Showing posts with label AJPW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AJPW. Show all posts

Sunday, January 20, 2019

The Kenny Omega Factor

In the business of wrestling right now there is a big factor that’s facing WWE, New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling that factor is the Kenny Omega factor. In my mind this is not a big issue at all but I could understand why many people believe it is. Here’s my thing this is not a big deal if you look at it from the perspective that matters which is a business perspective. 

 For those of you that don’t know at the end of January Kenny omega will be a free agent from his contract with Japan for wrestling so he can be employed by any company he chooses. The offers he has are primarily from New Japan Pro Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment, Impact Wrestling, and the new company All Elite Wrestling. Now it’s believed that he will go with All Elite Wrestling because his friends are in All Elite Wrestling. His friends are the people who helped begin All Elite Wrestling. So in order to make his friends happy and make himself happy it’s believe he’ll go and work exclusively or primarily for All Elite Wrestling.

I’ll come right out and say it I think that’s the stupidest thing he can probably do. To me if you’re Kenny Omega you need to look at the landscape around you. See what can you do to maximize the amount of money that you can make in the remaining peak earning years of your career. Kenny Omega is 35 years old right now in wrestling terms he’s in his prime. By the time he hits 40 he’ll be exiting his prime physical years also his peek earning years. So for him to just go and hang out with his buddies at All Elite Wrestling. Try not to make as much money and gain as much fame as possible by going to the company that he really should be going to which is WWE I think it’s just foolish. No, I know that’s not the popular choice but it’s the right choice for business his personal business. In the pro wrestling business you have to do what’s best for business as in your business. Going to hang out with your buddies in this new company that hasn’t done a damn thing yet and won’t be making any money until maybe the end of the year is a dumbass idea. It also shows that you’re not looking at the landscape of the business as a whole entity.


If you look at the landscape of WWE right now you have to understand this the Roman Reigns era is over. He had his five-year run and last year as the top guy last year. This year WWE is looking for a new person to be that next top guy for the next five years. If you’re Kenny omega this this should strike you as perfect. This is the perfect opportunity and you are in the perfect spot with the perfect amount of fame, ability to take the spot in the top company in the business. For him not to notice that is just ridiculous. If you’ve studied the business a fair amount you would know that even if it’s not the end of the Roman Reigns era in October the company will be moving to a primetime network with a spot open for one person to be the top person in that spot. If you’re Kenny Omega why would you not want that spot?


I don’t see going to work with your buddies in this unproven company that you don’t have a stake in just so you can hang out with your buddies as a good thing. To me if you know you can get Brock Lesnar kind of money right now and make more money in a few years why not go get that money as soon as possible. Look at it like this who is going to be in the main event of of WrestleMania this year? It’s being said that the spot is being reserved for women which is great but there are other top spots open in this year‘s WrestleMania. If you’re Kenny Omega you go to WWE you should know that you will be getting one of those top spots. So Ronda is in one spot, Lesnar is in another spot, who’s in the spot with Bryan?


It’s something that should be asked of himself if he really is trying to change the business. Or as he says change the world. In my view he’s not looking at things the right way he’s just looking at things from the way that his friends are telling him to look at it. I think he’s ignoring the notion that Scott hall put forward, "it’s not show friends it’s show business". It's nuts see that right now he has an opportunity that hasn’t been afforded to anyone and I mean any one since Hulk Hogan left the AWA to jump to the WWF. He was given the top spot as soon as he came in and given the mantle as the guy to lead the industry. If he can’t see that I just don’t know what’s wrong with him. And yes, I am saying that if if he were to go to All Elite Wrestling he’s making the wrong choice. I know WWE has problems but they also have a consistently big paycheck. And yes, I know he’s not driven by money but he has to know that it’s the most important thing in this business. Don’t get it wrong I am a huge fan. I’ve been on the Kenny Omega bandwagon going back to at least 2007 so while all of you are looking at Kenny these past couple years as the best in the world I’ve known this guy had the potential to be the best in the world for a long time.


I’ve been following his career for a long time now. I’m talking going from PWG, ROH, AJPW, and many other places in between before he came back to NJPW. I was telling people about him when I saw him at Final Battle 2009, NJPW Invasion Attack 2011 New York, I was on the bandwagon when people were calling him just a comedy guy. So I am really hoping that he doesn’t make the silly mistake of just doing what’s good for his friends. He needs to do what’s right for his business, not his friends business. I’m not saying that he can’t go to AEW in five years, if they’re around five years from now. I’m saying when the door is open as wide as it’s open now you would have to be a complete fool to not take advantage of it.

 My hope is that Kenny does not make the Sting mistake. That mistake being you’re going to stay away from the WWE because of fear. Are you going to stay away because you’re worried that he might ruin your image but in reality you just don’t want to work as hard as you have to work to make the money and fame that you should be getting. See Sting had a sweet deal in WCW and he got another sweet deal in TNA but eventually all of that went away. When he didn’t show up to WWE he wasn’t the big deal that he used to be meaning he wasn’t worth the big money that he used to be so he didn’t get the big matches, the big push, in the big promotion he should’ve, would have could’ve, had had he just gone to WWE years and years ago. On one hand it looks like he did what was right for his business but now looking back it was not a good idea.

