I'm not speaking for anyone else with the "where are these people here" argument. It is so regularly mentioned I'm just genuinely wondering where those posts/posters are as I haven't seen it?


Funny though, whenever that gets brought up, nothing comes of it. That's all.

I’d suggest you look outside TPWW, or the gang mentality some people have with stopping critics. BigCrippyZ accused me of sucking Vince’s cock, even though I am largely down on the WWE product as well. Vito gets nasty and goes after people in passive aggressive ways. Screech and slik get salty. #fan is reasonable, but doesn’t like AEW himself. He says it’s more about how people criticize it, or their attitude or whatever, which is ironically what is frustrating about the blind AEW devotion.

I don't care enough about wrestling overall to look elsewhere. Even if I did, the allegation of cultists is here on TeePeeDubyaDubyad0tcom


You and CrippyZ have a feud that's gone on before AEW. Wouldn't be surprised if he told you that before AEW even existed.


Passive-aggressive behaviors = / = cultish behaviors


Screech has a podcast you should check out and Slik likes to stir the pot via twitter and thread titles.

Wrestling is entirely drowning right now. There are enough hangers on for both WWE and AEW to keep it relevant financially and in some imaginative ways it is "bigger" than ever. That's why this thread exists, the supposition of importance by tv execs and ad rates for cable and network tv. This debate is so exhausted and trivial. The true debate should be the depth of talent in the industry as a whole and how it go to this point, and I mean both creative talent as well as in ring performance. We are all hanging on to the constantly growing distant past.

That must be exactly what it is. Not the fact that both of you act like the biggest losers over this shit. Didn’t you spend all night lurking on a board that hated an aew ppv, only to come here and be like “see people hate it.” That not the behavior of a rational person.

And that’s why both of you deserve to be bullied for the rest of your lives.

I enjoy AEW and I'm glad the ratings are sufficient enough to keep them going.

That's about it. I don't have any delusions about it ever being mainstream or whatever but as long as they're doing enough to keep going and they're producing content that entertains me, I hope they can continue to do enough to carry on.

There, was that so complicated?

No matter what company it is, if enough people are watching to operate and they enjoy it, let them enjoy it.

If you lost your passion for wrestling or find modern wrestling unwatchable, unfortunate but understandable, find something else to do.

But all the constant fighting from all angles about "THE STATE OF THE BUSINESS" or whatever is tiresome.

Also its two billionaires (one of which is an abhorrently evil piece of shit.) So really, who cares.

Wrestling is always gonna be niche and there's nothing wrong with that.

Never understood why fans care so much about this. If the show is entertaining me, I'll watch it. If it isn't, I won't.

:y::y::y:

How about every single reply that is nothing but 4th grade name calling?

If you think it is rational to cuss out somebody who slightly disagrees with you, then I suppose you wouldn't recognize vitriol replies when they are right in front of you.

And I've even said it before, the definitions are because I assumed a rational person who accuses me of not understanding a word would not change their minds on their own.

I certainly did not expect that they would ALSO reject dictionary definitions, ESPECIALLY the definitions from the EXACT dictionary they suggested I use.

How the hell can I even counter "you don't know words, use Collins dictionary, but no that definition isn't right either you are stupid :rant:" ????

Nope, it literally started because I didn’t love AEW and called bullshit on Meltzer’s narrative that the WWE was busting balls with NXT to put them six feet under. I was 100% correct, but it just wasn’t fashionable to say then. The correct answer was “Yay! Anything Else! I love Anything Else!”

I don’t think it’s that a big a mystery as to how it got here. And I don’t think the business side isn’t worth discussing. It’s more interesting than the on-air content. There is more money in live television than there ever has been, and both companies are frankly shitting the bed with subpar content (for the most part — SmackDown is actually okay, but certain bridges have been burned).


No, I’ve never done that. Not sure who you’re confusing me with, but you’re confused. But there we go, another TPWWinner.

