Steve Carrier on May 18, 2019
Lawler is joined on today’s show by his co-host Glenn Moore.
Lawler opens today’s show by mentioning that he and Jim Ross will soon be doing their last live show together, at least for some time. Ross signed a lucrative contract with AEW and Lawler signed a new deal with WWE recently, so Lawler thinks it’d be great if Ross wore a AEW shirt to the show and he wore a WWE shirt.
He notes that Ross’ AEW contract is the most lucrative contract of his career, even more than WWE was paying him. Ross hit the jackpot and Lawler is very happy for him because he deserves it. He points out that nothing is really the same after you lose a loved one, and he’s sure Ross wishes his late wife, Jan, was still here to share this with him.
AEW announced this past week that they’ve come to an agreement with TNT to air a weekly live show starting later this year. Lawler says that if AEW were on the same night in the same time slot as WWE he’d consider them direct competition, but that won’t be the case. He notes that times have changed and it’s not just two wrestling companies competing directly with each other anymore.
Nowadays there are so many other entertainment options such as video games, streaming services, and an increasing number of other television stations to choose from. WWE’s competition is every other show on every other station whenever they air their programs.
Moore notes that if AEW really wanted to challenge WWE they’d air their show on Monday or Friday night, in direct competition with WWE. Lawler notes that during the attitude era there were 8-9 million people watching wrestling every Monday night, but that’s not the case anymore. Wrestling has lost the mainstream, casual audience, and there appears to be a baseline hardcore crowd of around 2 million viewers.
If AEW airs on a different night than RAW and Smackdown, then those 2 million viewers won’t have to choose between shows, and that means both companies could effectively garner the same audience. Lawler thinks there’s definitely room for two big wrestling companies in the world.
Lawler is sure that Vince McMahon is aware of AEW and that won’t change as long as they’re in business, but he doesn’t think McMahon is worried or concerned about AEW because there’s no way they can put him out of business.
Moore informs that rumours are circulating that TNT officials will be happy with 400,000 viewers for AEW’s show. Lawler finds that hard to believe, adding that he thinks TNT officials will be “shocked” with numbers that low. TNT are also covering production costs and splitting ad revenue with AEW, so he thinks the network will want stronger numbers than that.
Lawler points out that FOX paid a billion dollars for Smackdown as well, so it’s no surprise that they reportedly want WWE’s top stars on the blue brand. Some fans point out that NXT stars could help the roster but Lawler points out that NXT Superstars aren’t at the calibre of someone like John Cena or Ronda Rousey in terms of drawing in a casual audience.
He points out that even WWE Champion, Kofi Kingston, is probably not recognizable to the casual audience, and probably wouldn’t be known outside of WWE’s 2 million hardcore viewers. FOX, having spent so much money for Smackdown, wants to attract casuals and raise the viewership from that 2 million number.
Moore notes that WWE probably implemented the Wildcard Rule as a way to get stars on both brands, and this could even signal the sign of the end of the brand split. Lawler points out that the brand split was initiated by Vince McMahon to create competition within his own company, but he doesn’t think the fans ever really bought into that.
If WWE ended the brand split Lawler thinks WWE creative would have way more options, and with all the stars available for every show, they wouldn’t have to have every single one of those stars on every program. He also thinks it’s good that Smackdown is moving from Tuesday to Friday to allow a break for the talent and for the viewers throughout the week.
Lawler says we might be seeing a lot more of him on WWE programming soon, because FOX wants to have more WWE programming to accompany Smackdown. If that’s the case he thinks he’ll get a call to be a part of some of that programming.
Lawler says that Money in the Bank is one of his favourite PPVs and he’s always loved the MITB Ladder match. He thinks this Sunday’s show will be great because the lineup of matches is very exciting.
That sums up this week’s episode of Dinner With the King. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
May 18, 2019 10:32 am
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