Sunday Mornings with the Nitro- The Real Road to WrestleMania: Day 6

Paul ” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome to day 6 of the Real Road to WrestleMania on Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. Today, I want to discuss the booking of a wrestling card and how to place matches on the card, since the WWE seems to forget how to do this procedure properly in my mind. Let me give my opinion of Booking 101 with these simple rules:

  1. The Main Event is the LAST MATCH of the Card: This is the golden rule in wrestling that has worked since the beginnings of professional wrestling. If you have an angle that is your main revenue producer for your organization, then it is put as the last match of the night to make the crowd wait with anticipation. If it is done correctly, the fans will pop over the ring announcer making the announcement that it is time for the main event and every eye is focused on the ring to see who will win and who will lose and how it happened. These days, the major organizations put that match first which is a major mistake. It must go on last!
  2. Every card uses the opening match to get the crowd warmed up for the later matches. Usually, this is when the enhancement talent battle each other to get time in the ring and to gain some recognition from the fans. The main point is that something must be happening in the ring to get the fans attention. In the past 20 years, it seems that an interview segment or a mid-card match starts out the shoe. In that case, if this leads to something that will make sense to the audience, then that will be ok. Otherwise, use the enhancement talent to start out the show.
  3. A simple formula for putting together a structure for a card underneath the main event is as followed:
    1. 2-3 mid-card matches featured talent that has or is starting out an angle on television.
    2. As far as title matches goes, it should start with a tag title match, then one or two secondary title matches before the main event.
    3. As far as specialty matches goes, they always go in the semi-main to main event spot and the use of common sense in the angle where the reason for having this match is easily explained to the fans.
    4. A usual wrestling card should be at least 2 hours with the first match ready to go after the national anthem. Any stalling after the anthem will lose the audience interest at the beginning or even during the intermission as well.

These steps can be applied to any house or television shows as well as pay-per-view events. As long as these steps are taken, the fans will not be upset with having the main event first and then losing interest in the rest of the card. I hope that the WWE and AEW “creative” teams get the message and use these steps for future success, because the fans attention and spending of their hard-earned money is at stake.

With that in mind, that will end Day 6 of the Real Road to WrestleMania series. Tomorrow, I will look at the matches that need a boost of hype towards WrestleMania. Until then, have a great day everyone!

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro- The Real Road to WrestleMania- Day 5

Paul ” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome to Day 5 of The Real Road to WrestleMania here on Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. In today’s column, I want to talk about pro wrestling biographies and why they are popular, as well as some new recommendations of some books to read. Also, I will discuss the state of pro wrestling magazines in today’s scene.

We will start with the pro wrestling biographies and why they are popular. The simple reason is that fans seek out the behind-the-scenes story of the wrestlers both in and out of the ring, as well as the inside story of some of wrestling’s top moments. Each story is real as the wrestlers hold nothing back and control the narrative in telling the tales to the fans. The real blueprint of these biographies started with Mick Foley’s Tale of Blood and Sweat Socks. It was one of the best bools that I have ever read, and it felt real as if you were there with Mick. Ever since then, each book that is released has been a success and it will continue to do so in the near future.

As far as upcoming and recent recommendations of books to read from my point of view, I enjoyed “Wahoo” by John Cosper and Karen McDaniel (the widow of Wahoo). It was a first-person story of Wahoo McDaniel’s career and life, which was great. It showed how tough he was in the ring and kind outside of the ring. Also, I would recommend John’s book on Tito Santana. Another great story of how Tito earned his way to stardom in the WWE. Finally, the one book that I am looking forward to is Brian Solomon’s book- Blood and Stone: The unbelievable story of the Sheik. This is a true and deep look into the life and career of the Sheik- Edward Farhat and his promotion Big Time Wrestling in Detroit. I highly recommend you get the book when it comes out April 12th.

Let us now go to the magazine scene in today’s wrestling world. First, Pro Wrestling Illustrated is still at the newsstands after all these years and I still respect it to this day. It still has good articles; the press conference is always hard hitting, and the columns are always strongly opiniated. Even their special issues are still good from the PWI 500, which has expanded to include the PWI 150 for women and PWI 50 in tag teams, as well as their year-end issue and awards. However, there is another magazine out in the market that could make a serious move towards being the top magazine and that is Inside the Ropes magazine. I have not read an issue yet, but I heard that it is a solid magazine with a mix of current and nostalgic topics in their articles and they have made the wrestling almanac that PWI invented in the 90’s and made it better. I use this year’s almanac as a reference tool all the time. The one thing that is stopping Inside the Ropes magazine is that it is not available at the newsstands and grocery stores. I feel that if they can do that move, then it will grow in readership.