I hope Kenny would avoid this mistake, I hope Kenny would be smart enough to look at what the WWE is doing. He has friends in WWE by the way, and maybe talk to them about the business of the business. Not just the buddies, the rumors and the internet that are populating business today. As far as I know you can’t change the business, unless you’re in the top company, in the business. So All Elite Wrestling is not where you have to go to change the business. Just like NJPW is not the place to go to change the business. ROH is not the place to go. Impact is not the place to go. The only place to go to change the business is the WWE. So if the rumors are true that he turn down the WWE offer then he is clearly not trying to really change the business. That’s just my view on it.


I’m sure many of you will disagree. I’m sure many of you will say, no he should go hang out with his pals in AEW they’re trying to do something new. Can’t you see that they’re trying to do something different for the boys in the girls in the business. They’re trying to break the monopoly that the McMahons have in the business. So to all of that I say you’re being foolish, you’re being naïve, you’re being dumb, and worst of all you’re being lazy. The business is about money and the McMahons are not the only ones in the business with a lot of money. The company that owns ROH has a lot of money. The company that owns Impact has a lot of money. The people that started AEW also have a lot of money but the differences is they’re not making as much money as the WWE. And making money is what this is all about then just spending someone else’s money and then having them spend a lot of that money on you. This whole AEW thing is just foolish because I don’t think these guys realize how much money they’re going to have the make for this company in order for it to actually be successful. To come close to doing the whole “change the world“ thing that they proclaim how much their willing to spend.


To me this is a no-brainer but apparently brains what needs to be involved in this decision making process. To me if the Young Bucks and Cody were Kenny’s friend they would tell him, hey man you need to go get that money over there. If things work out over here we'll be right here waiting for you in five years. We can go and change the world as you see fit if things didn’t work out the way you wanted to over there. I don’t want Kenny Omega to be in the same category as the guy who never made it in WWE. Then when he did show up here he was well past his prime and not worth the money that he should have been making he had come earlier in his career. I know it’s a difficult business and there’s no guarantees in it but this is one of those rare cases where the door is open. By that I mean the express elevator to the top of the mountain is open all you have to do is step in and up you go. The door does not open often. The people who hold the keys so the elevator rarely open it. This is a case where someone who does not fit the mold is going to have the door open wide for him. Just by the fact that the door will be open to him changes the business, that alone changes the world. For people not to see that means they’re not paying attention to the business, they’re just paying attention to their own nonsense. The door is rarely open to guys with his size, look, and personality.

So in summation I say someone needs to tell Kenny omega, Get in the elevator, get your money, change the world just by being in the universe.
www.jimcornette.com
www.whatculture.com

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Thoughts on All Elite Wrestling

So I’m trying to do something different here. Let’s see how all this works out.


 Here I am thinking of about All Elite Wrestling. The funny thing is like a few people I am happy about AEW. But like other people I am trepidacious about AEW. See my point of contention is I’m looking at this from the perspective of someone who’s been watching wrestling for a lot of years now. My view is that this is going to fail because of two things. It will fail because of the same reasons other projects like this have failed. The two points being leadership and math. 

First a little history lesson here. For those of you who know and for those of you who don’t know there was this big company called WCW. Later there was this little company called TNA. The similarities between these two companies came down so two things leadership and math. One company went out of business because of these factors while the other is hanging on for dear life. I’m going to point out why these two things affected both WCW and TNA and will more than likely affect All Elite Wrestling. 
Years back TNA wrestling was partnered and then eventually completely bought out by the Carter family. The Carters gave control of TNA wrestling to their daughter Dixie Carter. She was regarded as a nice lady apparently but she was mostly a fan who decided to get into the pro wrestling business. While this seemed like a good idea for TNA wrestling it was not a good idea for the Carter family, I’ll get into that later. Before that there was a fellow by the name of Ted Turner. Turner decided he wanted to get into the “rasslin” business and take on the biggest company in the business at the time the World Wrestling Federation. Both the Carter’s and Turner learned one important thing one thing that the Khan family will learn the hard way. It’s this very simple fact the pro wrestling business, the business is about money. 


I’m going to go by what the rumor says that the Khan family has invested $100 million into this project. Now I’m going to hope for their sake that they did this over a ten-year period. For the sake of this discussion let’s just go with five years as our timetable. This is where the math comes in first okay. That would mean that every year for five years All Elite Wrestling would be expecting to spend $20 million per year. That’s a lot of money obviously but for the sake of my argument let’s just go with that for now.

If you’re a new company and you’re having $20 million set aside every year for this company how much do you think you have to make at the end of the five-year period to make a profit? Here’s where everything goes wrong. At the end of the five-year period that you spent $100 million on you would have had to make $300 million to make a profit. Yes, that’s three times what you initially invested into the company just to make a profit. Now I know what you’re saying to yourself, this guys talking a bunch of BS. No, follow my logic here.


