ASK TITO: WWE Crown Jewel 2021, WWE Business with Saudi Arabia, AEW Dynamite Pre-Emptions, and More

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

The most unbiased columnist ever has returned to deliver more EXCELLENCE IN COLUMN WRITING in the form of answering your questions sent via Twitter, Comments below, or Email. I’ve had a very strict policy of REFUSING to be paid as a columnist… You may think that is insane, but I’ve treated being “Mr. Tito” as a hobby more than a career. Yeah, I could have easily joined several sports and entertainment sites as a wrestling contributor and I have the emailed job offers to prove it. However, most of the big places want to be your editor, control posting times, and control your content. Honestly with most sports writers, especially with opinion, unless you’re the very top guy covering the top sports leagues (NBA, NFL, etc), you’re not getting paid much.

My point is that by writing on a voluntary basis, I cannot be bought. There are no monetary agendas with my columns and they are posted because *I* want them posted. Take Dave Meltzer and Wade Keller right now… They are beholden to their subscribers and right now, they see an opportunity with a new AEW fanbase to exploit. Thus, all of their stuff is pro-AEW and very anti-WWE. This past weekend was hilarious as they, along with a few others who have joined their State Run AEW Media, were trying to rig numbers to make it appear as if AEW Rampage defeated WWE Smackdown. In my LAST COLUMN, I did my own number crunching and called those fools out.

Now, let’s get into some facts here, OK?

WWE Smackdown is normally on the FOX broadcast network. Due to baseball playoffs, they were moved to FS1 which is FOX’s latest attempt at creating an ESPN-like channel. However, that FS1 channel is available in about 80 million homes (saw a new report that revised it down from 83 million) but it is one of the most poorly rated channels on most Cable/Satellite channels. That channel is struggling and is mostly a dumping grounds for when FOX can’t air all sports at once (like WWE Smackdown). Based on the Sports commentators that they’ve acquired, the network is losing money.

That said, being disrupted for 1 week and moved to FS1, WWE Smackdown still had MORE viewers than AEW Rampage.

Let’s just stop it with the 18-49 Demo garbage. For one, those numbers are inflated because instead of just counting # of boxes with data being collected by Nielsen, there have to be statistical assumptions made about households in a State, County, MSA, City, or town while also assuming that individuals surveyed are correctly filling out the forms. Secondly, we NEVER heard about 18-49 Demo until the WWE started reporting on it after 2014 when their RAW Viewership began to dip under 4 million total viewers. When questioned about their declining viewership from pushing Roman Reigns so hard as the #1 babyface, WWE would repeatedly answer “look how great our 18-49 demo is, pal”. Thanks to that, the Observer Boys and the Torch Enablers have weaponized that 18-49 demo as gospel.

And as I said in my LATEST COLUMN, that 18-49 Demo matters only when you’re actually scoring millions of viewers within those age groups. The Observer Boys, the Torch Enablers, and Brandon were all heralding that a 0.24 rating for AEW Rampage was a “success”. No, it wasn’t… According to my ratio analysis, that equates to about 276,667 viewers. HOW IS THAT GOOD? How would any advertiser be excited to spend their marketing expenses on something that draws LESS than 300,000 viewers?

Getting back to another column that I wrote, why are we even having Pro Wrestling on Friday Nights? Dumbest thing ever… High School Sports and going out on Dates takes priority. How DUMB can your wrestling promotion be to settle for airing shows on Friday nights? You are just KILLING your future fanbase by airing your programming on a night that they want to socialize and take someone to poundtown.

THAT is what you get with my columns… The HARD and UNBIASED truth.

Even when I do show some bias, I’ll own up to it… CM Punk is obviously my favorite wrestler and I’m sticking with him because I fought heavily over him during 2011. After Triple H defeated him at WWE Night of Champions 2011, I wrote one of my most famous columns entitled “I Told You So – Triple H Just BURIED CM Punk” and man, I had every WWE mark, other websites, and even fellow columnists attacking me for that opinion. In the end, egg was all over their face because I ended up being right, even when word of my column got to CM Punk and he replied that he was “buried in money”. Of course, 3 years later during that Colt Cabana November 2014 podcast, he backed up what I’ve said all along.

