Psyko’s random thoughts on wrestling: “F*ck ICE” chants, TNA on AMC, two El Grande Americanos

I had a few things that caught my attention over the past week, and since I didn’t have enough material to do full-length columns about those subjects, I decided to do another random thoughts column.

So let’s start with my first story, which is AEW’s booking and how it seems to be controlled by WBD executives.

Last week, AEW gained what seemed like its biggest mainstream exposure when the crowd started chanting “F*ck ICE,” which got picked up by NBC News. Then it seemed like the company tried to spin it to make themselves look good while also trying not to get the reputation of being the anti-Trump wrestling company. This week, it was reported that WBD asked AEW not to book Brody King on Dynamite in hopes that fans would stop chanting “F*ck ICE” and things would go back to normal. That would benefit WBD, since they don’t want to be on the bad side of the Trump administration, especially as they are trying to finalize a sale of the company.

Obviously, WBD decided to send an official response debunking the report because, let’s face it, they’re already on the hook for the whole Trey Miguel debacle, so they don’t want anything else making them look bad in the eyes of AEW fans.

My take on this is simple. We all know that WBD got a part of the company as part of the last TV deal negotiation they had with AEW. We also know that WBD has asked AEW not to feature certain talent because of things written on social media in the past or, in the case of Miguel, to let someone go. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they made the call and are now just trying to cover it up by releasing a statement. That brings up another problem: when you let a multi-million-dollar TV company run your show, you’re in trouble. You’re letting a bunch of executives who don’t care about wrestling tell you who to book and how to book your show, and all they care about is how much money they can make. This type of situation is part of why WCW died in 2001, and it could become a problem down the line for AEW.

Second, let’s talk about the slow growth of the audience for TNA IMPACT on AMC.

When TNA started on AMC last month, a lot of reporters, columnists, and fans started to bury TNA after what they perceived as an awful first episode of IMPACT. They claimed that the following week the show would lose at least half of the audience it gained from the premiere. Yet the following week, ratings were up from the previous week in both the overall viewership and the key demo. Then they went up again in the third week, and last week the overall rating was a 2.4, with the key demo also increasing.

Obviously, this didn’t pan out the way some of TNA’s detractors wanted. The audience not only came back week after week, but new fans also started giving the show a try, which is great for them—especially considering how strong the creative has been over the last few weeks.

I can’t truly judge the American version of the show since the Canadian version isn’t edited the same way, but I have to say that when you look at the product since coming out of their last PPV, it’s been really entertaining. From the whole New System trying to take over TNA, to whatever is going on with Maclin—who seems to have only been fired in storyline—to the developments in the women’s division and everything happening with Mike Santana, it’s creating a product that’s very interesting to watch for longtime TNA fans and newer fans alike. I hope they continue to grow so that maybe one day, sites like this one will give them a little more coverage.

Finally, I just want to talk about one of my favorite angles in WWE right now: El Grande Americano vs. the original El Grande Americano.

When they started the character last year, I honestly couldn’t have cared less about it. It was a fun little midcard character, and Chad Gable was doing a fine job with it, but that was about it. Then Gable got injured, and we thought that was it for the character. But WWE threw us a curveball and decided to put Ludwig Kaiser under the gimmick. While it felt forgettable at first, Ludwig really ran with it and made it even more entertaining. When WWE bought AAA, they even sent him to the company to see how that crowd would respond. To everyone’s surprise, the Mexican fans really got behind him and turned him into a huge babyface in Mexico while he remained a heel in the States.

Then at the Royal Rumble, Gable came back under the original El Grande Americano gimmick, which got a huge pop from the Saudi crowd, and the feud between the two began. The interesting part about this is that it creates a fun little problem for WWE: how do you end the feud, and where do you end it? As we saw on last weekend’s AAA show, the original version is a huge heel in Mexico and is acting like one—attacking El Grande from behind and handcuffing him backstage to take his place in a qualifying match. Yet in the States, the original is a big babyface loved by the fans.

Do you sacrifice a big draw for AAA to get a major payoff at WrestleMania? Or do you do the blowoff match in Mexico and have the original lose his mask? I don’t know the answer, but it has me very interested in what they do next with this feud. It brings me back to when Bret Hart was a heel in the States and a babyface everywhere else—that’s what makes this whole situation interesting and unpredictable.

So there it is—my thoughts on some of the things happening in wrestling that have really gotten me interested in talking about wrestling again.