I'm not sure if any of you played the old SmackDown vs. Raw games but one of the popular modes from the franchise was GM mode. The idea of GM mode is that you would take a wrestler and build up their star rating (aka their popularity) to help draw more ratings and win the ratings battle between Raw and SmackDown.

It got me thinking, if you were to make an AEW GM Mode, what would the star ratings look like right now.

So on a scale from 1-10 with 1 being a local job guy to 10 being Stone Cold Steve Austin, how do you guys think the AEW roster stacks up?

I won't go through the entire roster but let's say the biggest star right now is Jon Moxley. On a scale of 1-10 with Austin being this red hot megastar that took the industry to new heights, would it be fair to say Moxley is a 7? We can even add decimals into the mix and say he's a 7.5?

Here's my view of the Men's Rankings so far.

Jon Moxley - 7.5
Cody - 7
Lance Archer - 5
Brian Cage - 4.5
MJF - 6
Brodie Lee - 6
Scorpio Sky - 4.5

Agree or disagree?

On the scale of 1-10 - with 10 being Stone Cold Steve Austin at his peak - I can only assume, The Rock would be a 9, the Undertaker, HBK and Foley an 8. Triple H a 7 at his peak. Chris Jericho maybe a 6 in 2000-2002 Now, John Cena has been a much bigger draw than most on this list, so he's a hard 8 as he has never eclipsed the heights of Austin or Rock. Roman Reigns for example maybe an absolute 6. Now Reigns is a much bigger draw then, now and forever compared to Dean Ambrose in any way shape or form.. so, 

Jericho - 5
Moxley - 4.5
Omega - 4
Cody - 3 
MJF - 2.5
Lance Archer - 2 
Orange Cassidy - 2
Brodie Lee - 2 
The Young Bucks - 2 ( a point each ) 
FTR - 2

Now, do we use negative scores for undercard and just a flat 1? 

See I would probably have guys like HHH at his peak in 2000 at a 9 because fans could accept him on a level of The Rock who was drawing even more business than Steve Austin. I actually see peak Attitude Era being extremely strong with even mid-card acts like Edge and Christian being around a 7.5.

Nowadays I perceive that's where guys like Drew McIntyre, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton are at. That 7 - 7.5 range where they're acceptable main event level talent without being big draws. I agree Roman right now would be at an 8.0 and if he ever comes back Brock Lesnar would be at that 8.0 - 8.5 range.

I'm not sure if that changes your scale but looking at your list and what I have in mind I'd add 3 points to most of those and agree. Jericho would be an obvious exception and with the way he's booked himself so far he's gone from a 7.5 to a 6.5 pretty quickly.

He wasn't included in the AEW rankings, but Eddie Kingston would be about 4.0.

Oct 20, 2020 7:11:21 GMT Big Pete said:

I won't go through the entire roster but let's say the biggest star right now is Jon Moxley. On a scale of 1-10 with Austin being this red hot megastar that took the industry to new heights, would it be fair to say Moxley is a 7? We can even add decimals into the mix and say he's a 7.5?

Here's my view of the Men's Rankings so far.

Jon Moxley - 7.5
Cody - 7
Lance Archer - 5
Brian Cage - 4.5
MJF - 6
Brodie Lee - 6
Scorpio Sky - 4.5

Agree or disagree?

What would Orange Cassidy be? 6.5?

Or Marko Stunt? -1?

Oct 20, 2020 13:43:41 GMT Blindy said:

Oct 20, 2020 7:11:21 GMT Big Pete said:

I won't go through the entire roster but let's say the biggest star right now is Jon Moxley. On a scale of 1-10 with Austin being this red hot megastar that took the industry to new heights, would it be fair to say Moxley is a 7? We can even add decimals into the mix and say he's a 7.5?

Here's my view of the Men's Rankings so far.

Jon Moxley - 7.5
Cody - 7
Lance Archer - 5
Brian Cage - 4.5
MJF - 6
Brodie Lee - 6
Scorpio Sky - 4.5

Agree or disagree?

