I'll bet he didn't.

Haha, I know you’ve got a legit issue with the guy because he wasn’t fair to your book (and he wasn’t, by the way). But his points about advertising revenue being more important than the actual specific numbers makes good sense.

I largely think he’s full of shit and isn’t honest about how he mismanaged WCW into the pits and shot wrestling in the foot due to his hubris, but I think he’s right about that.

When Noid accidentally lets it slip that he secretly likes AEW I'm gonna make the face Spongebob made when he realized that Squidward secretly liked Krabby Patties

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BiH8fkJOonQ/hqdefault.jpg

He LOVES wrestling overall. It would make logical sense that he LIKES AEW, just hates what they do with their on-screen product and direction, after making a promise "to be different". He knows a fuckton more than he lets on, and I believe actually WANTS it to be better.

FTR gonna be using a remixed Midnight Express theme I guess... sounds cool

<iframe width="1190" height="746" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aA5_9-UR-WQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Nice!

Damn that's tight.

needs a "SAY YEEAAHHHH!"

That theme is real good.

Look, this is basically it. I was the guy who started this thread. It was around the time of the first broken promise that I was like “Mmm...been down this path before.”

And a few things bother me on petty levels. I don’t like group hysteria. It’s really cool people like things, and just because people like things doesn’t mean it’s bad. But the fandom around AEW has been disproportionate to its quality, in my opinion, which I think lets them get away with too much to stay honest. And I also think the promotion has a very smug and self-congratulatory attitude.

I want wrestling overall to be better. Not just to my own tastes, but to what actually works and creates a healthier environment for talent...5, 10, 20 years on. I’ve said it before, but I think AEW’s philosophy has been very much “get ourselves over now” with no real plans when they turn a wider audience off that everyone is going to REALLY struggle to get back.

I’d like it if AEW got better, WWE got good again, the NWA got massive, Sinclair poured money into ROH, MLW was a hit and The Rock started his own giant promotion. But wrestling just isn’t there. And with a few moves it could be.

FTR theme probably the best thing about AEW. Other than maybe FTR themselves. Clever name for the track too.

He doesn't watch the show. It's the equivalent to reviewing a movie by reading the plot on Wikipedia.

No it’s not. Do you want to see the My Little Pony movie? Come on, you haven’t seen it. Can’t decide if you like it if you haven’t sat down and watched all 82 minutes of it. How about The Human Centipede 6: A Whole Class Ass-to-Mouth? But you haven’t seen it. Do you like The Real Housewives of Bridgeport? How do you know if you haven’t watched every single episode?

I gave AEW a chance. I saw enough. I’ve seen highlights. You can intuit their direction. I don’t go and pick apart things I haven’t actually seen. I’ll say things like “that sounds horrible,” “that doesn’t interest me,” because it does sound shit and it doesn’t interest me.

Gotta watch all 3 hours of Raw to know that shit sucks, right? Somehow, I don’t think that standard applies there.

Could it? Wrestling was hot enough to sustain 2 huge companies for a few years with some small and medium companies off to the side…20 years ago. It captured the zeitgeist for a couple of years before it ate itself. Wrestling isn’t cool - I’m not entirely convinced it ever was to be honest - and the audience has so many other things vying for attention. Even at its very best it’s not going to be this huge deal like the latest Marvel offering or the biggest TV shows of the day. It’s pantomime and viewed as something to be laughed at for the most part by the mainstream audience. It’s something that even my friends that follow it don’t talk about it in public. It’s a “guilty pleasure”.

Can it be better? Absolutely. But it’s still going to be niche.

Don’t completely disagree. I wasn’t really thinking 10 million people watching. But there’s no reason those 2 million watching Raw can’t be watching something else.

People looking down at wrestling is a true thing, but I don’t think it’s something that you just have to concede and play into. I think people are way more willing to have an appreciation for it if it weren’t popping its own suspenders to reveal the boxers with red hearts on them all the time.

Seriously, Noid. There is happiness to be found in wrestling still. It can be found Thursday nights here on TPWW in the classic wrestling thread. It’s 1986 for 2 hours unless Gertie throws off the illusion with a pre-show match from ‘87. Even if you can’t join us live the show is always posted afterward. Trade in “Miserable about wrestling Noid” for “Highly entertained by wrestling Noid.” I think you’ll like the new you.

