XFAlpha Podcast Notes - XFL, NFL, WWE Releases, and Best States

Just in time for the NFL Draft, we have an episode where we break down what we are hoping for our favorite teams, the Vikings and Bears respectively, do with their early picks in the draft. We also give our thoughts on Donald Parham's fit with the Chargers.

As for non-football, we get into where the recent wrestlers from WWE would fit best as well as finally figuring out what Jonah thinks about all 50 states, because I needed to figure out his hate. Still, we start positive with the top five, and by pick five, the man was clearly just blindly reaching for states that he didn't totally hate.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/xfalpha/id1488879567

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6KqGIlGiXh68RpL0uEHTBu

Reach out to us at the following places:

Email: xfalphapod@gmail.com 

Twitter:  @XFAlphaPod

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/XFAlphapod/?ref=py_c

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xfalpha/

Pro Wrestling and the Fascinating World of Free Agency

There has never been a better time to be a pro wrestling fan. Yeah, WWE main roster has some major issues, but NXT is fantastic, AEW is providing an interesting challenger, NJPW is still putting on ridiculous matches on their bigger cards, and NWA seems to get better every week. That doesn’t even include ROH, Impact, and MLW who have all been getting positive reviews. People may long for the good ol’ days, but there are just so many great options to watch right now that my only complaint is that I don’t have time to catch up on all of it.

There has also never been a better time to be a pro wrestler. There is a fit for every talented guy out there. If you’re looking to get the most exposure and have the highest potential for earnings, WWE is still the place to be. If you are looking for an international experience where you can work on a different style, the door to New Japan is open. If you are looking for the easiest schedule while having some flexibility in your bookings, both AEW and NWA have openings. Or you could do a sampler platter which appears to be the plan of Marty Scurll.

Everyone assumed that Marty Scurll would join his Elite friends and sign with AEW, yet he shocked the wrestling world and resigned with Ring of Honor instead. Now, with him signing the ROH deal, he was given freedom to work for the NWA and New Japan, and maybe others as well? At first, I questioned the decision, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

In AEW, Marty Scurll was stuck. He was so tied to The Elite that it could have put a ceiling on his potential. Cody and Kenny are your top guys, the Bucks are the tag team greats, and Page is the future star. Marty was the other guy. He was loved, but he also wasn’t seen as a top star since he did most of his work in six-man tags and the junior/lightweight division. He showed his potential in an amazing match against Kazuchika Okada, but it was going to be tough for him to leap over guys that everyone naturally saw him aligned with.

So he surprised everybody and chose not to go with the big wrestling companies on cable and resigned with ROH where he managed to have a very successful year without his Elite compadres. He’s not only making good money by all accounts, but he has the freedom to work with New Japan where he is challenging a former heavyweight champion and NWA where he is already in the title picture. Oh yeah, and he’s got a good amount of creative control in his home promotion of Ring of Honor.

Right now, you would have to say that Scurll is projected to have the most interesting 2020, and he did it by straying away from everything that people thought he would do. Before this, I think most assumed that top free agents would have two choices between WWE and AEW, but Scurll is showing that there are many doors to choose from, and for some top wrestlers, the best path may be the one less traveled.

The WWE Is Ruining... Luke Harper

Luke Harper is a guy that is incredibly talented in the ring, and this is a simple case where WWE does not care about professional wrestling. He’s maybe not the most charismatic guy, but it’s not like he can’t talk. He just doesn’t talk the WWE way where you have to get in the middle of the ring and scream things to get your point across. There’s subtlety to his charisma, and if there is one thing WWE hates, it’s subtlety.

Because of this, Harper rightly asked for his release. As an independent contractor, this should have been a very easy process where both sides could split amicably. Instead, WWE is making him fulfill his contract, the one in which they could release him at any time, and may have even extended it, because WWE’s contracts are some of the most bullshit things on the planet, yet still might not be in the top five of bullshit things about the WWE.

He came back to help out his old tag partner, but that quickly died off when Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns defeated them a month later. He hasn’t actually won a match on TV since he came back to a huge pop, so that seems like classic WWE.