What would Orange Cassidy be? 6.5?

Or Marko Stunt? -1?

OC - 5.5 closing in on a 6. Easily one of the biggest improvers coming into AEW. I would have said he was a 2.5 when the company started but he really climbed the card.

EDIT: On second thought I could be getting too ahead of myself. I see a 5.0 as a Shelton Benjamin circa 2005 levels of over. A successful mid-carder being watched by millions. Cassidy I would have around a 4.0 as a niche gimmick getting over. Again, when this all started he was at around a 2.0 so they've doubled that to where he's an acceptable member of their middle card thanks largely to his work with PAC, Jericho and now Cody.

Marko Stunt - 3.0. It helps that he's in one of the better stables in the company and you could argue that Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus are at a 4.5 - 5.0.

EDIT: Okay so let's say 2.0 for Marko Stunt and around a 3.5 - 4.0 for Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus. Two guys who have shown plenty of promise, with a few big wins they could easily go up a few numbers but it's probably going to take Jungle Boy years to get seriously over and by that point he won't be a Boy anymore.

I do have another point to all of this.

See in SmackDown vs. Raw 2006, the key is to pair similar star ratings together to build compelling rivalries and bigger stars as a result. What I'm highlighting is a disparity between these programs and how that has prevented the company from growing. It's also to highlight who has become bigger stars in AEW and to what extent, and who has fallen. For instance when AEW started I would have said Jericho was a 7.5 but I think he's noticeably dropped off and is more at a 6.5 if not a 6.0.

EDIT: Yeah I still think a 6.5 is fair for 50 year old Jericho.

Depends if you are using SVR system as a base or just in general talking about ranking them against all time greats.
Using GM people where it is based on wins and popularity of opponent Moxley, Shida, and FTR would be 9(0)+. Cody and Jericho would be 8(0)+. OC 7(0)+. Archer and Cage probably 6(0)+. The first three names I mentioned rarely lose so they would get the highest star counts for their matches. Cody beats a lot of low level people so he won't be as high as he could be. Jericho would have sunk from the 9+ losing to OC and just a little more in general now. OC would be on the rise from beating previous 9 Jericho. Archer and Cage beat mainly enhancement talent then lose when it really counts so both of them would be fairly low.

If you are just ranking them based on popularity against one of the best in WWE past. Jericho would probably be the top of the list at an 8. No matter what he does he is Jericho and still the biggest star the company has with or without the title. Cody 7.5 Moxley 7

Has Shida worked enough Dynamites and PPVs to make it all the way into the 90s? I feel like she came in as a 1.0 and has slowly built herself into that 3.0-4.0 range. Dr. Britt Baker feels like as big if not bigger star than her.

Same deal with FTR who seemed like a 3.0 team after everything was said and done with the WWE.

I think anything higher than a 3 would be generous for Shida - even exclusively in the women's wrestling community. It's largely because of the way AEW has presented the women's division as a whole, and the fact that she has absolutely zero character - but I hardly see any one talking about her. Everyone knows she's a pretty decent wrestler, but in terms of star power and interest she couldn't be much lower.

Oct 21, 2020 23:25:38 GMT @admin said:

I think anything higher than a 3 would be generous for Shida - even exclusively in the women's wrestling community. It's largely because of the way AEW has presented the women's division as a whole, and the fact that she has absolutely zero character - but I hardly see any one talking about her. Everyone knows she's a pretty decent wrestler, but in terms of star power and interest she couldn't be much lower.

I think Hikaru is on par with Io Shirai is. She has pretty good English too and her Tifa cosplay is top notch. 

Oct 21, 2020 23:56:12 GMT Blindy said:

Oct 21, 2020 23:25:38 GMT @admin said:

I think anything higher than a 3 would be generous for Shida - even exclusively in the women's wrestling community. It's largely because of the way AEW has presented the women's division as a whole, and the fact that she has absolutely zero character - but I hardly see any one talking about her. Everyone knows she's a pretty decent wrestler, but in terms of star power and interest she couldn't be much lower.

