Bingo.

And I think that is where a lot of AEW Apologists miss the point of any and all criticism. AEW had a chance to be something different and new. Instead they try to act like a continuation of WCW and an improved NJPW, when they come off far more like Impact and WWE.

AEW was hyped as a serious and more sportslike show, and then they gave us some of the most ridiculous gimmick matches and over the top characters that would have made 1980's WWE fans shake their heads with nonbelief.

How can they attract any new fans with what they are presenting? This is a setting where Dinosaurs, Aliens, Pandas, and Zombies all exist. Where an announcer is sporting a lucha mask, where they perform gymnastic chronographed dance routines in place of actual matches, and where they BOTH have YouTube shows where the wrestling matches count, and a YouTube show that is a wink wink joke at the entire thing. Where they both portray a wrestler as a Wildman from the jungle AND the son of a famous actor.

Wrestling fans can ignore this and find entertainment because we have been accepting nonsensical stuff like this for years.

You get somebody to tune in who is not a fan of professional wrestling, and they see a sparkler show, or painted cardboard, or a fall into a hot tub of Orange Juice match, they sure arent getting hooked, they are gonna snark at it and change the channel.

AEW is good for what it is, but for what they promised and could have been, what they delivered and what the are is why they are not attracting any kind of outside Audience.

that is aplace made foe boxing wrestling or mma i am surprised they did not use that place before

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The most-viewed quarter of AEW Dynamite last night was 9:15-9:30pm w/ 1,133,000 viewers, featuring the Britt Baker live promo &amp; Sammy Guevara vs. Wheeler YUTA.<br><br>The high for 18-49 was 8:45-9:00, which included the Omega-Adam Page angle.<br><br>��Full breakdown: <a href="https://t.co/Zrjbzz8lUq">https://t.co/Zrjbzz8lUq</a> <a href="https://t.co/t7kifU9CPp">pic.twitter.com/t7kifU9CPp</a></p>&mdash; Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1415844081947795456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That’s a nice number. Love AEW. Good job.

Good for them. Hopefully they can keep it up. Having live crowds back and those crowds being red hot certainly enhances the viewing experience.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEW</a> Arthur Ashe Stadium show is off to a hot start. 18 minutes in and tickets are almost gone (of what they opened up so far).<br><br>They added 5 sections on the upper deck (332-337) that account for 2,272 tickets. All are just about gone. <a href="https://t.co/yRCOtL75Yu">https://t.co/yRCOtL75Yu</a> <a href="https://t.co/tzL3AMWWCb">pic.twitter.com/tzL3AMWWCb</a></p>&mdash; WrestleTix (@WrestleTix) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestleTix/status/1416039942522818562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The thing about selling out places like the Arthur Ashe stadium is that AEW can show the printout of the ticket sales to other venues that might be on the fence about hosting a non-WWE show or even Pro Wrestling in general. Also, other venues might take notice &amp; offer AEW dates</p>&mdash; SoDuTw (@SoDuTw) <a href="https://twitter.com/SoDuTw/status/1416040485156794372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Goddamn the prices on ticket master are absurdly expensive

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">People legitimately spend their limited time on a spinning rock doing shit like this? Truly, truly fascinating. Sooo many people view a wrestling company like they’re a loved family member and “defend” them. Why in the hell so you care?</p>&mdash; BigBuse (@BigBuse) <a href="https://twitter.com/BigBuse/status/1416121867463761928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm glad I was able to get face value Ashe tickets in the pre-sale, well plus the ass plundering Ticketmaster fees of course.

