The AEW Thread

[TheGoon]

1 minute ago, Merkland Red said:

Because they'll have a 'great match'.

He's a draw on his name alone. Feed him a low card heel for him to squash at the PPV. Don't have him going 50/50 with a midcarder. 

If he squashes Allin then his stock takes a bit of a hit.

Darby Allin could lose 500 matches in a row and still be fine. He’s boosted just by being part of Punk’s first match - and it won’t be a squash either. 

[DukDukGoose]

Just now, TheGoon said:

Darby Allin could lose 500 matches in a row and still be fine. He’s boosted just by being part of Punk’s first match - and it won’t be a squash either. 

That's the point. Punk isn't going to squash someone who's at a level he should be squashing.

He's going to have a 'great match' and lower his stock immediately.

[FairWeatherFan]

2 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

He's going to have a 'great match' and lower his stock immediately.

No it won't. 

This has been AEW's way of story telling since it started. 

It'll be competitive, feisty leading to the finish. Then probably have Sting soothe their tempers after the bell. Ending with 3 generations soaking in the applause. 

[stumigoo]

I have only ever really watched WWE, however I totally lost interest when the crowds disappeared during the pandemic. Once they were back with fans I watched for a few weeks and just the presence of a normal set of shows, with people there, had me reasonably entertained. However…

A few weeks ago I started watching AEW. I’d been planning on it for a while, and after more former WWE wrestlers were heading over to them. I must say, I’ve absolutely loved it so far. I bought a FITE pass this week and have been keeping on top of the weekly schedule. I think for me it boils down to three things that are currently keeping me very entertained (and of course a fourth now that CM Punk is here)

1. The crowds. It seems the age demographic is similar to my own, with the fans being a little bit older and therefore more vocal and up for it.

2. The length of each show. I, like many, fast forward so much of Raw and Smackdown, which leaves me feeling like I’m always just digested little bits rather than a whole show. With tighter run times I don’t think I’ve skipped anything in AEW.

3. The wrestlers themselves just seem to be having so much more fun and have the body language of stars who can try different things and feed off the crowd in a much more natural way without the same restrictions and pressure under McMahon and WWE. The quality of matches does vary but when it clicks, I’ve seen better matches on AEW, even in just the last few weeks, compared to the majority of WWE stuff in the last few years.

I’ll still do my weekly fast forwarding through RAW/Smackdown but I’m loving AEW so far.

[DukDukGoose]

1 hour ago, FairWeatherFan said:

No it won't. 

This has been AEW's way of story telling since it started. 

It'll be competitive, feisty leading to the finish. Then probably have Sting soothe their tempers after the bell. Ending with 3 generations soaking in the applause. 

It's also why the crowds mill around 1m then drop again. Then they hot shot something else. It mills around 1m then drops. And repeat.

One guy mentioned AEW possibly beating raw in the ratings. That's only going to happen on a consistent basis if WWE continues to churn out total garbage.

Plenty others like myself dip their toe in to AEW, see something they like but notice most of it is garbage too. 

It caters to a certain audience and that's fine..I can't see it growing though.

[TheGoon]

31 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

It's also why the crowds mill around 1m then drop again. Then they hot shot something else. It mills around 1m then drops. And repeat.

One guy mentioned AEW possibly beating raw in the ratings. That's only going to happen on a consistent basis if WWE continues to churn out total garbage.

Plenty others like myself dip their toe in to AEW, see something they like but notice most of it is garbage too. 

It caters to a certain audience and that's fine..I can't see it growing though.

“I can’t see it growing” despite it consistently growing for two years now, in viewers, attendance and PPV buys. Fair play.

Why you think CM Punk needs to squash someone I have no idea. He’s CM Punk! Look at who their champion is, he’s had one squash in his entire AEW tenure.

[FairWeatherFan]

27 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

It caters to a certain audience and that's fine..I can't see it growing though.

You would probably get good odds against growth with the bookies since they're in the middle of a rise right now.

Between last night and the next month they're got 3 shows that should hit over 10,000+*. Only putting that as a should rather than will due to COVID scuppering the shows. So attendance wise they're improving and only hampered by the impacts of COVID on live events.

Ratings wise is an unknown. They were programmed against with NXT up until April. After the bump they got from NXT moving days, Dynamite was then shuffled around for the NBA Playoffs. In the new year they move to TBS. TNT is the premium Turner channel, but TBS is available in slightly more homes and gets slightly higher ratings on average.

All I'm willing to guess at this point is that they've not peaked. They'll eventually surpass the debut episode of Dynamite of 1.4m+

 

[Ludo*1]

3 hours ago, TheGoon said:

WWE won’t ever be caught financially. It isn’t like WCW in that it’s a genuine threat to their existence, they're much more secure now. Dynamite catching RAW isn’t far away in the ratings though, and whilst it hasn’t happened yet, you’d hope it’d inspire a complete refresh. 

I think Vince has already been putting the blocks in place for a complete reset of WWE already for quite a while. This very much feels like a shite transitional period for WWE in the same way of 94-97 was. I reckon there'll be another year or 2 of utter shite until some promise starts coming through again.

As amazing as Punk's return was, the pop was absolutely incredible, I still don't think Vince gives a shit what AEW are doing because it's just completely different levels.

If Dynamite starts catching Raw, then that'll be Vince's first acknowledgement of anything, but even then, WWE's financial model couldn't give two shits about ratings these days hence how they've got away with serving up shite for so long.

[DukDukGoose]

11 minutes ago, TheGoon said:

“I can’t see it growing” despite it consistently growing for two years now, in viewers, attendance and PPV buys. Fair play.

Why you think CM Punk needs to squash someone I have no idea. He’s CM Punk! Look at who their champion is, he’s had one squash in his entire AEW tenure.

He's CM Punk. That's why he should be squashing someone! If he comes in and has 50/50 matches with mid carders then he's just becomes another guy.

If you haven't noticed the trend of them pulling big numbers for a while...then dropping to a more consistent level I don't know what to tell you.

3 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

You would probably get good odds against growth with the bookies since they're in the middle of a rise right now.

Between last night and the next month they're got 3 shows that should hit over 10,000+*. Only putting that as a should rather than will due to COVID scuppering the shows. So attendance wise they're improving and only hampered by the impacts of COVID on live events.

Ratings wise is an unknown. They were programmed against with NXT up until April. After the bump they got from NXT moving days, Dynamite was then shuffled around for the NBA Playoffs. In the new year they move to TBS. TNT is the premium Turner channel, but TBS is available in slightly more homes and gets slightly higher ratings on average.

All I'm willing to guess at this point is that they've not peaked. They'll eventually surpass the debut episode of Dynamite of 1.4m+

 

As above.

[TheGoon]

10 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

He's CM Punk. That's why he should be squashing someone! If he comes in and has 50/50 matches with mid carders then he's just becomes another guy.

If you haven't noticed the trend of them pulling big numbers for a while...then dropping to a more consistent level I don't know what to tell you.

As above.

Well obviously bigger shows are going to do bigger ratings (they’re not “hot-shotting” things though) - 9.4 Million didn’t start watching RAW every week after This is Your Life - that “consistent level” is what they need to build up through good shows, and good storytelling and they have. It’s now a disappointment if they don’t crack a million, it wasn’t a couple of months ago. It’ll soon be a disappointment if they aren’t getting over - they are growing. 

Also, can you please talk me through the squash matches CM Punk’s had in the past? In IWA, ROH, WWE? It’s just he managed to become the most over person in all of those companies by having consistently brilliant (sometimes hour and a half long) wrestling matches. His mic work elevated him above everyone else. He has never been some killer in the ring, he doesn’t need to be. He needs to win, he does not need squashes. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by TheGoon

[DukDukGoose]

2 minutes ago, TheGoon said:

Well obviously bigger shows are going to do bigger ratings (they’re not “hot-shotting” things though) - 9.4 Million didn’t start watching RAW every week after This is Your Life - that “consistent level” is what they need to build up through good shows, and good storytelling and they have. It’s now a disappointment if they don’t crack a million, it wasn’t a couple of months ago. It’ll soon be a disappointment if they aren’t getting over - they are growing. 

Also, can you please talk me through the squash matches CM Punk’s had in the past? In IWA, ROH, WWE? It’s just he managed to become the most over person in all of those companies by having consistently brilliant (sometimes hour and a half long) wrestling matches. His mic work elevated him above everyone else. He has never been some killer in the ring, he doesn’t need to be. He needs to win, he does not need squashes. 

Let's agree to disagree.

[FairWeatherFan]

2 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

If you haven't noticed the trend of them pulling big numbers for a while...then dropping to a more consistent level I don't know what to tell you.

As above.

I've have noticed them being counter programmed up until April 2021, displaced by the NBA Playoffs for 5 weeks in a row, and being on TNT. None of which will be true in 6 months.

So i'm not exactly going to predict what's going to happen in the next year based on the past couple.

 

 

 

[DukDukGoose]

3 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

I've have noticed them being counter programmed up until April 2021, displaced by the NBA Playoffs for 5 weeks in a row, and being on TNT. None of which will be true in 6 months.

So i'm not exactly going to predict what's going to happen in the next year based on the past couple.

 

 

 

What counter programming? NXT?

If that's the case then why has their ratings not soared since they moved to another night?

[TheGoon]

8 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

What counter programming? NXT?

If that's the case then why has their ratings not soared since they moved to another night?

Wait, what? You don’t think they were taking away viewers? 

[FairWeatherFan]

13 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

What counter programming? NXT?

If that's the case then why has their ratings not soared since they moved to another night?

0.28 688 Wednesday 7 April against NXT Stand & Deliver night 1

0.44 1,219 Wednesday 14 April No more NXT on Wednesdays

Averages on 2021

First 14 Wednesday Dynamites of 2021 = 768,928

The 14 Wednesday Dynamites of 2021 since NXT moved to Tuesday = 1,010,714

 

 

[DukDukGoose]

10 minutes ago, TheGoon said:

Wait, what? You don’t think they were taking away viewers? 

I don't think fans of either are that fussed about the other. Hence the big difference in the 'demos'.

[cb_diamond]

2 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

0.28 688 Wednesday 7 April against NXT Stand & Deliver night 1

0.44 1,219 Wednesday 14 April No more NXT on Wednesdays

Averages on 2021

First 14 Wednesday Dynamites of 2021 = 768,928

The 14 Wednesday Dynamites of 2021 since NXT moved to Tuesday = 1,010,714

 

 

You better wrap that making obvious, logical points nonsense. It'll never catch on in these parts!!!

[DukDukGoose]

2 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

0.28 688 Wednesday 7 April against NXT Stand & Deliver night 1

0.44 1,219 Wednesday 14 April No more NXT on Wednesdays

Averages on 2021

First 14 Wednesday Dynamites of 2021 = 768,928

The 14 Wednesday Dynamites of 2021 since NXT moved to Tuesday = 1,010,714

 

 

The numbers seem to shoot up right around where it was rumoured they were signing Punk and Bryan. No?

The hit one million every week since mid July. Hadn't hit it since May.

[TheGoon]

2 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

I don't think fans of either are that fussed about the other. Hence the big difference in the 'demos'.

Well, they’re either arsed or AEW are actually drawing in new viewers. Which one is it? 

[DukDukGoose]

Just now, TheGoon said:

Well, they’re either arsed or AEW are actually drawing in new viewers. Which one is it? 

As I said before, they seem to be consistent in hitting a high number and then it settles down again. Usually they hit a high number when a big show is coming or a big star makes an appearance (Shaq/Tyson etc). Then it settles down.

There's a lot of buzz around Punk and Bryan at the minute. I said at the time Bryan was heavily rumoured as being a done deal that I expect them to hit a high number for a period of time before settling back down to the usual 700-800k.

I'm happy for you to bookmark this and tell me I was wrong in 6 months.

As I said earlier, we aren't going to agree. No point going over and over the same thing.