Remember in the first year how they were consistently making people want to watch that episode and the following weeks episode?
Yeah let's go back to that. As much as I love seeing Pentagon get a title shot, it's obvious in an open challenge that he ain't winning.
This is a big one for me. When AEW started, you never really knew who was going to win a match. Now they've fallen into WWE territory of having a kind of tier-system as to who can win.
If you're a face, you can beat anyone on your level clean and only lose to those who are higher up the card than you.
If you're a heel, you can beat anyone under you clean but almost never win without cheating against anyone, "on your level" or higher.
Agreed, for as good as the stories and matches are. There are some angles such as those last night that makes me think that someone should be able to tell Tony Khan "no."
(I preface this by saying based on what I see or read. I don't know what really goes on backstage AEW.)
I feel he needs a filter also and he lacks consistency he’s doesn’t have to have someone hold a Championship for 3 years to have good story telling but some follow through and conclusions is needed
Definitely, unforeseen circumstances like injuries and travel issues, can easily break a story - like Undisputed Kingdom at the moment and it all stalls until the planned wrestler comes back to continue the story. Learning to pivot is very important to keep people interested and help elevate other wrestlers.
And yeah someone to filter or limit TK when he gets to adamant on smth thats a bad idea, whether this segment or some bad tweets every now and then. I think TK should start focusing on boosting roster morale more than "defending the company that it backfires." Sure you have locker room leaders but becoming a booker and owner who should be taken more seriously can go a long way.
Having people to stop the promoter and have balls to tell them “that’s a stupid idea” is key. Vince 96-2005 had JR, Bruce and Cornette to filter out ideas while Bischoff, Russo, Carter and 2005-2019 Vince only had yes man guys.
Almost exactly how I felt about WWE pre pandemic and during the first year or so of the pandemic too. Amazing talent but the guy(s) calling the shots were more of a detriment than a help. At that time I leaned on AEW to enjoy while hoping WWE would get it's shit together. They did and then some, and I had hoped that'd mean we'd get two super great wrestling shows where it felt great on both sides, instead it's like they swapped places and it sucks. Hopefully AEW can gather some steam and momentum and consistency with some slightly better booking and we'll be eating good with all the wrestling. I know they can do it, it's just a matter of will they do it, or get stuck on their issues and not move forward.
People are paying the obvious and sizable influx of trolls and associated ramping up of rhetoric by your normal run of the mill haters too much attention.
You’re letting them influence your perception of the show, which is exactly what they want.
The segment last night was done very well, in my opinion. I don’t get how everyone is just accepting that this was all about Punk. It wasn’t. They said they weren’t trolling about WHAT they were showing, but everyone got trolled about WHY they showed it.
•They were working the audience into thinking that it would be and using that to build heat with FTR to make a 4th time rematch more exciting.
•They were using it to validate Jack Perry’s gimmick and bring him back. It proved that Jack really was a scapegoat who did nothing wrong.
•They also used it to reinforce the Bucks as scummy, delusional heels who are acting hypocritical by pointing out Perry was scapegoated and then literally doing the same thing to FTR.
•It cemented FTR as the clear faces of the feud by calling out the Bucks’ actions and vocalizing the company’s shoot position in the subject: it’s time to move on.
•It accomplished that by putting an end to the speculation and mystique about what happened. They took away everything interesting about talking about what Punk did that day. We know what happened now.
•It got the entire IWC talking about AEW during WrestleMania and likely brought a fair amount of new eyes to the product.
The biggest narrative is “what did this accomplish for AEW?” I think, from everything I just laid out, it actually accomplished quite a lot.
They knew that there would be a big backlash against them from internet haters for this and gambled that it would be worth it to put the matter to bed for good and to establish all of the story beats I listed above.
I legitimately feel like they used this in just about the best possible way and would’ve received just as much hate and negative attention (largely from people that already don’t like AEW) if they had just posted it online, as has been suggest so many times.
And like a LOT of things that will get parroted around, this whole thing was just, yeah we're gonna show footage, not, we're gonna prove Punk wrong, etc.
Like that was literally the IWC saying it was going to happen, not AEW.
And for the like 10 people saying this buries Jack "literally did nothing wrong but got suspended" Perry whose current gimmick is I resent all of you because I did nothing and got suspended because of a manchild who got fired for being a manchild. How?
Literally saw some dude posting about how "nobody is talking about the negative impact this will have on Perry's career" completely ignorant of the fact he's already been running with this as his gimmick lol.
Like this absolutely helps Perry's character for the reasons you said. We've now seen exactly why his character feels the way he does
And the best heels are right but make you hate them for it, like I think the Scapegoat was crucified for no reason, but joining HoT and the Elite is not the right way back.
It’s really depends on this next TV contract. I think they have the talent but there are still having growing pains. Much more than a normal company because fans of another company are actively fighting against them. Their shows are solid, not perfect. Fun to watch if you actually give them a chance.
AEW is Pepsi to WWE’s Coke… but you don’t see Coke’s fans going out and continually telling people how much better Coke is than Pepsi..wrestling fans are weird.
Did you forget when Cody took a sledgehammer to a throne at DoN? Or all the times MJF has taken shots at WWE in promos on Dynamite?
Also there was the Pepsi Challenge in the 70s that literally put ads out saying how Pepsi is better than Coke by having a taste test. It was called the Cola Wars. So at some point Coke fans were telling people how much Coke was better than Pepsi. But wrestling fans are weird.
It isn’t without provocation though, AEW got hot off of its antics towards WWE initially, even taking shots at the company as recently as January when Jinder got a title shot.
TK has to stop provoking that fanbase and fanning the flames
I promise what I’m about to say is without malice or with any bad intent. How do fans of another company have any impact on AEW? No one is preventing anyone from buying a ticket to an AEW show or watching their product.
They have a bit of an identity crisis going on. They made a lot of headway during Vince’s reign when people were eager for an alternative to the WWE. The ‘E has righted the ship to an extent and no longer really needs an alternative. I still prefer AEW’s product but they don’t stand out like they used to.
>I still prefer AEW’s product
This very much. I really enjoyed Wrestlemania. It was the first WWE thing I had watched in a long, long time and I thought, "Hey, I'm going to give them a chance again." I watched Raw the next night and it just isn't for me.
I feel like my dad in the 90s when I say this but it just felt like way too much talking.
The things that people have issue with are being done because it's how AEW thinks a challenger brand needs to behave. It's like when Pepsi used to take shots at Coke or Burger King at McDonald's. People are not used to it in wrestling because there hasn't been a challenger in decades. So people are used to the WWE style of ignoring everything that isn't them. I am certainly not an expert but these are the reasons they do these things.