They'll have a big crowd BUT they seem to have fucked up by insisting on doing a stage. Could've had a whole extra quarter of the building open.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam (final update for the day)<br>Wed • Sep 22 • 7:00 PM<br>Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing, NY<br><br>Available Tickets =&gt; 1,999<br>Estimated Capacity =&gt; 17,164<br>Tickets Distributed =&gt; 15,165 (88%)<br><br>A very good day for AEW.<a href="https://t.co/yRCOtL75Yu">https://t.co/yRCOtL75Yu</a> <a href="https://t.co/TslT5YCvH5">pic.twitter.com/TslT5YCvH5</a></p>&mdash; WrestleTix (@WrestleTix) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestleTix/status/1416200365419204616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Clearly fake, AEW is terrible just ask some guy on the internet…

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Read how AEW will sell over 50,000 tickets in September <a href="https://t.co/UJDDE2TpnC">https://t.co/UJDDE2TpnC</a><a href="https://twitter.com/TwoManPowerTrip?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TwoManPowerTrip</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestleTix?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WrestleTix</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/wrestlenomics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wrestlenomics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/iamjohnpollock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@iamjohnpollock</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/HeelWillMahoney?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HeelWillMahoney</a> <a href="https://t.co/wFfRgQsbSj">pic.twitter.com/wFfRgQsbSj</a></p>&mdash; Lavie Margolin (@Laviemarg) <a href="https://twitter.com/Laviemarg/status/1416106888446500878?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm not even sure which one of the tweets he is complaining about.

Framing a lie like it's an accomplishment or needing to point out something that trivial.

Pretty sure it’s directed toward the guy who freaked out because he saw something that could be considered positive about AEW and desperately went into defensive mode and came up with a ridiculous retort so he could sleep at night.

A very rare occurrence that certainly never happens on TPWW. I can see why you’re puzzled.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is what pro wrestling is all about. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEW</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NewSouth?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NewSouth</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DarkOrder?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DarkOrder</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/X?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#X</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hayden?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hayden</a> <a href="https://t.co/kGfRvPypTu">pic.twitter.com/kGfRvPypTu</a></p>&mdash; Pres10 (@Pres10Vance) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pres10Vance/status/1416865378429513729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I just like the stock.

Freaked out? He was pretty levelheaded. He even qualified his statement. He certainly didnt throw around terms like "mental gymnastics".

In fact now I do know which tweet the third guy is mad at, the one that pointed out a an incorrect statement made, which drove him into rage Cultist mode about something " truly truly fascinating " and how dare somebody be so loyal to a wrestling company like it is family, while smugly doing the exact same thing.

stop having fun over there!!

“Rage cultist mode”, he says.

Eh, I'm with xrod on this. Guy might be guilty of trying to flex his obscure wrestling match knowledge, but nothing in his post indicates he's upset or even trying to defend wwe.

Actually fuck it, I'm gonna reply to the guy and tell him that.

His reply was far more visceral than the nerdy guy pointing out obscure but true facts.

How is it a big leap dave?

Be a man and discuss it here, not in rep messages.

No amount of pansy ass forbidden doors will ever top tonight's main event. This is how you do a PPV title match.

I've got nothing, Fignuts. Was trying to spur some drama and immediately lost interest. Sorry.

His intentions could have been more innocent but that “MUST COMBAT THIS POSITIVE AEW POST” thing is rampant on Twitter and that would fall right in line with it.

And when I say “freak out” when referring to them, it’s less about a use of all caps or angry language and more about the vibe that comes with the desperate need to shut down any and all positive AEW references. You can practically see the veins popping out in their head as they type as fast as they can do that this pro-AEW comment isn’t seen by one more person without their petty rebuttal.

Xrod may have tried to be subtle with his response to that tweet. It was really just a chance for him to clarify that the first guy WAS in fact lying by saying Britt Baker never had a run in WWE. Lol

Anyone who loves and obsesses over anything, whether it's wrestling, cars, sports, etc, and sees a false statement about it, is going to have an almost uncontrollable urge to correct it. It's practically human nature. There's not necessarily a bias attached to it.

Also a quick skim of the guy's Twitter tells me that while he is mainly a wwe fan, he is fairly objective and unafraid to criticize them. And when he does mention aew, it's mostly positive.

Guy just likes what he likes, and makes no attempt to drag down the stuff he's not into. Far cry from the "aew hater" he's being made out to be. Actually seems like a pretty nice guy. I might follow him.

Pffft, y'all stop liking stuff over there without permission from the fun Gods k?


Thanks,


Mgmt.

