The single firework outside Wembley oh my god :lol:

Dat pop for Okada. Damn.

NIGEL

I jumped out of my chair when Fuckin In The Bushes hit

If you told me that Jeff Jarrett would blow the roof off Wembley in 2024 I would have called you insane.

Ospreay’s entrance was insane

Aug 26, 2024 2:31:54 GMT RT said:

Ospreay’s entrance was insane

The entrance could've used a little Ray Gun.

Had to pause to say goodnight to my damn weiner kids.

GO OSPREAY

OSPREAY OSPREAY

CORGIS

OK I like Mercedes again

That’s my CEO

REAL GLASS

Holy shit Jack Perry kicked his ass.

IT’S STTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

I’m already crying

If Danielson loses I’m going to show Tony Khan what fearing for his life actually looks like.

I don’t want him to win but damn Swerve has found it. Holy fuck that is a Champion.

30 seconds in and JR already called him Daniel Bryan.

Dude.

YES YES FUCK YES

Fun fact: Daniel Garcia joins AJ Styles and CM Punk in the 2024 Real Haters Club, a club composed of individuals who have flown overseas for the sole purpose of fucking someone over in a title match.

Show like usual was far better than it looked on paper. Still buzzing that Nigel got to return.

Aug 26, 2024 2:39:35 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Aug 26, 2024 2:31:54 GMT RT said:

Ospreay’s entrance was insane

The entrance could've used a little Ray Gun.

I think AEW are on to something by setting this event up as the fan-service WrestleMania ‘put a smile on everyone’s face’ event of their calendar. Returns, end of arcs, etc. Hopefully they can continue to command a big crowd for it.

What a show. Mania really never has done London before, wild... Props to AEW for pulling off Wembley & treating the Brits out. Great idea.

I remember getting on old PW and the pond cousins griping about having to stay up to watch a PPV, so it must be cool to get a marquee event in your own backyard at 6/7 PM for once and not just some throwaway like Insurrextion.

Every match was either stellar or better than expected, minus X-Pac: The Tag Team Xperience retaining. I think AEW deserves a lot of credit for this show though, they kept the buffoonery at a minimum, crowd was nuts, had some great match storytelling, felt like a proper big event... Well done. Hats off to Money Mark & co. for this one, this was an exceptional month for "PLE's" in general.

I'd give it an 8/10... Could have been a better score had Toni Storm retained, bastards.

Aug 26, 2024 16:27:45 GMT Todd said:

I think AEW are on to something by setting this event up as the fan-service WrestleMania ‘put a smile on everyone’s face’ event of their calendar. Returns, end of arcs, etc. Hopefully they can continue to command a big crowd for it.

Doing it in Texas next year will be the test. Anyone can go to a starving market like Europe or Australia and sell 50k tickets. AEW just did a month-long residency in Arlington and struggled to fill a 2500 seat building for Collision every week.

Now obviously weekly taped episodes of ROH and Collision are not their version of what is basically Wrestlemania, but fans have not been turning out for most shows in the US these days. Double Or Nothing is their 2nd biggest yearly show and they did like 9k this year. All Out in Chicago in two weeks is currently sitting at <7k tickets sold.

If they don’t figure out a way to start pulling more fans for PPVs held in the US next summer in Texas could really suck.

I don't think they need to be focused on selling out those big American arenas shows.

I think AEW is still niche enough to just do " cool shit " type PPVs instead. Something WWE will never do.

Hammerstein and the 2300 Arena shows - " extreme " style show, headlined by Darby Allin killing himself for lols.

Ryōgoku Sumo Hall - easy, Okada v Ospreay in Japan headlining and a lot of Bullet Club Gold involvement.

Arena México - flippy shit lucha show, duh.

Do that stuff. If you could criticise WWE for anything, is that every PLE feels the same. Big shows, sure. Good shows, yes. But they all blend in together. And every WWE show looks the same. AEW has an opportunity to do something a little rogue and perhaps a little punk rock instead.

Aug 27, 2024 0:31:04 GMT RT said:

Aug 26, 2024 16:27:45 GMT Todd said:

I think AEW are on to something by setting this event up as the fan-service WrestleMania ‘put a smile on everyone’s face’ event of their calendar. Returns, end of arcs, etc. Hopefully they can continue to command a big crowd for it.

