Every one of the cities had multiple venues. The point, which you’re pretending not to get, is there are other spaces of a reasonable size.

I don’t buy for a second Tony is doing this solely because trolls are trolling. It hasn’t even looked bad on TV (mostly). They’ve done a solid job hiding it.

So, instead of scaling down the production set up to run smaller venues, just keep bringing a big setup to arenas they can't fill, and tarp off half the seating?

If other companies can figure out how to do it, why not AEW?

Its because they're smarter than everyone else.

Even WWE a week or so ago ran a smaller arena and dropped the set to the minimum.

AEW only measure themselves by traditional means like attendance and ratings when its favourable. Speaking of which... How were those Collision ratings?

Jan 30, 2024 20:35:39 GMT NATH45 said:

Its because they're smarter than everyone else.

Even WWE a week or so ago ran a smaller arena and dropped the set to the minimum.

AEW only measure themselves by traditional means like attendance and ratings when its favourable. Speaking of which... How were those Collision ratings?

I had a guy on Twitter saying that booking isn’t the issue, and they can’t figure out why attendance is down.

He also claimed ratings and PPV are doing well (spoiler: they’re not).

To sort of point out the problems of AEW, it's perhaps an opportunity to look at what WWE is doing well ATM.

Every second guy is coming out week after week making impassioned speeches about wanting to be the man. There's a fight at the top to be Champion. There's layers upon layers of fall out from the peak of The Bloodline storyline that continues to influence every top guy in the company. Perhaps a consistency in the psychology of the storytelling. It's just rich.

If you look at all the players in WWE, there's perhaps 15 guys who could win the World Championship tomorrow and it would be well deserved/earnt or at the least, it would makes sense. In contrast, there's 30 people in AEW who don't deserve jobs, let alone TV time. The professionalism is on a different level.

I don't get a sense I'm watching the elite when I watch AEW. There's certainly some guys who are, but as a collective, no. I certainly don't feel any emotion or find myself engaged by the product either because the storytelling isn't there.

While in WWE, right now, it feels like there's a continued push forward. Not just building towards the next PLE, but a feeling like they're pushing and pushing to grow the brand through it's on screen product. Maybe defining it as having momentum.

KJ NATH45 you guys pretty much nailed it. I have been noticing this trend too, re: storylines.

This same thing happened when Hangman won the title. It happened when Punk won, but was less noticeable because he got hurt. It is happening again now that the Cole/MJF payoff happened.

This company doesn’t know how to do more than one storyline at a time. And after you have a big angle payoff or a World title change hands, you need those other stories to carry the load while you begin to build the next big one.

Booking dream matches and having great wrestling is fine and good, and some people are happy if that is all AEW does. But not enough to keep the lights on. The vast majority of fans are wanting to be entertained and have a reason to keep tuning in. They want continuity and fluidity. “Man I really hope Adam Copeland finally gets the better of Christian after being embarrassed by him twice. What will he do next week? Oh…he’s fighting an old Japanese man for some reason. Ok?”

I love it, and I will always tune in because good wrestling is enough for me to want to watch. But I know I am in the minority.

AEW was going " more sports based " a few months ago, well, if that's the case, then commit to standings and brackets and contendership and use that as the vehicle for storytelling. It builds urgency and it ensures everything matters. It's why the tournament recently was well received.

At least that way everyone has direction and purpose. Why am I fighting? To become Champion. As opposed to " it'd be cool if... "

Tony needs a booker. He has a creative team, but he needs someone tried for booking shows. Attendance may not be done due to booking, but good booking sure can get more people involved. Most AEW fans do not watch all three shows right now and they can easily change that with stronger stories.

I know right now I look at cards, and if there is no match I want to see, I skip. A good booker would make it so I would still want to tune in to see what happens. PPV's are usually must see, but there is no reason the cards cannot also become must see stuff.

It is also telling that the best story in the Tony feds, is in Ring of Honor with the minion arc. If this is the story that people are getting the most into, it should be on TV. If Billie and Athena are the two most over girls he has, they should be on TV. Get Starkz on TV while you have her because at 19 HHH is gonna throw insane money at her as soon as she is a free agent. Not be shocked if he brings back Athena just to get her.

///

Another major problem is now TNA is heating up again and people are seeing more exposure there than in AEW.  A lot of people are giving up TV for the show at having a lot more TV time in TNA.  Missing Dolph and Ali is very telling and MxM also look TNA bound.  TNA keeps this up, they may get a cheap TV deal from someone who wanted RAW or Smackdown and are willing to settle for a smaller fed, at a much reduced rate.  TNA gets back on TV, Tony does have a direct competitor.  And one that may be working loosely with WWE moving forward.  For those who missed it, Bianca called out by Grace for a title shot in TNA.  It is very within the realm of reason for WWE to send Bianca there, under the condition that so long as WWE continues to works with TNA, they no longer work with AEW.