Sean Ross Sapp, of fightful.com, who covers wrestling professionally, should be corrected if he incorrectly post something. He should know the history of the subject matter he is posting about. The guy did it the right way, was respectful, even if it comes across as a nerdy stat knowing guy.

Just because it was a Positive Pro AEW post, doesn't mean that incorrect information has to be taken as gospel. I said Sean Ross Sapp is lying because I would like to think somebody who covers wrestling would know about wrestling. That is not Pro or Anti any promotion, and certainly nothing that should cause anybody distress.

So you don’t find the “correction” trivial then?

Arguing about it for so many posts is trivial for sure

I think it is trivial, yes. I just don't think it was done to discredit a Pro AEW tweet. To me it was just a guy adding to the topic by including his knowledge of wrestling.

For everyone who does it better, they should just put their money where their... keystrokes (lol) are and DO it better. Shit better be infallible, 100% of the time too.

So he should have been “corrected” but also it was trivial to do so. Got it.

Just wait until we get into what constitutes a “run”!

Of course it's trivial. I'm not arguing against that. I'm arguing that it's not indicative of hate for aew or love of WWE, but rather just being a nerd about facts on a subject they care about.

And I'm not saying that people you describe don't exist because they absolutely do. I'm just saying people shouldn't jump to conclusions and make assumptions.

If something false is stated as fact, it should always be corrected, no matter how trivial it is.

Or else the heathens win.

That was directed toward Xrod who seems to find it trivial and also necessary.

90% of the posts on this forum are trivial. Who cares?

The entire REASON it’s trivial is because it’s a stretch to consider it a lie and ultimately his point remains the same.

And that’s where we get into what a true “run” is, which is where shit gets super fun.

(I was kidding about that last part. I’m not going to argue what a “run” consists of. If Sean Whatshisname doesn’t consider a couple developmental jobber appearances a “run” though, I don’t think he’s a liar. Call me crazy.)

I don't care about any of that. You can argue that it's trivial, or even that he's wrong in that it doesn't count as a run.

I just don't like labels being put on people based on assumptions. Especially when it takes very little effort to see what kind of person they are, and get a better idea of their post's intentions.

I never said it was necessary, I said it was trivial in my first post about it. My initial thinking was the 3rd tweet could be bothered by either the little lie or the needing to point out such a little lie, both of which were occurrences so small that they did not warrant such an angry tweet from the 3rd guy.

In this case you introduced the idea that the guy pointing out the technicality was only doing so to rally against AEW. I think he just did it because he wanted to point out something he knew.

Nothing in his post was bashing, or trying to disparage anything.

That said, a professional reporter should be corrected because he is a professional reporter, regardless of the subject matter.

I know that sounds the same as "necessary" in this specific case, but that is me making a blanket statement. If a reporter reports Joe Biden never ran for President until 2020, and somebody pointed out that he was in the 1988 Democratic primary, a 3rd tweet belittling the 2nd tweet as an anti Democrat/pro Republican would be just as absurd as getting mad at this guy pointing out Britt Baker's history.

At least you're talking like you got sense instead of coming at me out of some emotional haze:

I realize that a lot of what I'm going to say will come off as "Cornette-ish", and part of that is because even with expletive filled tirades, he is often more concise in how I feel about shit, and takes about two sentences and a smartass joke in what I would cover in about a paragraph and a half just to get to the same juncture. I will try to hit the more evergreen points and not jump on anyone in particular, but the focus of the endeavor as a whole from watching.

The first problem is the juxtaposition of what they intitally promised: "a sports based presentation", and what we get is consistent high spots and people cutting each other off in promos. It's similar to when TNA started, and they essentially assumed all the "lapsed fans" disillusioned with WWE and that stopped watching after WCW folded would migrate back, but consistently did shit to make themselves WWE-lite... except here, AEW is catering to fans who are already watching. They were already on the boat when Bullet Club was huge. They were habit watching WWE. They were super into what was going down in NJPW and RoH and MLW and AAA and even NWA, if you can find it.

