Remembering Eddie Guerrero

Today marks twenty years since Eddie Guerrero, a sturdy branch of the famous Guerrero wrestling family tree, passed away. I remember that a decade ago I penned a column about the tenth anniversary of his passing, noting that there was still somewhat of a sombre atmosphere around his legacy. Eddie had endured and overcome so much in his life just a few years prior to his death that it seemed like such an abrupt, unfinished ending to his story. The "sizzle" of Latino Heat didn't seem like it could burn out when Eddie was just 38, or even fade away two decades later. Given his family history and influence on the industry that has emerged since he left the pro wrestling world in 2005, one would've guessed that Eddie would be alongside his longtime friend, Dean Malenko as a producer for All Elite Wrestling, or maybe working as a coach at the WWE Performance Center.

Eddie Guerrero was a lifer in pro wrestling, but nobody would've thought that his tenure in the sport would've been limited to the year of 2005. Eddie was a lifer of the squared circle the way that Malenko, Jericho, Mysterio, and Regal have spent their entire lives involved in the industry in some form or fashion. It seemed like the most successful chapter of his career and his life was just beginning, not ending.

It's cliche, but it's true. Life isn't fair, and Eddie Guerrero passed away at just 38 in a hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, seemingly in the prime of his life.

Even twenty years later, I can still remember exactly where I was when I saw the news of Guerrero's passing on a Sunday night on a Yahoo Sports webpage. In total shock, as fast as dial up internet at the time could get there, I checked a wrestling news site to see if it was true. I called one of my wrestling buddies, still completely in shock that one of the prime WWE stars had passed away.

Eddie's story of addiction and the vices of life  is well documented. If I had to guess, I'd say the years of the party lifestyle and steroids probably contributed to the enlarged heart that caused his death. Those years still took their toll on the body long after Eddie turned his life around. That's why Eddie Guerrero's legacy, including the impact that it still has today, should be considered a true success story. The narrative of the career of Eddie and thus his legacy could've been viewed very differently if he didn't show the courage to kick his addiction. If Eddie had passed away from drugs in 2002 after he was cut from the WWE the previous year, the discussion around his career would've been a disappointing cautionary tale rather than the success story that it is today.

Still, there will always be some traces of sadness around Eddie, he worked so hard to reclaim his stellar reputation as one of the best pure workers in the business, and as he evolved as a performer in the WWE in the latter stages of his career, he checked the entertainment boxes too as a way to prove how truly well-rounded his was in the squared circle. He deserved so much more than just the few years of recognition that he got was he was still alive.

The other side of that coin would be, could you imagine what Eddie could be doing as an elder statesman of the business today?

Sure, as mentioned, it would be a natural fit as a coach or trainer, but it also seems like it would've been a given that he would have a role in running AAA after the WWE purchase earlier this year. Furthermore, Dominik Mysterio and Eddie in the same ring for a promo battle would probably be very compelling television.

Speaking of which, with the WWE acquisition of the lucha libre group, it will hopefully make his legendary run alongside the late, Art Barr as Los Gringos Locos more accessible to more fans than any other time in the history of the sport. Along those same lines, his legacy is cemented in the the annals of the record books of sports entertainment, as his ECW, WCW, and WWE career are easily found on the different WWE streaming platforms.

When it comes to classic Eddie Guerrero moments, one of them was more or less (and probably justly) erased from history. At Wrestlemania 20, the event where Eddie retained his belt in a match against Kurt Angle, his longtime friend, Chris Benoit won a triple threat match in the main event to claim the World Heavyweight championship, an accomplishment that many of his critics, didn't think he could achieve. Benoit wasn't too bland and he wasn't too small, he was the top guy for the biggest pro wrestling company in the world. The pair of real-life best friends embraced in tears as Eddie celebrated Benoit's success as the show went off the air.

With their real-life friendship so well known and the moment at Wrestlemania 20 etched in the minds of so many fans when they reflect on the history of the "showcase of the immortals" when it rolls around each April on the calendar, it's understandable why the careers of Benoit and Guerrero are always linked to some degree. That brings us back to the "what if" Eddie had lived to become a coach or trainer in the modern era. I could be wrong, but I honestly believe that if Eddie didn't pass away that the Benoit tragedy doesn't take place. I understand that is a lot of hypotheticals, but I sincerely think that his best friend's death contributed to Benoit's mindset when he decided to commit murder a year and a half later. If the Benoit tragedy doesn't happen, there's a completely different perspective of the business for several years, but with a scenario that complex, it's a different story for a different time. I've rarely written about Chris Benoit since that horrific weekend of events more than 18 years ago simply because I truly don't think there's much left to say about him. Benoit killed a women and a child before he took his own life. Those real-life actions are far more important than anything he did during a scripted pro wrestling show. It's unforgivable and there's absolutely no excuse for taking the lives of two innocent people. As closely as their careers were associated, it's very apparent why they are viewed so differently in retrospect.

The Guerrero legacy remains celebrated as it should be, and within the past few months, there was news that the family name will continue in the industry. One of Eddie's daughters, Shaul Guerrero spent three and a half years in the WWE developmental system before she left the company. Just recently, it was announced that his daughter, Sherilyn started to train to become a professional wrestler at Booker T's Reality of Wrestling organization.

As I said, when I wrote an article about the anniversary of Eddie's passing ten years ago, there was still a sadness around it, and while time can't fully heal some wounds, things can get easier throughout that time. Over the past decade, it seems like Eddie's legacy is celebrated rather than his death being mourned. 

On November 13, 2005 at the age of just 38 years old, Eddie Guerrero passed away, but legends never die.

The Troublemakers in OVW

By nature, professional wrestling villains are troublemakers. 