In the first year of the company after the five-year period. You’re going to have to make an assessment of your profits and losses. The reason you do this is because you want to see if you can make the same investment that you initially made into the company five years ago to keep the company going for another five years at the same amount that you invested in or less. So let’s just say that with All Elite Wrestling the initial investment is $100 million and in five years it makes $100 million. How much profit did the Khan family make on their initial investment of $100 million into All Elite Wrestling? The answer is zero dollars. 

 See what a lot of you don’t understand is that initial investment of $100 million you want to make that money back first before you think about continuing the company for another five years. The company has to make back that money for you and then you think about going forward with keeping the company alive. So if the company is to continue for another five years the company has to make back that $100 million for you. After that you think about going forward with keeping the company alive. So if the company is invested started with $100 million it can’t just make $100 million back and be considered successful. If that’s all it does then the company was a failure. The reason is there was zero profits made for the company to keep going. For the investor all the company did was break even on it's initial investment. That would be reason enough to not keep the company going for an additional five years. 

If the company starts with an initial investment of $100 million, to keep itself going for another five years you have to make an extra $100 million for the company itself to keep going. Meaning the Khan family would have to make $200 million of this investment just for the company to keep going. The $200 million would be divided in $100 million goes back to the Khan family on the initial investment. The other $100 million would go back into All Elite Wrestling for another five years. All that happened at that point is All Elite Wrestling is still not profitable for the Khan family. The reasoning is all it’s done is break even. So if the Khan family want to make profit off of this it would have to make at least $300 million for this to be considered profitable.

You have to keep in mind for the Khans family if they spend $100 million on this company they want that money back. That’s the first $100 million that they spent for the company. The next $100 million is not for them it’s for the company. That is if they want the company to continue for another five years. It’s in that last $100 million that they get their profits from. It’s not in the first or the second, it’s the last $100 million. It's money that’s just for their profits, they don’t have to give it to anyone it’s only for themselves. That’s the goal of making a profit in AEW if you’re going to invest $100 million into this for at minimum five years. Now I don’t think it’s five years I’m just using that as a minimum example. I hope it’s over a ten-year period because that’s a lot more sensible if you’re trying to make a profit and keep the company going for an additional 10 years afterwards.

I doubt that the Khan family would try to make back that level of investment in a company like this in just five years that’s just silly I would hope that these guys would look at it with a 10 year plan. But the problem is in this business you can’t look that far unless you are the WWE. Even if they try to keep things within 5 years though. 

The reason I say this is going back to the $20 million a year mark. If you’re going to spend $20 million per year then you’re going to have to make at least $20 million per year just to consider it a break even for the initial investment. That has to to a hard set goal for the company. I don’t know what TV deal they’re going to be able to get that will help them get half of that. We are talking about a brand new company with a lot of unproven talent. So what network will you partner with that can help you make at least $10 million per year? But that’s just on the TV rights deal. The next question is where do you make the rest of the $10 million from? Now going forward if you know you have to make at least three times as much to make a profit where’s the rest of the money come from the rest of the money going to come from? And that’s just on the per year basis.

I would hope that they have a very good deal that would pay them more than that. But what about for the next years after that. You have to look at it like this you have to make that kind of money as an average. That average needs to be consistent every single year in a business known for inconsistency. Meaning that if you make $20 million one year, $20 million the next year, $20 million in year three but year four you make $15 million, your year five is going to be a problem. In year five you’re going to have to make $25 million in order to make up for the loss in year four. Going forward you’ll have to expect these kind of issues to pop up every few years or so. That’s why I say I hope they didn’t plan this just for five years I’m believing they did it for 10 years because five years would just be too much pressure on the performers and on the company to be profitable.

There’s only so much expectation you can have for a brand new company entering into a business as volatile as pro wrestling. The financial expectations has to exceed the financial risks of the business in order for it to survive. More importantly in order for the investors to make a profit on it. That’s why this business of pro wrestling is all about one thing and one thing only, Money. All of that falls under the math part of this whole thing. Believe it or not that’s actually the easy part of all of this. The hard part of the whole thing is actually the leadership. 

I say that because look at what happened with Turner and Carter’s. Ted Turner was a billionaire television mogul who had no issue finding a place for his wrestling product on television. He simply said, I’m going to put my wrestling product here and that was that. The problem was everything else that came after that. After buying the company and placing it on whatever network he wanted he handed off control of the company to other people. Those other people ran the company how they believe the company should be run. Not the way Ted Turner wanted the company to be run. That’s where the failure of leadership came in. Eventually that failure of leadership is what ruined WCW. All of the other external and internals factors started because that key component was not where it should have been. It was not doing what it's supposed to be doing regardless of the opinion of others.


You had a similar thing with TNA wrestling in that Dixie Carter did not know what she was doing but listened to those who she thought knew what they were doing. They were only trying to fulfill their own agendas not the agendas of the company or of the owners of the company. That conflict between the leader of the company and the subordinates of the company is a big part of what caused the problems of TNA wrestling. I foresee a similar problem happening with All Elite Wrestling. The principal leader of All Elite Wrestling, Tony Kanaan will probably not be the one singular voice in charge of his own company. His subordinates like Cody and the Young Bucks may try to supplant his leadership for their own ideas and agendas. That disconnect will cause more problems for the company then any other problems that might arise. 