Second, they try to cram too much into that time. It's like they try to feature as many people as they can, and all those guys have to "get their shit in". On top of that, they veer too heavy into the words of Cody Rhodes ("tired old tropes") with faces and heels supposedly not being a thing (super ironic with stuff like the recent white suit/black suit vs Tommy End)... so most of the roster are supposed to be tweeners? In his short career, Will Hobbs has already given Big Show a run for his money with changing sides.

People killed WWE for YEARS with their steer towards 50/50 booking, but yet everyone in AEW is "competitive" from curtain jerking nobody to EVP to recent WWE castoff acquisition. There is no real visual heirichy. Let me pull an example from WCW for what I mean by this - I used to hate Konnan back then. I had zero idea about the Max Moon shit or that he was essentially Mexican Hulk Hogan before that. And for the sake of my statement, I will omit the part where his whole "stereotypical 90's gangbanger" gimmick rubbed me the wrong way. Different issue for a different day.... WCW consistently presented him as jobber to the *real* stars, and he only got wins over the other jobbers on WorldWide. What made it worse was that he'd promo, and his talking ability is great, but he'd do nothing but talk shit, and it usually came before he got his ass kicked. Nearly every time he got on the mic, he was about to get beat up or run away; not even cheat to win or doing something to get heat. So the perception was that he was just some shithead coward who couldn't back up what he said in any way and was only marginally better than Jerry Flynn or Roadblock. This is how AEW presents nearly their entire roster. The stars are only marginally better than the not-stars. Unless you're one of the EVPs, of course.

They run angles where they *need* you to watch clips on YouTube to get what's going on, or even who somebody is sometimes. The internet is a powerful tool, but in the case of a television show, you shouldn't need an auxiliary compendium to know what is going on half the time. [addendum: It's kinda like when Destiny first came out: the game had very little in the way of in-game lore - you had to go to Bungie's website and read shit outside of playing. You shouldn't have to stop playing the game to go read a blog about the game you're playing to understand what's happening in that game... same with AEW. You shouldn't have to watch YouTube clips. That content should be included on the show you're already watching.] This is similar to WWE's Hulu version of RAW, where there's shit missing from the program in the supposed interest of time. Cutting entrances and pageantry is one thing, but editing promos, shortening matches, and completely cutting segments from the broadcast doesn't provide continuity. Same with AEW. It's one thing to chuckle at in inside joke from BTE that is on the show because you're a fan and you watch both, but quite another to not know person X is feuding with person Y because they spilled grape juice on them in one of the sketches. Or that spilled grape juice is a big enough of incentive to have a barbwire deathmatch next week on Dynamite. WWE *used* to subscribe to the notion of "every show is someone's first time". Even they moved away from that, and everyone else seemed to follow suit. Now everyone's attitude is more like "IYKYK". And if anyone had to look that up, that should illustrate my point here perfectly.

That leads to what you have in the way of a "build" for feuds. They start with "big" matches with stipulations, and work their way down to a regular 3 count bout. Adding to that frustration, they want to jizz out everything at once. Something that could be padded and planned and teased and executed to draw people in and make folks care over the course of about four months takes place in the span of like three shows. It's like they don't want to let shit breathe because they're afraid folks have short attention spans and will wander off elsewhere... which ironically means they cater to people with short attention spans that will wander off elsewhere if they don't have people diving through the ropes in every match or everyone powering through 800 finishers that should end a match or having a backstage fight and/or segment that breaks down into chaos pretty much every week.

I know I said I didn't want to single anyone out, but a great encapsulation is one Orange Cassidy. Whether you think he is awesome or stupid, the overall issue is that his ENTIRE gimmick is one big in-joke. Be it fans that actually like him or like him ironically, it wasn't like he tapped into some intangible charisma like a Darby Allin, or when Adam Page was doing "Cowboy Shit!" to the adoration of crowds... he's just doing a thing that's "funny" to people who already find it "funny". And if you were sitting in a room watching AEW and someone who has never watched or hasn't watched wrestling in years came in while you were watching him go through is sloth routine and effortless shin kicks with zero context (like context was ever given to begin with), do you *really* think that will draw this potential new viewer in? If your answer is yes, you have either been living in the same vacuum they live in themselves or you just want to be contrarian and not admit that they aren't nearly as perfect a production as they seem to think they are.

