Lance Storm Warns AEW Of The Perils Of Adding A Third TV Program
Lance Storm sees potential problems when it comes to AEW incorporating a third wrestling show into its television lineup. On his "Figure Four Daily" series with Bryan Alvarez, the "Impact Player" of Impact Wrestling weighed in on the downside of having a popular product.
"You have something that's good and you want more of it and then in a lot of ways by having more of it, you burn it out," Storm said, citing that "WWE Raw" struggled for years after going to three hours. It's only within the past year that "Raw" started seeing an uptick in viewership.
"When it was just 'Dynamite,' I never missed a show," Storm said of AEW. "I didn't miss a single one. As soon as they added 'Rampage,' I started missing 'Rampage,' and I started missing 'Dynamite.' 'Dynamite's' rating did drop after they added 'Rampage,' and if they're gonna add a third show, it's like so much content."
Storm noted that other AEW shows that are available include "All Access," a behind-the-scenes series that premieres March 29 on TBS after "Dynamite;" and "Dark" and "Dark: Elevation," which both stream on YouTube. There's also "Ring of Honor," which streams on HonorClub.
"I just can't think of anything I'm less interested in than more content," Storm added.
Alvarez, however, sees a potential work-around for making three wrestling programs digestible.
What About An All Women's Show?
He believes having three shows could work for AEW if it eliminated "Dark" and "Dark: Elevation." In addition, "Dynamite" would exclusively build to AEW pay-per-views, while the other two shows would build to "Battle Of The Belts" specials. While it's not exactly a brand split, stars would be exclusive to their respective programs.
"It is not imperative that you watch Friday to understand Wednesday, that's the key. Yeah, the Friday show is important; the Saturday show's important; they're self-contained important shows," Alvarez said, stating that it could almost be like watching different soap operas.
The discussion turned to the third show being an all-women's series, but both Alvarez and Storm have reservations about that idea. Alvarez added that while fans may look at it as an opportunity for equality, he noted that a good deal of the women's wrestlers wouldn't find that to be beneficial, and Storm understands why.
"I think the likelihood is it ends up being '205 Live' when you gave the cruiserweights their own show'" he said. "It's the perfect example. They wanted to be highlighted and featured on 'Raw' and 'SmackDown,' and when they got their own show it didn't fare very well because it didn't feel like it was important.
"If the women were moved to a solo show, there is going to be the perception of, 'Oh, they've been demoted down to the 'C' show."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Figure Four Daily" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.