ASK TITO: Kevin Owens Re-Signs with WWE, MJF to WWE?, Tony Khan AEW Rants, Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, and More

Follow Mr. Tito on Twitter by going to the following link: @titowrestling

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: If you love the greatest band of all time, The Beatles, then tune into Aaron Rift’s Personal YouTube Channel on Tuesday, December 21st @ 10:15pm EST for a panel discussion on this great band. NoDQ is attempting to pilot non-wrestling content with the same NoDQ crew that you’ve come to know and love… Don’t worry, this won’t interfere with with the regular NoDQ wrestling YouTube content, as this would merely add to it if successful. And this shall be appearance #3 for me on camera and probably in a much more positive light because The Beatles are my favorite band.

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“Biggest ratings draw MJF”

Welcome back to the COLUMN THAT THE PROS READ, as I’ve officially changed the catchphrase of my columns to that instead of my former “Excellence in Column Writing”. As much as many of you have tried to attack me for my opinions or presentation, the fact is that during the past 2 years, we have Jim Ross, Chris Jericho, and now MJF acknowledging the content of my columns. Hate on my stuff all you want, but there is a reason why TOP websites have employed me for the past 23 years for my wrestling content. You could easily suggest “well, you do it for free” and my response would “then why isn’t everybody doing it then”.

Writing wrestling columns is easier said than done. Writing twice or more per week with consistency is even harder. Putting up with all of the hatred and feedback requires a thick skin to keep doing this.

Here we with the FINAL Ask Tito column, as the 12/25 column for next Saturday will be my annual “Wishlist” and 12/31 will be my “2022 Predictions” column. Maybe if I have an overflow of questions from your Emails, Tweets, or the Comments below, I’ll consider a bonus column… That’s easier said than done, as work has consumed me lately and has taken away the early mornings that I’ve been using over the past 2 years to write these columns. I usually use Monday & Tuesday morning to write my Tuesday column while using Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings to write the Saturday “Ask Tito” column. LATELY, however, it has been late Sunday Night to write Tuesday’s column and late Friday Night, early Saturday Morning to write “Ask Tito”. That’s not a healthy schedule for me and part of why I’m saying “hell with it” soon.

All I can say about the wrasslin’ business is “how about those numbers”? It’s embarrassing. RAW was barely above 1.5 million this week, AEW Dynamite cannot get above 1 million, WWE Smackdown on Network TV can barely get above 2 million, and AEW Rampage might as well not be on. People aren’t realizing that for WWE Smackdown, many people have one of their local channels always on for their Cable/Satellite box. Thus, FOX is “always on” in many households and is probably accounting for that 400,000 viewership difference than RAW.

Wrestling is dying… During 2012, I wrote a column that I was seriously worried that wrestling would be DEAD by 2022. Now, that prediction is wrong, but I’d argue that wrestling is just limping along until Cable/Satellite channels have enough. Furthermore, the turmoil that the WWE is going to see when Vince McMahon steps down is going to be insane and it’s coming soon because Vince isn’t getting any younger. Both Stephanie and Shane can’t run this operation well by themselves, see their past WWE decisions, and Triple H failed with the Talent Development and Creative when he oversaw them. Nick Khan can do things easily form a Corporate Office but he has no control over how wrestling shows are put together.

AEW has Tony Khan, in over his head, and 4 EVPs who are also younger wrestlers. Recipe for disasters. Just look at the way Tony has operated the Soccer and NFL teams… That’s all you need to know. Remember when y’all tried to laugh at me for my – 05/18/2021 Column about Jacksonville Signing Tim Tebow and how that could be a sign of how the Khans could mismanage AEW? Where is Tim Tebow, by the way? Oh, he was the first guy cut by the Jaguars. And how is that Urban Meyer coaching hire working out, too? Complete disaster. It’s no wonder how this promotion FAILED to grow after obtaining top free agents CM Punk, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson. In fact, they’ve declined since their debuts and sinking fast!