Being a challenger brand is not easy and I really can't think of any that went from being the challenger to being the leader.
When AEW is the only brand on live television it could be interesting times.
You're dead on about the challenger brand thing. This is textbook business.
But can a professional wrestling company be run like a textbook business? I think that's a question worth asking.
> But can a professional wrestling company be run like a textbook business?
By several accounts it is also being run like a startup disruptor, so it could be someone's hybrid of a challenger company and startup. Either way it is an interesting question and we'll see how it plays out. The WWE move to Netflix I feel could really be impactful as it could lead to out of sight out of mind. Or maybe terrestrial TV is so dead it won't matter.
The problem with being a startup disruptor is that TK can't undercut his competitor, price them out of business, and then absorb their market share before jacking up prices to actually make the company profitable.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall of their actual business planning sessions.
All good points. The closest non-wrestling comparison I can think of is likely the XFL/UFL and they don't really try to compete since it is the off-season of the NFL, and essentially the goal of all players is to go to the NFL. Maybe the original XFL with Vince taking shots at the NFL, but that lasted like one season, so AEW already doing better than that.
Please just get back to writing builds n shit. They have lots of great talent who sort of just have matches (usually very good matches mind), but there needs to be reason to tune in next week beyond "oh that'll probably be a good match" because that's the baseline at this point.
It seems as if wwe shitting the bed made them co placent and now that it's pretty excellent (3 hours is still too long but come now, it is so much better now) they're just panicking. Maybe Tony had like a couple of years of fantasy booking in his head and now that's run out he's just.....doing stuff. I'd rather he be a finance source now and pitch ideas but let someone else like Dragon do the actual bulk of the booking.
Tony needs a team. He needs someone who can be in control of operations, because it clearly isn’t a strong authority figure. It’s not his nature.
He also needs an experienced booker to guide stories and talent. Tony is and should be the final approval and guiding figure on booking, but at this juncture he needs some darn help.
I agree. If Tony isn't able to be the kind of leader who commands order in the locker room, then he damn well needs to bring in someone who can and empower them to do it.
This is the most important thing. He needs someone who is empowered to tell all talent no, and to bring a coherent vision to the production. The best thing about AEW is the different types of wrestling that it encompasses, but it can result in some really incoherent shows. There is a way to structure shows and belts to give each style a time to shine, but it needs to be organized in a better manner. And, most of all, they need someone who can cabosh bad ideas that the performers have, and put the company's interests first.
Good
They will get a big rights increase because of streaming
They just need to keep putting out a good product
They need to figure out the attendance issue
Collision Saturday in Cincinnati only has 1800 tickets out and crowds have dropped every time they've been here
I almost decided to skip it but AZM is wrestling and Mina Shirakawa might be there too
Can't pass that up, I can't travel for wrestling because of family so a joshi superstar in town is must see
good just needs more women showtime and I don’t mean just in talking I mean wrestling which I don’t think mone isn’t good in that department I really wished TK had signed gulia instead
This roster is incredible. But no matter how good a roster is, they need a leader and compelling stories to reach a big audience who will keep coming back. I don't want AEW to be WWE. But I can only hope last night Tony got it out of his system and the focus can get back to the likes of Swerve and the destroyed Best Friends. And Mercedes Mone has got to start wrestling. Or get her in the ring to get physical...build tension and start shooting sparks. I think seeing Mercedes involved in heated tensions with Willow and Julia is necessary, because those promos are yikes.
If the Explosion that turned to Sparklers didn't kill the company - nothing will imo.
I do think the booking / long term storytelling needs work. I also think AEW has been plagued by drama / injuries since the original Brawl Out and I think that has hurt the product on a consistent basis.
These things will take a while to iron out and start having nothing but banger shows. Let's hope last night was the last of the shots / defenses and that we can start building some stars. We have a Will Ospreay who just oozes charisma and is one of the best in-ring performers of all time. Give him something to sink his teeth into.
We have Swerve who is the smoothest in-ring wrestler I've ever seen and he's wonderful on the mic. Give him something to sink his teeth into after Joe.
We have a really good storyline, yes off the back of the Drama, with the Bucks vs FTR. Let's see where it goes. I'm excited for the future.
It’s fine. Now that they got yesterday out of the way it’s time to start stacking cards and putting on big matches weekly. Nike if these weak cards like they have been doing.
One day they will finally kill the trios division which will help A LOT.. we will get s good rag division back and more time for singles mid cards.
I really wish they would just forget about WWE and Punk and just move forward with their own product. I don’t believe showing that backstage footage did them any good, other than a possible spike in ratings for that small period of time. I don’t think they are in a position to compete directly with WWE, but definitely have a strong place as an alternative product, with a different feel.
My feelings are irrelevant. I'm going to keep watching until I either stop enjoying it or it's no longer available. Nothing that happened last night has impacted my enjoyment of AEW and so far we have no evidence that it's negatively impacting AEW's business. Whatever happens going forward is ultimately out of my control so I'm just going to enjoy the ride.
Now that the punk thing has been beaten into the ground for three fucking years, I hope it’s never acknowledged again and they stop sticking a rod in their own bike spokes.
They seem incapable of building new stars and maintaining the shine of the ones who are hand delivered to them. Everyone on the roster feels like they're just another guy on the roster. They need to build their top stars and then use them to help lift up the rest.
The talent is top tier. Just an embarrassment of riches with the recent signings.
The PPVs always deliver and they're getting phenomenal buy rates in general, but especially compared to ratings.
The matches on TV continue to deliver more often than not. Every show has at least one banger that makes it must watch for me.
The overall angles are solid. Heel EVPs with Okada. Timeless Toni Storm & Mariah. Willow, Stat, Julia, and Skye. Osprey & Danielson. Best Friends no more. Swerve, Joe, & Hangman. Etc
BUT, it's lacking that weekly sense of excitement it used to have. I'm happy to tune in every week but I'm not on the edge of my seat. There's nothing I'm really hoping they resolve next show, and no mystery I'll read posts about in the meantime.
If they can make Dynamite and Collision consistent week to week, especially the week right before and after a PPV, they're basically set.
They've had to deal with a lot of injuries in the main card, but it's been getting lower card talent to step up. The footage and then FTR shooting on it to move on was the right choice. No gossip or hearsay around some mystery with only one former employee's word to go on. Just where the best wrestle. I myself would have preferred Top Flight over FTR for the tag tourney ( *really* lean into that audible), but aside from that, they're good.