We know too HHH wants to make deals with Stardom and NJPW too, which will likely limit their abilities to work with AEW in the future too.  Not be shocked if in a year or two, Tony finds that HHH has deals with most of the feds that they were working with him at one point.  All the more reason for Tony to get his booking shit together domestically.  He may not always have Japan or Mexico to rely on for workers.

Before it felt like most of the roster was involved in a storyline, it wasn't always about a title but you had something going on. These days AEW feels directionless & painted by numbers.

Feels like they want to do Chikara style ranking based system for stories, without you know, promoting the rankings in a way that converts to title shots or even having clear divisions that people are competing when working singles matches. Tag and Trios sure it makes sense, but once you get into the single titles which of the half dozen titles are the matches counting towards?

Still think they should have went full Chikara. Three wins in a row for a division means a title shot. One point earned per win, set to zero if you lose. Limit people to one division for single titles. Show the points every match. That is how you do ranking based stories. For all of the faults of Quack, this system worked, as it was a huge deal when a tag team got three points.

The biggest issue right now is how unfortunate they've been with injuries since 2022. Punk, Omega, Cole, Danielson all suffered untimely injuries and that's persisted ever since with MJF, Jamie Hayter etc. added to the list.

They just need to weather through this and get their ducks in a row. From all reports Okada and Mone are likely showing up in the coming weeks, so the focus should be planning out their presentation, making sure they have a well mapped out program through till Wembley and taking it from there.

I'll never forget Okada's debut. It was more a sigh of relief than anything else, but the details were awful. Okada comes out with a regular T-Shirt, Dress Pants etc. and looks completely lost as all four IWGP Heavyweight participants brawl around the ring. It's one thing to book these guys, it's another to present them as a big deal.

Honestly, AEW needs injuries at this point. It is the only thing scaling down their roster.

MJF just finished his latest movie so he may be returning next week.

Okada's appearance in AEW is exactly why I want him in WWE. They will present him as a big deal to people who do not know him. Tony assumes he does not have to because we all know most people coming in. Given most did not realize Sin Cara debuted tonight in AEW this is clearly not the case.

I hear you on the size of the roster, but it's the timing of the injuries that have really hurt. Punk's injury in 2022 grounded everything to a halt and rendered one of their big storylines, The Firm, DOA. Then you have the recent injuries to Adam Cole & Kenny Omega which has affected their two biggest storylines. It's so difficult to build momentum when you're just filling time to try and get back on track.

Revolution is shaping up to be a huge show with Sting's retirement. It should be a can't miss opportunity for the company and they have to nail it, especially with Wrestlemania right around the corner.

The name Sin Cara has never recovered from his/their time in WWE.

Feb 1, 2024 10:51:19 GMT Big Pete said:

I hear you on the size of the roster, but it's the timing of the injuries that have really hurt. Punk's injury in 2022 grounded everything to a halt and rendered one of their big storylines, The Firm, DOA. Then you have the recent injuries to Adam Cole & Kenny Omega which has affected their two biggest storylines. It's so difficult to build momentum when you're just filling time to try and get back on track.

Revolution is shaping up to be a huge show with Sting's retirement. It should be a can't miss opportunity for the company and they have to nail it, especially with Wrestlemania right around the corner.

I caveat this statement by saying “obviously it’s not always perfect,” but …

One of the unheralded attributes of WWE is their ability to pivot quickly when injuries happen. They’re able to plant their foot in the ground, adjust, and rocket ahead.

Tony definitely struggles with his fan fic-esque booking being derailed.

That sort of furthers my point about any number of guys in WWE being able to take the top spot. And not only that, there's already the pre-existing motive for wanting to be champion, so it doesn't feel forced or " hero of the month " sort of stuff.

Take Punk being injured, and there was every possibility he was facing Seth at Wrestlemania. Ok, let's pivot to Cody. Ok, but that means he doesn't challenge Reigns... well, Elimination Chamber will determine a new contender - could it be the vengeful Drew? Ex-Bloodline, Sami? Ex-Bloodline Jey? Randy, AJ, Knight.. all these guys have heat with Roman.

Everyone in AEW is so distracted by their individual side quests that often.. almost always have nothing to do with being World Champion. And that makes no sense.

Feb 2, 2024 19:37:15 GMT NATH45 said:

That sort of furthers my point about any number of guys in WWE being able to take the top spot. And not only that, there's already the pre-existing motive for wanting to be champion, so it doesn't feel forced or " hero of the month " sort of stuff.

Take Punk being injured, and there was every possibility he was facing Seth at Wrestlemania. Ok, let's pivot to Cody. Ok, but that means he doesn't challenge Reigns... well, Elimination Chamber will determine a new contender - could it be the vengeful Drew? Ex-Bloodline, Sami? Ex-Bloodline Jey? Randy, AJ, Knight.. all these guys have heat with Roman.