It becomes the case of Tony Khan wanting things done one way but his subordinates saying they want things done their way. But at the end of the day it’s the person spending the money and making the money that gets to have the deciding vote. You’re the person that has the only vote whenever you feel a decision needs to be made no matter how important. Why, because your invested in a much bigger picture then everyone else.

I already see a clash of egos happening between Cody, the Young Bucks and Tony Khan. The thing is the owner has to be the one who wins these clashes more often than not. The reason goes back to the math. It’s his money, it’s his family‘s money, the other guys are not as invested into this company as he is. This also goes back to leadership. The reason is the Khan family has to understand if you’re invested in this you’re invested in this for life. Or at least until you run out of patience because you’re not making the profits that you were expecting to make. That's when you get out and try to make back what can of your losses.


That’s the other part of this whole thing, I don’t think the Khans are “All In“ with All Elite Wrestling. My concern is that the Khan are going to be like Turner was. They’ll hand off the power to a few people that they trust on the business side but on the wrestling side they’ll do the same thing. That’s another spot where problems are going to arise. By not being there all day, every day, they’re going to let little things slip through the cracks. Those little things will then become big things and eventually those big things will ruin the company.


Remember this, in both WCW and TNA giant egos ruined those companies. Giant egos of stars who were past their prime or not as valuable as they believed they were. Without the steady hand of one voice guiding that company with the authority needed to make all parties happy within the company and outside the company there’s gonna be a lot of problems. So you have to understand that the buck is going to have to stop and start with one person. If that one person is spending most of their time in London dealing with the other companies in the family’s portfolio that’s gonna be a problem. Those problems are eventually going to affect the employees of the company and the future employees of the company.


So to recap I don’t think All Elite Wrestling in five years or ten years will make enough money justify the investment that was made into it by the Khan family. Whether it’s $50 million or $100 million I don’t think they’re going to make enough money to justify the cost of running a pro wrestling company with a bunch of unproven independent wrestling talent. Don’t be fooled this is just another indie company. It’s a well financed indie company but it’s still just an indie company. On the other side I don’t think they have the talent or the leadership to sustain this more than 10 years. They could be like TNA and eventually realized they’re just an indie company so they present themselves like an indie. I just don't think the egos involved in this will believe so. But hey, what the hell do they care, their going to get paid more than they deserve and certainly more than they’re worth. If the company is not around in 10 years, Oh Well. They started something new, they started something different, they started a “Revolution“. Just remember this key concept that a company called ECW highlighted, all revolutions have a start but all revolutions are temporary. In the pro wrestling business if you look at the success of the WWE they realize that if you’re in that business you’re in that business all day, every day, 4 Life. That’s the minimum requirements to be successful in the pro wrestling business. The parties involved in All Elite Wrestling have not shown that level of dedication to the new venture.

So in the end I believe that like TNA, which apparently is still up for sale. Like WCW, which went out of business. Like ECW, which also went out of business. If you’re not willing to give this venture every single ounce of your attention all the time I don’t see how it’s going to work. That’s just my view on this whole thing. I hope it lasts many years, really. But considering that the Young Bucks are only signed for five years. I’m going to assume that the rest of the members of The Elite are also in it for five years. Other names will be in at different periods of time. The thing is are the con family also in it just for Five years, 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years. The McMahon family has been in this business for over 50 years now. Does anyone believe the Khans will be in this for that long? We are all going to find out in time. 


www.jimcornette.com
www.whatculture.com

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Sunday, November 4, 2018

Pro Wrestling: The Post-Roman Age 2018

The end of the Roman Empire in WWE came in a way that no one wanted. I didn't want the end of Roman Reigns run as the top star to end because of cancer. It's tragic to have such a real world thing crash into the wacky world of pro wrestling. I for one hope Roman beats leukemia. Not just to get back to wrestling but for his family. Back to the silly stuff.

The change in landscape to WWE was supposed to start in 2019. The end of contracts for Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks aka The Elite was supposed to kick off a big change in the landscape. I think it still will but how much WWE embraces that change is real high up in the air. I know people will say it was always going to change a little but now with Reigns gone the change I think will be dramatic. The reasons are due to the audience more then anything else.

In 2019 besides the original members of the Elite joining WWE we also get The Rainmaker Kazuchika Okada. I've been saying this for a while now so if you weren't paying attention shame on you. After his long reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion there is nothing left for him to do in NJPW. It's really that simple. If you've been watching NJPW you can see that they have moved him away from the spotlight because even they know he'll be going to WWE, probably NXT, next year. This is a great thing for WWE and Okada so the year should start off well.






The addition of Adam Page, possibly Marty Scurll will help WWE as well. I left out Cody because I think he will stay on the indies. That might not be a popular idea but seeing how much he's grown on the indies I see very little reason for him to return to WWE. I was expecting big things from him when he won the NWA Championship at All In. Losing the title back to Nick Aldis a month later made very little sense to me. Maybe he goes back to WWE but I think right now that would be a mistake. I would say by 2021 he should go back but right now, no. But if he does at least he'll have a nice slot in the upper mid-card.

