is it like the wcw buy-out in which they just hold intellectual property rights or did they buy out any wrestler contracts?
ROH released the entire roster when they went on hiatus, so they don’t have any contracts to sell, but it sounds like TK wants to keep the established roster.
McMahon intended to do that with WCW initially as well. Didn’t work.
Yes, but when Vince did it, his idea was to book himself and his family as the stars, do one match where both guys had been booked as heels, have the finish be a bunch of WWF guys beating both of them up and tossing them in the garbage, and have commentary bury it live as it happened, so as to make it clear that he hated WCW and you should too.
TK certainly isn’t remotely as small-minded and petty as that.
I think he should have given wcw to Shane with Cornette booking and then maybe later to trips using it like he did cornettes Ohio valley…I wonder how much more wcw would of cost if hed bought the contracts
Hogan’s contract alone would have been enough to make that untenable. IIRC, it gave him full creative control over his booking and something like 25% of the gate and PPV revenue from any show he appeared on. Eric Bischoff was willing to give him that deal because he had Ted Turner’s money to spend, but there’s no chance (no chance in hell!) Vince would’ve agreed to it, and when Hogan did finally return to WWE it was for a much smaller amount.
Fantasy bookings and whatnot aside, even with their developmental shows (Dark and Elevation), AEW doesn’t have the capacity to feature everyone it already has, let alone a new influx of talent. The biggest thing from this acquisition is the tape library. It’s not a question of if, but when AEW gets on a streaming platform, and having that library will really help sell the concept to whomever.
AEW also gets the rights to their first PPV, All In, back under their name.
Most of the guys under contract with Time Warner at the time of the WCW buy-out (guys like Hogan, Hall, Nash, Sting, Goldberg, Ric Flair, Scott Steiner-- we’re talking the big names) did eventually make their way into the WWF. Hell, Flair made his WWF return the day after the Alliance was vanquished at Survivor Series.
I think the Invasion would have gone much better if we’d had some of the big names. But then again, maybe I’m underestimating Vince’s ability to hold a grudge. After all, the nWo was made fools of by Steve Austin; Goldberg put on a blond wig and did a comedy skit with Goldust; Steiner was a dud; and Sting was brought in many, many years later and lost his only two singles matches.
WOO HOO! Erick Redbeard is in AEW!
OK, not as earth-shattering as CM Punk’s debut, but he’s one of my favorite monsters, and I hold the former Wyatts near and dear to my heart. <3
So here’s the final card for Revolution this Sunday;
- AEW World Championship: Adam Page (c) vs. Adam Cole
- Women’s World Championship: Dr. Britt Baker (c) vs. Thunder Rosa
- Tag Team Championship: Jurassic Express (c) vs. the Young Bucks vs. reDRagon
- TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Tay Conti
- Ladder match to pick the #1 contender for the TNT Championship: Keith Lee, Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Orange Cassidy, TBD
- Dog collar match: CM Punk vs. MJF
- Texas Tornado match: Sting, Darby Allin, & Sammy Guevara vs. Matt Hardy, Andrade, & Isiah Kassidy
- Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley
- Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston
- Hook vs. QT Marshall
- Kris Statlander vs. Leyla Hirsch
- Pentagon Dark, PAC, & Erik Redbeard vs. Malakai Black, Brody King, & Buddy Matthews
Should be a hell of a show. I’m gonna be catching this one at my local movie theater, which is one of the few theaters in the state doing a live simulcast of the show, as it’s considerably cheaper than buying the PPV and watching wrestling on a giant screen is a fun experience.
ETA: I missed Rampage tonight. Turns out the TBD is Christian Cage.
sounds more intersting than the last wwe ppv…
someone gave a link to this when discussing ventura’s Minnesota governor’s term …but wow here’s a lesson in wrestling history …
I would like to do that as well, but it’s not going to be in this month’s budget, unfortunately.
I’ve literally watched probably an hour total of aew ever, but given it’s in my backyard (kinda, ucf is pretty far from my house), I feel that I probably would have gone if not for baby.
I must admit I’m getting serious fomo
I was the one who posted the original link.
The poster has link to all his Wrestler Observer Rewinds (From 1991 to 2002) here:
To update my earlier post it looks like Vince McMahon is NOT going to be wrestling a match this year at Wrestlemania—his on-screen protege Austin Theory is going to be in the match instead.
That makes it more palatable. I’ve liked Austin Theory ever since I saw him at an Evolve show a few years ago, but I’m scared he’s going to be mentally scarred for life after working with Vince.
That was pretty much obvious from the start. As I’m pretty sure I stated before (responding via email so I can’t see if I actually sent it), while better than McAfee/McMahon, both Theory and McAfee are far too green, especially for a WM match. This isn’t a knock on either’s abilities, just that they’re inexperienced. Put this on one of the lesser PVEs, not WM.