ASK TITO: Zombies in WWE, Velveteen Dream NXT Release, AEW Dynamite Television Changes, and More

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

The Excellence in Column Writing is upon you here exclusively at NoDQ.com and we’re here for the WEEKEND CHILL edition of my column in which I answer your questions submitted via Twitter, Email, or Comments section below in column. And by definition, a “column” is defined as a “vertical block of words” and “a regular feature or series of articles usually having identifiable heading that reports or comments upon a particular field of interest”.

What “column” isn’t defined as just reading the Headline and commenting on it.

Many of you are just reacting towards a headline promoted on Social Media and ASSUMING what I wrote about. However, if you were to actually CLICK THE LINK, you’d see a written piece full of facts, statistics, business experience, and wrestling knowledge that you won’t find anywhere else. Thus, quit attacking me based on only reading the headline. That is LAZY on your part and actually slanders what I have prepared for you to read.

Also, quit trying to look for things that AGREES with you. That is also lazy! That’s like people in politics only watching FOX News or MSNBC for news that caters to their political slant. To me, when I read something that I agree with, it’s BORING. I like to be challenged and intrigued by something of a different point of view. Right now, we’re living in a world where everybody is tribal about their viewpoints and are actually trying to get the opposite viewpoints cancelled. I’ve heard it on my end just working here at NoDQ, even though my columns are at ZERO financial cost to anyone reading them. You don’t have to click the link if you don’t want to…

We’re heading down a dark path as a country politically but also as wrestling fans as well. Instead of being free and accepting of open speech, we’re aggressive towards becoming the opposite.

Does that put you in a great mood to read some wrasslin’ questions?

Onto your questions.

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ASK MR. TITO: Your Questions, My Answers

What did you think about having Zombies attacking Miz during the Backlash PPV?

Didn’t I once write a column that scolded Supernatural stuff? Oh, so it’s perfectly OK to bash Zombies acting as Lumberjacks but it’s NOT OK to call out Bray Wyatt/Fiend for teleporting, having cinematic stuff, and changing in and out of outfits instantly. Yeah, OK, idiot wrestling fans. Way to have quite a double standard.

Of course having Zombies, EVER, on your Pro Wreslting show is STUPID. We all laughed at it when the first ever episode of ECW on the Science Fiction Channel had it, right? So why shouldn’t we laugh at how ridiculous it is now? Except in this case, there were more zombies and then the zombies, themselves, take to Social Media and post pictures of themselves receiving make-up.

Let me just make this blanket statement right now… ANYONE associated with any of the Fiend/Bray Wyatt angles, Zombie Lumberjacks, or what is going on with Alexa Bliss right now needs to be TERMINATED from the WWE. On top of that, they need a permanent BAN from ever working for another wrestling promotion again. If that includes Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, and/or Triple H, they all need to go too. You’re making a mockery of pro wrestling and this supernatural garbage, WHICH DOESN’T HAVE A GREAT SUPERSTAR LIKE THE UNDERTAKER TO CARRY IT, is adding to the decline of Pro Wrestling as an entertainment medium.

If you’re Tony Khan, you have to be observing this WWE garbage and thinking “hey, maybe I should do the complete opposite of that”. That is EXACTLY what Eric Bischoff figured out after WCW Uncensored 1996 Pay Per View. After that awful main event of that Pay Per View, that was a wake-up call to give fans more reality based storylines and to present a show that was anti-WWE. WWE, through 1996, had awful storylines, were still pushing supernatural stuff with Undertaker, and had a bunch of goofy employment gimmicks (plumbers, trash men, hog farmers, etc). The ball is in your court, Tony… Will you please show us why the Observer Fanboys named you “Booker of the Year” for 2020?

Sorry, but No Zombies in Pro Wrestling along with burning people alive. Anyone presenting that in Pro Wrestling, at all, should be BANNED from every participating in Pro Wrestling.

That’s my opinion and I have been consistently stating that in my columns for almost 23 years. Don’t be lazy and say “OK Cornette” because that’s weak on your part when the truth is presented to you. I’ve been saying it long before Cornette began saying it on his Podcast, please and thank you.

Get off my lawn!

*****

What do you think of AEW Dynamite being moved to TBS during 2022?

Told you, so, folks… As discussed in my 05/11/2021 Column, I predicted that the NHL would bump AEW Dynamite off its Wednesday Night timeslot on TNT. Now, what I couldn’t predict is that they’d be shipped off to TBS instead. That was unexpected, but it’s a shift to tell viewers that traditional programming (that includes Baseball, which TBS had for years) is on TBS and TNT, after the Atlanta Hawks, has been for more action packed sports like the NFL briefly, NBA, and now the NHL. TNT only had WCW Monday Nitro in the past, as everything else wrestling wise was on TBS.

