Fightful Wrestling Weekly (5/18): All-In, WWE Producers, Low Ki, Big Cass, More
All In
I'm told that All-In's PR was hoping for something like 7,000 ticket sales in the first day, and obviously the quick sales blew everything out of the water. This comes on the heels of NJPW's July ticket sales not doing so well after their event was essentially a one-match show. As for the layout of the event from a media standpoint, I'm told that All In is hoping to have backstage press conferences after each match, much like New Japan Pro Wrestling does.
We spoke to Marty Scurll at Fightful.com this week at the All-In presser. He said he was a little surprised to think that an event of this magnitude could happen, and thinks that the anti-establishment and organic nature has helped the Being The Elite cast connect with the audiences. Scurll said that despite the tough times he went through making no money "when he didn't have a pot to piss in," he didn't really consider giving it up.
Scurll identified Roddy Piper, Terry Funk, Bret Hart, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Jushin Liger as inspirations for him in his career. He stated that it'd be nice to face someone who wasn't in Ring of Honor, since he's already contracted to ROH and could do those matches there. Scurll noted that Cody was trying to put a card together eight months ago, but because of the nature of wrestling, it didn't come together.
Tessa Blanchard
Tessa Blanchard told us that she wanted to be a part of All-In from the time it was announced, and sees it as a big step forward for women's wrestling. She'll be joined on the show by the likes of Deonna Purrazzo (who was also in attendance at the All In press conference), Penelope Ford, Chelsea Green and Britt Baker thus far.
Adam Hangman Page spoke to Fightful again, and mentioned that he wasn't sure if the Young Bucks were serious about the All-In show initially, and thinks that the event would still be going on even if Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer and Cody hadn't made a bet on the possibility of the show.
Page said that Cody was so driven that he was texting them at 3 AM the morning before the press conference in regards to the presser.
Page also touched on the injury bug that has bitten him over the past several weeks. He pulled both groin muscles running to the ring, and got through the match. He said that he got knocked out from a V-Trigger by Kenny Omega and didn't experience any headaches, but has an hour or two that is unaccounted for in his memory. Since then he's tried to take it a little bit easier, and helped out with the proposal in the ring at last weekend's Ring of Honor War of the Worlds show.
This will come as a surprise to few, but TJ Wilson, who formerly wrestled for WWE as Tyson Kidd is getting a lot of praise for his work as a producer with the company. One WWE wrestler told me that Tyson Kidd was always ahead of the curve in the ring as a wrestler, and he hasn't stopped staying ahead of the curve as a producer. Kidd has worked on several of Seth Rollins' matches recently, and also helps out producing some of the female angles and matches.
You may have missed it last week, but Low Ki held a webinar that was likely only attended by two paying customers — one of which being Fightful.com's David Bixenspan on assignment from the site. Bixenspan sat through the seminar, in which a suspected plant also participated in. Bixenspan and the only other (likely) paying customer (another person watching sarcastically), both said the tone and direction of some of these questions led them to surmise that Low-Ki had the woman there to help direct the webinar in the direction he wanted it to go.
Low Ki is charging $100 for a one-on-one 45 minute instruction and 15 minute interview, all the way up to $300 for a two hour, 6-10 person session with 90 minutes of instruction and a 30 minute interview. He has over 90,000 Twitter followers, and managed 2 sarcastic sales. It's pretty wild how far endorsing a product or project on Twitter has fallen over the last several years.
I'm finally getting some people to speak out about the Low-Ki – Game Changer Wrestling situation. Unanimously across the board, everyone considers him keeping his deposit as ridiculous. Another said that they didn't think that Low Ki was necessarily scared of facing Matt Riddle in the kind of match he was set for, but just made a "vintage Low Ki decision." That same person said that this could have been a real turning point for the in-ring career of Low-Ki, as he's eroded almost all good will he has with several bookers, wrestlers and companies.
The consensus was that when Brandon Silvestry wants to be on and puts his mind to things, his work ethic is unmatched. It's just a matter of making that happen sometimes.
To expand on the heat with Big Cass first reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet, I was told Vince McMahon wasn't the only one frustrated with Cass' behavior in going off script. Specifically, some were concerned about the safety of the person Cass was working with, as they weren't clued in.
Regardless of what fans think WWE thinks of Daniel Bryan, it was communicated that Cass was being given a very special position as being Bryan's first feud after his extended retirement, and WWE wanted to put together a situation that would help both guys out.
Originally, Daniel Bryan was supposed to interrupt the segment, but when WWE saw that his chest was still heavily bruised from the Greatest Royal Rumble, he was held off of the show because of how it looked on television. The re-write left a little more room for improvisation.
