The AEW streaming service

We've seen for the past several years, specifically since the WWE launched the original WWE Network in 2014, that the shifting dynamics of new technology have continued to impact the media landscape, both inside and outside of the pro wrestling business.

Every players in the streaming game seems to be chasing this theoretical gold mine, with the notion that traditional television is going to die off, leaving online streaming as the only major form of media consumption left in America. Everyone is looking to get their piece of the pie. Of course, that is misguided since the NFL and cable news still draw massive numbers because the traditional platform is still the easiest way for the widest demographic to access the content. That's not to say that there's not money to be made in the streaming market, Netflix is proof of that, but rather to point out that an entity jumping into the streaming waters won't automatically yield success. In fact, we've seen a slew of streaming platforms come and go in the same span of time since the WWE Network launched. The streaming market is still oversaturated, the handful of mergers, including the Paramount/WBD merger, within just the past few years is a part of the determination of just how many streaming options can be sustained by the market. When it gets to the point that there are so many streaming options that it starts to resemble the cable platform that it aimed to replace, you know that consolidation, in some form or fashion, will be a part of the process of what services will ultimately find the most success.

Speaking of which, Triller, the platform that hosts everything from AEW, TNA, GCW, and a myriad of independent cards, is said to be in financial danger. At the end of last year, Triller was taken off of the Nasdaq stock exchange for failure to submit financial reports. The company was also subject to a few different lawsuits, prompting questions about the amount of cash it had available for its operations. Being unlisted from the stock exchange basically takes away any potential investment from the public, which means that the organization would have to look for private investors at a time when it wouldn't be advisable for anyone to throw more money into the Triller pit. Obviously, Triller needs content to be able to sell to customers, but when they started to take any independent league with a wifi content, it arguably hindered its brand identity. If Triller was specifically touted as the online home of GCW, it could have a specific level of brand awareness and possibly build off of that with select independent groups, or with the addition of something like TNA. However, when you can find the independent show in front of 23 people at Big Bob's car lot, it doesn't make the platform look premiere.

It goes without saying that Triller's days as an entity look to be numbered, and for the groups on the platform that matter, they either already have their own service in place or have the cache to end up elsewhere without much disruption. TNA+ is already more or less the streaming service where fans know to go for their content online, and it might require a few other deals to be put in place for some international markets, but the collapse of Triller will be moot for TNA. Game Changer Wrestling is probably the most successful property that is specifically under the Triller banner, with events almost every weekend, but without them, GCW will probably be wise to transition its shows to their Youtube channel under the membership tier. Granted, the financial details might be different, but the point is, it's a relatively easy and logical switch for the independent group.

In an effort to get ahead of the eventual Triller shutdown, All Elite Wrestling has launched its own streaming service, MyAEW primarily for the international fan base. The service will offer different tiers for customers outside North America for episodes of television, as well as access to the pay-per-views. The US, Mexico, and Canada already have existing exclusive deals in place, mostly HBO Max in America so for now, this app will be designed for overseas fans.

The discussion for an AEW app, particularly to get the pay-per-views to a bulk-pricing model, has been a topic among fans since almost the inception of the organization, but that's a difficult leap to make, especially when the events usually garner around 140,000 buys. Sure, you can argue that their PPV buys are stagnant, as only the most diehard portion of the fan base will spend $50 to order a show, but if the company is consistently making a profit on its pay-per-views, it's tough to take a different path.

This is where the WWE sets the bar for the rest of the industry, at the time that AEW started, the PPV standard was $9.99 a month with access to the extensive video library, but we've seen the resistance from fans to switch back to paying $30 a month for pay-per-views. When the shows were on Peacock for $4.99 a month and in some cases included for Comcast customers, it unintentionally lowered the market value of the events. In some ways, the horse is out of the barn, and the reports of less than stellar ESPN app numbers based on the addition of WWE content explain the reasoning behind it. If AEW gave fans access to pay-per-view for $19.99 a month through the MyAEW app, it would be extremely difficult for the company to sell those shows at $50 again.

All Elite Wrestling is a domestic entity in the United States, but as far as WWE setting the standard for the industry, the TKO corporation shows how important and profitable it is to globalize the product. No, All Elite Wrestling shouldn't try to keep pace with WWE as far as expansion outside of the country, but the point is, there are undoubtedly profitable revenue streams on the table for international markets, especially for the locations that don't get live cards as often as other places in the world. The MyAEW app could be extremely useful to not only expand distribution of the product, but also get a measure of the level of fan demand for more live events in different countries. The United Kingdom generated the biggest house in AEW history with more than 80,000 fans in attendance at Wembley Stadium a few years ago so that's proof of the demand for live wrestling in the European market, particularly after the consolidation of the UK independent scene when the original NXT UK project scooped up almost every independent name on the circuit. With the MyAEW app, Tony Khan could get a gauge on how many fans are willing to pay for the product in Germany, France etc. to be able to determine what cities in the market could host profitable live events.

It wouldn't be the primary focus of the streaming platform, but after the service is put in place and runs smoothly, it will ensure that regardless of what happens, All Elite Wrestling will still have a platform where it can monetize the product in the future. It probably won't be necessary, with the Paramount/Warner Brothers Discovery merger, there was speculation about if AEW's TV deal would be renewed at the end of 2027, given Paramount's media deal with the UFC, which is a part of the TKO corporation. As I wrote about the merger in a prior article, it could mean absolute nothing, as AEW might be seen as just another TV show, and Paramount needs content to put on the Turner networks after the merger. However, at the very least, a well-established streaming platform could be a good safety net for distribution of content if Paramount would opt not to renew the television deal, as it could keep new content available to fans until AEW signed a TV deal with a different network.

