"Tana, you want to come work a tag match against me and Bonza in a Thornbury pub?"
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Australian Wrestling thread
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auswrestlinginsider
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Tamashii is an interesting one, they can't possibly be making money off of it given the smaller crowds and high end talent they use, they haven't really experienced any growth (Actually the opposite) and it's at least partially headed up by Bonza who is controversial at the very least.
Kind of just seems like a way for local Aussie/NZ workers from the Fale Dojo/PWA to slap their chests and say "We're part of New Japan Pro Wrestling!" when it really isn't that way at all. PWA should probably be focusing on the fact that they've lost Liberty Hall and are now relegated to running shows every 3 months in a venue 50 minutes from their former home instead of trying to revive Tamashii. I think PWA isn't even top 3 attendances in NSW anymore which has to be troubling for the people that say they are the premium brand.
I don't think it'd be that hard to be honest, if you're New Japan it seems like a pretty easy sell...
"We'd like to try and grow your branding here in Australia again, we'll take on all costs, we'll keep your locally based talent like Fale and Robbie happy plus we'll fly in one or two of the main roster guys to give them a working holiday in one of the most beautiful countries on earth"
The question is what's in it for Bonza and PWA...
Kind of just seems like a way for local Aussie/NZ workers from the Fale Dojo/PWA to slap their chests and say "We're part of New Japan Pro Wrestling!" when it really isn't that way at all. PWA should probably be focusing on the fact that they've lost Liberty Hall and are now relegated to running shows every 3 months in a venue 50 minutes from their former home instead of trying to revive Tamashii. I think PWA isn't even top 3 attendances in NSW anymore which has to be troubling for the people that say they are the premium brand.
I don't think it'd be that hard to be honest, if you're New Japan it seems like a pretty easy sell...
"We'd like to try and grow your branding here in Australia again, we'll take on all costs, we'll keep your locally based talent like Fale and Robbie happy plus we'll fly in one or two of the main roster guys to give them a working holiday in one of the most beautiful countries on earth"
The question is what's in it for Bonza and PWA...
Meanwhile, for OPW/Starrcast this week it looks like they've sold 53/522 tickets for the Kickoff Party, 75/522 tickets for Bischoff, and 332/522 for the Hitman (in each case not including the platinum ticket holders for whom there will be an additional five rows at the front).
There are still tickets available in all categories for HER on Friday night. The Australian Stampede show is GA (standing only).
I will be interested to see how this goes for last-minute sales. I cannot get down prior to Saturday and while my intention was to get in early to see Bischoff, I'm concerned his bit will just devolve into the sort of toxic anti-AEW ranting that he and a handful of out-of-touch former bookers have realised there is an audience for (in which case I'd rather stop by Kryal Castle or something instead).
I expect it will be a good event overall and I'm hoping it does well, especially on the wrestling front. I'm sure they'd like to move a few more tickets, but the key thing with the Starrcast model is that it gives the promoters and the wrestlers the ability to clip the ticket a number of times in relation to the same group of fans.
There are still tickets available in all categories for HER on Friday night. The Australian Stampede show is GA (standing only).
I will be interested to see how this goes for last-minute sales. I cannot get down prior to Saturday and while my intention was to get in early to see Bischoff, I'm concerned his bit will just devolve into the sort of toxic anti-AEW ranting that he and a handful of out-of-touch former bookers have realised there is an audience for (in which case I'd rather stop by Kryal Castle or something instead).
I expect it will be a good event overall and I'm hoping it does well, especially on the wrestling front. I'm sure they'd like to move a few more tickets, but the key thing with the Starrcast model is that it gives the promoters and the wrestlers the ability to clip the ticket a number of times in relation to the same group of fans.
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I mean more the reputational damage. They had people complain about not being paid to head office which was a headache that they didn't want to deal with.
jcartwright771
Debutant
- Nov 15, 2022
- 77
- 20
- AFL Club
- Adelaide
This sums a few things up.
Got in this morning and will probably go to everything through the next two days. Bischoff was good. He’s a lot better when he isn’t just throwing out controversial takes for Twitter.
The only downside was when he strayed into AEW bashing territory (“Tony Khan wants to be Eric Bischoff or Paul Heyman but he doesn’t have the skillset” (or words to that effect)).
On that note, it’s a shame AEW never reached ECW’s record of selling 85,000 tickets at Wembley.
