WWE Clash of Champions 2020 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on WWE Clash of Champions 2020. 

WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on the 2020 WWE Royal Rumble event. 

An Elite Challenger

Without question, professional wrestling reached its peak in popularity during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The World Wrestling Federation was engaged in a ruthless battle for ratings supremacy and company survival with World Championship Wrestling. Extreme Championship Wrestling grew from a small renegade promotion in Philadelphia and became a national phenomenon and formidable challenger to both WCW and the WWF. All three companies were putting on excellent matches and pay-per-view worthy television shows with an unbelievably deep roster. Ratings for pro wrestling television programs skyrocketed as quality programming became the weekly standard. That changed when ECW folded and WCW was bought by the WWF.

The battlefield became quiet as Vince McMahon's pro wrestling juggernaut emerged as the sole survivor. The WWF eventually became World Wrestling Entertainment and with no real threat to ratings or profits, the quality of WWE programming began to decline as did pro wrestling's popularity. It seemed as if the company began to rest on its laurels. Ring of Honor and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling have since emerged from the rubble left from the Monday Night Wars between WCW and WWE, but they do. It have the financial backing or popularity to really be contenders to WWE's throne. New Japan Pro Wrestling has made strides in garnering the interest of American wrestling fans, but the time zone difference and lack of a real television deal is a tough obstacle to overcome for the Japanese wrestling promotion. The reign of WWE over the professional wrestling world looked like it would last forever. If a pro wrestling company were to challenge WWE for the crown, it would need to be an elite challenger. Enter All Elite Wrestling.

Following the success of the independent "All In" wrestling event that featured wrestlers from promotions such as ROH, TNA, NJPW, and the National Wrestling Alliance among others, speculation on if top ROH stars and "All In" masterminds Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks would start their own promotion ran rampant. Trademarks for "All Elite Wrestling" were filed for in November and Rhodes, the Young Bucks, and several other of ROH's top wrestler left the promotion in December. On January 1, 2019, All Elite Wrestling's creation was officially announced. The next day, the father and son duo of Shahid Khan and Tony Khan were announced as company investors with Tony also serving as company president. The Khans are billionaires as well as part owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League and Fulham Football Club of the Premier League and are reportedly backing the new wrestling promotion with a $100 million investment.

The first shots of what could be a new wrestling war were fired on January 8 when AEW held its inaugural press conference at TIAA Bank Field which is the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Wrestling fans packed the conference as WWE's SmackDown television program was airing live from Jacksonville later that night. At the conference, AEW announced a working relationship with Chinese professional wrestling company Oriental Wrestling Entertainment as well as some of the wrestlers signed to the AEW roster. Notable wrestlers already under the AEW brand include Christopher Daniela, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, Pac (who competed in WWE as Neville), and Chris Jericho.

While it is still early and AEW has yet to produce an official show or announce any sort of television deal at the time that this lost was written, many wrestling reporters and fans, including myself, see AEW as a legitimate competitor to WWE. Apparently WWE might be feeling the same way. The company was reportedly turning away people from the SmackDown airing in Jacksonville who were wearing AEW merchandise. The company's inaugural event, "Double or Nothing," is set for May 25, 2019. There is still plenty of time for AEW to not only announce a television deal and build toward the event but also sign more wrestlers to its roster. The Revival and Mike Bennett have recently requested their release from WWE. I wouldn't be shocked if they wind up in AEW, and if they are first of a number of WWE defections.

As a wrestling fan, I am very excited for AEW. Having another legitimate professional wrestling company that has both the talent and the financial backing to compete with WWE is a fantastic development for the wrestling industry as a whole. Not only does it give fans another option to get their pro wrestling fix, but it can also bring about a surge in wrestling popularity and quality. The Monday Night Wars took professional wrestling a to unprecedented heights. Maybe AEW can be the catalyst to launch another wrestling boom.

A New Network

SmackDown is once again on the move. WWE's blue brand will reportedly be broadcast on Fox starting in October of 2019. For the past year and a half, SmackDown has been airing live on USA on Tuesdays. It made sense for WWE as the company's flagship program, Raw, airs live on Monday nights on USA. With SmackDown once again moving to another network, how will it affect the current WWE landscape?

I think the biggest change will be the official end of the brand split as wrestlers will now appear on both shows. Fox is not a cable network. It broadcasts over the air for free meaning there are more eyes on it than USA. With more people watching SmackDown, I would think that WWE would want to showcase their top stars on a weekly basis and the only way to do that is to merge both Raw and SmackDown once again. The brand split's end seems imminent as pay-per-views now feature both brands. The move to Fox could prove to be the final factor that reunites the Raw and SmackDown rosters.

