That is not the actual issue, the point being that they can't sell us on this revolutionary change when they are following the same blueprint TNA and ROH have been doing for 15 years.

I don’t have specific names, but apparently at the New Japan of America tapings last night, there was like one wrestler with WWE experience. I’m not saying they should avoid them completely, but they are out there. They’re just not friends with the EVPs.

Great point. You’re so smart and reasonable. Fucking cooked anus.

Yes. The blueprint of bringing in ex-WWE guys like TNA and top indy guys like ROH. As opposed to... ?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Since the news is out. I told you I’d dive on Kip again and dammit I did. But in doing so, I ended up with a high grade tear in my ACL. Yes I need surgery. Yes I’ll be out of the ring for a while. I’ll do my best to still show up on your TVs as much as I can. <a href="https://twitter.com/AEWrestling?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AEWrestling</a> ���� <a href="https://t.co/oVS495nwok">https://t.co/oVS495nwok</a></p>&mdash; Kris Statlander (@callmekrisstat) <a href="https://twitter.com/callmekrisstat/status/1272246509917163521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ricky Starks has an incredible ass. Glad they signed him or are bringing him in for a one-off. I have more eye candy than just Kip, Darby and Sammy now.

People complaining about AEW hiring people who have wrestled in WWE yet how many people have AEW gotten over since the company started?


Luchasaurus
Jungle Boy
MJF
Sammy Guevara
Darby Allin
Britt Baker

Almost like AEW is building people who will be stars for them for a while, what a novel concept!

The history of wrestling is built on bringing people in from other territories/companies.

I know 'back in the day' people used to complain Ric Flair was 'ruining the sport' because of his over the top reactions and flops in the ring (similar to people now with flips)...

...I wonder if fans back in the day used to complain about AWA or WCCW or NWA bringing in stars from other territories too...

Stars to who? Aside from MJF, have any of them won a high profile match? MJF beat Cody, and is a very good talker. Britt is also a very good talker, but she doesn't have any big win moments.

Having a company saying they are going to treat it like a real sport, but also we have dinosaurs and aliens does not mean they are stars, no matter how hard Tony Schiavone tries to sell it.

Having undersized skateboarders and tarzans have 10 minute draws does not mean they are stars, no matter how hard Jim Ross tries to sell it.

Why do you think that NBA on TNT Twitter used WWE characters to hype a Milwaukee Bucks vs LA Lakers, not AEW wrestlers on the same channel they are on.

I don’t get this knock on AEW’s hiring practice. Signing the best guys from TNA ROH and the Indies is the entire NXT model and they produced the best wrestling product in America since Bryan and Punk left ROH.

This method should be celebrated.

Right, that's not the point. The point is they promoted this brand as revolutionary, but they are just another wrestling show. As a wrestling fan a lot of it is good, some is bad, but it's much more good than bad.

The point is they aren't attracting new fans, because they are a blend of 2 wrestling companies that have been around 15 years. 2 wrestling companies that have never gained any substantial fanbase.

We enjoy it because we are wrestling fans, but AEW is certainly not this giant revolution of pro wrestling that they sold us on before Dynamite started and they had buzz and momentum.

Imagine if WWE didn’t hire Austin, Taker, HHH, Jericho, Eddie, Benoit, Edge, Hall, Nash, a thousand others because they didn’t want people to think they’re just hiring failed WCW guys. That’s an insane business practice. Hire people with talent.

How many of those folks were brought in and put over their home grown top guys right off the bat, though?

WWE pretty much has relied heavily on TNA/Impact and ROH to fill their big star needs in recent years considering the lack of home grown big stars their PC and NXT developmental systems have produced.

AEW not having a real scouting system in place is pretty much why they've relied more on WWE cast-offs and personal connections to help fill their roster. Same for them lacking a real academy or training place at the moment to help better develop their younger stars.

Probably considering how even more rabid wrestling fans were back in the day.

Even some wrestler hated the newer gen of stars back in the day considering the story of Lou Thesz hating Harley Race for a long time because he felt Race's style of wrestling was hurting the business and was too different from his own style.

AEW doesn’t have homegrown talent. They all come from somewhere else.

Or like WWE bringing in big names from the territories to build their golden era in the 80s?

They should call it AEWWE

Conrad Thompson should make a cameo dressed as the Shockmaster in a backstage segment

Only if Cody sees him and asks "uncle Fred?"

I've used that one, actually. That and Anything Else Wrestling are my favorites.

Harley Race was considered a spot monkey

Yeah, that's my point. If EVERYBODY else has done that, and then AEW ALSO does that, then they aren't special, original, or Revolutionary. Repeatedly telling me "Oh like WWE didn't do that" just proves AEW is just another wrestling company. They haven't changed or done anything different, which is why they lost a third of their fans in one year.

And before the "how many fans has WWE lost" replies come, again, that just proves my point, they are they same thing.

eh. I just know one show seems to entertain me more than the other. Maybe because I'm not familiar with a lot of the on-screen talent. I dunno.


I tried to watch Backlash..... didn't get far. Or, it could just be that wrasslin isn't "for me" anymore.

AEW has entertained me more consistently in the past year than WWE has in the past 10.