Someone who I think needs to go to WWE is Nick Aldis. He's proven himself more then capable of making it there. It's something I think he needs to give more serious consideration to. His wife, Mickie James, won't wrestle there for another 5 years. His paycheck won't grow to a high point by just staying on the indies. The NWA won't grow into something very profitable for another 5 years. He's not getting younger and the number of young British wrestlers is only going to overshadow his name in time. Would he be great for the WWE UK brand, yes. I think he would be much better for just the WWE. He's got the potential to do what Wade Barrett failed to do, become an English born WWE Champion.

Within WWE right now I'm surprised at how hard Vince is really holding onto the legacy stars. Having four guys with an average age of 50 years old as your marquee match for a show is something he would have never done 15 years ago. Wait, no, now that I think about it, yeah he would have done that. It was a bad idea then, it's a bad idea now. It does point a finger to a flaw in Vinces promoting abilities. You have to keep the old horses in the barn. Their race is over. It doesn't matter if they still bring in $1 when you have to make $10 per person. But we just have to accept what we're given for now.



Speaking of shows this whole Crown Jewel thing seems familiar. Why, am I reminded of WWE having a show where the majority of it is about a tournament to crown the best wrestler in the world. This just seems so familiar to me. I'm trying to put my finger on where I've seen WWE put on a tournament where the winner gets crowned victorious and gets a title opportunity for winning the tournament. I'm sure I'll figure it. But I'm also sure that I mentioned that WWE should bring back such an idea to help make new stars and new match ups without needed a ton of backstory. Yep, I'm sure it'll come to me anytime now.


Moving on from fake King of the Ring, how about those ladies. Becky BadAss and Queen Flair had a Match of the Year candidate in my book. Everyone knew Charlotte was great but WWE really misjudged how great Becky Lynch could be. She's been the best female wrestler in the company since WreslteMania in my view. I dare say the world after the match at Evolution. Next year that show needs a different name. Whats so evolved about women wrestling? Whats so evolved about women in WWE getting a womens only Pay-Per-View. You want to do something "evolved" how about a womens only weekly, episodic show shown exclusively on the WWE Network. You can pre-tape NXT, 205 Live, Main Event, NXT UK, even Raw and Smackdown but you can't give nearly 40 women their own show to an audience that thinks they might actually watch something that doesn't involve a predominantly white male audience? I'm guessing the answer is no.


Remember when I said Apollo Crews such go heel and start speaking in the third person? Well I didn't mention that he should also get a tag team partner. If you don't see it let me clarify it for you. So, Leo Rush is now playing the role of Slick circa 2020. Watch as he recruits Crews to join him and Bobby Lashley to create what will become Doom circa 2020. From there he can "evolve" into Ted Long with a dashiki and eventually take on the New Day. So the big, bald headed, jacked up black dudes can take on the other black dudes because racism takes many forms. Who cares if Doom takes on the Nation of Domination (with pancakes), the point is they found something to do with all the black guys. Not cool, but you'll see.


I don't see why anyone would want to leave NXT anytime soon. That show is on such a high level it's amazing that it has any relation to WWE. The fact that Wednesday night is now the best night to watch wrestling is all thanks to Triple H. Once again I have to admit I was wrong. The vision he's put out whether it's NXT, 205 Live or the Evolution Pay-Per-View, yes, I figured it was him, has been working well. I think he will take more of the show production side of things next year as Vince ramps up the launch of the XFL. That should mean more NXT call ups then ever before but aslo some releases on the main roster.

The main event picture for Raw and Smackdown is split in half. On Raw you have two believable contenders for the red W belt. Really you have one since the other guy is just an attraction when Vince wants him to be. I think I told you the story about the time I met 3MB. I saw Slater and Mahal who were decent sized guys but forgettable. But McIntyre was a large human being. I mentioned how I was shocked at how large he actually was in person. He said, Thank You, then did some air guitar, hair-wip thing behind me while I took a picture with the other two. I knew back then that Vince really had a smart idea by calling him the Chosen One but he was missing something. Well he's got it know. That's what separates him from everyone else on Raw. With himself and Strauman you have a main event that's good but for how long. That's where Kenny Omega coming in at the Royal Rumble should slot in.

If I was booking this I'd have Omega enter the Rumble as entry number 7 (if you get it, you get it). I'd have him come down to the last two entrants in the Rumble. He wouldn't win but going almost 1 hour in your first appearance in the WWE is a great kickstart to his arrival. I would have him face McIntyre at the pay-per-view after the Rumble for the Universal Championship but he would lose. He would then win a mini tournament for the right to face McIntyre again for the Championship but this time at WrestleMania. So he's big deal but not invincible and you don't marginalize McIntrye over Omega. You can get another two matches out of them before you move onto Omega versus whomever. They probably won't do that, since I think their going for Omega versus Michaels. That doesn't work well for me now. I think the world of HBK but at 53 years old I don't need to see him facing arguably the best performer in the business with the almost twenty year age gap.

