AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
As should have been expected, despite a war in the Middle
East between Iran and Israel that the United States became
involved in last Sunday with the bombing of Iranian nuclear
sites....WWE went to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for Friday Night
Smackdown and Night of Champions.
Despite repeated calls online for the Friday Smackdown shows
and/or Night of Champions be postponed, or at least moved to
the Performance Center or other location stateside due to
the risk to talent, it seemed clear that unless there had
been direct missile attacks on Riyadh by the Wednesday that
the talent was scheduled to fly in....that there were $50
million reasons this past weekend, plus after least another
$50 million for 2026's Royal Rumble, plus the money from
their new boxing endeavor with Turki Al-alshikh,
plus...well, more on that number in a minute.
With all that, there was no real chance the risks to the
welfare of WWE talent would be considered, and that Friday's
Smackdown and Night of Champions would be moved or that the
shows would be canceled.
This remark, from a TKO stockholder when I said as much on
social media last Monday: "Sadly - you are right Bob. As
a TKO stockholder, I would personally request they do not
hold the event for a number of reasons but at the lowest in
their mind would be the safety of all talent. This is a
perfect opportunity for a statement even with a cease-fire
in place."
Meanwhile...in the latest chapter of the hypocrisy follies,
at the Night of Champions kickoff, CM Punk apologized to a
fan (who surprisingly had the courage to ask Punk about it)
for his Saudi Arabia tweet to The Miz; and claimed his now-
deleted tweet from 2019 saying: "Go suck a blood money
covered dick in Saudi Arabia, you fucking dork' wasn't
about Saudi Arabia, but because he was pissed at Mike
Mizanin....that it was simply a "mean tweet".
Punk said at the kickoff event: “I am not perfect by any
means....Sometimes as human beings, we screw up. The
beautiful thing is, everything is a lesson learned. And now
here I am and you have invited me to your country and I am
grateful to be here. Thank you very much.”
Despite Punk claiming it wasn't what he means (but then
apologizing for it), he apparently forgot comments he made
while a panelist on the FOX studio show, WWE Backstage, or
another appearance he forgot about on a Pardon My Take
Barstool Sports podcast making its way around this past
weekend with the following:
Big Kat: “How many Saudi Arabia shows do they have to do
to bring back CM Punk?”
Punk: “I don’t know… I’m not doing a single one of those. .
. it sounds so shady.”
PFT: It’s like backyard wrestling for Mohammed bin Salman Al
Saud
Punk: Yeah, right.
Brandon Thurston reported on Wrestlenomics Friday that after
Night of Champions that since 2018, WWE will have been paid
by the Saudi government 1.5x the total value of every
Wrestlemania ticket sale ever, adjusting for inflation....to
the tune of $600 million. With seven additional
events scheduled with the Saudi government for an additional
$350 million...totaling just under $1 billion received by WWE from the Saudis.
Apparently, this is what CM Punk meant some years ago...when
he called himself "One Bill Phil".
It's not all bad. At least TKO believes in doing some social
good. They believe in spaying and neutering their Punk. In
the end...wonder if WWE met his price...and if it was worth
it.
In better news, ALL IN is currently around a $2.5 million
gate with 18,574 tickets out per Wrestletix (as of June 24)
a non-WWE North American record for both paid tickets and
gate. Per Meltzer, the gate will end up doubling the
company’s best North American gate for Forbidden Door on
June 25, 2023, in Toronto, ON which was $1.25 million.
Matches currently announced:
* AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley defends against Hangman
Page
* AEW Women’s Championship: Toni Storm defends against
Mercedes Mone
* AEW Unified Championship: Kazuchika Okada (Continental
Champion) vs. Kenny Omega (International Champion)
* Men's Casino Gauntlet battle royal
* Women's Casino Gauntlet battle royal
* Swerve Strickland/Will Ospreay vs. The Young Bucks
It seems that ALL IN Texas will easily surpass 20,000 by
showtime. I'd speculated early on that the show could draw
30,000, but with the reluctance of international visitors to
come to the United States owing to Trump Administration
immigration/tourism policies, that seems unlikely. The fact
that Forbidden Door and ALL OUT advance ticket sales (both
outside the US) are going so well indicates there is
international interest in the AEW product, but a reluctance
to come into the United States.
Adding a significant lucha match would certainly help
drawing a Latino audience. MJF-Mistico would be a great
option with storylines already set up...certainly a match
with Mistico and/or other CMLL talent.
MAX is adding many of the remaining AEW PPVs to the AEW
library on July 25th:
* Forbidden Door 2023 (Danielson-Okada, Ospreay-Omega)
* All Out 2023 (Omega- Takeshita)
* WrestleDream 2023
* Full Gear 2023
* World's End 2023
* Forbidden Door 2024 (Strickland-Ospreay
* All Out 2024 (Strickland-Page Steel Cage Match
* WrestleDream 2024
* Full Gear 2024
* World's End 2024
If you'd like to contact me, you can do so at my
bobmagee1@hotmail.com account or to through Facebook
Messenger at https://www.facebook.com/bob.magee.180, direct
message me at https://twitter.com/BobMage70323520, or
contact me at BlueSky at
https://bsky.app/profile/bobmagee940.bsky.social
