ASK TITO: Chris Jericho in WWE?, TNA to AMC, Warner Bros. Sale Affecting AEW, Nikki Bella Heat, and More
The Excellence in Column Writing has returned to provide snappy answers to your thoughtful questions. It has been a moment since I’ve produced my “Ask Tito” column, as it’s a good time to clear my inbox or DMs from my many longtime readers with a focus on current events. Doing this for 27+ years now, I do want to thank the many readers and relationships built since then that has made my columns a success while also providing questions for these very columns.
It is still funny how WWE fans have suddenly become “anti-Triple H”, even though for much of 2022-2024, HHH was praised for his creative work after years of enduring the “stale”, “obsolete”, or “senile” Vince McMahon micro-management of WWE’s creative. Oh, and what appears to be a quid pro quo system that Vince employed plus allegedly trafficking WWE employees. Yet, somehow during 2025, idiot WWE fans somehow want Vince McMahon back.
No, what you want is for the TKO Corporation to cool it with their corporate micro-management of the WWE along with TKO removing The Rock from the WWE board. What pisses YOU off about the WWE right now is the amount of sponsors, the price gouging, and the Rock with his “now you see me, now you don’t” routine.
But go ahead, want and desire for Vince McMahon to return… Let’s see who he sexually assaults or asks for sexual favors. Maybe he’ll bring back John Laurinaitis and they can pass around the same female WWE employees? Maybe Vince can re-incorporate his terrible comedy into the storylines that only make him laugh? Maybe Vince can just push 1-2 people at a time and let the rest of the roster endure 50/50 booking. Boy, those late 2010s years were “exciting” with a green Roman Reigns babyface and overpushed Charlotte Flair ruling everything. So exciting.
If you don’t like WWE, then watch All Elite Wrestling. Go endure that promotion where Tony Khan has zero clue and trusts goofs like the Young Bucks to assemble a roster full of spot machines and older ex-WWE wrestlers.
And remember, Triple H didn’t sellout to Endeavor… That was Vince McMahon, who forced his way back onto the WWE board and return as Board Chairman during 2023. Vince then forced the sale and that’s where WWE is today.
Hey TKO, how much money is enough money?
WWE is extracting $5 billion over 10 years with Netflix (5-year opt out clause), $1.4 billion over 5 years with NBC Universal, $1.6 billion over 5 years with ESPN, massive Fanatics deal, many corporate sponsors littering WWE rings/ringsides/events, $20-30 million per Saudi event with Royal Rumble 2025 and Wrestlemania 42 likely to pay more, and many cities overpaying WWE to host events in the United States.
How much money is enough, WWE or TKO? Gates earned at live WWE events are now a fraction of the WWE’s revenues, so why keep price gouging WWE fans over ticket prices and merchandise?
THAT is where the hatred needs to be focused, WWE fans… Triple H has made the WWE BETTER since 2022, especially following the utter crap that Vince McMahon has micro-managed for much of the 21st Century.
In my opinion, the John Cena retirement tour was a success… The Rock refusing to be available isn’t Triple H’s fault, but coming up with the exciting Elimination Chamber heel turn was (Rock reported wanted Cody Rhodes to turn heel). Cena as both a heel and face was able to wrestle a VARIETY of wrestlers during 2025, such as Cody, CM Punk, and Randy Orton and then shift gears to wrestle AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, Logan Paul, and Gunther as a babyface. Many great matches within the 36 appearances of John Cena.
But keep nitpicking… Why not go back to pre-2022, especially those lousy 2010s, when Vince McMahon was pushing a green Roman Reigns babyface down our throats, protecting Charlotte Flair, and having Brock Lesnar destroy the rest of the roster. Enjoy those years where RAW went from 4 million average RAW viewers to under 2 million.
Wrestling fans can be their own worst enemy…
Onto your questions…
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ASK TITO: Your Questions, My Answers
Several have asked that I list the name of the readers who ask each question. Usually, most of these are a result of chatting with multiple long-time readers on current event topics, but I’m always open to feedback. Thus, for today’s Ask Tito, I’m going to be transparent… I’m going to actually list the person who asks each question. I hope that will ease the tension that some of the more aggressive commenters seem to have and hopefully, that fulfills the free time spent reading my columns each time I post them. Sound good?
Let’s get onto the first question.
Mark Joseph asks: Do you think that Chris Jericho will return to the WWE and if so, when?
AEW is a slow sinking ship, and Jericho has value in the WWE with a nostalgic run. We just witnessed nostalgia all year with John Cena and I would imagine that Jericho wants to have that for him. Plus, WWE wants to make money off of an old name returning, as WWE is THICK with wrestling fans that are 45 years or older who are still fond of the Attitude Era. That, and Jericho has been a big part of the WWE during the 21st century.
One thing that Triple H likes with his booking is to create surprises in the forms of returns or debuts. Seems obvious to me that Jericho shall return at Saudi Rumble 2025 in January. Jericho is known for making a few surprise entrants at the Rumble and that would be perfect.
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Terrible Lover asks: Where is the Nikki Bella heat coming from?
The Bellas have always been a polarizing duo in the WWE… Both were models when they were hired with zero wrestling experience. However, they were twins and that was the appeal. Then, both ladies began dating wrestlers with Brie dating and marrying Daniel Bryan while Nikki began dating John Cena. Combine that with their Total Divas and then Total Bellas shows, they’ve been over-exposed a bit. Then you have Nikki going up against the NXT call-ups during 2015-2017 that shows a clear contrast between Nikki and fully trained wrestlers.
I think Nikki took lumps over the fallout of dating John Cena, especially after that wedding proposal at Wrestlemania. Cena’s popularity took a slight hit, too, but he’s been a top WWE star whereas Nikki is a female wrestler and that’s the midcard for WWE.