This is just sad. WWE has no plans for him outside of not letting him wrestle somewhere else. They’re paying him to not do the thing that he is best at, and I cannot wait to see his contract run out as an opportunity in AEW or NJPW seems like a great way to make Brodie Lee relevant again.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Aiden English
Akam
Aleister Black

Ali
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Apollo Crews
Bayley
Big E
Big Show
Bo Dallas
Bobby Lashley
Bobby Roode
Braun Strowman
Brock Lesnar
Buddy Murphy
Carmella
Cesaro
Chad Gable

Charlotte Flair
Curt Hawkins
Curtis Axel

Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Drew McIntyre

Elias

Ember Moon
Epico

Finn Balor

Goldust
Gran Metalik

Jey Uso
Jimmy Uso
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson

Kevin Owens
Killian Dain
Kofi Kingston
Konnor

Lacey Evans

Lio Rush

Luke Gallows
Matt Hardy

Mickie James
Miz

Mojo Rawley

Natalya
Nia Jax

No Way Jose
Peyton Royce
Primo

Randy Orton

Rey Mysterio

Rezar

Ricochet

Ronda Rousey

Ruby Riott

Rusev
Sarah Logan

Scott Dawson
Shane McMahon
Sheamus

Shinsuke Nakamura
Tamina

Tyler Breeze

Viktor

Zack Ryder

The WWE Is Ruining... Finn Balor

Finn Balor just lost the Intercontinental Title on a kickoff show of a C-level pay per view. That is so insane. First off that the Intercontinental Championship, the title with the most prestige when it comes to pure wrestling talent was not good enough to be on the main show. And secondly that Finn Balor, Finn FREAKING Balor and Shinsuke MOTHERFUCKING Nakamura were not good enough to be on the main card. There must be something seriously wrong for anything that egregious to happen.

Now I ask, what is Finn Balor’s gimmick? I ask this, because I have no idea if he has any motivation outside of “enjoys smiling.” Even that is a mystery, because it’s not like he smiles at specific things. He just smiles, sometimes sincerely, sometimes sarcastically, but he definitely smiles a lot. That is the Finn Balor way.

Wouldn’t it be a whole lot more fun of instead of smiling at a baby in a strolla, he became a real rock n’ rolla. Yep, just use his New Japan gimmick, and then you can actually use his smiling gimmick. Just make it an arrogant smile, because, guess what? Every time I see that dude with a shirt off, it pisses me off a little bit, because unless I get ab and pectoral implants, I will never be able to look like that.

Pair him up with The Club, because again, why not? It’d be ideal if you could sign Bad Luck Fale so Finn could ride on his shoulders to the ring (they did it before and better than Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus), but we’ll settle for him riding on the shoulders of Luke Gallows.

This is a case of Occam’s Razor where the simplest solution is the best. I know I don’t have to tell WWE this, but don’t overthink this. Just listen to me, and let Finn Balor be the real rock n’ rolla that he was meant to be.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Akam
Ali
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Apollo Crews
Bayley
Big E
Big Show
Bo Dallas
Bobby Lashley
Bobby Roode
Braun Strowman
Brock Lesnar
Carmella
Chad Gable

Charlotte Flair
Curt Hawkins
Curtis Axel

Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Drew McIntyre

Ember Moon
Epico

Goldust
Gran Metalik

Jey Uso
Jimmy Uso
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson

Kevin Owens
Killian Dain
Kofi Kingston
Konnor

Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley

Natalya
Nia Jax

No Way Jose
Peyton Royce
Primo

Randy Orton

Rezar

Ruby Riott

Rusev
Scott Dawson
Shane McMahon
Sheamus

Shinsuke Nakamura
Tyler Breeze

Viktor

Zack Ryder 

I Wish WWE Treated Legends Like NJPW

The New Japan Tag League is one of their least impressive tournaments. NJPW really shines when it comes to single matches, but tag matches are often treated as filler, and even though these matches were better than filler, most are designed to further a story rather than give you a memorable moment. Still, there were many takeaways from the tournament in setting up Wrestle Kingdom, but maybe my biggest takeaway was the difference in how NJPW and WWE treat their legends.

In short, old dudes look like old dudes and they get absolutely owned. They have true legends like Nakanishi and Nagata teaming up while Tenzan teamed up with Kojima. Although these names probably aren't well known to American fans, these dudes are legitimate legends in Japanese wrestling.

Nakanishi won the World Title once and was a tag champion three times. Nagata won the World Title twice and the tag titles twice. It should also be noted that someone really hates Yuji Nagata as the man also had two MMA fights. He fought Fedor Emelianenko and Cro Cop. They literally called Cro Cop, "The Pro Wrestling Hunter" when he was announced to the crowd. It was awesome.

