Wednesday Night Wars

Official

futballiscool said:

I don't want to put words in your mouth so let me know if this is correct..

You think AEW partnered with TNT not because it's the most high profile option or because they gave them the best financial deal but to hurt WWEs pretaped developmental brand that first airs their on demand internet show on Wednesday? They went with TNT to have an excuse for airing on Wednesday? If AEW picked another major network that gave them a Tuesday or Thursday timeslot you honestly dont think that would have become NXTs cable TV day?

And you think I'm an AEW apologist?

I suspect that there are people in this thread younger than I am who grewup on the idea that WWE as a company is synonymous with major prowrestling and feels an intense brand loyalty as a result. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm not AEW apologist or a WWE brand loyalist

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1) Yes, I do. Just like you think the WWE is only doing the NXT deal because of AEW.

2) If you're not, you have a funny way of showing it by defending AEW so vigorously.

futballiscool said:

I don't understand your issue with tickets. There's an excessive demand for their shows right now because of the novelty factor and their low prices. It was impossible to get WWE tickets for major shows in the late 90s and early 00s. They didn't owe anyone an apology and neither does AEW. The Boston venue was sold through Ticketmaster who handles 90 percent of the major sporting events and concerts in the US.

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Are you even remotely aware of the complaints with ticketing? Judging by your 2 replies to me on this, I'd say no.

Also have you looked at the Boston venue and what Ticketmaster is asking for tickets? Once again the answer appears to be no.

My whole point was they could've put out some bullshit press release or tweet saying they'll work with (insert company here) to make it easier for fans to get tickets. Even if they had zero intention of following through on it, they could appear to be sympathetic to those fans who were "royaly screwed". I would list myself among those fans, but I didn't see any on-sale date for Boston or Philly and even if I had, I was working and didn't have access to a computer/phone.

futballiscool said:

I don't understand your issue with tickets. There's an excessive demand for their shows right now because of the novelty factor and their low prices. It was impossible to get WWE tickets for major shows in the late 90s and early 00s. They didn't owe anyone an apology and neither does AEW. The Boston venue was sold through Ticketmaster who handles 90 percent of the major sporting events and concerts in the US.

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Your analogy is poor.

That was a different time time and Ticketmaster has had many differnet iterations of online ticketing sales since then.

wildturkey said:

Official

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Oh noes. WWE is going to go down in flames because of this!! They can't claim moral superiority, or something!!

DefCONNOne said:

Are you even remotely aware of the complaints with ticketing? Judging by your 2 replies to me on this, I'd say no.

Also have you looked at the Boston venue and what Ticketmaster is asking for tickets? Once again the answer appears to be no.

My whole point was they could've put out some bullshit press release or tweet saying they'll work with (insert company here) to make it easier for fans to get tickets. Even if they had zero intention of following through on it, they could appear to be sympathetic to those fans who were "royaly screwed". I would list myself among those fans, but I didn't see any on-sale date for Boston or Philly and even if I had, I was working and didn't have access to a computer/phone.

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The ticket prices are for the remaining select platnium tickets. Almost everyone in the entertainment industry (including WWE) sells platnium tickets for in demand events. Is that the complaint? If so that's an industry wide policy. It's a safeguard against scalping.

What is there apologiy supposed to be? "We'll never sell out a venue too quickly again." I wouldn't advise any entertainment company to make that promise to fans.

DefCONNOne said:

Your analogy is poor.

That was a different time time and Ticketmaster has had many differnet iterations of online ticketing sales since then.

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What's different about online ticketing now then 20 years ago? More people can buy on their smartphones rather than having to sit at a desktop computer to order over the internet? It's the same thing.

DefCONNOne said:

Oh noes. WWE is going to go down in flames because of this!! They can't claim moral superiority, or something!!

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Their company's not going up in flames. Business is booming actually.

They simply wont be able to complain if AEW finds themselves in a position of power and can counterprogram against them without being completely hypocritical.

futballiscool said:

If NCAA football started putting some of their biggest games of the week on Sunday afternoon it would be suicide. They would be hurting themselves and the NFL financially for no reason. If the NFL returned the favor and started putting a few of their biggest games on Saturday each week they would be completely justified.