And I know what the Observer Boys are saying… “TBS is currently higher rated than TNT and is available in more households”. Both TNT and TBS are normally packaged together but I’ve seen a few Cable packages that actually has TNT listed as a sports channel whereas TBS is always a staple of the basic cable package for any Cable/Satellite company. However, TNT is included on most Cable/Satellite basic channel line ups. The numbers that the Observer Boys are quoting shows maybe 1 million household difference… We’re looking at 85 million versus 86 million. SO WHAT, as that additional million household difference won’t watch more AEW wrestling. Secondly, TNT is down right now because of a failure to produce Original Content. During the Sons of Anarchy days, this probably wasn’t the case… But TNT’s division to create original shows has been failing for years THUS why they are becoming the equivalent of a Sports channel.

And AEW was just moved off of what WarnerMedia or whatever it is now called with Discovery (see below) on that equivalent of a Sports channel. Instead of being lined up with the NBA and NHL, real actual action packed sports, it was placed on a channel that hosts mostly re-runs and baseball. I wouldn’t call that an upgrade, folks…

As my “brother from a different mother” Virtue said… If TBS was the better station, then why isn’t the NHL on that channel? The defense rests.

The important question is still unanswered: What night will AEW Dynamite be on?

I’m telling you this much… If TNT is going to prominently feature the NHL on Wednesday Nights on TNT, you won’t be seeing AEW Dynamite on Wednesday Nights. If Turner Sports is willing to pay over $5 million per year to showcase Wayne Gretzky breaking down hockey games in a “Inside the NBA” like atmosphere, they will NOT want another live sports content show airing on an opposite channel. That is there the lovely 18-49 demographic issue comes in handy, as TNT wants the NHL to gobble that up on Wednesday nights for the $225 million per year that they are paying the NHL instead of the $45 million that they are paying AEW per year (maybe slightly more now).

If I were a betting man, AEW Dynamite will move to Saturday or Monday Nights IF TNT decides to push Wednesday Night as the big night on their schedule. Maybe even Sunday Nights…

Now, as for this additional show, “AEW Rampage”… Eh, it will just be a filler show and feature lower midcard matches. It’s a good little source of revenue for AEW but after 2 hours of watching AEW Dynamite, I’m good for the week. Sometimes 2 hours is too much. LESS IS MORE is something that wrestling promotions these days need to understand. Part of WWE’s decline is that they have too much content out there and within that, the wrestlers are over-exposed for performing too much and nothing feels special any longer.

Good for AEW on SURVIVING the WarnerMedia spinoff and merger, along with the signing of the NHL. THAT is the real story, as they’ll continue to exist until their contract expires during 2024.

More on that AT&T spin-off of WarnerMedia with Discovery, though…

*****

How will AT&T’s spin-off of WarnerMedia to merge with Discovery affect AEW Dynamite on TNT?

Everything depends on how profitable the relationship is with AEW. Reportedly, the extension signed during early 2020 is for 4 years and $175 million in total. If you do the math, AT&T/WarnerMedia was paying them $43.75 million per year (probably slightly higher with AEW Rampage added). However, to really show what a BARGAIN that TNT may have with their programming, divide that by 52 and they are only paying AEW $841,000 per 2 hour show. That is CHEAP considering they are technically paying $200,000 per half hour and AEW is absorbing the entire production costs while TNT is making money off the television ads.

However, what could derail AEW is is new executives are hired and they don’t believe that Pro Wrestling fits the direction of Turner Sports or the television division in general. THAT is what could kill AEW and Discovery already tried Pro Wrestling one time with TNA/Impact Wrestling at one point. That was a disaster.

The executive who brought in and signed AEW for Turner Sports is long gone at this point and so thus AEW is at the mercy of executives who didn’t sign them. However, AEW’s programming is extremely cheap and oddly enough, it’s pulling in that 18-49 demographic on Wednesday nights that advertisers like. I could see them holding their noses for a while…

I believe that AEW will be OK throughout this corporate shake-up, only because their content is CHEAP and probably profitable for WarnerMedia and will continue to be with whatever Warner and Discovery merge into. The bigger issue will be during 2023 when their deal is set to expire… That could be doomsday for AEW, particularly if they ask for a much larger deal. However, if they would simply IMPROVE and have break-out stars by that year, they’d get their money and probably have other Cable/Satellite/Streaming channels lining up for them. For now, they are safe because of how cheap their TV deal is for TNT and that shall continue in the future for TBS.