And this is nothing compared to Hiroyoshi Tenzan who won the World Title four times and the tag titles TWELVE times. Kojima won the World Title twice and the tag titles seven times.

Dudes just get their asses handed to them. There were 14 teams in the tournament, and these teams finished 11th and 13th respectively. Oh, and I should also mention that the last place team was made up of young boys who NEVER win matches and went 0-13 in the tournament. Tenzan and Kojima finished ahead of one legitimate team, although legitimate is a term I use loosely as it had one legend in Togi Makabe teaming with Toa Henare who was not good enough to win the C Block Championship at the G1 this year. Legends get respect in Japan, but they certainly don't get wins.

Now how much better would WWE be if they incorporated the same philosophy? Instead of legends kicking ass, they would rightly get their over-the-hill asses kicked. Wouldn't wrestling be better if the following two scenarios played out?

I would love a world where Kane and The Undertaker tagged up and got actually taken to the woodshed by Lucha House Party, and people were legitimately surprised if they got a rollup win against The Ascension.

Wouldn't it be better if Triple H tagged up with Shawn Michaels just to get absolutely ragdolled by The B Team, and then you would actually be excited when they used their veteran guile to overcome The Singh Brothers.

You can't tell me that this alternate reality wouldn't be better than the one we are currently living in. And if you're asking, the answer is yes, this is just a long-winded way of saying Undertaker and DX have always sucked, and I will never understand their appeal. Kane is actually pretty decent, but all those old farts should be treated like New Japan's former stars, but probably leave out the part where they are forced into shoot fights against the best fighters of this generation, because Jon Jones would LITERALLY murder Undertaker and prove that you can kill what's already dead.

What Happens to NJPW if The Elite Leaves?

Obviously, the biggest question in wrestling right now is what The Elite is going to do when their contracts run out in January. It appears that the Young Bucks, Cody, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll are all free agents t the beginning of the month where Kenny Omega has a contract that runs until the end of the month. If they leave New Japan when it is all said and done, does that kill NJPW's impact in the American market?

Without the members of The Elite, the (North) Americans that are left are Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Chase Owens, Rocky Romero, Michael Elgin, Jeff Cobb, Killer Elite Squad, Best Friends, and G.O.D. That list is off the top of my head, so I apologize if I forgot someone, but I doubt I forgot anybody too important. Out of that list, I would say the guys with the most star potential are Juice, Cobb, and Davey Boy Smith Jr. from the Killer Elite Squad. Although those guys are super talented, they are widely known as a failed hippy on NXT, wait is that the guy from Lucha Underground, and The British Bulldog's kid. That's not the most inspiring viewpoint for many casual fans, and even with how good they are, I don't think you can count on any of them becoming a future World Champion.

Now, to just focus on the Americans is a tad xenophobic and I get that, but the reason I got into NJPW was last year's match between Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega. If you want to include the English speakers like Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Will Ospreay, and Zack Sabre Jr. you could, but as bad as this sounds, those guys are going to be there to increase interest as opposed to causing interest in the first place when it comes to Americans.

Obviously things are cyclical, but it looks like NJPW would have to depend even more heavily on the Japanese talent to continue interest in the product. Although there are obviously a lot of great wrestlers, how many guys are totally must-see? For me, it's just Okada, Naito, Kota Ibushi, and Hiromu if he returns. Outside of that, I could basically take or leave the other talent. Even for a legendary guy like Tanahashi who I like, but I don't need to see Tanahashi matches.

There are only so many hours in a week to devote to watching wrestling. I technically play Raw and Smackdown on the TV each week, but it is nothing more than background noise, and if I cut out the noise, I don't think I'd be missing out. NXT is great, and NJPW has put on some amazing shows over the past year, but if they have that big of an exodus of talent, it would definitely decrease my interest in the product, especially if there is an All Elite Wrestling product to fill that void.

Ultimately, I still The Elite continues a working relationship with NJPW. I don't think you'll see Kenny Omega in a G1, Marty Scurll in a BOSJ, or Hangman in a World Tag League, but they should still make it around for big shows where they can legitimately be considered title contenders. They have made it very clear that they want to help out professional wrestling as a whole and having working relationships with NJPW, ROH, and even Impact would not only help their product but help create a real competition for the WWE. But if The Elite goes all in on the American market, it likely dooms any thoughts of NJPW expansion for the near future.

