By Nick Whitworth@NickWhitworth
Today I went to the gym. Deciding to go heavy on the weights to get my summer body when it hit me…. 1: I already have a solid summer body and 2: I don’t even have a gym membership…. So I went home, hopped up on the couch, put the ol’ feet up and decided it was Rant time. I have to give the fans what they want and that is a solid piece of Rant material. You wanted it, you got it. Today’s topics are:
– WWE’s 1 billion dollar deal with Fox
– Ronda Rousey’s title shot
– Young Bucks : Will we see a WWE run?
– Daniel Bryan dream matches on WWE TV: Too rushed?
– Patrick Clark
1: Am I the only one whose jaw dropped to the floor when it was announced WWE signed a 5 year deal with Fox to air Smackdown Live weekly for 1 billion dollars. For those who haven’t heard the news you did read that right. 1 billion dollars.
Times sure are changing and a million dollars isn’t worth a whole lot anymore. The fact a broadcasting company can afford to hand over 1 billion dollars over 5 years is mind boggling. How much money does Fox have? I know WWE is a money making machine but I would have never guessed in a billion years (you like what I did there?) that the company would sign a television deal for Smackdown for that amount of money.
Monday Night Raw has always been labelled the number 1 show while Smackdown has been playing second fiddle. Once Vince McMahon decided to do the brand split once again and put AJ Styles as the brands top star, suddenly Smackdown became more valuable. Smackdown began putting on show that out did Raw and were increasing their ratings. Raw and Smackdown became neck and neck.
The fact Fox is willing to spend 1 billion dollars to bring Smackdown on board shows me that the company sees a ton of potential to make some serious coin here. They see a big market for wrestling and they see just how big WWE really is.
Now that WWE is a billion dollars richer I really hope the company changes some of their policies they have in place. I personally find as big of a company WWE is and the amounts of money it generates they could invest a little more in their talent.
The NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA teams players costs are covered. Flights, hotels, transportation and even receive food allowances yet WWE considers their talent independent contractors and force them to pay for everything. Unless you are stars like John Cena or Brock Lesnar, you have to shell out a boat load of money a year on expenses that should be covered from their employer.
As Vince’s wallet gets thicker he really needs to rethink a few things. Yes the company name alone sells but it is his talent who steals the shows and are the ones logging the miles and missing out on the finer things in life. Honestly, which I do best, ol’ Vinny Mac needs to take some of his money and spread it out a tad bit more.
Even if he decided to cover all costs (which he should) he still would be filthy rich. Even if he added in pension plans and proper health care, his hundreds of millions of dollars would still be in his bank account. His employees are the ones putting their bodies on the line day in and day out for a solid paycheck while the boss is laughing all the way to the bank. I am not knocking Vince or his wealth. He truly deserves it. All I am saying is he needs to take a bit more care of his team that is all.
As it might seem like I went off topic I really didn’t. The purpose of this was to cross my fingers and hope the company spreads the wealth more then they do. Especially since the so called “B” show is a bring in a billion dollars over 5 years, it goes to show you just how hard the talent is working.
AJ Styles comes to WWE, becomes the face of Smackdown Live, claims it is the house he built and all of a sudden Smackdown Live signs this mega contract….. AJ should walk into Vince’s office and say “You’re Welcome”.
2: Money In The Bank 2018 is shaping up to be a solid PPV (on paper) but one match in particular sticks out to me and that is Nia Jax defending her Raw Women’s Championship against newcomer yet mega star Ronda Rousey. This match has my full attention and not only because I have a crush on Rousey but because Ronda has her first title shot in only 2 months of being active.
Is her shot too soon? Depends on how you look at it. Not the answer you were looking for but it is the truth. Rousey is still very new to wrestling yet seems to be catching on insanely quick and is super red hot that you need to go all in with her. Jax is only 2 month into her reign so it wouldn’t be a wise move to remove the strap from her without making her look weak.
If you have been following The Rowdy One’s short but sweet WWE run, she has looked like a main event star the whole time. Her mic skills…. Meh, but she doesn’t or should she have to rely on her mouth. Her fists do the talking and they are what draws the crowd. Everybody wants to see her wrestle and has even shocked myself on how over she really is.
She has gone on record to say she is all in here and WWE is her main focus and it shows. Triple H brought in the company’s biggest star in well over a decade. When her music hits and you aren’t instantly hooked I think we need to have a chat.
Nia Jax is a beast and I do not mean that in any negative way. She is a beast in the sense of she will put a whopping on you no problem. She looks the part, acts the part and is deserving of her current run as champ. Actually I am surprised it took this long but good things are worth the wait.