Doing it in Texas next year will be the test. Anyone can go to a starving market like Europe or Australia and sell 50k tickets. AEW just did a month-long residency in Arlington and struggled to fill a 2500 seat building for Collision every week.

Now obviously weekly taped episodes of ROH and Collision are not their version of what is basically Wrestlemania, but fans have not been turning out for most shows in the US these days. Double Or Nothing is their 2nd biggest yearly show and they did like 9k this year. All Out in Chicago in two weeks is currently sitting at <7k tickets sold.

If they don’t figure out a way to start pulling more fans for PPVs held in the US next summer in Texas could really suck.

Think the plan for Texas is to heavily market in Mexico and use CMLL to bring in the crowd.  I have bad vibes about All In Texas but also did not expect Wembley to sell out so...

Do agree that if Tony cannot pack arenas, he should be moving back to the RoH / ECW in your face style of show and sell the shows as intimate encounters.  Harder to film and make look good for TV though, which is why he prefers half-empty venues to running stuff like the ballroom.  But def agree with people suggesting Dynamite be large venues and Collision be like 2000 seat venues promoted as up close and personal events, that get coupled with meet and greets and shit.  Variety of presentation is not something WWE does, and could work well for Tony and TV.  

Like imagine doing a big hard hitting marque match in a small venue where you can really hear fans react to every small thing?  Would make for great TV.

I agree 100% that AEW should reposition themselves as the company that packs out smaller, louder, more intimate arenas. But unfortunately that would involve Tony Khan conceding that his company isn’t as big as he thought it was - a concession he is unlikely to make IMO.

I don’t mind the Texas gamble or the Australia gamble. They’ve damaged their key markets, no doubt. Loss of Punk in Chicago and they seem to have hurt the NY market this year. Now is the time to satisfy demand in a place like Australia to buy some time to get the core product back on track. He’s right not to try and run Wembley every year. But if he doesn’t turn the tide soon, he’ll run out of places to run a stadium show.

Aug 27, 2024 7:31:33 GMT Todd said:

I agree 100% that AEW should reposition themselves as the company that packs out smaller, louder, more intimate arenas. But unfortunately that would involve Tony Khan conceding that his company isn’t as big as he thought it was - a concession he is unlikely to make IMO.

I agree to an extent but I think the residency in Arlington shows he is willing to pivot to find other ways to fill buildings. While it wasn't a massive success, it's a step in the right direction.

Collision + ROH/Rampage tapings in smaller venues more often would really give those shows a better vibe that fans would love. And it's a perfect excuse to send some of your massive roster to smaller markets that don't get big shows very often. It would be like the old territory days where you could have mini feuds and fun matches that span 2-3 weeks and build that intimacy with the fans in that area and make for good TV.

There's so many obvious little tweaks that AEW could make to get to that next level and it's frustrating that fans can see it and the people in charge either can't or think their ideas are working.

.....

Back on topic a little, has anyone else watched Nigel McGuinness' entrance like 20 times since Sunday? Because I have. And what timing to have him return to the ring with his ROH theme and Oasis announces their reunion tour two days later.

[Source] RT said:

Back on topic a little, has anyone else watched Nigel McGuinness' entrance like 20 times since Sunday? Because I have. And what timing to have him return to the ring with his ROH theme and Oasis announces their reunion tour two days later.

Been watching Nigel since '02 via HWA on local TV, back in his Johnny Rotten cosplay days. So geeked he got a moment like that after having a career that should have been a little bigger than it was but fell short to bad timing/injuries.

Was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the night for me.

Thoughts? Predictions?

It’s been discussed here a bit and I think it’s what we are getting: Danielson will remind everyone that he planned to step away from wrestling to be a dad after this year, so he will say that he is going to do that when he loses the title.

Christian will come out and call him selfish for choosing the World title over his kids, then promise to send him home to Birdie and Buddy very soon by cashing in his contract.

Probably get a Swerve appearance too where he congratulates Bryan but says he has a rematch clause and he plans to cash that in in their home state at WrestleDream. Maybe that also brings out Darby who admits defeat but says he still has a world title shot that he hasn’t cashed in yet either. Then EVPs come out and say that Jack buried Darby on Sunday so he should move up the ladder, and oh! we can do that because we run the company.

Lots of ways this can go. I’m excited but also not because we are watching the last chapter of Danielson’s full time career.

I imagine they set up a rematch for Wrestle Dream.