The first step towards improving ANYTHING though is to stop pretending that it doesn't need improvement. People saying "it's good" doesn't mean that it can't be better. Even by a little bit. Like I said originally, fans aren't going to hijack AEW because they're already filling the desires of the audience they already have had since the original ALL IN event. While WWE is trying to present itself as some sort of hybrid reality TV only tangentially related to wrestling in pursuit of the larges global reach possible and forgoing a lot of the wrestling fans that got them to the dance to begin with, AEW have propped themselves up in the opposite direction and built a tree fort style castle around the niche smark army ready to tell them that EVERYTHING they're doing is fine just so they can come climb into the clubhouse too.

Bravo! I did not expect to see such a beautiful post in this echo chamber of a forum. I will revisit it when I lose faith in these mouth breathers.

I find that a LOT of the Bullet Cult are incapable of A. Acknowledging that there even are any flaws in the AEW product, B. Defend the product without mentioning WWE doing something stupid, or C. Defend the product without acting like Jim Cornette, a heel manager, being humiliated by a guy in a ninja turtle outfit on the 2nd match of a minor show at the local rec center is the EXACT SAME THING as Kenny Omega, the WORLD FUCKING CHAMPION, telling his manager to 69 him in the middle of the ring during a major segment on National Television.

A) People discuss their flaws while watching the show when they happen, just like they do for WWE.

B) WWE is a hot mess most of the time and does do a lot of stupid things, as the largest wrestling company in the world it's not weird to cross-reference them when responding to people disliking the many good things AEW does in comparison.

C) It's weird when people act like AEW fans are all obsessed with Omega (and the Young Bucks). Those aren't really the wrestlers that get tons of love here, most of us like wrestlers who we weren't familiar with pre-AEW primarily.

D) I like the stock

In all honesty, I'm not 100% what it is, but I don't find myself wanting to change the channel every 10 minutes with AEW, unless the ladies are on. Their women division blows.


WWE gave me a seizure during the Drew/Jinder segment. They should 100% stop that.

You cannot say anything out of line with the “AEW is taking over” narrative. People will say you can and make all sorts of excuses as to why they attack you, but it absolutely happens. There are obviously going to be nutters on each side, but anyone who tells you that it’s “freaking out” to make even a trivial correction is not being intellectually honest about the whole thing.

People want to take ownership of things they enjoy sometimes. I desperately want wrestling to not be shitty too. That’s almost natural. But when they take ownership and feel that being threatened, they go absolutely nuts. Its theirs and they will fight for it if you don’t put it on a pedestal. That’s when it gets fun, because there is no reasonable place for these people to go but insults, fake accounts or a holier-than-thou attitude.

And yeah, I know I present myself as an arrogant ass on here too. That’s because I believe in my opinions and try as best I can to line them up with facts. That’s what’s really threatening to some people. Reality is the harshest cure to fantasy sometimes.

Anyway, has this thing been cancelled yet? It only gets 1 million viewers every week. Throw it in the trash and let wrestling die.

I don't get Kenny Omega's appeal. Sure he's meta and very outlandish. But he's the promotion's champion and his looks and gimmick reek of mid-card graveyard.

If he's looking for relevancy in America, alienating half of the people is not a good start. He's also such a dork for tailoring his look after Harley Race. He doesn't even look or feel like a champion.

I actually think that AEW (and Impact, tangentially speaking) picked up some production truck castoffs that sat under the learning tree of Dunn at some point as well. Granted, it is not NEARLY AS BAD as crashing to a rotation of four different camera angles every one or two seconds that WWE has devolved to, but they also have had points where they try to create action where there supposedly "isn't enough" already going on in the ring. That is a trend they definitely SHOULD NOT CONTINUE TO EMULATE from big brother Vince. Someone needs to go through their truck with a rolled up newspaper and start smacking these guys on the nose and shout "NO!".