I honestly think it was in everyone's best interest for AEW to work as an alternative and not compete directly with the WWE. The WWE has made it direct competition. That's the "moral highground" being lost. AEW is now justified putting a show on Friday night.

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Maybe football was a bad analogy because of the gentlemen’s agreement. So let’s use a better one. So if any of the major networks have a really popular tv show is immoral for the other ones to put a show on that same time? I’m not trying to really defend the WWE I just don’t think it is immoral whatsoever and it would actually be a terrible business decision to not to try flex their muscle. Sitting by and allowing another company to try to gain viewers who normally watch your product IMO is a terrible business decision.

wazzu31 said:

Maybe football was a bad analogy because of the gentlemen’s agreement. So let’s use a better one. So if any of the major networks have a really popular tv show is immoral for the other ones to put a show on that same time? I’m not trying to really defend the WWE I just don’t think it is immoral whatsoever and it would actually be a terrible business decision to not to try flex their muscle. Sitting by and allowing another company to try to gain viewers who normally watch your product IMO is a terrible business decision.

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The term moral might have been a poor choice in words. I dont mean it in some philosophical or religious sense. My general take is that its in the interest of both companies to run parallel to one another rather than head to head.
Lets say Smackdown is getting disappointing ratings on Fox and AEW returns the favor with a show on Friday nights on the bleacher report app.

I liked comptetion in the sense of a second major company but I think they both should have avoided head to head programming. I would have been just just as critical of AEW if they choose to air on Monday or Friday. Who knows? These companies are run by people much more knowledgeable about TV than I am and maybe the controversy is good for ratings on both sides

futballiscool said:

The term moral might have been a poor choice in words. I dont mean it in some philosophical or religious sense. My general take is that its in the interest of both companies to run parallel to one another rather than head to head.
Lets say Smackdown is getting disappointing ratings on Fox and AEW returns the favor with a show on Friday nights on the bleacher report app.

I liked comptetion in the sense of a second major company but I think they both should have avoided head to head programming. I would have been just just as critical of AEW if they choose to air on Monday or Friday. Who knows? These companies are run by people much more knowledgeable about TV than I am and maybe the controversy is good for ratings on both sides

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But I think you keep missing the fact that an NXT was already on Wednesdays and in the timeslot that AEW now has. You can’t say AEW should’ve avoided going head to head programming when that’s exactly what they were doing it’s just they were on a big channel and NXT was on the network and taped.

Just because NXT was on the network and only one hour didn’t mean AEW didn’t know what they were doing chose that timeslot and that day of the week.

Duffman said:

But I think you keep missing the fact that an NXT was already on Wednesdays and in the timeslot that AEW now has. You can’t say AEW should’ve avoided going head to head programming when that’s exactly what they were doing it’s just they were on a big channel and NXT was on the network and taped.

Just because NXT was on the network and only one hour didn’t mean AEW didn’t know what they were doing chose that timeslot and that day of the week.

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Again NXT was a pretaped show that runs on demand. AEW clearly weren't targeting WWE tv. They took the only available weekday timeslot.
NXT very easily could have taken the traditional Tuesday Smackdown timeslot under the guise that WWE fans would already be looking for wrestling programming at that time. They'd also get higher ratings with the wrestling audience uncontested on that night.

Imo this was an absolute, unequivocal chess move against AEW.

futballiscool said:

The term moral might have been a poor choice in words. I dont mean it in some philosophical or religious sense. My general take is that its in the interest of both companies to run parallel to one another rather than head to head.
Lets say Smackdown is getting disappointing ratings on Fox and AEW returns the favor with a show on Friday nights on the bleacher report app.