I had a great time in Ballarat on the weekend. Starrcast was good. Got a picture with Bret Hart and spoke and got things signed with Tenille Dashwood, Mike Rallis, Sheldon Benjamin and Moose. One minor criticism is their was like only 3 vendors so there wasn't much else to do once you met who you wanted to meet. Bret's line was massive all day. His meet and greets were sold out all 3 days.
Bret's stage show was very good. Told some excellent stories and was surprising very funny. Well worth the money. Gangrel was a good stage show as well. Still loves Luna Vachon. Great Khali was probably the weakest stage show that I attended but he still did well given English is not his first language.
It was a shame that Powerhouse Hobbs cancelled but as a result people with a Starrcast ticket could meet and greet additional 4 people free of charge, with the exception of Bret Hart, Eric Bischoff or Mickie James.
Mickie James was stunning in person. Nick Aldis is a lucky man. Vix Crow aka Alicia Fox looked a lot different from her WWE days. She has sleeve tattoos on both arms and was very thin. Bubbly personality.
The wrestling show, Australian Stampede was excellent. Well worth the price of the Starrcast ticket. I didn't see the women's show on Friday as I was working but apparently that got great reviews too.
I will probably buy the package on Fite so I can watch the women show and replay of men show.
Moose was very funny as a heel at Australian Stampede.
For those in Melbourne, Bret Hart is doing another stage show/ Q&A this upcoming Friday
Definitely worthwhile to attend.
DMDU still going or been put out of its misery ?
I mean, he isn't wrong...
They’ve already announced they’re going back in August to Civc Hall which is interesting. Based on prior press, I’d understood that to be the MLW show, but that’s not clear.
I thought the whole layout of the event was really good in that everything was walkable, so it seems like a good location in that sense.
However, the attendance levels didn’t appear to be that high. That was particularly stark during the stage shows in that fairly sizeable Civic Hall space. I thought they were all enjoyable, but there would not have been more than 50 people in attendance at any of the Gangrel, TNA in the Rumble, or Khali shows. As an aside, did SoCal Val not have a watch? The shows she hosted (including Bret today) were habitually 20 minutes short of advertised duration.
There was a good turnout at Selkirk last night too, but it’s a big space and would have only been about 50% - 60% full at a pinch. It was an enjoyable show anyway. Hopefully they do a few on-demand buys.
I’m also not sure if it was by design or by accident, but the common theme with all the internationals I met was that they were very nice. I’m not big into meet and greets usually, so I didn’t go out of the way to meet everyone, just the four random photo choices I was tasked with making as soon as I got in the door. Chris Masters, in particular, was such a class act and was keen to discuss a range of things including the pressure of wrestling in front of Bret Hart.
I must admit to not understanding the pricing structure fully either - it seemed like outside of the included talent (four photos for gold) you could just go up to whoever, introduce yourself and get a photo. I have no idea how they were keeping tabs on that (and honestly, I don’t think they were) because from the website that should’ve cost in the order of $40 to $100 per talent.
The key things I’d be interested to know include:
- There is only one Hitman. Can they find another person that draws the same number of people given the singular fixation of the audience on him? Starrcast without him would’ve sold 30 tickets. You’d think it would have to be a name like Stone Cold, Ric Flair or Sting to do those sorts of numbers, and I don’t know if any of them would be realistic.
- If you just shelled out for the Hitman stage show and travelled from Melbourne to attend, what would you be thinking now in response to the news you could get tickets at $30 a pop at Ferntree Gully, which is significantly cheaper than today?
- Why does Conrad keep bailing on these trips to Australia at the last minute? Or should we take this most recent explanation at face value?
I thought the whole layout of the event was really good in that everything was walkable, so it seems like a good location in that sense.
However, the attendance levels didn’t appear to be that high. That was particularly stark during the stage shows in that fairly sizeable Civic Hall space. I thought they were all enjoyable, but there would not have been more than 50 people in attendance at any of the Gangrel, TNA in the Rumble, or Khali shows. As an aside, did SoCal Val not have a watch? The shows she hosted (including Bret today) were habitually 20 minutes short of advertised duration.
There was a good turnout at Selkirk last night too, but it’s a big space and would have only been about 50% - 60% full at a pinch. It was an enjoyable show anyway. Hopefully they do a few on-demand buys.