There will be more executive eyes watching their content, however… All it takes is 1 executive to get upset with an angle or match. There’s a good chance that AEW will get new Standards & Practices shoved down their throats. If you see blood being removed from their shows or language becoming cleaner, you’ll know that it has started.

By the way, AEW curses several times per AEW Dynamite and that’s not a drawing point. It’s one thing if you have “Stone Cold” Steve Austin or the Rock cursing on television and it’s another when you have dorks doing it.

*****

What did you think of WWE releasing Velveteen Dream?

I wrote about Velveteen Dream in last week’s Ask Mr. Tito column and here we are a week later, and he was released. After the other NXT releases occurred (see below), the heat from the online wrestling mob was probably turned up on the WWE and its corporate sponsors. Tired of hearing it, the WWE probably just said “hell with it” and released him.

Obviously what is alleged is completely disgusting, as he reportedly sent photos of himself to minors and was also reportedly communicating with minors via Social Media. However, no criminal or civil charges have ever been filed against the person behind the Velveteen Dream regarding this and the WWE said that they investigated the matter and found nothing. But, the allegations are unusual for someone to allege out of the blue and Dream did confirm that the photo shared was his (“a private photo of mine was shared without my consent”). That’s enough for many wrestling fans to never want to see him again.

What a shame… For the past few years, I’ve been hammering Triple H‘s tenure overseeing Talent Relations (mid-2012 through 2020) for not producing MALE Main Event wrestlers. Velveteen Dream was that breakout star. The guy had everything… In-ring talent, charisma, decent mic skills, and the “larger than life” look to him. He’s ONLY 25 years, too, which means that he’s still learning and will only get better with time.

Because these wrestlers HAVE to be on their phones 24/7 and HAVE to participate so much on Social Media, it creates that opportunity to either take advantage of fans or be taken advantage of by fans. On top of that, being famous will paint a larger target on you. If he was truly hacked, then why did he have that photo on his phone in the first place? What kind of judgment is that, let alone who it may have been “accidentally” sent to? Come on, man…

Look, people have come back from things that have actually been tried in front of courts… Mike Tyson did prison time for sexual assault while the late Kobe Bryant settled out of court for an alleged assault. While both individuals did not prey on minors as Dream is alleged to have done, they engaged physically with their victims. Dream didn’t, though who knows where this stuff on Social Media could have led to if he was actually behind the photo sharing or messages to minors. That’s the issue, whether Dream’s phone was hacked or not. Right now, sex trafficking and pedophilia are hot button issues in the news and politics right now. Whether Dream actually did this or not, the allegations made online will stick to him forever.

So no, I don’t think any other wrestling company will give him a shot… As you can see by AEW’s utter refusal to sign the very available Tessa Blanchard, despite her amazing in-ring talent, they would never sign Velveteen Dream with those allegations. Sinclair Broadcasting would never let Ring of Honor hire him. I’d suggest Impact Wrestling, but as you saw last year, they terminated that guy who did that “suplex”. I’d suggest NWA but I’m sure that they don’t want their YouTube comments flooded with hateful comments.

It’s over for Dream unless he can work hard to prove that he didn’t solicit minors online. We’re talking definitive evidence because all of these wrestling promotions are either owned by corporations, on a corporation’s television station, or have corporate sponsors. NONE OF THEM want the bad Public Relations that comes with hiring Velveteen Dream. It took WWE a while to figure this out and it was likely Triple H repeatedly going to bat for the guy to keep him on the roster to see if the allegations would subside. As seen from last week’s news of Velveteen Dream appearing at RAW backstage, many fans did not forget those allegations. That test balloon popped.

I wonder what he’s going to do now… If no wrestling promotion is willing to hire him, what else could he do? And all it would take is for an employer to do a simple Google search on him and horrible allegations appear. Hopefully, he has good support of friends and family, as I’d worry about Dream’s well being if I were them.

*****

Which of the AEW EVPs will be demoted and/or leave AEW first?

The 4 EVPs of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) are Cody Rhodes, both Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega. Reportedly, Omega and the Bucks are close personally while their relationship with Cody is just business. If you were to ask me, I could see Cody jumping to the WWE by himself and leaving Bucks/Omega back in AEW or the other way around with Bucks/Omega bolting to the WWE.