Jax vs Rousey sells. Add in the belt to the picture and this match is a much see. I will say this and as much as it hurts my heart to say this I have too…. Ronda winning the Raw Women’s Championship is just a tad too soon for my liking… Ronda… Love you…..
Summerslam is where Rousey should win the belt. WWE does need to go quick with her push but hold off for a major event. Let her really nail down her character a bit more and finish off winning over the odd anti Rousey fa and watch the reaction when she wins the belt. Her winning needs to feel big and it needs to be big. It needs to be her moment and the start of her dominance. Then you introduce her MMA running mates to the picture and you have all eyes on WWE.
We all see how good Ronda is already and we all see how good Jax is. You don’t want to hurt one while pushing the other so this match needs to be very strategic on how it plays out. Plans need to be in place for the long term and at the end of the match both women’s stock has rose.
The smart move here is for Rousey to loose via interference. I see a solid Natalya turn as a great possibility. It gives Natalya a major feud and attention and it give Rousey a brilliant worker to learn from. It is a very smart move here and it gives Ronda a feud to hold her over from her rematch until Summerslam.
I also see Stephanie McMahon interfering and causing Rousey to loose her first match. This will be done to start the slow build of Ronda bringing in her crew, The MMA Four Horsewomen. I just hope we don’t get a McMahon/Rousey match. Stephanie should be used to heighten Ronda’s rise, so by doing a run in it lets Rousey suffer her first loose without loosing clean and suffering any damage among the fans.
As shocked as I was by seeing my lady get a title match so it, WWE just needs to make sure both stars off off looking like true stars and not end with Nia looking like a transitional champ used to put over Rousey. Both are great, just Jax deserves a few more months on top.
3: One of the greatest tag teams in wrestling history becomes free agents in 6 months. The Young Bucks contracts with New Japan and Ring Oh Honor come to an end and the speculation begins… Will we see The Bucks show up in WWE?
Nick and Matt Jackson make more money doing their own thing that a WWE contract meeting their needs seems unlikely. Everybody in the world knows who The Young Bucks are. They are a huge draw and bring in the money. WWE has to want a piece of the pie.
WWE works a crazy schedule and The Bucks work a schedule of their choosing. WWE pays their employees a piece of their merch sales, The Bucks, well just do your research. So for the duo a WWE run would seem like a step down really. More work, less pay. Who wants that… Especially having a family at home.
AJ Styles being so successful in WWE must have to show the Bucks that a run could be worth their while. Styles walked in a mega star and quickly became the company’s MVP and has been ever since. His timing to make the jump was perfect. The Bucks don’t want to wait too long or it could hurt their careers if the run doesn’t pan out well.
If they do get involved with the company and are having serious talks I really hope Triple H is hands on with the deal. He would be more lenient with negotiations. He would make the jump for the worth their while. They are hot right now. Mega hot, so a WWE run is a must right now.
They already have 2 potential feuds waiting since they have traded jabs with 2 teams in the past. The Young Bucks vs The New Day and The Young Bucks vs The Revival. Both matches scream money. The Revival would benefit the most from this feud but both have my interest. Also there is The Usos and The Bar just to name a few that scream main event matches.
To lock them down I would give them more time off. Do not over expose them. These guys will draw in the ratings and the reactions so WWE can’t go easy with them. Let them continue their own side deals with merch just not anything WWE related as the company will sell that. Their deal needs to look pretty, if not then why would they come.
Nick and Matt deserve a solid run with the company and WWE needs them. It would be smarter if Triple H, sorry, WWE started working with New Japan and that way everybody wins. The Bucks get their WWE run and it is on their terms. Plus imagine if that happened. Vince, take my money now.
Do I see them making the jump the “Promise Land”? No I don’t. I wouldn’t. These guys are rolling in the dough so why give that up, no wait, why risk that for a WWE contract. Nothing is guaranteed in WWE and you could get pass over pretty quickly. The Young Bucks current situation is a guarantee. Every company wants them so they are able to have full control over what goes in with their careers.
I do want to see them come over and I hope it isn’t too late when they do but I just don’t see it happening anytime soon. Especially with All In being so successful already and the event hasn’t even happened. Like I said previously, if Hunter in involved in the talks then the chances increase ten fold. We all know Triple H has been creating magic for the company so this would just be another tick in his growing resume of OMG’s he has down for the company in recent years.
Nick and Matt…. Just make sure when you do have those talks with WWE to ask for Triple H… and Nick Whitworth as well…
4: Daniel Bryan is 2 months in on his remarkable comeback and he isn’t holding back. I don’t know if it is the risk factor weighing in or his thirst for incredible matches but he has been giving us nothing short of top notch showcasing.
