A somewhat related tidbit I heard the other day out of the world of professional wrestling: the WWF (I refuse to use the "E"), in an attempt to sell more tickets to Wrestlemania 42, is planning to institute a blackout of the pay-per-view at bars and restaurants in the Las Vegas area. The commentator pointed out that this may result in scores of people who were planning come into town to enjoy the festivities, but not attend the actual event, to stay away. And so, they will metaphorically be shooting themselves (and the city of Las Vegas) in the foot hoping to make a few extra bucks at the gate. This event was originally planned for New Orleans but, having seen how much money it made their parent company in Las Vegas last year, they changed plans in the hope of another Vegas cash grab. It isn't working out as well as they had hoped; ticket prices for the two-night event are way up, and ticket sales are down. Major League Baseball, who partnered with the World Wrestling Entertainments to release the WW Network streaming service several years back, should take note of the fan reactions to the ensh***fication of the wrestling entertainment business, and adjust their own profiteering aspirations accordingly. But of course, they probably won't.
That’s a very good point. And it’s a ridiculous move that comes at a time when the WWE / WWF is nowhere near as popular as it once was. I’d much rather watch AEW if I want to watch wrestling…
I do watch AEW with a school friend of mine; conveniently, it's on when we get together on Saturday evenings. We've been watching a little SmackDown on the DVR as well, but I'm not invested at all in what's going on there. Which brings up another point: we can't watch RAW, because he doesn't have Netflix! I used to have him over for the bigger events on Peacock, but they're on ESPN now.
Nothing but a bunch of grifters and extorters. I'll continue to watch through methods that don't give these scoundrels a single red cent.
A somewhat related tidbit I heard the other day out of the world of professional wrestling: the WWF (I refuse to use the "E"), in an attempt to sell more tickets to Wrestlemania 42, is planning to institute a blackout of the pay-per-view at bars and restaurants in the Las Vegas area. The commentator pointed out that this may result in scores of people who were planning come into town to enjoy the festivities, but not attend the actual event, to stay away. And so, they will metaphorically be shooting themselves (and the city of Las Vegas) in the foot hoping to make a few extra bucks at the gate. This event was originally planned for New Orleans but, having seen how much money it made their parent company in Las Vegas last year, they changed plans in the hope of another Vegas cash grab. It isn't working out as well as they had hoped; ticket prices for the two-night event are way up, and ticket sales are down. Major League Baseball, who partnered with the World Wrestling Entertainments to release the WW Network streaming service several years back, should take note of the fan reactions to the ensh***fication of the wrestling entertainment business, and adjust their own profiteering aspirations accordingly. But of course, they probably won't.
That’s a very good point. And it’s a ridiculous move that comes at a time when the WWE / WWF is nowhere near as popular as it once was. I’d much rather watch AEW if I want to watch wrestling…
I do watch AEW with a school friend of mine; conveniently, it's on when we get together on Saturday evenings. We've been watching a little SmackDown on the DVR as well, but I'm not invested at all in what's going on there. Which brings up another point: we can't watch RAW, because he doesn't have Netflix! I used to have him over for the bigger events on Peacock, but they're on ESPN now.