I think Hikaru is on par with Io Shirai is. She has pretty good English too and her Tifa cosplay is top notch. 

I actually think it's closer than it should be, but NXT does a better job of featuring the women so Io feels right in that 4.0 - 5.0 category.

The women's roster is rough though. Even in the WWE, there would be a fair few in that 1.0-3.0 category. Even somebody like a Bayley who has been one of the stars of this Covid period still feels at a 6.0 because of the lack of stars like Ronda, Becky and Charlotte to elevate her.

I have a hard time with this thread. Comparing anyone from today to peak Stone Cold is unfair. Nobody is ever going to hit that level again. CM Punk is the only person that has come close, and he was an 8 at best.

This thread isn't designed to talk about how great the Attitude Era was, the Stone Cold comparison was merely there to give you an idea of what a 10 would look like.

It's to get a gauge of where fans see these wrestlers and to illustrate the gap between some of these match-ups AEW has been running.

To use GM Mode from SvR 2006 (based around Summer 2005) as a guide

8.0 - John Cena, Batista, Kurt Angle, HHH, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker
7.0 - JBL, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton, Edge
6.0 - Trish Stratus, Chris Jericho, Christian, Booker T, Rob Van Dam

3.0 - The Hurricane, Paul London
2.0 - Charlie Haas, Scotty 2 Hotty, Stevie Richards

I've been playing the mode recently, and was just thinking if I did an AEW edition, what would it all look like. If you've seen the UpUpDownDown series as well it may give you a better feel than I ever could.

Oct 21, 2020 23:56:12 GMT Blindy said:

Oct 21, 2020 23:25:38 GMT @admin said:

I think anything higher than a 3 would be generous for Shida - even exclusively in the women's wrestling community. It's largely because of the way AEW has presented the women's division as a whole, and the fact that she has absolutely zero character - but I hardly see any one talking about her. Everyone knows she's a pretty decent wrestler, but in terms of star power and interest she couldn't be much lower.

I think Hikaru is on par with Io Shirai is. She has pretty good English too and her Tifa cosplay is top notch. 

I don't think it's even close. Again, largely it's because AEW doesn't have anyone else with more star power that they can elevate her against, and the better workers she could have had bangers with to really turn some heads are unavailable because of the pandemic. WWE haven't booked Shirai perfectly by any stretch, but she still feels like a big deal. Io's had the big matches (Evolution vs Toni, cage vs Shayna, IYH vs Charlotte & Rhea), she has the dope entrance, and she's always been presented as someone of real importance. I like Hikaru but she doesn't have anything close to that same aura.

Oct 22, 2020 3:50:34 GMT Big Pete said:

This thread isn't designed to talk about how great the Attitude Era was, the Stone Cold comparison was merely there to give you an idea of what a 10 would look like.

It's to get a gauge of where fans see these wrestlers and to illustrate the gap between some of these match-ups AEW has been running.

To use GM Mode from SvR 2006 (based around Summer 2005) as a guide

8.0 - John Cena, Batista, Kurt Angle, HHH, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker
7.0 - JBL, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton, Edge
6.0 - Trish Stratus, Chris Jericho, Christian, Booker T, Rob Van Dam

3.0 - The Hurricane, Paul London
2.0 - Charlie Haas, Scotty 2 Hotty, Stevie Richards

I've been playing the mode recently, and was just thinking if I did an AEW edition, what would it all look like. If you've seen the UpUpDownDown series as well it may give you a better feel than I ever could.

Year 1 UUDD Battle of the Brands definitely feels like how both companies build theie show.

Breeze/Prince Pretty/Prince Petty(WWE):

1. Run the same top feud into the ground

2. Forget all about the tag team champions

3. Spam gimmick matches

Creed/Woods (AEW):

1. Build matches based on who he likes

2. Book green women which produce 1-2 star matches

3. Overreact to any fans criticize on how he builds his show.