Pro wrestling outlook for 2020
With the new year, and new decade, under way, the world of pro wrestling is very different than it was heading into 2010.
WWE was basically doing its thing, Impact, or TNA or whatever it was called that week, was losing money and Ring of Honor was trying to grow its brand.
Fast-forward to today and WWE has three brands, Impact is trying to get things going, ROH is coming off of a rough year, the NWA is trying to get things moving in the right direction and All Elite Wrestling is trying to build back up the momentum it has lost after its early ratings success for Dynamite.
WWE nearing Road to WrestleMania
With the Royal Rumble right around the corner, WWE is very close to the 鈥淩oad to WrestleMania.鈥�
Look for Raw, Smackdown and NXT to each have 10 performers in both the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 Rumble matches, and I also see NXT having at least one match on the WrestleMania card, if not more.
Each of the three brands are trying to establish a different feel from the others, but this far, only NXT is unique from the others.
The only match that is said to be set for Mania is Bray Wyatt facing Roman Reigns.
The fact that no other matches are set could be seen as a positive or as a concern, depending on which way you want to look at it.
AEW needs depth
This topic has been beat over the head like a nail in this column, but it is vital for long-term growth.
AEW needs to start producing vignettes and pretaped segments of their mid-card and lower-card performers so that fans are given more of a reason to get behind them.
AEW officials have stated that it will not go on the road doing tours and will only do its live TV show each week.
Yes, AEW using online sources to tell some stories and build up characters, but it really needs to get things moving with its TV show.
How much longer will fans stick around to see the same performers (Cody, Moxley, The Young Bucks, Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega, just to name a few) being the focal point show after show, week after week and month after month?
Impact needs momentum
Since Impact moved to Tuesday night to AXS in October, the show has seen steady improvement. However, it has been a slow climb and the promotion needs to pick things up.
If the three WWE shows are looked at as separate entities, then that trio, as well as AEW, are way ahead of Impact. That means Impact is the fifth biggest brand in America and after being around for almost 20 years, that isn鈥檛 good enough.
Impact is doing a much better job than AEW of building up performers and making fans care them.
But is the company too far behind?
ROH in rough spot?
The 2019 programming started out great for ROH and it peaked with its show with New Japan Pro Wrestling at Madison Square Garden over WrestleMania weekend.
But since then, the promotion has been struggling and its attendance for live events have dipped terribly. On top of that, several of its stars have recently left or will be shortly.
This year is a vital year for the company and come 2021, ROH may look a lot different than it does now.
NWA needs a TV deal
The NWA was founded in 1948, but let鈥檚 be honest, it hasn鈥檛 been vital to the pro wrestling world since the 1980s.
It debuted a weekly show on YouTube titled NWA Powerrr on Oct. 8 and it has the feel of the old school studio wrestling of yesteryear.
If the show does well for a long enough period of time, could it end up with a TV deal?
For over two years now, the NWA has been owned by Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame. Word is he has dumped millions of dollars into the promotion, but without a TV deal in the near future, will he continue to do so?
He is a lifelong fan of pro wrestling, but maybe not to the point where he wants to continue to lose that much money.
On This Day ..
In 1987, Hulk Hogan defeated 鈥淢r. 1derful鈥� Paul Orndorff in a steel cage match on Saturday Night鈥檚 Main Event.
Hogan won the match after it had been restarted because of both men climbing over the cage at the same time and landing at the exact same moment.
This week鈥檚 question
Why does WWE try to insult the intelligence of its fans with these weddings? They never work out. Reggie, Uniontown.
Several people emailed about this topic. The wedding between Lana and Bobby Lashley was brutal to watch and it offended several of its own performers.
That said, Vince McMahon has loved every second of the storyline featuring Lana, Lashley and Rusev. So, while many feel WWE is trying to insult their fans, the blame goes all the way to the top.