I don’t think I am on the same level of excitement as most fans are while watching Bryan wrestle, I am loving what he has been doing. I am a big fan, just think differently on his choice to return. I cringe quite a bit watching him take bumps and that takes away some of the excitement of the match. As a fan I fully support him and I love seeing how he changed up his move set to be more safe on his body.
As over as he is with the crowd I see WWE being careful in his push giving both Daniel and the fans what they want all while being cautious because an injury is the last thing anybody wants in this return run. A main event run might wait another year just to be safe. A solid slow build to the top is the smartest move but it doesn’t seem like that is the case.
Daniel Bryan has been giving us weekly dream matches on WWE television with no build up. Dream matches do not need a ton of build as the names sell alone but lately it seems to be the norm. I am not hating one bit. Trust me. It just seems and feels rushed. It is like they are pushing all these matches quickly just in case something happens to Daniel. They seem to striking while the iron is hot which is the way to go but so much so quick…..
If the company just gave us these dream matches on PPV’s with a solid month to build, you would see a whole different story here. What could happen by sticking to their weekly television match, it runs the possibility of becoming expected. I don’t want to expect it, I want to wish it. Doing it once a month for PPV’s, it creates a ton of buzz for the event and gets the internet buzzing. And we all know how much the internet talks. Heck, Suri just told me she agrees with me and also thinks I am sexy….
I do think the company is rushing these matches due to his history of injuries. He is incredibly popular and the fans want to see him. A true underdog hero who became one of the company’s biggest and hottest stars. If I was in their shoes I would be doing the same thing. Just a tad different (above paragraph).
Their is a possibility that Daniel wants these matches for a purpose. He was forced to retire, not retire on his own. Maybe his goal all along for this comeback was to go out on his own terms. Get in all the match ups he wants before he bows out. It could be the reason for all this but only Bryan knows this.
If Bryan remains healthy, the fans are in for a real treat. If he doesn’t, at least we will be thankful we seen all the potential matches we would have wanted to see. Here is hope to a safe, successful run with mind blowing classic matches.
5: 3 years ago Patrick Clark was debuting in NXT trying to find his niche’. Being a 20 year old, landing a spot on WWE’s hottest brand Clark was going to make the most of his run and he shocked the world a few years later.
Now at the old age of 22, Clark went from being unknown to becoming NXT’s biggest, brightest star. He transformed himself into the character Velveteen Dream. Dream is one of the greatest character going in wrestling today. Clark put in a ton of work and it is paying off big time.
I personally love Velveteen Dream. He found a way to stand out and it works. His unique looks draws you in. His mannerisms are in a league of their own. His in ring work is fantastic. He is a shoe in to be a major player on the main roster. Oh, by the way, he has only been wrestling since 2014.
He has the psychology portion absolutely nailed down. From the moment you lay eyes on him you are hooked. The simplest things like the way he holds the microphone or his outfits he wears to taunt his opponents are just simply remarkable. There isn’t anybody on the WWE roster who even comes close to Dream in the psychology portion of the game.
Velveteen has been involved in major feuds with a NXT title run almost guaranteed. His call up will be one of the biggest call ups to date. He is what the main roster needs and you have to believe his character is what Vince wants.
The Flamboyant Dream is perfect. Yes you read that correctly. There isn’t a person out there who would disagree with that statement. If you do then feel free to email me your reasons why at idontgivearatsass@hotmail.com.
John Cena recently said in an interview with me, OK fine not me but he does like my Rants, that Dream is “The One” and would love a match with him. It would be the perfect passing of the torch that WWE desperately needs. Cena isn’t getting any younger, unless he is on that Benjamin Button lifestyle, and the company needs that new long term star. Yes Roman Reigns seems to be Vince’s guy and Seth Rollins is foaming at the mouth waiting for the opportunity to sky rocket to the top. The difference is Patrick Clark, er I mean Velveteen Dream’s age.
The one thing I will say is do not call him up just yet. Let his popularity organically grow (like it has been) and let him continue to fine tune his character before making the call up. You want to make the move when he is so hot that the move will garner a instant main event push. He needs to make his main roster debut with the jet pack strapped on. If not he will loose steam like Shinsuke Nakamura did before his heel turn.
Dream alongside Pete Dunne, are the 2 guys who WWE really needs to start the grooming process now to be the flag bearer for the company. WWE is big on long term plans so whats bigger then this? Maybe my overall popularity with the universe….
Well, another Rant in the books. I also recently found out I was in the top One Percent so that was pretty cool. I mean do have 2 more abs then Ricochet does but who’s counting. My wife just said “what abs”… She must have put her contacts in wrong….. Until next time keep on supporting your local wrestling as their is nothing better then grabbing a few buddies and catching some wrasslin’. Feel free to message me on Twitter if you want to chat or have a topic you want me to Rant about. I love me some wrestling chats. @pwpitstopNick.
