Jan 9, 2024 23:36:50 GMT @ness said:

And you could attack the champ backstage and also get a title shot despite being a jobber, it's like he's never watched wrestling.

Tony Khan defending Abadon getting a title shot LMFAO. What a dork. 

His tweet would have more merit if AEW bothered to respect their ranking system like they promised from the beginning.

NO ONE IS SAFE FROM THE EMPEROR TRASH TALKING!!!

Someone get this boy a Ritalin.

Let's just engage with this for a second.

Jinder is a former champion who fought Seth Rollins in the inaugural bout for the NXT Championship. Rollins has defended the belt against a litany of opponents and Jinder brought himself momentum when he was involved in one of the biggest segments in years and actually drew genuine heat.

Hook has been portrayed as nothing but a mid-carder for the better part of two years. At best he's in the ROH Pure Division or the FTW division where he's slowly transitioned into RVD's Darby Allin. This is Joe's first title defence, this is the A1 Championship that rarely gets defended and the title has been in limbo virtually since Wembley when Punk made TK feel unsafe and Joe stepped in only for Cole to shatter his ankle.

That's one of the issues with the booking. Tony simply thinks building guys up with wins over on Rampage is all he has to do to build interest. I don't think he understands the idea of momentum and how you build anticipation and create a degrees of separation between your challenger and champion. Hook was so far out of mind, nobody was thinking about him. Jinder stepped toe to toe with The Rock, drew genuine heat and earned himself an opportunity against a guy he has history with who is a fighting champion.

AEW wouldn't exist without Tony Khan, but by the same token he's actively turning fans against the product. The shift from a DIY passion project for the wrestlers by the wrestlers has slowly dwindled into a delusional billionaire's toy-chest and fans are over it.

I blame this on Trevor Lawrence and his awful performance on Sunday.

Jan 9, 2024 23:09:34 GMT pduh said:

Tony Khan vs Eric Bischoff

And

Jim Cornett vs Vince Russo should happen at this year Wrestlemania!

I’m team bischoff all the way. I think he’s seen as a four letter word here, and I don’t get it. He’s fucking right on everything.

Jan 10, 2024 1:31:14 GMT RT said:

I blame this on Trevor Lawrence and his awful performance on Sunday.

Made this same joke to a buddy. Lol

Does someone need to remind this dweeb he's only just pulling 800k for Dynamite.

You all know Tony probably check a lot of websites for positives things about AEW. If we are really nice he may say this website name on tv to show people what a great job he is doing. And if he wants to pay me 5 figures a year to endorse AEW I will.

But since he has yet he really need to learn to let things go and not comment on every little thing. Unless he is asked direct questions about serious stuff then he doesn't want to talk about that when he could easily clear up misunderstands if not true.

How did this even start?

Was TK just sitting at home watching RAW and then got triggered seeing Jinder?

Jan 10, 2024 8:09:48 GMT NATH45 said:

How did this even start?

Was TK just sitting at home watching RAW and then got triggered seeing Jinder?

That person doesn’t even work for WWE. It’s literally a social media guy for a TV Network 😂

Jan 10, 2024 12:32:08 GMT kingoftheworld said:

Jan 10, 2024 8:09:48 GMT NATH45 said:

How did this even start?

Was TK just sitting at home watching RAW and then got triggered seeing Jinder?

That's what I thought, but it turned out Raj's post was in response to Tony's original post about a double standard.

It seems like Tony wasn't satisfied with his original promotion and decided to go down this route.

We'll see whether it pays off (you'd have to think regardless this show should see an uptick) but I think it's turning a lot of fans off.

I think there's a few sycophants who will rally behind the company because of mob mentality, but I think there's a segment of fans who were turned off by Vince and wanted to get behind a competitor. Unfortunately they're realising that Tony is cut from the exact same cloth and needs validation.

I have a hard time believing that Tony's semi-annual twitter meltdowns are turning fans away from AEW. It hasn't resulted in a drop in viewership in the past so I don't see why this time would be any different.

The drop in viewership is because they lost their way in the past year thanks to the backstage drama becoming front and centre. You can point the finger at whoever you want for that happening, but the fact is people were more interested in what was happening backstage than what was on TV. That's bad. What you put on air should always be the most entertaining and captivating part of your product.

Last week seemed like a hard reset on what AEW plans to put on TV for the foreseeable future, and I hope that is the case. They need to go back to what was making them exceed expectations in the first few years.

Jan 10, 2024 16:05:40 GMT RT said:

I have a hard time believing that Tony's semi-annual twitter meltdowns are turning fans away from AEW. It hasn't resulted in a drop in viewership in the past so I don't see why this time would be any different.

The drop in viewership is because they lost their way in the past year thanks to the backstage drama becoming front and centre. You can point the finger at whoever you want for that happening, but the fact is people were more interested in what was happening backstage than what was on TV. That's bad. What you put on air should always be the most entertaining and captivating part of your product.

Last week seemed like a hard reset on what AEW plans to put on TV for the foreseeable future, and I hope that is the case. They need to go back to what was making them exceed expectations in the first few years.