I’m also not sure if it was by design or by accident, but the common theme with all the internationals I met was that they were very nice. I’m not big into meet and greets usually, so I didn’t go out of the way to meet everyone, just the four random photo choices I was tasked with making as soon as I got in the door. Chris Masters, in particular, was such a class act and was keen to discuss a range of things including the pressure of wrestling in front of Bret Hart.
I must admit to not understanding the pricing structure fully either - it seemed like outside of the included talent (four photos for gold) you could just go up to whoever, introduce yourself and get a photo. I have no idea how they were keeping tabs on that (and honestly, I don’t think they were) because from the website that should’ve cost in the order of $40 to $100 per talent.
The key things I’d be interested to know include:
- There is only one Hitman. Can they find another person that draws the same number of people given the singular fixation of the audience on him? Starrcast without him would’ve sold 30 tickets. You’d think it would have to be a name like Stone Cold, Ric Flair or Sting to do those sorts of numbers, and I don’t know if any of them would be realistic.
- If you just shelled out for the Hitman stage show and travelled from Melbourne to attend, what would you be thinking now in response to the news you could get tickets at $30 a pop at Ferntree Gully, which is significantly cheaper than today?
- Why does Conrad keep bailing on these trips to Australia at the last minute? Or should we take this most recent explanation at face value?
auswrestlinginsider
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I may be being ignorant because I wasn't there and only am going off what you and others have said online but I just don't see how this promotion can be turning a profit for these areas. The footage of both the Australian Stampede and HER looked to be in front of half empty arenas with many empty seats being visible even though the person filming is trying to avoid that. A half full arena after months of hype, national TV segments, 20+ international flights, visas, hotels etc. It can't be a good look especially when the big selling point of this Ballarat event is now turning up for a different organisation that has nothing to do with OPW.
If I were Ballarat tourism I'd be pretty annoyed at just how much money has been wasted. Can anyone really explain how the likes of Shanky Singh, Mance Warner, Bull Nakano, Steph De Lander, KUSHIDA, Mike Rallis, Moose, Steph De Lander, So Cal Val, Jordynne Grace and others managed to get a free trip to Australia and a payday out of this? Especially when you'd probably draw the same amount of people with Bret, Masters, Shelton, Khali, Bischoff, Victoria, Mickie, Alicia Fox and Dashwood only?
Onto your key things:
- Unfortunately for a lot of the promotions that heavily rely on internationals the problem quickly becomes how to top last time. Bret is one of the greatest of all time and you're right that it'll be very difficult to top him. I'd say maybe Mick Foley could be a possibility as he is a guy still doing independent dates but even then Foley has been here I think 3 times over the past 5 years. Flair might be realistic given the relationship with Conrad but I think that'd be it really. Hogan, Sting, Kevin Nash, Stone Cold, Goldberg probably aren't making that trip over.
- You'd have to be filthy if you made the trip to Ballarat for Bret only for him to be announced at Ferntree Gully for cheaper. Massive oversight by the OPW people there and that's how you quickly lose customers.
- I think Conrad bails because it's a long trip and he doesn't want to do it. He's probably committed to doing one at some point though...
This event would of made money mainly because of the grant they received from Visit Victoria. Each year the government makes million dollar grants to region areas for tourism.
Ballarat tourism have to spend the money that they get for local economy. Hence why they agreed to fund this event. Prior to Bret Q & A, a local Ballarat member of parliament spoke that they were pleased with the event, and with wrestling fans visiting the local clubs and pubs.
The money that they generated from ticket sales and meet and greets would of been 100% profit imo, with Visit Victoria funding the wrestlers appearance fees, travel costs, accomodation, etc.
Waited my whole life to see Yoshi Hashi and Fale square off in St. Kilda
justincross
Draftee
- Mar 23, 2024
- 14
- 1
- AFL Club
- Sydney
OPW looked mint
Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com
Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com
This card is probably better than High Stakes. If Royce can get his body and mind right, he has more upside than any local male talent in my opinion.
Unfortunately, Hawthorn might be lucky to win a couple of games this year, so I will be giving this a miss in the hope I’ll see a rare win. I hope it goes well though. It’s a good venue, and ROW has a solid opportunity at the moment with MCW seemingly cooling off a bit after turning several of their top babyfaces (even if the “Icons” shirt itself is elite).
auswrestlinginsider
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Clicked the PWA live stream, how is it remotely realistic that Jess Troy and Sam Osborne are about to go 20-25 mins in a championship match?
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