Building Wrestlemania 28

Yesterday’s Raw proved that WWE still has it in them to promote a match and make it seem like a huge deal. Even though it went on a little too long and lost its point near the end, the opening segment with Chris Jericho and CM Punk was phenomenal. The build for this program has been somewhat non-existent so this segment was necessary. The most refreshing aspect of this program is that is simply being built around the championship and who is the “best wrestler in the world”. With this built I hope that their match at Wrestlemania is long and exciting, which it definitely has the ability to be.

The major downside of this Raw was the lack of development for the Bryan/Sheamus program, this isn’t a huge deal as there is plenty time before the show to promote this match. Either way it says a lot for two performers who were on Wrestlemania’s dark match last year, and now are wrestling for the second most important title in the company.

The most talked about part of the show was The Rock’s promo and Cena’s confronting him on it. The Rock was fantastic as usual and John Cena was somehow better than that. John Cena’s performances have been so strong over the past two weeks that it seems like a completely different character. Cena is now serious and passionate, not cracking terrible jokes and trying to be funny.  Cena’s post-match reaction on last week’s Raw (February 20^th) immediately caused many in the crowd to switch sides from booing Cena to cheering him. This is a testament to the talent of John Cena.

So far the build to Wrestlemania has been spotty, with some parts being great and some being lackluster. It will be a fun month to see where these programs go!

Ring Ka King and Wrestling's Global Reach

On January 28th a new wrestling company debuted on The Colors Network in India by the name of Ring Ka King. This project is the first professional wrestling company to run in India (besides a few ill fated WWE shows about a decade ago) and the early success seems high, with the debut episode being the most watched wrestling show in history! This was followed up by an excellent article in GQ

Debut Episode of Ring Ka King

The Ring Ka King product is unique,it is written and created for the Indian audience, this is made obvious with the long dance number that opens the first episode. The production of this show is absolutely top notch, at times looking significantly better than Monday Night Raw. Ratings for Ring Ka King have been good with Colors even adjusting the show's schedule to increase viewership. Most interestingly about this situation will be the company's further actions if the show remains successful. TNA had an opportunity to enter in to a completely new and untapped market, allowing them to define the norm for professional wrestling in this huge country. Products like Ring Ka King are integral to the long-term success of TNA and professional wrestling as a global sport.

TNA utilizing a brand new IP in an emerging market created an interesting scenario for the brand. It will be interesting to look at the future of the company and how or if they integrate the Impact Wrestling brand in to the Ring Ka King product.

Although this form of professional wrestling is not for everyone, I encourage anyone who is a fan to check out the show, which can be seen on YouTube for free!

Watch Ring Ka King on Colors YouTube Channel here
Follow Ring Ka King on Twitter here

The Biggest Wrestlemania Ever?

Wrestlemania 28 is shaping up to be the biggest Wrestlemania of all time and it will be interesting to see what the final lineup will be. As of February 21st, here is the speculated lineup for the show:

The Rock vs. John Cena
Triple H vs. The Undertaker (Hell in a Cell)
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship
Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship
The Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal

In addition we will have appearances by Mike Tyson, Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen and Edge. There is also heavy speculation of Metallica performing a song at the show too. Even if that does not happen, this will be the most star-studded Wrestlemania in history.

WWE have done a fantastic job making this event seem like a huge deal all year long. Since the PPV is over a month away, speculation on a domestic buyrate would be presumptuous, but as of now everyone feels optimistic on this being the all time biggest. The most important issue WWE will have is that their biggest stars are only part-time performers. Unfortunately the event's card seems designed to utilize past stars rather than getting any current stars over. The biggest opportunities at mania will be for CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Sheamus, all of which former champions.

In order for future successful Wrestlemanias, WWE must prioritize the building of new stars!

Shaquille O’Neal at Wrestlemania 28!