I could see Cody getting tired of AEW and seeking the WWE for a better opportunity now that he’s grown as a wrestler and has become a bigger name on his own. This is AJ Styles all over again from 2016. AJ left TNA wrestling and found his true self working independents, Ring of Honor, and New Japan. Then, when he joined the WWE, he was instantly great and most diehard wrestling fans knew that he significantly improved for the past few years after AEW. Cody has had a similar path. On top of that, Brandi Rhodes is now a bigger name by her association with AEW. I could definitely see Cody and Brandi coming back to the WWE as a pair and benefitting from the nostalgia of him being the “Grandson of a Plumber”. WWE could present Cody and Brandi with better reality television opportunities and the WWE Network/Peacock would probably welcome them.

Bucks and Omega have never hit it big in the WWE. I could see them arriving in the WWE as a trio at some point as invading heels, only to get quickly squashed and jobbed out quickly. They would only join WWE if there was a real fallout with Tony Khan.

If I were a betting man, a glorious return to the WWE for Cody Rhodes is the more likely scenario and Brandi Rhodes will also return as a bigger star. Just look what happened with Drew McIntyre and in my opinion, he’s lesser of a star than Cody Rhodes. The only thing that I wonder with Cody is if he has any personal heat with Triple H. After all, he smashed a throne during one of the early AEW Pay Per Views as a shot at Triple H. If that heat remains, then I’m not sure about Cody’s return.

*****

What is your opinion of the recent NXT talent releases?

My opinion was this: “who?”

The only release that I knew of was the referee who was going off on School Boards and City Councils while in NXT great regarding children wearing masks in this COVID-19 era. And I wouldn’t have known about NXT referee Drake Wuertz had he not made those political statements. Like I give any damns about who referees are these days. Speaking of Drake, he would have been fine if he didn’t wear NXT gear and CLEARLY stream into these meetings from the Performance Center. What a moron. In the WWE’s heads, he gives the appearance as if they are sponsoring him or what he’s saying. Even though the McMahons probably agree politically with him (hence why he wasn’t released earlier), the real issue is that he was wearing WWE branded stuff when he said it. Vince McMahon is more beholden to money than politics.

As for the rest of the releases… I wish them all good luck on finding future work, but again, I’m like WHO? The fact that myself and many other wrestling fans know you, even after watching NXT regularly, is an indicator as to why you were released. That is something to work on as you work independent dates or join the lesser paid promotions like Impact, AEW, NWA, or Ring of Honor. The WWE system is very controlling and sometimes overlooks talent. They wanted Cody Rhodes to be a knock-off version of Goldust, for example, and look at him now. Have faith… Go out there and do something interesting so that fans, like me, will know your name without hesitation.

Many are pointing out, to me, the one that they thought was a HUGE cut and that was Jessamyn Duke and once again, I’m like “who?”. And then many pointed out that she was part of Ronda Rousey’s “4 Horsewomen” along with Shayna Baszler and Marina Shafir. Honestly, I forgot that Baszler was a part of that group and had it not been for Rousey alluding to the group, I wouldn’t have know that they were a “4 Horsewomen” group. Many diehard WWE fans have been begging the WWE to do Rousey’s group versus the NXT 4 Horsemen (Charlotte, Becky, Sasha, Bayley) in a Survivor Series match for years but again, I didn’t care because Rousey’s group doesn’t have much heat.

Of course, I’m sad that someone lost their job. Best wishes to her…

But what people need to realize is that the WWE rarely fails on cutting wrestlers… For every Cody Rhodes that they let go, there are plenty who are just filler on Impact or now AEW. Look at how bad AEW is fumbling with Miro, with only the last 2 weeks seeming as a decent character representation of him (damage has been done). Is anybody excited about the Good Brothers in Impact and now with this Omega angle? Samoa Joe couldn’t stay healthy and he’s getting older. Come on, people…

Fact is that Jessamyn Duke and all of the other cuts couldn’t stand out on NXT and that brand is actually desperate for talent right now. And again, each of the wrestlers needs to ask themselves what they didn’t do or how did the WWE mess them up to understand how to move forward. They should carefully study the careers of AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes, two wrestlers who left their longtime promotions to get better elsewhere. Then, they saw major paydays.

When a wrestler is released and most fans have to look up their profiles online to figure out who they are, that’s a good indication that the WWE should have moved on.

*****

Thoughts on this week’s Dark Side of the Ring or A&E Biography?

I watched both the Dark Side of the Ring with WCW in North Korea and also the Shawn Michaels Biography. Both were well done, in my opinion, and that’s because the main source material (Eric Bischoff & Shawn Michaels) were still alive and heavily contributing. The Dark Side one, though, really didn’t tell me much that I haven’t heard before. In fact, Eric Bischoff did a podcast dedicated to this WCW/New Japan joint shows in North Korea and the chaos surrounding them. Honestly, there wasn’t anything new from this experience.