However, fast forward to 2021… Yes, I was very excited to see CM Punk return and I had great expectations for him. Attendance boomed and his merchandise sold off the shelves… But where I lack that agenda, unlike other publications, is that I can admit that he didn’t boom the TV viewership numbers as excepted. I’m realizing that being a white meat babyface might not be working, maybe he’s a bit older, and that the wrestling fanbase has been destroyed so much by the WWE since 2014 (losing over 2 million fans) that it might take years to rebuild. I can come to that realization and admit my wrongs because again, I’m unbiased. I have nothing to lose or gain by stating my unbiased opinions. If Dave Meltzer says ANYTHING negative about AEW, he’ll upset that new fanbase acquired and ruffle feathers with AEW’s management team. THAT is the difference.

I’m here for YOU, folks… I’ll use my platform and opinion to FIGHT to improve how WWE and AEW presents their wrestling products. I’ll pull zero punches and it’s my goal, for the rest of 2021, to “scorch the earth” in order to light a fire underneath WWE or AEW’s behinds to improve those companies. Yep, things might get a little dark or negative from time to time, but I always provide my advice on how to improve things. It’s one thing to criticize, but it’s another thing to criticize and then have a valid way to improve.

But I’m just telling you know… I don’t give a damn right now and I’m going to act like William Tecumseh Sherman during the Civil War and burn down both WWE and AEW’s current operations until they improve. I don’t care who doesn’t like it, whether it’s the readers or even fellow NoDQ contributors… I’m here to IMPROVE Pro Wrestling and will hold nothing back until I see said improvement. And again, I’m not getting paid for this, so thus I have zero to lose.

I was right on CM Punk getting buried during 2011. I was right on how GREAT John Cena was as a superstar and how WWE cannot replace him. I was right on how awful Roman Reigns was as an overpushed babyface from 2014-2018. I have been consistently right in my analysis of AEW, though I have been a bit hopeful that they would succeed. I was totally right on Triple H not succeeding in grooming Male talents for the WWE roster.

The credibility as an analyst is there and I cannot be bought or paid for…

So yeah, we’re gonna get dark for the rest of the year unless I see significant changes made, for the better, to both WWE and AEW.

And I don’t give a damn what any hater thinks about what I write. You can go shove it, for all I care. If I’m such a terrible columnist, then go write something better to outshine me. Otherwise, shut the hell up and LISTEN… Furthermore, join me as I attempt to “scorch the earth” to criticize heavily but advise both WWE and AEW how to improve.

Onto your questions…

————————————-

ASK MR. TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

Before I hit your questions, I just wanted to state that the first 30 minutes of WWE Smackdown was EXCELLENT and it involved just 2 wrestlers. I can imagine that the WWE wanted to flex its muscles upon returning to FOX after being pre-empted last week and it easily can with legitimate superstars Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar sprinkled in with some Paul Heyman. THOSE are stars and the best in the business right now. Problem with AEW is that they cannot recreate something THIS awesome between any of their workers, including the recently acquired ex-WWE guys.

I personally love it when Brock Lesnar goes bananas and just destroys everybody in sight. Last night’s segment reminded me of Brock Lesnar attacking everybody after being pissed about Seth Rollins screwing him out of the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 31 and then running away from their rematch on RAW thereafter. Remember Lesnar lifting up the announcer’s table and injuring Michael Cole & JBL? It was fantastic… Of course, last night’s Smackdown attack mirrored that RAW after Wrestlemania by having Lesnar “suspended” except this time it wasn’t from Stephanie McMahon screeching to do it. Adam Pearce was the authority this time and it was great to see Lesnar destroy him with F5s.

Speaking of authority figures, am I the only one who detests having Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville as authority figures? Besides Adam having some backstage input, they just appear too phony to me. Say what you will about former figurehead “WWE President” Jack Tunney but his character carried weight and legitimacy. That said, he was also mysterious because not everyone knew that Vince McMahon was really the President and Jack was just helping to manage WWE in Canada. Nobody cares or believes in Adam and Sonya because we know the actual power structure. That and we know that upon snap judgment by Vince McMahon, he’ll change-up the authority figures in a second if they aren’t Stephanie, Shane, Triple H, or himself. I don’t know, I just don’t have much belief in Adam or Sonya… But that’s probably just me, hating on everything.

Onto your questions (again!).

Will pre-empting AEW Dynamite hurt their momentum?

Oh yeah and as I wrote in my recent “The WWE vs. AEW War is Official Over Thanks to Tony Khan’s Ego Choking it Away”, Tony Khan was already choking away the “war” thanks his own ego on social media and poorly booking his newly acquired ex-WWE stars. Thus, if you take their flagship Wednesday night show away for 2 weeks, they’ll lose momentum. Who wants to watch Wrestling on late Friday night or Saturday night? I sure as hell don’t.

