There's a 50/50 chance.

Meltzer is reporting Tony is thinking about bringing in Goldberg if he to lose Punk to help with starpower.

Does this happen before or after Mabel becomes the third man in the NWO?

Punk vs. Goldberg is money.

Dennis Rodman announced for Collision

You need something when you suspend people for kicking too much ass in wrestling.

Jericho will no doubt be involved in that.

Oh wait, it was Jeff Jarrett that was pushing for Rodman to come in, wasn’t it? Rodman, Jericho & Sammy vs. Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal and either Satnam Singh or Sonjay Dutt at All Out.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ja" dir="ltr">&quot;Termination with Cause&quot; by <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyKhan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TonyKhan</a> <br>トニー・カーン社長の「正当事由による契約解除」<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/firepro?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#firepro</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/movecraft?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#movecraft</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ファイプロ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E6%8A%80%E3%82%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%83%95%E3%83%88?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#技クラフト</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEW</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWAllOut?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWAllOut</a> <a href="https://t.co/m3aEMU0hFx">pic.twitter.com/m3aEMU0hFx</a></p>&mdash; Miguel-F @ FPW Net (@fireproscreens1) <a href="https://twitter.com/fireproscreens1/status/1698101015420317861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

lol nice

That, except Tony isn’t doing anything and Punk is choking out Jungle Boy.

Wow. This is just terrible. Wrestling fans always striving for the next level of cringe.

lol

Think it can officially be said that AEW priced fans out of Grand Slam. 2 weeks until the show and they've not even hit 6,000 tickets sold, which is half of the 12,000 seats they're set up for (and even that is less than the 13,000 draw last year).

It would be easy for AEW detractors to point to that as a sign that interest is dead but the vibes around the on-screen product seem a lot more positive right now than this time last year when they were seemingly directionless and up to their tits in injuries. In this market it is very tough for me to imagine they wouldn't sell a similar number of tickets if the prices were reasonable.

The actual US Open tourney at Ashe has had the same problems, entire sections are empty because they're charging like $700 for nosebleeds or something ridiculous.

I'm making it a threepeat of going and this will almost certainly be the last time I go if they raise the rates any more than they have now. I realize inflation and NYC play into things but it's a bit ridiculous now. I can totally see why people can't justify that kind of spend and I'm almost there myself.

With what they're charging I'm sure they'll still make a profit even with drawing these small numbers, but it's gonna look like absolute shit and be borderline uncomfortable seeing that many empty seats in that size of a venue.

I saw a tweet last night that AEW floor seats were being sold last night for 20 dollars. And they could not get ride of them.

Business is trending downward for AEW. Ratings are tanking and now they can't sell primary seats...

Sounds like a company in the late 90's.

Really? That shit HAD to be last minute seats or some shit. I had looked into getting tickets for a family member who is a die hard rasslin fan (any fed) and they were expensive, even for floor seats. Most of that was due to resellers and the like, but still expensive.

That has been their business model, they drop prices the closer the actual show. Then Tiny buys the remaining tickets so he can say AEW sold X amount of tickets. Vince just would say he sold more, Tiny actually spends his dads money so he is not technically lying. Wembley showed exactly that, tons of empty seats, large sections tarped off, but technically they sold 81,000 tickets because Tiny has a Credit Card attached to his dad's account.

If Shad's money was not earned legally, Tiny would be convicted of money laundering. If AEW was a publicly traded company, Tiny would be convicted of fraud. Since neither is the case, he can do what he is doing and the only consequence is he gets to feel like he is running a profitable business.

On the plus side, if you wait until last minute you can save a decent amount of money and still get good seats!

Yeah, I wouldn’t be shocked if Tony buys the tickets up himself and then tries to redistribute them instead of admitting they are comped.

What’s their big draws for Grand Slam? Mid-Carder MJF vs. Mid-Carder Samoa Joe? Bryan Danielson wrestling? No CM Punk? The product is flaaaaat.

Hang on Noid. I would disagree with you on the MJF comment. Guy is a stud. We will agree to disagree on it in the end, but I definitely would not refer to him as a mid carder.

Dear Splaya,


Noids most favoritest rassler ever could be in AEW, and he would hate it.




Regards,


signature.bmp

I just mean the role he is playing now. Their top title is an afterthought and MJF is doing mid-card comedy with Adam Cole, wrestling The Dark Order and the like.

I love Joe too, but he’s mid-card too. Even has the TV Title.

