Apr 29, 2023 13:52:34 GMT c said:

Apr 29, 2023 13:38:58 GMT Big Pete said:

Either way he's got to be careful about this. You can't book those shows without burning yourself and the audience out. Needs to get the right people around him, and I have my concerns that QT, Schiavone, Dutt etc. aren't it.

He needs bookers for both brands.  If the rumors are right he does all creative himself still and books the shows.  Rest of the guys are just talent agents who help put together matches that Tony already booked or deal with issues the talent have.

I don't think that's right, Dutt and QT have roles in creative and QT formats the shows (or if still does, I'm not sure if the ex-WWE producer takes care of that now). Obviously Tony relies heavily on the talent to come up with their own shtick, Tony just green-lights everything, but it's all largely filtered through key talent like Jericho, The Elite etc.

Either way, I agree he needs better support. Sadly the Observer awards have gone to his head so he thinks he's a genius booker even though the booking is one of the biggest weaknesses in the company.

Read while ago that Tony is the sole booker. People pitch ideas, and do their own creative sometimes, but in the end Tony is the one booking the shows alone. He should be severed completely from booking and a creative / booking team hired.

All those other guys may help produce the show, or filter ideas, but matches and angles is all Tony. People can pitch ideas up, but what he wants he gets. And his lack of experience is why there are so few long angles.

Problem is, who do you hire to book?

There's likely any number of guys capable of writing a half-decent show, but is there anyone out there that is universally respected enough for all these clowns in AEW to listen to? I think half the reason why no one really questions TK on his booking is because he's filling a lot of people's pockets. Could you imagine a new booker deciding he's not pushing The Elite anymore - imagine the carrying on from these 3 idiots if they don't get a top-spot. Or Jericho for that matter?

Apr 29, 2023 14:10:02 GMT c said:

Read while ago that Tony is the sole booker. People pitch ideas, and do their own creative sometimes, but in the end Tony is the one booking the shows alone. He should be severed completely from booking and a creative / booking team hired.

All those other guys may help produce the show, or filter ideas, but matches and angles is all Tony. People can pitch ideas up, but what he wants he gets. And his lack of experience is why there are so few long angles.

I don't buy that he comes up with all the angles or matches. He certainly has the final say but based off everything that's been reported, it's the talent that pitches the majority of ideas, Tony collabs with them and then the creative team does their best to cram everything into a telecast. There's some talent that clearly has more influence than others, so much so they've officially been put on the creative team and have the job of pitching on their behalf.

In fairness Tony paints this picture that he handles everything on top of his Fulham and Jacksonville duties, but I don't think he's being completely honest. Kind of like the Regal story where Tony made it sound like Regal waited until Tony was in the hospital tending to his mother and dropped it all on him then and there rather than they had conversation at the arena.

I mean he will use talent's ideas but they are not the ones putting the matches on paper. He picks and chooses in the end.

And I absolutely buy he does this with his other duties because of how short sighted most of the angles are and how long the feud lasts without evolving outside of the main event. Like he just pad shows with Christian vs Jungle Boy, Hobbs vs Wardlow, Saraya vs Britt, etc. And then the rest of the feuds have almost no build for PPVs. Main event gets work, but midcard is clearly not booked well at all.

Apr 29, 2023 14:59:13 GMT c said:

I mean he will use talent's ideas but they are not the ones putting the matches on paper. He picks and chooses in the end.

And I absolutely buy he does this with his other duties because of how short sighted most of the angles are and how long the feud lasts without evolving outside of the main event. Like he just pad shows with Christian vs Jungle Boy, Hobbs vs Wardlow, Saraya vs Britt, etc. And then the rest of the feuds have almost no build for PPVs. Main event gets work, but midcard is clearly not booked well at all.

When the talent pitches ideas, I can see them outlining the matches they can have. Tony is a wrestling fan first, so presenting him potential match-ups and how it adds to the overall story is how you win him over. Clearly some talent has more clout than others so by the time Jericho, MJF, Moxley, The Elite etc. are done pitching their ideas that's when they see what's left and who could go where.

Some angles are obviously better outlined than others. Take the BCC for instance, that was never supposed to happen. However once Danielson cut the promo, Moxley got into it and then they pitched for it to go ahead and played it by ear. Meanwhile I think guys like Jericho, Punk, MJF etc are a lot more deliberate about what they want to do.

That's not to say Tony has no control whatsoever. He clearly has ideas, and if he doesn't think an act is getting over he'll take them off TV. However he's not doing everything all by himself, it's a collaberative effort, the issue is that a lot of them are learning on the job. Even a guy like Jericho has never had this much responsibility in a wrestling company before, so he's not hitting home-runs all the time.