What's the status of UFC?

It's not about what you know, it's about who you know.

It certainly pays to have friends in high places. UFC boss, Dana White is a longtime friend and supporter of Trump, who also has long-standing ties with WWE so the TKO umbrella is within the favor of the current administration. With potential merger talks across the current media landscape as the industry continues to evolve through the advancement of technology, it helps to be on the good side of the federal agencies that can approve such transactions.

But, nepotism is nothing new, especially in politics. Who ends up with Warner Brothers properties, or what corporation will look to sell in the future if it can't keep pace with the dynamics of the media business remains to be seen. Still, it never hurts to have that assurance in your back pocket. Right now, it looks like hefty GOP donor and CEO of Paramount, David Ellison will get control of the entire WBD corporation, a move that came after Netflix was outbid by a staggering $110 billion offer from Paramount, a 35% increase from the $82 billion agreement that Netflix had on the table. The Netflix deal would've taken the extensive libraries, the streaming platforms, and the movie studio. It would ensure more content for the global Netflix machine, while the TV networks would remain under the WBD banner as Discovery Global. This would essentially be the corporation's renewed effort to focus specifically on television rather than attempting to compete across the board in the media business. If that would've been successful or reduced their footprint too much is moot, as the Paramount merger will see the company acquire Warner Brother Discovery entirely, including the CNN network. Make no mistake, the Paramount deal is the consolidation of media, not the acquisition of content for a different platform.

Similar to how millions of dollars of political donations bought Linda McMahon two different spots in Trump's cabinet, Ellison more or less made sure that the WBD/Paramount merger will be approved through his political contributions. 

Trump hosted a pair of Wrestlemania events at the now-defunct Trump Plaza in Atlantic City in the late-80s. He used the pro wrestling spectaculars to do the same thing that boxing was designed to do for the entertainment complex, bring travels to the hotel rooms and gamblers to the tables. It didn't hurt that a few decades later that Trump was paid a reported $5 million that he "donated" to the Trump foundation, an organization that was later ordered by a court decision to dissolve due to misuse of funds, for the famous clash with Vince McMahon in 2007. As a result of this indirect  payola, the justice department dropped an investigation into the hush money payments Vince with company funds just a few months after Trump took office for his second term.

Again, it pays to have friends in high places.

So, it makes sense that TKO, which is under the Endeavor banner, wants to keep the orange villain in the White House content, particularly when the Paramount merger gets approved, as it will give the UFC, the MMA league that signed a massive $7.7 billion rights deal with the organization, an even bigger platform when the Turner networks eventually fall under the Paramount umbrella.

One of the ways that the UFC is going to do that is to run a live card at the White House on Trump's birthday. Last weekend, during the UFC 326 broadcast, the line-up was announced, with Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje for the Light Weight championship as the main event, while Alex Pereira, who vacated the 205 LBS title to move up to heavyweight, will square off with Ciryl Gane, to determine the interim champion until Tom Aspinall can recovery from a very serious eye injury that he suffered in a fight against Gane last October. Taking into account that Aspinall noted that multiple surgeries would be needed to repair the injury and no indication of if or when he will be cleared to fight again, it's possible that the winner of the Pereira/Gane bout could eventually be deemed the undisputed heavyweight champion.

As with anything, there's a domino effect when decisions like the Trump birthday event are made, including an effect on Paramount, the network that signed the UFC to the $7.7 billion contract mentioned earlier.

The organization had a slew of situations where titles were vacated in different divisions, prompting the narrative around those divisions to get very murky. It's difficult to make stars when there isn't truly the coronation of a new champion. Islam Makhachev vacated the light weight title so that he could move up to welterweight and was given a title shot for his first fight in the division when he beat  Jack Della Maddalena for the championship this past November. As mentioned, Pereira vacated the light heavyweight belt to move up to fight Gane, who initially fought Aspinall because Jon Jones vacated the heavyweight championship without ever defending it. Topuria/Gaethje is the slug fest to provide the fireworks for the main event, while the heavyweight title showdown will bring a level of gravitas to the event.

With so many moving parts in different divisions, Dana White was going to put the best card that he could in place for his friend's birthday. The issue with that, at least from a macro point of view, is given the preparation needed to train and the potential recovery time for any injuries during fights, the majority of the UFC in terms of star power, is based around the White House card, leaving the rest of the calendar rather sparse. Former Bantamweight champion, Sean O'Malley, and Michael Chandler, both diehard Trump supporters, are scheduled to fight on the under card at the White House. Dana couldn't get Jon Jones on the White House card, which became the subject of controversy when the UFC president claimed during the UFC 326 post-fight press conference that "Bones" Jones wasn't in consideration for the event and went as far as to claim that the former champion is retired. Jones rebutted that on Twitter, claiming that there were negotiations for him to compete in June. Regardless of the actual story, the bottom line is, Jon Jones isn't fighting at the White House. On the flip side, Dana also said that Conor McGregor, who was the subject of a lawsuit and legal trouble in his native country the past few years, could be back to fight at some point in the future. The brash Irishman hasn't fought in almost five years after he suffered a gruesome injury, snapping his leg in a bout against Dustin Poirier in July of 2021.