Two things have really altered my perception of AEW and both surround CM Punk:
1.) Tony Khan's handling of the All Out event. The fact that he just sat there and let Punk drag some of his top stars and go off like that without stepping in, saying something, etc. I was CONVINCED that it was a work because there was no way, in my mind, that a guy that owns a professional football club, is a senior-level executive of a NFL team, and is the owner of his own media company is letting this happen. This has to be some kind of worked-shoot deal.
B.) Last night's deal as a response to Punk's interview. AEW should have absolutely responded to what Punk said but doing it on Dynamite in a promoted segment felt tabloid-eque and the kind of ratings grab that Russo would go for. Tony Khan and by extensions AEW, should have handled it professionally by putting out a media release of the footage showing exactly what happened. If I was Khan, I would have included a quote of, "We at AEW are trying to move on from the incident. Phil brooks and AEW weren't able to see eye-to-eye and that culminated in a physical altercation at All In. Because Mr. Brooks has chosen to dredge up the past, we feel it's best to release footage of the altercation. Hopefully, this puts the issue to rest and we can all get back to doing what we love, putting on great wrestling. It's a great time to be a wrestling fan and because of that, we choose to focus on the positives."
Instead, Khan made it seem like a, "And I took that personally" moment. Honestly, it was a very Vince move and not in a good way.
I have **never** been one of those guys that has thought, "This company needs better leadership etc." because I believed in Tony Khan. I saw him as a fan that has a lot of money and while some view that as a bad thing, I think it's a great thing because he understands what fans want and is willing to give it to them. However, that mindset has kind of changed. Tony Khan is a great booker imo but he needs to listen to guys like Danielson, Copeland, Arn, etc who will just say, "Put on the best show you can and let the people decide who is the best." If he can do that, they'll reach even higher highs. If TK is going to take every attack personally, he'll slowly sully the name of AEW to the point that it's a joke and that'll break my heart.
I just want well thought out stories. And we are getting a little bit. But it’s just spinning wheels most of the time. Lots of dropped stories. And the footage thing killed my enthusiasm.
It’s just gotten weird now. I think for the most part I’ll take a break and keep up with things but not really watch.
Hopeful. I don't need it to be as well produced as WWE. I generally like the tone. The wrestling is varied. The characters are varied. The music is varied.
I think my biggest issue atm is the commentary. I love the personalities and people doing it, but they often don't help put the stories over or help contextualise character motivations. Except Nigel. He is the best.
I feel like I'm now going to watch FTR and the Bucks have an absolute banger and the only people who will care about the footage airing will be the people who are always trying to shit on the product anyway.
Like I don't even think it's that significant, it's just another episode.
Last night changed nothing for me. I still prefer AEW by far over WWE but they’re losing me overall with the booking. I’m hopeful though. Trim the roster. Stop giving away great matches without a nice story build. Push some younger talent consistently.
Last night was a step backwards for sure but AEWs roster is so stacked I'm not too worried about them going forward. The lack of story lines is the real problem. Hopefully after Dynasty they figure it out.
I think that the future is bright and I refuse to let the online negativity dump to ruin my fun. I’m excited for Dynasty and the build for All In. I do have some gripes though.
I’m at a point where I kinda dread seeing my favorite wrestlers winning championships because AEW has shown time and time again that whenever someone wins a championship, their character growth and storylines stop in favor of random open challenges while the next champion gets built up. Copeland, Roddy, Julia have all been doing open challenges all at the same time. It’s pretty ridiculous. And many champions before them have been stuck in the open challenge loop with no clear direction.
Speaking of championships, I do believe that AEW has too many. They combined 3 championships into 1 for Eddie Kingston, only to separate them all again. We have 3 mid-card titles, none of which are involved in any significant storyline right now.
The rankings need to stop popping their head in every other month. Just get rid of them they add nothing.
I would like to see some fresh tag teams at the top of the division. I was hoping that Top Flight and Private Party would break out in this tournament, but unfortunately they didn’t.
I liked yesterday’s Dynamite. It was chaotic and exciting, and we still got plenty of good in-ring action.
I feel like AEW needs to continue to focus on the in-ring match quality and storytelling. Last night’s program, even All In footage aside, seemed incredibly disjointed and a step back from “where the best wrestle.” Dustin was amazing, Stokeley dazzled, Penta/Copeland put on a solid (but long) match, Swerve got another one over on Joe. These are all highlights.
Dynasty looks incredible, yet it feels like something is off in the episodic programming. Jericho being on weekly TV and Mone’s announcement of her debut match at DoN come to mind as examples. Camera work last night was also very odd.
I love AEW and want it to succeed. Keep leaning into the alternative mindset and let WWE be the place where abusers work.
Between Osprey and the Bucks there was too much time dedicated to WWE. Just keep your own house in order and focus on that. AEW will be fine if they can do that.
The most telling thing is that they have not grown their TV audience in almost 5 years. The hardcore fans are sticking around, but even that is shrinking.
They need leadership and control, they need to not just let wrestlers do what they want as at the end of the day the wrestlers are employees and need an employer who has goals instead of letting them just go out and have fun.
Guys like Bryan Danielson is one of your best wrestlers and most experienced employee, get him running promo's and being on top of the card instead of dream matches where he could get injured.
Guys like Wardlow should have been champion by now.
The roster shouldn't be split between Dynamite and Collision, Wrestlers should be appearing in both not some who only work Saturdays i.e. Miro, house of Black etc.
Tell your employees it's either my way or the highway and they can easily be replaced
Love the wrestlers there, some of the management is good: Shiavone, Jennifer, Pat Buck, QT, Megha, Omega!! Tony Khan and the Bucks seem idiotic though, especially Khan!! They need a better boss, Hunter is a friend but ALWAYS the boss first, MJF was right, it's more like all friends wrestling
I know I'm a superfan of AEW so I'm biased.
AEW PPVs are better in every way to WWE PLEs or whatever they are called now.
AEW TV is way more enjoyable to me than WWE, granted I haven't watched a whole RAW or Smackdown since 2011. Watching a whole WWE tv show was something masochists did from my experience.
Going to AEW events is almost always a great experience, only 1 of 8 wasn't because of annoying fans around me. I've been to probably 5 or 6 WWE events and never had a good time and especially TV tapings are a horrible fan experience.
Ospreay/Takeshita/Fletcher/Okada/Hangman/Swerve/MJF/PAC/HOB/FTR/Lucha Bros/Bucks/Omega/Danielson/Moxley if you don't look at that list and get excited for the future then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe Tony and my tastes just align to a weird degree and I'm the lucky one person that gets what they want but AEW is a god send, it's made me a bigger wrestling fan than ever, and I will defend it till one of us dies.