Here is an opinion that I stated when it was announced and not many are echoing it, but it’s the truth. The move to TBS is going to HURT them. Look right now, as TNT is heavily promoting the National Hockey League (NHL) and they already love doing crossovers between the NHL crew and the “Inside the NBA” folks. Turner Sports paid a ton of money to host NHL and they also paying Wayne Gretzky a ton of money as well. TNT wants to make sure that their investment, which they are paying on much more than AEW, does well on the Wednesday night timeslot. Thus, AEW Dynamite on TBS will get little advertising or promotion by Turner Sports moving forward and look for some internal sabotage to happen if AEW Dynamite happens to outrate NHL on TNT during Wednesday nights.

You might not think that switching networks is a big deal, but ask the WWE when they moved to TNN from the USA Network during 2000. They actually lost more viewership as part of their post Wrestlemania 16 cooldown by joining TNN that year.

The damage to AEW has been done, thanks to Tony putting himself out there and over-exposing himself along with poorly booking the ex-WWE stars that he recently acquired. That said, it seems that his recent moves have served as a wake-up call for the WWE and now we’re seeing more Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns goodness, WWE taking the booking of the Saudi show seriously, and NXT being revamped to create better stars for WWE to be used. Tony should be really scared of a motivated WWE, especially when many AEW contracts are coming up for 2022.

*****

Thoughts on WWE Crown Jewel 2021 Results?

Well, first of all, it’s nice to see a well reviewed Saudi Arabia show for a change. Normally, the Crown Jewel or Greatest Royal Rumble shows have been just House Shows with a camera on with many of the top match-ups being total letdowns. This time, though, the matches clicked and the usually silent Saudi Arabian crowd were heavily responding.

And some good stuff happened…

Good clean win by Big E over Drew McIntyre. I may be in the minority saying this, but Drew’s shelf life might be over and it’s a shame that COVID-19 during 2020 might have cooled any momentum that he may have had. I expect him to be nothing but a punching bag for other wrestlers on Smackdown. Basically, Sheamus 2.0.

I loved seeing Xavier Woods winning King of the Ring. Let’s come down from how serious King of the Ring has been taken during the past, as WWE hasn’t cared about this event brand for years. Ok? If it weren’t for Xavier Woods bragging up the King of the Ring for being great from the past, the WWE might not have pushed it this hard for 2021. Woods helped make it happen and made us interested in seeing him chase his dream. THIS kind of energy is what has been lacking with wrestlers for the past 10 years. Woods gives a damn about his character and his role in the WWE. He’s highly intelligent, too… WWE needs to start listening to more guys like him instead of their random ex-Hollywood writer hires. Woods is a good guy and it was great to see him getting crowned. Now you watch, like last night, he’ll give a big damn about being the “king” and he’ll sell that forever. Why? Because he cares… WWE should seek out guys like him for input.

That said, I have zero feelings about Zelina Vega becoming “Queen”. She has done nothing to impress me with her return and in my opinion, having her wrestle is a mistake. When you look smaller against Carmella or Liv Morgan, it’s a problem. But if you’re a smaller wrestler, you need convincing offense to go toe to toe against larger wrestlers. For example, Daniel Bryan has his kicks that helps him neutralize a larger wrestler. Vega has nothing and it is thus not believed that she could beat anybody.

Bobby Lashley, for me, is in the same boat as Drew McIntyre. His momentum is gone and he’s not getting any younger. The WWE has multiple years on Bill Goldberg‘s contract that pays him millions just to wrestle a few matches. Thus, Lashley had to eat the loss to keep that ex-WCW superstar’s brand alive. I know that many hate Goldberg due to his age and how hard the WWE pushes him, but he brings many older fans back to WWE as the numbers show. If you want my opinion, the next person he should directly wrestle is Big E and then you have Big E just destroy him in the ring. Humiliate him… Give Big E that big win to put him on notice, sort of like John Cena once brutally defeated Rikishi to start his Main Event push momentum.

I enjoyed the Women’s 3 way. Bianca Belair can hang with Becky and Sasha and that’s a great thing. In my opinion, she’s miles ahead of Rhea Ripley and that’s why it was so disappointing when Becky Lynch destroyed her quickly at SummerSlam. Just an amazing physical and charismatic talent who fights right in with Sasha, Becky, and Charlotte. Let’s take Bianca a little more seriously on the RAW brand, please.