Hollywood Life has reported that Shaq will be at Wrestlemania 28, this is of course huge as he will be one of three very popular celebrities attending this year's Wrestlemania event. It is speculated he will have Big Show as an opponent, which should make for an interesting head to head face off in the middle of the ring.

The business opportunities for this are huge and should not be taken lightly. Shaq is someone who is popular with the sports crowd but also has made a large impact for himself in mainstream pop culture. The interesting part of this news will be seeing his effect on the ultimate buy-rate of this event.

Making More Money on The Road to Wrestlemania

Every year the "Road to Wrestlemania" starts in January around the beginning of the yearly big push for Royal Rumble. The build to Wrestlemania is almost always good as they never fail to make it feel like a big deal. My issue is with the money that could be made in between these two large events. After last night's lackluster Elimination Chamber PPV, it stood out that the Chamber really makes little sense in it's current spot in the calendar.

For the past few years there has been a lot of talk about using the Elimination Chamber winner to face the "other" champion at Wrestlemania. Since Wrestlemania is clearly the biggest event of the year, utilizing the chamber match for this makes perfect sense. This reduces burnout from having two chamber matches and also makes the Wrestlemania title match much more special. This idea is hardly new but it is proven that the Royal Rumble has an increased buyrate due to the Wrestlemania ramifications, ideally the Elimination Chamber could be another step and money could be maximized.

The other issue with the Elimination Chamber is the super funky match order which made little sense. Why was the United States Championship match between Superstars-level performers on after BOTH title matches in the chamber? Why did the match for the most prestigious WWE title kick off the show? Why was there an in ring segment on a PPV?

The biggest illustration representing the failure of this PPV would be the fact that only Santino came out of the PPV more over than before. Unfortunately, it is unknown as to what plans the company has for him during Wrestlemania, although now whatever role he may have had will change.

What Are the Best Wrestling Podcasts?

Discussing the use of podcasts in developing talent inspired me to make a post dedicated to what I feel are the best of the best in this field. Since WWE doesn't have a podcast, that doesn't mean that you can't get an amazing audio wrestling fix from other places daily! The coverage that some of these shows give to the business side of things are usually the highest profile stories to come out of the wrestling world. If I were a serious investor or in management in WWE, the podcast scene would be my first place to get instant reactions, opinions and actual experiences in the company. Twitter is instant reactionary feedback, podcasts provide thought out feedback that can go into much greater detail as to the feelings of the fan.

Live Audio Wrestling/Review-A-Wai - This wins my vote for best podcast on the net. Live Audio Wrestling has been around since 1997 on terrestrial radio and the success of this show's witty and smart style led to a series of podcasts dedicated to reviewing retro events (usually events that sucked, so the podcast is even better), Monday Night Raw (broadcast live after Raw on Stickam) and TNA Impact. The LAW is live every Sunday night and always features the most insane and interesting callers that exist on sports radio. The only thing better than the callers would be the reactions of hosts John Pollock, Jason Agnew and Dan Lovranski, all of which present a distinct and interesting style. The shows with John Pollock and Wai Ting provide a different type of show that simply reviews the topic at hand, they are always excellent and are all worth listening to weekly. There is way more stuff the LAW guys do and it is all 100% free with no subscription, the quality and price of the content makes this the top gun right now. It currently can be found on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto or online at www.liveaudiowrestling.com, www.reviewawai.com and www.stickam.com/reviewawai

Wrestling Observer Live/Figure Four Weekly - If you know about MMA and wrestling then you know about the history, quality and importance of the Observer. The content is subscription based at $10.99 a month, and is worth every penny. Tons of radio shows weekly with a variety of hosts including Lance Storm co-hosting two excellent shows a month. Along with the Observer (in the most obtuse and difficult to read format ever) and the Figure Four Weekly (in a very eye pleasing format) it is the only pay site on the net actually worth it. Dave Meltzer is the Walter Cronkite of journalism in this field, hands down the most respected, honest and knowledgeable person to ever analyze the business. His partner on the site, Bryan Alvarez is the reason to pay your monthly fee though, Alvarez is witty and has odd vocal expressions that somehow increase the entertainment level. The Bryan & Vinny Show from the website brought us this clip that was recently shown on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