That’s if it will keep them going. If I have to see another person who simultaneously mocks the WWE for decreasing ratings while lauding AEW for 650k, my head’s going to explode. They are nowhere near as secure as people think they are.

What’s to stop Vince McMahon offering TNT different wrestling content in 2024 or whenever for cheaper than AEW? The idea that AEW has somehow got this permanent place in wrestling is pretty unwarranted. The Khans can keep it going for as long as they want, but it doesn’t mean people are going to watch it or give a shit enough to provide a platform indefinitely.

Shut the fuck up and stop gatekeeping conversation. You don’t get to decide what anyone else is interested in discussing any more than I do, or xrod does. If interest in wrestling drops and no one wants to put it on the air, no one has anything to enjoy, genius. That is why some people want to talk about it — because they can think more than about 3 weeks in front of them. And outside a 3 foot radius of where they are situated.

The irony of this place: You cunts did it to me with the WWE too, so don’t pretend to have always been on the “Wow, WWE sucks boat.” When you tell someone to let them enjoy what they enjoy, but then tell people they shouldn’t enjoy (x), you are doing EXACTLY THAT THING. At least I will tell you why what you enjoy sucks.

Wrestling is deader than usual — in terms of interest. AEW has not helped. These boards are deader than they’ve ever been. AEW has not helped. There’s only so much water in the well and now more people in the industry are splitting it. See how that goes. More bad wrestling is not good for wrestling. I don’t have to like it and I don’t need to bite my fucking tongue about that.

Again, since you didnt understand it the first time - the definitions are correct, you do not appear to know what they mean. You're the one who required a dictionary in the first place. Contextualisation is important, using the correct meaning of a word at the correct time is important to communication. The word you are looking for is fanatic, not cultist. You're still ignorant of the reason why the people you stole "AEW cultist" from in the first place were using it as a derogatory term. It's not because of anything you bolded if you need a hint.

Here you are even saying the alleged AEW cultists are simply anyone you have disagreements with. Do you have any evidence of my supposed blind obsession with AEW? I'm drawing a blank on this one.

Do you feel that if you walked into a restaurant, pulled down your pants and did a big shit on the floor while everyone else in the restaraunt cussed you out for it, that it would be everyone else who has the problem? Maybe some of the people in the restaurant weren't even enjoying the food, but you're still the guy who walked in and took a shit on the floor. Now you're rolling around in the shit. Some might even say you're eating it. Is that who you want to be?

Hey noid are you still seething because I said Kota Ibushi and Minoru Suzuki were unlikely to jump ship to AEW two years ago and that there was absolutely zero chance that WWE would buy New Japan and put it on the WWE network? Keep calling it as you see it, you clearly know what you're talking about.

Hey noid dis you?

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I don't need definitions explained or anything. I can put it into three simple words:




quote the posts

Not you Drave, I'm referring to Mantis, who is so hung up on the definition version of cult referring to religious beliefs, and that because AEW isn't religious, it can't be a cult, and therefore I don't understand context :roll:

As for quotes just scroll up on this page lol

Oh wow, you might want to just delete this one.

If you walked into a library, would you pick up a dictionary and call it names and tell it to check another dictionary, then be mad at the 2nd dictionary because it also didn't match your views?

You are acting like I had to quote dictionaries because I didn't know.

I quoted the dictionary for your benefit, to show that you don't have to take my word for it. But that wasn't even good enough, so I quoted a different dictionary as suggested by you, and now that one is wrong to.

I was in error trying to use a credible source like a dictionary to try and assist you in understanding. I clearly overestimated you, my fault.

And FYI, a Fanatic refers to a single person. A Cult refers to a small group of people.

You can look that one up yourself, Champ.

Yes. So? I was texting friends who hated the show and gifs were posted. That’s not what you asked of me. By the way, pretty obsessive memory.

So you’re saying you spent the other night continually talking about something you hate. And made sure you had to let everyone here know it. It’s kinda hard to forget something so cringe.

