Feel if NJPW ends up ditching ROH, its going to happen by next year's Wrestle Kingdom. Probably by World Tag league unless ROH forces them to make a decision sooner.

Right now, ROH still holds a lot of value due to their upcoming G1 Supercard show and having enough notable talent to help fill in the Super Jrs and G1 tournaments.

I'm not sure where I see New Japan ending up. I do think that TV deal is going to be a major factor in what they do. If they feel like their guys are going to get way more exposure with AEW, they are going to mend fences there. But I think they are going to show ROH (and Sinclair) as much loyalty as possible.

Part of me wants to see them try and keep things going with ROH for as long as possible, because there are some talents in ROH that could develop through that relationship. When you take the top AEW talent and put them back in New Japan, it kind of top heavies the card too. Well, I'm talking about Omega and Jericho (and Jericho's probably going to work with them anyway). I'd like to see New Japan try and get guys like Jeff Cobb and The Briscoes a bit more notoriety (although The Briscoes are probably as familiar as they are), and then next cycle it can be interesting to see what New Japan/ROH/AEW does and what moves they make.

The thing I found interesting was NJPW didn't have a ROH title match on the card for this year's Wrestle Kingdom and instead went with the RevPro title match. They didn't have one last year either but that was due to storyline reasons in ROH.

Even in terms of reps, ROH had just Jeff Cobb since The Elite no longer counted.

No way will NJPW discard their ROH relationship for the same with AEW. ROH just saved NJPW’s American tour, ROH GOT NJPW American exposure, booked at MSG. Plus even without The Bucks, SCU, and Omega, ROH has tons of talent that could be of value to NJPW. ROH is one of the longer reigning promotions in the country and has more than solid financial backing. I can see AEW working with NJPW in the future as Harold said but it won’t affect the ROH relationship which by the way is a three way dance with CMLL.

Meltzer confirmed on the Wrestling Observer messageboard that AEW will likely have a full-time roster of around 30, not including people with short-term deals or deals with other companies (like OWE, I assume).

I could see it happening but only if ROH plays hardball on being associated with AEW since they likely are going to be direct rivals in the US. If NJPW does open up their partnerships to include more than 1 per region, that could cause some potential issues to pop up.

Right now, ROH is the safer option of the two since ROH is a known quantity and AEW is still in the planning stages. A year from now, its possible that might not be the case and AEW ends up being the better option in terms of future benefits and roster, especially if ROH ends up losing Bandido, Dragon Lee, and anyone else who only signed a 1 year deal there. If AEW ends up being successful early on, that could open up the valuable Chinese market for NJPW via OWE.

:y:

That's basically it. I don't think they're going to say "see ya" to ROH maliciously, and everything Jordan X said about that relationship thus far is true (way too many people on the internet don't credit Sinclair hard enough for getting that MSG date for them). That being said, if AEW is going to be much more "active" in the marketplace, especially if that television has got a lot more penetration, then in time those AEW and ROH ties might weaken if Sinclair doesn't start throwing more money in and start getting those New Japan guys the same level of exposure.

AEW!
AEW!
AEW!
AEW!
AEW!


!:wave:

Meltzer is reporting that Paul Heyman is negotiating Brock's latest deal, and that AEW is actually a contender, along with the usual suspects in WWE and the UFC. Interesting times.

Between the rumors of Vince willing to do anything to keep Lesnar and his current contract rumored to be somewhere around $6 million, would not be surprised at all if Lesnar's next WWE contract hits closer to Wrestlemania gate level money.

Last year's Mania made around $14 million for its gate.

Sounds fishy to me that Heyman would negotiate anything for Brock 'irl'. Wouldn't Brock's agent do that, not his fictional manager on WWE television?

I hope Brock goes elsewhere tbh. I'm tired of the only showing up every 3 months schtick and as long as he's around he will either be champion or in the hunt and I'm just over that.

Also agree with Slik that Heyman negotiating seems fishy. Also isn't he pretty much guaranteed to go to UFC? I thought he was going to fight Cormier and that it was on the table for him to compete in UFC and WWE? What happened to all that.

And while Brock would be a huge signing for AEW, I don't wish that on them. You know he will want the same limited schedule, which would honestly probably work better there in the early stages, but then they'll just end up with the same shitty Brock that WWE has had for the last few years. Feel like he would end up boring people away from the product and probably back to a suddenly Brockless WWE with a fresh title program.

I think Paul actually does serve as some sort of "advisor" to Brock. I think he's helped negotiate book deals and stuff with the UFC before. I can't be entirely sure of that, but I'm sure I've read something along those lines. He's like what Paul Ellering was to the Road Warriors.

Brock is so fucking amazing. He's one of the best workers in the industry right now, and the reason he works so few dates is because he is good enough to call his shots -- and that goes into helping him feel special anyway.

You see people on the internet talking about who the "Face of the Company" is going to be. It's Brock. It's been Brock since he beat Undertaker in 2014. He appears on television probably more frequently than Hulk Hogan did. He defended the Universal Title more than Okada did during his first reign. We have a modern western perspective on how Brock is used, and we're a bit spoilt, but Vince has actually shown great restraint in not blowing the Brock Lesnar TV match yet. He's got firm plans with Lesnar.

He's also a big name. He resonates in that way that a real sports star does. If AEW are trying to secure themselves TV, PPV, merchandising, action figure and video game deals, then having Brock Lesnar on your payroll is a great start. People are going to take you legitimately. He can pummel Cody, have a match with Jericho, possibly do something with Goldberg, have a fresh thing with Omega and if they get Punk there's that. That's 5+ PPV caliber matches. Plus, then you get Heyman.