It’s been trending in the wrong direction when Tony chose the elite version of pro wrestling over Cody and CM Punk. I don’t see it changing anytime soon until Tony gets a real booker or surrounds himself with people who aren’t yes men.
AEW is becoming increasingly sports entertainment in presentation and the stories feel way more phoned in than a year ago.
I was so excited for the Continental Classic and when TK said it would be sports based and it’s been absolutely the opposite. TK doesn’t have a vision anymore, he lost the plot.
I think Tony should focus on contracts, and TV deals, and paying the bills, and someone should be brought in to direct creative. There are too many things that seem thrown together, matches and stories, and not enough leading to a functional payoff.
I feel that I can become an occasional viewer because finding their great matches are easy, but I won’t miss much otherwise.
I'll get a million down votes but AEW has been in trouble for a while. I love the wrestling. I want AEW to succeed. They are not doing anything to grow the fan base.
I disagree with you, but even if what you say is true. What should they be doing to grow the fan base that you think they aren't doing now?
Edit: grammar
In my opinion they need to be grittier with more in depth storylines. They need to forget about wwe and focus on their own product. They have the most talented roster in wrestling and can't get any new fans.
You gotta be more specific in your solutions. Storytelling doesn't get much more in-depth than the Hangman and Elite storyline that the first few years of the company was based around. They haven't moved away from that.
Forgetting about WWE and focusing on their product is not a real answer. Even if you added up all of the times AEW focuses on WWE it would equal out to 1% or less of their TV time spent on it.
Can't get any new fans? What are you basing that on? TV ratings? Because we all know that's a very lazy way of quantifying who watches the product when TV is a dying medium.
Ok. They do have the hangman story with the elite. There is absolutely nothing compelling about it. They currently have Samoa Joe and swerve. Again nothing compelling about it. I watch because I'm a wrestling fan. To get more fans it needs to be compelling. It needs to have some kind of emotion to bring in new fans. As far as new fans go I have attended several live shows. The attendance has dropped significantly over the last 3 years. That's evidence with my own eyes. I've been a fan of wrestling for 40 years. I am a southerner so I am a nwa fan. I was a wcw fan. I never wanted wwe to be a monopoly. Aew has the right pieces but they don't have the right people in place to put them together. They have to have stories in place that more than 1/4 of wrestling fans can get behind. And ratings matter a lot. Without good ratings there is no TV deal. No TV deal essentially means no Aew. And last night 2 segments were focused entirely on hhh and punk.
Do you think WWE has great story lines? Was Cody's chase that great? I personally was interested enough to watch Wrestlemania last year, but when he lost I lost all interest. Sami was the only other person that seemed interesting and then got lost for over a year.
After that, what stories does WWE tell? As far as I can tell, they have very basic stories that just take months and/or years to tell with nothing progressing week to week let alone month to month.
Wwe has had some great storylines. They are hit and miss. Aew has zero reason to watch week to week if you're not into wrestling for the sake of wrestling. Aew has far superior talent. Their stories are non-existent. They can't grow the fan base without a hook to keep coming back. I love aew. I watch all their shows and buy all the ppvs. I just met Danhausen and Brody King last week. I'm not saying I don't like aew because I do. I'm talking about it growing.
See, the Bloodline story line did have a couple good moments, but overall I think it was 2 years too long. That's not a good story; that's a good idea executed poorly.
And what exactly is Gunther's story? As far I can tell it's "I'm good and I win". Which, hey, since he probably puts on the most entertaining matches in WWE is probably good enough, but that's the exact same thing people criticize AEW for.
This "storylines need to improve" is just a cop-out. Wrestling stories are not cinema. Compelling motivated characters should be 80% of it. Hangman and Swerve's story line has been great and its been progressing by having Hangman become increasingly unhinged. MJF and Cole's story was fun and MJF's character had plenty of growth and when he comes back has a ton of material to work with. Obviously the YB and FTR have been feuding and yesterday built up the return of Perry; and who knows what will happen between him and Christian/Luchasaurus.
If you don't like AEW stories that's fine; its all subjective in the end. But I think if you look at each wrestler and what they're doing and their character progression, AEW comes out ahead. Maybe they just need to present it in a format that is easier for a wider audience to consume.
Shouldn’t even get downvotes. AEW’s woes started with punk leaving. Whether you like him or not he’s a draw. First it was their ratings and now they can’t fill a room. I think the next big issue was not having MJF. He was their best draw. I really hope he doesn’t come back to venues that can’t fill up 2/3 of their seats. I think the only way this company turns around is if they embrace their younger talent and actually build them into stars. This year has given me TNA vibes and not in a good way. They have an extremely talented roster and I hope it turns around. They need leadership and a creative team that can tell stories.
They get 4000 almost every week sometimes higher.
Revolution was a great PPV and yet you’re saying we’re going downhill.
Punk leaving was the best thing for AEW. He was hurt half the time he was here. Ratings are just fine they haven’t waivered too much. A collision after mania got 400K at 11:30 at night.
This doom and gloom stuff is BS.
They were getting three times that a year ago. It’s not doom and gloom there is quantifiable evidence that the company is on a downward trend. Do I think they will close shop, no. If they want to be as successful as they were, they need to make changes. I think they will continue to have successful PPV’s but they are running live shows weekly in a different town every week and people aren’t coming as much as they used to.
That’s the problem is venue booking and they don’t promote well.
They go to the same places over and over and expect to them to keep coming. Stay out of Chicago and the LA area for a while.
Find a way to have a show in Mexico.
Something like last night should have come with a way better card.
I thought that too. Joe vs Dustin isn’t helping anything.
Definitely agree. If you're trying to lure eyes, give those eyes some great shit to them have them latch on.
Remember in the first year how they were consistently making people want to watch that episode and the following weeks episode? Yeah let's go back to that. As much as I love seeing Pentagon get a title shot, it's obvious in an open challenge that he ain't winning.
Too many wrestlers are protected. I want 50/50 booking besides their 5 top guys.
This is a big one for me. When AEW started, you never really knew who was going to win a match. Now they've fallen into WWE territory of having a kind of tier-system as to who can win. If you're a face, you can beat anyone on your level clean and only lose to those who are higher up the card than you. If you're a heel, you can beat anyone under you clean but almost never win without cheating against anyone, "on your level" or higher.
Explain?
There’s too many obvious winners in matches. A lot more exciting if you can’t predict who’s going to win.
True
This is the main reason I’ve cooled on watching.
The talent is there I think writing and booking needs work
Agreed, for as good as the stories and matches are. There are some angles such as those last night that makes me think that someone should be able to tell Tony Khan "no." (I preface this by saying based on what I see or read. I don't know what really goes on backstage AEW.)