In many ways, they are the glue to the narrative of sports entertainment. Without a dragon to slay or odds to overcome, there simply isn't a role for the hero in the story. Could Rocky show his courage and bravery without Drago or Clubber Lang? Would Dorthy's adventure on the yellow brick road through Oz be nearly as dramatic without vanquishing the wicked witch of the west?

Regardless of the genre, the heels or "troublemakers" set the table for the audience to feast on the peaks and valleys of the drama of storytelling.

For Ohio Valley Wrestling, one of the most storied territories in the history of the industry, literally a pair of Troublemakers arrived earlier this year, turning the tag team division of Louisville-based group upside down.

Anchored by longtime veteran and serious professional, "The Big Boss" Glenn Spectre, who brings an old school, no nonsense approach to the ring, the addition of his student "The Natural" Canaan Kristopher, a youngster with all the physical gifts an athlete could ask for, the duo of The Troublemakers collectively check all the boxes of a top-tier tag team.

Ironically, Spectre broke into the sport in 2001, around the same time period that OVW produced one of its most legendary classes with names like Randy Orton, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin, Nick Dismore, and others. Also ironically, the grizzled vet of today didn't start his career nearly as gruff, when he originally found international fame as "Wonder Man" Glenn Spectre, a flamboyant superhero persona that eventually proved how versatile he was as a performer in the grand scheme of things compared to the roughneck that he is in the ring now.

In 2004, when his future tag team partner was still a toddler, Glenn Spectre became the first "gaijin" or foreigner to win the DDT Tag Tag titles in Japan, working tours with the group throughout 2005 as well. With the advancements of modern technology, the barrier of international exposure is much lower today compared to the VHS format that promoters in Japan had to use to initial see Spectre's talent before he was offered the chance to work on the other side of the planet. He became a cult favorite on shows that were broadcasted on Samurai TV in the country, which he later had a chance to watch on that same clunky VHS format at the time.

In the years that followed, injuries from wrestling across the independent scene, and the sudden passing of his trainer James "Devil Bhudakahn" Fawcett, prompted Glenn to step away from the industry. As we know, the other side of the spectacle of sports entertainment is the harsh, unforgiving reality of the any genre of live performances. With that in mind, Glenn started a family and launched his own business, Drawbridge Games, a successful venture for more than a decade with a store that specializes in tabletop games.

Still, there was unfinished business for Glenn, and with the memory of his late mentor Fawcett always in his heart, it was training students that brought Spectre back to the squared circle in 2021. He didn't know it at the time, but among his first batch of students, was the previously mentioned Canaan Kristopher, a top athlete that was 6'4 of clay with all the potential a new student could ask for that Spectre could mold into a prospect with true potential through his years of knowledge and extensive experience.

"Well, I came up with his moniker The Natural for a reason, I’ve never seen an athlete take to pro wrestling quite as effortlessly as Canaan. That's not to say that he’s not a hard worker, in fact he’s one of the most dedicated, which is why he’s gone so far so quickly. He is the kind of wrestler who can see a technique demonstrated or a concept implemented and pick it up almost immediately. The rare instances this doesn’t happen, he backs it up with his terrific work ethic," Glenn said of his initial impressions of Kristopher.

 "Taking my time and allowing the crowd to get behind everything I’m doing. Nothing is more important than the story being told, cool move are exciting, but not as important. A clothesline can be just as important as a 450 splash if the story being told is good," Canaan said of lesson he learned from his trainer.

The idea for a tag team was pitched, and when Spectre or Kristopher aren't working as featured singles stars around the tri-state area, their pairing as The Troublemakers is one of the most prominent tag teams in the region as well.

While the Pittsburgh scene, a city that is  known almost as much for its wrestling as the steel it once produced, has a stellar line-up of teams throughout various organizations in the area, The Troublemakers wanted to test themselves against the best teams everywhere they could.

Considering that Glenn's old school style and throwback persona are a nod to pro wrestling history, as well as Canaan's level of potential as an example of what OVW was built on, it seemed like a perfect fit when The Troublemakers arrived at the Davis Arena earlier this year.

The level of organization and production on a completely different level. Going into OVW, I did not have a lot of live TV experience. I had done extra work for WWE and I had done a tons of pre-taped programming for DDT in Japan, but doing weekly TV at production levels similar to the big two is on a whole other level," Glenn explained.

One of OVW's longtime calling cards is its live weekly programming, with the notion that anything can happen. OVW stalwarts like Kal Herro, Big Zo, Donovan Cecil, and Jack Vaughn are just some of the stars that highlight OVW's Thursday night program.

"The level of attention to detail is high and the agents will get deeply involved in getting the match they need out of you for the TV program. I love the environment. For a guy my age and time in to still be learning new things every week is such a blessing Credit to former WWE tag champion, Doug Basham, his feedback helped us get to a whole new level as a team," Spectre added.

For Spectre, the 10-hour round trip from western Pennsylvania to Louisville is a reminder of his early days in the short, and a valuable learning experience for Kristopher as the grind that is required to truly make waves in the industry.

"Canaan is like a little brother. It’s the comfort of knowing wherever you go, someone has your back. We’ve been on the road together for years now so we’ve got our travel habits down, and he knows to just nod along when I tell him the same random wrestling war story for one hundredth time," Spectre remarked.

"Traveling can be really tiring and doesn’t get easier. But, if you travel with the right people, it’s fun and you can learn a lot. More memories are made on the road than in a match," Kristopher added.

Very similar to Spectre himself, Ohio Valley Wrestling as a promotion has seen a resurgence in recent years. It goes without saying that any organization that has any major impact on the sports, especially to the degree that OVW does, will go through different phases as the overall business evolves over the years. After the WWE corporation decided to take its developmental program in-house, Ohio Valley worked with TNA for a period of time, and ownership changed a few times over the years as well. Just over two years ago, a compelling documentary series on Netflix gave viewers a glimpse of the inner workings of how a regional league works to keep the doors open and fans in the seats.