Right now, it is all speculation, but no matter what happens, it will continue to be the best time to be a fan of professional wrestling.

The WWE Is Ruining... Shinsuke Nakamura

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today is one that despite coming from a far away land, is near and dear to my heart, Shinsuke Nakamura.

Let's just start off with this. Shinsuke Nakamura is one of the greatest pro wrestlers in history. His in ring charisma rivals Hulk Hogan, and he has had a plethora of incredibly entertaining matches throughout his career. That being said, Nakamura is now 38 years old, and he probably has lost a step since his wrestling prime. He's shown that he can be great, but he''s not rivaling Kenny Omega for the title of best wrestler in the world.

Although part of the issue is age, part of the issue is that the WWE style doesn't totally fit into what Nakamura does so well. A big part of his style in Japan was mat-based MMA style offense, which makes sense since Nakamura did have pro MMA fights before fully transitioning into pro wrestling. WWE has always stayed away from this style, but making Nakamura's matches seem more like fights instead of wrestling matches would probably help him captivate an audience with his in-ring work.

Although Nakamura has held the NXT Title, the US Title, and fought for the WWE Title, it has been filled with a lot of forgettable dreck. Although he has had good matches with AJ Styles and most recently, Seth Rollins, they aren't going to be remembered. In fact, if you asked me which Styles match was good, I could only respond with, "Uh, I know one of them was." He's managed to have one great match in his entire WWE run, and that was his very first match in NXT with Sami Zayn. If you are just a WWE fan, you know him more for low blows than great matches.

Still, Nakamura's greatest trait is his natural charisma. When he makes an entrance, it is an event in itself. He shows more personality without saying a word than anybody in WWE history. Which is good, because most WWE crowds are, how should I put this? We'll go with mildly racist, and mildly may be giving them too much credit. If you talk with an accent, they are going to yell "what" at you instead of listening to the interesting things you are saying. Although I think he has had some good promos, memorably being selective on when he understands English, and a really good recent promo where he talked about how his feelings were hurt that Seth Rollins only wanted to talk about Dean Ambrose, his promos are not built for the WWE. Foreigners have to be goofballs for fans to want to listen to them, and PLEASE GOD, do not make Nakamura a goofball.

Instead what the WWE needs to do is let the world know that he is better than anyone else in the WWE. I know that's extreme, but his matches should not be a battle of wills, but instead having his opponents go in as raging bulls with Nakamura as the matador, always a step ahead. Have him make things look easy, only letting his opponent get the upper hand when his arrogance leads to complacency in the ring. Just off the top of my head, you could put on an amazing feud with heel Daniel Bryan who gets more and more frustrated with Nakamura and uses nefarious means to even the odds, another match with Sami Zayn where Zayn just refuses to quit despite clearly being outgunned, and having a believable scenario where Nakamura picks apart Brock Lesnar as Lesnar has to find a way to get his hands on Shinsuke.

My wife only watches wrestling when we go to live shows. We have been lucky enough to see some incredible talent down in Florida between NXT and a variety of independent shows. Through all of the talent we have seen, Shinsuke Nakamura stands above everyone else as her favorite wrestler, because the dude has a PRESENCE. He is a transcendent talent, and the WWE needs to be doing more to capitalize on that. Just let the man be special, and everything else will take care of itself.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Bobby Lashley
Charlotte Flair
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Ember Moon
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson
Kofi Kingston
Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Tyler Breeze

The WWE Is Ruining... Andrade "Cien" Almas

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, I want to talk about a personal favorite of mine, Andrade "Cien" Almas.

Almas made his name in his home country of Mexico, wrestling for CMLL while having a few stints in NJPW under the name and mask of La Sombra. In fact, La Sombra was a part of Los Ingobernales before there was ever such thing as a Los Ingobernales de Japon. Anyway, it turned out that he was not wearing a mask due to La Parka disease and is actually a handsome devil who was signed by the WWE and originally wrestled under his own name of Manny Andrade at the beginning of 2016.

On February 26 of that year, I saw the best match I have ever seen at an NXT house show when Sami Zayn and Andrade. Usually those matches are pretty bland, but those two decided to go out in the middle of the show and put on an absolute clinic. This was what started my Andrade fandom. A hilarious note about this show is that The Vaudevillains dominated two jobbers in Patrick Clark and Kenneth Crawford, aka Velveteen Dream and Montez Ford, the two guys who may have the highest ceilings of anyone in NXT.

