All Elite Wrestling

[Mr. Nerfect]

Danhausen for EVOLVE/co-hosting Halloween Havoc with Shotzi.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol Bubba Ray Dudley questioned the importance of 5 star matches and Dave Meltzer tried going off on a tirade about ECW never being profitable and drawing a crowd above 5500. Find someone who fights for you as hard as Dave fights for AEW.

[Savio]

Saw a weird segment on Reddit where the woman heels refused to leave the ring when this face, Rosa went to mke the save

[Mr. Nerfect]

Haven’t seen it, but could be more petty backstage bullshit.

[Mr. Nerfect]

We’ve seen a lot of men jump ship for greener pastures. What happens when some of these women have their deals coming up and they look at the lay of the land? Mercedes Mone has creative control and has literally dropped a video where she stooged herself off as a mark for herself (she mocked the idea of going back to WWE “to lose”). She gets paid obscene amounts of money to lock down the division and mean nothing as a draw.

Why wouldn’t you ask for Sasha Banks money? She doesn’t draw any more than Kris Statlander or Willow Nightingale. The locker room is a mess. Britt Baker might be gone but it’s possible the problems still exist. Why wouldn’t you score points with the more professional entities and sign with either WWE or TNA?

The best chance Tony has of keeping these women is by either paying them insane amounts of money or WWE and TNA reject some of the talent because they’re more valuable as faulty torpedos in AEW’s own sub.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Just saw the Rosa/Bayne/Ford stuff. That was unprofessional as fuck. Looked like Bayne & Ford were trying to bury her. Shits all over the entire product and the fans who still pretend to enjoy it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Apparently AEW doesn’t do production meetings. :lol:

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ryan Nemeth is suing AEW and CM Punk. It’s absolutely hilarious. You have to read it.

[xrodmuc316]

Man he took some SERIOUS shots at Tony in that lawsuit. All the stuff people have been saying for years, Shad funding AEW to keep Tony contained and away from the real businesses, Tony being a fanboy mark, Tony not looking out for his employees, just good shit!

[Mr. Nerfect]

His deep admiration for Punk (bordering on obsession). He says Tony was heartbroken when Punk left AEW.

Oh, and Tony running the football teams into the ground makes its way in there. Alienating players and the like.

[xrodmuc316]

His deep admiration for Punk (bordering on obsession). He says Tony was heartbroken when Punk left AEW.

Oh, and Tony running the football teams into the ground makes its way in there. Alienating players and the like.

Maybe #1Fan really was Tony Khan, that dude loved him some Punk! :rofl:

[Mr. Nerfect]

It would make sense. Have you ever heard Tony Khan say anything smart, insightful or witty?

[Big Vic]

Christopher Daniels caught punching himself on camera to spread his blood for a shot.

[Tom Guycott]

Being cherrypicked by who, Dave Meltzer?

These conversations are circular. It's another assertion that "TV ain't what it used to be", we all know that. Repeated posts about how it's apparently ridiculous that advertisers consider working age adults to be more valuable to advertise to than children or older people. We track ratings but you can't trust the ratings because everything's made up.

Okay, so nothing means anything then. Great discussion. Shame I can't watch Dynamite any more since WBD didn't renew AEW's deal. Oh wait this thread constantly got things wrong. That's what Meltzer does!!! You're all a bunch of Meltzers!

Very late reply given how my vampire hours don't often seem to jive with TPWW being "on the air", and I'm usually greeted with a prompt telling me the site is unavailable.

Anyway, simply assuming you aren't just trying for internet snark points and actually making a point instead of being facetious;

one: Yes, according to Meltzer... though not exclusively. He's just usually the loudest. He has their ear.
and two, it isn't so much "everything means nothing". It was more about how the downfalls and snare traps AEW finds itself pulled into are generally explained away by apologists. Apologists who are in-house people who can actually DO shit about it instead of shrug off any attempts to fix said issues. Apologists who attend the shows and tapings because they are balls deep in the sunk cost of wanting to be there when the ship gets righted so they can scream to all the doubters "I told you so!" and stay willing to torture themselves in the meanwhile with settling for mediocrity or below just to somehow spite WWE in their minds.

As I stated before, the thing about the ratings isn't so much about how ineffectual ratings are. It's about how those numbers are ONLY being important when they benefit AEW, and then those exact same numbers can be "ignored" when AEW is clearly at a loss... and then that loss is hung on any number of extravagant excuses outside of the one common factor of the product just not being good and needing improvement or direction or actual marketable, pushed talent they don't squander potential in or overhype even when nobody is buying in except the hardest of the hardcore "SiCkOs" that Tony crowed about and included himself among.

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW is not good for the wrestling business. Well, cleaning it up might leave a nice smell and some benefits. The WWE ID program, for example. But a lot of the things that are being spun into positives — wrestlers being paid way too much money, too many fools being given too much freedom, bad content being generated every week — is an overall detriment to wrestling. I enjoy wrestling, so I want it to be better off.

Plus it’s fun to point out the lies and the schadenfreude as people come around to the light side is nice.