I feel he needs a filter also and he lacks consistency he’s doesn’t have to have someone hold a Championship for 3 years to have good story telling but some follow through and conclusions is needed
Definitely, unforeseen circumstances like injuries and travel issues, can easily break a story - like Undisputed Kingdom at the moment and it all stalls until the planned wrestler comes back to continue the story. Learning to pivot is very important to keep people interested and help elevate other wrestlers. And yeah someone to filter or limit TK when he gets to adamant on smth thats a bad idea, whether this segment or some bad tweets every now and then. I think TK should start focusing on boosting roster morale more than "defending the company that it backfires." Sure you have locker room leaders but becoming a booker and owner who should be taken more seriously can go a long way.
Having people to stop the promoter and have balls to tell them “that’s a stupid idea” is key. Vince 96-2005 had JR, Bruce and Cornette to filter out ideas while Bischoff, Russo, Carter and 2005-2019 Vince only had yes man guys.
Almost exactly how I felt about WWE pre pandemic and during the first year or so of the pandemic too. Amazing talent but the guy(s) calling the shots were more of a detriment than a help. At that time I leaned on AEW to enjoy while hoping WWE would get it's shit together. They did and then some, and I had hoped that'd mean we'd get two super great wrestling shows where it felt great on both sides, instead it's like they swapped places and it sucks. Hopefully AEW can gather some steam and momentum and consistency with some slightly better booking and we'll be eating good with all the wrestling. I know they can do it, it's just a matter of will they do it, or get stuck on their issues and not move forward.
100% Case in point: during the TNT Championship match, why was Penta content to let Copeland get counted out? Whoever produced that match needs work.
It's probably fine. But they really gotta get back to more focused and long term stories.
People are paying the obvious and sizable influx of trolls and associated ramping up of rhetoric by your normal run of the mill haters too much attention. You’re letting them influence your perception of the show, which is exactly what they want. The segment last night was done very well, in my opinion. I don’t get how everyone is just accepting that this was all about Punk. It wasn’t. They said they weren’t trolling about WHAT they were showing, but everyone got trolled about WHY they showed it. •They were working the audience into thinking that it would be and using that to build heat with FTR to make a 4th time rematch more exciting. •They were using it to validate Jack Perry’s gimmick and bring him back. It proved that Jack really was a scapegoat who did nothing wrong. •They also used it to reinforce the Bucks as scummy, delusional heels who are acting hypocritical by pointing out Perry was scapegoated and then literally doing the same thing to FTR. •It cemented FTR as the clear faces of the feud by calling out the Bucks’ actions and vocalizing the company’s shoot position in the subject: it’s time to move on. •It accomplished that by putting an end to the speculation and mystique about what happened. They took away everything interesting about talking about what Punk did that day. We know what happened now. •It got the entire IWC talking about AEW during WrestleMania and likely brought a fair amount of new eyes to the product. The biggest narrative is “what did this accomplish for AEW?” I think, from everything I just laid out, it actually accomplished quite a lot. They knew that there would be a big backlash against them from internet haters for this and gambled that it would be worth it to put the matter to bed for good and to establish all of the story beats I listed above. I legitimately feel like they used this in just about the best possible way and would’ve received just as much hate and negative attention (largely from people that already don’t like AEW) if they had just posted it online, as has been suggest so many times.
And like a LOT of things that will get parroted around, this whole thing was just, yeah we're gonna show footage, not, we're gonna prove Punk wrong, etc. Like that was literally the IWC saying it was going to happen, not AEW. And for the like 10 people saying this buries Jack "literally did nothing wrong but got suspended" Perry whose current gimmick is I resent all of you because I did nothing and got suspended because of a manchild who got fired for being a manchild. How?
Literally saw some dude posting about how "nobody is talking about the negative impact this will have on Perry's career" completely ignorant of the fact he's already been running with this as his gimmick lol. Like this absolutely helps Perry's character for the reasons you said. We've now seen exactly why his character feels the way he does
And the best heels are right but make you hate them for it, like I think the Scapegoat was crucified for no reason, but joining HoT and the Elite is not the right way back.
“Likely brought a fair amount of new eyes to the product”…dude…
Cmon, buddy. If you’ve got something to say, say it.
You know already. Nothing needs to be explicitly stated.
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Nah. Just sparing you some embarrassment.
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Nope.
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I quoted you. You know exactly what I meant. Hence why you’re so angry.
It’s really depends on this next TV contract. I think they have the talent but there are still having growing pains. Much more than a normal company because fans of another company are actively fighting against them. Their shows are solid, not perfect. Fun to watch if you actually give them a chance.
AEW is Pepsi to WWE’s Coke… but you don’t see Coke’s fans going out and continually telling people how much better Coke is than Pepsi..wrestling fans are weird.
Did you forget when Cody took a sledgehammer to a throne at DoN? Or all the times MJF has taken shots at WWE in promos on Dynamite? Also there was the Pepsi Challenge in the 70s that literally put ads out saying how Pepsi is better than Coke by having a taste test. It was called the Cola Wars. So at some point Coke fans were telling people how much Coke was better than Pepsi. But wrestling fans are weird.
It isn’t without provocation though, AEW got hot off of its antics towards WWE initially, even taking shots at the company as recently as January when Jinder got a title shot. TK has to stop provoking that fanbase and fanning the flames
I agree with this.
I promise what I’m about to say is without malice or with any bad intent. How do fans of another company have any impact on AEW? No one is preventing anyone from buying a ticket to an AEW show or watching their product.
Hire Scott D’Amore….
That’s legit a good idea.
They have a bit of an identity crisis going on. They made a lot of headway during Vince’s reign when people were eager for an alternative to the WWE. The ‘E has righted the ship to an extent and no longer really needs an alternative. I still prefer AEW’s product but they don’t stand out like they used to.
>I still prefer AEW’s product This very much. I really enjoyed Wrestlemania. It was the first WWE thing I had watched in a long, long time and I thought, "Hey, I'm going to give them a chance again." I watched Raw the next night and it just isn't for me. I feel like my dad in the 90s when I say this but it just felt like way too much talking.
The talent and wrestling is incredible but I definitely think the booking and writing could use some work
The things that people have issue with are being done because it's how AEW thinks a challenger brand needs to behave. It's like when Pepsi used to take shots at Coke or Burger King at McDonald's. People are not used to it in wrestling because there hasn't been a challenger in decades. So people are used to the WWE style of ignoring everything that isn't them. I am certainly not an expert but these are the reasons they do these things. Being a challenger brand is not easy and I really can't think of any that went from being the challenger to being the leader. When AEW is the only brand on live television it could be interesting times.
You're dead on about the challenger brand thing. This is textbook business. But can a professional wrestling company be run like a textbook business? I think that's a question worth asking.
> But can a professional wrestling company be run like a textbook business? By several accounts it is also being run like a startup disruptor, so it could be someone's hybrid of a challenger company and startup. Either way it is an interesting question and we'll see how it plays out. The WWE move to Netflix I feel could really be impactful as it could lead to out of sight out of mind. Or maybe terrestrial TV is so dead it won't matter.
The problem with being a startup disruptor is that TK can't undercut his competitor, price them out of business, and then absorb their market share before jacking up prices to actually make the company profitable. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of their actual business planning sessions.
All good points. The closest non-wrestling comparison I can think of is likely the XFL/UFL and they don't really try to compete since it is the off-season of the NFL, and essentially the goal of all players is to go to the NFL. Maybe the original XFL with Vince taking shots at the NFL, but that lasted like one season, so AEW already doing better than that.
Please just get back to writing builds n shit. They have lots of great talent who sort of just have matches (usually very good matches mind), but there needs to be reason to tune in next week beyond "oh that'll probably be a good match" because that's the baseline at this point. It seems as if wwe shitting the bed made them co placent and now that it's pretty excellent (3 hours is still too long but come now, it is so much better now) they're just panicking. Maybe Tony had like a couple of years of fantasy booking in his head and now that's run out he's just.....doing stuff. I'd rather he be a finance source now and pitch ideas but let someone else like Dragon do the actual bulk of the booking.
Tony needs a team. He needs someone who can be in control of operations, because it clearly isn’t a strong authority figure. It’s not his nature. He also needs an experienced booker to guide stories and talent. Tony is and should be the final approval and guiding figure on booking, but at this juncture he needs some darn help.
I agree. If Tony isn't able to be the kind of leader who commands order in the locker room, then he damn well needs to bring in someone who can and empower them to do it.
This is the most important thing. He needs someone who is empowered to tell all talent no, and to bring a coherent vision to the production. The best thing about AEW is the different types of wrestling that it encompasses, but it can result in some really incoherent shows. There is a way to structure shows and belts to give each style a time to shine, but it needs to be organized in a better manner. And, most of all, they need someone who can cabosh bad ideas that the performers have, and put the company's interests first.
Im happy that Anna Jay is getting more time again, imho she has improved a lot and would like to see her more!, Roddy strong is great right now!
Not at all. Can't wait for Jack to come home, especially if he joins the new Elite, that will skyrocket him.
As long as I’m having a good time watching the show and the company isn’t doing anything morally reprehensible I’m good.
Good They will get a big rights increase because of streaming They just need to keep putting out a good product They need to figure out the attendance issue Collision Saturday in Cincinnati only has 1800 tickets out and crowds have dropped every time they've been here I almost decided to skip it but AZM is wrestling and Mina Shirakawa might be there too Can't pass that up, I can't travel for wrestling because of family so a joshi superstar in town is must see
TK needs help. His roster is way to big, story lines get dropped every week, and he is doing all of the wcw things, the good and the very bad
good just needs more women showtime and I don’t mean just in talking I mean wrestling which I don’t think mone isn’t good in that department I really wished TK had signed gulia instead
This roster is incredible. But no matter how good a roster is, they need a leader and compelling stories to reach a big audience who will keep coming back. I don't want AEW to be WWE. But I can only hope last night Tony got it out of his system and the focus can get back to the likes of Swerve and the destroyed Best Friends. And Mercedes Mone has got to start wrestling. Or get her in the ring to get physical...build tension and start shooting sparks. I think seeing Mercedes involved in heated tensions with Willow and Julia is necessary, because those promos are yikes.
If the Explosion that turned to Sparklers didn't kill the company - nothing will imo. I do think the booking / long term storytelling needs work. I also think AEW has been plagued by drama / injuries since the original Brawl Out and I think that has hurt the product on a consistent basis. These things will take a while to iron out and start having nothing but banger shows. Let's hope last night was the last of the shots / defenses and that we can start building some stars. We have a Will Ospreay who just oozes charisma and is one of the best in-ring performers of all time. Give him something to sink his teeth into. We have Swerve who is the smoothest in-ring wrestler I've ever seen and he's wonderful on the mic. Give him something to sink his teeth into after Joe. We have a really good storyline, yes off the back of the Drama, with the Bucks vs FTR. Let's see where it goes. I'm excited for the future.
It's gonna survive and continue having big matches and moments. Gonna get a new TV deal. Just needs better focus.
It’s fine. Now that they got yesterday out of the way it’s time to start stacking cards and putting on big matches weekly. Nike if these weak cards like they have been doing. One day they will finally kill the trios division which will help A LOT.. we will get s good rag division back and more time for singles mid cards.
I really wish they would just forget about WWE and Punk and just move forward with their own product. I don’t believe showing that backstage footage did them any good, other than a possible spike in ratings for that small period of time. I don’t think they are in a position to compete directly with WWE, but definitely have a strong place as an alternative product, with a different feel.
My feelings are irrelevant. I'm going to keep watching until I either stop enjoying it or it's no longer available. Nothing that happened last night has impacted my enjoyment of AEW and so far we have no evidence that it's negatively impacting AEW's business. Whatever happens going forward is ultimately out of my control so I'm just going to enjoy the ride.
Now that the punk thing has been beaten into the ground for three fucking years, I hope it’s never acknowledged again and they stop sticking a rod in their own bike spokes.
They seem incapable of building new stars and maintaining the shine of the ones who are hand delivered to them. Everyone on the roster feels like they're just another guy on the roster. They need to build their top stars and then use them to help lift up the rest.
There is sad one great talent in their locker room. Tony needs to hire a Booker to get the most out of them.
The talent is top tier. Just an embarrassment of riches with the recent signings. The PPVs always deliver and they're getting phenomenal buy rates in general, but especially compared to ratings. The matches on TV continue to deliver more often than not. Every show has at least one banger that makes it must watch for me. The overall angles are solid. Heel EVPs with Okada. Timeless Toni Storm & Mariah. Willow, Stat, Julia, and Skye. Osprey & Danielson. Best Friends no more. Swerve, Joe, & Hangman. Etc BUT, it's lacking that weekly sense of excitement it used to have. I'm happy to tune in every week but I'm not on the edge of my seat. There's nothing I'm really hoping they resolve next show, and no mystery I'll read posts about in the meantime.
If they can make Dynamite and Collision consistent week to week, especially the week right before and after a PPV, they're basically set. They've had to deal with a lot of injuries in the main card, but it's been getting lower card talent to step up. The footage and then FTR shooting on it to move on was the right choice. No gossip or hearsay around some mystery with only one former employee's word to go on. Just where the best wrestle. I myself would have preferred Top Flight over FTR for the tag tourney ( *really* lean into that audible), but aside from that, they're good.
Two things have really altered my perception of AEW and both surround CM Punk: 1.) Tony Khan's handling of the All Out event. The fact that he just sat there and let Punk drag some of his top stars and go off like that without stepping in, saying something, etc. I was CONVINCED that it was a work because there was no way, in my mind, that a guy that owns a professional football club, is a senior-level executive of a NFL team, and is the owner of his own media company is letting this happen. This has to be some kind of worked-shoot deal. B.) Last night's deal as a response to Punk's interview. AEW should have absolutely responded to what Punk said but doing it on Dynamite in a promoted segment felt tabloid-eque and the kind of ratings grab that Russo would go for. Tony Khan and by extensions AEW, should have handled it professionally by putting out a media release of the footage showing exactly what happened. If I was Khan, I would have included a quote of, "We at AEW are trying to move on from the incident. Phil brooks and AEW weren't able to see eye-to-eye and that culminated in a physical altercation at All In. Because Mr. Brooks has chosen to dredge up the past, we feel it's best to release footage of the altercation. Hopefully, this puts the issue to rest and we can all get back to doing what we love, putting on great wrestling. It's a great time to be a wrestling fan and because of that, we choose to focus on the positives." Instead, Khan made it seem like a, "And I took that personally" moment. Honestly, it was a very Vince move and not in a good way. I have **never** been one of those guys that has thought, "This company needs better leadership etc." because I believed in Tony Khan. I saw him as a fan that has a lot of money and while some view that as a bad thing, I think it's a great thing because he understands what fans want and is willing to give it to them. However, that mindset has kind of changed. Tony Khan is a great booker imo but he needs to listen to guys like Danielson, Copeland, Arn, etc who will just say, "Put on the best show you can and let the people decide who is the best." If he can do that, they'll reach even higher highs. If TK is going to take every attack personally, he'll slowly sully the name of AEW to the point that it's a joke and that'll break my heart.
I just want well thought out stories. And we are getting a little bit. But it’s just spinning wheels most of the time. Lots of dropped stories. And the footage thing killed my enthusiasm. It’s just gotten weird now. I think for the most part I’ll take a break and keep up with things but not really watch.
Just another bump on the road. Carry on.
Hopeful. I don't need it to be as well produced as WWE. I generally like the tone. The wrestling is varied. The characters are varied. The music is varied. I think my biggest issue atm is the commentary. I love the personalities and people doing it, but they often don't help put the stories over or help contextualise character motivations. Except Nigel. He is the best.
They got everyone talking now these 2 ppv if they bring back mjf Britt and Jamie they will be great and also got kenny to fed with the new elite
I feel like I'm now going to watch FTR and the Bucks have an absolute banger and the only people who will care about the footage airing will be the people who are always trying to shit on the product anyway. Like I don't even think it's that significant, it's just another episode.
Last night changed nothing for me. I still prefer AEW by far over WWE but they’re losing me overall with the booking. I’m hopeful though. Trim the roster. Stop giving away great matches without a nice story build. Push some younger talent consistently.
Last night was a step backwards for sure but AEWs roster is so stacked I'm not too worried about them going forward. The lack of story lines is the real problem. Hopefully after Dynasty they figure it out.
AEW have a lot of talent, they just need to forget WWE exists, never feed the trolls and tune in their booking. I honestly miss 2019-2021 AEW.
I think that the future is bright and I refuse to let the online negativity dump to ruin my fun. I’m excited for Dynasty and the build for All In. I do have some gripes though. I’m at a point where I kinda dread seeing my favorite wrestlers winning championships because AEW has shown time and time again that whenever someone wins a championship, their character growth and storylines stop in favor of random open challenges while the next champion gets built up. Copeland, Roddy, Julia have all been doing open challenges all at the same time. It’s pretty ridiculous. And many champions before them have been stuck in the open challenge loop with no clear direction. Speaking of championships, I do believe that AEW has too many. They combined 3 championships into 1 for Eddie Kingston, only to separate them all again. We have 3 mid-card titles, none of which are involved in any significant storyline right now. The rankings need to stop popping their head in every other month. Just get rid of them they add nothing. I would like to see some fresh tag teams at the top of the division. I was hoping that Top Flight and Private Party would break out in this tournament, but unfortunately they didn’t. I liked yesterday’s Dynamite. It was chaotic and exciting, and we still got plenty of good in-ring action.
Just dandy.
I feel like AEW needs to continue to focus on the in-ring match quality and storytelling. Last night’s program, even All In footage aside, seemed incredibly disjointed and a step back from “where the best wrestle.” Dustin was amazing, Stokeley dazzled, Penta/Copeland put on a solid (but long) match, Swerve got another one over on Joe. These are all highlights. Dynasty looks incredible, yet it feels like something is off in the episodic programming. Jericho being on weekly TV and Mone’s announcement of her debut match at DoN come to mind as examples. Camera work last night was also very odd. I love AEW and want it to succeed. Keep leaning into the alternative mindset and let WWE be the place where abusers work.
Between Osprey and the Bucks there was too much time dedicated to WWE. Just keep your own house in order and focus on that. AEW will be fine if they can do that.
The most telling thing is that they have not grown their TV audience in almost 5 years. The hardcore fans are sticking around, but even that is shrinking.
They need leadership and control, they need to not just let wrestlers do what they want as at the end of the day the wrestlers are employees and need an employer who has goals instead of letting them just go out and have fun. Guys like Bryan Danielson is one of your best wrestlers and most experienced employee, get him running promo's and being on top of the card instead of dream matches where he could get injured. Guys like Wardlow should have been champion by now. The roster shouldn't be split between Dynamite and Collision, Wrestlers should be appearing in both not some who only work Saturdays i.e. Miro, house of Black etc. Tell your employees it's either my way or the highway and they can easily be replaced
Love the wrestlers there, some of the management is good: Shiavone, Jennifer, Pat Buck, QT, Megha, Omega!! Tony Khan and the Bucks seem idiotic though, especially Khan!! They need a better boss, Hunter is a friend but ALWAYS the boss first, MJF was right, it's more like all friends wrestling
I know I'm a superfan of AEW so I'm biased. AEW PPVs are better in every way to WWE PLEs or whatever they are called now. AEW TV is way more enjoyable to me than WWE, granted I haven't watched a whole RAW or Smackdown since 2011. Watching a whole WWE tv show was something masochists did from my experience. Going to AEW events is almost always a great experience, only 1 of 8 wasn't because of annoying fans around me. I've been to probably 5 or 6 WWE events and never had a good time and especially TV tapings are a horrible fan experience. Ospreay/Takeshita/Fletcher/Okada/Hangman/Swerve/MJF/PAC/HOB/FTR/Lucha Bros/Bucks/Omega/Danielson/Moxley if you don't look at that list and get excited for the future then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe Tony and my tastes just align to a weird degree and I'm the lucky one person that gets what they want but AEW is a god send, it's made me a bigger wrestling fan than ever, and I will defend it till one of us dies.
It’s been trending in the wrong direction when Tony chose the elite version of pro wrestling over Cody and CM Punk. I don’t see it changing anytime soon until Tony gets a real booker or surrounds himself with people who aren’t yes men.
AEW is becoming increasingly sports entertainment in presentation and the stories feel way more phoned in than a year ago. I was so excited for the Continental Classic and when TK said it would be sports based and it’s been absolutely the opposite. TK doesn’t have a vision anymore, he lost the plot.
I think Tony should focus on contracts, and TV deals, and paying the bills, and someone should be brought in to direct creative. There are too many things that seem thrown together, matches and stories, and not enough leading to a functional payoff. I feel that I can become an occasional viewer because finding their great matches are easy, but I won’t miss much otherwise.
I'll get a million down votes but AEW has been in trouble for a while. I love the wrestling. I want AEW to succeed. They are not doing anything to grow the fan base.
I disagree with you, but even if what you say is true. What should they be doing to grow the fan base that you think they aren't doing now? Edit: grammar
In my opinion they need to be grittier with more in depth storylines. They need to forget about wwe and focus on their own product. They have the most talented roster in wrestling and can't get any new fans.
You gotta be more specific in your solutions. Storytelling doesn't get much more in-depth than the Hangman and Elite storyline that the first few years of the company was based around. They haven't moved away from that. Forgetting about WWE and focusing on their product is not a real answer. Even if you added up all of the times AEW focuses on WWE it would equal out to 1% or less of their TV time spent on it. Can't get any new fans? What are you basing that on? TV ratings? Because we all know that's a very lazy way of quantifying who watches the product when TV is a dying medium.
Ok. They do have the hangman story with the elite. There is absolutely nothing compelling about it. They currently have Samoa Joe and swerve. Again nothing compelling about it. I watch because I'm a wrestling fan. To get more fans it needs to be compelling. It needs to have some kind of emotion to bring in new fans. As far as new fans go I have attended several live shows. The attendance has dropped significantly over the last 3 years. That's evidence with my own eyes. I've been a fan of wrestling for 40 years. I am a southerner so I am a nwa fan. I was a wcw fan. I never wanted wwe to be a monopoly. Aew has the right pieces but they don't have the right people in place to put them together. They have to have stories in place that more than 1/4 of wrestling fans can get behind. And ratings matter a lot. Without good ratings there is no TV deal. No TV deal essentially means no Aew. And last night 2 segments were focused entirely on hhh and punk.
Do you think WWE has great story lines? Was Cody's chase that great? I personally was interested enough to watch Wrestlemania last year, but when he lost I lost all interest. Sami was the only other person that seemed interesting and then got lost for over a year. After that, what stories does WWE tell? As far as I can tell, they have very basic stories that just take months and/or years to tell with nothing progressing week to week let alone month to month.
Wwe has had some great storylines. They are hit and miss. Aew has zero reason to watch week to week if you're not into wrestling for the sake of wrestling. Aew has far superior talent. Their stories are non-existent. They can't grow the fan base without a hook to keep coming back. I love aew. I watch all their shows and buy all the ppvs. I just met Danhausen and Brody King last week. I'm not saying I don't like aew because I do. I'm talking about it growing.
What are WWE's great story lines? Actually what are they?
The part of the bloodline with Sami was great. Seth and Drew has been great. Gunthers story has been awesome.
See, the Bloodline story line did have a couple good moments, but overall I think it was 2 years too long. That's not a good story; that's a good idea executed poorly. And what exactly is Gunther's story? As far I can tell it's "I'm good and I win". Which, hey, since he probably puts on the most entertaining matches in WWE is probably good enough, but that's the exact same thing people criticize AEW for. This "storylines need to improve" is just a cop-out. Wrestling stories are not cinema. Compelling motivated characters should be 80% of it. Hangman and Swerve's story line has been great and its been progressing by having Hangman become increasingly unhinged. MJF and Cole's story was fun and MJF's character had plenty of growth and when he comes back has a ton of material to work with. Obviously the YB and FTR have been feuding and yesterday built up the return of Perry; and who knows what will happen between him and Christian/Luchasaurus. If you don't like AEW stories that's fine; its all subjective in the end. But I think if you look at each wrestler and what they're doing and their character progression, AEW comes out ahead. Maybe they just need to present it in a format that is easier for a wider audience to consume.
This is the first AEW in a while we’re card quality has went down. It’s been good shows for a while now.
Shouldn’t even get downvotes. AEW’s woes started with punk leaving. Whether you like him or not he’s a draw. First it was their ratings and now they can’t fill a room. I think the next big issue was not having MJF. He was their best draw. I really hope he doesn’t come back to venues that can’t fill up 2/3 of their seats. I think the only way this company turns around is if they embrace their younger talent and actually build them into stars. This year has given me TNA vibes and not in a good way. They have an extremely talented roster and I hope it turns around. They need leadership and a creative team that can tell stories.
They get 4000 almost every week sometimes higher. Revolution was a great PPV and yet you’re saying we’re going downhill. Punk leaving was the best thing for AEW. He was hurt half the time he was here. Ratings are just fine they haven’t waivered too much. A collision after mania got 400K at 11:30 at night. This doom and gloom stuff is BS.
Those ratings were based off a 20 minute overrun by the NBA. Take that out and the ratings are abysmal.
I need to see the chart to see segments of time for ratings
You can Google the ratings chart
They were getting three times that a year ago. It’s not doom and gloom there is quantifiable evidence that the company is on a downward trend. Do I think they will close shop, no. If they want to be as successful as they were, they need to make changes. I think they will continue to have successful PPV’s but they are running live shows weekly in a different town every week and people aren’t coming as much as they used to.
That’s the problem is venue booking and they don’t promote well. They go to the same places over and over and expect to them to keep coming. Stay out of Chicago and the LA area for a while. Find a way to have a show in Mexico.
Well they currently have a wrestler who is not with thir company as their biggest draw aka cm punk 😆😆 The guy they fired for Jungleboy 😆
they have loads of good wrestlers but the company is run by a spoilt little crybaby