The Heat and the Shine

Names matter, and the name "All Elite Wrestling" matters a lot.  The promotion authored by Cody & the Young Bucks and owned by Shad Khan's son will be Elite, or it will die trying. The term "Shad Khan's son" is hardly music to the money man behind All Elite, Tony Khan.  Sons of successful entrepreneurs rarely enjoy discussion of the fact that their dads made a lot of money.  There is a perception that being such a son comes with inherent advantages.  Vince McMahon says that Shane had to work twice as hard to reach his position, but many fans and journalists simply don't believe it.  Dynasties like the McMahons of wrestling or Rooneys of football are spotlighted.  Cases where the family business is not handed down -- the Denver Broncos' present ownership drama, for example -- are ignored. Shad Khan is relevant to AEW because he is a remarkable man, with a remarkably American success story.  He emigrated from Pakistan, and simply decided to

Dave Meltzer appeared on " The Jim Cornette Experience " podcast recently for a discussion on modern wrestling promotion.  Meltzer's position was that indy wrestling is hot, and thus the current, wink-and-nod style works.  Cornette's position is that there are more lapsed wrestling fans than active wrestling fans, and that's evidence that the business should go back to the way it used to be. In this blog's view, they're both right.  If indy promoters booked the way Cornette wants them to book, the indy scene would be nowhere near as hot.  But if a disciplined, ambitious indy promotion took cues from Cornette, they'd offer stronger competition for WWE than Impact, ROH, New Japan or anyone else. One area where Meltzer's argument trumps Cornette's -- again, in this blog's opinion -- is that the kayfabe cat is out of the bag.  Wrestling fans wouldn't just going to roll their eyes at Smokey Mountain Wrestling style booking, they'd

A void exists.  And voids don't last.  Either the void will be filled or the void will go away.  But voids don't last. The void is in the wrestling business.  The demand of fans and ex-fans for a more intelligent, grounded product has no supply to feed from.  WWE can't or won't give up scripted promos and "invisible camera" segments.  Lucha Underground is a fine product, but it's more television than wrestling.  Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) thrills local fans in Los Angeles, but their goal has never been to go mainstream.  Surely there are other contenders, but none that have caught on.  And so the void continues. Voids cannot last because eventually the demand dries up.  People move on.  Fans become fans of something else.  How many have moved on to MMA or fantasy football or something else altogether?  But wrestling's void persists.  A hardcore fanbase and an intransigent monarch have sustained it. Nigel McGuinness wants to fill the pro wrest