True to its lineage, with the legendary Al Snow as a figurehead and longtime pros like Basham working behind the scenes, OVW is still educating the next generation of talent today the same way that it did when the company launched more than a quarter of a century ago. A throwback to an era from the past, OVW not only brings weekly live cards for the fans of Louisville, it provides valuable experience for the young talent to polish their skills.

"I learned so much from OVW, I learned a completely different style from what I was used to. Working TV is way different and way more strict from most independent promotions. I can definitely say I am a way better wrestler now because of OVW," said Canaan.

After Netflix peeled back the curtain with its documentary series a few years ago, there was a renewed spotlight on Ohio Valley Wrestling and it once again became a place to be for talent that want to make a statement, which is exactly what The Troublemakers have planned to do in the tag team division.

"I hope what everyone hopes, I would love for someone to give us an opportunity to get a contract. I believe Spectre and I have something really great going on and if someone gave us an opportunity we will deliver," Canaan said.

"Winning the OVW Tag Team titles is a great goal for us. I’d like to see the Troublemakers make it all the way to national and international fame. I try to focus on the small goals, which are all pointed towards a larger goal, but I’d like to wrestle as long as I can, make some good money, and be involved professionally in the business in some capacity for the rest of my life," concluded Spectre.

Ridge Holland released

The live entertainment business, as it has been for more than a century, is unforgiving. You're only as good as your last performance, and when the spotlight fades, it fades quickly. Unfortunately, there are numerous examples of truly stellar talent that never got their due, financially or otherwise, during the course of their careers. The Three Stooges should've been paid at a level that reflected their popularity instead of Columbia Pictures using the evolving forms of media as an excuse to refuse to offer them a raise. The way that Don King robbed Mike Tyson was criminal. Countless musicians never got the fair royalties that they deserved while the record companies got the lion's share of sales. 

It's unfair and extremely disappointing, but it's the harsh reality of the entertainment business.

Professional wrestling is no different, and anyone that thinks otherwise simply because TKO gets traded on the stock market is fooling themselves.

Ridge Holland, who was on loan from WWE, suffered a serious leg injury when he worked a TNA TV taping at the end of September, requiring surgery to repair it. The injury is expected to sideline him for roughly six months. Recently, Holland vented on social media when he revealed that he was told that his current WWE contract wouldn't be renewed when it expired in the middle of this month. Holland said that he was "hung out to dry" as he wouldn't be able to work until the injury was healed and wouldn't have the WWE contract as a safety net during that recovery time. He said that his family was in a financial crisis and that he would be unable to pay his mortgage once his contract expires.  He also claimed that he might need neck fusion surgery at some point in the future. However, the company will pay for the leg surgery and the physical therapy to get him healthy again.

In response to his criticism of the organization, the WWE opted to cut him from his contract a week early. This is where the situation get murky and exponentially more complex than just the career status of Ridge Holland.

First and foremost, given that his contract was less than two months from expiring and he hadn't signed a new deal at the time he suffered the injury, there was no guarantee that the office would've offered him a new deal to keep him on the roster. Typically, management ensures that talent that are a priority have a new contract in place before the existing agreement expires. No, I'm not trying to make excuses for the publicly-traded billion dollar corporation, it's just as possible that the decision was made because they didn't want to have to re-sign an injured wrestler, but the point being, it's not as though the injury itself directly took away a fresh contract offer from Holland.

In fact, I would tend to believe that his deal probably wasn't going to be renewed anyway. Let's be honest here, Ridge Holland was a secondary performer at best, which is probably why he was assigned back to NXT after a rather undistinguished run on the main roster. Again, being completely honest, Ridge Holland's WWE tenure will probably be most well-known for when he accidentally dropped Big E on his head, breaking his neck and ending his career.

Based on that incident alone, Holland shouldn't be shocked about how unpredictable and unforgiving the sports entertainment industry is.

Ridge Holland was on the payroll for seven years, and given that he was recycled back to NXT, reportedly taking a pay cut in the process a few years ago, it's easy to understand that management probably didn't view him as a future Wrestlemania main eventer. Realistically, how many great Ridge Holland matches can you name? How about all those compelling Ridge Holland promos? I'm not trying to jab at the guy when he's literally down with an injury, but rather to point out that this situation isn't necessarily the heartless corporation firing a guy that's injured just to save a few pennies in the grand scheme of things.

Where the scenario gets more complex is, what responsibility, if any, does TKO have for injured performers?

This might sound too harsh, but the bottom line is this, if the office saw money to be made with Ridge Holland, they would've already offered him a new deal, even with the injury, to keep him on the roster when he can return to the ring. They are still paying thousands of dollars to cover the cost of his surgery and physical therapy so a new contract wouldn't exactly be considered overspending if they thought he was a marketable commodity for the company. Obviously, it's terrible to get injured at any time, but more than anything, the timing of the injury and the contract expiration is probably coincidental. There was no indication that WWE brass had any major plans for him, and as harsh as it might sound, the decision not to renew his deal probably had more to do with his overall lack of progress than anything else.

However, the other side of the coin is that the man behind the performer finds himself unable to work since he's hurt, and from what he's posted online, he could be in danger of losing his home if he can't pay his mortgage for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the WWE isn't obligated to do anything other than the legal requirements within the contracts that the talent signed, and it's unrealistic to expect the WWE to provide a safety net for every talent that works for the company at some point. If the office didn't see a major upside to keeping him on the roster, how long should he have still had a job? Would a six-month extension be enough until he was ready to return to the ring somewhere else? If that was the case, there would be some level of criticism that the company didn't allow him to show his in-ring ability when he's fully healthy. There's just not going to be a perfect answer to a scenario where someone has to get released from the company. It's always disappointing when wrestlers lose their jobs, but it's a part of the industry, as it makes room for new talent to get signed. It's absolutely terrible that a family could face a financial crisis, but hard-working people lose their jobs sometimes and there's not an expectation for organizations in other industries to keep those workers on the payroll. When a company decides cut the number of employees, those workers are given their notice and have to look elsewhere.