With all that in mind, that will do it for Day 5 of the Real Road to WrestleMania. Tomorrow, I will look at how a card should be booked and how the WWE is screwing up this process. Until then, have a good night and I will see you tomorrow.

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro- The Real Road to WrestleMania: Day 4

Paul ” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome to Day 4 of the Real Road to WrestleMania series on Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. One of the big announcements that came this week is AEW President Tony Khan announcing that he has purchased Ring of Honor. This is a huge moment for Mr. Khan and a bold step in the direction of him taking over the top spot of Best Wrestling Promoter in the United States and Vince McMahon needs to be worried. Here are some reasons why:

  1. The purchase of Ring of Honor will give the huge talent pool of free agents another avenue to get employed in wrestling. Ring of Honor already is a strong brand with a rich history and strong wrestling structure to sustain itself. This is reassuring for a newly free agent to apply his skills and talent to a new promotion that has a solid infrastructure and someone at the helm that knows how to run a company.
  2. Tony Khan will not make the same mistakes that Vince did with NXT 2.0. Not only has AEW beat NXT in the Wednesday Night Wars of 2020-2021, but Mr. Khan has studied the mistakes that WWE made when they converted to NXT 2.0 and will not be making those mistakes to Ring of Honor. Therefore, Ring of Honor will have a solid footing when they return to television and live events.
  3. The potentially deep talent pool that Ring of Honor will possess that will excite and gain the attention of the fans. With the free talent pool currently available and possible most of the mid-card talent in AEW that could be going to ROH, it will give an endless supply of great matches and angles that the fans will talk about from the relaunch and forward.
  4. Ring of Honor will join the squad of alternatives to the big two, which means more exciting competition amongst the fans. For example, if the fan gets tired of AEW or WWE one night, then they can tune in to ROH or New Japan or even Impact Wrestling. There are more choices out there now for the fan to decide what they watch and invest their time and money into their organization.

In conclusion, Tony Khan makes a solid move towards the future of the business, while Vince McMahon is left to continue wondering whether to sell WWE or not and the next move is on Vince. That will do it for Day 4 of the Real Road to WrestleMania. Tomorrow, I will talk about the print media of today, including the surge in wrestling biographies (including some latest recommendations) and the state of magazines in pro wrestling today. Have a great day everybody!

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro- The Real Road to WrestleMania: Day 3

Paul” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome to Day 3 of the Real Road to WrestleMania here on Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. Today, I want to focus on an event that takes place immediately after on WrestleMania that gains as much attention as the event itself: The Raw After WrestleMania! I want to take a look at whether this event will have as much impact as past Raw after WrestleMania. Let us look at what makes that particular Raw so important:

  1. Debuts- Whether it be a call-up from NXT or a free agent who left the pervious organization, the speculation and talk is massive that starts back in January. When this wrestler debuts, this brings the attention of the fans on the person and what contributions will he or she makes in the WWE in the near future.
  2. New Angles- This is officially the start of new angles that will lead us to an early end at Summerslam or prolonged towards next year’s WrestleMania. It also brings an end to angles that were taking place over the past year and the fans want a conclusion to the angle whether we have a new champion or the start of a fresh angle with somebody else.
  3. Celebration of big wins and new champions- This is the culmination of the previous night at WrestleMania as the newly emerge champions or mega stars get the kudos from the fans for a great effort the previous night. It also begins this star in a new angle or first title defense that will excite the fans.

With these factors in mind, we must ask ourselves as to whether this year’s Raw after WrestleMania will be just as memorable as previous years. Unfortunately, the answer is NO! There has been no real push of new talent that excites the fans, nor you have any real matches that stand out as a WrestleMania moment, maybe Styles vs. Edge. Also, we kind of predict that we will have a new unified champion in the Brock vs. Roman main event at Night 2 of WrestleMania. It is so ho hum that I think that it will be an ordinary Raw like what we have been seeing this past year. At the end of the day, it will be a missed opportunity to sustain the momentum of WrestleMania for the rest of the year.

With that in mind, we end Day 3 of the Real Road to WrestleMania. Tomorrow, I will look at Tony Khan buying Ring of Honor and how this spells major trouble for Vince McMahon and WWE. I hope you enjoy today’s column. Have a great day.

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro- The Real Road to WrestleMania- Day 2: 3/2/2022

Paul ” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome everyone to Day 2 of the Real Road to WrestleMania series on Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. Today, I want to take a look at the roster in the WWE and see if there are any WWE superstars that has the potential to be declared “Mr. WrestleMania. However, let us look at the qualifications for a superstar to be called Mr. Wrestlemania.

