ASK TITO: Khans and Urban Meyer Situation, AJ Lee & Tessa Blanchard join WOW, Roman Reigns WWE Merchandise, CM Punk, and More

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

The weekend Excellence in Column Writing is upon you as I provide bonus content in the form of a column responding to your questions sent via email, comments below, or Twitter. Along those lines, thank you many for providing feedback regarding my columns. Believe it or not, I write those columns for YOU and without this great audience brought over from my past work or newly acquired here from NoDQ, there would be no Mr. Tito. It is much appreciated, believe me.

That said… Can some of you actually READ my columns before assuming the worst based off of he column’s title?

Take, for instance, my latest column from Tuesday: Friday Nights are NOT Alright for WWE or AEW Television Shows. Sure, if you JUST READ THE TITLE, you’d assume that I’m bashing WWE or AEW programming on Friday nights. I’M NOT. I’m bashing the concept of even trying to air wrestling content on a Friday because it is the LEAST watch night of television during a week. That’s a FACT. It’s the most logical Date Night for most and it is also the host of High School Sports for the Fall, Winter, and sometimes Spring months.

My whole point was that, yeah, getting timeslots with FOX and TNT are great, but they could be even BETTER on nights other than Friday. Could you imagine if WWE Smackdown was on a Thursday, for example, instead of Friday? Yes, I know that is a pipedream, but my point proves itself when you look at Smackdown’s past success on UPN. On the smallest Network television channel, WWE drew massive viewership during the early 2000s. Thursday is a more PREFERRED night to watch television. It’s just factual based on DECADES of data.

On top of that, I repeatedly quote lower DVR recording data, how WWE viewership is weak on Hulu, and how YouTube’s viewership is quoted by WWE Officials as being 70% International… And nobody listens.

You HAVE to read the columns. If you think that my takes are STILL insane after reading them, that’s fine… But if you ASSUME what is in the column just by the column’s title, that’s on you for looking stupid. I washing bashing WWE’s Smackdown show on Friday nights, I was insisting that the WWE would be even MORE successful on another night. Furthermore, I argued the factual case that WWE might be hurting future viewership by airing on Fridays instead of another day due to conflicting with High School Sports.

Did you get all of that? Probably not because you’re just responding to the Social Media posts instead…

On to your questions.

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ASK MR. TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

Do you think that Urban Meyer’s issues with the Jacksonville Jaguars is an indictment of the Khan family?

Didn’t I already comment on this during the past? I did, all the way back on May 18th, 2021 in a column entitled“Tony Khan’s Jacksonville Jaguars Signing Tim Tebow is Like AEW EVPs Signing Talent”. I personally found that Jacksonville Jaguar head coach Urban Meyer pushing to sign an older Tim Tebow was a RED FLAG for problems to come. Tebow used to be a quarterback in the NFL and that fizzled out because of his slow throwing delivery. Urb Meyer coached Tebow at the University of Florida and signed him to tryout as a Tight End which Tim hasn’t tried playing since High School. Meanwhile, Tebow was 33 years old, going on 34. This failed miserably, as Tebow was the first player cut by the Jaguars after a horrible first Preseason game performance.

But if you do a little digging, you’ll find Urban Meyer ran “loose” programs both at Ohio State and Florida. Just look at the arrest records for both. Urb has a give and take approach as a College coach. As long as you listen specifically to him and give it your all on the field (both players and coaches alike), what you do off the field can be overlooked. Usually, he’d leave a college program because of “health reasons” or “family reasons”, but the arrest records at his college stops were building before he left.

All of that information was out there for the Khans to review, along with Urb having a lack of experience coaching NFL football where the resources are fixed via the Salary Cap. But, they took a chance and signed Urb to a large contract worth around $10 million per year for up to 5 years, reportedly.

And now they are paying for it… Not only is his lack of NFL inexperience catching up to him, but so is his attitude both on and off the field. As noted from his college days, he was very demanding of his college players because he was in total control… Now, however, players are paid differently and don’t want a ruthless coach. Then, Urb does things like not flying home with the team and staying back home to fondle a grinding co-ed at a local bar (he’s married, by the way). It’s just a mess and something that the Khans could have avoided with some due diligence.