The funny thing is that I have almost the same opinion of Omega as I have about HHH. He's actually good, but not as good as he thinks he is or not nearly as good as the people around him tell him he is. Except I'd argue HHH has a better mind for the business, even though he has had his share of pulling dumb shit.

It is weird, because back when there was the whole uncertanty with what he was going to do post NJPW and heavy signals pointing towards him going to WWE, I felt that it would be both a perfect fit and a big mistake. He is tailor made for all the hokey bullshit WWE would do. He could pull off the verbose, overscripted promos because it sounds like he does already. He has the physique to draw Vince's attention. He had the buzz to be presented as a big deal on the main roster from day one. And he can go in the ring well enough, especially with people who also know what the fuck they're doing... but there is a part of me believes that there would have been this weird friction between him and HHH because they're too much like the same person.

Also, it feels like if the roles were reversed, almost this exact scenario would still have played out if Kenny were the old semi-retired executive and Hunter were in his prime and being touted as The Second Coming by the indie fans.

It’s funny you make that comparison. Triple H was always my vote for the most overrated wrestler of all-time. Only recently has been supplanted by Kenny Omega. Trips edges him out in psychology, facial expressions, the total number of classics, drawing power, etc. Because people fawn so much over Omega, and because I think he is just objectively worse yet more highly rated, I have to give the crown to Omega.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Welcome to the team…<a href="https://twitter.com/thunderrosa22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ThunderRosa22</a> is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AllElite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AllElite</a> <a href="https://t.co/GcvAds6ANx">pic.twitter.com/GcvAds6ANx</a></p>&mdash; All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) <a href="https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1418282316984721409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I can get behind this. She's incredible and deserves to be higher on the card. She should take the title off dentist lady.

With all due respect to the wrestling nerds, Omega is nowhere near Triple H. No matter how much you want it, it's simply not factual.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">AEW Dynamite last night on TNT was watched by 1,148,000 viewers on average, the 3rd highest in the show's history.<br><br>575,000 viewers were aged 18-49 (about a 0.44 rating), the highest since December 9, 2020.<br><br>�� More demos and analysis here: <a href="https://t.co/uh07HrAWMM">https://t.co/uh07HrAWMM</a> <a href="https://t.co/imE9HBNxdb">pic.twitter.com/imE9HBNxdb</a></p>&mdash; Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1418304154024484865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For those interested...<br><br>Raw's 18-49 this week was higher. But, yes, Dynamite's 18-49 last night is higher than some recent Thunderdome episodes of Raw (but not Smackdown).<br><br>Raw on Jul 12: 560,000<br>Raw on Jul 5: 536,000<br>Raw on Jun 28: 535,000</p>&mdash; Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1418306185841815555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

They couldn't beat Raw with actual fans? :eek:

1.15 million viewers?! The revolution is here!!!

10 million next Wednesday

OR ELSE

That sexy, sexy white, middle-aged demo.

AEW needs to have guys who look like Greg The Hammer Valentine doing matches with lots of punches and chin locks to capture the younger demo

10 million would be great. But let’s start with properly growing an audience and not running them off. We’ve gone from 1.4 million opposed to celebrating 1.15 million on their own with a natural hot-shot behind them. That’s just because they’ve climbed out of a hole they dug for themselves.

When you’re not beating the average for Raw — a shitty, three-hour dinosaur — what claim do you have to being some hot alternative? You’ve actually got to be catching on to do that. Let’s see if they can build on this surge of people checking out their product again. They’ve got more foot traffic than usual at the moment — doesn’t mean they think the show is good.

If Raw managed to climb back up to 2 million, would people defend it? Of course not. And it’s not necessarily a reflection of quality. And they’d hold it up against where it’s fallen from — 3 million or 4 million people. I’m not going to let AEW diehards forget the buzz this promotion has never delivered on.

That would be awful. But people have to go to weird places when responding to the criticism AEW gets.