The first main quality is being the person in the match to “steal the show” that makes the fans take notice and puit all their attention towards after the event. Next, the potential star power of the athlete has to be measured, which means someone that needs to be upper mid-card to semi-main event status to be considered for the distinction. Finally, the longevity of that individual to “steal the show” each year at WrestleMania and make fans have the debate as to which moment was the breakout match that christened the individual as “Mr. WrestleMania”.

With these qualifications in mind, I could name about two individuals who would be in prime contention for this honor. They are as followed:

  1. AJ Styles- The phenomenal one has had some great matches at WrestleMania and has the potential to “steal the show” against Edge this year. He carried Shane McMahon to a great match at WrestleMania 33 to his big victory over Randy Orton at WrestleMania 35, he has had a consistent record of 4-2 in 6 WrestleMania appearances. If he has a match of the year candidate at WrestleMania against Edge, then he should be in consideration.
  2. Seth Rollins- The architect has a 6-2 record at WrestleMania and has been in some great moments, especially winning the WWE World Title at Wrestlemania 31 and other great moments would make him qualified for the position and maybe winning the Raw Tag Titles with Kevin Owens and defending them at WrestleMania would make Seth earn the moniker.

I believe that these two men will carry the moniker of “Mr. WrestleMania” with pride as they continue on with their careers. As far as the next generation of superstars in WWE goes, only time will tell at this point.

With that in mind, this is the end of today’s column for the Real Road to WrestleMania series. Tomorrow, I will take a look at whether the Monday after WrestleMania this year will have any meaning than in previous years. Thanks for joining us and see you tomorrow!

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro: The Real Road to WrestleMania 2022- Day 1

Paul ” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome to Day 1 of the Real Road to WrestleMania here on Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. In this series, I will provide a daily column on many perspectives on the Road to WrestleMania throughout the month of March. We begin today on the ticket sales for WrestleMania this year in Dallas and their hope of getting 100,000 fans for both nights.

According to the Busted Open Podcast on Monday, there were near 50,000 tickets on Night 1 and just over 50,000 on Night 2 and to the ordinary person, this would be considered a success to get a least 50,000 fans for both nights. However, Vince McMahon is not ordinary and made it a point to get 100,000 fans for both nights. If this can be accomplished, it would be the largest attended event overall in Wrestling history. But I feel that they will come up a little short of that goal for several reasons.

  1. The card is not extravagant enough to get 100,000 fans: The card is being highlighted by Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns title vs. title match on Night 2 with an okay undercard as it is measured to other WrestleMania events. With WWE bringing in celebrities to participate in matches and Vince McMahon allegedly getting in the ring with Pat McAfee, I feel that there is not one match that stands out in particular, maybe Edge vs. AJ Styles.
  2. Covid-Related matters: Even though the restrictions are lessening, there will be still plenty of critics emphasizing the huge crowd that may not be wearing a mask and the far-left loons in the media and politics that will try to scorn WWE for having this event in a Republican state like Texas (Remember that the democrats still run the White House and does not like people that defy there version of science and the mandates.).
  3. Economy- The price for tickets alone according to google range from $140 form the cheap seats to $18,000 for ringside seats for each night! Fans will find this price outrageous and will decide to watch on Peacock or Pay-Per-View. You cannot guarantee at those prices that you are going to get 100,000 fans for both nights!

Therefore, it is in my opinion that there will not be 100,000 fans on both nights. I would say that about 55,000 fans will be there on both nights and that should be something that the WWE should be proud of. However, in the mind of Vince McMahon, this will be considered a disappointment that he could not get his sold-out crowd. However, at the end of the day, Vince should be happy that a bigger crowd than last Year at WrestleMania should be an accomplishment in of itself.

With that in mind, that will do it for Day 1 of the Real Road to WrestleMania! Tomorrow, I will ponder as to who may be the next “Mr. WrestleMania” on Day 2 of the Real Road to WrestleMania! Have a good day!

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro-2/20/22

Paul” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome to another edition of Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. The big news coming out of this week besides the failure of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view is Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes leaving AEW this past Wednesday and Cody possibly going to the WWE after WrestleMania. Well, let us begin by giving my take as to why Cody left AEW?

I think that the simple reason is that Cody could not be the head booker in AEW and the fact that the fans want him to turn heel and Cody simply refusing because he feels that continuing to be a babyface is good for his career. There could be a possibility that money could also be a factor in the form of not getting more money in his contract, but it probably leans on the creative part as the main reason. Tony Khan is the man in charge and therefore is the head booker. In my opinion, Mr. Khan may have decided that Cody is not a good booker and is getting too distracted by his GO Big reality show (I would not be surprised by him leaving that show at the end of the season.) and other endeavors. Meanwhile, Brandi got natural heat from the fans by being on television as a condescending heel that is contradicting to Cody’s babyface role and not really doing much as chief branding officer.