Many soccer fans are critical of the Khans’ handling of Fulham F.C. which the Khans have owned since mid-2013. The team struggles to remain in the Premier League under their tenure.

That brings me full circle to All Elite Wrestling and the mismanagement of that. While the 2018 “All In” show was a major achievement by Cody and the Young Bucks, it was a one-time deal and that shouldn’t grant someone full time Executive Vice President jobs at a serious wrestling company. Cody, Bucks, and Omega’s decisions on Talent Signings and Creative have limited AEW from being an even bigger success than it currently is. Look at how hard the Bucks are pushing the Dark Order down our throats. Look at how bad the Women’s Division was at first under Kenny Omega. Cody is trying and trying to inject his relationship with his wife on camera to make them both be stars beyond wrestling, but it’s just not happening. Meanwhile, those EVPs ignore and try to belittle experienced hands like Jim Ross from significantly helping out the company.

We’re seeing a consistent pattern of the Khan family when they should trust an experienced hand to significantly help their companies and sports teams. I know that it didn’t end well with Tom Coughlin, but he built that team into a serious Playoff contender in just 3 years. That 2017 was in the AFC Championship and gave everything they could to almost defeat the New England Patriots in that game. Tom Brady had to play perfectly to beat that loaded Defenses (“Sacksonville”). However, the 2018 season didn’t go well and the Quarterback re-signing of Blake Bortles didn’t pan out after he got his money. By 2019, the Khan’s were exhausted of Tom Coughlin’s demanding style and terminated him. The team has been a complete dumpster fire ever since, as they traded away most of their best players for little in return and now you have Urban Meyer coaching that into the ground. They were 1-15 last year and 0-4 this year.

When I heard the news that Tony Khan now relies LESS on his 4 EVPs for Creative decisions, I was like “YES!”… But then I was wondering, who is helping Tony? Because he has been more involved with Fulham and the Jaguars lately and neither has gone well…

Regardless, it’s a mess and could be indicative of things to come for AEW… They are signing all of these ex-WWE wrestlers, but what happens when those ex-WWE stars become more demanding than the homegrown AEW ones? We’ll see how good of a “booker” Tony is when the locker room turns on him.

With the way both Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham F.C. have been handled lately, I’d be very worried if I were AEW fans. Sure, the short-term burst of having CM Punk and Daniel Bryan around is fun, but long-term, we’re seeing a pattern here with the Khans. Running a successful NFL team, soccer club, or pro wrestling promotion is HARD and takes serious experience and knowledge to pull off. If his name were Tony “Jackson” and was born to a middle or lower class family, he wouldn’t be afforded these opportunities to have input on billion dollar sports franchises or operate a pro wrestling promotion. That’s a fact… But because he’s a billionaire’s son, he has been put in charge of serious stuff and his LACK of knowledge or expertise is catching up to him. The Jaguars are a complete mess and he’s burned bridges with Fulham fans and the team by being critical of his soccer players via Twitter.

Again, notice the DATE on that column that I just linked… May 18th… And somehow, you marks think that I’m an AEW homer. Like I said in my opening rant, READ THE COLUMNS before you assume what’s in them based on the title or Social Media hype link. I’m VERY consistent on bashing Tony Khan for his EVP choices and that has held AEW back. Now, if Tony is taking on more responsibilities by himself, things could become problematic there as well. The Khans need to find experienced hands to help Tony not just run a successful Pro Wrestling operations, but for both the NFL and Soccer clubs as well. He is definitely spread too thin and the responsibilities are way over his head.

*****

Thoughts on AJ Lee and Tessa Blanchard joining the Women of Wrestling (WOW) promotion?

I’ll keep saying this, over and over again… It’s a SHAME that the WWE or AEW cannot muster the strength to not only sign Tessa Blanchard, but feature her in their Women’s division. She is PERFECT for AEW’s division and fills a much needed void by that thin roster. Tessa is just tough and oldschool, like her father, and it ruffled a few feathers backstage particularly when Tessa started receiving pushes. There is ZERO proof that Tessa used racial slurs towards other women, as this is all she said, she said. Tessa strongly denies these claims and again, no proof provided other than the accusing wrestlers. In the past year, Sasha Banks has trained with her and took a group photo with her. Surely, if Tessa was such a racist, why would Sasha even be in the same room with her let alone get a photo?