Ditto with Shawn Michaels’s Biography. From other documentaries and Shawn Michaels’s own books, I’ve heard most of this before. What was STRIKING from this documentary, however, was how enabling Vince McMahon and the Clique members, particularly Triple H, were about Shawn Michaels’s substance abuse. They knew it was going on, as Vince McMahon was desperate back then for star power during the Monday Night Wars and Triple H did insane things on taking care of Shawn such as helping him take showers, get dressed, and make it to bed nightly. Instead of thinking “hey, may Shawn need rehab” they were like “how can we keep this guy upright to appear on Wrestlemania 14”. They could have killed him.

Yes, the fear would be that time off equals no money earned and that was the weird driving factor for Michaels pushing it too far. Michaels, however, was harming himself with his substance abuse during the 1990s and it could have been fatal.

Otherwise, the Shawn Michaels Biography was very entertaining and was packed with a good story of his life. Shawn is a real success story based on how he beat his demons and had a second WWE career that was equal to his first. But damn, we’re lucky that he made it through the late 1990s alive. Seriously.

*****

What are your thoughts on AEW Dynamite’s viewership numbers this week?

821,000 viewers, eh? “But but but but but NBA Playoffs” is what I’m hearing from the Observer Boys. You know, I’d agree with that notion if it weren’t for the following FACTS regarding the NBA:

(a) The highly rated game of the Lakers vs. Warriors STARTED at 10pm EST. You can give me the “but but but West Coast” excuse all you want but the majority of the population still lives in the East and majority of Pro Wrestling fans live here as well. Just look at where the WWE mostly tours and you’ll see them swinging mostly up and down the right half of the map.

(b) NBA’s viewership is DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY from prior years, even from last year’s significant decline.

The FACT is that both WWE RAW and WCW Nitro were able to draw 4-5 million viewers PER SHOW at a time when the NBA had the GREATEST OF ALL TIME Michael Jordan on regular season and playoff games. And I could argue things further that the NHL and MLB regular season games and playoff games also drew stronger 23 years ago, too. Hell, the NFL was on ABC for Monday Night Football and drew WAY MORE viewers than it now does on ESPN. ON TOP OF THAT, there were fewer households owning Cable/Satellite during 1998 than now and we’ve lost about 10-15 million households owning Cable/Satellite since it’s peak around 2012.

The REAL FACT is that if All Elite Wrestling had (a) better creative and (b) a better talent roster, they’d draw more viewers!

Instead, what we get is a poorly constructed show creatively that is poorly executed by a weak talent roster put together by unqualified EVPs. The show is utter chaos from start to finish and nobody is getting over to pull in casual fans.

The Observer Boys need to stop being Public Relations agents for AEW because it harms their objectivity and credibility as news breaking journalists. Period. They’ll expose everything on WWE but then play dumb when Big Show, Sting, Matt Hardy, Brodie Lee, Jon Moxley, and others have been signed. You never hear of any “backstage morale” news stories on AEW and the Observer Boys are way more plugged into AEW than WWE with their sources. While Tony Khan is like a walking ATM machine to most wrestlers, someone backstage has to be upset at their creative direction to really spill the beans.

821,000 viewers and we’re only in Week 6 without NXT present? I thought that NXT was taking away all of the fans?

Expect more surprise celebrities or more gimmick matches in the future… That’s what AEW is going to do to artificially pump up numbers to get near or slightly above 1 million.

Funny how we just bragged about being #1 in that 18-49 Demographic (despite being 19th in total viewership that night). Ooops… You can’t deliver celebrities and gimmicked matches every night until the fans become desensitized to that… What you’re left with after that is, as I said above, poor creative and a poorly constructed talent roster. Tony Khan is an inexperienced guy placed in roles by his rich father to operate a wrestling company, a NFL franchise, and a European soccer team at the same freakin’ time. For help, he’s hired the wrong people with each of those operations. His EVPs for AEW are wrestlers with ZERO managerial or booking experience.

My real question is this… How low can this go? As I’ve repeatedly suggested and proved using statistics, having NXT on Wednesday Nights actually HELPED AEW Dynamite because it broadened the audience of casual viewers who could flip between 2 wrestling shows. Now, both shows are already declining in viewership and the NBA & NHL Playoffs are here. OH WAIT, as I mentioned above, BOTH the NBA and NHL have experienced viewership declines. Let’s stop using that excuse… GOOD WRESTLING will draw viewers. BAD WRESTLING won’t. We have lots of wrestling history and television data to prove that FACT.

Please join me in reality.

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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