[Big Vic]

AEW is not good for the wrestling business. Well, cleaning it up might leave a nice smell and some benefits. The WWE ID program, for example. But a lot of the things that are being spun into positives — wrestlers being paid way too much money, too many fools being given too much freedom, bad content being generated every week — is an overall detriment to wrestling. I enjoy wrestling, so I want it to be better off.

Plus it’s fun to point out the lies and the schadenfreude as people come around to the light side is nice.

Competition is always good for business. Wrestlers being paid more is not a bad thing. More bad/lazy content would be generated if there was no competition.

[xrodmuc316]

Why is competition good for the business when it is against WWE, but when WWE runs Saturday Night's Main Event on the same day as Small In, they are evil?

[Big Vic]

No who said that?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Why is competition good for the business when it is against WWE, but when WWE runs Saturday Night's Main Event on the same day as Small In, they are evil?

The kids gloves go when it’s AEW. TNA used to get a really rough time (from myself included). If people kept that same energy with AEW? Woof.

CM Punk is a monster for trying to get Colt Cabana off AEW shows. It didn’t even turn out to be true — more Observer/Young Bucks slander — but Punk was the devil for that. Mercedes Mone is allowed to go and bully House of Glory announcers. Tony can throw a fit about New Japan’s commentators.

AEW had every advantage in the world, except being good.

[Big Vic]

AEW is the drizzling shits but that doesn't change that competition is good for business.

[Destor]

Objectively there is no competition. Great Value knock offs arent competition. You only buy them if the real product is sold out. Thats a consolation not a competitor

[Destor]

And meanwhile WWE is completely exposed. They gained nothing by going to netflix. They were drawing the maximum number of potential viewrs on cable. But AEW isnt about to bring in anyone new. And thats gotta be the name of the game for growth. You have to pursue non-wrestling fans. Every wrestling fan is apparently already watching. And there's not that many of them.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Objectively there is no competition. Great Value knock offs arent competition. You only buy them if the real product is sold out. Thats a consolation not a competitor

Bingo. The idea of AEW poses a threat. Billionaires and TV networks still pose that threat. But WWE ended up firing a bunch of talent they initially signed to bigger deals than they normally would when AEW was exposed as nothing more than nuisance and the embodiment of “the grass isn’t always greener.”

I disagree that Netflix has been bad for them. And I think there are wrestling fans that aren’t back to watching current weekly wrestling. WWE have set the wheels in motion with things like the WCW Vault. But bringing back certain fans is going to take time or be nearly impossible.

AEW has reached its maximum appeal, in my opinion. There doesn’t seem to be a significant YouTube appetite for it, so streaming isn’t great for them.

[Destor]

When i saw exposed i mean their ratings didnt change. Theyre brining a comparable number of people as they were. Conventional wisdom for the last 5 year minimum has been the cord cutting millennials have never had cable in their adult lives and many teenagers live in households that have never had it.

Which is to say these people have not had any avenue to watch Monday night raw some in their lifetime. So by removing the gate keeper it would be reasonable to assume the ratings would automatically grow since 99.9% of cable owner have netflix and not vice versa.

Netflix certainly assumed that.

But instead whats happened is roughly the same number who were watching are watching. So the migration happened. The raw viewers simpley booted netflix.

No one was being gatekept.

There's still some foreign markets that havent migrated yet so the number should still grow a bit but its still the same number of apples going into the bin. Give or take obviously. There's been some gain but its fairly minor.

Given the debut's numbers we know there's audience that was willing to watch but after week 3 they were long gone and not coming back.

So that has to be the marketing question going forward: how do we reach that audience who was curious but quickly passed on what was on offer.

Now we're in full agreement that AEW sure as fucking shit has not single goddamn clue what the answer to that question is. But it is the question WWE should be trying to answer

In my opinion is a broader less hardcore product. Which is to say AEWs solution is even further in the wrong direction than anyone realizes. Theyre making a push for the die hards die hard product. There's a hard cap there and i think the WWE netflix deal has exposed just how hard that cap is.

Meanwhile AEW is at a separate cap altogether. Theirs is the one TNA used to enjoy: the "hey, its wrestling. I'll watch any wrestling" cap. AEW couldnt draw less if they paid their workers to fling shit at the front row. Theyve reached the bottom.

[Lock Jaw]

I could see Wrestlemania doing big numbers for Netflix maybe. I think that most people realize that everything else is just kind of meaningless filler... but Wrestlemania, I feel like that "name" means something to both lapsed-rassling fans and even non-rassling fans.

The lapsed ones might watch just because they already have access to Netflix.

Non-rassling fans might see a notification that Wrestlemania is live and check it out due to curiosity.

Weekly shows, yeah, they will pretty much always have a hard cap.

[Destor]

I hope mania crushes it

[Mr. Nerfect]

I always figured Raw would do about the same on Netflix domestically as it did in cable. Wrestling fans weren’t likely the ones cutting cable. It makes sense that a lot of younger people don’t have access to cable, but there’s network TV, the internet and piggy-backing off other services. I don’t think the audience of people going “Man, I really want to watch Raw but I just can’t until it is on a streaming service” was ever that high. I don’t think that’s the market Netflix is going after.