I'd say it's 50/50 if we see McGregor back in the octagon again, but without him or Jones on the roster, Dana had to piece together a card for his friend's birthday with the best remaining competitors under contract. That will yield a stacked event for Trump, but as I said, the rest of the announced calendar through August doesn't offer much substance or sizzle in terms of anticipation for the fan base. Part of the problem is the abundance of live cards that the company still runs under the Paramount contract, which was also an issue during the ESPN deal. There are simply too many cards that require too many competitors for a main event guy to be available to fight when needed the way that there was years ago.

The sum total of putting as many resources as they are into the White House presentation is that it doesn't help the selling point for Paramount subscriptions or maintain a hype around the brand to maintain subscriptions. Furthermore, and this is a much smaller point since the American public's political allegiance usually only goes as far as when it inconveniences them, it's possible that such a strong association with Trump could sour a portion of the fan base. But, sacrificing the majority of the calendar for a year of a billion dollar contract or a minimal demographic of the audience is still moot in the grand scheme of things. For Paramount, they get to broadcast Trump's birthday event around the same time that they will need government approval for the WBD merger, and we've already seen why it's beneficial for the TKO corporation to be in the favor of the current administration.

Paramount/WDB merger

"You have the illusion of choice" -George Carlin

The late legendary comedian George Carlin, who lived an edgy life, both onstage and off, was well-regarded as a genius performer during his life, and is seen as somewhat of a prophet for the observations that are still true nearly twenty years after he passed away in 2008 at the age of 71.

Carlin would have enough material for another dozen HBO specials if he were around today to verbally KO the thinly-veiled prejudice of most of the GOP, while he put the extreme of the other side in tears when he delicately explained to them that their self-important virtue signaling to be professionally offended isn't some type of brave accomplishment.

One of the many reasons that George's philosophies have endured long after his death is that he didn't put a slate on things, he made an balanced observation and then cited the nonsense of it all.

His remark about choice was based on the fact that there's a reason that there are two political parties, which can have a profound impact on society, while you can go Baskin Robbins to decide on 32 flavors of ice cream. His prose and performance on the circus of American society extended beyond the ballot box, as he warned of the consolidation of media, insurance, and oil companies as well.

It's somewhat similar to the message in Roddy Piper's cult classic, They Live, where the public should continue to consume and spend their money, while a select few in power make the decisions that really matter. Does anyone have any bubblegum?

Of course, when the topics of war, (remember those files?) cost of living, and critical rights of citizens are on the table, something based in entertainment like the professional wrestling business is rather moot in the grand scheme of things.

Despite that, the much bigger decisions that are made with much bigger motives than the prospects of a sports entertainment show can still have an eventual impact on the grappling arts. Just three years after Warner Brothers and Discovery merged, a move that would theoretically make the two entities a stronger force combined in the evolving media landscape rather than competing against each other for the same market share, headlines were made earlier this year when it was reported that WBD was looking to sell completely, with a slew of potential buyers. A few months ago, it was announced that Netflix would purchase specific assets of the WBD group, as far as the libraries and streaming platforms, which would include HBO Max. In short, this purchase would've given Netflix the rights to the extensive Warner Brother library, as well as the numerous HBO series, such as The Sopranos, The Wire, etc. Furthermore, it would also be the purchase of the movie studios, allowing Netflix to produce more original content as well. Even that deal implied that WBD as an entity was on shaky ground since they would've relinquished the rights to commodities that they theoretically could've monetized until the end of time, in favor of a cash infusion for the remaining television networks that were slated to be under the new umbrella of Discovery Global. Basically, this would've taken them away from the streaming business to focus on what's left of the traditional television platform, which might've been the best option for them in terms of survival, but certainly indicated that they weren't a flourishing corporation.

The problem with downsizing, at least in the short term, is that it would've reduced their footprint on the media business significantly, which would've made them more vulnerable to being surpassed by other networks. Without the movie studio, the corporation wouldn't have the ability to lean on a potential box office hit to cover if other divisions of the organizations were sluggish in terms of numbers. Sure, CNN would've remained a tent pole, as cable news is one of the biggest draws that keep traditional television as a strong platform, but what content would the other channels have on their schedule? Keep in mind, part of the reason that Netflix was going to pay a staggering $82 billion for WBD Studios was to get access to classics like The Wizard of Oz, the Harry Potter franchise, and a portion of the superhero films so what content would be left for networks like TBS and TNT? Let's not forget, those are valuable intellectual properties to own the rights to as far as future projects, which would be revenue streams that wouldn't be available to the Discovery Global group.

If the Global Discovery networks would've floundered outside of CNN, it might've been only a matter of time until they are forced to sell entirely to another media conglomerate.

A few weeks ago, Paramount, one of the original bidders for WBD at the end of last year, made a shocking counteroffer to snatch the deal away from Netflix, with a massive $110 billion bid, an almost 35% hike from what Netflix offered. After Netflix declined to match or exceed the number, it was officially announced that Paramount would buy the entire WBD organization, including the cable channels.

As with almost everything these days, there's a political spin on this story and the domino effect that it might have, particularly on the pro wrestling business.

David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount, is a close friend and hefty donor to Donald Trump. Ellison's father, Larry was a software kingpin as far back as the 1970s and is currently listed as one of the top 10 richest people in the world, according to Forbes. Larry Ellison is also a longtime friend of Trump. David Ellison was a producer of several films, a handful of them gaining major success, through his Skydance Media company, a venture that was originally financed by his father. Since CBS is under the Paramount umbrella, the second generation Ellison made news recently when it was reported that a scheduled 60 Minutes story that was going to be critical of Trump was cancelled. Along those lines, there are concerns about not only the massive layoffs that usually happen with staff during mergers, but also the impact that Ellison ownership of CNN, a network often anti-Trump, will have on the news channel. As with anything else, the more consolidation of any industry will yield less options for consumers.