Where did I say the dictionary definition was wrong? You were quoting it to try and validate your own incorrect usage of the word and then you started trying to make a big play about fractions because you couldnt figure out any other way to try and demonstrate intelligence. You still don't understand where you went wrong and you're getting so hung up over this you're tying yourself in knots. Maybe start by grounding your arguments in reality and stop shitting in the resteraunt. Hey, and try adding an s onto the end of the word fanatic. I wonder what would happen?

Seems like xrod needs to take a breather.

You said I picked a few words that popped out.

I in fact selected 2 of the 3 full definitions.

You said picking a small fraction of the definition blah blah.

2 out of 3, or the fraction 2/3, is not a small fraction, it is the majority.

You said fanatic, not fanatics.

It is not my fault you do not understand plurals.

You do not understand dictionaries, reading, writing, or math.

But you actually were applying 1 out of 4, which is a small fraction, and then tried to pass it off as 3 out of 4 and then decided actually 3 and 4 are totally the same and shouldn't have separate definitions. Is this the height of your extremely original groundbreaking posting character? Semantics and a "No you". Oh wait, do you think this is ironic? Do you think this is socratic irony? You're really big braining everyone here aren't you?

Xrod the numbers don't lie and they spell


https://i.imgur.com/3dddfgm.png


for you

No, I originally listed 3 definitions which you said I picked only words that popped out.

Did you just forget, or do you actually believe yourself?

Correct for once, you did, unsourced and acting like that was the gospel mathematical percentage and definitive scientific proof that you were correct and validated. All the while, you continually demonstrate that you don't actually know why you are using that particular word, have yet to provide examples of these "cultist" behavioral patterns and now claim that AEW is actually a legitimate cult. Full on. Would you like to address any of the other points raised over the last two days or are you just going to keep hammering this dictionary against your forehead until you fade from consciousness?

Didn't this all start because xrod saw someone else use the term "cultist" and thought it sounded good? lol

Super Bowl had it's lowest ratings since 2007, 96.4 million (which, of course, is still incredible for TV)


Here's the five most-watched Super Bowls btw

1. 2015: 114.4 million – Super Bowl XLIX: New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks
2. 2014: 112.2 million – Super Bowl XLVIII: Seattle Seahawks vs. Denver Broncos
3. 2016: 111.9 million – Super Bowl 50: Denver Broncos vs. Carolina Panthers
4. 2012: 111.35 million – Super Bowl XLVI: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots
5. 2017: 111.32 million – Super Bowl LI: New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons

I think the last time Tampa Bay was in the Super Bowl, the game got low ratings too. I dunno, nor do I care enough to look it up, but I remember also being very bored by that game.

Wrestling does really suck right now. I think AEW is by far the most watchable product out there world wide but even still I haven't watched in a few weeks. The lack of audience is the main reason. I just am having trouble connecting to any Wrestling at all right now. My interest in rings sports has complety shifted to MMA and to a small extent boxing, which is ironic because generally there are no fans there either. But it is quite different, and highly enjoyable to watch MMA without fans. Almost even moreso because you get to hear so much that normally is hidden under the crowd noise. With that thought one thing wrestling is lacking greatly is unbridled masculinity. I don't want woke wrestling, I want borderline offensive pricks with bolstering personalities keeping me guessing if they are crossing the lines of reality and fiction. AEW has a sense of the past but is also bogged down with the PWG influence that while in doses and when done expertly is fantastic but when spread thin is wearing on my interest greatly. This is just my expression of myself in fandom for pro wrestling right now. It's definitely waning.

I thought I would hate watching rasslin without fans in the crowd, but it's gotten to the point where I hardly notice. At least WWE pipes in noise (the lack of random chants throughout matches is so goddamn refreshing) and AEW has some fans, so it's a bit more "normal."

But the lack of a crowd hasn't really deterred me from watching overall. I usually go in and out from WWE between Survivor Series and the Rumble, but I'm back in the thing now.

Haven't watched AEW Dark in like a year, but I think I'm caught up on Dynamite.