Subscription-based models are often about retention. They’re probably getting around 3 million globally for Raw, 800k for NXT, another 1.5 million for SmackDown, tens of thousands for classic content and then you’ve got the current PLEs — what? Another 1.5 million? Not necessarily unique viewers, but a healthy base that overlaps with other initiatives.

The numbers could also be way higher over time too.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh there’s also that thing where Netflix metrics gathered are for accounts vs. how cable approximates viewers. I haven’t look too far into it, but when Netflix says 3 million or whatever, it could be 1:1 but even 1:4 in some cases when a family is watching or something.

I’m interested to see how the data Netflix gives WWE affects their programming. You’d imagine that over time, trends and patterns would become even more prevalent than they would on cable. If we see someone odd pop up a lot more than would seem usual, or a big star is somewhat downplayed — it would be interesting to know if the data reflects bizarre interest or disinterest in that person.

I mean, cable has the minute-by-minutes, but you are still counting on a real-time navigation of that, hangovers from segments, lead-ins, etc. The same is true for Netflix, but people can more readily go and find someone, re-watch something, that sort of thing.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Saraya is the latest to want out. She basically came out and said she had pressure put on her to make her anti-WWE comments at the start of her run.

It goes to show that Tony’s money eventually leaves people feeling unfulfilled.

[xrodmuc316]

My favorite AEW trope is "WOW look what we did, we started from scratch!".

Yeah, from scratch, with an unlimited budget and no need to ever turn a profit.

Tony and AEW really want us to praise him because he has a rich daddy that lets him spend money.

AEW still trying to act like they are new and exciting, yet they can't even beat NXT anymore. The whole thing is a literal larp of Tony Khan being a successful business owner. Whatever goodwill AEW had at the start is long gone, and at this point anybody who pretends otherwise are just playing make believe with Tony Khan.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dave tried to get that flying again a few months ago. He was praising Tony growing AEW from $0 in revenue to whatever he was making up it’s getting now.

Tony spends more and more as time goes on. I don’t think Ken Jeong worked the PPV for free. But AEW’s profitability is trivial if Beatnik — or whatever the trust fund company he and his sister were gifted is called — pays AEW and eats all the unwanted costs.

It’s going to cost so much money to get his wrestlers to re-sign with AEW when their deals are up. If you were a woman working for that company, why would you accept anything less than Mercedes Mone money when she doesn’t move the needle and gets paid what she does?

Tony’s got no talent. His positions are bought positions. Being a promoter or a booker requires knowledge and talent. Tony’s knowledge scope is limited to secondary and tertiary source texts outside his immediate AEW experience. Plus he just has no actual talent. And that’s fine for a human being. It just doesn’t fly for a promoter who wants to be the center of everything.

People used to scoff when he was compared to Dixie Carter lol.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Never forget just how bad that Fight Forever video game was. The developers bit off the TNA Impact video game’s intro to let audiences know how bad they knew it was.

[xrodmuc316]

I'm sure success and failure relies on who signs ELI DRAKE

Watching Smackdown right now, and this was one hell of a prophetic post, YEAH!

[Mr. Nerfect]

I will again admit I was wrong about Eli Drake.

Lol at CM Punk walking past Drew on SmackDown. “That’s a shame.”

[weather vane]

Hung Bucks back on TV. Got to love it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Do viewers express their love by tuning out?

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW has been doing so well on MAX that WBD decided to rebrand the streaming service without a mention of them in any PR material.

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW Collision got cut off for Black Adam. :lol:

[Big Vic]

Oof no one even likes that movie.

[xrodmuc316]

Black Adam, a movie that bombed at the box office, a movie that received poor reviews, and a movie that was not even advertised to air on Saturday night, still outdrew AEW LOL.

Collision is like the new Rampage, cancelled :lol:

[Mr. Nerfect]

WBD doesn’t give one shit about AEW. They’re more hyped about Jackie Redmond being involved with the hockey.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Is the botched Collision up on MAX yet? It’s tricky to push the “AEW is killing it on MAX” narrative if Collision is that inconsequential.

Dave is still trying though. His latest tactic is to claim that if Dynamite gets 300k on Dynamite then it is more popular in the US than Raw on Netflix. This ignores that Raw is a global product and also accidentally betrays that Dynamite doesn’t get anywhere near 300k on MAX. If it did, we’d hear its overall popularity touted.

Segments like the awkward Hangman/Ospreay promo won’t help. What was worse about that — the talking or the haircuts?

[xrodmuc316]

Ospreay is the newest AEW maacot. He cannot stop putting himself in front of a microphone and talking about how bad WWE is compared to AEW.

Ratings and Ticket Sales be damned BRUV!

[Mr. Nerfect]

How about he works out how to stop running away his own audience before lashing out? It’s clear he is insecure about signing with AEW. He also dobbed himself in. He’s admitted he has never met with or spoken to Triple H. Those talks obviously didn’t get very far in. The Motor City Machine Guns sound like they were a higher priority.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I heard how bad the Hangman/Ospreay promo was so I had to check it out. Lol at Ospreay whining because he flies in from the UK every week. Hangman has the most pretentious delivery this side of Kenny Omega and Keith Lee.

