Will TKO sell WWE?

One of the reasons that Vince McMahon was able to take his father's regional promotion and expand it into a national commodity that eventually became a global, publicly-traded corporation, was the ability to sell the sizzle, not necessarily the steak. Sure, there was a demographic of dedicated wrestling fans, those that followed the careers of the grapplers and became invested in their journey, which is why nostalgia is such a big selling point today, because there's so much "brand loyalty" so to speak from the audience that saw the career trajectory of the stars. It was emotional to see John Cena hang up his sneaks because so many remember when he first burst onto the scene to declare the "ruthless aggression" era had started. Still, the expansion to the national scene, especially during the initial push in the early-80s, had to be designed to draw in more of an audience than those that were already watching.

The steak of pro wrestling, the bell-to-bell quality, had a dedicated fan base that could appreciate the  building blocks of what made for such a thrilling spectacle. The sizzle of sports entertainment is something that the mainstream could get behind since it cut through the finer points to give them the lowest common detonator. Don't get me wrong, the accomplishments of Harley, Terry, and Brisco stood the test of time, which is why they are still remembered today, but the general public that just wants a source of entertainment wasn't going to know or be interested enough to find out about Jack or Gerri's amateur accomplishments in Oklahoma. It was much easier for them to connect with Mr. T. and the All-American persona of Hulk Hogan.

It was basic and much more simplistic in its approach to sell the product to the audience. That's not necessarily even a criticism, but rather just to point out that reaching the casual sports fan requires that the presentation be the easiest to understand as possible. Sometimes, the simplest answer is the right answer.

Along that same lines, Vince's expansion might've been more than four decades ago, but the same more or less applies to TKO's international expansion of the WWE brand today. Obviously, there are valid points toward how the totally corporate approach, blatantly ignoring old school troupes of a previous generation, might erode the audience in the long term, the general concept looks to accomplish the same goal. TKO wants to get as much of the mainstream public as possible to follow, and spend money, in some form or fashion, on the WWE product. Someone doesn't have to watch Raw or Smackdown every week if they are a Knicks fan that got a kick out of Danhausen's involvement to assist the team in their NBA championship victory. As long as those Knicks fans decide to buy the Danhausen Knicks t-shirt then it was a successful crossover scenario.

From a macro level, TKO looks to get as many media outlets as possible talking about the WWE brand, specifically because of how valuable that brand awareness is to the stock price.

One of the many ways that WWE streamlined its revenue over the past few years is that Fanatics took over merchandise for WWE Shop, which translated to more licenses for previously mentioned crossover marketing, a more extensive line of merchandise through the more modern print on demand option, and more expensive prices for consumers. Fanatics, a multi-tiers sports business, has merchandise lines for several major sports leagues, and the conglomerate markets everything from apparel and collectibles to trading cards. The bottom line is, running WWE Shop through fanatics rather than their own warehouse allowed WWE to increase the price of its merchandise because of the typical prices associated with the Fanatics brand.

This past weekend's Fanatics Fest had a major WWE presence, including a Saturday Night's Main Event show held in Madison Square Garden. As noted before, with the Knicks recent title victory and WWE running an event in New York, management took the opportunity to associate the basketball stars with the sports entertainment brand. On the broadcast, NBA Finals MVP, Jalen Brunson received a custom championship belt from Roman Reigns. Karl Anthony Thompson choke slammed the heels through a table. You have to get some heat in pro wrestling so Indian Pacers guard, Tyrese Haliburton was there. Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks was shown in the audience on WWE programming as well.

It can't be understated how valuable events like Fanatics Fest, which caters to mainstream sports fans, can be for the WWE brand, specifically with how those opportunities can be used to garner mainstream publicity.

That's why when participant of spy gate, deflate gate, and Super Bowl champion, Tom Brady appeared on the Cody Rhodes podcast and subsequently appeared to work an angle with Logan Paul, it revealed that there was probably more to his podcast appearance than just a one-off. During the event, Brady even did an Undertaker entrance so clearly the guy is a fan of the product that is at least semi-familiar with the wrestlers. During a face off with Logan Paul, Brady slapped him, and while the segment was phonier than his excuse for deflate gate, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The company got their viral moment, and considering that many have speculated what Brady's next major venture might be since he retired from the NFL, as ludicrous as it might've sounded before the WWE/TKO merger, I think there's at least a decent chance that Tom Brady does a match in WWE at some point.

No, I don't think the snarky former QB will trade arm drags with Logan Paul, but a tag match, similar to the celebrity bout that the original Wrestlemania was built around, is definitely a possibility. Depending on your perspective, Brady vs. Paul might be a heel/heel program, but the point is, if the company can get a spots star of his level involved in a match that they can sell to the public, it would probably set box office records.

The problem is, if there is one, is that Wrestlemania would be the only truly suitable platform to host a Tom Brady match in the WWE. With WM 43 in Saudi Arabia next year, is it possible that the office could keep the Brady slap relevant for almost a year and a half until Wrestlemania is back in the United States? Could you imagine the live gate and attendance of a WM in Foxborough with Tom Brady on the card?

Aside from the publicity, as of right now, the biggest takeaway from this entire situation might be that TKO executives lean into the attempts for mainstream press even more so than Vince McMahon. Again, the old school philosophy of the previous generation is discarded. During a college lecture that audio of surfaced online earlier this year, TKO CEO. Mark Shapiro said that the expansion of the company might lose fans along the way in the attempt to gain more fans from a wider demographic. The problem is, will the efforts to expand the casual fans that will only follow the product for a relatively short period of time sour the core audience that would be willing to watch WWE programming even through a downside of the product? Furthermore, does eroding the core audience in the long run matter to TKO if they plan to sell the company within the next decade?