Edge vs. Seth Rollins is up there as “Match of the Year” for me. Their best match-up to date, easily. And I agreed with the victory. Sorry, but Seth Rollins’s character has been damaged and that’s what I tried to explain with my 04/20/2021 column entitled “How to Repair Seth Rollins’s WWE Character”. There is way more value in pushing the older Edge at this point versus Seth Rollins and that’s a shame. This snarky heel character is drawing negative heat and has been way over-exposed throughout the years. Honestly, the only way to salvage it is, and Virtue has been suggesting this for a while, is to pair him up with Becky Lynch. This time, however, they are heels and can really pour it on fans together.

It was a great show and finally, it was a WWE Pay Per View that clicked. WWE needed that kind of shot in the arm badly AND THEN they follow it up with a good Smackdown show. Seems like WWE is motivated again… Good for wrestling fans.

*****

Should WWE be doing business with Saudi Arabia?

Should the United States of America be importing Saudi Arabian oil? It’s a good chance that the fuel that you’ve put in your car’s gas tank has been ripped out of the grounds over there in the Middle East.

With that fact being presented, now what do you think about that question?

Here’s the deal, folks… There are many criticisms out there about the culture of Saudi Arabia and its political structure. That said, they are one of the countries within the Middle East who is trying to ease up on past restrictions. Where the friction exists is how FAST can Saudi ease up on said restrictions… In my opinion, it’s obvious that it cannot happen overnight. You cannot undo centuries of culture and practices in a short period of time. It will take time… Where I think that WWE can make a difference is just being there and causing the youth to do a simple Google search (or whatever Search engine) of how other WWE fans attend shows and how free the wrestlers are in North America.

Remember what a big deal it was to have just 1 Women’s match on a Saudi Arabian show? Natalya and Lacey Evans, I believe… There were real questions about having that match in the first place and that was just 2 years ago! WWE Crown Jewel 2021 just had TWO Women’s matches on it. Think about that…

If you’re expecting Saudi Arabia to change overnight after centuries of culture and practices, you are lacking patience and are not looking inwardly. Just look at how the United States of America still struggles with race relations, even after the Civil War ended during the 1860s and the passage of Civil Rights legislation during the 1960s. Stuff takes time, especially when the prior practices were so extreme.

For any wrestling fan who preaches against WWE doing business with Saudi Arabia, then maybe that wrestling fan should be more upset about the WWE doing business with Saudi Arabia. Boycott the WWE if you have such a problem. There was one reviewer for another website who said that he “enjoyed the show” but still had problems with WWE doing business with Saudi Arabia. I thus questioned him why he was supporting the WWE if he such a stance? Don’t virtue signal on one hand and review the WWE’s Crown Jewel show on the other. If your problem is with anyone doing business with Saudi Arabia, then you should STOP being a WWE fan and STOP putting gas in your car.

Things have happened in Saudi Arabia, I understand… But things happen here in the United States, too, and they also occur in many of our trading partners too. If you have a problem with China, for example, then go ahead and throw away most of the stuff in your home. All of those electronics that you enjoy, look at the back of them and you’ll see “Made in China” on them. No country is perfect and what were accepted norms in the past are starting to be challenged today. However, you have to understand that undoing CENTURIES of culture, practices, and politics takes time. Everyone is so impatient and wanting to influence change but many within that culture were perfectly fine with the way things were.

You need to give this stuff time to set in and if the WWE can act as something to inspire the youth to overcome what their parents or grandparents felt were ideal, that’s a good thing. You never know, as a younger wrestling fan could have enjoyed seeing Sasha Banks wrestle and then performs a Google search of her and say “DAMN!!!”. Or a female fan who has to dress a certain way and searches how Sasha or Zelina dress for their North American matches. Wow, look at how free they are elsewhere… What if we could wear fewer garbs here? It’s the small things that can build momentum with time.

Again, if you have a problem with the WWE doing business with Saudi Arabia, then stop being a fan of the WWE. WWE is pulling in $25 million or more, per show… If that bothers you, then stop watching. Don’t get on your soapbox and criticize the WWE for doing business with them and then you continue to do business with the WWE. You don’t sound consistent when you say things and then do things differently.

*****

Who are the top 75 pro wrestlers of all time?

Yikes! This reader is asking this question, as the NBA announced their 75th Anniversary line up of the greatest 75 NBA players of all time.