I liked comptetion in the sense of a second major company but I think they both should have avoided head to head programming. I would have been just just as critical of AEW if they choose to air on Monday or Friday. Who knows? These companies are run by people much more knowledgeable about TV than I am and maybe the controversy is good for ratings on both sides

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I guess moral is where my main objection with your statement. Would we all like to see the WWE get better story telling and go back to the Attitude Era for the dudes, sure. But the exact reason they can’t go back right now is the same reason they have to go head to head with AEW. WCW through all of their mistakes only went out of business because they were a publicly traded company. Had Ted Turner been the lone owner of the company and had creative control then there is no WWE today.

Of course we all love competition and generally competition brings out the best in you. But ECW vs WWE is a little different than AEW having a bankroll that exceeds the WWE. Back to my quasi football analogy. It would be more like if Jeff Bezos decided to open up a football league on a Tuesday or Wednesday night and got those tv rights on a legit channel unlike TNA/Impact (only nights not taken by the NFL or NCAA) then you sure as hell can guarantee the NFL would be putting games on that night. I’m just speaking from a business perspective and guess why going back to my first paragraph is I don’t think their a moral high ground remark when it comes to two businesses fighting over one demographic.

futballiscool said:

The ticket prices are for the remaining select platnium tickets. Almost everyone in the entertainment industry (including WWE) sells platnium tickets for in demand events. Is that the complaint? If so that's an industry wide policy. It's a safeguard against scalping.

What is there apologiy supposed to be? "We'll never sell out a venue too quickly again." I wouldn't advise any entertainment company to make that promise to fans.

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The complaint is that tickets are made available on the resale market one nanosecond after the event sells out. If, as you claim, Ticketmaster has safeguards designed to prevent scalpers from getting their hands on tickets....they're doing a piss-poor job at it.

What I'm saying is that AEW put out a tweet or press release saying they'll work with Ticketmaster to insure that fans and not scalpers get tickets to their show(s). They don't even have to do such a thing. All they have to do is say they will.

futballiscool said:

What's different about online ticketing now then 20 years ago? More people can buy on their smartphones rather than having to sit at a desktop computer to order over the internet? It's the same thing.

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They have sub-standard safeguards against scalpers putting tickets out on the re-sale market.

They do 90-95% of their sales online.

They have sub-standard safeguards against scalpers putting tickets out on the re-sale market.

futballiscool said:

Their company's not going up in flames. Business is booming actually.

They simply wont be able to complain if AEW finds themselves in a position of power and can counterprogram against them without being completely hypocritical.

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You mean like the company you claim you aren't a fanboy of...AEW?

This reminds me alot of 1996. It is a good time to be a wrestling fan again

DefCONNOne said:

The complaint is that tickets are made available on the resale market one nanosecond after the event sells out. If, as you claim, Ticketmaster has safeguards designed to prevent scalpers from getting their hands on tickets....they're doing a piss-poor job at it.

What I'm saying is that AEW put out a tweet or press release saying they'll work with Ticketmaster to insure that fans and not scalpers get tickets to their show(s). They don't even have to do such a thing. All they have to do is say they will.

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This happens literally for every high demand concert, football game, sporting event etc. Scalpers were hot on these tickets because they've been quick sellouts in other markets.

If you were a fan that upset about getting shutout of tickets I would message you on how to buy them. I got floor/second row seats at face value no problem. Since you didn't try to buy them and are just upset on behalf of fans on Twitter I dont know what to say? Good luck getting into their full sail NXT shows. Should be easy.

DefCONNOne said:

You mean like the company you claim you aren't a fanboy of...AEW?

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Is this about the tickets or something else?

I want there to be a second major wrestling company for the sake of performers and fans. It's within WWEs rights to try to put them out of business before they even put on their first show but as an overall fan I dont support it. If I come across as a "fanboy" that's why. Anyone who cares more about wrestling than a single company should feel the same way imo

DefCONNOne said:

They have sub-standard safeguards against scalpers putting tickets out on the re-sale market.

They do 90-95% of their sales online.

They have sub-standard safeguards against scalpers putting tickets out on the re-sale market.

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One company is trying to keep a monopoly on US wrestling going into a third decade?

Thats fine

Other company had too many scalpers buy tickets in part because they were priced too reasonably in Boston and Philly.
They owe everyone an apology! Promise it'll never happen again