What's the status of Summer Slam?

Earlier this year, the sluggish Wrestlemania ticket sales were a major narrative around the biggest show on the WWE calendar, so much so that it was used as a storyline for the event, with the disastrous Pat McAfee involvement. The former NFL kicker and current ESPN talk show host only did what he was asked to do, but the angle were such drek that after it's conclusion, McAfee publicly announced that he was finished up with his work in sports entertainment.

When it was announced last year that Summer Slam was going to be expanded to a two-night format, I was skeptical that the event, despite its historical cache, would have enough steam to draw two nights in a row. I don't think it's anything groundbreaking to point out that trying to double the amount of tickets sold and thus double the live gate is a very tough task for the company. They are essentially asking the audience to spent twice as much cash on the Summer Slam experience. Yes, I understand that it includes two shows, but the bottom line is, the consumer is going to have to spend double the amount of money. I've also written in recent months that every peak has a valley, and it's simply not possible to maintain the peak that the WWE was at a few years ago when Cody Rhodes finally won the WWE championship after a two-year chase to the belt. 

As far as a good business strategy, finding a way to minimize the valleys is key. Not only has TKO not looked for a way to do that, it's almost as if they have snubbed their nose at fan feedback, keeping ticket prices expensive.

As a result, just two weeks before Summer Slam, Wrestle Tix reported that ticket sales are soft again, especially compared to the same event last year. US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis has a flexible capacity of anywhere between 66,000 seats that can be expanded to 73,000 seats, depending on the set up. Right now, the ticket map for Summer Slam lists a set up of just under 30,000 seats, implying that large sections of the building could be tarpped off by show time. According to Wrestle Tix, 22,000 tickets and 23,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday and Sunday respectively. It's important to keep in mind that the set up of 30,000 tickets could be expanded if there was the demand for more tickets. Comparatively, Summer Slam at Metlife Stadium last year sold a reported 53,000 and 60,000 tickets respectively.

As of right now, the amount of ticket sold is roughly half compared to last year, and a third of the house could be empty in Minnesota. Obviously, this prompts the questions as to why, for the second time in the span of a few months, a WWE marquee event has soft ticket sales?

Usually, the simplest answer is the right answer. Yes, the ticket prices are simply too expensive for the average consumer, and there's only a limited amount of fans from the most diehard demographic that are going to spend that type of cash on live event tickets. But, there are also layers to the scenario that reveal just how much TKO brass might've missed the mark on Summer Slam as a top draw at this point in the year.

There was criticism of hosting Wrestlemania in Las Vegas two years in a row because it took away some of the tourist aspect for wrestling fans. They would've already had the chance to see the city the previous year, and there's just not the same selling point when travelers can't maximize the location, especially with the total costs of everything when someone travels to a WWE pay-per-view. Minneapolis isn't exactly known for its tourist industry or being a destination city. Furthermore, the ongoing conflict with Iran will continue to keep oil prices high and thus the costs of travel across the board will be more expensive. It can't be understated how much an uncertain economy can impact the amount of disposable income that consumers might have at any given time. The bottom line is that the domino effect of an increase in energy costs can directly and indirectly affect almost every aspect of the economy. When costs increase, companies will ultimately look to cut back to cover the difference and it's possible that there are staff cuts as a part of that process. When the average consumer loses their job because of the economy crunch, traveling to a WWE pay-per-view isn't a priority. More specifically, just the uncertainly of job security when the economy is shaky is enough for fans to opt not to spend the extra cash in favor of essential purchases. Groceries, gas, and electricity are usually more important, even to dedicated wrestling fans than an expensive ticket and a pay-per-view chair.

The economic concerns play a much bigger role than the product, but that being said, the build for Summer Slam hasn't exactly made it a "must see"event for the audience. The reason being, while the top bouts are strong, two weeks away from the PPV and a full card hasn't been announced, which means that there will ultimately be matches that are rather indifference thrown onto the line-up. I think it goes without saying that Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk is a feud that has a lot of meat on the bone and should continue beyond Summer Slam. As much as the HIAC stipulation adds something new to it, I'm not sure the same can be said about the Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar match. Yes, I understand that its an anticipated bout, but the way the match was booked at WM worked so well that anything after it has seemed somewhat lackluster in comparison. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Lesnar and Femi will deliver a great performance, but the Lesnar "retirement" that wasn't a retirement muddied the waters. In fact, it was reported earlier this year that Summer Slam would be the place for Lesnar's retirement since it's going to be in Minnesota, which could've been used as a major selling point, but even if this ends up being his final match, it has zero cache with the audience because they have no reason to believe that he will actually retire since he already left his boots in the ring at WM. I know some might consider Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins a draw, but the entire Shield angle was recycled too many times and seemed like a retread more than anything else.

Still, the fact is, a measurable number of fans that were willing to buy tickets for Summer Slam last year simply aren't going to do the same this year. Of course, the peak of the current era was Cody winning the championship a few years ago and there will be a natural decline from it, but the biggest issue is the way that TKO hasn't adjusted accordingly. That's the biggest takeaway from this story, and it's somewhat of a follow-up to the previously mentioned Wrestlemania narrative, TKO reached the tipping point in terms of when they priced out a portion of their audience. As I'd written before, it's possible that TKO is trying to squeeze as much cash out of the current fan base as possible to be able to inflate the value of the organization to sell it, potentially to the Saudis, but regardless of the future plans, the numbers reflect that the corporation has eroded at least some demographic of the paying audience. The proof of that is that Summer Slam has been held in a stadium exclusively for the past several years, but the number of tickets sold this year make it more suitable for a traditional arena. 