Obviously, on the surface, there will be anti-trust concerns, particularly with so much media and market share under the same banner, but as a substantial donor to the Republican party, Ellison will get the approval for the merger from the current administration.

How this will impact the mainstream news coverage in the country is the bigger story, but what about the media properties themselves?

Of course, this clears the way for the UFC, the TKO property that just inked a massive rights deal with Paramount last year, to have an expanded platform, giving Paramount the chance to generate more ad revenue from its partnership with the MMA league. Remember, UFC boss, Dana White is also a long-time supporter of Trump and the company will run an event on his birthday at the White House in June. It goes without saying that WWE as a corporate entity is in Trump's favor as well, which is why the Justice Department dropped its investigation into Vince McMahon after the orange villain took office for his second term.

From strictly a pro wrestling prospective, could this potentially have an impact on AEW's television deal with the Turner networks?

It remains to be see what, if any, impact the merger will have on All Elite Wrestling, but it was recently confirmed that Warner Brothers Discovery owns a 9% interest in the company. It goes without saying that if Ellison eventually opts to part ways with the pro wrestling organization that the Khan family that is worth billions of dollars will simply buy that portion of ownership from Paramount, but as of right now, what does this mean for All Elite?

The nepotism in every facet of American society isn't anything new, but if a friend of Trump owns the networks that airs a competitive brand to WWE, another friend of Trump, is it possible that it could filter down to have an effect on the decision made to re-sign AEW?

As of right now, the current All Elite TV deal runs through 2027, with the option for a fourth year. It's possible that this could go a few different ways. The simple, albeit less provocative path would be that AEW continues its partnership with the Turner networks without interruption. As mentioned, pro wrestling is small potatoes in terms of the scope of what this deal could mean in the grand scheme of things. Despite the decline in numbers in recent years, Dynamite still draws relatively consistent ratings, a major positive in the television industry so the pro wrestling shows are kept in place because they are under the radar enough that it's not truly important enough for any of the Paramount suites to notice otherwise. On the other hand, it's possible that maybe the TKO corporation that Paramount has billions of dollars invested in through the previously mentioned UFC deal, would prefer that the conglomerate doesn't re-sign a potential competitor to the WWE, another TKO property, to a new television deal after the current contract expires in 2027. If that hypothetically took place, AEW would probably land somewhere else, but a smaller network means a smaller market share, and that means the organization would be a smaller force in the industry. The trickle down effect of that would be that the WWE would only strengthen its dominance of the business, translating to less options for both the talent and the fans. All Elite's television deal and thus distribution of the product is stable until at least the end of next year, but with how fast the media business is changing, including the takeover from Paramount in the span of roughly two months, it's very possible that this merger could have an impact on AEW in the future.

Road Dogg quits WWE

Is there trouble in TKO paradise?

Yesterday, social media was flooded with the news that BG James, the former Road Dogg from the Attitude era heyday, was fired from his position on the WWE creative team. A few hours later, Mike Johnson, the most accurate reporter of the pro wrestling business, provided clarification that James, who was brought back to the company in 2014 and had a slew of different roles behind the scenes during that time, had actually resigned for the promotion, citing frustration with the creative direction of the product.

Usually, I'd take anything reported about the sports entertainment industry on the internet with a grain of salt, but if Mike Johnson says it, it's probably true. Since there are dozens of writers on the creative team, it's doubtful that Road Dogg would individually get the axe since that move itself wouldn't truly shakeup the creative direction of the WWE brand.

That's one of the reasons that I put a level of credibility in the notion that he probably quit the job as opposed to being released.

If that was the case, it provides some intriguing insight into the backstage environment of the WWE machine, which has been the subject of rumors surrounding the sluggish ticket sales for this year's Wrestlemania in Las Vegas.

It's important to note that a position on the WWE creative team, especially for an accomplished in-ring performer, can be a good spot, in terms of job security. Even founding Freebird, Michael Hayes has managed to keep a job for a few decades as a part of the scripting process. Road Dogg was away from the company for several years and didn't speak kindly of management at a time when he was dealing with substance issues. Thankfully, Brain James cleaned up his life and landed in the previously mentioned role of the booking team, a position that many probably wouldn't of guessed when he lashed out at the company years earlier.

Still, for Road Dogg to throw in the towel on the creative process more or less signifies that there might actually be some chaos around the current status of the organization because of the lackluster WM 42 sales. As I've said before, there are peaks and valleys to everything, and given that the fans already saw the peak of the current era with the championship coronation of Cody Rhodes two years ago, it might be something as simple as a natural dip in momentum more than a flaw in the creative process. Also as I wrote prior, the fact of the matter is that the astronomical ticket prices for this year's Wrestlemania are just too expensive for most of the fan base to realistically afford. When the cheapest ticket in the building is $350, bringing the total cost for the two-night event to over $700 just to get into the venue, a significant portion of the WWE demographic is priced out of attending the show. Furthermore, it doesn't help the selling point for the traveling crowd when the pay-per-view is in Las Vegas for the second year in a row because they already had a chance to see the city if they attended the PPV last year.

However, it makes you wonder, what might've been the point of contention, if any, that led to this resignation?

