List & Ya Boy Notes: AEW deal, Tessa, Scurll, more!
Due to the January 15 edition of The List & Ya Boy being lost because of an OBS audio issue, JV is instead posting his points along with more detailed descriptions and notes.
Happy 50th to Shane McMahon!
McGregor vs. Cerrone
* big fight this weekend! I’m leaning towards McGregor, he’s younger and I think he has something to prove after the Khabib fight
La Parka
* not to be confused with the original La Parka who worked for WCW and is now LA Park in MLW
* this was the second La Parka who worked in AAA
* passed away on Saturday, January 11 at 54 years of age
* was injured back in October in a AAA match attempting a suicide dive; his feet caught the ropes and his head hit the floor
— he’d had health injuries from that point onward. Last Friday he showed signs of kidney failure, was put on assisted breathing, and on Saturday his lungs and kidneys failed
* occasionally someone will still mutter the word “fake” to me when discussing pro wrestling – this tragedy is the latest example of why I hate that term. Wrestlers sacrifice not just their time but their bodies for the entertainment of their fanbase.
Kendo Nagasaki
* died on Sunday in Japan at 71 from cardiac arrest due to pacemaker failure
* not to be confused with the famous UK wrestler – this Kendo was big in Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico
* personally I remember him from Montreal’s International Wrestling in the 80s
* he also had a run with Calgary’s Stampede Wrestling and was one of Bret Hart’s trainers
Pampero Firpo
* died on January 9 at 89 years of age
* before my time as a fan – he was a big territory guy in the 70s, wrestled in the NWA, Japan, PR
* perhaps his biggest claim to fame – Randy Savage took his iconic “OH YEAH!” from Pampero Firpo
— various promos are available on YouTube
Story for action figure collectors
* I’ll attempt to tell this one again on the January 22 edition of List & Ya Boy
Breaking News
* was announced today that AEW has signed a multi-year extension with WarnerMedia for Dynamite – extends them through 2023 which would be a 4-year deal
* as per Dave Meltzer it’s a $175M deal which is $43.75M per year
* production costs will no longer be covered by TNT as part of the deal
* one quote from the press release:
“In addition, the parties have agreed to launch another night of AEW action, offering more of the fans’ favorite wrestlers, with a second show straight-to-series.”
JV’s thoughts on this news
1) Great for AEW
* it will allow them to become profitable within a year of launching their TV product
* will ensure long-term security for their talent roster
* great for the health of the wrestling business
— pro-WWE, anti-AEW fans will hate it because for no real reason, they want AEW to fail. But this is good for the health of the industry and should continue to light a fire under WWE creative
2) Adding a second show is just too much
* I get it – AEW is doing it because they have too many guys under contract for one two-hour show; TNT is doing it because they have nothing else in primetime (in terms of episodic television) doing any ratings
— it makes sense for both parties but wrestling is already oversaturated on television. There IS NO DEMAND for yet another weekly show.
This is not unlike when WWE added a 3rd hour to Raw
* made sense for USA because WWE was their biggest ratings generator
* made sense for WWE because it added more revenue to their balance sheet
— but there wasn’t enough viewer demand and the WWE brand because oversaturated
Tessa Blanchard
* on January 11 – the day before the biggest match of her career – she posted a message on Twitter that created an absolute shit storm
— Allysin Kay (who we’ve interviewed in-studio in the past) accused her of bullying and using the N-word; it came out later that the word was allegedly uttered to La Rosa Negra
** others also claimed to have been bullied or mistreated by Blanchard including Chelsea Green, Priscilla Kelly, Rebel (aka Tanea) and Isla Dawn
Gail Kim
* some actually called for her job because she hugged Blanchard in the ring after Impact’s Hard to Kill PPV – RIDICULOUS to suggest such a thing
Hard to Kill
* I’m not a fan of intergender wrestling, particularly when a woman of Tessa’s size wins the top title
— Impact did what they felt they had to do to carve out their path in a jumbled market
Marty Scurll
* PWinsider reported that Scurll re-signed with ROH
— it’s called the most lucrative contract in company history
* he’ll be able to continue working with the NWA
* AND – he will be heading up the booking team alongside Delirious (Hunter Johnson)
* when this news broke I posted this on Twitter:
“Allowing desperation to cloud your judgment with respect to business is never a good idea.”