That being said, it's wonderful that the wrestling community, including some performers in the business, have donated to a Gofundme set up for Ridge Holland and his family to get them through this rough patch. Don't get me wrong, I sincerely wish his family the best, but the point of this column is to provide some clarity on the situation. He was a secondary guy that had been on the roster for years without making significant progress so it's possible that his run was near its ending rather than the corporation trying to save a few dollars so they decided not to renew his contract.

While I legitimately wish Ridge Holland the best in his real life, I'm not sure where he goes from here as far as a pro wrestling character. He wasn't over with the fans, his in-ring work wasn't anything too spectacular, and his best chance at success would've been in the WWE based on his look. That's not a knock on the real-life person behind the performer, but rather strictly the chances of success of the in-ring persona going forward. I understand why the fans and his peers will rally behind him now, but that's for his ability to make it through a tough time in real life outside of the ring, not an endorsement that he should main event the next Wrestlemania. There wouldn't realistically be a spot for him in AEW or New Japan, and considering the potential neck surgery in the future, it might be wise for him to consider retirement from the industry.

The possible WBD sale

Nearly a quarter century ago, the dot-com bubble, increased investments based on the projections of money that could be made online as internet access looked to become more of a fixture as a household item, burst. A slew of companies, famously including pets.com, aired Super Bowl commercials that cost seven figures to run during the big game, found themselves out of business the following year. A laundry list of companies thought they were going to cash in on the use of technology to bring more products to consumers as more households got the chance to go online.

As they found out and what become a fascinating economic case study, if the market is oversaturated with too many similar products, the market will only support a limited number. It's a very complex topic with multiple layers, but at the end of the day, it always comes down to supply and demand. Of course, spending is key within an organization as well, an unwise investment, perhaps an million-dollar Super Bowl ad during a year where websites flooded the broadcast, can be just as detrimental to the future of an organization as anything else since it's a direct hit at the bottom line. Revenue and ultimately profit are the barometer for success. You can gross millions, but if you finish a dollar in the red, you're out of business.

The startups found out that consumers were only going to spend a certain amount of cash online, especially when the concept of home delivery, which is almost the standard today, was a relatively new concept at the time. Something as simple as internet awareness and how websites were monitored at that point could've been a potential deterrent for shoppers to use their credit card on a web site.

But, as with any new market with the potential for money to be made, there will be organizations that attempt to get their piece of the pie and then the market will determine how many options will be viable commodities. That's capitalism, and much of that blue print spans across different industries.

Within the past several years, particularly as technology continues to advance, the streaming landscape has been the primary market that has seen an influx of countless groups look to establish themselves as a profitable streaming platform. Similar to the dot-com craze, the streaming market was oversaturated, and also similar to the dot-com surge, the dynamics of streaming services saw some companies shut down, while others were purchased by existing groups.

It's almost tough to keep track of what platforms fall under what banner at any given time, particularly as many of the groups that are acquired by larger organizations have their content added into an existing library. If you're looking for a certain film or TV series, you have to search to find if it's available anywhere, and if it is, do you already have an existing subscription for it? All of that is a really solid argument for why physical media should remain a staple for viewers,but that's a different discussion for a different time.

At one point, it was thought that streaming was going to lead to the death of traditional television, and while there was undoubtedly a shift in media consumption, the notion that TV would somehow completely disappear is misguided. The standard of television is still the easiest way to consume media, and there's more of a case for specific demographics to stick with it when some streaming platforms have become too convoluted. If anything, cable companies and media groups will have to adapt to keep standard television a reasonable option for viewers, which should benefit the consumer.

One of the ways that companies have done that is to merge under one platform, as a way to hopefully generate more revenue overall than dividing smaller pieces of the pie. The Warner Brothers Discovery merger was completed just three and a half years ago. Aside from moving the collection of television networks under one company, it put the content of those channels on the HBO Max streaming service. 

This was important in the world of professional wrestling because All Elite Wrestling, the second-largest pro wrestling group in the world, is a part of the Turner networks with Dynamite on TBS and Collision on TNT. The AOL-Time Warner merger was one of the many reasons that WCW folded so it's understandable that those within the sports entertainment industry would follow the Warner Brothers Discovery transaction to see how it might impact AEW.

Up until this point, there hasn't really be any effect on All Elite Wrestling, outside of the fact that the television shows are streamed on HBO Max and the pay-per-view can be purchased through the service. However, recent news from the Warner Brothers Discovery could have a major impact on the status of AEW in the future, depending on the next steps that the corporation takes from purely a business perspective.

Less than four years after the merger, Warner Brothers Discovery has announced that it's up for sale, citing "unsolicited interest" from multiple corporations. Reportedly, Comcast, Paramount, and Netflix are among potential buyers. Although, it was reported that Paramount's initial offers were declined. The fact that the company is publicly making it know that it's willing to sell implies that they are looking to cash out. Regardless of if that is to make money while they can or escape the debt to finish with some level of overall profit, the point is that the organization wants to step away of the media business.