On Smackdown things are much more progressive. With Styles, Bryan, Orton, The Miz, Joe, and even Nakamura all viable options to be the WWE Champion. I think The Miz will win King of the King aka Crown Jewel to face Styles at the Royal Rumble. Big stage, big match, big win for the best hell in the business today. From there he can retain or lose the Championship to Bryan at WrestleMania. You still have lots of viable options. Notice I said he beats Styles at the Rumble not Survivor Series. There I think AJ faces Joe again to take back the WWE Championship. That tells you about my insight into Crown Jewel. (I wrote this before the show)




Getting back to NXT for a second, I was pleasantly surprised by what they did with Evolve Wrestling. I would not have guessed that the WWE would send some of their contracted talents to an independent wrestling company to win their Championships. The good thing about this is that people at the WWE Performance Center who don't have "indie-cred" can now get some. Those who have already been on the indies get to be in higher profile matches. The indy companies get the benefits of association with WWE performers who may already have been on television. They may bring something of an audience with them to a show.


I'll be the one to ask the obvious question. Just how long is Ronda Rouseys contract? It's something to start considering following the Evolution pay-per-view. I think the Becky versus Ronda match is a good idea but a better opportunity to use Ronda to really build off her fame. I think Becky should beat Ronda at Survivor Series. You can go with either a quick roll up after a distraction. Or you could do the full interference from someone. I say this for two reasons. 


I think Ronda should be the person to win the women's Royal Rumble 2019. That can't happen of she's already the Women's Champion. I think maybe Sasha Banks should steal the belt from her at the December PVP. From there she can play keep away from Ronda until before WrestleMania. When Ronda challenges for the Championship it would be against the person who took the Championship from her Charlotte.


At some point someone has to beat Ronda or else the audience will turn against her. She needs to have a reason to be aggressive. If she just beats everyone it gets boring. So having Becky beat her gives her an opponent to get that lose later. At some point you'll have to give a reason that Charlotte and Ronda will want to face each other. I know the idea would be for Charlotte to win then challenge Ronda at WrestleMania but that doesn't have any emotion behind it. Ronda should be the one to bring the emotion to the match. The idea that a althletic blonde ended her UFC run is something that will be mentioned in the build to the match.

There were some changes as I was writing this that happened at Crown Jewel. I'll deal with that later. Enjoy.

+WWE
www.jimcornette.com
www.whatculture.com

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Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Pro Wrestling: NJPW, HOG and CM Punk

That was quite a Saturday. These don't happen often but when they do it reminds me of why I spend time watching the things I watch. My Saturday started before the sun was up watching this years New Japan Pro Wrestling: Dominion from Osaka-Jo Hall in Osaka, Japan. Theres no need to recap the whole show but I will say this the first time I can remember a NJPW feeling like an NXT: TakeOver. What I mean was it was a great show, with the worst match feeling like it would be a great match on another show. The quality was so high on this show that anything less than 4 out of 5 stars would be considered substandard.


I'll stick to the important points. The best match on the show was the Intercontinental Championship match. I know that's not the popular choice but here's why I say that. This was the most complete match on the card. It had the big fight feel but it also felt personal. This was the match that looked and felt like a fight between two guys trying to beat each other. It had the moments of flash but also had the hard hitting moments that a personal conflict should have. It was blood and guts with emotion that grabbed the audience more then I thought it would.


The World Championship was great but it had a few flaws that I don't think people want to admit. My thing was that while the counters and reversals were good the match had poor defense. I saw the first match, I thought it was amazing. The next match was even more amazing with the third match being great. The problem was all of them were offensive spectacles with no defense. I thought that if you are Okada, you know you cannot kick out of the One Winged Angel then maybe you should do something that prevents Omega pulling off the move. This is where the "wrestling" in pro wrestling comes in. I was thinking maybe Okada works on injuring Omegas lower back or his legs. The move requires strength in those areas so why not work on taking that move away. Those V-Trigger knee strikes are brutal why not take that away. On Omegas part work on a knee or shoulder since the Rainmaker Clotheline requires strength from those body parts.


The match psychology for this match was off for me. The bang-bang, back and forth was great but by the third fall the whole thing became performance art instead of a fight for a World Championship. I've seen this style of match plenty of times before. The one that jumps to mind was from E.C.W. back when Rob Van Dam was defending the E.C.W. World Television Championship against Jerry Lynn. The first match was an offensive explosion, the matches after that were all filled with great offense along with counter, after counter, after counter, after counter to the great offense by both men. It was fun to watch but what was better then those matches were the W.C.W. matches between Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio Jr. for the W.C.W. Cruiserweight Championship.


In those matches you had the great offense and the counters but Dean Malenko would attack a body part, ground the high flying Mysterio to change the pacing of the match. It was a more dramatic presentation because with each match you knew both men had to come up with something different from the last match because they knew each other so well. Offense for the sake of offense was not going to win the match when your on match five. I thought Okada versus Omega 4 lacked that change of pace, grind them down, fight feel that a fourth match could have had. This match felt too similar to the match from Dominion last year only with an additional 10 minutes added to it.