Conflict of Interest
* an active wrestler should not be a decision maker with respect to creative, period
Good news – there is a renewed partnership with ROH and the NWA beyond Scurll
* Flip Gordon is advertised for a match with Nick Aldis at NWA Hard Times on Jan 24
* this is good for both companies – they have both struggled to maintain their footing
More good news – looks like ROH and NJPW are re-establishing things
* Jay White and Will Ospreay are both advertised for Supercard of Honor 14 on April 4
JV’s “Dancing Homer” theory – Young Bucks edition
* for those unfamiliar, an episode of “The Simpsons” featured Homer Simpson getting a job as a baseball mascot called Dancing Homer
— he was a big hit with the minor league team but when he got called up to the majors, he failed to connect with that fanbase
* in the past, various wrestlers succumbed to the “Dancing Homer” theory when getting called up from NXT – Bo Dallas, The Ascension, Tyler Breeze, Adam Rose, etc.
* that theory currently applies to The Young Bucks in AEW
— they were the “Internet darlings” of wrestling due to BTE and their T-shirts and Hot Topic, but given the quarter hour ratings trends, it does not yet appear like they have connected with TNT’s national television audience
— according to the Wrestling Observer, on every episode of Impact between October 30 and January 1, AEW lost viewers in a quarter featuring the Bucks, versus the previous quarter. The only exceptions were the November 20 and December 4 shows because the Bucks opened those shows, and on the October 30 show their match spread across two quarters – the first quarter, which started with a Jericho/Cody angle, gained viewers, but the next quarter that started with the continuation of the Bucks match, lost viewers
Buddy Murphy
* HUGE opportunity for him coming out of Raw
* WWE needs to change up his look and presentation
— his music sucks, and I don’t care for his ring gear or even his haircut
* SRS made a good point on Twitter: Rollins’ heel turn has benefited not just himself but AOP, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and now Buddy Murphy as well – great angle
Drew McIntyre
* WWE looks like they’re running with this “new” character and I’m all for it
* big win in the triple threat with Randy Orton and AJ Styles
* I’d go with either *this* Drew McIntyre, or with Bobby Lashley for the Rumble win
MLW
* announced on January 14 that they have signed with ICM Partners (a talent agency) for the purpose of negotiating new broadcast rights for TV as well as streaming
* a suspicious quote from the press release:
“The league showed growth of over 43% in total viewers from 2018 to 2019, by targeting millennial and Latino audiences, and their weekly 60-minute series Fusion reaches over 2.5 million eyeballs on beIN Sports.”
— HUH?!? Okay I guess 2.5M eyeballs equates to 1.25M people, and then how many times a week do they replay the show?
As if all the other Twitter stuff wasn’t enough this week
* Gabe Sapolsky went on a rant (since deleted) for two reasons
1) Darby Allin on Jericho’s podcast claimed he was forced to live in his car when he worked for Evolve – Sapolsky denies that claiming Allin wanted to in order to be a “traveling, training pro wrestler”
2) David Starr went off about Sapolsky’s treatment of talent
* I’m not defending Sapolsky but Starr seems to cause problems everywhere he goes
Big match for Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport III on April 2 during Wrestlemania weekend
* Barnett vs. Jon Moxley – BARN BURNER!
I caught some of David Benoit’s interview with Chris Van Vliet
* I feel for the kid
* I saw him at Starrcast in Vegas – he was floating around the room photo-bombing pictures
— a few people to me wrote him off as being weird – but I can’t begin to know what it must have been like for him to life through (and continue to live through) the tragedies involving his father
* David Benoit has lost tough with reality and needs guidance and direction
— he believes he will be signed by a major promotion when he’s had minimal to no training
— he also believes he can use the name “Chris Benoit Jr.” which no major promotion will ever touch
* good on Chris Jericho to nix Smith Hart’s attempt to put David in a match when he ready