With those possible reasons, the question is whether Cody can move on from AEW and the apparent answer is Yes. I am hearing that there are some big plans for him to debut after WrestleMania at the WWE Performance Center. I feel that he will be a heel that is going to prove that he is better now than before when he was Stardust. I feel that he will have a feud with a main star on Raw and eventually challenge whoever the World Champion will be at the end of the year. Brandi will not be following Cody to the WWE and may be leaving wrestling all together. I will respect her decision and wish her well in the near future.

As far as AEW goes, they will go on without Cody as they have some big stars on their roster that will make the fans forget about Cody in just a few weeks. It also opens up an opportunity for the other Executive VP’s- The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega to flex their executive power to hopefully help Tony continue the momentum of AEW as the top organization in the world. In closing, Cody and AEW are leaving on good terms and will move on from each other to other endeavors in pro wrestling.

With that being said, that will do it for this edition of Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. Please don’t forget that the Road to WrestleMania series will be back on March 1-31. Until next Sunday Morning with another edition of Sunday Mornings with the Nitro, have a great week everyone.

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro- 2/13/22

Paul ” The Nitro” Skivers

Good morning and welcome to this edition of Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. This week, I want to focus on the unsung heroes of pro wrestling, because without them, the stars will not be able to look good to sell tickets to the live events and these heroes are Enhancement Talent. You know, the talent that always loses on television every week. However, that is their job and do it well. Some of the talent that I remember from television in the past include Rocky King, Italian Stallion, Al Phillips, Terry Gibbs, Barry O and Ron Shaw.

However, the idea of using enhancement talent on the major broadcast has become as rare as the lifespan of the dinosaur. The promotions like AEW and WWE rather have main event talent go against each other for free on television so that they can sell their major pay-per-view (I still hate the concept of calling it “premium event”) event, like Wrestlemania. I feel that these promotions are really missing the boat in using the enhancement talent to make the stars really good so that we can anticipate the main event bout at a live event or pay-per-view. So, I thought that I could give several examples of matches featuring the stars of today versus the enhancement talent of the past in their prime and see why the use of enhancement talent are important.

Seth Rollins vs. Terry Gibbs- Terry was a rugged mat wrestler who can hang with the stars of the day and can really showcase Seth’s talents in the ring and make Seth more dangerous of a contender.

CM Punk vs. Rugged Ron Shaw- Shaw is a pure brawler who can employ some great wrestling moves during the match and keep the pressure on Punk. This will make Punk look good and still have the fire to compete in the fans eyes.

Wardlow vs. Al Phillips: If anyone can take bumps in the ring with devastating effect, it is Phillips (go see his match with the Undertaker from June 1991 as Al had his entire body get crunched in half by the tombstone.) and he can really make Wardlow look really unstoppable and provide highlights for future episodes to push Wardlow.

Kevin Owens vs. Italian Stallion: This is a pretty even match as both men can wrestle a good tv match that can come down to one mistake by the Stallion and Owens gets the win and make him and the Stallion look good in the ring.

Roman Reigns vs. Rocky King: Rocky is the perfect underdog who can get quick bursts of offense before being cut off by Reigns and get squashed by Reigns. This will get more boos from Roman as the heel and chant for Rocky to come back in the match.

With these examples above, this will prove the worth of the enhancement talent and the need to train more of these talents to make the stars look good. Only then, the stars will look more impressive and the buy rates for live events and pay-per-views will increase.

With that, we have come to the end of this edition of Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. Don’t forget that the Road to WrestleMania series returns March 1-31. Don’t miss it! Until next Sunday, have a great week everyone!

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro- 2/6/2022

Paul ” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome to another edition of Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. With the negative fallout from the Royal Rumble, in which I described on Saturday Evenings with the Nitro as “nuclear”, I have decided to put on the booker hat and try to come up with some suggestions that could have been implemented to make the Rumble a better “premium” event and they are as followed.