The sickos are crying because WWE does weekend blocks of shows and now AEW’s flailing Texas PPV has to go against NXT. What did they think running a “challenger brand” looks like?

[Mr. Nerfect]

WBD is splitting up into two separate public companies. Yeah, they’re…uh…not in great shape, are they?

[Destor]

One of them will be.

The restructure will shift off all the debt and failing assets leaving warner in an extremely favorable spot. Unclear how it will impact AEW since their contract would fall into both Global (the tv branch with all the debt) and Streaming (since it airs on max.) If Warner can pull this off though the Streaming branch will be in a great position. Stocks rose 9% on the announcement because the markets know whats going on here. Assuming the IRS allows the move (and thats questionable since this is clearly a ploy to offload the 37 billion debt accrued in the Discovery merger.) The tv side if theyre lucky will be sold off in a fire sale at best and implode into bankruptcy if not under the weight of the debt.

That said the way Sazlov has manipulated this debt in the last 4 years should have volumes written about it. Its been a magnum opus of corporate finance and if this move goes through will have taken him from COE of a failing and debt ridden Discovery to the CEO of a sustainable and profitable WB ready for sale in an IP hungry market. Its pretty insane. WB Global btw retains ZERO IP rights. Just debt and TV stations.

As far as AEW it wont ve until 2027 where any fall of out of this could impact them and there's no way to forecast what that impact would be. I dont think the TV side survives though. Once it goes belly up everyone who matters will be hired by the surviving WB Streaming & Studios and the debtors will be fucked.

Comcast did this last year but from a healthier position but the precedent does imply this will move forward.

[Destor]

Worth noting the WB Global entity will get 20% of the Streaming & Studios company to sell off to pay down some of that debt AND theyre getting a loan to help that effort too. So they'll become a debtor to themself fundamentally but as long as WBS&S stay risk adverse it shouldnt be an issue for their health. Especially since selling WB S&S by 2030 is clearly the goal.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, no shit what they’re trying to do man. Studio & Streaming is not a guaranteed success. They ended up in that spot in the first place. They’ve been clear about trying to become add-ons to Netflix and/or Amazon Prime. Leasing out or outright selling assets/the entire company is no doubt on the cards, but WBD is essentially dead. Global Networks is just there to cop debt, thrash about and maybe declare bankruptcy.

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW is such small fish. It could skate by due to irrelevancy or be cut tomorrow to pinch a penny. Not a great situation for them to be in, but they were proud to sign with a dying entity (and it’s doubtful anyone else wants them).

[Destor]

It really just bpils down to how much of AEWs operating budget comes outside of the deal. If Kahn Sr is willing to fund it, lets get silly, 80% then there's no reason Warner would drop it. Its not like airing it on max is a major money sink. Kahn Jrs a mark and will clearly lose his ass on the venture until daddy stops him.


Like i said there's no way to forcast it. It really boils down to how dumb kahn sr is.

[Lock Jaw]

How AEW dies:

https://i.imgur.com/5PQuj4w.gif

[Big Vic]

Apparently AEW is getting sued because Mox pushed a camera man who then got injured.

[Destor]

Yeah thatll do it. Not as bad as punching a journalist as far as historical legal blunders go but it def makes the list

[xrodmuc316]

Probably not going to help the case that Ricochet retweeted the story and called the guy suing a pussy.

[Destor]

..i kinda love that

[Tom Guycott]

Apparently AEW is getting sued because Mox pushed a camera man who then got injured.

Probably not going to help the case that Ricochet retweeted the story and called the guy suing a pussy.

UNSCRIPTED VIOLENCE!!!1!!

[Evil Vito]

By all means if the guy was hurt on the job he's entitled to ask for something given he wasn't trained nor expecting to be bumped. The actual wording in the suit is hilariously sensationalized though, straight out of the playbooks of every lawyer that specializes in ambulance chasing claims.

Timing-wise it sounds like he sat on it for 2 years because he was hoping to get more work with them and didn't want a lawsuit to torpedo it, and since it didn't happen here's the suit.

Anyway, $25k in damages isn't an outlandish sum to ask for. I'd expect this is something that'll just get settled quickly.

[Destor]

Settle for 10 and pat yourself on the back

[Mr. Nerfect]

He’s not asking for $25k. He’s asking for a sum in excess of $25k. I’ve got no sympathy for AEW. Thing sounds pretty messed up.

[Mr. Nerfect]

..i kinda love that

Ironically he deleted it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Stupid for Ricochet to say that. Kind of backs up what plaintiff is saying about it being a terrible work culture with a bunch of unprofessional idiots lol.

I’m reading the unions are now involved and that Mox does stuff like this all the time? Yeah, a bunch more people are about to get paid if this is true.

[XL]

Just play it off as kayfabe. Ricochet said that, Trevor is really concerned about the guy’s welfare.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Or let’s just keep on ignoring Ricochet.