I seriously couldn’t name the top 75 guys if I tried. Problem is that prior to 1985, I cannot properly rank the wrestlers because I wasn’t alive then and I haven’t gone out of my way to watch much before that 1985 benchmark. Furthermore, I haven’t watched much from any other territories. I grew up watching NWA on TBS, WWE on USA Network, and World Class/AWA on ESPN. Other than that, I became much more familiar with NWA’s stuff through renting all of the Starrcades and Great American Bash shows of the past.

What I can try to do is rank the Top 25 of the “Wrestlemania Era” which is since 1985. That’s the best that I can give you.

1) Hulk Hogan
2) Stone Cold Steve Austin
3) Nature Boy Ric Flair
4) John Cena
5) The Rock
6) Brock Lesnar
7) The Undertaker
8) Macho Man Randy Savage
9) Bret “the Hitman” Hart
10) Shawn Michaels
11) Triple H
12) Sting
13) Mick Foley
14) Kurt Angle
15) Edge
16) Chris Jericho
17) Rey Mysterio
18) CM Punk
19) The Ultimate Warrior
20) Yokozuna
21) AJ Styles
22) Batista
23) Randy Orton
24) Roman Reigns (we need to see more of the post SummerSlam 2020 version)
25) Lex Luger

That’s it, I guess, and I have honorable mentions of Scott Hall, Sid, and Kevin Nash. Hall and Nash were great together, more so than they were individually. Andre the Giant was well past his prime for 1985 and beyond, sadly, though he drew huge for Wrestlemania 3. For workrate alone, Ricky Steamboat and Chris Benoit are among the best but both lacked additional elements in pro wrestling to make this list. Eddie Guerrero needed more years at the very top of the business to make this list. Dusty Rhodes is a close cut, but his best stuff was prior to 1985. I wish that I could add Roddy Piper to this list, but he was always disappearing after his Wrestlemania 1 match. He’s a serious Top 10 talent but he made a big impact outside of the ring, too. I could argue Bill Goldberg being on the list, but I can argue against it as well. He is very much a one-trick pony to me and if the presentation isn’t well, the matches become disasters.

I know that I’ll get hated on for including Lex Luger, but he had a great career. Go watch his 1997 run and tell me that isn’t great with a straight face.

Sorry, but Roman is just at the BEGINNING of his career at this point. 2012-2020 were just years gaining experience to become the Main Eventer that he is now. If I revisit this list in 5 years, as my old ass will probably still be around, I guarantee that Roman will shred 2/3 of this list if he stays healthy. He’s “getting it” now… The guys above him have had more accomplished roles in getting over at the top or have longevity beating Roman.

Don’t jump down my throat on Roman, please, as I know some of you will. I just need to see MORE of this post-SummerSlam 2020 Roman and I think highly of him NOW. If you have read my columns since 2014, you’ll observe that I was a big critic of his work from 2014-2020. I’ve been praising his work heavily since SummerSlam 2020. That promo last night on Smackdown was golden and his confidence level is through the roof right now. Roman Reigns is now a legitimate top star and I just need to see MORE of this. The fact is that just 1 year of a GOOD Roman Reigns character broke my top 25 was a good thing, because prior to SummerSlam 2020, he wasn’t on it.

The Ultimate Warrior was GREAT… I don’t give a damn about anyone who hates on my placement of him on this list. When that music hit as a kid, you were ready to run around the house like a maniac. He mattered and if the Ultimate Warrior was such a “manufactured WWE product”, then why hasn’t Vince created another Ultimate Warrior? Huh? Where is he at if the Warrior wasn’t talented? The fact is that Jim Hellwig presented himself as being a “larger than life” character and you believed it. There is MORE to pro wrestling than being just good inside the ring.

Hopefully, that’s good enough… No way in hell that I’d ever do a 75 Top Wrestlers… Hell no!

*****

Why are wrestling journalists so biased towards AEW?

I wouldn’t say most are biased… For one, the existence of AEW has helped the news cycles for wrestling websites. The rumors of a wrestler joining AEW to spark a competitive battle have captivated wrestling fans online and all of the websites hits are WAY up because of AEW. You may think that a news site is reporting too much on AEW but the fact is that prior to 2019, we were really scraping the bottom of the barrel for news stories. I remember at my older place, someone used to constantly post quotes from interviews and Social Media as news stories. Yet, when there wasn’t much to post on WWE back then, that’s all that you had to use. Now, however, we can talk about ratings, wrestler movements, Tony Khan, changes within WWE, etc.