Luckily, after about six months, his name was changed to Andrade "Cien" Almas since Manny Andrade is the most Mexican jobber name of all time. Shortly after that, he made his TV debut, beating Noah Ponjes, now known as "The Finest" Kona Reeves. He was up and down after that, getting built up only to lose big matches and then go spiraling back down the card. He wore suspenders and a stupid hat, but he was supposed to be a babyface, and it just didn't work.

Finally, instead of winning, he started losing. But instead of being disappointed about losing, he just didn't care and would just party with chicks after losing matches. Finally, Zelina Vega became his manager to set him straight, and he eventually won the NXT Championship at NXT Takeover in November of 2017.

Let me also remind you what his title reign was known for, and that is for retiring Johnny Gargano from NXT. Yo, Johnny Gargano is still cruising around NXT, and had he been retired, he never would have been able to attack Aleister Black, and Candice LeRae could have been Candice FREAKING LeRae instead of Mrs. Gargano. Although Aleister Black would end his title reign WrestleMania weekend, Almas was ready to debut on Smackdown shortly after that.

When he got to Smackdown, he did what any future superstar would do, and that's start a feud with Sin Cara. But after that, he's actually wrestled the best in the WWE with matches against AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, and Rey Mysterio. He hasn't won any of them, but at least they're letting him wrestle really good wrestlers.

Honestly, it's too early to tell whether the WWE is ruining Andrade Almas. His NXT Title run was after a losing streak to some pretty unimpressive names. At least he's now losing to important names. If they just use him to have good matches with their top names, they are missing the boat, because even without fluent English, he has a star quality to him. I will say that Zelina Vega is incredibly important as a mouthpiece to help him get over early on, but even dumbass WWE fans should be able to see that this guy is the shit.

So what should the WWE do to help Almas fulfill his potential? I would say the biggest thing is don't do it half-assed. Even if Almas only gets wins over low-level talent for a while and loses to the big names, that's totally fine. But eventually, you have to give him that big surprise win over AJ Styles or Daniel Bryan, and then you need to be ready to put the rocket on him and just have him start whooping ass, finding ways to shock people for victories. I see no reason the guy can't be a World Champion, and he actually has the in-ring talent to put on memorable main event matches.

Oh, and if you could put him in a long-term feud with Sami Zayn, I certainly wouldn't be mad about it.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Bobby Lashley
Charlotte Flair
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Ember Moon
Kane
Karl Anderson
Kofi Kingston
Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Tyler Breeze

The WWE Is Ruining... Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, we are definitely not talking about nerds. Instead, it's time to talk about Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, two guys who really need a tag team name.

I know it's hard to remember this now, but Anderson and Gallows actually debuted as total badasses when they came out in street clothes and annihilated The Usos. That's pretty cool. Then they started tagging with AJ Styles. That is also cool. They won most matches, and when they lost, it was usually DQ. This could also be classified as cool.

Then about two months after their debut, they stopped winning matches. It was not cool. They stopped winning, and people stopped caring.

Inexplicably, they won the tag titles at the Royal Rumble, but even that was mitigated since it was relegated to the preshow. Also, even though they held the belts, they still lost to Roman Reigns in a handicap match. Eventually, they lost to the Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania and have gone back to their losing ways for the last year and a half. Currently, they are in one of their better stretches as tehy have not been seen for over two months.

So what to do with Gallows and Anderson? It's actually super simple. Put these guys in a stable. You align them with any combination of New Japan guys that you want. Finn Balor (with him being on Raw, probably won't happen anytime soon), AJ Styles, even Shinsuke Nakamura would all make sense aligning with Anderson and Gallows. Hell, you could bring up Ricochet as part of the group to give him an early boost.

The big thing with Gallows and Anderson is they are probably not going to carry the division, but they should be occasional champs. The problem is they haven't been showcased in the right way to demonstrate their personality, and they seem to be completely worthless without the belts. If you put them in a stable, they can accompany other guys and make their presence felt with distractions on the outside. As these past months have shown us, just being present would be a huge upgrade for them.

