rumble thread (119,778 views)

[Mario the black knight]

......why?

WHAT DOES THIS ACCOMPLISH!?

Unless The Elite are leaving AEW? In which case good?

Are they being written off TV?

I don't get it. This is stupid.

[tim]

SHAD KHAN!! hahahaha

[Mario the black knight]

Is Tony Khan LITERALLY becoming Vince McMahon? An Onscreen Character?

He's been booking like him lately, may as well

[tim]

that episode was something

[Mario the black knight]

And that something was shit.

[tim]

AEW just feels so moribund right now

[Mario the black knight]

It's sad too, because theres no reason for it

It's not a roster problem, it's clearly a management level problem, and they clearly just sent the message that they don't care

[Mario the black knight]

Like the one true shining light on this roster is Brian Danielson, and he's retiring this year.

By the time we get to Wembly, what will AEW have? Other than PROBABLY Danielson's final match, what else is there? Swerve is great but they are booking him like Kofi, and like Hangman, where they have absolutely no plan for anything after the chase.

And the most infuriating thing is that the AEW fanbase is cheering itself out of existence by rooting on douchebags like Jack Perry.

I wonder what the breakpoint is. How small the buildings will need to get before AEW has to change to continue to sustain itself? Before it can't afford to pay these huge contracts to all these guys from New Japan?

[tim]

meltzer reports the PPV buys for dynasty were way down. like, HALF of what revolution got. now of course revolution was a big deal with sting's retirement, but dynasty was down about 30% from world's end, a totally random PPV.

[tim]

Apr 24, 2024 23:21:25 GMT -5 Mario the black knight said:

Like the one true shining light on this roster is Brian Danielson, and he's retiring this year.

By the time we get to Wembly, what will AEW have? Other than PROBABLY Danielson's final match, what else is there? Swerve is great but they are booking him like Kofi, and like Hangman, where they have absolutely no plan for anything after the chase.

And the most infuriating thing is that the AEW fanbase is cheering itself out of existence by rooting on douchebags like Jack Perry.

I wonder what the breakpoint is. How small the buildings will need to get before AEW has to change to continue to sustain itself? Before it can't afford to pay these huge contracts to all these guys from New Japan?

honestly i suspect they'll be fine financial when they sign the new TV deal. even though their ratings are down, they're consistently top 3 on cable every wednesday. only big sporting events beat them. i do think they're distinctly LESS valuable than they should be given their 2021 trajectory before the booking starting to tank, but TV money is still big. which is good really, as many problems as AEW has, i'd rather they be around than not.

[Mario the black knight]

Yeah, AEW is absolutely a net positive in the wider wrestling landscape, but only as long as they feel like a serious contender, otherwise they just fall into TNA territory. And right now they have taken the accusation of being "an indie with money" and are wearing it with pride.

I feel like theres no way they don't take a HUGE hit on their next TV deal. 2 of their 3 shows are totally dead afterthoughts that I would be shocked if anyone is still watching at this point, and they got their big pay day from the last TV deal predicated on Punk being there, who they promptly "fired" the minute they had their money. Without their big draws (Punk and Danielson, and even MJF still being out of the picture) I feel like theres no way they don't see big changes in their next TV contract.

I could easily see them getting rid of either Rampage or Collsion and just bringing it down to 1 lame duck show a week. And honestly, maybe booking less shows a week would do Dynamite a favor, but would also screw over all the misfits who aren't buddy buddy with the Bucks and put them back into limbo not being on TV. Though, if you are on TV, but no one is watching it because it's being booked like shit, are you really getting any more exposure?

[Mario the black knight]

Apr 25, 2024 15:41:54 GMT -5 tim said:

meltzer reports the PPV buys for dynasty were way down. like, HALF of what revolution got. now of course revolution was a big deal with sting's retirement, but dynasty was down about 30% from world's end, a totally random PPV.

Thats really a shame, since Dynasty was like the best show they've had since World's End, but also World's End had MJF on it, who is a bonefied draw.

Dynasty didn't have much going for it, I think everyone kind of knew Joe was a transitional champion, and other than Danielson/Ospreay and Okada/Pac, which popped the hardcore smarks, the card really didn't have much going into it, basically none of the matches on the show had a story. And pretty much all their big home grown stars weren't on the show like MJF or Darby, even Hangman

[tim]

Darby got hit by a bus in New York because of course he did lol. Supposedly he’s fine though

[Mario the black knight]

Darby is training for wrestling again already?

Has he already climbed Everest, or is that just not happening now?

[tim]

i THINK the plan is for him to be back wrestling when he's recovered and try to take time off for everest some other time.

[Mario the black knight]

I guess maybe Tony called him back because they need him badly

It's kind of amazing that basically all the stars they spent a lot of the last 3 years building are all MIA right now,

Like even if you exclude all the big legends leaving/retiring this past year, MJF, Hangman, and Darby all disappearing at the beginning of 2024 has really left the company with a shortage of main eventers and at the very least draws.

Like Swerve is great, but how is he doing as a draw right now? I guess it's not easy to tell with the rest of the show in the tank...

[tim]

swerve doesn't move numbers yet. his first appearance as champ having his work a long match with KYLE FLETCHER and being treated like basically a midcarded who just came out for a match and left when it was over, probably won't help. they waited too long to put the title on him too, really. the crowd wanted him as champ after that death match vs. page. that was five months ago.

hopefully they actually have a good challenger for him and he has a good first program.

[tim]

you know what i'd like to see? hangman and swerve trading the title back and forth for two months or so like rock and foley did in early 1999.

[Mario the black knight]

I think the crowd might have turned on him if they gave it to him too soon, he needed some sort of chase. I think if his chase had had a more compelling story, it could have even gone longer, but they just didn't have the main eventers to support it

I think now they really need to get Swerve into an actual storyline. Figure it might make sense, 3 weeks before one of their canonically biggest PPVs. And before the summer, where all the PPVs happen every other week

I mean, maybe but I think that story needs a break after having gone hard for however many months it did. They need to re-introduce Hangman as a full heel

[Mario the black knight]

I think the person who should beat Swerve for the title is Darby, since they have so much history, it would be a logical way to elevate Darby to the main event level

[tim]

i fantasy book worlds end 2024 happening in seattle with danielson's retirement match and darby winning the title

[Mario the black knight]

May 1, 2024 19:01:01 GMT -5 tim said:

i fantasy book worlds end 2024 happening in seattle with danielson's retirement match and darby winning the title

That would be fun

You know what is not fun? This shitty storyline

[tim]

haha, okay, i actually like the show opening package just showing them as a heel move

[Mario the black knight]

May 1, 2024 19:03:21 GMT -5 tim said:

haha, okay, i actually like the show opening package just showing them as a heel move

It's late era WCW as fuck and I don't like it

[Mario the black knight]

Oh god, throwing Swerve into this bullshit storyline.