1.715 million for RAW this week.

As someone whose always looked at ratings, I have noticed every year the trend is RAW after RR does better than average and then ratings drop until WM. Then the RAW after WM does really well, usually best ratings of the entire year. For whatever reason though, between RR and WM the ratings for RAW traditionally drops.


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5 most watched Super Bowls ever all happened within the past 10 years despite TV ratings being down across the board. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.

Brady
Manning
Manning
Brady
Brady

Yep. AEW has no excuse for getting under 1 million viewers. Plenty of shows for that every week. They’re just bad.

Cable News had quite the night.

FOX News not a single show in the top 25.


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The Dusty Classic is not a draw, it hasn't been interesting since the 2nd year they did it.

I will never understand this intense hatred for AEW. They ended a 20 year WWE monopoly which was responsible some some of the dullest, most complacent, most mailed-in content ever created in wrestling. The passion that some of you have against it is baffling, especially since there's a comparatively small sample size in relation to WWE. It's a promotion that welcomes smarks/internet fans and caters specifically to us like 90% of the time, the person that owns it is a massive wrestling fan, the promotion has pretty consistent great matches from show to show, there's a good mixture between established/upcoming/international talent. I am genuinely confused with the reaction.

This is literally what we've been asking for since WCW went under.

And I know everyone has different tastes and such. I understand someone being like "eh, I don't know. I'm kind of used to the WWE product so I prefer that." What I don't understand is the intense passionate hatred. That's some weirdo shit.

Married at First Sight was pretty good. Surprised that AEW beat them this week! Chris told Paige that his ex fiance was pregt 3 days into their marriage on their honeymoon in Vegas and Eric the airplane pilot got wasted with his much younger new wife who has been causing him to drink much more than he is normally used to because she is a party girl and Eric pissed off Chris talking about his ex fiance and Chris started to cry. Also Vincent and Brianna made love for the first time after Vincent found out his grandma was in the hospital and then they played footsies barefoot in the sand while they had dinner on a false beach in Vegas. Also Jacob was still really boring to his new wife Haley and told her his dream car was a Delorean and she has no idea what that was, and she claims to be a "car girl".

Darn. Starting to feel bad for WWE. Fuck. :(

You'd think moving NXT to Tuesday or Thursday would be ideal. Maybe even Saturday would do better. I can't imagine USA canning the show altogether, but I guess that is possible. I think that WWE out NXT on USA at a bad time. They had pretty much taken all of the talent that people were excited for and promoted them to Raw/Smackdown. While that is the ultimate point, it was just a bad roster to go head to head with AEW, which is consistently the top non news program on Wednesday nights.

No, this is not what I asked for. I wanted a proper attempt at a serious sized pro-wrestling promotion to provide a legitimate alternative to the WWE. Not even sillier, more insulting, less meaningful, self-indulgent shit. Is it my understanding they did another kidnapping that was just dropped without any explanation?

This is PWG-style horseshit with a dash of Vince Russo’s WCW. Don’t tell me I want this. It hasn’t even provided an alternative. WWE have gone from offering their talent $500k-$750k to stay benched to offering $400k to focused talent. Every major star is re-signing with WWE. They’re ZERO threat and I’m mad about them reinforcing the monopoly.

The thing about NXT is we don’t know how much it does or doesn’t cost USA versus how much it brings in for them. We know AEW costs $45 million in rights PLUS half its ad revenue. AEW would need to be raking in twice as much as NXT assuming NXT costs the same in rights fees for them to BREAK EVEN. There are rumors that USA isn’t even paying that much. NXT is also an international brand with lots of different representation on it. We don’t actually know which audience is more valuable to advertisers.

All these networks care about is how much these shows make them. It’s very possible that NXT is more valuable than Dynamite. Is it going to be more valuable than the NHL when that all happens? Probably not. That will be interesting. But the idea that NXT needs to move to get its ratings up is a construct of wrestling fans.

AEW's payroll is also multiple times larger than NXT's. Everyone and their favorite 70 year old announcer has "the biggest and best contract of their whole careers".