Nice try, norm-fan.

THANK YOU!

See you Thursday night!

As someone who likes the indy flippy shit of today, I was pleasantly surprised how much the stuff from the 80s holds up. I thought it would be too slow for me but it’s not. It’s paced well and exciting. Except for Ron Garvin of course. That guy can kick rocks.

Garvin is a carpenter, an electrician, a plumber, probably a farmer and a truck driver too. AND HE RASSLES. You're just jelly of his multitude of skillsets.

Wrestling being slower is kind of a myth. I just prefer stuff that looks more organic than choreographed. It’s way more fun if the stuff looks messy but improvised than tidy but sketched out to the beat.

What I really appreciate is his ability to do a perfect impression of a Canadian robot in every promo.

A Canadian robot who is proud to be an American.

My ratio on Omega posts are a bit low, so I have to do a not quite important post called "Shit AEW Fans say."

There is a NEWZ article on the WhatCulture Facebook about how Cody allegedly had an angle about being #1 in the PWI 500 that was scrapped at some point, because Cody wasn't #1. I mentioned that I thought Reigns should have been #1 this year instead of Omega because he's been a consistently bigger star. Of course, that went over about as well as a fart in church.

One of the claims was because, and I paraphrase, "Omega was the World Champion in 3 separate promotions, that's never been done before!" I mentioned Ultimo Dragon and Austin Aries, who both did the same thing, with more titles. Dragon didn't count because they were Jr. Heavyweight Titles. Aries didn't count because they were mostly indy feds...

In essence, Omega has done what has never been done before, except it was done before, but that doesn't count.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I can't believe I missed this...<br><br>Umm, Dave...<br><br>MJF didn't mean...<br><br>Umm, how do I say this?....<br><br>That Darby was a school wrestling &quot;shooter,&quot; like he's a young Stu Hart. �������� <a href="https://t.co/Q29SmiO8oO">https://t.co/Q29SmiO8oO</a> <a href="https://t.co/5RX3Uk7Ohy">https://t.co/5RX3Uk7Ohy</a> <a href="https://t.co/mLXU4o6Yz6">pic.twitter.com/mLXU4o6Yz6</a></p>&mdash; Meltzer Said What? (@MeltzerSaidWhat) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeltzerSaidWhat/status/1445634778435227657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

LOL Dave riding that spectrum

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Welcome to the team…<a href="https://twitter.com/theBobbyFish?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheBobbyFish</a> is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AllElite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AllElite</a> <a href="https://t.co/7CI57sYakw">pic.twitter.com/7CI57sYakw</a></p>&mdash; All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) <a href="https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1445945540236169217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ugh

There are very few things that I truly loathe, but that fact that Meltzer actually makes money with his bullshit is one of them, its mind boggling.

Half way to Undisputed

The only way I will accept Bobby Fish is if they use Triple A's gimmick idea for him

Janela's got heat with Noid confirmed

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The joker isn’t in the ladder match tonight, the joker is YOU the fan 40 years old, sitting infront of your shit $200 laptop you bought off Facebook marketplace arguing with a 17 year old on Twitter about ratings, who’s the best champion, who’s jumping ship, what’s REAL wrasslin!</p>&mdash; “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) <a href="https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/1445785352610869253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Are people okay with all the donations Fish made during his NXT tenure?

I don’t dislike Bobby Fish or anything, but come...

Meanwhile Joey Janela is on Dark: Elevation in matches against Crowbar, who is being "managed" by The Blue Meanie. Neat fact: Crowbar is now the only wrestler to have had matches in WCW, ECW, WWE, AEW, TNA and ROH.

I thought for sure that Joey Janela had fallen into his own ass somehow. They still employ him? And they’re using Devon Storm and The Blue Meanie...in 2021?

1.05 million viewers. Down 8.59%.

https://i.gifer.com/IvOH.gif

9% and I’d be worried. Phew.

Nobody better round up neither!!11

Wow, they didn’t even hit their 1.1 million. So much for what Tony Khan said about bringing in lapsed fans and creating new ones.