  1. Make the booking less predictable- the fans knew that with the announcement of Rhonda Rousey returning to the WWE and more specifically the Rumble made us conclude that she was going to win the Rumble. They apparently needed someone of Rhonda’s credibility to main event one of the nights at Wrestlemania. Then, Brock Lesnar lost the WWE World Title to Bobby Lashley because of interference. Well, who would get the number 30 spot in the men’s Rumble match than Brock. Now, if we did not know what was going to happen that night, it would make the fans tune in to watch with anticipation as to who will come out on top. It would be excitement to the fans and the product that it is produced would propel the momentum towards Wrestlemania.
  2. The order of the matches: As far as I am concerned, this should be how the order of matches should of went to make more sense of the event:
    1. Edge/Beth Phoenix vs. Mizz/Maryse
    2. Lynch vs. Doudrop
    3. Womens Royal Rumble match
    4. Universal Title Match- Roman vs. Rollins
    5. WWE World Title Match- Brock vs. Lashley’
    6. Mens Royal Rumble
  3. Stop giving throw away matches for the event: As far as I was concerned, the mixed tag match was a waste of time. I moved on from the Edge vs. Miz match since there was no interest after the Day 1 pay-per-view. Also, Doudrop was made to look like a mid-carder in her match with Lynch. This is an example of a throwaway match. They could have booked two matches that sparked interest and would carry on into the title matches and advance a future storyline that would gain interest with the fans.
  4. Get rid of the problem in the locker room and improve the morale: The WWE did the right thing in firing Shane McMahon, but it was several days after the event. It should have been done that night before the show went on the air. Also, the morale is very low in the locker room, which will lead to wrestlers wanting to leave for other opportunities wither in or out of pro wrestling. They need more of a voice to advance themselves to the next level, instead of “creative” using their dumb, time-wasting ideas that degrade the worth of the wrestler. Once this takes place, the morale will be high and productive for the company which will lead to better matches for the fans.

With these suggestions, the WWE would have had a successful Rumble event this past Saturday, instead of the mediocre boring event that was presented. But the momentum is lost headed towards Wrestlemania and with the way WWE is handling things creatively and behind the scenes, I doubt that they will ever get the momentum back to the highest level for Wrestlemania.

Before I end the column, I want to inform those that did not here on Saturday Evenings with the Nitro (available on Spotify and Anchor.fm every Saturday Night), I am bringing back my road to Wrestlemania series, where I will have a new column every day from March 1-31 on every angle both in the WWE and everywhere else. With that, I will end the column for this week. Have a good week and see you next Sunday Morning for a new column of Sunday Mornings with the Nitro.

Sunday Mornings with the Nitro- 1/23/2022

Paul ” The Nitro” Skivers

Welcome to another edition of Sunday Mornings with the Nitro. Today, I want to focus on the Royal Rumble and whether or not the eventual winners of this year’s Rumble will be able to headline WrestleMania in Dallas. So, let us begin by focusing on some of the factors that make a star being the headliner that fans talk about the next day after the event and beyond.

One of the main factors is star power. Is the winner of the Rumble a big enough star to have the fans talk about and watch the event? This is important in the “creative” department as they need star power to push the event. You cannot have anyone just win the Rumble match itself. It has to be a star with major momentum coming from the previous year that the fans are talking about and are getting behind to win the Rumble and eventually the championship.

Another factor is the champion itself. IS the champion credible and popular enough to headline WrestleMania with the eventual Rumble winner? This is crucial to “creative” to begin the angle between them and give a reason why they have animosity towards each other and not just the fact that they won the Rumble match. As far as the champion goes, he or she must be a solid champion either as a babyface or heel to project a dominance to the crowd each and every time they get into the ring.

A final factor is the hype of the match headed towards Wrestlemania itself. Is the hype enough for the fans to invest their time and money in getting the event and telling all their friends and family who may be wrestling fans themselves? The most powerful selling item in wrestling is always word of mouth. If there is enough talk about the match amongst the fans in a positive light, then the hype is working, and the money will start coming in for the event. Then, it will be up to the stars to live up to the hype as best as their ability can take them in the match.

Based on those factors that I have just stated, there could be a possibility that at least the Womens Rumble match winner could fit the mold. Maybe, Mickie James vs. Charlotte Flair in a champion vs. champion match or a Charlotte Flair vs. Lita match to main event the pay-per-view itself. I do not see as of now the Men’s Rumble winner having a headliner main event at WrestleMania at this time. There is no one in the field of competitors that kind of stands out as a headliner.

Well, that will do it for this week. As announced on my podcast- Saturday Evenings with the Nitro yesterday, I will not have a column next week as I will be doing a Sunday morning edition of my podcast next Sunday as it will be my Royal Rumble post-game report. I invite everyone to go to anchor.fm or Spotify and type in Saturday Evenings with the Nitro and subscribe to my channel and you will hear that show. I appreciate it. I will be back with a written column here in 2 weeks. Until then, have a good everyone.

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