I don't know how much money they are losing, but it's a lot, like high 8 figures a year id guess.

I watch both NXT and AEW on-demand so changing days wouldn't really affect me, but I'd think a rasslin show on every night could be good overall.

Dunno. Feel like with DVR - and NXT being available on the network in a day or two - channel-flipping seems counterproductive.

I think Jericho is on $3 million a year, Mox is on $2 million and JR is on $1 million. Throw in $1 million for Matt Hardy. I’m sure the EVPs are all getting that much AT LEAST. Probably Brandi too. $1.6 million for FTR all up. $2 million for Sting? You’re looking at $15.6 million for just the seven figure club. I’ve probably left out some people.

I'm pretty sure that Meltzer said in early 2020 the new TNT deal made them profitable. I'd assume not incurring the cost of touring and renting has made not having an audience come out as as. It a huge financial blow anyway.

If you are watching on demand then you really don't count. I often watch on demand as well, I'm not making this a personal attack. But the ratings only reflect those with Nelson boxes/coverage who watch live. I don't even know how people are lured into registering with Nelson, I've never been asked to when subscribing to a proper cable service. On Sling there is an opt on option but you have to seek it out yourself. The whole Nelson concept really confuses me because I don't think it's a great representation of the actual number, more like a trending suggestion.

Yeah, Nielsen ratings can only suggest potential trends. Networks get the demographics of all of the Nielsen customers so they can slice and dice the numbers as they see fit but the actual number of viewers is always just going to be a projection.

But AEW and NXT both being under a million confirmed viewers sounds funnier to a lot of people in this thread so hey.

I'm not a Nielsen box guy so I wouldn't really count even if I did watch live. But I get it: those numbers aren't...I guess reliable is the best word.

But like Vito said, parts of this thread kinda prove that it doesn't even matter to some people lol

1.884 million for brand blue this week. Look at those 50+ ratings for CBS. Old people love them some CBS.



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Meltzer schills for AEW, has since day 1. It means nothing he says without any actual details should be taken at face value. Him saying AEW is profitable is almost a dead giveaway that they are not.

I don't hate AEW. Been to multiple shows. I just don't understand why people are swooning over it. It's more of the same muck WWE has been putting out for years with a "ranking system" layered on the top to make them look serious I guess. The stories are the same mindless drivel the E puts out but we have people spazzing about how awesome it is every time AEW does something WWE has already done countless times; yet if WWE does something AEW did everyone gives them shit. It's just weird to me.

If you erased the AEW brand from peoples mind and ran the exact same Dynamite shows no one would be able to tell it wasn't WWE the whole time. I want an alternative that works to fix the issues WWE has had for years now and presents themselves as an actual alternative; I don't want more of the same with a bunch of less recognizable rasslers propped up by a large group of ex-WWE guys at the top of the card.

100% Agree

You really can’t trust Meltzer when it comes to AEW. I used to really like the guy, but:

-He conflates AEW’s international PPV data with their domestic buys and uses that number to compare against terrestrial domestic PPV to pimp AEW. He’ll tell you stuff like “AEW is doing better on PPV than anyone since WCW.” Which ignores that there hasn’t been anything big since WCW and that ECW actually got higher US PPV buys than AEW did.

-His maths when trying to justify the low bar for AEW’s TV ratings was ridiculous. He blatantly suggested that TNT will subtract B/R Live subscribers from the usual average in the slot. Come on.

-Spreading shit about Randy Orton when he didn’t sign with AEW. Meltzer made it sound like Orton priced himself out of negotiations. Tony Khan himself went on Twitter and made a jab at Orton for using AEW’s offers to better his position with Vince. To do that you need an offer. TK admitted it, Meltzer tried to hide they didn’t nab him.

-His coverage of AEW fucking over New Japan was all wonky.

-When it comes to the WWE, viewership is important. When it comes to AEW, it’s demo.

-Never spoils AEW even though he has a direct line in.