Outside of Cody, we've seen WWE brass, specifically during the latter years of Vince McMahon's tenure, cater to the part-time former stars, which took away opportunities for younger talent to be moved up into the positions as potentially money-drawing stars. Vince often took the less risky, but very stagnant approach of automatically yielding to Brock Lesnar, Bill Goldberg, or the original baby face super push of Roman Reigns that flopped. Keep in mind, we saw the Roman/Brock match-up numerous times on pay-per-view, including three Wrestlemania main events, in a relatively short period of time. Brock and Roman are big stars, but they aren't on the same level of Austin/Rock or Undertaker/Michaels for there to be a demand for multiple WM main events.

There are key periods of time when a talent is at their peak in terms of popularity and that's the point when to run with them to make them the biggest star possible. If the office missed that peak, or fumbles their popularity, it becomes a missed opportunity. Let's be honest, there was a reason that there was a demand for an alternative when All Elite Wrestling was launched in 2019 because the fan base had become disenfranchised with the Vince McMahon approach to sports entertainment. Speaking of 2019, there was a point that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff were added as the head writers of Raw and Smackdown respectively. Heyman was well-known to assist in the direction of the talent that he worked with anyway, and Bischoff was brought back to the organization to provide something new to the blue brand. Obviously, this was done to appease the shareholders after there was a noticeable amount of criticism toward the direction of the product. Of course, it was lip service, as Vince still made all the decisions, and the entire process was nothing more than an artificial way for the corporation to give the impression that it brought back two of the creative forces of the boom period of the late-90s. Bischoff lasted about four months until he was sent home, and Heyman went back to working solely with the talent that he was booked with on-screen.

There wasn't an attempt to truly change the creative process, and the former WCW boss probably didn't get a fair shake. The point being, the clash of ideology isn't anything new for the creative process of pro wrestling, but when someone walks away from the table, it implies that they've hit a brick wall in terms of what they can advocate for as far as the direction of television. Since he quit, you'd have to assume that Road Dogg wanted to take a different path than the road that the shows are on right now, which have garnered a lukewarm WM build at best.

CM Punk is a major star, but almost 50, Roman Reigns held the championship for four years, and the Drew McIntyre/Cody Rhodes match has already happened a handful of times. What is new or fresh ahead of Wrestlemania 42? Sure, Bron Breakker got hurt, but he wasn't in the plans for a main event spot, even if he should've been. Jacob Fatu is money, but as of this writing, he's not anywhere near a potential main even spot.

It's easy to see why someone could be frustrated trying to spin all the plates in an attempt to serve all the master of the publicly-traded corporation.

Reportedly, Road Dogg suffered a heart attack in 2021 so this might be a situation where the stress of the job isn't worth the impact on his health. His real-life brother, the superb and extremely underrated, Brad Armstrong died of a heart attack at the age of 50 in 2012. Considering that BG James is 56, it would be a lot easier to work the convention circuit to sign autographs or work as a backstage producer for AEW than have to script the countless hours of WWE TV each week.

Finlay signed for AEW

Just a week and a half before All Elite Wrestling's next pay-per-view, Revolution, there was yet another debut for the promotion on this week's episode of Dynamite. David Finlay, who recently announced his exit from New Japan Pro Wrestling, made a surprise appearance on TBS, and it was confirmed soon afterwards on social media that he was a part of the company, along with Clark Connors and Gabe Kidd.

The son of the legendary Fit, David Finlay broke into the business shortly before he joined New Japan as a young lion more than a decade ago when he was in his early-20s. The Japanese audience saw the third generation grappler grow up in the sport, as he worked his way up from the preliminary bouts to one of the featured stars on the roster as the leader of the final version of The Bullet Club faction. Finlay wasn't a main event guy for the Japanese league, but he was a very solid performer that added depth to the roster, particularly when the line-up became rather thin with so many exits in recent years, as Tony Khan signed away almost every top star from New Japan in an effort to bolster his already bloated roster. Considering some of the other recent departures from the company, including Evil, Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi. the previously mentioned Clark Connors, and others, it's possible that there would've been an opportunities for Finlay to move up the ranks.

Still, taking into account that he was there for over a decade, it also made sense for him to move on to a bigger stage for presumably bigger money.

I have to be honest, when I heard that Finlay was leaving New Japan a few weeks ago, I assumed that he would land in WWE, not only because of his dad's role in their developmental system, but also because of the expanded opportunities in the organization, particularly under Triple H's direction. In that regard, it's uncharted territory, specifically with the purchase of AAA last year. Management knows that it's an uphill climb in some respects to truly be able to incorporate a WWE-owned product into the fabric of lucha libre, especially with the longstanding traditions of the sport in the native country. Of course, it could be a tremendous business move if TKO is able to fully expand into Mexico because it would monetize one of the stronghold regions of pro wrestling in the world. Hispanic fans will go to the WWE event once or twice a year to see the spectacle of the global corporation, but lucha libre was built with weekly cards based on the live event experience. It's not nearly as easy as slapping the WWE and AAA logos onto the same canvas for the Latino demographic to accept it as their brand of lucha libre. Because of that, and obviously the valuable revenue stream that is on the table, the WWE office knows that they need to recruit, develop, and promote talent in all facets to give the product the best chance to get off the ground on a long-term basis.

The reason that I mention this is that it adds a completely new aspect to the free agency market. A possible contract offer doesn't have to be based on solely if a performer will excel on the main roster. They might be slotted to be an addition to AAA to add more depth to that project. If the money is right, and we know that TKO has the ability to offer basically any amount of money to prompt a talent to sign a deal, it would often be moot if the plans call for them to work in Mexico or the main roster. It goes without saying that being promoted by the WWE machine can make a career, and the ability to make the most money possible is the entire point of the business.