The situation is a reflection of the media landscape, as several companies have invested millions, and in some cases, billions of dollars to secure the rights to content to be able to not only secure a portion of the streaming market today, but to theoretically set up the revenue source for the future. The numbers are different because of 25 years of inflation, but the business dynamics remain the same, as the online companies that invested millions of dollars to try to secure their piece of the pie from the potential internet sales that were said to be on the horizon. Of course, the streaming business has proved to be exponentially more complicated than the internet sales bubble of more than two decades ago. There are production costs, rights fees, and the necessity to maintain an amount of subscriptions to cover those expenses. That becomes more difficult with the increased competition for the streaming dollar. Plus, there are times when subscribers will cherry-pick certain content for a specific month before they cancel until there's another series that they want to watch, as they have the option to binge watch content to maximize a subscription. For WBD, they lost the rights to NBA games this year, as the league will move to a combination of ABC, ESPN, NBC, and Amazon in the future.

Disney is probably the best example of this, as the entertainment powerhouse, which usually prints money from its variety of revenue sources and ventures, endured massive losses for several years on its streaming service before it finally made a profit this year. It remains to be seen if that trend continues, but the point is, different companies can only absorb that debt for so long until they have to look to offload it, Clearly, Warner Brothers Discovery is looking to get rid of the debt they've had from the previously mentioned merger.

Obviously, if the Warner group is sold to a corporation that has an agreement with WWE, it will undoubtedly have some type of impact on AEW. Does that mean that AEW is going to fold or won't find a landing spot somewhere? No, but it goes without saying that it's very doubtful that if Netflix, Comcast, or Paramount buy Discovery that All Elite Wrestling would continue to broadcast on any of those networks. This is where the diversity of WWE distribution is so important because not only does it give the company itself more exposure, it also realistically limited television networks that would want to make a deal with AEW. With the Paramount deal for the UFC under the TKO banner, even a corporation that isn't directly linked to WWE, but TKO in general is enough to shut the door for All Elite Wrestling. Again, that's not to say that AEW wouldn't find a place to put their show, Dynamite still draws a consistent, albeit lower, number so  there would be offers from other networks.

According to The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer, AEW has at least another two years on its current contact with the option for an additional year. With a possible sale at this level, it might take a similar length of time  for the negotiations to actually get to a deal so the immediate impact is moot, and the bigger question might be if the company would be offered a renewal, depending on the WBD ownership. Keep in mind, this has nothing to do with the actual content of the AEW product, as there are much bigger dynamics involved in this scenario than any specific property that airs on the WBD networks. It's purely economics that when any market is oversaturated, it will ultimately condense to a level that the market can support. Ebay and Amazon kept a consistent and steady course throughout the dot-com surge, they didn't over spend or try to kept pace with the trend of the era. As a result, they have such a dominate market share today because they expanded as technology and demand allowed them to generate more revenue.

The streaming market is still evolving and it remains to be seen exactly where the market settles as far as how many options will truly become long-term fixtures of the media landscape. Netflix invested $5 billion for WWE, Paramount spent $7.7 billion for the UFC, and ESPN paid $1.5 billion for the rights to WWE pay-per-views as a part of its new app, a revamp of the original ESPN+ platform. Only time will tell how successful any of those deals are, but the point is, the argument could be made that as different media groups bid to get the rights to content to be able to secure those streaming dollars, it has led to inflated contracts. Will Paramount really see a return on that $7.7 billion investment? How many of the corporations that have paid those hefty contracts will realistically make a profit from the deal? Disney is proof that there's money to be made if corporations can take the debt in the short term to eventually make a profit, but there are no guarantees so at some point, a company has to decide when its done taking on more debt in exchange for content that may or may not yield a profit in the long run.

As mentioned, WBD wants to get out from under that debt, that has to do with the big picture of the media landscape, not the quality or lack thereof of AEW programming, but if a sale actually happens, it could alter the path of All Elite, specifically if the organization would land on a smaller network, as it would minimize it's potential market share of the sports entertainment industry. Corporate mergers and sales from outside of the genre have impacted the pro wrestling business before so it will be very interesting to see the eventually domino effect of a potential WBD sale.

Logan Paul on Raw

When Logan Paul, social media star, or in other words basically famous for just being famous, arrived in the WWE a few years ago, I shook my head. His involvement, despite training with the legendary Shawn Michaels at the Performance Center prior to his in-ring debut, seemed like a rather artificial way for the company to get some publicity in 2022. Keep in mind, at that time, Cody Rhodes had just made his return to the organization at Wrestlemania so there were no guarantees that he would flourish as a main event guy or that his journey to win the championship would be the focal point of the company in the two years that followed. Management knew that they had a commodity with the return of Cody to the promotion, but it's doubtful that anyone would've guessed how the length of his story arc would've been such a key piece of the overall puzzle. You should also remember that in 2022, the organization ran the massive AT&T Stadium for the two-night event, and ticket sales had stalled to the point that they brought 58-year-old Steve Austin out of retirement to main event the first night of the pay-per-view to move most of the remaining tickets.

Austin had been retired longer than his actual in-ring career, but with a venue of that size that has to sell double the amount of tickets over the weekend, management had to go deep into the playbook when they wanted Stone Cold to move the needle at his age. Thankfully, Kevin Owens is a top-notch worker and made sure everything was safe and easy for Austin so the match was a success.

That being said, Logan Paul's introduction to the business was more for him to shill the company to his fan base than any type of entertainment value that he brought to the table at that time. That notion is underscored when you take into account the status of the promotion at the time, this was before The Rock's original involvement garnered some main stream hype a few years later.

However, within the past three years, despite some of the booking that had to be used to camouflage his inexperience, Logan Paul had done consistently well, in terms of in-ring performance. He doesn't have the intangibles of timing, selling, or pacing of a polished worker, but it would be unreasonable to expect him to check those boxes with just a few years of experience. He went from training in a mostly empty building with Shawn Micheals to working on live television so realistically, he's overachieved. The issue became, at least so far, was that Logan Paul, true to his experience level, was making a positive impression with his in-ring work based on pure athleticism, not the finer points of the genre. To this point, that wasn't a major concern, based on his spot on the card, but if he's going to move up the ladder to a position of more prominence, there will undoubtedly have to be more substance to his overall performance.