This match is the greatest example of the counter for counter style of match I've ever seen. It's still an amazing match that was at a very high level of athleticism and skill that only a few wrestlers male or female can pull off. But it's not very deep in emotional connectivity. That's why the Naito versus Jericho match was better to me. They covered so much ground emotionally that the audience actually started cheering for the bad guy, which in this match was Jericho. I'm not one of those people who says a match always needs a good guy versus a bad guy. The Okada/Omega match was two popular guys trying to see who was the better wrestler, I'm totally fine with that. I just wanted to see some variety from that match since it was their fourth time facing each other.


That was my Saturday morning while my Saturday evening was watching something of lesser quality. A friend of mine bought tickets to the House of Glory Pro Wrestling: Temperature Rising event in Queens, New York. The show was not bad at all, except for some drunk guy who kept turning around to offer commentary on the last HOG shows he was at. The thing that stuck out to me at this show was a phrase that popped in to my head, "look the part". Most of the performers at this show did not look the part of a pro wrestler. Keep in mind a lot of these guys are teenagers or are in their early twenties so they still have more to grow but a lot of them need to get a gym membership and a clean eating plan.

I've been to a HOG show before so some of these performers were familiar to me. I subscribe to their YouTube channel and have watched some matches online. The best of the bunch that I saw that night was Ken Broadway. He was one of the few who actually looked the part. He still needs some work on his physique because he reminds me of Cedric Alexander back when he was in Ring of Honor. The talent is there, he has good charisma but this was the worst match I've seen him in. I expected more out of him because he's a guy I think could make it to WWE. I think at this point he needs to move on from HOG and try to get into ROH or even Impact. If I had a message for him it would, step out of your comfort zone, your better then you give yourself credit for. My friend and I both agreed that he's got the tools but more experience around the world is what he needs.

Biggest shock was Anthony Gagnone looking like the sloppy drunk version of Tony Neese. If I didn't know better I think he was Tony Neese's twin brother who was the physical opposite of his brother. I thought it it looked sad since Gagnone like Kenny Broadway is good in the ring. I think the character he's playing is like what Eric Young is doing with Sanity in WWE. It just comes off like the drunk, drugged out, cheap version of that gimmick. I was looking at the back of his head for a bald spot like Johnny Hendricks has since he looked like him as well. The worst part was his stable mates. One guy looked like the skinny version of No Way Jose which got the crowd chanting No-Way-Jose (repeat). Some other guy looked like the son of the Boogie Man, check the video and tell me I'm wrong. I don't even want to remember the walk way the performers used to get to the ring but I saw Jessica Havok look at that thing like, "please don't let me twist an ankle walking on this thing."

The other guy who looked like a pro wrestler was a member of the Latin American Xchange, Santana. I remember when he was in HOG in another tag team. Now he's looking more of the part of pro wrestler. Time on Impact Wrestling has helped him improve even though the match he and his partner were in was not good. The events before and after the match were entertaining especially since it was two Puerto Ricans wrestling in Queens, New York on the Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend. Things got rowdy and I don't mean Roddy or Ronda. The crowd loved both performers even though their match was bad. The main event featured Sami Callihan in the worst match I've ever seen him in. I don't blame Sami but he's another guy that I have higher expectations for. I know I've been burying this show but bear with me. The best match I saw on the show featured featured a 51 year old Japanese man dressed in a fish costume, trained by Bruce Lee, calls himself Dragon but in Spanish versus someone calling themselves Butter. Along with Sonny Onoo who apparently is the king of the selfie. This reminded me of why what I saw this morning was great and this show was far from it.


Ultimo Dragon was at the show to sign autographs and face another masked caped wrestler named Mantequilla, which in Spanish means Butter. The match was probably the best match Butter will have if he actually studies what happened. The match was not a high flying spot fest, since Dragon is 51 years old. He was in great shape for someone his age whose been wrestling after all these years in the business. His offense was ground the high flyer and force him to either counter out of the holds or overpower the opponent. Here's where going to the gym and looking the part comes in.

Dragon gave up height to Butter but his opponent looked like he either scheduled off or called out his job as the pizza delivery boy just so he could have a match with a legendary wrestler. That's not the worst part see Dragon approached the match like a pro wrestling match. It started off with a few wrestling holds, ground his opponent by working on his legs and lower back. A few strikes a come by the opponent back, a counter back to the mat and reset. The problem was Butter didn't look like he knew how to counter out of any of the holds he was in. It looked like he was waiting for Dragon to let him up for another move and then waiting for his turn to do some flippy flying shit. Dragon ended it with the Dragon Sleeper but it was fully locked in. It looked like if Butter tried he might have gotten out of it or maybe countered into a potential pinfall. In the end he tapped, Dragon raised his hand, Sonny Onoo took some selfies with him and people looked at their phones to see what time is it. It certainly was not Vader time, it was time for someone have this guy watch some Ultimo Dragon from WCW on the WWE Network. Or maybe go back and watch NJPWs G1 Climax from 1996. The point is do more homework so you can improve your work especially against those who have do this longer then he's probably been alive.


                                     There is a playlist for this event on my YouTube channel.