Because WWE and AEW are operated by Corporate snowflakes, they have wanted no part of the extremely talented Tessa Blanchard. WWE and AEW are also afraid of the Twitter Mob, even though Twitter’s % of the population participating in any conversations is low.

Now, back on topic… I’m VERY happy that AJ Lee is returning to wrestling and she’ll apparently be a producer on the show. Good… She has experience writing and she was a former pro wrestler. That’s what we need backstage instead of all of these Hollywood morons that the WWE employs. Hopefully, she can take this experience and maybe translate it into a Creative role in AEW. They badly need someone WITH A BRAIN backstage to agent the Women’s Division, as Kenny Omega has badly failed them with creative.

For Tessa, just have a good run with WOW and prove to the idiotic WWE and AEW promotions that you’re a professional and can be trusted with other talents backstage. Simple as that…

Now, I’ll predict this right now… WOW won’t last, long-term. Sorry, but the Women’s wrestling now on WWE and AEW can be a chore to get through, so why would an entire promotion full of it with subpar talent (besides Tessa) draw? There’s a reason why the WNBA, LPGA, and Women’s college sports draw less attendance, viewership, etc. than Men’s. When your choice is to watch bigger, tougher, faster, and stronger athletes compete, you’ll take that over a brand that isn’t those things. Plus, we have so many wrestling shows already on television… Not enough quality, but too much quantity.

But, if WOW helps convince WWE or AEW to sign AJ Lee or Tessa Blanchard, it will be a success in my eyes.

*****

What are your thoughts on Roman Reigns doing well with merchandise sales?

Well, he’s the ONLY one selling merchandise right now. FACT. The rest of that roster isn’t moving anything right now.

However, let’s look at the actual numbers form the WWE’s financials regarding “Consumer Products”. Even WITH inflation factored in, here are the WWE’s revenues regarding merchandise for the last 5 years:

2017 – $113.7 Million
2018 – $102.6 Million
2019 – $91.7 Million
2020 – $86.1 Million
2021 (annualized from first 6 months) – $87.1 Million

Straight declines and 2021 is barely beating a pandemic year and is just under WWE’s awful 2019 year.

Honestly, if I were to buy any WWE merchandise right now, Roman Reigns would be the only one that I might buy… The rest of that roster kinda bores me, as I’ve seen everybody’s best already and their characters just aren’t interesting. On top of that, all of the wrestlers talk openly about how scripted the WWE is and the suspension of disbelief just isn’t there.

Sure, Roman is doing well versus the rest of the WWE roster. But drawing above and beyond what the WWE has done for the past 5 years, he has not. Numbers don’t lie.

And if he’s the “greatest drawing heel ever” or “selling merchandise like John Cena”, again, numbers don’t lie. Gross # of units sold, there is NO WAY that Roman is even close to John Cena particularly with attendance being so low for the past 5 years. And there is especially no way that Roman outsold HEEL Rock or Triple H during the Attitude Era. He’d need inflated prices to even seem close on revenues, but # of units sold, no way.

Just look at those numbers and I believe the trend would have been downward for 2020 and 2021 without the pandemic.

And think about this… Without the pandemic, would Roman Reigns even turn heel? He was going to defeat Bill Goldberg at Wrestlemania 36 until the COVID stuff ramped up and sent him home. Had Roman won the title at Wrestlemania 36, he would have remained a babyface and NOT had Paul Heyman. That’s a MAJOR “what if” story that someone could write… It would have been “more of the same” and Smackdown would be under 2 million consistently by now. However, by turning him HEEL and placing him with PAUL HEYMAN, it’s different and gives a breath of fresh air to Roman.

Having the highest merchandise sales in the WWE is like being the most handsome sailor on a sinking ship.

*****

Why isn’t CM Punk drawing higher numbers for AEW?

