing to
the "With Ads" tier (which many AEW fans newly subscribed
under) would lose the ability to watch it.
There is no word as of yet on how/where AEW content will be
organized on MAX post-March 30 to accommodate all viewers.
MAX's overall interface is rather clunky, and as of now, the
best way to look for AEW will be to type it manually in the
MAX search function until your algorithm learns Dynamite,
Collision, as well as all the archived content MAX has
downloaded.
It's important that WBD doesn't hide AEW programming away
where people will need to search for it. For many people,
programming they can't access is "out of sight, out of
mind".
If you'd like to let MAX know your concerns regarding the
changes, go to https://help.max.com/us-en/feedback
In addition, Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Wrestling
Podcast/Beyond The Bell reported on his Mat Men podcast
Friday that WBD will air on TBS or TNT what he referred to
as an AEW "multi-hour show" (e.g. "more than two hours")
late this spring or early summer. Zarian speculated that
this could have something to do with the “AEW Spring
Breakthru” trademark that AEW recently filed. Zarian
indicated he'd check for more detail.
Finally, yesterday, the NCAA March Madness Tournament
selection show took place on CBS. The final team of the 68
selected was the Omaha Mavericks (aka University of Nebraska
Omaha in Omaha, NB team. They had been sort of adopted by
AEW's Outrunners tag teams, who gave them pre-game locker
room pep rallies (look on YouTube) during their regular
season championship tournament. They were the final team of
the 68 college teams announced. As they were announced live
on the telecast, they had an AEW World title belt front and
center nationwide on CBS.
Now.... back to the usual tribalistic nonsense..
There's Bubba Ray Dudley's perpetual trolling of AEW online
and on Busted Open Radio, with his latest tweet on March 12:
"Really enjoyed the backstage w/ MJF and Hangman. Can't
wait till, one day, both of them go to WWE, learn the
correct way and become stars." This, coming from someone
who made his name in the most anti-AEW, pro-counterculture
promotion in wrestling history.
He must have known he struck a nerve, because later that
day: he tweeted: "In all fairness…EVERY AEW fan I’ve met
since the Co. began has been ultra polite and respectful…not
one negative interaction…and praise my honest feedback.
However, the nameless, faceless, basement dwelling trolls on
this app…". (translation: anyone who disagrees with
him). Too bad, Bubba
Then...Bill Simmons was featured in a March 13 Awful
Announcing article expressing his belief that "the
(Jacksonville Jaguars) organization is effectively hopeless,
Simmons pointed to Tony Khan’s dedication to running All
Elite Wrestling. “I don’t think the Jaguars will ever get
it. And one of the reasons they’ll never get it is because
the owner’s son who runs the team also runs AEW and writes
all the scripts for it every week...And I just don’t think
they’re on the ball is my take.”.
Tony Khan is so incompetent that AEW negotiated a $555
million deal with Warner Brother Discovery for AEW
television and streaming. Simmons knows better.
It's no coincidence that Bill Simmons, a longtime wrestling
fan, is a close friend of Nick Khan and has had a
relationship with WWE for years. He was sitting ringside at
the WWE Netflix debut show...and in a comical moment, was
trying not to drool on Nikki Bella. Not to mention The
Ringer is a paid partner with WWE.
Funny...for a promotion that's supposed to be dying...it
sure lives in the heads of critics.
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