The show finished by 10PM so as I was on my way home the UFC was having its card in Chicago, Illinois. Punks fight was the opener of the card, I think you know that he lost the fight. What got peoples attention before the fight was the end of his lawsuit. What got peoples attention after the fight was Corey Graves taking exception to Punk turning his back anyone related to WWE. That might extend to people related to pro wrestling since apparently he and Colt Cabana aren't on the best terms anymore. What got my attention was if all of this is true why is he still willing to profit off fans of his past work in pro wrestling?

At the upcoming All In show in September in Chicago the day before Punk will take part in autograph signings at the Pro Wrestling Tees store. The PWT store will be selling plenty of his merchandise which I'm sure will make everyone involved lots of money. That brings me to my issue with this situation. Why should anyone support this guy when he wants nothing to do with the business? Except to make a profit off of it.



Punk left WWE because apparently he was living life like a horror movie. They still send him checks for the merchandise they still sell. Now he gets checks from PWT for them selling his merchandise. Even though he doesn't wrestle anymore he's still getting something from the business. Now he's been saying that he's done with the wrestling business and wants nothing to do with it. Add to that he says no one has asked him to wrestle for another promotion besides WWE. Throw in the issue with Corey Graves now I'm looking at this and thinking, this is why you judge people by their actions, never just their words.


There was a rumor that Vince was never sold on Punk being the top guy in the company. It didn't sit well with people since Punk seemed to have many of the qualities that fit a top guy. He lacked a great physique but he had personality, speaking skills and could perform well in the ring. Vince wasn't buying any of it which didn't make sense to those of us outside his circle and apparently those with the circle didn't understand it either. I think now I get it. It came down to actions. Vince could hear everything people said but he couldn't believe Punk because the actions don't fit what he was actually doing. Looking back now I think people should look back at how Vince approached his dealings with Punk and see that he wasn't far off about the guy.


I know some people might want to be apologists for Punk but the should reconsider that. Maybe while the lawsuit against him was going on against him he may have stayed away from people in WWE to not damage his case but that doesn't seem like the character Punk present himself to be. I think now we're seeing the contradictions of character that he come out. After this lose in the UFC people can analyse Punk in a more clearer light. It seems profit is more important that what he's led everyone to believe it was to him.

It's one thing to leave wrestling but to turn your back on the people who respected and admired you in that business is cold. Then to say I'm not in the business anymore one day but later say no ones ever asked me to come back is two faced. Like there's a company in the business that would be against having CM Punk work for them. This is after you say I'm done with the business so don't ask me to come back. After all of that come back with t-shirts and stuffed puppets to sell on a website that sells pro wrestling merchandise. So you don't want anything to do with the business but you'll let someone sell merchandise for you that's wrestling related, got it.

I'm looking at this UFC run and thinking to myself Dave Batista got his MMA fight done for practically no money. It wasn't about the money for him it was just about the experience. Punk could have gone the same route meaning an amateur fight for little to no money, away form the cameras. Instead he let the money Dana White offered put him in the position he's in now. If it really was just about the experience the money could have been in the billions he should have said no.

You might think it's something that can be glossed over in pro wrestling but one of the old ideas that was built into the business was that pro wrestlers could beat up just about anyone. Now we have a wrestler who got beaten so badly he looked like someone who walked from the street right into the cage. That seems unfair but you have to remember that for a long time pro wrestling was consider a tough guy sport. The people that got into the business were able to wrestle, grapple, look tough, and overall fight. In this day some people may look at pro wrestlers as being just entertainers but for those with legitimate amateur wrestling, grappling, or fighting backgrounds this doesn't shine a positive light on their chosen profession. New Japan actually experienced something similar thing in the early 2000s. There were pro wrestlers stepping into the MMA field that got beat down by MMA fighters. For those who remember Don Frye versus Yoshihiro Takayama you remember the aftermath of that fight was Pride FC grew bigger New Japan went into a slump.


I know people will say, Punks not in WWE anymore so it's no big deal. I know people will say he's almost 40 years old, it's no big deal. I remember Cro Cop versus Dos Caras Jr. not stopping Albert Del Rio from making it big in WWE. I know Nakamura versus one of the Gracies was not a good night for him. The difference is none of those events came with someone turning their back on the business that made them worth watching in those fights in the first place. That's just bullshit. I've got two t-shirts hanging in my closet for a guy who wants nothing to do with the business that made me want to buy those shirts in the first place. I'm not a fan of his anymore. I see why Vince didn't buy into him. The words are great for pipebomb promos but the actions behind all of that don't live up to the hype. Now you understand why we never did get those ice cream bars.

The coverage of E3 is why this one was late. And it's long, longer then I thought it would be. I've got to go over E3 next. The World Cup starts this weekend. I have to explain why this North Korea thing is a lie. And do you watch Ancient Aliens, you should, if only for Giorgios hair. I feel the need to do this since AlienCon is this weekend. Yes there is such a thing as Alien Convention, it's in California because of course it is. It's time to expose some of those secrets "they" don't want you to know. I still don't know who "they" is supposed to be but it's time to expose some things. You'll be surprised. You may even buy a plane ticket. Enjoy.

+WWE
www.jimcornette.com
www.whatculture.com
www.aliencon.com

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