AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
Prayers go out for the soul of Pope Francis, who died this
morning. He was a good man who. more than any Pontiff in
recent memory, stood for the rights of the oppressed, the
marginalized, and for justice in this world.
The world has lost a great voice of moral authority at a
time it needed it most. May his soul rest in paradise.
Last Tuesday, we saw an example of how WWE PR (and wrestlers
in a contract year) use certain wrestling media to try to
override positive news. News was leaked last Tuesday to the
Wrestling Observer that Mariah May was supposed to be on her
way to WWE by summer.
Not so fast.
Turns out Mariah May has 8-10 months (maybe more) remaining
on her current deal according to PWinsider. Fightful's Sean
Ross Sapp followed up by saying on Fightful Select that this
was nothing but a negotiating tactic. Meanwhile, WWE PR used
it to try and bury the announcement of Forbidden Door in
London and Glasgow, Scotland Dynamite and Collision tapings,
and good ratings for last week's Collision; with the usual
media suspects jumping and posting the rumor.
I said online earlier this week that Dynamite surpassing
Nitro in number of shows was going to set loose WWE PR and
all their assorted helpers in media, along with all the
usual social media suspects...all this during Mania week
because WWE can't dismiss AEW as just a t-shirt company or a
billionaire's toy anymore. I was right.
There was more with Nick Khan appearing on the Bill Simmons
podcast during Wrestlemania week...a week where he should
have been talking about the incredibly successful
Wrestlemania weekend, with millions upon millions of dollars
and tens of thousands of fans said this about AEW to
Simmons: "In terms of the other wrestling promotional
company, they have a lot of talented wrestlers and we're
happy about that. When, contractually, they are available to
talk to and have conversations with, assume a number of them
will come over. Nothing but respect to the father who
finances it and owns the Jaguars and all those other
things..."
In a (unintentionally?) hilarious moment in the interview,
Khan also said "We're always the underdog at WWE. We
always feel that people underestimate us, that we're looked
down upon. And we like it that way. Like bet against us. We
prefer that and allow us to show you what we can do.”
Yup. TKO... a $1.4 billion underdog fighting mean old AEW.
Rrrrright.
Then there was Nick Khan claiming WWE only signs people they
want to use: "That's something we won't do. We won't sign
and bench people. We sign people who we want to use. If
another entity signs and benches people like now, that's not
something we would do.”
Andrade, Santos Escobar, Natalya, Hikuleo, Omos, Karrion
Kross, Chelsea Green, Alexa Bliss, most of the Wyatt 6, and
The Miz, just to name a few would beg to differ this past
Wrestlemania weekend.
Not to mention Nick Khan's demeaning references to the
"billionaire's kid" (TKOSpeak for Tony Khan). Apparently
being a billionaire's son-in-law is OK, though.
AEW was apparently living rent-free in WWE's head on a
Wrestlemania week when WWE and TKO will make millions upon
millions of dollars, see thousands upon thousands of fans
attending.
Then there were the other PR botches (to name just a few of
them):
* Stephanie McMahon saying there's a "no douchebags policy"
on her new Fanatics podcast, following it by introducing
Dana White, known for assaulting his wife in public.
* HHH using the old favorite of going after online fans
since they ripped this year's build for Wrestlemania (you
know, that horrible Internet that fans watch their flagship
show on?) , telling them to be fans and not critics.
* John Cena saying he "loves Vince McMahon" while WWE and
TKO has tried in every way possible to distance themselves
from the Janel Grant sex trafficking investigation involving
McMahon and other WWE employees.
* HHH expressing admiration for Donald Trump "portraying a
heel character" as a business executive and President.
* Roman Reigns coming out as a Trump supporter in a Vanity
Fair article while claiming to be a "centrist Democrat".
Meanwhile, while WWE PR was busy handing out charcuterie
gift baskets, and not monitoring what its employees were
saying...
Tony Khan was FINALLY allowed to officially announce to
Aaron Paul of BBC London News that AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door
will be held on Sunday, August 24 at The O2 in London, UK
marking the first time AEW has ever held an event at the
legendary venue. In addition, AEW will make its Scotland
debut for a dual taping of AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision at
OVO Hydro in Glasgow on Wednesday, August 20.
But that wasn't all....last Wednesday and Thursday saw
multiple announcements for June AEW programming as well:
First, owing to Stanley Cup Finals action; (and as mentioned
in previous blogs), AEW presents a live four-hour Fyter Fest
block featuring both AEW Dynamite and Collision taking place
on June 4 in Denver, Colorado.
The next week (same reason), AEW will also see a second
four-hour combined Dynamite/Collision show titled Summer
Blockbuster from Portland, OR on Wednesday, June 11 with
tickets going on sale this week.
Then, AEW and CMLL announced that AEW will debut in Mexico
for Grand Slam: Mexico on June 18 at Arena Mexico. The news,
first announced by Fox Sports Mexico, will see AEW partner
with CMLL to debut in the historic Arena México, airing on
TBS streaming on MAX, making this the first time an AEW
event has ever been held in Mexico.
Historically, it will also be the first time a US promoter
has ever taped an event from Arena Mexico; and will be the
first time overall a US promotion has aired live from Mexico
since WWE in 2011. Tickets will go on sale Saturday, April
26. The artwork for the show includes CMLL wrestlers
Mistico, Mascara Dorada, Komander, and Hologram as well as
Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega; all of whom have been
requested by CMLL fans.
AEW, Ring of Honor and CMLL will also be there for CMLL's
usual Tuesday show on June 17 at Arena Mexico for a combined
CMLL vs AEW/ROH special show. CMLL Fantasticamania takes
place as well on Friday, June 20 including AEW, ROH, NJPW,
RevPro and NJPW Strong wrestlers.
This Saturday sees a special slot for the April 26 Collision
in-between NBA playoff games under the label Playoffpalooza
between 8:30-11:30 pm ET (start time may vary slightly
depending on the NBA playoff game preceding it).
Eric Bischoff congratulated AEW and Tony Khan on their
surpassing Nitro...sort of:
"I want to congratulate Tony Khan and his entire staff.
This obviously means a lot to them, and congratulations. It
does say a lot about Tony's commitment. Tony put his own
money into this. You can judge the product. I can judge the
product. I often have, I just don't watch it anymore. But
the truth is, his vision, his dream, his money, his
commitment. So congratulations. Because what he did isn't
easy. No matter how anybody feels about the product, it
wasn't easy and it still isn't. So congratulations for your
effort and no, it doesn't bother me a bit. It doesn't mean
anything to me. While it does to Tony and company, and I
understand why. He put a lot of time and work and money, as
I've just discussed. So good for them. But no, it doesn't
bother me at all."
For someone that something doesn't bother...Dynamite passing
Nitro sure bothers Eric Bischoff.
Finally, there was a strange phenomenon the day after
Dynamite Spring BreakThru, where a strangely high number of
people reported that their pro-AEW tweets on Twitter were
getting flagged as "hateful" conduct. Given that actual hate
speech, including racist, homophobic, transphobic, and anti-
Semitic slurs are seldom removed from Twitter, or even
sanctioned, it's very strange that this is happening. I'm
not suggesting that WWE is responsible...but some sort of
organized campaign clearly took place.
If you'd like to contact me, you can do so at my
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