But go ahead, keep attacking me… I’m just playing Chess while you play Checkers. I’m using FACTS while you use garbage that you’ve heard on Social Media. Don’t worry, though, in a few weeks, “you won’t have Mr. Tito to kick around anymore”.

Onto your questions.

——————————————

Thoughts on Kevin Owens re-signing with the WWE?

He’s a smart guy. Simple as that.

I’ve been pounding on this desk for almost 3 years now. AEW is NOT and I repeat NOT overpaying wrestlers like everyone assumes that they are. Both Jon Moxley and both members of FTM are, on record, admitting that they receiving “much less” with AEW than they did with WWE. Old man Shahid Khan did not become a billionaire of around $8.7 Billion by blowing money. No, he did so by obsessing over keeping expenses low to keep profit margins wide. All great business men do that and trust me, Vince McMahon is severely underpaying many wrestlers, too.

It’s a crowded field over there in AEW land right now, as they’ve been absorbing talent from New Japan, Ring of Honor, NWA, WWE, Impact, and the Indies. When I wrote my 09/07/2021 column entitled “Is the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Talent Roster Too Large?”, the numbers were actually staggering to me and that was 3 months ago. AEW’s roster was equal to the Main WWE’s roster that supported both RAW and Smackdown back then and the WWE has made more talent cuts since.

Then, just look at how many ex-WWE guys are being used. Ehhhhh, maybe the grass isn’t greener over there in AEW. Furthermore, Kevin Owens does speak to those guys and he’s probably hearing some insider stuff about unused wrestlers, how Tony Khan and the EVPs operate, etc. Kevin Owens actually has a great relationship with Vince McMahon and Triple H and probably help him manage being a Dad and a Wrestler at the same time. Furthermore, the payscale is much greater in the Corporate WWE than it could ever be on the tighter budget in AEW. WWE has Shareholder money + TV money that’s causing record breaking profits for them and thus they can pay wrestlers more.

Kevin wisely used AEW as a bargaining leverage tool and maybe that will cost him sometime during 2022… But if it does, so what? He’ll end up in AEW anyway. If he remains with the WWE for the duration of his contract, he’ll be a wealthy man with lots of added TV exposure by being on a show that nets 1.5 to 2.0 million viewers compared to an AEW Dynamite show that is struggling to reach 1 million viewers right now.

Good job Kevin Owens! Congrats!

Now, let’s think bigger picture… Could the WWE start thinking about their future? Owens could be a good backstage hand, as he’s a great worker and a great talker. He has a lot of experience that he could teach younger wrestlers. Also, start thinking about adding veterans to your Creative Team, too. WWE needs better input from the wrestling side of the house as this is NOT a television company but a wrestling one that has actual matches inside a freakin’ ring. By not jumping to AEW, I can imagine Kevin Owens just helped ensure a bright future with the WWE as a trainer or Road Agent. Having great relationships with your bosses and showing loyalty, as long as the money is right, pays off in the end. Good for him.

*****

What did you think of the hour long draw between Adam Page and Bryan Danielson?

Just because you get MORE of something, doesn’t mean that it’s BETTER. Go try to eat several large boxes of Pizza in a row and see how you endure. You’ll get sick after the 3rd or 4th slice of the first box, let alone eating a 3rd or 4th box of pizza. I’ve argued this for a long time with the “historic” Wrestlemania 12 match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. That match is OVERRATED and I don’t care who wants to debate that with me. They just had a long match for the sake of having a long match. Future Iron Man matches were more exciting because they had actual falls within the match and better psychology because of those pinfalls or disqualifications.

Yeah, Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson was a great athletic showing but it should have been on a Pay Per View where there were NO Commercial interruptions to interrupt the flow. Furthermore, you cannot have Time Limits for some matches and then let other matches go for an hour. You just can’t. Inconsistency strikes again at AEW.