When explained like that, I can get behind the idea you are promoting. At the end of the day, he should be in top tier feuds. I love the Adam Cole pairing but they should have pulled the trigger on someone turning heel at All In or All Out, not extending it another month and playing the game of "who is going to turn on who?"

MJF and Samoa Joe should be good quality — it’s just that they’ve had their hand forced to do it. And they’ve booked themselves into a corner with all this MJF/Adam Cole stuff. It’s the most interesting Cole has arguably ever been, so people don’t want it to end, which stretches out the silliness of it all.

Amazon lets you buy a few older episodes of Dynamite for $2.99. Watching the very first episode and the pacing was way better than it is today, which makes no logical sense, except I remembered that was before Tiny took full control.

I knew Dynamite wasn’t for me the moment Sammy Guevara came out with that ridiculous panda head. It felt like a slog off the bat.

Not surprised we’re getting Danielson vs. ZSJ at WrestleDream. It’s in Seattle, Danielson will get to roll around with whoever he wants. ZSJ was one of only a few major New Japan names not booked in Japan that date. The other ones who jump out are Will Ospreay and KENTA, who you just know will hit a GTS to try and stick it to Punk. Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a tag between Adam Page & The Bucks and KENTA, Jay White & Juice Robinson.

Has ZSJ gotten any better since 2016? I haven’t seen too much of his recent work.

I missed all of this... please tell me this chanting was a reference to Big E and not something else?

How many times has Danielson turned in AEW? I’m counting 4. He came in as a face, but then turned heel. Then they formed the BCC and he turned face to feud with Jericho’s group. Then he turned heel to feud with The Elite. Now he’s a face again. I’m probably missing 5 or 6 things.

In his defense though, Khan has not figured out a way to use Big Show, who would have turned at least 15-20 times since his debut. So if Big Show was turning every week, I am sure that we wouldn't even notice how many times Danielson has turned

Big Show is who people usually think of when it comes to diluting things with turns. Big Show did turn 4 times in his first year with the WWF. It’s taken Danielson almost 2 years to get to 4 turns. That’s something.

You put the idea into existence. So now Tiny will somehow get word of this and turn him 4 times in one show.

The crowd can do the "boo" "yeah" spot in a promo

The All In attendance was actually 72,265. Someone used the freedom of information act to get the number.

Vince going to show TK how to properly build up some female talent it seems....

Andrew Zarian seems pretty damn sure that AEW is going to announce a 12 per year PPV structure with HBO Max soon. I’ve always been skeptical of AEW having the weight to be worthy of a streaming platform, but I guess we are in the race for content. wXw has better exposure than AEW in Australia because streaming is after things.

This might also compensate for the money they might miss out on if WBD passes on upping their rights fees with Collision dead in the water.

In response to AEW’s abysmal ticket sales lately, Dave actually wrote “That’s just sad.”

Agree with what you’re saying, but I think a lot of people saw that coming. :p

The new car smell wearing off was always something that was going to hurt them. At some point you actually have to get good.

And the other issue is they are ROHing themselves into irrelevance.

Gonna ride by Vastardakais house tonight at 3 am and annoyingly rev my engine and honk my horn a bunch.

IrROHlevance

Keep ROHin’, ROHin’, ROHin’

I will never understand the tribalism that exists in wrestling. Can't we just sit back and enjoy what's going on for once? Wrestling is far more enjoyable now than it was in the late '00s or early '10s. Sometimes it just feels like miserable individuals like to convene and relish in their misery.

Just a heads up: I live on the unfashionable end of the County.

I dont see them on the record i see them saying it was obvious after the fact.

Yes but it isnt a uniquely them problem either. Its fairly universal...except for TNA who ran the same building for a decade and packed it every other week.

I’ve been talking about the novelty running off AEW since basically the start. This affecting their attendance definitely came up around the Bridgeport shows and them running Chicago into the ground. Love ya man, but that point of convo is old news.

It’s not a problem unique to AEW, but it has definitely been staring them in the face for a long time and they’ve done nothing about it. They think they’re cooking with gas.

That too was fairly Universal

I like what you did there

course its its old news, i was talking about it in may

People have been talking about it since the start of the company though. It’s not an incorrect point, just not prescient if it’s from as recently as May.

He lives in Georgia, so it's probably already happening.

lol I know, I live a couple hours away from him.

And it was me doing it, as per my post.