[Evil Vito]

Kinda hope Rusev and/or Aleister Black do a CVV sit down at some point and discuss what the hell actually happened with them in AEW. Kinda doubt it'll happen as both guys were big into streaming while in AEW and they were relatively mum on their whereabouts or always said they didn't know why their booking was what it was. We'll never hear TK or anyone give his side of it.

My read on it though is that it was something like this:

-Both guys felt underutilized in Vince's WWE main roster and were excited to go to AEW where they felt they could end up rolling up the card

-Both guys had some early success. Miro did that dumb Kip Sabian shit, by his own admission he wanted to try something different and show a different side of his personality, but as soon as COVID ended and fans came back they gave him a change in character and a lengthy TNT run. Black got to feud with Cody and eventually start building a stable around him.

-In summer 2022 Triple H takes over the book and you can almost pinpoint this as the moment their booking gets extra weird. Both guys had extended absences. Miro returns for All Out but then disappears again amidst rumors he turned down a Hangman program. Black seems to salute the fans goodbye at All Out and goes on another absence, reportedly asking for his release. Reading through the tea leaves it feels like both guys believe Triple H would book them like NXT again and they want to go back...now starting to protect themselves for returns.

-Neither guy gets out of their deal. Miro's gone for nearly a full year only to go back to squashing people on Punk's Collision, and then disappear on and off again being gone for a full year before his release is finalized. Black at least sticks around to do Trios and Tag stuff but notably goes almost 2 years between singles matches until a singles program with Cope. Throughout this both guys continue to claim they don't know why they're not being booked (or in Black's case why he's left off of singles)

-Meltzer and Alvarez keep heavy-handedly suggesting their booking is the way it is because they're complaining about who they're asked to work with and they don't want to do jobs

---

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. Plenty of misused guys from WWE think they'll get a huge push kinda like what TNA used to do, and they can be protective of that.

At the same time I really doubt they were refusing jobs. I think AEW encourages talent to pitch ideas and their ideas might not've jived with what TK wanted, but TK's too much of a bitch to tell them to work with who he says and he'd rather just not book someone in a program they don't want.

[Evil Vito]

I CAN buy that both guys were essentially making TK the Hardcore Holly pitch. No matter how much symbolism or mythos Black tried to work in the pitches ultimately boil down to "And then I beat everyone and you give me the title."

And tbf I would do the same thing.

[Evil Vito]

Do wonder how they feel back in WWE. Love both guys but don't reasonably see them ever advancing beyond midcard - especially with the WWE title firmly entrenched in the Cena angle for the rest of the year. PPVs only have like 5 matches on them now, harder than ever to get booked on a PPV let alone main eventing. The live event schedule is being reduced so there's not as many chances to headline one of those either.

If disappointment with their previous booking/not getting a bigger AEW push ticked them off then maybe at this stage they're just accepting it is what it is and at least they'll just settle in to the highest exposure job/highest paying job and be content with their midcard spot. I doubt either guy will have a prolonged absence anymore so they have that going for them.

Very hilarious to watch Black's first few WWE matches, it's obvious he was phoning it in at AEW.

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW is a clown show. You go there and while the money is good, you realize you have lowered yourself professionally. Going to a place where you can’t be proud of your work can crush your soul. Artists or athletes sitting on the bench wasting their prime years is frustrating too. Is the money a fair trade off? For some it might be, but you see how bonkers some people are going in AEW.

There’s a difference between taking money and making money. Penta made a fair bit of coin in AEW, but it would be a different feeling to when those first merchandising royalties come in and you realize that you matter to people.

Rusev and Black were both trained in the WWE system. They work out and take the aesthetic side of the business somewhat seriously. That makes them a target for jealousy and bitterness in the first place. When asked to do something stupid they asked “why?” or just flat-out said it was stupid.

Oh, and they were both friendly with CM Punk. That’s a big crime.

Meltzer and Alvarez regurgitate nonsense about WWE programming. It’s propaganda to make pride in your profession sound bad.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wardlow is sitting on the bench. Put over by CM Punk. Cody guy. Jacked. Jock who wants to be a star. AV club hates him and is pissed the girls talk about him.

It’s really that simple.

[xrodmuc316]

AEW Sucks, there is no way around that. They had many chances and have royally fucked up each and every one. At this point it is nothing but lies and false hype. Everything is the best and the company is getting more and more viewers, according to Tony. Except it is the same boring show every single week. Nothing changes, except the audience which is becoming smaller, not bigger year over year like Tony Khan and Dave Meltzer would have you believe.

Meltzer was just going on about how Dynamite on Wednesday sold 14,000 tickets, even though only 13,000 people showed up. Of course people have cameras and there were a lot of empty seats, so again it is just this false narrative that is easily proven as bullshit.

[Evil Vito]

I actually enjoyed the Arena Mexico Dyno a lot more than most Dynos, well, pretty much all year. The crowd was hot all night which helped. I do enjoy the big Lucha multi man tags so that was fun. Arena Mexico Mistico is another beast entirely.

For the rest of the year I feel like I’m mostly in the “browse through DVR, watch a match or two if they sound interesting and call it a day”

Same with WWE as well. My desire to commit a couple of hours at a time every week just isn’t there anymore.

[Evil Vito]

I will say that for me it’s not totally an indictment on the state of either company. I just have a lot more shit going on in my life than I did a few years ago. Even up through a few years ago I had nothing but time to watch pretty much everything.

Getting married next month, tons of household projects going on, work’s getting super busy. There’s only so many leisure hours per night, we’ve got a litany of shows we’re trying to watch through, I watch baseball when the Mets don’t piss me off, there’s video games coming out I’m looking forward to etc.

Just not enough time to go around for me to not just skim. Wouldn’t even matter if this was 2021 AEW or mid-2000s WWE or any other time where I was just super locked in. Even if I shifted wrestling up in the priority list there’s still a lot more I’m into now than before. Such is life.

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW Sucks, there is no way around that. They had many chances and have royally fucked up each and every one. At this point it is nothing but lies and false hype. Everything is the best and the company is getting more and more viewers, according to Tony. Except it is the same boring show every single week. Nothing changes, except the audience which is becoming smaller, not bigger year over year like Tony Khan and Dave Meltzer would have you believe.

Meltzer was just going on about how Dynamite on Wednesday sold 14,000 tickets, even though only 13,000 people showed up. Of course people have cameras and there were a lot of empty seats, so again it is just this false narrative that is easily proven as bullshit.

Remember when people scoffed when Tony Khan was compared to Dixie Carter? The whole promotion is filtered through his personality. There is no hope while he is there, and this thing exists to give him something to play with. It’s doomed.

The lies don’t help AEW. They don’t change the books or the reality of poor business. They exist solely to fool marks.

[Evil Vito]

Brody King wearing an Abolish ICE shirt has made its way to Fox News and MAGA Twitter, and they are very angry about it. He’s also selling shirts on his website for which the profits will go to the families of the abducted.

That’s kickass. Gonna go buy one.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Definitely no chance of that having any negative consequences on the company.

[Evil Vito]

Couldn’t care less. Condemning a modern day Gestapo happening on American soil is more important than a wrestling promotion.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’m not going to discuss this further with you, since AEW is a wrestling promotion. Barely, but it is. I guess the important thing is you think this helps.

[Destor]

It helps nothing to the power of a billion. My carny ass would sell the fuck out of that shirt though. And id sell kick em all out shirts too. Whatever moves.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Brody King accidentally comes out wearing the wrong shirt one week, has to scurry to the back and swap it back. No one notices he’s gone.

[xrodmuc316]

So Sasha Banks starts dating a jobber, and suddenly he is getting main event matches with Samoa Joe, Will Hobbs, Swerve, and Adam Page?

Good to know Tony is booking his toys based on dating habits of his other toys!

[Mr. Nerfect]

The push is based on the timing and athletic prowess Tony saw after placing cameras in their bedroom.

[Sepholio]

The push is based on the timing and athletic prowess Tony saw after placing cameras in their bedroom.

What did he do? Carry Mercedes all the way through sex without her botching? Tbf that would be impressive.

[Big Vic]

I imagine she makes him stand 4 feet away while she does herself.

[Big Vic]

Pic for joke reference

https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/08/ee083-16598455580311-1920.jpg

[Mr. Nerfect]

What did he do? Carry Mercedes all the way through sex without her botching? Tbf that would be impressive.

Oh it was a disaster. Tony just can’t tell the difference.

[xrodmuc316]

Oh it was a disaster. Tony just can’t tell the difference.

Tony got confused because there was no dog in the room :?:

[Mr. Nerfect]

Come on, there was clearly a beast in there. And you also had Mortos.

[Evil Vito]

I've loved Mortos since AAA and was stoked he was getting a run in TNA and later AEW so more people could see him.

Hilarious that it took this for him to get a push though.

[Evil Vito]

Also I love that since Mercedes is big enough for TMZ or other outlets to cover her relationship, the caption and image combos making it appear she's dating a literal bull are hilarious.

He's probably handsome as hell under there. Wouldn't be too surprised if a day comes where he eventually unmasks and just carries the mask to the ring as a prop or something.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Are Mortos and Black Taurus the same guy? If so, I think I’ve seen exactly one MLW match. I read he looks like Roman Reigns. I cannot confirm as I don’t have Tony’s camera setup, so I haven’t been peering into Sasha’s bedroom.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Britt Baker wants out of AEW bad. The sickos defended her when it seemed like she was a bully in the early days. Now she is sick of being in that toxic environment and she’s suddenly been revealed to be a horrible person and a bad wrestler. Like clockwork.

AEW has been an interesting experiment. It highlights how you can take athletes/entertainers, throw a whole bunch of money at them and still make them miserable.

[xrodmuc316]

Tony Khan learning most of the people he thought were his friends were really just after his daddy's money, and after they got enough, it is no longer worth having to pretend to like his weird ass.

[XL]

Pic for joke reference

https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/08/ee083-16598455580311-1920.jpg

Legit thought that was TK in the top picture. (Viewing on mobile)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Tony Khan learning most of the people he thought were his friends were really just after his daddy's money, and after they got enough, it is no longer worth having to pretend to like his weird ass.

I’m not sure Tony cares that people only use him for money. In some ways, that might be more “real” for the guy. He constantly sides with people who are very obviously milking him, as opposed to people who want to help and give him honest advice.

I’ve never gotten the talk about TK being nice. He’s clearly demonstrated a lot of cowardly, dishonest, rich kid bully behaviors.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ha, I just realized that ESPN in Australia is streamed through the Disney+ app. So people instead of no one watching it because it’s on ESPN, now no one is watching it just because it sucks.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The All In card looks rubbish by the way. The Casino Gauntlet is in Reverse Battle Royal territory of bad. You can lose the match without being in it. They’re doing two of them because they haven’t built up proper programs. Athena will win the women’s. MJF will win the men’s, unless Darby Allin plays spoiler. I haven’t even been following closely. For matches so built around “chance,” they shouldn’t be that predictable.

They’re wasting The Hurt Syndicate on Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey, who have already slipped into a tag team because there’s nothing for either of them. Remember when Dave tried to compare Shelton coming in to Sean Morley in TNA? Shelton is one of the best actual workers in the entire company.

Will Ospreay & Swerve Strickland are fluffing about with the Young Bucks. The stip is that if The Bucks lose, they will no longer be EVPs. I guess they are going to make The Bucks being half-way out the company official? Cool? The match will suck too.

The corpse of Adam Cole mirrors the decline of All In ticket sales. He’s fallen from the main event of Wembley to putting over Kyle Fletcher in Dallas. The irony of this show being in WCCW territory is amazing.

Omega and Okada are going to try and recapture their overhyped rivalry from 7-8 years ago. It wasn’t that good then, it’s going to suck now.

The women’s stuff isn’t even worth talking about. Mercedes and Toni Storm have two of the worst gimmicks in wrestling.

The main event isn’t even worth talking about. I’m not even sure Mox is dropping the belt, which would be hilarious. Hangman isn’t the guy. They’re doing a garbage match to make everything mean even less.

[The Rogerer]

I think that's all that ever needs to be said. Goodbye

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, MJF is the latest in the troupe of people to embarrassingly misrepresent what AEW is. He’s trying to act like Tony Khan only wants the people who really want to be there. Notice how no one talks about the money anymore? Willow Nightingale, Alex Windsor, MJF — they just really want to wrestle in AEW and see the world, yeah?

[Evil Vito]

I actually really like how they arrived at the stakes in the Bucks/Swerve/Ospreay match.

Swerve/Ospreay can't challenge for the AEW World Title for a year if they lose. The Bucks would have incentive here because they not only want to keep their executive titles but also because they've established they've got a working deal with Mox and are trying to make his life easier.

But from the standpoint of trying to get the audience to buy in, it's also a believable enough stip. If it were "Ospreay and Swerve will be fired if they lose" nobody is buying that. The result of the match wouldn't be in question. These stakes are realistic enough where you could actually see it go either way.

[Evil Vito]

I'd actually reckon the odds are very high now that the Bucks win.

Swerve and Ospreay have been around the AEW World Title scene for a year or more, taking them out of it for a year would cycle some new opponents in for Hangman without there being immediate calls to go back to the Hangman/Swerve well.

But the other thing is you're heavily implying what fans can expect at the next All In. Omega/Okada only officially got booked like a month ago but as far back as December when they first met face to face they made sure to have them do a face off with the All In sign conveniently behind them. 6-7 months in advance when tickets were about to go on sale they were basically telling fans they would be getting that match at that show.

Similar thing here. Ospreay and Swerve can't go for the title again until conveniently All In 2026. You're basically telling UK ticket buyers that the hometown boy is going to win the title at Wembley next year. The expectation is set without even having to officially book a match.

[xrodmuc316]

The stipulation should be whoever wins gets to replace Tony Khan, otherwise it makes no difference whatsoever.

[Mr. Nerfect]

At the All In press conference Tony Khan said he hasn’t spoken to Britt Baker about leaving AEW. Now, TK is a liar, but if that were the case, that’s a really shitty thing to cop to. She clearly wants out and you’d rather talk to the dirt sheets than someone signed and wanting out?

He’s such a weasel lol.

[Mr. Nerfect]

No joke: AEW is creating another championship at All In.

[The Rogerer]

Casino Gauntlet is in Reverse Battle Royal territory of bad. You can lose the match without being in it.Why is that bad? It's a gauntlet

[weather vane]

AEW the best

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW the best

Even the trolling is lifeless now.

[xrodmuc316]

Tony Khan got so scared by Goldberg he moved his PPV's start time to mid afternoon :rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Mr. Nerfect]

Now he’s going to get crushed by the might of Yoshiki Inamura!!!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dave Meltzer actually claimed that Dynamite gets more viewers than Raw.

[The Rogerer]

Sounds like a post for the ratings thread.

