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The recent cancelation of The Authors of Pain's WES show has drawn some comparisons to the issues WWE had earlier this summer.
On July 2, WWE was initially scheduled to hold their Money in the Bank premium live event inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. But stiff competition from the UFC caused lower ticket sales than the company predicted. This forced Vince McMahon to move Money in the Bank to the MGM Grand Garden Arena instead in order to produce a sold-out show.
On the latest episode of Writing with Russo, former WWE writer Vince Russo discussed the problems The Authors of Pain faced running WES and compared it to WWE's recent problems with Money in the Bank.
"Promoting a show was the hardest thing I ever did in the business, bro," Vince Russo said. "It is a lot of work. And like I said, I just promoted two shows, and it took the absolute life out of me. Obviously, here bro, you're getting a lot of conflicting reports where you know the word is that it was like a 10,000-seat arena. Maybe they sold 350 tickets, and now they're blaming it on talent not showing up, bro. Here's the bottom line. You gotta you gotta be honest, you got to tell the truth what whatever it is. You know, bro, it's funny like the WWE with SummerSlam [Money in the Bank]. I think they wanted to go to the big arena, and then they had to go down because they couldn't sell the seats. I'm all for shooting for the stars. Like if somebody told these guys, hey, man, you guys can sell out 10,000 seats, and they believed it. Go for it. However, when you find out that you're not going to be able to sell 10,000 seats, bro, you gotta be honest." [Timestamp: 3:48 - 4:53]
Vince Russo on AOP throwing former WWE Superstar Nia Jax under the bus
When The Authors of Pain announced the cancelation, they slyly threw former WWE Superstars like Nia Jax under the bus as the reason for the show not taking place. Russo believes that AOP shouldn't be looking for a scapegoat.
"You got to tell the truth. And I mean if they're throwing talent under the bus and it's not true, which let's face it, bro. The one thing about talent I don't know, Nia Jax, I don't know Braun [Strowman]. But bro, they're gonna take a booking. They're professionals," Vince Russo continued. "They both worked at the WWE with them being booked like every single day. I'm sure, bro, if they're going to get booked and make a booking, then they're going to live up to that just based on who they are, and they're professionals. So I would hate to think that they're just looking for a scapegoat and somebody to blame. When at the end of the day, bro, if you didn't sell enough tickets, just say you didn't sell enough tickets. I mean, I read about concerts being canceled all the time for a weak ticket sales and stuff. I mean, you gotta be honest." [Timestamp: 4:54 - 5:48]
While the Wrestling Entertainment Series hasn't officially shut down, a lot of damage has been done. Perhaps The Authors of Pain should take Russo's advice and just be honest with their audience.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Writing with Russo with a link back to this article for the transcription.
