AEW Off-Topic

[UFCMPunk]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

Punk grew their audience briefly, but it's clear Okada/Osperay/Mercedes will not.

Obviously we hardcore fans see them as big deals and huge signings but yet it feels like AEW hasn't made any movement. So many fans were like... "Oh man, can't wait to see so and so without Vince's booking" and yet it feels like for so many, they basically ended up in the same place they were in back in WWE. Look at a guy like Edge, they didn't gain any new audience from his arrival. A Hall of Famer like Edge should absolutely bring in viewership but again, ratings and attendance show otherwise.


Tony Khan is really underestimating the importance of the casual audience. Casuals aren't going to tune in for an Okada and Osprey the same way us hardcore fans are, they aren't going to be excited to watch their matches the same way we do. We will get excited about the idea of Okada vs Omega potentially at All In but casuals don't care nor know who those guys are. The fact he keeps booking for the hardcore fans who will already watch AEW while ignoring the casual/new audience is what is hurting AEW right now.

[Dead2009]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

The fact that Tony blew his load on Danielson/Ospreay already should tell you that he's not even booking for the hardcore fans, he's booking for himself. He's a supermark and instead of letting that match build up over time, he's just like here you go.

[J_Posse]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

The fact that Tony blew his load on Danielson/Ospreay already should tell you that he's not even booking for the hardcore fans, he's booking for himself. He's a supermark and instead of letting that match build up over time, he's just like here you go.

And the crazy part is he's used Danielson as a 'stepping stone' (which he is likely okay with) that is constantly giving guys 'the rub,' but rarely goes over in big matches.

(So we already have a good idea how this ends/plays out, unfortunately.)

I thought, especially with Omega hurt and Punk out the door, that at some point Danielson would be elevated as the 'top guy' of the company. I know Danielson's dealt with a lot of injuries too, but Khan has been more than happy to write around injuries (i.e. Adam Cole and CM Punk).

This angle should be used to retire Danielson on a high note, instead it's unnecessarily being used as Ospreay's first feud. Khan is like the person that wants to see all the cool action sequences and could give a **** about any of the build up. SMDH

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[dubcity]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

The Shibata matches are definitely examples of Khan thinking something is a dream match that people will lose their minds over, when in reality not everyone is a NJPW mark (like me), and they are just standalone TV matches with no story or purpose beyond those 5-10 minutes. Overall I think he has shown that he wants to build longer stories, but the need for weekly content will always supercede that. That's what pays the bills.

One of the things that lost me as a weekly fan was the segments involving Mark Sterling, Stokely Hathaway, and anything involving Jeff Jarrett. The attempts at backstage comedy and acting is largely brutal. For years they somehow avoided being like WWE in that way, but eventually the sheer amount of content they put out every week caught up to them.

[Dead2009]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

And the crazy part is he's used Danielson as a 'stepping stone' (which he is likely okay with) that is constantly giving guys 'the rub,' but rarely goes over in big matches.

(So we already have a good idea how this ends/plays out, unfortunately.)

I thought, especially with Omega hurt and Punk out the door, that at some point Danielson would be elevated as the 'top guy' of the company. I know Danielson's dealt with a lot of injuries too, but Khan has been more than happy to write around injuries (i.e. Adam Cole and CM Punk).

This angle should be used to retire Danielson on a high note, instead it's unnecessarily being used as Ospreay's first feud. Khan is like the person that wants to see all the cool action sequences and could give a **** about any of the build up. SMDH

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And the sad thing is everyone thought Ospreay's first feud would be against the Don Callis family considering he was having "friendly" matches with them in recent weeks.

[voodoo_magic]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

My takes on AEW since the start.
I liked getting the chance to see guys like Darby, Sammy, MJF, and others that were either not in WWE or not main roster guys.
It reminded me a lot of TNA with Joe, Styles, Shelly, Sabin.
Compared to WWE at the time the action in AEW was amazing.

If you want to try and watch WWE and AEW there are only so many hours most people have to watch, so AEW adding collision is crazy and even rampage I never have time to watch these.
For guys like me not watching collision and rampage, they have guys from ROH and NJPW that are apparently good but I have no idea who they are it ends up being a ton of wrestling matches that I have no interest in.

They just need to have some build up and maybe a video package explaining who they are and why I should care if they are wrestling Danielson or Kingston etc.
Instead, it's random NJPW guy wrestling a AEW face so I assume the NJPW guy is a heel but what is so bad about them?, are they dirty, have they won multiple championships?, do they have history with the AEW guy?
Imagine WWE having some very good independent guy show up and challenge Roman Reigns..it would make no sense.
I think AEW did something before with Omega and Ibushi and that was helpful in getting to know him.

After these guys from ROH and NJPW have a couple matches and I start to get to know them some, they are ok, just like any of the 200 other male wrestlers they have on the roster.