[xrodmuc316]

More like a post for the Dave Meltzer is full of shit thread :rofl:

[The Rogerer]

Maybe it's true, stranger things have happened at sea.

[Bad News Gertner]

All In was ok

4.5/10

[The Rogerer]

will miss this place

[Mr. Nerfect]

I have to admit it, guys — All In was absolutely brilliant. AEW are going to be eating well. They’re back. Feeling restored. World changed.

I’m trying to do one of my posts where I sarcastically go through the show and put a spin on how bad it was, but I literally can’t even remember how the show opened. Oh well, I tried.

[The Rogerer]

Thanks Nerf

[The Rogerer]

I don't think that was a good enough bit to post Nerf

[Mr. Nerfect]

It would be so cliched to have the ace of the company be someone that has its best interests at heart. Cool new idea to have the belt won by someone who tried to sabotage the single biggest star the promotion has ever had.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Very excited that they’re going to give Edge & Christian a babyface run. At the end of the day they can put over a young heel team like The Hurt Syndicate, FTR or The Young Bucks.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I wish people would stop saying Mercedes Mone has creative control. No one with creative control would drop a fall for political reasons.

On an unrelated note, how cool was it seeing WWE use footage of Hogan/Goldberg from Nitro this past weekend?

[Mr. Nerfect]

If Hangman Page had won the belt in short order, would Darby Allin have repelled from the ceiling just to say hi?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Casino Gauntlets are such a fresh idea. An idea for Tony next month when they do one: Have the guys fight to get into the ring. I saw something like it in TNA once. They did it under Battle Royal rules though. This one is just pinfall or submission so it’s good.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Here’s a poll:

Was Omega/Okada the best match ever?

Yes.
It wasn’t quite as good as the last Omega/Okada.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Nice to know Dustin Rhodes is so appreciated by AEW. I don’t think it matters he only made the main card once Adam Cole was pulled.

[Mr. Nerfect]

So now Alvarez and Meltzer are spreading the rumor that The Hurt Syndicate are like Aleister Black and Rusev and don’t want to job.

Ok. Never mind that they are about the only guys that seem to improve ratings a little bit and some of the only guys with credibility…actually, do mind that. But this narrative that guys coming in for a lot of money and wanting to protect their image in association with that is somehow unprofessional needs to stop.

Creative freedom is all well and good until you don’t want to look like an asshole losing matches while you’re the tag champs to guys who can’t compare, I guess. They never aim this rumor as criticism of the promoter/booker. Who gave them that power or lets this alleged behavior go on? I guess it’s magic contracts The Hurt Synidcate woke up with. It’s very clear just The Young Bucks and associates being jealous of their cred and still bitter the World’s Greatest Tag Team got picked over them in the ROH days.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Alvarez also said that Lashley & Shelton want to go back to WWE. Well, no shit. But it’s interesting that’s being spread. It makes me hopeful that their deals aren’t long-term. If they were truly in AEW for a long haul and were mad at Triple H, why would the narrative to crush them be their hopeful return?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, Dave Meltzer made a tweet about WWE being sold out for Houston. He then had to add it’s an interesting race between WWE, UFC, CMLL and AEW for “Promotion of the Year.”

How the actual fuck would anyone with any sense put AEW in the running for promotion of the year?

[xrodmuc316]

Alvarez also said that Lashley & Shelton want to go back to WWE. Well, no shit. But it’s interesting that’s being spread. It makes me hopeful that their deals aren’t long-term. If they were truly in AEW for a long haul and were mad at Triple H, why would the narrative to crush them be their hopeful return?

That is kind of a bullshit story assumption Alvarez and Meltzer came to a conclusion on to feed their constant shilling for AEW.

The actual story is they, and more specifically MVP, are not willing to do jobs for whatever non star Tony thinks is amazing. Which is logical, it is absurd to even have Lashley or Shelton bump for Speedball or Gravity or whatever other goofball they have been booked with.

So because they do not want to let Tony Khan book them as badly as he does everybody else, Alvarez says they wont lose because they want to go back to WWE.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They’re pros, so they don’t belong in AEW.

[screech]

haven't watched any rasslin in a while but i caught some of dynamite recently and brodie king is real good at rasslin and whatnot

[Mr. Nerfect]

Nick LoPiccolo — an agent who represents CM Punk, Jade Cargill, Liv Morgan, Blake Monroe, Alexa Bliss, Natalya, Damian Priest, Drew McIntyre and probably some others — got into it with Dave Meltzer and some sickos.

Dave backed off when he got the tap because LoPiccolo is actually connected. Dave tried to hide it in “he’s just looking for engagement,” but it’s utter cowardice.

Interesting little notes that fell out of this thing:

* No one in Hollywood believes the TV rights number being reported by the dirt sheets.

* AEW pays certain people a lot of money, but others don’t really get as much as everyone thinks.

* AEW is not leverage.

* The dirt sheet antics to tear down ex-AEW talent is believed to be coordinated.

* Tony Khan invited a bunch of execs to a show with minimum effort and annoyed a lot of them.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, and no one serious actually believes the MAX numbers are good.

[The Rogerer]

Dave Meltzer