The new car smell thing is absolutely a factor for why Grand Slam tickets are so low compared to even a year ago. The drop from 2021 to 2022 was expected IMO. Lots of factors at play in 2021 that were only gonna be a one-time thing. Tickets were cheap, you had the post-COVID boom and it was their first time in the building. But the drop from 2022 to 2023 seems considerably worse.

But the biggest thing is they absolutely overpriced the tickets this year, which was a big problem. It's not really a surprise that they moved like 1,500 seats in the last week and a half when they started offering buy one get one. Well shit, you were basically charging for two tickets to begin with.

Furthermore, while I think the card has some good stuff cooking, it feels like easily the worst of the 3 they've run and it's wedged between 3 PPVs in the span of 6 weeks. So it's nigh on impossible for the show to feel anywhere as important as it did even last year. And these are all things that will impact the gate next year unless they drop day 1 prices, the business is hot, or they move the event to a time where it could get more shine.

They'll easily surpass last year's Ashe gate based on ticket price alone, but there will also be much fewer asses in the seats. And even if this helps AEW's immediate bottom line, it's not going to be a great look for them when 8:30 PM rolls around and you inevitably get a ton of images floating online about this big stadium being not even half full.

There will definitely be fans there who will feel almost a subconscious shame about being there. Like you look around and see such a lousy turnout and think "damn, guess being here is really uncool" and then they don't go again. I don't think people should think this way if they're going out and doing what they enjoy, but shit like that absolutely happens especially for the people who are obsessed with social media, and it can impact a brand's perception.

I'm looking forward to going tomorrow and I have no doubt I'll have fun. Unless my experience blows there's no reason I won't go again in 2024 unless the product totally loses me.

But I can say with complete certainty I'm never buying a day one ticket to this show again. I spent what I thought was a fair amount for a hot ticket and it ended up being not even close to a hot ticket. It is what it is, I wouldn't have spent that if I wasn't comfortable with it. But seeing people buy pretty much the same seat as me for way cheaper because they waited, yep. Not doing that again.

If somehow AEW is shit hot in AEW 2024 and I have to buy my way into the building for above face value, then that's a great situation for them. But I'm definitely gonna be waiting moving forward and I'm sure a lot of people in my situation are in the same boat.

A lot of rumblings that Discovery Warner wants AEW on Max for 12 PPVs a year. Could be hearsay...

They have been saying this since Tiny bought ROH, except WBD seems to want nothing to do with ROH. I cannot think of any other reason why AEW is not already on Max other than Tiny trying to shoehorn his ROH library into the deal.

I’ve always wondered if AEW has the appeal to justify throwing it onto Max. Most AEW fans probably have it already. Getting the 70k who watch AEW PPVs in the US if they don’t…is it really worth shelling over a huge chunk of money?

I dont believe for a second WBD would have a tough time negotiating a dollar amount. Tiny's obsession with pushing ROH seems to be the only point of contention he has ever had with WBD, because they are his toys too damnit!

See, Tony trying to get ROH is what I think really tipped his hand early that there still isn’t that much demand for wrestling. You’d think any serious suitor would have picked up ROH to build a relationship once WBD balked. I don’t know why WBD would just throw more money at AEW if they don’t need to.

Tony should make ROH his European product.

MJF & Adam Cole vs. The Righteous is scheduled for FeverDream. Even Dave Meltzer is wtfing that one.

I forgot that FTR and Aussie Open are also having a TV match on PPV there.

I quite like the Omega/Jericho uneasy alliance idea started on Rampage. Changes it up from "Omega calls in the Bucks", lean into Jericho as a face and Jericho can take the hot tag to Omegas face in peril.

Should be entertaining if the pull the trigger on it fully.

How does it make sense though? Why wouldn’t Omega call in his actual friends to help him out?

Tony Khan has promised old chapters in wrestling history will close and a new era will begin at WrestleDream. Not kidding.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I have received an email with our family photo, residential address &amp; my kid's school address with the subject line &quot;stop criticising AEW&quot;. Well, I quit!<br><br>However, please save this tweet and remember <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/aewbotches?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#aewbotches</a> when the inevitable happens inside the ring. <br><br>Thank You all �� <a href="https://t.co/A2My4svaMj">pic.twitter.com/A2My4svaMj</a></p>&mdash; Wednesday Night Botches (@AllEliteB0tches) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllEliteB0tches/status/1705905607742837197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Not uncommon internet behavier, sadly.

I hope he can finally close the chapter on the exploding death match that Moxley participated in where instead of the ring exploding, we were given the sparklers from Gillberg's entrance!!!