At the same time, it's understandable that different wrestlers will have different goals at different points of their careers. At 32, David Finlay is in a position to try to make the most of his tenure in pro wrestling, as he's in the prime of his career and has the experience under his belt to make the most of the opportunities that he's given. The rumor mill suggests that Finlay was offered a WWE contract to compete on NXT, but he declined it because he didn't want to work the developmental brand, which led to him taking the AEW deal. I can actually understand both sides of this, and it appears to be a case of two different concepts of what Finlay could be in the organization in 2026. In a sense, Finlay already logged his time in the developmental ranks when he worked his way up through New Japan for the past 10 years so to start on the WWE developmental brand might seem like running in place in terms of his individual career path. From the WWE side of things, they just called up a slew of talent to the main roster so they will have to replenish the NXT show. As I've written before, I get why NXT is dubbed the minor league project before a talent hits the main roster, but when it started on national television on the CW, it wasn't truly a developmental brand anymore. When a novice's mistakes can be exposed on national TV, it's not a part of the developmental process, which is why Evolve was created with much less exposure. I bring up the status of NXT as essentially a third, albeit smaller brand of the WWE television line-up because with the platform that it has on the CW, the show still needs its seasoned workers to be the "glue" of the product.

The recruitment of Finlay might've been as simple as NXT needs a solid in-ring worker and then the office can see how he progresses with the WWE playbook. Clearly, Finlay had different aspirations for his career, and given his age, he probably should. One of the few criticisms that I've written about of the NXT brand for several years is that certain talent have spent several years of their prime on the smaller platform when they are more than talented enough to work on the main roster. The time that they have to wait for a spot on the main roster to open up is still time that they could theoretically be made into bigger stars if given the chance. We've seen some former AEW stars might the jump directly to the main roster so maybe Finlay would prefer a debut on Smackdown in a few years compared to working on the developmental brand for an undetermined amount of time since there are so many moving parts to the WWE machine.

It's also well-known that Tony Khan offers hefty cash to those that he wants to add to the roster so maybe it was something as simple as Khan offered an amount of money that Finlay couldn't say no to? Again, if that's the case, you can't blame him since making the most money possible is the name of the game.

That being said, as far as a career trajectory, I'm not sure that AEW will be that much different than NXT, at least in terms of exposure. Sure, the War Dogs faction got the artificial pop for their debut, but we've seen this type of scenario countless times before, someone will be featured on television for a few weeks before they end up lost in the shuffle like 85% of the roster. Where's Juice Robinson? It's well-known that Tony Khan is a fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling, but aside from the Continental Classic proving that he can't just copy and paste a Japanese concept to American television, it was also proven that Tony can't just book the New Japan roster to show up on TBS with the expectation that it will mean anything to the national audience. That's not to take anything away from Finlay's skills, but rather to point out that the lack of exposure is the key piece of the puzzle. Is David Finlay truly a big enough star that the national television audience will have any idea who he is? He's a very talented performer, but we're not talking about in-ring skills, this is as basic as will he be put in the best position to be successful when he's booked to show up on Dynamite without any introduction?

As mentioned, Finlay probably did everything he could in New Japan unless they were going to move him up to the main event scene, and there wasn't any indication of that so it made sense for him to go elsewhere. That being said, this formation of the War Dogs stable in AEW, implying that Gabe Kidd is now a part of the organization full-time is probably more of a hindrance to New Japan than anything else. Gabe Kidd looked to be one of the workers that the Japanese league was steadily moving up the ranks to replace some of the talent that left, which is why he competed against Kenny Omega in a stellar match a few years ago. The biggest takeaway from all of this might extend beyond an individual talent or a faction. Taking into account the overall lack of results in terms of moving the needle outside of Will Ospreay the argument could be made that Tony signing so many top stars from New Japan has negatively impacted the Japanese league exponentially more than it has benefited AEW.

Danhausen debuts for WWE

Usually, when I hear the man in the box, it conjures up images of Tommy Dreamer landing his trademark DDT and then posing with his arms outstretched. It might've violated every copyright law in the book at the time, but it can't be understated how impactful it was that ECW used "real" music as opposed to in-house productions, if for no other reason that it was another way that the promotion set itself a part from the major leagues of WCW and the WWF that had the multi-million dollar budget to produce its own music.

Speaking of the man in the box, there was famously the notion that was attributed to Jim Cornette that "anyone that comes out of a box is over," and to some extent, that's true. Abdullah showing up in WCW to attack Sting, and Terry Funk cutting his way out of a crate with a chainsaw are examples of when it worked. Let's not talk about the Gobbledy Gooker.

Unfortunately, the crate reveal at this past weekend's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view was quite literally a dud, with lackluster pyro that had less boom to it than what you can purchase at a gas station for the fourth of July, and virtually no ballyhoo as it was panned with a chorus of boos from the live crowd in Chicago.

Obviously, one of the keys to these types of segments working, specifically when there's any mystery involved at all, is that the reveal has to live up to the hype. At one point, there was speculation that this could be the return to the company of Chris Jericho after more than eight years away from the WWE. When he didn't appear at the Royal Rumble, it added to that speculation that he would show up at the Elimination Chamber PPV with enough time to still be involved in this year's Wrestlemania. There were longstanding rumors that Y2J was on his way out of All Elite Wrestling when his contract expired at the end of 2025, mostly because he hadn't been seen in the organization for the majority of the year, which is a common trend for Tony Khan, as far as keeping talent off television when they plan to exit AEW. More recently, there were reports that Jericho's contract might've been frozen when he left for a few months at a time to tour with Fozzy so the actual status of his AEW deal remains unclear.