-Never criticises them for their “sloppy” practices, whereas the WWE is open game.

-The news or something else is always to blame when AEW fails to build momentum in the ratings. That’s always been bullshit, but now people like Brandon Thurston are finally starting to call it.

I used to like the guy, but his AEW coverage has REALLY soured me on him. He’s obviously getting talked to less and less by WWE guys too. Oh well. He’s made his bed and can lie in it.

AEW being profitable coming from Meltzer just means that The Bucks have told him that, or that he wants people to think that.

Excellent post. The only thing I can compare this weird swooning to is when I criticized Alexa Bliss in 2016 and the usual suspects getting themselves in a twist because I couldn’t bring myself to call her a great women’s wrestler.

It’s as insulting, inconsistent and childish as WWE. You’ve had two people go into cakes in as many weeks. Chris Jericho has been slimed. Kidnappings go nowhere. Stories are rushed. It randomly turns into a musical. They think swearing is edgy. They are riddled with nepotism. They have way too many comedy acts. Psychology is not encouraged. Every match is just spot, spot, spot.

They don’t know how to book former champions. When guys or girls lose belts they just disappear. They don’t know how to build anything. What has actually been built well in AEW’s history? Don’t give me MJF turning on Cody. That was rushed. Remember when he was supposed to be their next top heel. Whoosh. Been and gone with the Mox loss. Remember how Adam Page was supposed to be their big babyface? He’s never been higher than the second PPV and now he’s a funny drunk cowboy with Matt Hardy.

They do the exact same shit as WWE and get praised for it while the WWE gets trashed because it’s WWE. And I personally want cunts like BigCrippyZ who would say shit like “Nothing matters in WWE! Things matter in AEW!” to fucking admit through their gritted teeth that NOTHING matters in AEW. Not who the champ is, not who they sign, not who The Bucks flip around with this week, not who Cody goes 15 minutes with — not ANY of it.

Like it if you want, but don’t try and tell me this is good. Or what I’ve been after. This is PWG if it had the budget to afford Vince Russo and the old guys that Vince didn’t want to pay to sit on the sides anymore.

Yea all the comedy shit really annoys me. It's one of the reasons WWE soured on me in the first place. When you play PG it's inevitable that comedy becomes the game and a couple swear words here and there isn't gonna change that. I was hoping they would be a more edgy promotion, more like attitude era WWE with a bit of a lean to ECW. Instead it's just another show to watch because I still like wrestling for some reason.

I mean it's fair to say I enjoy AEW. But I enjoy it the same way I enjoy WWE. AEW never elicits any reaction from me that WWE doesn't; there is no added hype wondering what they are going to do next or who is going to show up randomly. It's just there and more rassling is always ok with me.

I was way more hyped for them when they first started and I went to some shows. But at that point it was really just matches because they had no time to build any storylines. I was just seeing fresh matchups between some established guys I knew from other promotions and some new faces, some of whom can put on a really good show. I liked that and I liked the promise of where it could go. But then the stories developed and just like WWE the majority of them were meaningless tripe or comedy and they weren't that good. The upper card leaned too hard on guys like Mox and Jericho, etc. Cody removing himself from the title picture to assuage people who worried he would push himself is stupid; he should be at the top of the card because he deserved to be there. Taking forever to build up Omega to the main event when he should have been there from day 1 was also ridiculous and they didn't do a good job building him. They basically relegated him to tag team and mid card work and then 2 years later BOOM WORLD EATER. Simply put they turned into a WWE clone. It is what it is. Sure they are an alternative but they aren't the product I hoped they would be and they aren't going to get people hyped about wrestling again by just copying the competition. They will never seriously challenge WWE if this is what they are content with doing.

re: challenging WWE - if people still tune in/engage with the show (how exactly they measure that on social media and stuff I don't know), they don't really have to change much. Plus I think they just extended their TV deal, didn't they?

And staying in this "different but similar" category maybe good enough for the brass. Shit, I'm still enjoying the product enough.

