AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
A happy Pride Month to LGBTQ+ folks and their allies. For
those who would respond with "stop pushing 'politics' and
just talk wrestling," ask yourself these simple
questions....yes or no answers ONLY:
Would you be willing to live as a LGBTQ+ person in any one
of an increasing number of states that are denying basic
human and civil rights? If not, why? If your child said that
they were LGBTQ+, would you still love and accept them? If
not, why?
The reality is that Pride Month is important because there
are still people who think they're better off dead than
being themselves because of the hate they suffer, and loss
of their rights as Americans.
Be careful who you hate, it might be someone you love.
Remember, in the words of Peter Capaldi's twelfth Doctor:
"hate is always foolish and love is always wise".
And this year, it also becomes relevant to wrestling given
the contrast between WWE's firing of the vast majority of
its out female LGBT talent over the last six months, versus
AEW with its numerous male and female LGBT talent, including
three women involved in a quasi-romantic storyline.
So again, happy Pride Month to LGBTQ+ folks and their
allies. To all of you, be happy, and be safe. Know that you
are important, and that you are loved.
The next two weeks will see AEW do two four-hour Wednesday
night blocks with Fyter Fest this Wednesday in Denver, CO
and Summer Blockbuster on June 11 live from Portland, OR.
These two shows were set up because of the 2025 Stanley Cup
Final, airing in full on TNT. AEW and WBD avoided game five
of the Stanley Cup Finals on June 14 as planned. There will,
however be a head-to-head this Wednesday with game one of
the Stanley Cup Finals. There will also be a head-to-head of
the NBA Finals game three with Summer Blockbuster. But TNT
has managed to avoid scheduling Dynamite or Collision
against the majority of the NBA and NHL playoffs.
Nonetheless, Dynamite has held its audience well during the
NHL and NBA playoff seasons this spring, and once these
series finish, viewership will likely go higher during the
summer and early fall.
A note for those watching Fyter Fest on MAX this Wednesday,
per Rich Guleksen of MAX: "Important note for #AEW on MAX
viewers re: #FyterFest
If you watch Live on MAX the event will be on one continuous
4-hour Stream.
If you watch the Replay, the June 4 Dynamite Replay will end
and you will need to load up the June 4 Collision Replay to
see the 2nd half of Fyter Fest.
As mentioned in this blog, WWE is now seemingly counter-
programming nearly every AEW PPV. It was already known as of
two weeks ago that WWE would counter program AEW ALL IN with
a Saturday Night's Main Event on the same day as ALL IN
Texas (July 12), then an all-women's PLE EVOLUTION on July
13.
Then, Memorial Day weekend, WWE made reference to NXT Great
American Bash also taking place that weekend. Then, Brandon
Thurston reported last Tuesday that WWE (NXT) Great American
Bash will be on July 12 at Center Stage Theater in Atlanta
with a listed 2:30 pm bell time, taking place before
Saturday Night’s Main Event that evening. So WWE literally
is trying to counter-program ALL IN Texas with three
separate PLEs, including one directly head-to-head.
It's a pathetic attempt to try to interfere with what has
become AEW's flagship PPV and what will be the largest US
show in AEW's six-year history. TKO is running these PLEs
head-to-head with 2 Beyonce concerts at Mercedes-Benz
Stadium that Friday, July 11 and Sunday, July 13 (head-to-
head with Beyonce). Further, considering that NXT Great
American Bash has been a TV special, first on USA Network
then CW, I'm surprised CW isn't complaining to TKO that
Great American Bash isn't being aired as a special Tuesday
night show.
But if THAT wasn't enough, WrestleVotes reported Thursday
that WWE will schedule an upcoming NXT TV taping on Tuesday,
August 19 at the 2300 Arena, not so coincidentally eight
days before AEW kicks off its seven-show residency at the
same venue.
As Dave Meltzer put it on Thursday's Wrestling Observer
Radio, NXT can only draw a certain number for that one off
show, and certainly can't charge enough to break even.
They'll have to fly talent and TV equipment up from Florida.
They'll probably bring main roster names, and some ECW
alumni up to insure they can pop a one-week spike in
viewership. So, in many ways, it makes little sense to run
this one-off NXT show. Meltzer also doesn't think it'll have
much effect on what crowds AEW draws over the next several
weeks.
A first look at whether or not this counter-programming made
any difference, was shown in the early PPV estimates for
Double Or Nothing, which Meltzer estimates at 122,000 to
130,000 buys, which could go higher if late buys come off of
such a hot PPV with Ospreay-Page and Anarchy In The Arena.
He stated that one person with knowledge of all the
streaming numbers felt it will end up at the end very close
to Revolution and well above Dynasty. This means that a
head-to-head free NXT Battleground PLE (for those with
Peacock or Netflix internationally) appears to have made
little or no difference in Double Or Nothing buys.
In happier news, MAX is updating the AEW archives again on
June 20 with:
* AEW Dynamite archives (winter 2020)
* AEW All Out (2021) - featuring The Lucha Brothers vs. The
Young Bucks, debuts of Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole
* AEW Full Gear (2021) - featuring Hangman Adam Page winning
AEW title from Kenny Omega, Punk vs. Kingston
* AEW Forbidden Door (2022)- featuring IWGP United States
Heavyweight Title Match- Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy ,
Jon Moxley-Hiroshi Tanahashi
* AEW All Out (2022) - featuring Punk vs. Moxley, Keith
Lee/Swerve Strickland) vs. The Acclaimed
* AEW Full Gear (2022) - featuring Chris Jericho vs. Bryan
Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Sammy Guevara, Death
Triangle vs. The Elite
* AEW All In (2023) - 81,035 at Wembley Stadium - featuring
FTR vs. Young Bucks, CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe, MJF- Adam Cole,
Stadium Stampede, Darby Allin/Sting defeat Christian
Cage/Swerve Strickland
* AEW All In (2024) - featuring Bryan Danielson winning AEW
title from Swerve Strickland, Young Bucks vs. FTR, Mariah
May vs. Toni Storm
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