I'm not sure if Logan Paul will get there, as the only thing that we know for sure is that he's a very athletic guy that can be successful in the spots that are designed to make him as good as possible. That's not a knock on him, but rather to point out that the office has been smart with how they've booked him. Obviously, it remains to be seen if Logan makes the leap from the celebrity that gets booked in an attempt to secure a viral moment that gives the company a temporary boost, or if he's going to be a more integral part of the direction of the brand.

But, based on the segment with Paul Heyman this past week on Raw, it looks like Logan Paul might be a key performer within the landscape of the WWE for the next several months.

With Seth Rollins on the sidelines for at least the next six months, WWE brass needed something to boost its depth of heels on Raw. As I've written previously, Breakker and Reed are projects and rushing them to any particularly spot as a temporary fix might hinder their overall progress, especially in terms of a meaningful angle that could legitimately make either of them a bigger star in the process. In short, there's a reason with running with Bronson or Breakker just because the office has to find a heel to work with CM Punk. In some ways, it would be similar to when Randy Orton won the World Heavyweight title in 2004 at the age of 24 just as a way for the company to move Brock Lesnar out of the history books as the youngest champion in the history of the company since he left the promotion on negative terms earlier that year.

There's no need to put a stumbling block in front of either of them, specifically Bron Breakker so using Logan Paul for the center piece so to speak of the stable fills the void left by Seth's injury.

While I don't think Logan Paul's fan base ever truly crossed over to the WWE, there's undoubtedly a younger demographic within the WWE audience that views him as a star. That Prime sponsorship is a valuable revenue stream, too. Given the fact that Logan Paul become involved in sports entertainment because he made a name for himself on social media, there will always be a novelty or gimmick associated with what he does in the industry so a temporary position to patch a hole on the roster doesn't really affect his overall trajectory. Furthermore, for the majority of the crowd, Logan Paul is an actual heel, not just someone cast in a villain role that they will cheer anyway. Seth Rollins is a tremendous performer, but did he really get heat with the audience when they sing his song every time he makes an entrance?

As far as the segment on Raw, Paul's presentation looked a little forced, almost as it he was trying too hard to act like someone that just turned heel rather than working through it in a more natural way. That's not a criticism, though, but rather to point out that he will have to polish his performances to be more organic instead of looking like an acting session. It goes without saying that Paul Heyman's involvement will be a major asset for the entire angle, as he remains the best talker in the entire industry and has been for the past several years. Heyman's reaction in the segment on Raw really helped to put it over as a major deal, which adds a level of cache to the next chapter for the stable.

Most importantly, this angle gives CM Punk a firm direction as champion. Some might claim that Jey Uso could turn heel to give him an opponent, but taking into account that he's one of the top merchandise sellers for the organization, it might be counter productive to turn him heel right now. The potential Logan Paul/CM Punk feud for the belt gives the baby face champion a heel with heat to work with and odds to overcome with the stable behind Logan Paul so it could be a simple, but effective formula to get the company through the rest of the year.

Of course, it remains to be seen how the office will construct the card for Wrestlemania 42, but the earliest pieces of the puzzle are usually put in place at The Royal Rumble so key decisions are on the horizon for WWE brass. I'm not sure of the answer, but with the brand naturally losing some momentum in recent months, I'd say that they will have to shuffle the deck next year to provide some fresh rivalries. Truth be told, that was probably the case this year as well, but the John Cena retirement tour fueled the promotion through 2025. It might've sounded preposterous a few years ago, but a Logan Paul title reign might be the right move to get the company through The Royal Rumble. CM Punk fighting for the prosperity of pro wrestling to win the title back from the social media star is a story that writes itself for the next few months.

CM Punk vs. Jey Uso

When WWE revived the concept of Saturday Night's Main Event late last year, there was a short-term buzz, based on the company's hype at the time and the nostalgia for the original concept as some of the demographic that discovered the show as kids in the mid-80s could relive their childhood with a throwback event, even if they aren't fans of the modern day product. The addition of Jesse Ventura back was fun until he rambled a little too long on a live mic and accidentally buried the product so he was regulated to a cameo spot. Don't get me wrong, Ventura is tremendously entertaining, but he's also an eccentric guy that probably isn't going to gel with the most sanitized modern product.

In truth, the concept and the cache of it quickly yielded diminishing returns in as far as importance among the countless hours that the WWE machine churns out for various platforms ahead of 2026. All things considered, it was probably unrealistic that Saturday Night's Main Event was going to be perceived as anything other than just another show on the WWE line-up so it wasn't going to have even a fraction of the impact that the series did four decades ago. Keep in mind, there was only an hour of WWF TV a week when the original episode of SNME aired so naturally, it was going to stand out. That notion was going to be underscored when the audience would see the type of matches often advertised for house show loops, but not normally on the usual weekly television. Today, those types of bouts are the standard, and house shows have been almost completely phased out with the exception of a handful of tour dates. Furthermore, there was exponentially less media options for viewers in 1985 so it's just as difficult to get those viewers to tune into a specific show at a specific time, especially when so much of media consumption today is based on the convenience of on-demand programming.

That's not to say that it can't be accomplished, the NFL does it every weekend, but the point being, the nature of WWE distribution has shifted more toward the on-demand aspect because of the amount of media muscle they've put behind the effort to establish their streaming partnerships.

Outside of the logistics of the media landscape and its distribution, the cards themselves directly contributed to the diminishing returned mentioned earlier.