VHS Memoirs Volume 39

Today marks 26 years since ECW's Los Angeles debut when the company presented the 2000 edition of  the Heatwave pay-per-view at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, drawing an estimated 5,700 fans for its arrival on the west coast. All thing considered, given the capacity of the venue of around 7,000 people, it makes you wonder if an expansion to the other coast sooner could've given the organization enough fuel to last longer than it actual did. Taking into account that there was a build up demand, as demonstrated by the number of tickets sold for this pay-per-view, for the extreme product in the locations that the group didn't run shows before, it's possible that it could've been a profitable touring venture. At the same time, the production and travel costs to the west coast are more expensive so a full-time expansion might not have been financially possible. 

Speaking of which, this pay-per-view is known for the infamous XPW incident before the main event and the subsequent brawl in the parking lot where a handful of Rob Black's stooges were thrown out of the building. Side note, Rob Black is a clown and his name associated with such a lame attempted publicity stunt is more notoriety than he deserves. Outside of the front row skirmish prior to the final bout of the night, this show was put into new context recently when Paul Heyman revealed on the Chris Van Vliet show that one of the few times that Vince McMahon stepped in to assist ECW was for the production of the Heatwave pay-per-view. While ECW's PPV numbers weren't in the ball park of the WWF's mainstream success of the late-90s, they were still a profitable venture, especially for the cable companies that enjoyed a split of the revenue at the time for distributing the broadcast as an option to order for its already established customer base. So, In-Demand, one of the major PPV distributors during that era, wanted to increase the number of pay-per-view shows from ECW, which makes sense because pro wrestling was doing big business on PPV at the time, with monthly offerings from both the WWF and WCW. For distributors, the more options there were for PPVs, the more potential revenue is on the table, and at some point, the spot where a movie re-run took on the line-up would be better used for a pro wrestling show at a premium price.

On the surface, an increase in the number of pay-per-views to seven in the year 2000 was a potential increase in revenue for the organization, cash it desperately needed to try to keep pace with the multi-mullion dollar competition. The problem was, the production costs for those PPVs, including the $250,000 satellite feed for the broadcast, were upfront costs, and there was a 90-day window between when the show aired to when the cash was sent to the company after all the ordered had been tabulated and revenue was divided. Basically, ECW couldn't afford to continue to front that money on an increased basis with the delay from the payoffs of the buy rate. Heyman revealed on the Van Vliet show that he went to McMahon for a $500,000 loan to be able to produce the Heatwave 2000 pay-per-view, and being the smart businessman that he was, Vince made sure that if the company folded, the loan would put him first in line to buy the assets in bankruptcy court less than a year later.

It might sound sinister, but it was smart business, and somewhat of a backup plan, with the notion that there would still be value in the ECW trademarks even if the company folded. As we know, the extreme brand has been marketed extensively over the past quarter century. Outside of the business aspects, Heyman's revelation put into context how truly uncertain ECW's future was at any given time. Some of that was the unwise business decisions, some of it was the pressure of the competition of the industry, and some of it is a combination of other factors. 

One thing is for sure, without Vince McMahon, this pay-per-view doesn't happen and ECW probably would've folded before the end of the year.

In a reflection of how shaky the organization was at the time, the format of the pay-per-view was also unorganized, seeming like the line-up was thrown together at the late minute to shoehorn as many wrestlers onto the broadcast as possible. The show opened with a segment that had Jasmine St. Claire on the beach with The Blue Meanie, who had returned from the WWF. The spot on the beach was hokey and lame as Meanie pummeled someone on the beach before he left with St. Claire. Hopefully, Meanie got a penicillin shot after this. From there, James Mitchell cut a really good promo, as it was revealed that Mikey Whipwreck was buried in the sand up to his neck. This is one of the examples of how underrated Mitchell was as a talker, and even after his run in TNA alongside Abyss, he doesn't get the credit for how good of a manager that he was.

The first match was a match that never officially started or ended. Big Sal and Tony Mamaluke made their way to the ring before they were confronted by Balls Mahoney. Sal attacked Mahoney and demanded a referee enter the ring, but the bell never rang. Outside of a brutal chair shot from Balls, there wasn't much to this two-minute segment before Sal landed a slam for a three count, but again there wasn't a bell for the end of the bout. The six man tag between Simon Diamond, CW Anderson, and Johnny Swinger vs. Danny Doring, Roadkill, and Kid Kash was more or less the actual opener of the show, and was structured for that role. The crowd wasn't thrilled the opening technical wrestling between Simon and Kash that started the bout, but when chaos ensured by the mid-point of the 10-minute contest with all six guys fighting outside of the ring, the reaction picked up. There were a series of dives, including a wild dive from Kid Kid that served as an energetic kickoff to the pay-per-view. Toward the finish, everyone hit a series of moves, with Kid Kash using the double under hook pile driver to get the win for the baby face team. There wasn't much psychology or drama to this segment, but it worked for what it was designed to do.

Jerry Lynn vs. Steve Corino is one of the matches that this pay-per-view is known for, and it's a good example of how violence can actually be used as an effective way to progress the narrative of characters, which is something that All Elite Wrestling should take note of today instead of just an endless amount of car crashes on their marathon pay-per-views. This is the bout where Corino bled buckets, similar to what he did at Hardcore Heaven a few months earlier during a bout with Tajiri, after a DDT on the floor from Lynn. Corino's bleach-blonde hair was stained red and he spilled blood throughout the duration of the contest. The back and fourth action allowed Corino to show guts, setting the table for when he rose to the position of champion a few months later through sheer sacrifice. Throughout the year of 2000, Corino proved that he was willing to sacrifice for the sport, and earned the fans respect in the process. Sure, Corino was a very solid worker, which is why this segment meant more than the usual ECW bloodbath. At one point, Jerry Lynn used Corino's blood as war paint and wrote "die' on his chest. It was one of the iconic visuals in the history of ECW, and was a way to boost the status of Lynn before he won the world title in his hometown two months later. Along those lines, Lynn got two visual pins on Corino while the referee was knocked down. This was a cleaver use of psychology because that would usually imply that somehow the heel would sneak way with the victory after it looked like the baby face had it won, but eventually Lynn landed the cradle pile driver to win the contest. It's easy to see why these two guys were used in the main event scene going forward since they both shined in this segment.