And what did AEW gain out of it? Oh, an overall rating of LESS than 1 million viewers again.
This match breached 1 million viewers briefly in the 4th quarter hour of the first hour and the 1st quarter hour of the 2nd… And then back to earth AEW Dynamite came, instantly losing almost 200,000 viewers. What’s even funnier is that “GREAT” 18-49 Demo actually declined for the end of that match and then dropped even harder after that match.

This is what I keep talking about with AEW… Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, CM Punk joined a land of misfit toys who are operated by children (Tony Khan & EVPs) who have no idea how to play with them.

Having an 1 hour long AEW title match with 2 of your top stars only drew 1,035,000 for just 2 quarter hours.

And now that you’ve burned that unique match-up, you’re screwed… Bryan Danielson has already burned through matches with Page and Omega on FREE television. Who else does he have left on that roster to wrestle? Looking pretty slim on “interesting”.

This match, it’s failure to draw, and the surrounding contents is why AEW will keep being stagnant. Early on, the company needs a severe culture change and this tiny 18-49 demo, which is consistently LESS than 450,000 viewers by the way, won’t save you no matter how much you move the goalposts to make excuses.

I was feeling Edge vs. Orton vibes from Wrestlemania 36, too, with this match.. Just too long for its own good and actually negated from the match, especially with a disappointing DRAW ending. It was technically sound but just kept going on and on for the sake of trying to clear 1 hour for a ratings pop. Well, you did break 1 million but then CRASHED back down to UNDER 950,000 like your shows have been lately.

Speaking of AEW…

*****

What are your thoughts on Tony Khan’s recent Twitter rant against FOX News?

Before we get into all of that, I want to scream “I TOLD YOU SO” regarding the termination of Urban Meyer. Didn’t I wrote a 05/18/2021 column entitled “Tony Khan’s Jacksonville Jaguars Signing Tim Tebow is Like AEW EVPs Signing Talent” in which I questioned what the hell was going on in Jacksonville by the Jaguars and Urban Meyer to try Tim Tebow as a Tight End? My whole point of that column was tying in the Khan’s failures at operating a soccer club or NFL team to how they are poorly managing AEW. Again, despite being on a PRIME TIME 2 hour slot for one of the strongest basic Cable/Satellite channels, TNT, which is available in approximately 85 million households… AEW Dynamite cannot consistently draw over 1 million viewers for live sporting content or entertainment. The Punk/Cole/Danielson signings created a brief bump and now we’re consistently drawing under 1 million viewers.

I laughed at the viewership breakdown given by AEW excuse giver Brandon Thurston… He actually proved my point this week by showing the 18-49 breakdown of this past week’s show. For MONTHS, using ratio analysis from past Nielsen Ratings, I was arguing that the ratings generated for AEW Dynamite were low. Back when AEW was barely hitting 850,000 total viewers per week when against NXT, I kept arguing that their 18-49 demo, at best, was reaching 400,000 viewers, IF THAT. If you look at Thurston’s breakdown of the “peak” of the Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson match, they only hit 428,000 viewers.

THANK YOU. Been saying this the entire time… The 18-49 Demo means JACK and SH*T if you’re not pulling in real numbers. Seriously, what are advertisers getting out of spending marketing dollars on something that draws LESS than 400,000 eyeballs? The FACT is that younger people are actually disinterested in Pro Wrestling because WWE and AEW’s POOR storylines and talent development is NOT keeping them intrigued. Furthermore, because content like Pro Wrestling and other things on cable are not appealing, they are NOT willing to spend their hard earned dollars on a Cable/Satellite package to watch this nonsense.

When you hear Tony Khan or members of his AEW State Run Media (Meltzer, Keller, Alvarez, Thurston), who have foolishly placed all of their chips on AEW and will pay for it when this company fails, speak about this 18-49 demo as if they are winning something, REMEMBER, they are only talking about drawing about 400,000 on a good day. On a bad day, well under 400,000 for this precious demo. They are moving the Goal Posts to make excuses for their AEW bias and because they have bet their future employment on AEW, they are going to spin everything. Meanwhile, they give glowing press to Tony Khan and give out excessive stars for matches because of their bias.