The first SNME return was headlined by Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens, and given the skill set of both performers, most of the audience knew that while there probably wouldn't be a title switch, you were still going to get a quality segment. Kevin Owens is a worker's worker and he makes the best of any scenario that he's booked for. When there was a quick turnaround for another SNME show in January, a mostly immobile Braun Strowman beat Jacob Fatu by DQ, and Gunther beat Jey Uso before the Royal Rumble win put him in a position to be in a featured spot on Wrestlemania. Uso defending against Logan Paul in May, and then the disastrous Bill Goldberg retirement bout in July didn't exactly create anticipation for the next Saturday Night's Main Event show.

If for no other reason than it was simply a matter of the current circumstances of the WWE, last night's SNME broadcast had a level of anticipation. With Seth Rollins on the shelf for an extended period of time, the deck had to be shuffled with Jey Uso vs. CM Punk booked to determine a new world heavyweight champion. Taking into account that Rollins dethroned Punk mere minutes after he won the title with a Money in The Bank contract cash-in, it appeared that there was much more to be done with Punk/Rollins, but that more or less evaporated when Rollins was forced out of action. So, the selling point of this show was, how does management pivot from here?

With four title matches that comprised the entire line-, there wasn't a weak spot on the card on paper.

The show opened with the Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre rematch from Wrestlepalooza. Their match in September was cleverly booked in a way to give the heel a strong excuse with for the loss, while maintaining his credibility as a contender. He got a visual pin on the champion, but the referee wasn't in the ring because McIntyre shoved Cody toward the official. Drew lost because Rhodes moved, sending the challenger into the announce table, injuring his leg. It was less of a dominate defeat and more of a matter of circumstances that allowed Cody to retain the belt, which was completely fine, as the whole point was to leave enough meat on the bone for the rematch.

That being said, again taking the nature of the show into account, the narrative of this match got unintentionally repetitive. Make no mistake about it, there are two top-notch pros and everything that they did was solid. The quality of the performance was there in terms of the execution of what they were going for, it's just that the motivation behind how this was booked might not have translated as effectively as the office hoped if they plan to continue this feud. Cody tweaked his knee at one point to set up a cutter off the ropes for an attempt at a dramatic false finish. The premise of the main event is based on an injury with the title being vacated, and playing that card to some degree in the opener (and later in the night as well) truly didn't add anything to the segment. The way that Drew introduced the championship into the match to cause himself to lose is basically a carbon copy of when he costed himself the visual pin on Cody at Wrestlepalooza. This is just my two cents on the matter, I think you can get away with that type of spot to get out of a match once to set up the rematch, but anything after that, you risk making the heel look foolish. That's fine if you're finishing up the rivalry, not if you're looking to continue it, and it appears that the office wants to get at least one more match from the Drew/Cody series. There's a fine line with the perception of the villain in situations like this, and I could be wrong, Drew looked foolish rather than a spot that provides a reason for a third match.

Jade Cargill beat Tiffany Stratton in five minutes to win the title. Similar to the first match, the narrative of a Tiffany injury was used here, and as I said about the opening match, it got to be rather stale when injuries were used as pivotal throughout the show. The match was okay for what it was, nothing spectacular, but nothing terrible either. Taking into account their previous bout, there was a reason that this was only given five minutes, and basically it wasn't in the ring long enough for anything to go off the rails. I'm not sure that makes a great statement about the status of the new champion, given the depth of the women's division in the WWE. That being said, Jade's opportunity to run with the title as a heel could be what defines her level of success in the company' We've seen a few starts and stops during her tenure in an effort to allow her enough time to get the experience needed to develop into a more well-rounded performer. The argument could be made that she probably still hasn't been given enough time to truly polish her skills, but she's worked for the company for almost two years so at some point, management has to see if she can get her in-ring work up to a level that they can truly put the marketing machine behind her.

It goes without saying that Jade Cargill looks like a total star and she's direct from a superhero movie, which makes her marketable. But, the bell has to ring at some point, and even the most casual WWE fans are more critical toward in-ring performances today so her push will have to be more than just promotional sizzle, particularly because of the in-ring substance of the rest of the division. Obviously, it remains to be seen if she can rise to the occasion, but I'd say, at least at this point, there's a 50-50 chance of her being successful as champion.

The triple threat match for the Intercontinental title was fun. There was entertaining action, and Dominik's sneaky victory worked well. There's not much else to say about this contest since the result wasn't in doubt, and it shouldn't have been, given that Mysterio has the top prize in AAA as well. The bigger story for him right now is while the AAA expansion is a work in progress, it makes you wonder if in the grand scheme of things, Dominik can be somewhat of a bridge between the two brands. He has popularity among the WWE, and has the name value to continue to be a force in Mexico. Granted, I don't think the entire WWE audience will follow lucha libre, and it's doubtful that is the goal anyway, but it will be interesting to see how far his stock rises as the AAA project gets more pieces in place under the TKO banner.

The main event was a 20-minute segment and it was fine. I might be in the minority on this given the sheer popularity of both guys, but this felt very underwhelming. With the current WWE product using more story-telling aspects as opposed pure ring work, I expected there to be some type of storyline development for this or something critical that happens to shape the direction of Raw going forward. Sure, that might be coming up relatively soon, but in a vacuum, this segment seemed a little hallow. Maybe CM Punk winning the title should've been a bigger moment or more dramatic? Something just seemed a little off, which underscores how much the Rollins' injury impacts the direction of the product. Hopefully, there's more to unfold, and I'm not exactly sure what that should be. Jey Uso doesn't have a direction at the moment, and after his relatively brief run as champion earlier this year, I don't know if even an eventual heel turn would rejuvenate his status in the main event scene. More than anything, and hopefully this is somewhat that will be pushed on Raw this week, CM Punk needs an opponent.