As somewhat of a reset, something else that AEW often neglects with their PPVs, New Jack made his way to the ring on crutches. New Jack had broken his leg four months earlier during the infamous scaffold spot with Vic Grimes at Living Dangerously. New Jack was attacked by Grimes' stablemates, Da Baldies before Chris Chetti and Nova made the save to set up an impromptu tag match. Aside from a few cool maneuvers from Nova, there wasn't too much to this five-minute match. It was basically just to pace the card, and there's nothing wrong with that. Chetti and Nova got the victory when they landed a double splash from the top rope to get the pin.

The four-way dance was originally scheduled to be a three-way match before Mikey Whipwreck was added before the bell. Whipwreck had a few spots to shine before he was eliminated, and this seemed to be another scenerio where a wrestler was shoehorned onto the card, especially since he was eliminated quickly. Yoshihiro Tajiri, Little Guido and, Psicosis put on a 10-minute fireworks show. This was a fast-paced fun segment that added something different to the card with the collection of international styles. Psicosis was eliminated before Tajiri used a brain buster to pin Guido to get the win.

The ECW TV title match was more or less a way to get Rhino over, which made sense. Let's be honest, The Sandman was one of the most over performers in the history of the company, his entrance on this show is proof of that, and he didn't need a championship, especially by this point in his career. They took some brutal bumps on a steel guard rail and you could see it bend upon impact. Steve Corino and Jack Victory attempted to interfere, but Spike Dudley made the save before he took a nasty pile driver off the apron through a table from Rhino. After the run-ins were done, Rhino hit Sandman with another pile driver on the previously mentioned steel guard rail to get the pin to retain the belt.

Besides the bloody visual of Jerry Lynn the other clip that this pay-per-view is known for is the Van Terminator that Rob Van Dam introduced at this event. His opponent was the former Scotty Riggs, working under the name Scott Anton in ECW. In a similar fashion to Sandman's entrance for the prior match, the reaction for Van Dam after his music hit made it clear how much of a major star that he was for the organization. The match itself was the typical RVD high spot match, and that's not a criticism. Van Dam went through the playbook and looked like a star in the process. Anton was a good athlete, and spent six months in ECW, but after being so far under the radar in WCW, I'm not sure he translated into someone that would work a feud against a competitor of the level of Van Dam. At the conclusion of the match, RVD nailed the previously mentioned Van Terminator to get the win.

The main event was Justin Credible defending the ECW Heavyweight champion against Tommy Dreamer with barbed wire hanging above the ring. After the previously mentioned XPW incident, Dreamer had Jazz and Gorgeous George of very brief WCW fame in his corner to oppose Francine. This quickly became a rather average brawl, and toward the finish, there was a very clunky sequence where George turned heel to join Credible. The barbed wire was the gimmick for the match, but it was used very little with only two or three spots. The finish saw Credible use a tombstone on the barbed wire to retain the championship. Maybe the early interruption of the segment had something to do with it, but the 12-minute main event was somewhat underwhelming, especially because there wasn't much drama, even the clumsy heel turn was supposed to add depth to the segment. Still, the under card made this a very worthwhile pay-per-view.

TNA Dark Side of the Ring

Nearly a year and a half after the sixth season of the the fascinating, controversial, and at times disappointing Dark Side of the Ring series debuted on Vice TV, the seventh series was back on the network. This time, the producers tackled the complex and intriguing narrative of Total Nonstop Action, the upstart league that was created out of the ashes of World Championship Wrestling by Jeff Jarrett and his dad Jerry, the longtime promoter of the Memphis territory.

In truth, I was somewhat surprised when another season of the series was announced a few months ago because while the sport unfortunately does have way too many tragedies, at some point enough often depressing programming is enough, or the producers rehashed topics that were covered ad nauseam previously. Nobody needed another 45 minutes on Montreal or The Brawl for All. On the flip side, the episodes on Bruiser Brody, Owen Hart, Chris Candido, and others were more than worthwhile.

The biggest criticism of the series might be that too often it tries too hard to find the "red meat" of a subject, regardless of is the topic justifies it or not. After the three-part presentation, the story they told of TNA falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

It goes without saying that 44 minutes of runtime after commercials makes it tough for editors to cover every aspect of each show. It's one of the sacrifices that has to be made for a more mainstream, albeit smaller, cable platform. Last week when the new season kicked off, the first two episodes of TNA aired, covering more or less the first seven years of the company's existence. As a result, the timeline jumped around a lot, summarizing large periods of time in ways that weren't exactly accurate, even if the intention wasn't for the presentation to be misleading. One of the biggest pieces of the TNA puzzle that was completely skipped over was Jay Hassman's involvement in the earliest stages of the organization. Hassman worked on the pay-per-view side of WCW and was hired to do the same for NWA-TNA when the group tried to secure the critical pay-per-view distribution that would allow for the concept of weekly pay-per-views to at least attempt to get off the ground. Infamously, Hassman created fake flash reports, suggesting that NWA-TNA sold exponentially more PPVs than it actually did, and in reality, the company didn't have nearly the amount of pay-per-view coverage that he claimed it did. As a result, TNA operated in the red without knowing it within the first month of the promotion, which led to Jeff Jarrett looking for the investment from Health South.

