Meltzer elaborated more:
"SmackDown's 18-49 was the best they've done since March 2020 and thats 3 years of TV which is a different world when you compare it to now because consumption has changed and TV has changed.... From Monday to Friday it (SmackDown) was #1 on all of network and cable by a significant margin. I dont know if there's ever been a week where a wrestling show has been #1 for the whole week... Going back 75 years... The segment (Bloodline trial) was unbelievable, Jimmy, Jey, Roman, Heyman, Solo all did their roles to perfection, the focus is on Roman and Jey but there is a strong focus on Solo, you can see them building Roman and Solo, they got alot of juice in this thing. Live attendance is way way up, the MSG show was the largest gate in domestic SmackDown history... There's no signs of a impending slowdown, once you got momentum you just cruise..." (Meltzer and Bryan go into some fantasy booking about the Bloodline) "We are nowhere close to an endpoint... like when Hogan and Andre wrestled they were #33 on TV, even when Gorgeous George wrestled I don't know that they ever got #1 on TV. Even in the Attitude Era it wasnt even beating the top shows, people want to say its not hot but it's the hottest its been since 2001, thats 22 years and people will say oh you're doing 3 million but TV has changed, they certainly weren't doing these crowds on a regular basis like they are now... Merchandise has never been higher ever, not in the Attitude Era, not in the Hulk Hogan era, never been as high as its been now. Roman is the catalyst, Cody Rhodes is doing great on RAW..."
Full post can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/wbd-sources-say-85956353
Some major changes could be on the horizon for All Elite Wrestling.
Fightful can confirm via Warner Bros Discovery sources that AEW has long been involved in television rights extension talks. Those that we’ve spoken to said that the conversations have been ongoing for months and they personally believe an announcement could be made this Summer or Fall of a deal reached.
WBD sources tell us they’ve been very happy with AEW, especially the flexibility they’ve provided with adding and subtracting shows, providing different kinds of content, and working around preemptions and network changes.
One of the provisions regarding AEW content and WBD was that AEW content would be exclusive to the WBD brands, which signaled the end of AEW Dark and Elevation on AEW channels. However, we’ve long heard that beyond the PPV integration, WBD hasn’t had much of an interest in ROH branding themselves, and it actually dates back to when Sinclair owned ROH. We haven't heard if that has changed of late.
WBD does have plenty of say and influence over AEW programming, as we’ve seen in the past with crossovers, and talent that are or aren’t featured. However, we’ve been told that AEW has also been really flexible with overruns, as well as other requests WBD has made.
Regarding the broadcast of AEW All In, we’re told that has been actively discussed as a part of these talks.
The WBD source did confirm what we’ve heard in the past, that the deal would be a “huge money increase for AEW, by the way things are looking now.”
For my money Daniel Bryan vs Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series has to be up there as one of the best. Both guys played their roles to perfection and brought out the best of each other. Everything from the selling to the false finishes to the psychology were all top tier.
Edit: I'd also have to nominate Gunther vs Ilja Dragunov. Most David vs Goliath matches involve the underdog having to find ways to outsmart or outwrestle the monster but this is the only one I can think of where the face's strategy was to just beat the hell out of them and boy did he lol.
What about you guys?