For one, he is drawing… AEW’s live attendance is up and they are actually filling larger venues than ever before. Secondly, his merchandise is setting record sales at ProWrestlingTees and at AEW events. Punk is drawing…

Now, the television numbers haven’t boomed like many or myself have anticipated. AEW Dynamite is consistently above 1 million viewers each week, whereas they were trending below 1 million before Punk arrived. I believe that a good part of it, as Jim Cornette’s podcast host Brian Last said, that Punk isn’t drawing because after you watch Punk’s segment, it’s the same old AEW. Unless you can have CM Punk work 2 straight hours, he’s still surrounded by bad on-screen behavior by the EVPs, really bad women’s wrestling, and spotfests in the midcard.

But there’s more to this story:

(1) 7 years is a long time to be away from the business.

(2) CM Punk is older and isn’t performing as he did during his 30s.

(3) Adding to point #2, he’s been wrestling midcard talents so far. Whereas Daniel Bryan is working with the top stars.

(4) As fellow NoDQ.com contributor Virtue has been saying on the NoDQ Review lately, CM Punk works better as a heel. He’s too much of a happy go lucky babyface which doesn’t match. Punk needs some sort of an edge to his character.

(5) The anti-WWE card has already been played.

(6) Since CM Punk left, the WWE has scared away over 2 million wrestling fans from the business. It’s hard to repair the damage done from 2014-2021.

(7) AEW’s younger fanbase, who loves PWG and the Young Bucks style of wrestling, don’t like CM Punk. During the WWE days, it was older fans who received Punk well, not younger ones.

As my buddy @dreamour23 put it, “is CM Punk indeed like Hulk Hogan in WCW, but still waiting for his NWO moment? He currently is too vanilla to draw, like Hogan when he joined [WCW], before turning heel to join Hall & Nash?” Interesting… That could be the big angle that AEW is looking for, as Punk is unleashed as an unfiltered heel. If you’ll recall, Hulk Hogan was signed during mid-1994 with WCW and pushed hard with the Hulkamania stuff from 1994 through early 1996. Fans were booing the Hulkster and following that DISASTER of a Uncensored 1996 event, he finally turned heel and made history.

Who knows… But what I do know is that TV numbers, though up, aren’t as high as expected. But attendance + merchandise are up and he has kept Dynamite above 1 million. Pro wrestling has a large hole to dig itself out of and it may time time to repair. Maybe Punk just isn’t an effective babyface, after all?

*****

Does AEW Rampage have a chance against WWE Smackdown next week?

Smackdown will be on FS1 next week and AEW Rampage is daring to go head-to-head with the WWE that night on TNE.

Before I get into my rant about this one, didn’t I just write a column about this on Tuesday called “Friday Nights are NOT Alright for WWE or AEW Television Shows”. It’s HILARIOUS to me how AEW is picking Friday night to attempt to defeat the WWE.

There is a good chance because FS1 is actually a poorly rated network, as they are in a few million less households than the TNT Network (by about 6 million). However, FS1 is a poorly rated channel, as many of its sports shows don’t even register on ratings charts at all.

That said, if the WWE defeats AEW convincingly next Friday, it will look VERY bad for Tony Khan.

Khan has to pump the brakes here. His New York show didn’t come close to defeating RAW and Rampage itself has been doing poorly since Punk made his first ever appearance. Just having good talent isn’t enough, ask TNA wrestling. You need an angle or a white hot babyface wrestler to draw in more wrestling fans. AEW has neither of those.

And then, of course, Tony Khan tweeted the following: I saw you’re doing a half hour head-to-head with us. I can’t wait to finally beat your main show head-to-head. It’s been a long time coming. See you next Friday for #AEWRampage on @AEWonTNT!, with a timestamp of 11:32pm on 10/8/2021.

You know, I remember when TNA wrestling tried to go head to head with the WWE, too. They were too early to compete, too, and the WWE squashed their early 2010s attempt at going head to head with the WWE on Monday Night. Don’t be surprised if WWE loads up this show to nail AEW and make Tony eat his words.

So just chill… Until the next episode!

Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments.

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ASK TITO: Khans and Urban Meyer Situation, AJ Lee & Tessa Blanchard join WOW, Roman Reigns WWE Merchandise, CM Punk, and More