Another possible change is that SmackDown could go on tape delay again. Aside from a few special episodes, SmackDown was taped on Tuesdays and aired on Thursdays and for a few years on Fridays. When it moved from SyFy to USA, the decision was made to have it air live on a weekly basis like Raw. Will the move to Fox change that? I think there is a strong possibility as the last three over-the-air broadcast networks to air SmackDown all aired it in a taped format. UPN, the CW, and My Network TV all broadcasted the blue brand on tape delay. Fox is a bigger network though and is grouped together with CBS, ABC, and NBC as one of the "Big Four" networks. With ratings being king on television, the only way to ensure good SmackDown ratings every week on Fox is to have it air live to avoid spoilers being leaked on the internet.

The last factor I'll talk about in this post is the day and time SmackDown could air on Fox. As of now, the blue brand airs from 8-10 PM on Tuesday nights. Will Fox change that or possibly change it to a three hour show like Raw? I doubt that SmackDown will be expanded as Raw faces criticism for its three hour length. As for the night, SmackDown will most likely end up on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Fox will air some Thursday Night Football games this season and there is absolutely no way WWE will allow it to air on Monday directly against Raw. I also do not see Friday night as a potential slot as ratings could fall.

Those are some of the factors that could change both SmackDown and the WWE landscape. A new network could lead to an end in the brand split, a new night for SmackDown on television, and the possibility that the show could go back to a tape delay format. If I were in charge, I'd have SmackDown air live on Tuesdays and keep it as a two hour show. Hopefully it will also reunite the rosters and bring about a quality that has been missing from the blue brand for quite some time.

My Thoughts on the ROH Rumors

With Wrestlemania 33 just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to write a post that dealt with professional wrestling. I was thinking of doing a post with my match predictions but ultimately decided against it because of the latest wrestling rumor swirling around the internet. It is without question that WWE is the largest professional wrestling company in the world ever since it bought out World Championship Wrestling in 2001. It has been 16 years and not a single professional wrestling company has come close to giving WWE a run for its money like WCW did during the Monday Night Wars.

That is not to say WWE does not have its competitors. Overseas there is New Japan Pro Wrestling, and in the Untied States there are Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor. While these are alternatives to WWE’s product, they still have yet to prove to be viable competition. NJPW is still trying to broaden its global reach to match that of the WWE, and TNA has been barely afloat as a company for the past few years. It was even rumored that WWE was in the process of buying out TNA in the fall of 2016. While the sale ultimately did not happen, the rumor generated a ton of buzz around the wrestling world. Fast forward five months and now the rumor is that WWE might be buying out the other major American wrestling promotion I mentioned earlier: Ring of Honor.

This was very shocking to me. ROH is currently owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and is aired everywhere a Sinclair station is broadcasting. For example, I can get my ROH fix on either Saturday at 10:30 pm or Monday at 12:30 am on Star 64. While the strange schedule and one hour format of the show does not allow it to compete head to head with WWE, it is still a viable alterative to wrestling fans that prefer in ring action over storylines. It is a formula that works for the company as it has garnered a respectable audience and has been the career launch pad for various wrestlers such as Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and A.J. Styles among others. A lot of former WWE superstars have also wrestled for Ring of Honor such as Alberto Del Rio, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, the Hardy Boyz and Cody Rhodes. Needless to say, Ring of Honor has made a significant impact on the world of professional wrestling. So what would happen should WWE buy ROH?

ROH is loaded with talent. The Young Bucks, Adam Cole, Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, and Lio Rush make up a small sample of the talented roster that makes up ROH. Should ROH become a WWE property, I would think that a majority of these guys end up in either NXT or on the main roster. While the idea of the Young Bucks taking over the tag team division and potential WWE matchups between Styles and Daniels are enticing, an ROH buyout would not be good for guys like Cody Rhodes who left WWE for greener pastures. WWE would also add the ROH video library to its already massive collection of professional wrestling footage. As a diehard wrestling fan, it would be both awesome and extremely convenient to have the ROH video library available on the WWE Network.

While the possibility of WWE buying ROH is appealing in some ways, I think it would be better for the wrestling industry as a whole if WWE did not buy ROH. Competition is necessary in professional wrestling. It forces creativity and innovation and everybody benefits from it. WCW and WWE competed for ratings and professional wrestling supremacy and it took the industry to new heights. The product was at its best, ratings were at an all-time high, and fans were able to soak in a quality wrestling product for years. That is why I hope ROH does not get bought by WWE. Perhaps the company can rise to a level similar to that of WCW, compete with WWE at a global level, and rejuvenate the professional wrestling industry as a whole.

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