Next month, the WWE will get a major boost from the John Cena retirement bout, and they more or less ensured solid business when it was originally announced that 2025 would be his final year, but there are a lot of questions about where the product goes, and more importantly, how they are going to attempt to justify the increased cost to follow the product next year. 

The Andrade situation

Where in the world is Andrade?

The short answer to that is, he won't be anywhere other than his couch anytime soon, as his termination from the WWE just over a month ago brought with it non-compete clause that will keep him out of any other professional wrestling organization for the following year.

The longer, more complex answer brings with it a few different layers to this story and thus makes a few statements about the dynamics within the industry.

As mentioned, when Andrade was fired from the WWE, with his last appearance at Summer Slam in August, it was reported that he failed drug tests and also went on vacation without telling the office so their attempts to contact him went unanswered.

On the surface, this looked to be a rather simple story, he was an athlete that should be in the prime of his career, but outside of the ring issues prevented that. As disappointing as it would be if he wasted his opportunity to be a major star in the sports entertainment industry, it's not a new narrative. Sadly, wasted talent and wasted opportunities come with the territory of any live entertainment field.

The situation got exponentially more complicated when Andrade made a surprise return to All Elite Wrestling, where he worked for a rather undistinguished two and a half years previously, on an episode of Dynamite at the beginning of October to attack Kenny Omega, joining the Don Callis family. Just a few days later, he returned to Mexico, winning The Crash heavyweight title.

Considering that Andrade showed up on TBS just two weeks after his was released by the WWE, many assumed that he wasn't under any type of non-compete since he was fired immediately rather than paid during the standard 90-day non-compete clause for most talent that are cut from the organization.

However, just days after his appearance on All Elite television, it was revealed that since he was fired for disciplinary reasons, Andrade had a one year non-compete enforced upon his WWE exit. So, he showed up to attack one of the top stars of AEW and won't legally be allowed to work an angle for a theoretically payoff to the feud. That certainly didn't do Kenny Omega any favors, as he continues to try to reignite his momentum that was stalled after some very serious injuries put him on the sidelines for an extended period of time.

The situation is two-fold as far as what it says about the narratives of the industry.

First and most importantly, this makes AEW look absolutely bush league. How in the wide world of sports does this happen with the second biggest national pro wrestling company that has access to the same legal team as an NFL franchise? Obviously, Tony Khan just took Andrade's word for it, and it's more than possible that the lucha star honestly thought that he was clear to work for a different organization if something got lost in translation since English isn't his first language, but it's almost inexcusable that the AEW legal team didn't confirm Andrade's contract status before he was allowed on television. I'm not trying to imply that Andrade went rouge to attempt to snub WWE, he has been back and fourth between both groups to know enough not to burn a bridge, but rather to point out that a truly professional organization doesn't let a faux pas like this happen.

It's 2025, the contract scrambles of the late-90s are well documented, and the WWE had to settle a $20 million anti-trust lawsuit with MLW last year so every promoter in the business should understand how important the fine print on the contract is. Given the amount of legal jargon involved in modern day contract specifically to prevent talent jumping or the terms of their departure, it becomes even more important to be aware of that fine print to avoid any accusations of contract tampering, especially based on the previously mentioned MLW lawsuit.

On one hand, you can make the argument that WWE contracts are too one-sided, but that argument is moot. The talent knows the terms of the deal when they put pen to paper, or at least they should. With an alternative league that offers comparable money, it's not as though the talent is necessarily at the mercy of TKO contracts, they have the option to negotiate the terms of the deal or explore their options elsewhere. It goes without saying that it's one of the many reasons why competition is so important for a healthy industry, but the point is, Andrade made the decision to ink a deal with WWE for a comeback last year. The fact that he didn't gain any stream, and to be fair wasn't really put in a position to get more traction as a bigger star, even after the AAA purchase, is irrelevant. The fact that his dismissal, or his arrival in AEW won't make a dent in the WWE at all is also irrelevant. It sounds harsh, but the bottom line is, the WWE has the legal right to enforce the terms of the contract, and those terms dictate that since they decided to fire him for disciplinary reasons that they can prevent him from working elsewhere for a year.

On the other hand, you can say that this has a lot less to do with the value of Andrade as a performer, and more to do with the WWE blocking All Elite Wrestling from doing something simply because they can flex their muscle as the top sports entertainment corporation in the world. Let's be honest here, Andrade is a talented guy, but given the nature of his firing from WWE, it appears that he might have some problems that he has to take care of before he gets back in the ring, and based on his prior AEW stint, even if he didn't have the disciplinary issues, it's not as though the return of Andrade was going to propel the ratings of Dynamite.

Again, not to down grade Andrade, he can go in the ring, but his ability or cache as a star isn't the story here.

The WWE had their ducks in a row, and clearly AEW didn't. Sure, the WWE had contract blunders in the past, but the timing of this scenario sends a bigger message than anything else. There was a period of two years where backstage chaos and lack of structure was the biggest narrative around All Elite Wrestling. Now, after much of that chatter had quieted down, they made one of the most basic blunders of the business, "can this guy legally work here?"

No, I don't think that this or any one situation itself will completely damage AEW, but the cumulative effect of different scenarios over the course of time could lead to All Elite being typecast as a minor league group, if it hasn't already. That becomes a problem because as mentioned prior, competition is key for the industry to flourish, and at this point, the optics of the business, including how the Andrade situation unfolded, implies that the dynamics of the industry are almost one-sided.

Of course, I hope I'm wrong, and as mentioned prior, we've seen the narrative within the genre flip before, but I still think All Elite is in danger of being labeled as the definitive distant second to the WWE, much like TNA was in its heyday, rather than a true competitor that could impact the direction of the business the way that it did in 2019.