It was mentioned in the episode that early funding from Richard Scrushy ended relatively quickly after he was charged with fraud, eventually serving about five years in federal prison on more charges that were filed after Health South's original line of credit for TNA ended. With Scrushy under federal investigation, the story was told of how Dixie Carter got involved with TNA after she worked at a PR firm that had the company as a client. Dixie set up the meeting with Jeff Jarrett and her dad, the owner of Panda Energy, Bob Carter.

Despite the extensive debacle that became TNA Wrestling, it's clear that the narrative of Dark Side of the Ring was that Dixie Carter was presented as the heel of the story. Don't get me wrong, TNA did ultimately fail because of Dixie, but there's more than enough blame to go around for the many things that caused the company to collapse. Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and Vince Russo could be equally as to blame for the downfall of the organization as Carter. I'd guess the main reason for this was that Dixie declined to participate in the documentary so it was rather easy for the producers to put together a story that would point the finger at the villain that wasn't there to defend themselves. Ironically, Vince Russo, who is a frequent talking head on the series, wasn't blamed for his involvement in TNA being canceled from Spike TV, which was the main reason that company fell off a cliff in 2014. It was never mentioned that Spike TV executive specifically told Dixie that they didn't want Russo scripting any shows that would air on the network, and it was revealed that Russo was still secretly working for the company when he accidentally sent an e mail to PWInsider's Mike Johnson instead of announcer, Mike Tenay.

It was probably the right decision to include Jarrett's career within a show about TNA because much of the story of his career was associated with the brand. That being said, the show was too soft on him at some points, particularly how his reign as champion, especially after 2003 was completely unnecessary when names like AJ Styles, Abyss, or Christopher Daniels were on the roster. Yes, Jarrett's extended title reign was, at least in part, an ego trip because his tenure in TNA allowed him to be the top guy that he thought he should've been years earlier in the WWF. Still, Double J deserves a lot of credit with what he was able to do with the group under his direction until 2009, the industry needed options, and TNA allowed that to happen. There are numerous performers that went on to have major success in the WWE because they had a chance to make a name for themselves in TNA.

At some points, the documentary episodes overvalued the status that the promotion had throughout its history. TNA had very little mainstream cache until it landed on Spike TV in late-2005. The deal they had for a year on Fox Sports Net on Friday afternoon was minimal. The actual window that TNA had to truly establish itself was roughly from 2006 until 2009. There was no mention of when the company didn't have television in the summer of 2005 with internet exclusive shows until the Spike TV debut in October of that year. Aside from no mention of the Spike TV cancellation, the series didn't include anything about the short stints Impact had on Pop TV, Destination America, or The Pursuit Channel.

The story of the passing of Jill Jarrett was absolutely heart-breaking. When you consider how many people, including the short-fused, Scott Steiner shed tears when discussing her passing, she seemed like a wonderful lady that had a positive impact on those that knew her. One of the biggest revelations of the series was that the narrative around the Karen Jarrett involvement in the company for years was claimed to be incorrect. Karen claims that she was legally separated from Kurt Angle and they were living apart before she started a relationship with Jeff Jarrett. Granted, Kurt wasn't involved in the show so technically there was only one side of the story told, but he could easily post a public rebuttal online if Karen's version isn't accurate. It certainly paints the Angle/Jarrett scenario in a different light if those claims are true.

I'm really not sure if the implication that Dixie used Jeff's relationship with Karen as an excuse to push him out of the company is fair to her. Keep in mind, Dixie worked at a PR firm prior to this, and it goes without saying that it could've negatively impacted the company if the founder had a relationship with the top star's former wife. It's just as possible that Dixie wanted to avoid conflict in the work place, and if I had to guess, I'd say that probably was the case. Furthermore, the third episode of show chronicled much of Hulk Hogan's involvement and how it tanked the promotion. Dixie Carter was definitely a money mark that Hulk worked for major cash. But, she couldn't be a mastermind to plan a way to get rid of Jarrett so that she could takeover TNA and then be so clueless that she would let Hogan take the power that she supposedly schemed to get from Jarrett. Again, she probably wanted to avoid conflict in the work place so she sent Jeff home and was a total money mark for Hulk Hogan. Sure, she enjoyed the spotlight and wanted to play TV star, but she wasn't nearly as conniving as the documentary implied.

Another side note about Kurt Angle's involvement in the company that the documentary didn't specifically cover was the circumstances of his arrival to TNA. Angle was fired from WWE because he had an addiction issue, and at the time that he signed a TNA contract, there was some criticism toward the organization because there was concern about Angle's health.

The third episode was needed to provide a conclusion to the story of TNA up until this point, but it didn't exactly break any new ground either. Yes, taking Impact on the road and the attempt to go head-to-head with WWE were what eventually had the company on the brink of collapse. The infamous Victory Road incident where an impaired Jeff Hardy was on pay-per-view, as well as Jarrett's substance issues are well-documented so most of the audience that would watch Dark Side of the Ring already knew those stories. Thankfully, the conclusion of the third episode was a positive note about TNA, and more importantly, the life of Jeff Jarrett with his current role in AEW.

Baron Corbin returns

More than a year and a half ago, Baron Corbin was released from his WWE contract, ending a 12-year run with the company. Corbin was an agile big man that showed some promise early in his NXT tenure in 2014, but became a victim of circumstances in terms of the way that he was used on the main roster. Keep in mind, when Raw was woefully underwhelming in the late-2010s, the character of Constable Corbin was blamed for the subpar product. Sure, even the most casual fans know that the office scripts the direction of WWE programming, but where did that scripting leave the Corbin persona? He was presented as secondary and lackluster so that more or less doomed any chances for him to have major success during that run.

Don't get me wrong, Corbin did the best with what he was given, the problem was that he had absolute drek to work with. There was no way that he was going to be positioned as the lame authority figure, or the guy that was broke, and still be able to maintain any momentum as a commodity that the audience should be invested into or follow the journey.

Corbin was 40 when he was cut from the WWE, and considering that he had more than a decade on the WWE payroll, I wrote at the time that if he was financially secure that he might want to consider retirement since he made it through his WWE career without any major injuries. It can be understated how fortunate a performer is if that can get through over a decade of full-time wrestling without any major injuries, especially with how often neck and back injuries happen in the modern era with the more modern style. Yes, WWE and AEW workers have a more limited schedule than in the past, but the argument can be made that the chance of injury actually increased in more recent years because of how the performers push the envelope on the bigger stages. For example, Seth Rollins, Bronson Reed, Bron Breakker, and Logan Paul are just a few on the WWE roster that suffered serious injuries in recent years. The injury rate in All Elite Wrestling is slightly higher, but it's less about the promotions specifically, and more about the downside of the incredible athleticism that is more common place now than ever before.

Still, Corbin continued to wrestle, albeit on a limited schedule, on the independent circuit since he left WWE. He had a few appearances with Game Changer Wrestling's Blood Sport series, which at least for the diehard audience that saw those shows, allowed him to portray himself in a much more serious way than a broke hobo asking for change on Smackdown. He worked primarily for Major League Wrestling, a group known more for winning a $20 million dollar anti-trust lawsuit against the WWE a few years ago than anything else, for the majority of his time outside of the organization. MLW seems to do well for the level that it's at, and if it's a profitable venture than it's successful. That said, it's obvious that MLW simply isn't going to be in the same conversation as WWE, AEW, or even TNA so if an offer from a bigger promotion is on the table, the talent will take it. Under the name Bishop Dyer, Corbin was stripped of the MLW tag titles recently, fueling speculation that he could be on his way back to the WWE,

Last week on Smackdown, Baron Corbin made a surprise return, attacking Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes during a US title match. It got the artificial pop that you'd expect when someone returns from an extended absence, but there might be more layers to the scenarios that reveal that the office might have major plans for him, at least compared to what he was booked for previously.

All things considered, Corbin wasn't away from the company all that long. This wasn't a situation similar to Drew McIntyre or Cody Rhodes where they were gone from the landscape for several years and did enough elsewhere that they were somewhat of a demand already built up for them to make a comeback. That's not to say that Corbin will automatically reach similar success than Cody and Drew, or to imply that there wouldn't be a portion of the audience that wanted to see him back in the fold of WWE, but rather to point out that he was gone just long enough for the stain of the previous drek to fade from his career. I could be wrong, but I'd guess that he was released from the organization in 2024 with some level of assurance that he'd be brought back at some point in the future. As mentioned, it's not as though he was extremely busy on the independent circuit, and outside of a dark match when an event was held where he lived, Corbin wasn't on the radar of AEW either. The totality of his hiatus was more or less his work in MLW, which might've been a way to stay in ring shape more than anything else.

As mentioned, it's not as though there was an organic demand for him to be back in WWE, which is a reflection of how he was booked prior, and the relatively short time he was on the independents, not that he can't be a contributor to the product so in some ways, he has a fresh start within the WWE landscape. The upside of that is that he was a realistic chance to make another impression without the anchor around his neck of the way he was booked for the latter portions of Vince McMahon's tenure as the boss. The downside is that the WWE main roster is full, the NXT roster is designed to develop talent to get to the main roster, and the Performance Center recruits athletes on a regular basis. In short, it's going to be more difficult for Baron Corbin to stand out within the scope of the company now than it was previously.

Obviously, it depends on what he's booked to do on the shows and if he can excel in those scenarios that will determine if he can boost his stock for this new chapter of his WWE career, but if nothing else, he was given a start strong for this return. He attacked Trick Williams, who is one of the more popular newer talents, and Carmelo Hayes, who was also spotlighted this year so he already has a direction on the blue brand. He already has new merchandise on the WWE Shop website.

I have to be honest, given the fact that the Corbin character has no cache, I'm somewhat surprised that he was re-signed by the company, but it might be an angle where the office hopes to use someone with substantial television experience to work with the younger talent, which makes sense. The biggest takeaway from this entire situation might be that TKO still has a role for veterans within the mid-card, but look for specific circumstances to utilize them. Sheamus was cut from the roster at 48, but Corbin is 41 and just got offered a new contract. The two decisions might not be related, but it's definitely an interesting scenario when you take into account the generation of talent that have been asked to take a pay cut or released this year. 

McGregor vs. Holloway

Conor McGregor's career is over.

He might not know it or want to admit it, but one of the biggest stars that the Ultimate Fighting Championship promotional machine ever made saw a historically underwhelming conclusion to his career in just one minute and nine seconds at UFC 329.

The brash Irishman had been away from the octagon for almost five years exactly, prompting questions about if he could truly make a comeback from the devastating injury that he suffered the last time fans saw in compete in the cage, snapping his left leg in the closing moments of the first round of a bout against Dustin Poirier in 2021. It was the same brutal tibia and fibula break that sidelined, and ultimately cut the careers short of both former middleweight champions, Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman respectively. Anderson Silva was arguably the most dominate fighter in the history of the sport during his prime, and Weidman was much more well-rounded than McGregor, who made a career with a combination of sharp strikes and charismatic mic skills. Silva could never return to top form after the same injury. Weidman was never close to the level that he was at his peak, when he shocked the world to dethrone the previously mentioned Silva for the 185 LBS belt.