Wrestling is cool again! Time to turn your caps backwards and kick it!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a> <a href="https://t.co/bJ3nJLScw6">pic.twitter.com/bJ3nJLScw6</a></p>&mdash; All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) <a href="https://twitter.com/AEWonTNT/status/1418323908210544643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I’m stunned considering the card going in didn’t look great

They’re not the #1 show on cable by any metric other than an archaic measure of demographic. They do not get the most ad revenue. They are not the most watched (not by a long shot). But hey, when one company bullshits it’s okay.

I agree with Noid Classic.

Fuck you, no it wouldn’t.

https://c7.alamy.com/comp/R1BW20/new...nch-R1BW20.jpg

Hall of Famer, cocksucker. He got this shit right.

He was in the crowd once at Dynamite

https://cdn3.whatculture.com/images/...56-600x338.jpg

AEW. What a time to be alive.

LOL I like how there are about 10 different ratings broken down by Nielsen, and AEW just ignores 9 of them and declares themselves number 1 overall.

Its cool, ignore 90% of the data. That is how data works, you pick the small part that you find favorable and represent that as the full truth.

How’s NXT doing lately?

Around 700k the last two weeks each, usually in the mid 600s.

I feel like there's not really any reason to invest in NXT personally. I used to watch every Takeover and have attended a few as well, but it's too many times of 'fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, thrice, etc shame on me'

It seems pointless to me to watch NXT and get invested in anyone because when you do and they get called up to the main roster, it's a 90% 'shit the bed' ratio of Vince ignoring or taking away everything that made them work in NXT. There really haven't been very successful callups in a while at this point.

I have a feeling that Rampage might hurt Dynamite's ratings maybe due to oversaturation... Feels perfect right now with just 2 hours a week but we'll see I guess

I can't see myself watching Rampage tbh...that month of Dynamite on Fridays was rough...Friday just seems like a bad night (to me) for wrestling on tv...no offense to brand blue...

I feel like I'll watch the first two or three episodes of Rampage to see what it's about, but I don't really want to commit to another weekly show.

Watched a handful of Dark episodes before I fell behind and never bothered to go back. I've never seen Elevation.

I get enough of a fix with two hours of Dynamite.

I wonder if a lot of people will feel like two shows a week is too much to keep up with, then feel like they are "behind" on the storylines and stuff and just stop watching Dynamite also

I do worry another hour of TV might be too much, but if they’re signing Punk and Danielson, that just adds to an already top heavy roster and they could prob use another hour to get other guys TV time

AEW should reconsider having two separate rosters. Does anyone watch the Dark shows on Youtube?

Two rosters is an awful idea. And Dark seems to get around 200-300k views per episode. Which is a lot more than I thought they’d get.

Two rosters would be death for me. I don't mind the Friday night show yet, just hopeful that they make it worth while and that it doesn't devolve to a b show over time. Like when Heat debuted it was a great show for like two months and then turned to a b show. Since they are doing Rampage only tapings sometimes I'm expecting it to be pretty good. Plus AEW has a huge roster right now and they could definitely use some more air time for the guys.

An AEW roster split is something I'd do in my EWR game because it's a pain in the balls to have a huge roster and only one weekly 2-hour show to work with. Makes it easier for me to split the roster and run cohesive stories on each show. Hell I even did a Nitro/Thunder split on an old WCW 1998 game I was running. Just helped my sanity a bit for booklng.

But it's a video game world where oversaturation doesn't exist. No interest in seeing two rosters in real life AEW.

I never do split rosters in TEW. I just hate the concept since in my opinion it's been bad for WWE and diluted the titles which at one point were much more important to kayfabe and the fandom of WWE than they are now.

Still having to explain why there is a champion of WWE and a Champion of the Universe to non hardcore fans is embarrassing.

I've been reading Ringside news a lot the past few months for news. It is like a crack website that always has new posts but over half of them are just recaps from tweets and really bad wrestling reporting, but still it's constant wrestling content. Anyway, they keep posting things that Mark Henry says on his podcast or radio show. I'm already over him. I can't stand when he's saying what AEW should be doing to be better. Mark Henry had a collective of about two or three years in a 20+ year career that were even watchable. Yes one epic promo and one good run near the top. Still even then he was a 2nd tier main event talent. Longevity doesn't equal talent, Mark Henry is pissing me off. He apparently said AEW needs to do more media and community outreach. How many promotions and fundraisers has AEW already done and promoted on TV for multiple causes? Troops, Trans, Gay, Disabled etc... I'm pretty sure they are well ahead of the curve on outreach and fundraising for good causes. Really find his sense of expertise annoying.