Heyman could provide excellent commentary, some great creative insights, cut some phenomenal promos and would generally be a welcome addition to any promotion. Honestly, the fishiest thing about the tease here, is that I thought Heyman was under WWE contract. But maybe there's some sort of "Brock out" opt out clause. If Brock leaves Heyman gets to renegotiate. Or maybe he just timed it so they could leave together?

Re: UFC: I thought that was the go too, but I read that Brock had not paid a fine to allow his suspension to be lifted for failing that drug test. I imagine it was just hype to leverage a better WWE deal or create UFC hype for Dana. Cormier also took another fight, and I heard he was hurt, so it's possible that they just went another direction and putting him against Brock, while blockbuster, was just something they didn't want to either blow right now or risk Brock winning against a hurt and exhausted Cormier.

Based on the stories about the two, he pretty much is a real agent for Lesnar. Think he also helped out the last time Lesnar had contract talks.

Shinsuke Nakamura posted something interesting on his Twitter on January 29. It simply says "WCW"

NXT spoilers:

He is the guy I could see making the jump and having the biggest splash. I know some people disagree, but to me that dude is a top level star. With how WWE has booked him he should be out the door the second he can.

Nakamura is excellent. He’s adapted to a much different style for the most travel he’s ever had to do. Things would be different in an AEW. I do think WWE took care of him in their own way, but Nakamura really doesn’t owe it to them to stay.

I heard that Fenix and Pentagon have signed with AEW.

Good signings.

They're on the AEW Wiki page, for however much stock you want to put into that.

If they have Phenix and Penta, then yeah... things are as they should be. They need to be in AEW.

Why isn't anyone talking about Chris Hero? Did you read NXT spoilers? Does everyone think it's a work? I have to assume so because I haven't herd anyone talk about him for AEW.

Just for public record I'd like to state the following. I'd much prefer AEW get an event based TV deal like Bellator or UFC than a weekly series like WWE, ROH, Impact, or Lucha Underground. I'd prefer one to three larger televised events per month that lead to a larger by monthly PPV. Very much like NJPW or Bellator. Having a weekly series is draining, feels like death. I want something new, not a weekly schedule to be stuck to. I feel that two hours a week in the current climate is just muddying the water. Let's keep it fresh and let us miss you a little bit. In between show's AEW could contract out certain performers to other promotions around the globe to supplement their own and the performers income.

Hence why I feel like there should be individual channels on YouTube for the talent. Develop their storylines in a way that is more accessible to fans.

Yeah that would be really cool. Use BTE as a weekly show that keeps eveything focused and heading in a specific direction while plugging more in depth storytelling on a workers channel.

It would also be a more accurate barometer on who is a draw or not.

I mentioned it somewhere back there. It’d be cool if he does go. I think it’s a wait and see situation with him at the moment. He might have had a two-year deal come up, but they could have just left him off. It seems far more likely this is a work than the Ambrose stuff. Or it could be a call-up/move to EVOLVE/NXT UK.

The thing is that those weekly shows are going to be where the money comes from to sell the concept of these larger shows too. It’s interesting you mention Bellator though, because I was just reading yesterday that they signed with DAZN to do 7 exclusive events a year and 15 mutual ones with Paramount. Something like this would be excellent for All Elite. If they got a weekly deal with TNT, 15 Clash/SNME specials on TBS Saturday nights and 7 DAZN-exclusive “PPVs” and they sold content at even half the price of WWE, then that’s still about $155 million a year.

Some details about the Lucha Bros contract situation with AEW and why AEW (and others) are waiting for Lucha Underground to die off so they don't have to deal with their shenanigans anymore.

LU going back on their word of letting anyone out of their contract after Season 4 ended made things a lot more complicated for certain wrestlers and companies.

http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/2019/...iversal-final/

Part of the deal is that they'll have to take the old RAW opening from an angle that happened a couple of times to literally changing the show to "WWE Monday Night RAW starring Brock Lesnar". Everyone will need to adjust their DVR settings accordingly.

SWERVE! Nak wins the WWE title from The New Daniel Bryan in a surprise face turn, and brings back the Big Gold Belt!

so they can get more lucha underground people like half of the impact roster.

Kenny Omega confirms his choice on the new Being the Elite

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BpaiKnnSbjo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Who will be the first official Superstarr announced as appearing at Starrcast II this Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas?<br><br>As Tony Schiavone used to say, “IT’S STING!”<br><br>Stay tuned to <a href="https://t.co/VShyAsTu00">https://t.co/VShyAsTu00</a> for more info regarding “the Man Called Sting!” <a href="https://t.co/AmsMa0QKTn">pic.twitter.com/AmsMa0QKTn</a></p>&mdash; #StarrcastOnFITE (@StarrcastEvents) <a href="https://twitter.com/StarrcastEvents/status/1092602771503751168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

WWE HOF but with TNA picture haha

Fuck Lucha Underground. Seriously, what a sleazy bunch of shady cunts.

"WrestleVotes" (who has apparently broken some major stories in the past, or at least alluded to them) is suggesting that a major WWE name has a huge, huge offer waiting for them in AEW when their contract soons expires -- one that is said to be hard to turn down. They're refusing to give the name, but said that "your savior" Meltz will surely announce the news if it happens.

AJ Styles has confirmed that he has still not signed a WWE contract...

I mean, it’s owned and operated by AAA, so not surprising.

Dean?

Nah. My money's on Styles.

If that's the case, he's in the perfect position to leverage both outfits to get the best deal possible.

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Christopher Daniels has been whispering in his ear.