The odds, with the sports books that had Conor as a 3-to-1 underdog for his return fight, literally said he wasn't going to be back to make a successful comeback from the gruesome injury. Still, the hype machine was back around the Dublin native, despite the sexual assault accusations and trial that made him persona non grata in his home country, and the American public anticipated his return. He was found liable of sexual assault in civil case in Dublin and lost the subsequent appeal. The victim was awarded $250,000 and the backlash from the ruling saw McGregor lose numerous sponsorships, as well as endorsement deals in Ireland. However, the MMA fans in the United States were willing to pay major cash to be in the building when he squared off with Max Holloway, a rematch from their original bout that Conor won via decision in 2013. The cheapest ticket ahead of he UFC 329 pay-per-view at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas was listed at $1,000 on the secondary market.

As I wrote in an article about the event earlier this week, Max Holloway wasn't a tomato can brought in to allow Conor an easy fight. Holloway fought against top competition the majority of his UFC career, and even the bouts that he lost, he was always competitive. Furthermore, and this is mostly just good matchmaking since the fight business is still the entertainment business, Holloway is willing to brawl to put on a good show for the audience. In theory, that could've catered to McGregor's style.

I wrote that I'd give Conor one, or at most, two rounds to win the fight. Even before the leg break, he was known for struggling with cardio, a flaw in his game that was exposed during the Nate Diaz and Khabib Nurmagomedov fights. Don't get me wrong, McGregor is a dangerous striker, but hasn't fared well in the championship rounds.

As it turned out, his chance might've been slim before he entered the octagon on Saturday night.

Within the first thirty seconds, Conor threw two sloppy jumping kicks, landing awkwardly both times. He fell down twice, prompting Holloway to land a few punches on each occasion. At one point, Holloway motioned something to the referee, but was told to continue the fight. After Holloway let McGregor get back to his feet, a few seconds later, Conor's knee buckled, prompting the official to stop the fight just over a minute into the opening round. There was barely any action, but a tremendous amount of confusion. A replay showed that Conor injured his right knee when he landed during one of the jumping kicks that were thrown seconds after the start of the contest. McGregor was compromised within the first ten seconds of the pay-per-view main event.

After the stoppage, a chorus of boos from the crowd provided McGregor's exit music, a stark contrast to the electric atmosphere of just minutes earlier when smoke filled the octagon for the prelude of "Foggy Dew" before the Notorious BIG track signaled his entrance to the arena. Conor left the cage without doing the post-fight interview, and video surfaced online shortly after the pay-per-view went off the air of Conor, still in his fight gear, limping out of the building.

At the post-fight press conference, UFC president, Dana White speculated that it was an ACL tear, and the initial report from the ringside doctors agreed with that assessment, but the severity of the injury still had to be confirmed with an MRI. When Max Holloway was interviewed after the contest, he mentioned the possibility of a trilogy fight, but I have to be honest, I sincerely think that Conor McGregor doesn't have the ability to be a competitive fighter again, nor would there be much of a demand to see him fight again after such a massive letdown. Keep in mind, Conor snapped his leg the last time that fans saw him compete, and this time he suffered a non-contact injury. Is there any reason to honestly believe that he's going to get back to the dynamic striker that he was at the peak of his popularity?

This was the comeback, this was the barometer to see what he had left in the tank and he collapsed within seconds. Granted, at 37, Conor would theoretically have at least a few more competitive years left in his career, but again, the brutal leg injury, not to mention the knee injury suffered on Saturday, simply limited his agility and strength after such a physical toll on the body. In the confusing aftermath, specifically with how woefully underwhelming the main event was, there was a replay shown of Conor taking his shoes off prior to entering the cage, prompting speculation that maybe he tweaked his knee before the opening bell. Regardless of if it happened when he was preparing to walk into the octagon or from the attempted flying kick, the result is the same, a non-contact injured ended his comeback in literally just a minute of competition.

The reason that I say that his career is over is simple, it took years for him to agree to fight again. Remember when he was originally slated to return against Michael Chandler after a stint as coaches on a season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2023? Conor didn't enter the testing pool to be eligible to fight so the bout was scrapped. Prior to this bout, there was some controversy about when McGregor missed scheduled drug tests to maintain his eligibility to fight in 2024 and was suspended for 18 months. The suspension was moot since he had no actual plans to fight anyway, but the point is, the chances that he will realistically be prepared to fight again are minimal.

In some ways, this is a scenario where you reap what you sow.

UFC management catered to Conor to give him to promotional push to make him the top star in the company. He took that hype and made $100 to fight Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. It took them years to get him to agree to fight again, and the "opportunity cost" of the McGregor push was that fighters that could've made themselves stars in two different divisions didn't get the chance to do so. Instead of a top draw for the UFC, Conor made more headlines for arrests, accusations, and the reasons that he didn't fight. In many respects, it's very similar to the Jon Jones situation, when the organization looked the other way in hopes that he would draw a buy rate, only for him to abruptly retire without defending the heavyweight title last year.

Reportedly, Conor was guaranteed a staggering $15 million for the one minute and nine seconds in the octagon, which is exponentially more cash that the $3 million that Max Holloway was paid. Assuming that McGregor can avoid any more legal trouble, and doesn't waste his wealth, he might be able to retire. If nothing else, there's no way that he can demand that type of payday from the UFC again, especially because given the finish of the UFC 329 main event, there's not going to be nearly the same demand to see him compete again. Aside from the potential end of Conor's career, the biggest takeaway from this situation is that the UFC doesn't currently have a top star that can be used as a mainstream draw, particularly since Tom Aspinall is still sidelined with a serious eye injury so it will be interesting to see what bouts management books next to give more fights a chance to make themselves stars for the company.