But it is a bit of a bummer that they hyped up being an alternative only to put on a similar show with different characters.

The chance to challenge had already passed, I think. It was all potential. No one knew what to expect from Dynamite out the gate. But when it became apparent they had no clue what they were doing (and I still maintain it was that wonky bait and switch with Page and PAC at DON that made no sense), all the top stars chose WWE and were never really going to consider running against Vince. They could have had real chances to create a real WCW feel (in a good way), with talent leaving a “sinking ship” to go and work for a place that does pro-wrestling right.

They were offering $500 to MIKE KANELLIS to keep him on their bench. Now Matt Riddle is getting $400k. What’s he going to do? Go to AEW and floss with Marko Stunt? Be a bad-ass in the league that promotes a dude with the frame of David Arquette who fights with his hands in his pockets? Ha! Go on!

And when AEW talent go to jump ship, I am pretty sure they are either going to be passed on entirely or given the EC3 treatment. The message? If you sign with AEW, that’s your ceiling. At least they can get paid to be fairly anonymous there.

I just hope people can see that AEW is not the best shot you can take against Vince and it doesn’t scare off others from getting involved in wrestling. Because I do not want a WWE monopoly anymore.

Noid I don't think there is room for "another big Wrestling promotion" at this point. For a multitude of reasons. One reason is there is no shortage of Wrestling on TV, it's on almost every night. Also talent, they are all signed. There isn't a large pool of unsigned talent out there ready to carry a promotion to success.

Eh, I also think WWE has been in the game so long that your casual fan isn't going to know what anything outside WWE is. That's the huge advantage they have, brand recognition.


Anything else, regardless of how big it ever gets, will always be seen as "2nd rate".

I mean right now you have AEW, NJPW, Impact, ROH, AAA, CMLL, GCW, NWA, and RevPro among others all willing to work together outright or in various arrangements.

Of course there will be many people who view anything other than WWE as 2nd rate. But I just think it’s fucking cool that there are near unlimited possibilities everywhere else. It’s like a Fire Pro game come to life.

CBS should MLW and air it every night of the week in primetime

Without anything major changing, Brock Lesnar, CM Punk and Ronda Rousey should all be free agents by May. You could also sign talent from ROH, MLW, the NWA, New Japan, MLW and AEW. They aren’t going to fight you too hard in contracts.

I don’t think the wrestling on TV has the awareness to get in the way.

Unless it is significantly better and actually brands itself effectively as something else.

RAW catching up to SD almost

1.81 million this week


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Been saying this since AEW debuted

Kinda sucks. If there ever were a time where any other fed was on top, still feel like they'd be fucked.

WWE is the Kleenex of facial tissues

AEW 747,000
WWE Develomental 713,000


LMAO millions and millions spent and they barely beat Developmental.

Having a 61 year old man with spinal stenosis take a Powerbomb just to get 34,000 more viewers is a sound business decision :rofl:

USA probably pays less for NXT, gets more revenue because it’s PG and is a globally recognised brand, and gets to keep all the ad revenue too. AEW is super-niche, barely wins in viewership, doesn’t have anywhere near the product awareness, isn’t PG and keeps half the ad rev.

Yep, AEW is so much more valuable to TNT...lol.

Also, Sting bumping gives me the heeby-jeebies. And putting Brodie’s kid on TV is just exploitative at this point.

NXT is PG and a globally recognized brand and AEW is super-niche, not PG and doesn’t have anywhere near the product awareness of NXT.

NXT should be crushing them in the ratings based on those facts alone.

I don't know about that. TNT promotes the shit out of AEW and TSN up here in Canada does as well.

AEW also had a sizable built in audience from the get go. The problem is, it's the exact same audience from a year and a half ago. Casual fans view NXT and AEW both as minor league, so that's why they are both at where they're at

WWE came out of the gate using Raw and Smackdown to promote NXT, putting NXT titles on main roster stars and included them in a brand war on the main roster and ultimately put NXT OVER Raw and Smackdown in the brand war. AEW had YouTube and the indies. Who exactly had the advantage of a built-in audience?