I was skeptical that Jericho would be the reveal in the crate because that in itself wouldn't automatically be impactful or something that gave him a firm purpose for what would probably be his final run in the company. It was more or less confirmed that it wouldn't be Jericho, but rather another AEW alumni when Wade Barrett made jokes about it as a reference to The Christmas Story film that usually runs for 24 hours on Christmas eve on TBS, the same network that airs Dynamite.

Danhausen, the cult favorite from the independent circuit, arrived with generic Scooby Doo-type music, and as mentioned, less pyro than most people blast off in their driveway on holidays. To add to the confusing mess, there were about a dozen Hausen dances, with no explanation or point to any of it. Danhausen gave Michael Cole his trademark jar of teeth at the announce desk before he ended up in the ring to finish the rest of a tacky dance routine that looked like something from the Gong Show in the 70s.

Management put Danhausen in an absolute no-win situation, as the scripting of the segment didn't include anything that got the character over originally, and put him out there for roughly two minutes without any purpose.

It wasn't a coincidence that Danhausen made his debut in Chicago, a more savvy crowd than most WWE audiences, but it's important to keep the scenario in context, he hasn't been on television in almost two and a half years. In many respects, it's a credit to his talent to be able to remain relevant on the independent scene throughout that time, particularly to a level that would still garner him a WWE contract. However, there was no reason, even in Chicago, to believe that the WWE audience would be familiar with Danhausen, and the reaction or lack thereof reflected that,

Danhausen is solid in the ring, but even the real-life performer behind the persona would acknowledge that the character and promos are what propelled his popularity. Putting Danhausen out there without the chance to cut a promo did him a disservice, which is why his 30-second cameo on Raw was exponentially more effective than the flop of a segment on pay-per-view.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of the goofy stuff in wrestling today makes me shake my head, as far too many wrestlers assume that they can get wacky stuff over, and it becomes lame attempts at comedy, but there are rare situations where if it works, it works. For example, the majority of Matt Hardy stuff, specifically cinematic matches are too far outside of the realm of pro wrestling for me. I don't enjoy cinematic wrestling at all because it's a total lack of logic to the parameters of the sport. However, there's no doubt that the "broken" character was over and became a cult favorite that endured over time.

Obviously, some of Danhausen's act was inside baseball by design when he was on the indies, and he will have to tailor it to the WWE audience, but I honestly think that he will be able to translate the character to the bigger stage of WWE. Some of what he did previously was a niche of a niche, but based on his interaction with Adam Pearce on Raw, asking for a blimp or wondering where Steve Austin was, is something that can get over with the more causal audience.

While I don't see Danhausen being a regular performer on Raw or Smackdown, that might not be the goal when he was signed to a contract. Again, he wasn't on television for over two years, but has consistently moved merchandise, including a series of independently-produced action figures, on his own without the promotional push of a national organization. With the distribution ability of WWE Shop, there's no reason that he won't become a top merchandise seller for the company, similar to when Mr. Iguana t-shirts sold well after he arrived under the WWE umbrella. Speaking of AAA, there might not be a regular role for Danhausen in the ring on the main roster, but the character could work very well for live events in Mexico since the persona could fit for AAA.

There's only one chance at a first impression, and there's no doubt that the Elimination Chamber segment didn't get over, but similar to Danhausen being one of the rare example of "if it works, it works," he has the ability to overcome the negativity around the debut. It's as simple as let Danhausen be Danhausen and he will become one of the most entertaining acts on the roster, and someone that will probably have a job for years. In the grand scheme of things, he wasn't hired for five star classics at Wrestlemania or the Tokyo Dome, he's an entertaining guy that the WWE can use on social media, which becomes increasingly more valuable as TKO continues to globalize the product. Furthermore, and while this is a relatively low bar since he was kept off of television for more than two years, the odds are that Danhausen will be yet another example of someone that will be an exponentially bigger star in WWE after they were under an AEW contract for years. 

Elimination Chamber review

The rocky road to Wrestlemania continued with Elimination Chamber, the pay-per-view designed to determine the other half of the marquee title matches at the event in less than two months in Las Vegas. As we saw with Survivor Series and The Royal Rumble, this was another PPV card with just four matches on the line-up. I have to be honest, I really don't understand the logic behind why management seems to be slowly but surely adjusting the presentation of these PPVs to ultimately give fans, both in attendance and those that pay $30 for a subscription fee, essentially less for their money. More than anything, and I think even the smaller sample size of shows with such an abbreviated card are proof of this, it's more or less impossible to truly structure or pace a card properly when there are only four bouts on the broadcast. Within the modern era, we've seen the absurd amount of commercials and delays between matches become a normal expectation of the WWE PPV presentation, but it also becomes an exponentially more tedious viewing experience when there are only a few matches on the show. Less wrestling translates to more ads, and maybe that's ultimately the reason why the office doesn't book full cards for most of the PPVs now, but there's no doubt that it affects the overall quality of the show, specifically when someone watches live without the ability to fast forward through the WWE commercials and still has to sit through the ESPN ads for the app. Thankfully, this show finished up at the three-hour mark as opposed to an event that would've went another hour since that has happened in the past.