But I would also say that many have instilled HOPE in AEW succeeding because they are burned out from the WWE or want someone to light a fire under WWE. That’s my stance… I just want GOOD wrestling and if a competitive battle helps spark quality, then let’s go. Brock Lesnar, for example, wasn’t scheduled to be back with the WWE until 2022 or even 2023 and yet because AEW unleashed CM Punk, the WWE rushed Lesnar back to the roster. Now, we’re getting goodness with Lesnar vs. Roman.

Then you have the case of the Wrestling Observer and even recently that I’m finding out, the Pro Wrestling Torch. Both companies rely heavily on subscribers to provide them with sales revenue to exist. If both feel that they’ve tapped out the WWE fanbase, then they will begin searching for other fanbases. Since AEW is now the #2 company in the world, that is what both the Observer and Torch are now striving for and will thus say favorable things about the AEW product to appeal to AEW fans. It’s no different than News Organizations skewing right or left to appeal to viewers of those beliefs.

Just look at this 18-49 Demo discussion that the Observer, Torch, and even trusted numbers guy Brandon Thurston are pushing down our throats. They were seriously pushing that AEW “beat” the WWE because they tied with a 0.24 rating in this demo. Meanwhile, if you did actual mathematics, you’ll find that this number represents LESS than 300,000 viewers. It’s a tiny number… Meanwhile, everybody keeps showing me Tweets from Dave Meltzer prior to AEW Dynamite existing on TNT that shows him actually being against the WWE’s spinning of the 18-49 demo to hide their decline. “Ratings are by viewers, not one demo” from 4/12/19, as he’s quoted. Then, when AEW arrives, Dave flips and flops and begins beating his chest about this 18-49 demo.

What is also important is that Observer and Torch are probably betting on AEW to win this battle with the WWE. And if AEW wins, both the Observer and Torch will want access to AEW’s wrestlers and top officials. If they criticize AEW’s rise to the top, then AEW won’t speak to them when they possibly make it to the top. Both Observer/Torch have long ago won the hearts over at WWE, so thus they can criticize them because established contacts are in place and WWE would rather monopolize their access to the press rather than reporting to more companies instead of Observer/Torch. Furthermore with Dave Meltzer, he has always been anti-WWE, as he’s a Japan wrestling hipster and that’s what he likes. Furthermore, the PWG stuff on the West Coast has been a big influence on him as well. Thus, he has lots of friends within AEW as both New Japan and PWG performers are heavily infiltrated in AEW. Doesn’t hurt that Meltzer’s former business writer, Chris Harrington, is AEW’s Vice President of Business Strategy.

You, as a wrestling fan seeking news and opinions, just have to be careful on who you can trust in covering AEW. All depends on if you have “skin in the game” and Dave Meltzer definitely does with both his friends being in AEW and his need for new subscribers. Wade Keller seems to want those AEW subscribers, too.

Meanwhile, while Dave has his head in the AEW clouds, he has been bypassed as the #1 news source. In case you have missed it, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp has legitimately became the #1 news reporter on Pro Wrestling today. He’s KILLING IT right now and unlike Uncle Dave, he’s unbiased. He just reports the news as fed to him by the sources. Who broke the CM Punk joining AEW story? It was Sapp at Fightful, not Dave. Many other AEW debuts were broke by Fightful, too, as Dave is actually holding back on AEW wrestler debut news out of fear it will ruin the surprise for AEW. That’s the risk that Dave has taken by being biased is that he’ll lose legitimacy. If AEW doesn’t rise to the top or remain competitive to the WWE, the Observer may struggle due to their choice of putting all chips on AEW. Meanwhile, the unbiased Sapp will keep growing and will probably thank Dave for giving up the market share.

And think about this… I’ve butted heads with Sean Ross Sapp in the past YET I still say the above positive things about him. That’s how you do it, folks… That’s how you can be unbiased. Dave Meltzer cannot be critical of AEW and thus doesn’t have credibility covering pro wrestling any longer. This 18-49 Demo stuff is hilarious and I love seeing Dave, Bryan, Wade, Brandon, and others make complete fools of themselves trying to “move the goal posts” to make online wrestling fans believe that AEW is “winning” against WWE. Again, they may do fine financially AS LONG AS All Elite Wrestling can stay afloat. However, if this TBS move screws AEW and if the WWE sleeping giant awakes, all of them will have egg all over their face. Meanwhile, Sean Ross Sapp will rise out of all of this as the most credible news journalist in Pro Wrestling.

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: WWE Crown Jewel 2021, WWE Business with Saudi Arabia, AEW Dynamite Pre-Emptions, and More