Doesn't mean I like everything about the show or that there hasn't been stuff on WWE that I've liked (see: SmackDown mid-2016-early 2017 which I thought was awesome)....but I don't feel like I'm wasting my time watching Dynamite every week. I find it's an easy two hour watch and even when they've had a mediocre episode they do a good job of rebounding the next week. In enjoy it.

To each their own.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Who would you wanna see this dude from Prometheus wrestling in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEW</a>? <a href="https://t.co/K78VX77Ztk">pic.twitter.com/K78VX77Ztk</a></p>&mdash; TNTDrama (@tntdrama) <a href="https://twitter.com/tntdrama/status/1272653932569882624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

AEW getting desperate

Again, this is a weird fucking thing to harp on them for being “same old shit” on. They aren’t allowed to get talent from WWE because that makes them like TNA. They aren’t allowed to get talent from the indies because that makes them like ROH. Since you can’t seem to answer me when I ask what the other option is I assume you expect them to be the first company to create their own wrestlers in a laboratory.

Exactly. It's not like WWE hasn't gotten talent out of the indies, multi-generational talent, WWE, etc. Unless you expect them to literally grow talent in a lab or pull talent literally from the ether and/or heavens, I don't know where you exactly you expect them to get talent from.

This is the dumbest criticism I've ever heard. I've never criticized any other promotion for getting talent from where they've got said talent from. What I've criticized them for is what they've actually done with the talent they've signed.

Let me know when any of the former WWE talent, or the AEW "original" talent (whateve the fuck that stupid ass standard/definition means), are (1) regularly or actively working to not put over other so-called AEW/unknown/new/original talent, (2) have little to no actual input on their character, storylines, or feuds, (3) are working ridiculously stupid scripted segments, matches, or promos every night/week, or (4) when they're all working the same pointless "WWE" or even "AEW" style of matches regardless of opponent every week.

Then, and only then, will AEW be anything close to being the same pathetic, cookie-cutter, bullshit, boring and pointless product that is WWE.

Also, let me know when AEW is run by an apparently senile, certainly ego maniacal, out of touch, approaching octogenarian, 74 year old guy, who only hires/employs around him, his own pathetic and equally stupid family members, and the same "yes" men who he's employed and trusted since the 1980s and 1990s.

Again, then and only then, will AEW be anything close to the same as WWE.

I'm not harping on it. All I said was they lost a third of the audience who tuned in to see something different, but then just saw more of what probably made them stop watching Impact or ROH 10 years ago. It is also part WWE in look, because they have a real budget.

I said a lot of stuff, people replying to THIS one point is the only reason I have addressed it further. For the record, of course they should sign former WWE guys, of course they should find Indy guys and bring them in.

I'm still watching every week, I'm not part of the 1/3rd of the audience they lost. That is because as I said originally, wrestling is still better than pretty much anything else on tv. AEW is much more good than bad, I enjoy it.

I guess best I can say is read the entire post as a whole, don't pick out one single point.

AEW is run by an incompetent, dog-wanking cunt who is absolutely spineless and just wants to pay people to hang out with him. He has said one thing and done another a billion times, and he actually sooks on Twitter when he gets out-smarted by talent. Tony Khan himself has said that AEW did too much comedy early on. Have they dialed that down? No. He’s spineless. And he’s to blame for Vince’s current monopoly. And the fucking idiots who clap like trained seals and can’t see what is going on.

I didn’t find anything terribly wrong with the other points in the post. That’s why I didn’t mention them. I picked out the weird point in the post where you condemned them for signing guys from WWE and also for signing guys from the indies because it was a fucking weird thing to say. And then double down on.

But I didn't condemn them for it, just that it is one of the reason they lost the 3rd of the audience they did. The casual/lapsed fans that sampled Dynamite and did not see a reinventing of the wheel, just another pro wrestling show, and tuned out.

I love AEW, the product makes me happy more often than not.

I disagree that it’s another pro-wrestling show or that they even had to reinvent the wheel. Just be good. AEW so much of the time (way more than a lot of people want to admit), is really bad sports entertainment-style wrestling parody. It’s more akin to what WWE does to alienate audiences than it is what has fundamentally worked in the past.

People had their intelligence insulted pretty quickly. I think the people on-board with AEW look past that because it’s not WWE and they are so hungry for something else that they’ll accept anything else.

Well alright.

I think AEW tries too hard to be the “back to the basics” rasslin’ show while also trying hard to appeal to a specific, “new age” part of that crowd that doesn’t give a fuck if anything makes sense. It’s a turn off. I don’t like it.

WWE does the same kinda thing where they try to appeal to both casual fans and hardcore fans at the same time and it becomes a muddled mess.

That being said, I am able to find things in AEW that I enjoy even if I can’t make it through an entire show without cringing.

I can’t really say the same for WWE.

Same

I like MJF when he's not in music videos. Jungle Boy and Sammy Guevara are both really good, but they are often associated in a lot of cringe-worthy things. Not sure where the "back to basics" talk comes from. It really feels like they are trying to be "cutting edge" almost all the time and weld PWG-style comedy with 2000 WCW-type stuff. Well, it's not as good as Mean Gene calling people "pissants."

Cody’s matches, properly used enhancement talent, MJF’s entire existence, FTR hopefully, Dustin... there are plenty of “back to the basics” aspects.

I’m not really sold on Sammy but Jungle Boy gives me early 90s WCW Saturday Night Pillman vibes that I enjoy.