If you consider yourself a true wrestling or MMA geek, you owe it to yourself to at least try it for one month, just remember to stay the hell off the board. Check them out at www.wrestlingobserver.com

Podcasting and talent development

WWE's success with social media has helped the company greatly within the past 5 years, it provides another distribution channel for content along with instant interaction between fans and the talent. The one area of digital media they haven't attempted would be podcasts (Unless you count the early Byte This shows, which were at the time groundbreaking and probably one of the most influential web series in sports)

Podcasts have already proven successful in professional wrestling, with Colt Cabana's Art Of Wrestling, Live Audio Wrestling/Review-A-Wai, Aftermath and Wrestling Observer being just a few of the many podcasts to become fairly popular. Why WWE management or WWE talent hasn't used this platform to gain an audience is beyond me, the only justification I can state is that they may not feel comfortable with having talent be themselves for over an hour. The reason for the success of Zack Ryder's Z True Long Island Story show on YouTube is clearly the fact that WWE had no influence whatsoever in the creative process. This allowed for Zack's personality to show and with it he gained fans week by week the old fashioned way. Of course the result of that was an increase of merchandise sales that was nowhere near proportional to the amount of television time he had (which was zero) at the time. By utilizing a fresh platform, a flip cam, creativity and entertaining friends, Zack was able to literally save his entire career while making his employer tons of money.

Wrestling & MMA Video Game Sales Data

With today's release of UFC Undisputed 3, it is an opportune time to discuss global sales of MMA and wrestling video games. Video games have become an integral source of revenue for both MMA and professional wrestling organizations, here are global sales numbers to compare for some recent releases (if released on multiple consoles, totals are added for one grand total, portables are not included):

UFC:
Undisputed 2010 - 2.44 million (PS3 & Xbox 360)
Undisputed 2009 - 3.61 million (PS3 & Xbox 360)

WWE:
WWE '12 - 1.91 million (PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii)
WWE All Stars - 0.66 million (PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 - 2.54 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 - 3.8 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 - 3.76 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
Legends of Wrestlemania - 0.75 million (PS3 & Xbox 360)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 - 5.96 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 - 3.04 million (Xbox 360 & PS2)

Other:
TNA Impact - 1.12 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
EA MMA - 0.49 million (PS3 & Xbox 360)
Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring - 0.08 million (PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii)
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns - 0.09 million (PS2)

WWE Talent-Exchange

Throughout the early 1990's, WWF participated in a variety of talent exchanges with other regional territories in the United States. WWF talent appeared on Smoky Mountain Wrestling, USWA and ECW television shows and talent from those organizations appeared on WWF television. This led to fantastic angles like the oft forgotten "McMemphis" angle, where Vince debuted his heel character in 1993.

The aftermath of the SMW and USWA working relationships led to new talent being used in the WWF to freshen up the product. This was followed up by the agreement with ECW that has been talked about a lot throughout the years.

Nick Diaz drama

After his loss at UFC 143, Nick Diaz tested positive for Marijuana Metabolites, this may result in up to a year suspension! This should be a sign to the athletic commissions and even the UFC officials as to the necessity to change the rules of drug testing.

Diaz had a legit medical marijuana card and has tried to be honest about his use but commisions won't have it, yet Dan Henderson is okay to use testosterone because of a "medical condition". This wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't for the fact that marijuana is in no way a PED, so there is no cheating at all. Yes, this is Diaz fault for being stupid and smoking before a fight, I'm not excusing his actions at all.

UFC will be losing what would be one of the biggest matches of the year (maybe two if Diaz won the rematch and got to fight GSP) over a dirty pot test. In the WWE a positive pot test will net you a $2500 fine and that's it, this would be a much better way for MMA to police this issue.