Kenny Omega wins AEW title

Just two days after CM Punk beat Sami Zayn to claim the WWE title in his surprise return to the company after a three-month hiatus, Kenny Omega defeated Maxwell Jacob Friedman to win the All Elite Wrestling world championship on the Beach Break edition of Dynamite. No, I don't think one decision impacted the other, but the overall direction of the Dynamite was puzzling, specifically because the Redemption pay-per-view, another addition to the All Elite PPV line-up, is two weeks away. As of this writing, there's only one match confirmed for the event, the Thekla vs. Willow Nightingale contest for the AEW Women's championship, which was set up when Nightingale returned from injury to win a match on Wednesday to earn a title shot at the pay-per-view.

Aside from just two weeks for Tony Khan to announce and promote a card that he will try to sell for $50 on July 26th, the other issue, and maybe this is actually the bigger problem, is that Tony used a lot of potential PPV matches on free television this week, seemingly because this episode of Dynamite had a specific title. It can't be understated how important it is, especially in the modern era, to have enough meat on the bone to justify those PPV orders. Yes, I understand that there's a diehard demographic of AEW fans that will order every pay-per-view simply because of the name All Elite Wrestling, but shouldn't the goal to be expand beyond the core group of fans? It might sound trivial, but with the ongoing conflict with Iran and the continued economic uncertainty, it could be a much tougher sell to viewers outside of that core audience to attempt to increase PPV numbers. At the same time, we've seen on many occasions that money is no object to Tony Khan, and profit isn't the main goal so maybe the situation is moot.

Still, when you look at the featured matches on Beach Break, there's a case to be made for all three of them to have been saved for the pay-per-view in Montreal at the end of the month. Furthermore, with those cards just played, what in the wide world of sports will Tony put on pay-per-view?

While I understand why Chris Jericho had to take time away from the organization to allow the oversaturation of Jericho to subside and give himself a fresh start, I'm honestly not sure there's much of a demand to see him do anything else in the promotion. That's actually not a knock, either. In fact, it's quite the opposite, as Jericho has done more or less everything in both WWE and AEW. As far as reinventing himself, he's in a league of his own and has a very unique legacy. But, at some point, there's not any new territory to cover, which speaks to the legendary career that he had. At 55, what is there really left for him to do? He seems to be relatively healthy, especially for someone that wrestled most of the last 35 years. I could be wrong, but as far as an in-ring performer, Chris Jericho checked all the boxes so at this point, anything else somewhat repetitive.

Along with that, I don't think the feud with Tommaso Ciampa justified the weapons and the blood in the match on Wednesday. The angle was a mid-card act at best, and there wasn't enough cache or intensity for it to be a blood feud so to speak. Don't get me wrong, the effort was there, but it looked like they were trying to shoehorn this angle into a scenario that just didn't connect with the circumstances around it. Regardless, Chris Jericho wrestling on pay-per-view, particular at his age when it's obvious that he has a limited number of matches left, would've been more useful than putting it on television, particularly since Jericho put Ciampa over.

Kyle Fletcher beat Konosuke Takeshita for the International championship. Given the laundry list of belts, the title doesn't really do much for Fletcher, but the victory definitely puts a spotlight on him, which is the bigger upside. This was a tremendous bout, it was hard-hitting, fast-paced and represented the All Elite brand very well. Granted, it might've been too risky, specifically for television, but positive or negative, that just goes along with the territory of the product. That being said, this was undoubtedly a pay-per-view quality match that was put on free television, going as far as to give it enough time to develop a level of back and fourth drama before the conclusion. It's well-known that Takeshita also has a New Japan contract and the G1 Climax tournament starts next week in Chicago, running through the middle of August. If Takeshita absolutely has to be in Japan for the G1 on July 26th then it makes sense that the Fletcher contest was booked for television so that he could drop the belt before he went back to Japan for a month, but if it was possible, this bout could've been a solid addition to the Redemption line-up.

There might've been a valid reason for Fletcher/Takeshita to be broadcasted on Beach Break, but I'm honestly completely flabbergasted as to why Canadian grappler Kenny Omega beat MJF for the world championship in Clearwater instead of Montreal. It seems like it makes too much sense not to book the switch in Omega's home country. The reason being, taking into account the type of heel MJF is, it's possible that they could've built enough drama in the main event spot to get the audience to believe that it was possible that MJF could escape with the belt to be the spoiler for the hometown win. It would've been an even more believable scenario because many assumed that it would be Will Ospreay vs. MJF at Wembley Stadium since it's another easy story to tell with a hometown hero against the vile villain,

The problem with the decision for Omega to take the title on television, at least on the surface, is two-fold. Most importantly, anything, outside of a possible rematch with MJF, that Tony books for the world title match at Redemption is going to be a thrown together segment. There isn't enough time for Khan to manufacture a compelling title bout that isn't one-dimensional in two weeks. I could be wrong, but it seems like Tony traded an easy main event on pay-per-view for a hotshot segment on free television. The other issue is the spin that this puts on the previously mentioned Wembley card. From a drama perspective, taking the most over baby face, in this case Will Ospreay in his hometown, and pairing him against the most hated heel in the company of MJF, is a winning combination. Sometimes, the easiest answer is still the right answer. As of now, AEW is promoting Ospreay vs. Omega for the championship in England. We've seen that match before, both in Japan and the United States, and it was absolutely tremendous. The quality of Omega/Ospreay isn't debatable. However, is it the best match to book for the setting of Wembley Stadium? It looks like Tony wants to see how many stars Omega vs. Ospreay gets in a stadium setting rather than building the most dramatic storyline possible to maximize the moment of Ospreay winning the world championship in his hometown. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see what main event Tony booked for Montreal and how he will promote it less than two weeks before the pay-per-view.