Generally when I split rosters I end up making all the champions float between shows. Doesn't necessarily mean every champion appears on both shows. There might be a span of a month or two where the World champ is primarily feuding with someone on SmackDown and the IC champ is making most of his appearances feuding with someone on Raw, but the US champ is appearing on both shows doing open challenges or whatever until he gets his next actual feud.

Gives me some flexibility to move people around but having everyone else locked in to a brand at the time just allows me to feature more people and get more people into stories.

Brand exclusive titles are death though. For a time I didn't mind them but now after years and years of it you just realize now that everyone and their brother has held a title at some point because there are 25 of them in the company.

How many has AEW done vs how many has the general public (those who DON'T listen to podcasts or wrestling crack website) know about? I am a very casual viewer and I couldn't tell you a single benefit they've done. That is the type of outreach they need, to where even the casual or non-wrestling fan knows about their actions.


He isn't wrong in that they need more media outreach. They have a decent talent pool but they need more recognition. It's been discussed here before, but with the juggernaut that is WWE, no other name is really known nor considered "major league" in pro-wrestling outside of WWE.





Much like Impact, who even Hulk Hogan couldn't help, they need more brand recognition. They need to first make up their mind on their presentation of "super serious sports-based wrestling" or "same ole carny shit". Once they can actually pick their lane, they can build their foundation a bit more. None of this is underselling their successes they've had thus far. As young as they are for a fed, they are doing well. The next 2-3 years will define their long-term success in my opinion.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We live in a world where MJF was ONE typo away from giving us Chris Jericho vs this man next week on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a>. <br><br>CAN YOU IMAGINE. <a href="https://t.co/poxs44ZdBV">pic.twitter.com/poxs44ZdBV</a></p>&mdash; SNAKEMAN (has a degree in astrophysics) ���� (@KingSerpentico) <a href="https://twitter.com/KingSerpentico/status/1418302435345453061?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

As far as examples of do good outreach the biggest would probably be Fight for the Fallen which is a show where proceeds go to Wounded Warrior Project, often they sell special t-shirts with rainbow themes where a portion of proceeds go to gay/trans organizations and Excalibur promotes that at least one per show. They do super inclusive ticket outreach for people with disabilities specifically kids. Also raising awareness on black and Latino police brutality in an angle with Konnan and Tully most recently.

As far as media awareness of the company I think that they are working on that with Cody and Brandi especially,doing their new reality show as well as The Go Big Show. But more stuff like that will take time.

Ultimately like you said it will take a few more years for AEW to be thought of when people think of wrestling. Overall none of this affects me and my fandom of the product. I am just critical of Mark Henry going on a radio show and critiquing the company he works for instead of having a conversation with his boss which I think would be more affective.

"in an angle" is not a good way to reach a wide-base. In an angle will reach those who are already watching.


Lots of assuming to believe he hasn't already talked with his boss. I'm sure he has given X amount of suggestions. As with most things, while there are a TON of ideas, only very few are actually "good" and "best for business". At least he is talking about it, and free to do so without risking his employment.

Damnit, thats good :rofl:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Got to say, I dont like how AEW have ruined the legacy of the credible thespian Steve Borden with this Orange Cassidy stuff. <a href="https://t.co/Y8fYStszMH">pic.twitter.com/Y8fYStszMH</a></p>&mdash; iAn (@IandrewDiceClay) <a href="https://twitter.com/IandrewDiceClay/status/1418578152658452481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

New fans are so fucking stupid they think that shit was lauded. That is some of the more maligned stuff in wrestling that was blamed for almost tanking WCW until the nWo angle and made TNA a laughing stock. But sure! As long as we’re not as bad as the very worst!