Also, Gallows and Anderson are meant to be bullies. They were able to do that with a numbers game where the Bullet Club cheated all the damn time. This way they can be important without needing the straps, and they can have a purpose without being in the title picture. Also, looking at those names above, what are their gimmicks? AJ Styles would prefer if you didn't threaten his family, Finn Balor smiles, and Shinsuke...is Japanese. Ideally, you end the Samoa Joe feud by having Joe continue to mess with Styles until Gallows and Anderson come out and totally destroy him to help out their buddy. A month or two later, have them help out Shinsuke, and bam, you have a fearsome foursome that is the most threatening thing on Smackdown.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel with Gallows and Anderson. You have a perfectly good wheel waiting to be used. But they could still use a different name.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Bobby Lashley
Charlotte Flair
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Kane
Kofi Kingston
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Tyler Breeze

The Future of The Elite

There are many things I would rather not think about involved in the world of professional wrestling. WWE in Saudi Arabia is high on that list, but still well behind Cesaro never being a World Champion. Don't waste your time thinking about those things, as they are depressing, and neither is likely to have a happy ending anytime soon. Still, there are fascinating things happening in professional wrestling, and at the top of that list is that seemingly all of the core members of The Elite, Kenny Omega, Cody (Rhodes), The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, and Hangman Page are all about to become free agents in January 2019. For the purposes of this article, I am going to focus on Cody and The Young Bucks as they seem to have the most entrepreneurial spirit in the group.

This group has managed to transcend the non-WWE wrestling scene due to a combination of great wrestling but mostly due to a YouTube show called Being The Elite. If you have not watched the show, oh man, you are in for a treat. You should probably skip the first 40 or 50 episodes, because it's really just a travel vlog early on, but then they get more and more into storylines, and it's one of the best shows out there, not on YouTube, but anywhere. Like, if next week, Netflix announced that it bought the rights to Being The Elite, I'd just go, "Oh, yeah, that makes sense."

So now they not only have an audience of people who love professional wrestling, which is an incredibly important group that consistently will pay good money to support their obsession. They also have an audience of people who are way into these guys because of the characters they have created on their show.

This past September they tested the influence they had on professional wrestling by going from wrestlers to wrestlers/promoters with a show called All In that became the first show in the United States to have more than 10,000 fans since WCW shut down nearly 20 years ago. Oh, and it took them less than a half hour to sell out those seats.

After the show, Cody alluded to the fact that All In was more than just a supershow, it was a movement in pro wrestling. What also stood out is that Cody challenged and ended up winning the NWA World Heavyweight Title, a title that used to mean the best wrestler in the world, but now means the best wrestler at fairgrounds around the USA.

Now Cody will travel around a defend the belt, and I think this is all part of the plan for their 2019 decision. Instead of signing again with ROH/NJPW, heading to the WWE, I actually think the NWA is the model to follow for The Elite. I don't think the NWA organization truly matters, but instead of constantly putting on their own shows, the NWA lets other shows promote a match with their champion, free to take on anyone, anywhere without the pressure of consistently financing shows. Couldn't The Elite do the same thing, only on a much broader scale?

The Elite Heavyweight Champion could defend his title at NJPW, ROH, Impact, or even places like Revolution Pro, Progress, and MLW. The tag champs could do the same. The Young Bucks have consistently said that they love pro wrestling, but the travel is rough on them as it's not only traveling on planes around the world, but leaving their families for weeks at a time. Why should they do TV tapings and house shows when they could focus on only the most major events for the best organizations in the world? With Cody as the current NWA Champion, is this just him dipping his toe in the water to see the demand that he holds as a truly independent performer?

This also gives them the chance to ease into the promotional side of wrestling. It'd be insane for them to not do an All In 2. So maybe they look into expanding into two events in 2019, four events in 2020, and maybe getting into a monthly event by 2023. There is a chance that the Young Bucks or even Cody would strictly be promoters by that point in their careers.

The biggest issue that wrestling promotions have is trying to grow too big too fast. With wrestling still being their main income and being able to leverage their wrestling for working agreements to use any organization's talent for supershows, they don't have to rush in growing their organization and can let demand guide their growth.

And at that point, does WWE get to continue to pick the best talent out of the Indys as they please? Hell, does WWE even get to keep the talent they already have under contract? It's hard for me to see former indy darlings like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Cesaro not at least consider jumping ship to go back to a world with indy wrestling but now with major paydays.

For those wrestlers, it is by far the riskiest decision, but it also has an unbelievably high reward. Judging by their past, I don't think they're going to hesitate to go All In.