AEW had all the New Japan fans. Look at how many bought Wrestle Kingdom

That's their audience.

Little kids with their parents who watch Raw aren't watching NXT

Okay. Add New Japan to that “built-in audience” I mentioned above. That doesn’t really change anything. NXT had Raw and Smackdown. They still had the advantage. By quite a fuckton.

Not being able to get the audience to watch isn’t a point in their favor.

Neither show should be bragging about 700,000ish viewers. The difference is for the most part, NXT doesn't. Tony Khan on the other hand is on twitter thanking fans for watching all the time. It trickles down from him, and you get advanced aged announcers and wrestlers also bragging about it.

Chris Jericho and Jim Ross have been on wrestling shows that have drawn over 5 million viewers a bunch of times. They shouldn't be making such a big deal over 700,000 viewers, but they can't help themselves at this point in their careers, trying to seem relevant.

The nerve...

WWE fanboys just talking in circles. Leave them alone. Support them if they need it. It’s dark out there man.

No real problem with Tony doing that, but like I said it trickles down, and nobody else is very cordial about it. The point being 700,000 viewers shouldn't be such a celebration.

2.072 for SD this week

Sure. I wish we had the WWE Network numbers, because I’m willing to bet quite a few AEW fans watch NXT on there the next day. But no, 700k for NXT isn’t impressive either.

WWE’s promotion of NXT has been very quiet. I’ve seen that lobbed as a criticism of them, but it’s obviously intentional. This is why BigCrippyZ calls me a cocksucker. But if the WWE wanted NXT to be bigger, they would make it bigger. Daniel Bryan would be wrestling on there. They’d probably have sent AJ Styles. You’d have Rey Mysterio vs. Ricochet. It isn’t hard to do any of those things. But NXT is just there to niche AEW and reaffirm the main shows’ value to networks. And it’s succeeding.

I’d agree with that. It is the third show WWE produces in a week, obviously less of a priority than Raw or SmackDown. 700k for a primary show is worse than 700k for an auxiliary show.

1.89 million for RAW this week, a nice bump from Miz winning the title

1.89? lol is this normal now ? That is about the same or worse then they were in shitty 95

Fox News still not in the top 25 in the post-Trump era

AEW - 831k
NXT - 734k

https://i.postimg.cc/tRfbH64P/ae.png

Lol they add another high priced ex WWE and again:no change.

Lol, 831k with the biggest signing they are likely to ever get. Cue The Price is Right loser horn. Oh well, they get what they deserve. *farts*

Lolllllllllllllll

Do you think TNT cares that much as long as the show isn't losing viewers? The head-to-head is a WWE show (not a main one, but still) and AEW usually "wins." Network has to see that as a positive, right?

I don't think TNT is comparing AEW ratings to WWE outside of NXT. AEW consistently beats or comes 2nd to every non news show on Wednesday nights. They are doing great. It takes time to build an audience, obviously AEW has been in or around the same numbers since the beginning but as the roster and stories evolve, so will the ratings. For better or worse. WCW didn't "compete" with WWF for about 6 years until they finally overtook them in brand recognition and ratings. I think being on TNT is a better station for audience growth than WWE which has proved to decline massively over the years. AEW has maintained their audience from the beginning where WWE in the past year alone has lost a significant portion of theirs, as they have every year for the last 20 years.

With that said obviously WWE is banking more money than ever on their tv deals because the state of cable tv is shuddering in the wake of streaming services as viewers are escaping the chains of cable subscription service in droves. In five years can we imagine what the torrential waters in the sea of tv viewership will look like? Radio was once king, then over the air, then satellite, then cable, then the cords were cut and now we have a monthly announcement of the next over the top service for programming. Really what will be the place for live tv in 5 years?

This thread is cancer.

TNT doesn't care how much of his daddy's money Tony Khan blows through, and evidently neither does Shad himself.