Hello everyone. I didn’t really have a set topic to talk about this week, so I decided to do a random thoughts column on some of the recent news and stories that have come from the world of wrestling this week. No particular order of importance, just whatever pops in my head as I’m writing.
1. The Low SummerSlam Buyrate Is Not On One Person In Particular
-The WWE released preliminary PPV buys for SummerSlam this year: 298,000 total buys with 186,000 domestic buys and 112,000 international buys. Those numbers have to be considered a disappointment considering the 2012 show did about 350,000 buys. There will probably be some people in the WWE who will put the blame on Daniel Bryan not being a top draw. Those people will be very wrong. If you can’t tell, Bryan’s crowd reactions are the best in the business right now. Fans want to see the guy win and be on top. If they didn’t, he wouldn’t be getting the types of reactions he has been getting.
Instead, there are a handful of reasons that play into the low buy. Despite the strong build up to Punk/Lesnar, there might be a handful of fans who were tired of Lesnar after his series of matches with Triple H. If it were me booking Brock Lesnar I would still have him undefeated at the moment. The appeal of Lesnar from the start was that he was a bad ass that wasn’t afraid of any fight. What do they do his first match back? Have him job to John Cena. Then, as evidence to the 2012 SummerSlam buyrate, people wanted to see Lesnar/HHH. I did too. But then they wasted TWO MORE Lesnar matches on HHH. Wrestlemania 29?s buyrate was down from 28, as was Extreme Rules 2013. The first match disappointed, but the ego maniac HHH probably wanted his win back. So they had to make it a best of three series.
There’s also the fact that some people just don’t want to pay for PPVs anymore. Yes, I know they are expensive and sometimes aren’t worth the price. But I thought the SummerSlam build was solid and the two main matches were worth the price. But people want to find ways to watch other than paying for it. And you know what the funny thing is? These people are the same people who will complain about a possible Bryan de-push due to low PPV buyrates. Again, I don’t agree that Bryan is the reason for the low buyrate. But when certain people complain about it, they will turn out to be the ones who didn’t buy the PPV and instead watched it online.
The low buy isn’t just on Daniel Bryan. I still believe three hours of RAW is hurting the product too. As is a weak mid-card. The blame isn’t on one person. It can be placed on the WWE, and to a lesser extent some fans as well.
2. This AJ Styles/Dixie Carter “Shoot” Angle Won’t Work In The End
-Hey, I get that TNA is in a rough spot right now. They are pretty much bleeding money and need to find ways to get their product better. Ever since I started watching and reviewing TNA regularly for HTC, I’ve said that AJ Styles is my favorite performer in the company. And you can tell from the crowds that TNA has that he is their favorite as well. I can understand why people see Magnus as the potential future of TNA, but the here and now is AJ Styles and they needed to strike with him while people still cared.
My problem with the angle is that it is essentially a rip off of the whole CM Punk/Pipe Bomb angle that happened a few years ago. Yes, I know that almost everything in the wrestling business is at least some variation of what has happened in the past. But we are just over two years removed from the CM Punk pipe bomb. It is still in the minds of most wrestling fans.
If TNA hadn’t screwed up the Aces and Eights faction so badly, then they could have still built AJ up as the lone wolf who takes down the big heel stable on his own. Instead of having Aces and Eights break up internally, have AJ be the one that causes the dissension in the group. Don’t have adding Tito Ortiz be the break up factor.
And while Dixie may not want to support AJ, she can’t exactly go to Aces and Eights whose goal was to cause havoc in TNA in the first place. I just don’t see the end result being anything good for TNA.
3. TNA Should Bring Back Mickie James AND Mr. Anderson
-I understand that TNA is in a financial crunch right now. But these were two central players in TNA storylines and I think TNA needs them more than they need TNA.
Lets start with Mr. Anderson. I don’t know the extent of what he was making, but I’m sure it was a bit higher than most TNA performers because he was once in the WWE and was recognizable at the time he signed. With the way Mr. Anderson left TNA, he could be set up for a HUGE return if he did come back. Mr. Anderson gained a lot of face sympathy when he was taken out by Mr. Anderson and the rest of Aces and Eights. Lets say TNA doesn’t want to give AJ Styles the Title and instead decides to let him walk from the company (which I don’t think happens, but for arguments sake lets say it does). A returning Mr. Anderson taking on Bully Ray might be the next best thing for TNA. Anderson’s return what gain some strong reactions from the crowd. And a feud with Bully Ray could have some solid heat behind it.
As far as Mickie James goes, what else does TNA Knockouts Division have? ODB, Gail Kim and Velvet Sky. That’s pretty much it. At this point, I would just scrap the whole Knockouts Division if I was TNA. You can’t have a division with only four women. I would personally love to see Mickie back in the WWE. She’s over and one of my favorite female wrestlers. How it would blend with her singing career might not work. Of course, how she supposedly left the WWE might not fly with her coming back either. She would be an added boost to the Divas Division and I would love to see a Mickie/AJ feud.
Not much else to add this week. Life still has been a bit hectic for me in the last couple weeks but I wanted to keep writing so these were my thoughts!
Until Next Time,
Justin C
Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka
