The AEW Thread

That’s quite the hyperbole, lol. They have a consistent audience that translates to a solid PPV buy rate. The sky isn’t falling.

And wrestlers should go wherever they’re treated best, whether that’s WWE or elsewhere. Just be happy that both we the audience and the wrestlers themselves have an abundance of riches right now.

The constant armchair quarterbacking on how AEW is run is so tiring. As a wise man once said, “Let it play out.”

I want aew to do well. The roster is amazing and its best the product is spectacular

But there’s no denying the attendance is ass and its ratings is not great. Even if ppv buys are solid, okada’s telegraphed debut got a 5% drop in ratings

There’s no denying something isn’t working

I deny it, lol. There’s plenty that’s working, there’s an audience that enjoys the product. Ratings currently use archaic methods and aren’t very reliable in the streaming era, I say this as someone who’s been in the television industry for over a decade.

AEW will likely never reach the level of WWE. But that’s an insanely tall order to begin with, and it definitely doesn’t mean the company is failing or that “something isn’t working.”

I’m really hoping Papa H and TK blow everyone’s minds with a true Forbidden Door event at some point.

I mean I hope I’m wrong

I don’t expect aew to reach WWE level status, that just isn’t in the cards, but I would like for them to be viable and there’s just no way the talent they’re bringing in is coming cheap

Maybe I’m overthinking the finances of it

This probably won't happen for a while though. Maybe late 2025 or 2026 at earliest. I'd like to think MJF might stay if AEW can stop bleeding its audience and start thriving.

Was Okada's debut telegraphed? I certainly wasn't expecting it. This Wednesday should be a real test with Wardlow vs Joe and Sasha's debut. It's almost guaranteed to do better than last week's abysmal rating.

Hopefully something can give it a shot in the arm. Something as simple as Will, Sasha, and Okada coming to AEW ain't gonna do it

I don’t consider myself an aew die hard by any means but even I knew okada was debuting on dynamite. It was cool, I watched it, but ya between all the rumors and khan’s commentary that seemed like a done deal

If they're written well rather than just randomly thrown in matches that will look nice, it might. But that can be said for basically everyone they've acquired and it doesn't happen often enough.

Amazingly, Darby flipping onto gimmicked glass and a bunch of steal chairs from a tall ladder wasn't even the dumbest spot of the night.

Ospreay tried real hard to cripple himself in his debut. This is such an insanely idiotic spot, as Snow says, there's no way to even protect him. That Ospreay came away with an ugly massive bruise on his lower back was one of the more favorable outcomes (they start showing the move at 1:10)

That was brutal. Watching in real time I didn't even realize it was a botch and thought it was some new move they thought they could pull off. Then seeing the replay made it seem like an even stupider thing to do. He was lucky to walk away without a serious neck or back injury.

I figured it was one of those intentional “okay let’s just actually hurt me” New Japan spots.

What was the point of the whole Bang Bang Scissor Gang thing?

And why did Tony decide to run this week's card in reverse. Main event on first, curtain jerker last. Helluva build for Joe/Wardlow at least. They may have mentioned it more than once last week. I'm guessing Wardlow disappears for another six months after this and comes back with another repackaging?

Friends then enemies, and now (hopefully) uniting the trios titles. My god, TK please, unify and/or drop some of these titles.

It's obvious why Willow/Riho went on last - get a 2nd hometown pop for Mercedes and set up her storyline. The whole show was themed around her and they're positioning Boston as one of their big bases like they did with Chicago when Punk was still there. Ticket sales for the show were reportedly great and their last time there was Blood and Guts which also sold well.

They joined forces because of Undisputed Kingdom attacking all of them but it looks like they're just dropping that which is good because it wasn't working.

That osperay spot is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. And snow is 100% on this, what is the point of that level of risk on a transitional move that moves the match along and tells no story

F-

The ratings have barely moved, if at all, for the debuts of Ospreay/Okada/Moné. There's a very loyal base, who will tune in week in/week out regardless of who's on the card, but these new signings haven't moved the needle.

The lesson should be that it's completely unnecessary to try to sign a ton of stars to bloated contracts, but TK will never get that. What he should do is consolidate the roster, not the opposite.

In the old days, guys in the WWF worked like 330 nights a year. Even now, WWE stars work way more than AEW. AEW doesn't even have that many shows, so I don't see why most wrestlers couldn't work an average of 1.5 nights a week. Some weeks 1 night, some 2. Could even work in some squashes to build up guys like Ospreay/White. Every match doesn't need to be a banger. There are hardly any shows so you wouldn't even need that big a roster if everyone is making at least 1 appearance a week, and we'd get to see all the top people consistently and build storylines rather than people disappearing constantly.

Show has been pretty fire tonight. Next week looking stacked.

I concur. Ironically, the thing I thought was pretty bad was the opening segment with Sasha and crew. Mostly everything else was great

Dynasty shaping up to be one of their best ever in ring ppvs as well which is really saying something

Some of the matches coming up look insanely good.

I was really excited about Mercedes, but am already cooling. The piped in C-E-O just seems incredibly lame, and the same little dance every single time. The promos have also been really underwhelming and I'm not interested in the least at these developing stories w/Willow or vs. Julia Hart. I think they needed to debut her in a big angle with someone with charisma who could go back and forth with her on the mic.

It seems the plan for every former WWE or Impact woman coming in is a brief run with the champion as a face and then a quick heel turn. Seems Deonna Purazzo's already headed that way and will probably go that way with Mercedes too. (Like Taya, Athena, Paige and Toni before them.)

Please tell me they're not already turning Wardlow AGAIN!!

Rest of the show was pretty strong. Although, I feel like they almost made the mistake of getting sympathy for Christian. They are going to have to put him and Edge together at some point, but he's just such a great heel.

punk goes to aew, shits on wwe, punk goes to wwe, shits on aew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6xQo-bk...

among a bunch of things, claims he told tony you're a clown this is a f'ing joke I quit before the joe/punk match at wembley.

Lol yeah, basically all that interview did was prove how out of touch he is. Hangman seems pretty justified.

Punk has also now told two different versions of events, dude is way more Hogan than Hart these days.

“I didn’t punch somebody, I just choked somebody a little bit.” Lol, wtf is wrong with this guy??

How so? He's the catalyst for all this which has really put AEW into a very downward business spiral and for seemingly no reason. But perhaps I missed something

Hangman makes a crack about workers rights to the guy who uses words as weapons and Punk throws a toddler tantrum in response. Who’s the catalyst?

The crack seems rather justified given that in this very interview Punk is saying that wrestlers shouldn’t have guaranteed pay (while always wrestling with guaranteed pay himself). He’s literally become everything he used to rally against. The ultimate irony will be complete when Phil eventually laces up his boots for a Saudi show.

The guy just comes off as insanely hypocritical, sensitive, and narcissistic. Everything is always everyone else’s fault.

Edit: If things are really as one-sided as he portrays them, why is the famously litigious Punk not taking anyone to court? He’s disingenuous as hell and already spinning multiple versions of “the real story.”