Everyone in AEW is so distracted by their individual side quests that often.. almost always have nothing to do with being World Champion. And that makes no sense.

Okay, I know I’m piling on, but it’s hilarious angles so rarely seem to be focused on titles, and yet they have so many title belts. 😂

The isolation is what made the Cody-verse so disliked by AEW faithful, even though everyone in AEW now has their own universe it seems. And yet Cody’s actually made sense, because he *couldn’t* go for the World Title.

I wish AEW would have some massive storyline that registers through the entire card. I know the nWo had its flaws near the end, but it’s still the hallmark of wrestling storylines IMO because every level of the roster was at least somewhat impacted by it.

One thing I have noticed over the last three months, is even in pro-AEW spaces people have had it with the booking.

Totally agree with KJ, we need some unifying storyline for AEW. With this many people NJPW style stable wars seems obvious, but Tony does not seem to want to go it.  Another reason I say get Quack for creative.  He excels at this shit.  Just keep him at the idea level with a boss to prevent megalomaniacal Quack from emerging again.

I do think this year Tony will be pressed to make a booking change though. When places like reddit's AEW forum are done with the booking, Tony got some problems. And ranking based booking failed in RoH and were dropped in AEW because they failed once already.

I don't necessarily think they need a big civil war arch, which is what the nWo is.

They need to create a feeling that this shit is actually important. And that can be achieved with the top guys out there throwing jabs at each other verbally and physically for dominance... for contendership. But no one wants it.

And creating urgency. MJF as champion defended that title less than Reigns, except MJF didn't have 2-3 years behind him, nor a storyline like The Bloodline and the layers to excuse his sporadic appearances. MJF spent most of the last year hanging out with Adam Cole playing video games, while no one bothered to challenge him.

And christ all mighty, fire some people.

Contract renewals for AEW gonna be rough for a lot of people. I assume most of RoH goes and a lot of people get moved down there.

Curious how long Darby survives without Sting. Like Jungle Boy, he could be taken off TV and not missed. Anyone you can say that about should be released or replace a guy in RoH.

Who wouldn't be missed? Maybe 10 guys?

One thing TNA did well in the early days was the open door policy. TK would be better off firing 50% of the roster and keeping a few higher profile but unnecessary talents on call.

And then he needs to be very honest with himself about who he's booking and why. If it ain't moving the ball forward it shouldn't be on TV.

There's Botchamania sort of stuff that should be addressed - every week I'm seeing fresh clips of the same guys near breaking their necks or missing moonsaults by a 1/4 mile or drilling their knee into someone's head because they can't do something safely.

And the Wrestlecrap - as a casual fan tuning in and seeing Abadon, or Luchasaurus or Danhausen is an instant turn off. It valids every negative opinion people have of pro wrestling.

He should be asking him after every segment, did we take two steps forward or one step back. If it's the later, it never happens again. But unfortunately, the boy wonder thinks he's amazing at what he does and has an assortment of people around him getting rich telling him how great he is.

That was the original plan, core group in contracts, rest on come and go handshake deals. Then Tony got paranoid about WWE and signed everyone he could to 3 to 5 year contracts.

Lucha is great in his role as Christian's enforcer. Danhausen I can take or leave but many love him. Abadon most forgot was even on contract I imagine.

The injury and botch stuff is just Corny bullshit. How many injuries did WWE have this month while doing far less risky stuff? It is wrestling, people get hurt. And WWE gets as many botches, with simpler moves and far less match time. So it comes down to the perception of one style being more dangerous.

Should we ask Wardlow how it feels to eat a knee to the throat?





Quietly....

www.instagram.com/aewbotches/

Want to ask Flair about her knee first? Seth about his knee? Punk about his arm? Owens about his foot?

WM lost a main event because both people are hurt.

AEW not had anything like this either.

Maybe you need to take the rose-tinted glasses off, and click the link above.

Whether people are getting hurt or not, that's not the entirety of the botchamania debate - the wrestling at the top end of AEW is good, but the lower and mid card is dismal, to the point of embarrassing at times. You can't argue that's the case in WWE.

AEW needs to tighten up on what goes to TV and what doesn't.

I have zero interest in content made to profit from dogpiling hate in wrestling and certainly will not support it.  You are all free to engage in the federations wars and the hate content, but do not expect the rest of us to play along.  If you want to spend time hating wrestling that is on you.  I prefer to focus my energy on things I enjoy.

I'm not fond of insta either tbh.

Private profile NATH45, I don't have an account and don't plan to follow, what was the clip?

It is an account collecting the many botches that occur in AEW. Very dogpiling community that loves to hate on AEW.