You know what the funny thing is? These State Run Media hacks were actually ripping the WWE for using that 18-49 Demo excuse just 3 years ago… Funny how that works. WWE used to draw just over 4 million for Monday Night RAW and when their viewership went down, WWE began spinning it as “well, look at our 18-49 demo, it’s great pal!” (read that in a Vince McMahon voice, you’ll appreciate it). The guys who would become AEW’s State Run Media would rip the WWE for using this 18-49 demo as a shield against TOTAL viewers being lost. Now, they are using this 18-49 demo as cover for how poorly AEW is actually drawing in Prime Time on a bigtime TNT Network from 8pm to 10pm, the sweet spot for Prime Time.

With all of that OUT OF THE WAY, let’s talk Tony Khan and his Tweets… In case he decides to delete what he said, here are his quotes:

@TonyKhan 12/17/21 – 5:48pm: “Hey @FoxNews it’s amusing hearing you opining about @AEW ratings considering #AEWDynamite on Wednesday has beaten EVERY single @FoxNews show for 6 straight weeks! Here are the recent charts (including this week) to prove it. See you TONIGHT on @TNTdrama 10pmET/9pmCT @ #AEWRampage”

@TonyKhan 12/17/21 – 5:56pm: “Thanks @FoxNews, I appreciate that you’ve highlighted @AEW ratings when #AEWDynamite on Wednesdays has beaten EVERY single show on your network for 6 straight weeks. Here are a few more charts, Twitter only let me attach 4 weeks worth to my last tweet! See you TONIGHT #AEWRampage”

Just another example of lunacy over 18-49 Demos. His ego is telling him that he’s “winning” but the FOX News shows that he’s mentioning are CRUSHING him in total viewers. FOX’s Prime Time shows draw up to 2-3 million per show. Sure, that’s significantly an older audience pumping those numbers, but who still subscribes to Cable/Satellite? OLDER PEOPLE. Your 18-49 Demo peaked at 428,000 during the height of the Danielson vs. Page match that you blew on FREE television instead of on Pay Per View.

And be careful of ripping FOX News, boy. You know that they or their political supporters will call your Trump donating daddy and advise him to “cool you down”.

Could you imagine Vince McMahon tweeting something like this (if he used Twitter)? Just ridiculous… This is the CEO/President of All Elite Wrestling and he’s trying to brag about his 428,000 18-49 Demo viewers against FOX News’s 2-3 million TOTAL viewers.

And you wonder why Kevin Owens just decided to re-sign with WWE. As demanding as Owens can be, at times, backstage, he at least has the respect of Vince McMahon and Triple H backstage. Owens or his agent are in regular contact with his former wrestling buddies in AEW and he still didn’t want to go there.

Just wait until 2022 when AEW Dynamite moves to TBS on Wednesday Nights. If the NHL starts to see declining numbers in their TNT timeslot on Wednesdays, I guarantee that Turner Sports will get phone calls. Where AEW Dynamite is moved after that will determine their fate. Good luck with that 18-49 demo, Tony… The real pain is about to begin for your company in 2022 when your show starts moving around to different channels or maybe timeslots in the future.

*****

Do you believe that MJF will sign with the WWE?

According to MJF, it appears that any “bidding war” for his talents would have to occur during 2024. That’s what he tweeted.

Just because USA Network or FOX officials WISH that the WWE could sign him, doesn’t mean that it could happen. Furthermore, this leaked from somewhere for a reason… Private discussions with members of publicly traded corporations don’t come out often and I wonder who the source is of these stories. It’s likely either an agent of MJF or someone within FOX, USA Networks, or WWE leaking info.

