VOW Flagship: Kenny Omega, WrestleMania Changes & more!

[Rich Kraetsch]

This week on the Voices of Wrestling flagship podcast Joe Lanza and Rich Kraetsch discuss the mysteries of the ongoing Kenny Omega situation — is he WWE bound or is his break from Japan an elaborate work?

Other topics include the ever-changing WrestleMania card — which matches have been removed and what do we think the final card will look like. Elsewhere we discuss NJPW's New Beginning cards, NJPW/CMLL's Fantasticamania as well as WWE's UK tournament and possible expansion into other regions.

VOW: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2017/0 ... a-changes/
AudioBoom:

[supersonic]

[supersonic]

Cena dethrones Styles, Joe wins Rumble, Cena vs. Joe vs. Styles at WM33?

[suplexberry]

Five hours after you guys record, Shibata gets revealed/alleged to be a cheater by his (former?) side chick on Twitter. So the streak of news breaking right after the Flagship continues proudly.

As for the pod itself, really enjoyed it. I think Kenny is smartly keeping himself in the headlines and kind of working both sides of the fence - both the NJPW fans who desperately want him to stay and the WWE fans who have to keep following NJPW coverage to see if they can see this guy on WWE soon. It's kind of brilliant. I hope he returns for NJC but that's because if he does, I want him to win it and main event Sakura Genesis (wasn't there a Terminator sequel called Terminator Genesis or something?) which I'm hoping to be attending live. I've got a dog in this fight.

I'm worried as fuck over the future of wrestling, not just because the UK will be a very weird potential battleground but right now it's one I just love and want to support in as many ways as I can, from your ATTACK's to your PROGRESSes of the scene, but now all this territory talk. With any hope WWE always has this issue of delegating power down from Vince and his core group, so relying on regional managers and writers to produce content for a local audience somewhat independent of Stamford telling them what to do just seems like an impossibility but really who knows. It's been interesting to see the battle over this weekend, what with the UK tournament and the PROGRESS show in the Midlands. Folks selling tickets to both, but PROGRESS seems to be comfortably sold out, even as leftovers go on sale on the secondary market. They're teasing big things, and considering this is PROGRESS I have no doubt there will be something big, even if their champs are at this WWE shindig.

I remember coming off a PROGRESS binge last year and sampling some EVOLVE show and texting my friend like, "How the fuck is this a big indy? There's like 20 people in some shitty building and nobody seems into this." The differences are stark and something they should really, really look at. You can recommend these Euro promotions to fans of WWE or NJPW without hesitation. Not so much this Between Two Ferns nonsense.

[steve]

Really good discussion about OTT and other ways that promotions distribute their video content. As stated, one thing it does is set the bar for "what is wrestling value" and unless you really, really hate that WWE content; you can't argue that 9.99 a month is bad value for PPVs, NXT, CWC, Brit wrestling, etc. For example I just took delivery of DVDs from PWG; and obviously this is a different product, but $50 for 5 DVDs and $22 shipping, well that's nearly 2/3 a year of WWE access of all their content. Or, I was reading some of the VoW 2014 New Japan review recently, and I'm pretty sure that purchase of the G1 iPPV that year was around $120. Which if I'm remembering that correctly now is about the same price (if not more) than you can get the full year of content live and recorded. And I like New Japan, but now that WWE has set the price of wrestling, that's a figure that would put me off.

And I also agree that they are trying to just put so much wrestling out there you've not time to watch anything else; IMO their next step will be to look for additional sales from the platform, e.g. ad free or pay more to watch the Big 4 PPVs live, etc. Because, I don't see them creating a monopoly of talent and content without then trying to wring every dollar out of it.

I also find it interesting that as big as PROGRESS must seem as a UK indie and one that is growing rapidly, its owners still (as far as I know) see it as a supplemental income to their day jobs; so its clear that the UK scene is vibrant and growing and its product is in demand in UK and oversees, but it wouldn't appear to be blow your mind profitable.

[BoxingRobes]

Haven't listened yet...but you guys are REALLY milking that promo shot of Omega. lol

[duyarvish]

You guys hit the floslam thing really well. I bit the bullet and subbed and I cant imagine staying subbed for long. Maybe I'll stay though the mania weekend shows because WWN always brings it for those but I can't imagine keeping paying 20 dollars for this. Especially when they don't even have a very big archive up yet.

[Lawsoncomedy]

The point of Omega working people to bring WWE fans to NJPW is on point, I think.

[Lawsoncomedy]

Also I love that you guys put over Matt Striker on commentary. Everyone craps on him but the dude at least knows stuff. Idk why Meltzer and Alvarez are so hard on him. He usually only does a couple annoying things per hour, but he supplies a lot of information.

[wac]

I don't think Okada not kicking out of the One Winged Angel is necessarily proof of anything either way. Nakamura didn't kick out of the Styles Clash at last year's Wrestle Kingdom.

[Joe Lanza]

Also I love that you guys put over Matt Striker on commentary. Everyone craps on him but the dude at least knows stuff. Idk why Meltzer and Alvarez are so hard on him. He usually only does a couple annoying things per hour, but he supplies a lot of information.

At his worst, there is nobody worse. And I can totally see why people find him annoying.

[Joe Lanza]

I don't think Okada not kicking out of the One Winged Angel is necessarily proof of anything either way. Nakamura didn't kick out of the Styles Clash at last year's Wrestle Kingdom.

A little different, both were leaving, plus the plan at the time was for Nak to put over Omega for the IC title.

In this case it isn't so much Okada not kicking out of it as much as NJPW protecting it for the future. Why protect that move if the guy is leaving? No reason. Make it point to have Okada look as strong as possible.

[Frank Olson]

I used to not mind Matt Striker's commentary, since he is clearly a huge wrestling fan, and since I figure that being a dork is kind of just part of the job of being a play by play guy. But his work on the most recent season of Lucha Underground has made me start to realize how grating he is. I have been keeping track of some of his most ridiculous commentary moments on the Lucha Underground thread, but since there are only like 5 of us here who are still watching the show I am re-typing some of the things that he actually said below...

"Sometimes there are no time to wear pants"

“That’s all well and good, but corduroy pillows are making headlines everywhere too”

“As Texano calls Dr. Love, there is no answer on the other line. Almost got KISSed with a superkick there. Detroit rock city, Joey Ryan my friend!”

“He is the cold-hearted Casanova, PJ Black’’

“What kind of minestrone of masochism do we have coming your way?”

“Here lies Paul London. May he rest…in power.”

[Goat]

Since they like doing the spooky time gimmicks with Taker what's the shot they do him against Devitt's demon thing at Mania?

[Joe Lanza]

Since they like doing the spooky time gimmicks with Taker what's the shot they do him against Devitt's demon thing at Mania?

I think it has to be Roman or Balor, because who else is there? We just wrote off Balor assuming he won't be ready. If they feel he will be, that changes everything.