A WWE fan tuning into AEW to check it out for the first time will probably watch for a month because there is a lot of action, some old faces from WWE and new faces they haven't seen.
Then they start to see the pattern since they only watch dynamite, there are hardly any story lines except for a few main guys and it's random wrestler vs random wrestler a lot of the time. Guys are doing tombstone pile drivers as just another move and if a guy doesn't land on his neck awkwardly after some crazy move it's something different...lol.

When AEW started I was like a lot of people who were tired of WWE and Vince putting on crap for years. I wanted AEW to be successful because if it was it would and has made WWE much better.
I started watching AEW 90% of my time with me only watching a couple of the big ppv for WWE.
Now, because of the bloodline and other fantastic story lines and characters the past couple years I'm fast forwarding a lot of dynamite and making sure to not miss smackdowns and wwe ppv.

[UFCMPunk]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

AEW Double or Nothing returns to Vegas on Sunday May 26th back where it all started in 2019, the MGM Garden Arena. Collision will be run on Saturday also at the Garden Arena.

[UFCMPunk]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

CM Punk dropped another pipebomb as he explains everything that happened leading to his AEW Departure, says Tony Khan is not a real boss. Which following this... Sammy Guevara put out a tweet about how AEW changed his life and used the hashtag #ThankYouAEW. So it seems the damage control from Punk's interview is starting, and it will be interesting if more AEW talent tweet that out.

"I don't think I can [talk about it] but I didn't have to sign an NDA for anything I did wrong... I have nothing to hide and I don't give a s***."


When asked if he regrets how things went down, Punk said he wishes things had gone differently. The two-time former AEW World Champion added that the idea of these press conferences in wrestling is not his style.

"I think you can go back and be like 'Well I wish I never did the scrum.' Scrums are stupid anyway. Yeah, those things were really cringe."

Cm Punk on Tony Khan:

"He's not a boss. He's a nice guy. And I think ultimately that is a detriment to the company. But it's not my company. I'm an outsider."

Punk added that the last time he spoke to Khan was at AEW All In following his backstage fight with Jack Perry. After the fight, Punk faced Samoa Joe in the opening match of the main show. Punk said that he walked into the match knowing it'd be his last AEW match and made clear he quit the company.

https://www.sescoops.com/aew/cm-punk...rawl-tony-khan

[Bard]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

I see only truths from Punk right there. Tony isn't a boss, he's a friend in charge. Then when he tries to discipline it comes off awkward.

That's what it comes off as, anyway, obviously I have no actual clue.

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[SmashMan]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

So it seems the damage control from Punk's interview is starting, and it will be interesting if more AEW talent tweet that out.

It doesn’t have to be damage control, it might just be two guys with different experiences. AEW was a bad long-term spot for Punk and at the same time it might be a great one for Sammy. And neither would be wrong for thinking that way.

[dubcity]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

The part about Khan being a good dude and not really a disciplinarian or a leader is pretty fair. Then again I'm not sure having a brute dictator as your head booker is necessary or even a good idea, given how it turned out in WWE. In 2024 it's a business, and you need people up and down the chain of command doing different things. It's not about "the office" and "the boys" anymore. Punk needed to be babysat and protected from the freedom backstage and on the mic that he always said he wanted, ironically.

[UFCMPunk]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

Breaking News: AEW Releases are under way per SRS. Going to be interesting which superstars will be released.

https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1774967483801199088

[Bard]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

Please be Ricky Starks. I only say this because I REALLY want him in NXT.

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[UFCMPunk]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

Looks like nobody notable..... but this now explains why Dalton Castle lost The Boys.

The Boys
Dasha
Jose The Assistant
Jora Johl
Anthony Henry
Gravity
Stu Grayson
Parker Boudreaux
Slim J

[Majingir]

Re: AEW Off-Topic

Going back to the CM Punk stuff, that's basically what we've figured/known for a while. Tony tries to be the friend, not the boss.

Vince did do a similar thing in the 80s and 90s. He was "one of the boys". Only difference was he wasn't being their friend, he was being the "cool boss" who'd go to bars with the guys.

It's why these releases are surprising. AEW does need some "house cleaning", but Tony seems content just keeping people on the roster to not burn bridges.

Please be Ricky Starks. I only say this because I REALLY want him in NXT.

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Starks seems way more suited for the "sports entertainment" world than the pro wrestling one. He has too much charisma to not be in NXT. He could be the next Melo.

Looks like nobody notable..... but this now explains why Dalton Castle lost The Boys.

The Boys
Dasha
Jose The Assistant
Jora Johl
Anthony Henry
Gravity
Stu Grayson
Parker Boudreaux
Slim J

"The boys" in kayfabe actually did get eaten by a bear then!? This is like when WWE killed the oc when Gallows/Anderson got released with their last appearance being when Undertaker "killed" them in the boneyard match.

He lost the boys, but doesn't he have other boys? I guess the ones who got released were the regular boys but now he'll just be using the "rent a boys" with it just being random talent each time he's in a match?