I’m not sure I agree it hasn’t led to a drop in viewership, but let’s park that.

I think what it really does is prevent growth in viewership. Let’s assume you are right and that the backstage drama caused people to leave. TK having an unhinged meltdown isn’t bringing those folks back; it’s validating their choice to stop watching. It’s also alienating to anyone who may be considering watching, because he comes off as a pyscho.

It's a terrible optic for TK given they may need to look elsewhere for a network to take them in if WWE/Warner Bros hook up together for RAW. Him taking shots at USA Network/NBC is foolish business and other network executives probably look in on this and are telling him "This is terrible damage control/PR. Why take on this hassle for a sinking ship ratings wise?".

It's just unprofessional and bush league more than anything and again network heads take note of this stuff. TK could very well pop off on them any second if he feels betrayed or that the marketing isn't doing enough and is AEW worth it from their POV?

Danielson waking into TK's office the next morning giving him a social media fine would be the funniest thing I read all day.

Jan 11, 2024 0:55:53 GMT NATH45 said:

Danielson waking into TK's office the next morning giving him a social media fine would be the funniest thing I read all day.

*Danielson kicks in Tony’s door wearing full gear*

“Hey Brian can I help y-“

*Danielson hits a Busaiku Knee over Tony’s desk, knocking him unconscious*

“FICKLE!!”

*Danielson slaps a fine invoice on Tony’s desk and does YES chants down the hall way*

I guess we can't criticise TK for failing to build new stars. He made Jinder a megastar overnight.

Jan 11, 2024 5:10:15 GMT NATH45 said:

I guess we can't criticise TK for failing to build new stars. He made Jinder a megastar overnight.

The only thing we know about The Jinder is that you don’t try to hinder him and Tony didn’t listen to even that. smh.

Jan 11, 2024 6:45:33 GMT RT said:

They need to go back to what was making them exceed expectations in the first few years.

Just so we're on the same page, what do you think that was?

Because to me the appeal was The Elite. This wasn't just some run of the mill promotion trying to compete with Vince. This was a promotion run by the performers who were just as passionate about the business as the fans who just wanted to live their dream and do it on a bigger stage without surrendering to the Vince McMahon vision of Pro Wrestling.

I think that ship sailed the moment Cody stopped appearing on BTE and it was obvious that there were fractures in the company.

I think that got patched over when AEW pulled off a massive coup and signed Punk, Danielson and Cole. For a time business was booming but the company became too bloated, it resulted in more fractures and now the show looks more like NXT 2021 than a cutting edge Pro Wrestling show.

They were great in moderation, hence their popularity during their NJPW and independent tenures.

Over exposure has lead to it becoming very apparent that The Elite are a bunch of obnoxious dorks.

That and the free reign nature of AEW, has exposed a lot of guys, Jericho as a dickhead, Punk as a asshole, TK as a child, etc.

You see this a lot in film.

Chris Cooper was a character actor, and then had two amazing performances (American Beauty and Adaptation.). Next thing you know, he’s cast in every-other film, gets over-exposed, and you realize he’s not the transcendent talent you thought he was.

That’s The Elite, and particularly, The Young Bucks.

Imagine seeing Easy Rider and thinking this dude is cool, and then seeing Super Mario Bros.. Water World.. and Space Truckers..


That's The Young Bucks.

EasyRider he's not talking about you.

Jan 11, 2024 21:56:28 GMT NATH45 said:

Imagine seeing Easy Rider and thinking this dude is cool, and then seeing Super Mario Bros.. Water World.. and Space Truckers..


That's The Young Bucks.

Exactly.

Jan 11, 2024 21:56:28 GMT NATH45 said:

Imagine seeing Easy Rider and thinking this dude is cool, and then seeing Super Mario Bros.. Water World.. and Space Truckers..


That's The Young Bucks.

Why wouldn't you watch Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, Speed, Cool-Hand Luke etc?

Hopper is more like a Riddle figure who clearly has talent but can't help himself off camera. In the same year of his most iconic role, he also pops up in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

Outside of Hopper catching strays, I agree that the Bucks were always going to struggle in this capacity. Still, I think the fans were there for that Hangman story and they had something in that before Punk, Danielson and Cole all brought in a different group of fan.

I don't think they did that great a job of planning out Hangman's reign, and despite some great matches it just seemed like it all paled in comparison to what Punk was doing with MJF. Hangman-Cole especially just never landed like it should have. Don't forget fans were constantly questioning what happened to Adam Cole and why does he come off so bush league in AEW.

I also think there was a lot of general apathy after so many guys and girls went over to AEW only to seemingly sit in catering. On one channel you've got Cody getting red-hot then on the other there's Malakai Black, Andrade, Miro, Athena etc. just floating around

Didn’t know where else to put this, but this is a major mask-off moment for a prominent wrestling journalist.

Yeah SAS has been a scumbag for a while and thinks he's hotter shit than what he really is. Doesn't surprise me.