Oh, the next Exploding Diarrhoea Match is coming. They will wrong that right, and it will be a tribute to Terry Funk — who Jon Moxley is so much like, in case you didn’t know.

In all seriousness. I do not envy T.Kahn. That dude is going to wake up to calls from the Jacksonville Jags GM, whatever soccer is going on overseas with that club, and all the AEW responsibilities.

I have said for a long time that one of the main reasons Shad is cool with Tiny dropping a bunch of his money on AEW is because it keeps Tiny busy and away from the real sports teams.

I have loved what they have done with Julia Hart. They have made her into this outstanding character for the House of Black. If their plan is not to have her defeat Statlander, I would have her basically turn into a nutcase until she gets it. Have her fall into a deep psychotic episode each time she is on TV. Taz planting that she is the most dangerous member of the House of Black is not falling on deaf ears.

He probably prefers the daughter.

I haven’t seen what they’re doing, but I just can’t picture Julia Hart being believable as dangerous lol. How have they gotten past her limitations?

The WrestleDream card looks horrible:

I think it might be a tick too early to have Stat drop the belt, but then again, she’s gone over Baker and Jade so maybe it’s the right time. I like the idea of Julia going nuts until she wins the title. Let Brody steamroll Statlander in a match to give Julia the win.

Some creepy Noid-esque fan suggested that the Young Bucks were a cancer to the pro wrestling industry. Just sad.

Gotta agree with Mr. N about the belt situation. Looked at that card and there’s something like 9 matches that have titles on the line. Please start making ROH a separate entity and keep those belts off AEW TV.

Just replace letters with NXT and have that title go to other shows and the inverse.




Or, call it Night of Champions, and all is forgiven.


I don't know shit about the card, nor did I view the list.

I actually miscounted. Completely forgot about the International Title being in the four-way tag along with the FTW. 40% of the matches on the card have a belt involved that isn’t being defended. And 1 of those matches has got 2 belts being put to the side.

I can see only one solution to this problem.

More titles!

Edge will be debuting at Wrestledream. That’s fun!!

Adam Copeland confirmed.

Christian should be main eventing all their shows

I know Darby’s the hometown boy, but Tony Khan knows everyone will assume this means Copeland is coming in. And I don’t think he’d do this if he weren’t prepared to deliver on it.

I don't see it as a guarantee of Edge. Only "entitled" rassling fans would see it that way and get "upset" if Tony "doesn't deliver".

Looking at the card, there isn't a world title match... and I assume 2 out of 3 falls means this is like a culmination of a big feud or something (but with AEW could just be random stipulation, who knows)

So without the world title on the line, what else you gonna have main event your show other than your "secondary title" being defended in a "big match" by your hottest act?

Danielson is also a hometown guy and he’s probably gonna wrestle a 25-30 minute submission “dream match” with ZSJ that I can guarantee the audience would’ve accepted as a main

I don’t like to criticize promoters for “not delivering” someone not advertised but TK is incredibly online and knows how this works. There’s no way he’s blind to these expectations which wouldn’t be there if the guy on the card most associated to Edge wasn’t headlining this show.

Edge will be there.

Danielson rassling a random "dream match" against some guy is not main event material.

Lol, Tony is exactly the sort of promoter who would ignore the hype he accidentally generates around his shows. AEW has done that since day dot.

Hype might be a strong word for this though. I think it’s more collective groaning that Edge is AEW bound. Also, if you’re going to do it…maybe don’t slot it into the main event slot and telegraph what is supposed to be a surprise?

Nothing on this card is.

Except for Christian.

I feel like we just did "Nothing on this cards a main Event" for the last PPV then it was a home run.

As far as Edge goes, not a game changer for me but he will appeal to plenty I am sure if its true. Doesnt matter where it is on the card people will whinge. If it opens TKs an idiot, if it closes TKs a mark, if its middle of the show how could TK screw that up... and god forbid Edge doesn't show up now the IWC has decided hes coming.

Its kinda tiresome.

In the right program. It feels like he has been misused.

MJF should come out and announce that he has struck a deal to swap titles with Christian.

Edge isn’t a big “game changer” for me, but Edge & Christian definitely are. Would have loved to have one last run as a tandem in WWE after they’d both levelled up and it could have been when Christian did that guest spot in the Rumble. That said, E&C vs FTR should deliver the goods if they do the tag route. But do you want to bring Edge in as a heel? You don’t want Christian to go face just yet (unless he turns his “dead dad” routine on the heels?).