As expected, just like the Royal Rumble, the show was going to open and close with the Elimination Chamber matches, which makes sense, especially with only four contests booked since it would be a hindrance to the presentation if there were two gimmick matches in a row. The women's chamber match was solid, the action was a little too choreographed at certain points, but that's almost unavoidable with matches like this. In fact, the women's chamber match last year was horrendous since it went off the rails and couldn't get back on track so this was a much better approach. Tiffany Stratton and Kiana James started the match with some good sequences, and Tiffany took some brutal bumps into the pods of the chamber during the segment. This was structured well, and Raquel Rodriguez was made to look strong as a featured performer in the contest. More specifically, Rodriguez seems to be improving in her ability to "work big," which was a critique of her performances from Kevin Nash on her podcast a few months ago, and it appears to be solid advice as her in-ring work reflects her height and power more than it did previously. The dive from the top of a pod by Alexa Bliss was impressive, and the Rhea Ripley spot from the top of the pod was a memorable moment as well. Asuka continues to be an MVP and can shine in any role that she's given. There's no doubt that Asuka has already had a Hall of Fame career between her work in Japan and her WWE run. Ripley getting the victory to set up a WM match with Jade Cargill was probably the right decision since she still maintains a lot of popularity. However, everyone in this segment worked well and it's yet another example of the consistent quality of the division.

The Women's Intercontinental title was fine for what it was, but the match was rather bland without any peaks or valleys that truly built any drama. That's despite the ref bump, a visual submission to imply that Becky Lynch would retain the belt, and a chair being brought into the ring. The whole presentation was clunky, which probably took the crowd out of it. That being said, the was a massive reaction for AJ Lee's victory so that's what will be remembered from this segment. There's nothing wrong with that, if you can pop the crowd for the finish then in some ways, it's mission accomplished, but if this was a test run for a rematch at Wrestlemania then it might be a rough day at the office in Las Vegas. AJ Lee hadn't worked a singles match in more than a decade, twice as long as the original WWE tenure, so it's understandable that there would be a level of ring rust. Becky is a bonafide star, but her in-ring performances have lacked since her most recent comeback. This segment went 15 minutes and became rather tedious so hopefully, WM 42 will be a smoother presentation if a rematch is actually booked. 

CM Punk vs. Finn Balor was what you'd expect from this segment, these are two polished pros that were going to have a very solid match up based on their skill set, as well as their valuable years of experience. That being said, it seemed like this was booked specifically because of the stellar match that they had on Raw a few weeks ago, and while it makes sense in theory to book the rematch on a bigger platform of pay-per-view, the fact that it happened not long after the original bout, as well as the CM Punk/Roman Reigns promo to cement their match for WM 42, it was completely obvious that Finn wasn't going to win the title. That's not to say that he should've won, even if he definitely should've had better opportunities over the past decade in the company, but rather to point out that the money match based on their history is Roman/Punk so there wasn't necessarily a level of drama that could realistically be built here since it was clear that a title switch wasn't going to happen. Still, they did their best to try to sell the possibility, using the outside of the ring to add some sizzle to the segment. Punk retained with the GTS, and while this might not have been quite as good as their bout on Raw, it was still a very entertaining match. More than just giving Punk an opponent, this type of quality performance is what Punk needed ahead of Wrestlemania 42 to allow for anticipation to build for his main event match against Reigns.

I plan to write a column specifically about Danhausen's disastrous WWE debut, but a few of the broad points to be made here, the office put him in more or less the most difficult position possible to be success on his first night in the company. Yes, I understand that Chicago is known for being a more savvy crowd, there's a reason that it was an AEW stronghold during the company's early existence, but it's important to keep this in the proper context, the guy hasn't worked a match on national television in almost two and a half years. He was completely forgotten about among the All Elite landscape, and has somehow kept himself relevant enough to pick up work on the indys, but there was absolutely no reason to expect a WWE audience, even in Chicago to be familiar with him, and the reaction or lack thereof reflected that. Furthermore, Danhausen is a good athlete in the ring, but I'd guess that even he would acknowledge that he got over with his character, not his in-ring work. Putting him on-screen for two minutes without a mic, a purpose, or a point didn't do him any favors. That said, I think Danhausen will still be very successful in the WWE, specifically with merchandise after he gets a proper change to introduce himself to the fan base.

The men's Elimination Chamber match was fun, particularly because it took a different path than many were expecting and built drama to get there. Cody Rhodes and Je'Von Evans had a good sequence of maneuvers to start the bout, which wasn't a coincidence that the youngster was made to look competitive against the established main eventer. We've heard that Bronson Reed was originally scheduled to win the qualifying match on Raw to be in the Elimination Chamber, and when Logan Paul eventually settled into that spot, it seems like the office simply put Logan in the Bronson role, with the amount of eliminations he had, which I'm guessing was to settle up for Seth Rollins to return to derail The Vision stable. As I wrote earlier this week, given what pieces of the puzzle are left, it makes sense for their to be a Rollins/Paul bout at Wrestlemania. The chaos of the masked man trying to get involved, the Rollins reveal, and the Drew McIntyre interference to cause Cody to get pinned was entertaining stuff. On one hand, I'm somewhat surprised that management is going to play the Orton card again at WM, as it was booked several times before with mixed results, but on the other hand, I can understand why they didn't want to go with the obvious result of Cody winning. That being said, I think the scenario is moot since I'd guess that Rhodes will eventually be added to the WM main event anyway.

Overall, the Elimination Chamber was a good way to progress the overall narrative of the company toward WM, a notion that was needed, especially with the sluggish ticket sales with only half a house sold for  Allegiant Stadium so far. It will be interesting to see not only the path that the current storylines take, but also what will be modified or changed based on if tickets move for Las Vegas before April.