But I think with any wrestler, anytime Nikki comes back to the WWE, they push her because she has some mainstream appeal. That rubs fans the wrong way, as someone like Charlotte feels that kind of heat, too, as she’s always pushed whenever she returns.
However, I also think that Nikki’s personality rubs people the wrong way. To me, she sounds a little entitled when she speaks and I don’t know how you can scrub that tone of voice. And I think that she gives off the impression that she creates a lot of drama. She took the troll bait about possibly dating younger men, for example, instead of letting it go because she’s pretty and should attract men of any age.
Everything is about presentation… Present yourself to be entitled, and fans won’t envy you for it.
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Baseless Vacant asks: What do you think the impact will be of TNA airing on AMC?
Minimal. We have too much wrestling on right now, as it is, between WWE and AEW. Unless TNA can present themselves as something different than WWE and AEW (hard to do so when you’re working with WWE), they’ll be dependent on a declining cable model and AMC really doesn’t have a strong streaming presence.
I keep saying this… If you’re a wrestling promotion, you’re NOT going to gain an audience unless you create a superstar that nobody has seen before (or used differently) or if you’re presentation doesn’t change. Go back to the 1990s… WCW won the Monday Night Wars, initially, because they had the reality-based storylines and they repackaged Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to be amazing superstars with the New World Order. For WWE, they repackaged Steve Austin, HHH, and Mick Foley while having an amazing developmental system created new superstars often. Creatively, WWE changed to a more adult themed show which they stole from ECW. Speaking of which, ECW was successful based on their presentation as an adult themed show.
That is why AEW struggles to draw people in arenas or draw anything above 600,000 viewers… Creatively stinks, the roster lacks unique wrestlers that people want to see, and the presentation is weak, especially since 2022.
WWE improved its presentation by having a new TV producer, Triple H is better at creative than older Vince, and WWE’s roster is loaded. Hence, their return to glory.
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Sean asks: What is your thoughts on Austin Theory joining and possibly leading the Vision?
I think nothing of it, and it’s not because of Austin Theory in particular.
In my opinion, the Vision has been a terrible stable and storyline for the WWE following Wrestlemania 41. It began as a bad idea, even though the turn was executed well at WM 41, because we’ve seen Seth Rollins switch between heel and babyface so many times. Thus, he’s in that Big Show category where he doesn’t seem credible with his character (though he is a fantastic in-ring performer). It just didn’t work, and I didn’t think Bron Breakker or Bronson Reed were exciting additions either. Bron Breakker just doesn’t have a good character yet, while you can tell Bronson is a beloved Triple H guy based on the opportunities fed to him.
If you’ve ever seen the classic film Just One of the Guys, the classic character Buddy shreds the ex-boyfriend of his hot sister by saying “what a waste of a sports car”. Well, the Vision is a complete waste of Paul Heyman’s services and character.
So now, you have Austin Theory, who was overpushed but NOT ready because Vince McMahon liked him, and then depushed once he flamed out and then when Vince left as the leader or the “masked man” joining the Vision. In WWE, his career totals are 120 wins versus 187 losses and he was a midcard champion for a while. WWE didn’t take him seriously prior to this reveal, so why should I take his reveal seriously?
Honestly, I wish him the best… But the vehicle that he’s joining, the Vision, is an old beat-up car that nobody wants to ride in nor do they want to see it driven down the road.
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Morbid Commenter asks: Do you think that the acquisition of Warner Bros. could impact AEW’s deal?
They have a deal with guaranteed money, right? Whomever buys Warner Bros., or maybe the split-up version of Warner Bros. Discovery, will have to assume the debts and contracts that were already in place. THAT SAID, whomever acquires can receive tax benefits from merger/acquisition write-offs and this contract would qualify under that.
Netflix buying just the Warner Bros. Movie/TV studios and content, along with HBO Max, creates an interesting conundrum for AEW because they have a deal with HBO Max for streaming but also deals with TNT/TBS for their live shows. If Netflix does buy just Warner Bros./HBO Max and doesn’t touch TNT/TBS, as expected for $82 billion, then I can easily see AEW getting their HBO Max streaming deal shredded… Maybe it exists briefly if Netflix tries to run both Netflix and HBO Max, but eventually, they’ll be merged together and with Netflix being the exclusive home of WWE RAW, that will push AEW out.
The more interesting tale is the Skydance/Paramount “hostile” bid of $108 billion that wants to buy everything Warner Bros. Discovery, not just what Netflix specifically wants. Now, granted, this deal has already fallen apart with some of the foreign investors stepping back… However if Skydance/Paramount succeed, then HBO Max and Paramount+ are now 2 separate streaming platforms that I’d expect to eventually merge. Guess what is on Paramount+, starting in 2026? UFC which TKO owns… But then again, live sports content is live sports content, so Skydance/Paramount could retain AEW especially since they are cheaper than most sports.
Either way, I see a major BUST happening in the upcoming years… All of these major media corporations have like over $30 billion in debt and are beginning to lack the ability to attract dollars to their massive intellectual properties. I see a MASSIVE Commercial Loan bubble happening for these media companies when they just can’t payoff of their billions in debt. Then, you’ll see a firesale of these massive properties and trademarks and your cash-heavy companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon will scoop them up for bargain prices while their platforms take over.
Completely stupid what is happening in the marketplace with all of these mergers allowed to happen while banks are allowed to lend out ridiculous amounts of money to failed business models.
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Unless something breaking happens, I’ll likely just post a Christmas-themed column and then be done for the year. Even then, if you don’t see me for the rest of this holiday season, THANK YOU FOR READING and have a great Christmas and Holiday season. Love ya!
Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