That’s what I would question… If MJF is under contract with AEW until 2024, then why is this news right now? Unless he’s in the middle of negotiations for that contract extension, it doesn’t make any sense…

UNLESS someone who is upset at Talent Relations and its current direction is leaking it. You know, someone who has recently lost their job overseeing NXT or Talent Relations. You know, the same sources who keep leaking the “Vince McMahon is senile” stuff to the dirtsheets or that “WWE morale is bad”. I wonder who could be a bit bulletproof for leaking stories of actual discussions between WWE, FOX, and USA Network executives. That is quite a risk and subject to termination UNLESS you are difficult to remove from the picture. You know, like being married into something, having lots WWE shares, or being on the Board. Oh no, that couldn’t be it…

I was wondering on wrestler contracts for AEW, provided that they are a start-up from 2019 and seemed to sign most to 3 year deals. It seems like AEW has locked up MJF for the next 2 years and that’s a GREAT thing for them. That places high odds on MJF becoming AEW champion soon, as I stated in last Ask Tito column from 12/11/21 which MJF agreed agreed was an “accurate opinion” with his Tweet reply to NoDQ.

But you can hate on the “dumb name” Mr. Tito all you want, but this name has lasted almost as long as you have existed on this planet. But thanks for the mention, anyway, pal. I appreciate your work and hope to see you continue to grow throughout the years. AEW needs your star power badly, so when that 2024 contract comes up, use your recently obtained leverage to the maximum of your abilities. Hell, use it now to redo your current deal.

*****

Where do you believe that the Roman Reigns “firing” of Paul Heyman will go?

It’s an obvious swerve. Paul Heyman is going to cost Brock Lesnar his title shot at the Day One Pay Per View to set-up Brock Lesnar probably winning the 2022 Royal Rumble to challenge Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 38. THAT or this is truly the babyface turn for Roman Reigns and maybe Heyman helps Brock Lesnar win the title at Day One and then Wrestlemania 38 grants Roman Reigns the World Title AS A BABYFACE that Vince McMahon still dreams of. Either way, I predict that this match will be used to set up the Wrestlemania 38 headlining rematch and the loser of this match will win the Royal Rumble to earn that shot.

All indications are that the Rock is not performing at Wrestlemania 38 and thus WWE has to move on. Lesnar vs. Reigns is the best thing that they have, given the years upon years of failing to develop any new stars. WWE will milk this Lesnar vs. Reigns cow one more time and then see what NXT 2.0 can pump out. Maybe some Bron Breakker vs. Roman Reigns action at Wrestlemania 39? Who knows. Maybe that former Olympian vs. Roman?

The funny thing is that Brock Lesnar isn’t all that bad without Paul Heyman. Idiotic segment with Sami Zayn aside, Lesnar isn’t that bad on the microphone. Granted, Lesnar is pure magic when he has Paul Heyman as his mouthpiece, but Lesnar could survive without him. Why? Because Lesnar is legitimate inside the ring and that does most of his talking. We’ve been enjoying Lesnar over the span of 20 years and we’re approaching 9 years on his current run since the night after Wrestlemania in 2012.

I’d expect lots of “sports entertainment” thrown at their Day One match and that should put Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania 38 plans into motion.

And hey, Lesnar vs. Reigns is the best thing that we have right now and there are NO superstars in waiting for either guy to wrestle to be an equivalent in terms of combined star power. Just the way it is…

Hopefully by 2023, the WWE’s efforts of rebuilding Talent Developmental with the NIL program and recent signings to become younger & bigger payoff. WWE has placed so much weight on Roman and Lesnar to carry them that if either became hurt or left the WWE, they would be so screwed right now. Thus, their attention to creating new talent must succeed!

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REMEMBER to tune into Aaron Rift’s Personal YouTube Channel on Tuesday, December 21st @ 10:15pm EST for our panel discussion on the greatest music act of all time, The Beatles. I’ll be there, in full costume of course, to give my views on the greatest music this earth has ever heard!

She loves you, yeah yeah yeah! And we love you for tuning into NoDQ.com, each and every week, to enjoy the FREE content that we’re providing you.

So just chill… Until the next episode!

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ASK TITO: Kevin Owens Re-Signs with WWE, MJF to WWE?, Tony Khan AEW Rants, Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, and More