AEW - All Elite Wrestling (*Spoilers for Latest Show*)

ThePott

Great show if a bit of a step down from last week.

I don't know who decided to open with a Jericho-Spears match, that was just not all that interesting. It did make me wonder though what Shawn Spears gimmick would even be if he didn't leather Cody with a chair years ago. Remember when he had a story where he left AEW and it lead to nothing. As I was thinking this I was worried that we were just going to have to see Jericho face off against the whole Pinnacle but thankfully Nick F'N Gage. Crazy to have him only be the second match but a cool surprise even if I'm not sure what to expect from this match, they've got me invested in the 5 labours now though, even if I did think the Painmaker reveal was cringe. Don't think that gimmick ever felt all that brutal personally and certainly not on the level of Gage.

A lot of the matches on the show I found pretty underwhelming that had some good moments or a good aftermath. Gallows/Kazarian was a match I just didn't need. Not sure how much legs there are in the Elite Hunter gimmick either but the Hangman/Dark Order save was great, Omega still has the mark from blading for Slammiversary I see. Darby/Wheeler was fine, the highlight for me was the OC/Sting staredown though. Britt/Nyla wasn't great tbh. Nyla seemed very slow in the ring and they just didn't have great chemistry. I do feel like Britt is a bit overrated personally and I do agree with a post earlier that their presentation of her isn't helping. Blade/OC was fine too I suppose. I like the direction they're going with Andrade and Death Triangle, I think Chavo is a great addition, please stop the What chants with ESL promos please, or just in general.

Main event. Really loved it, I got to hand it to AEW. I was just thinking to myself that it's hard to ever get invested in Lance Archer because he never wins a big match and then the cynic in me said that NJPW probably won't allow a title switch on Dynamite. This was a brutal and blood match that probably wasn't to everyone's taste but I liked it and the ending did surprise me. Don't know much about this Hikuleo guy, seems to be a lesser BC member but Jesus the size of him.

For any faults I have with AEW, the stuff they've set up and the apparent signing of Bryan and potential signing of Punk, it's impossible to not be excited for the future of the company in the long run which I can't really say for WWE.

B.A._Baracus

Imo, AEW is now the hottest wrestling promotion on the planet and will dominate raw ratings from now on. Their product is better and with Daniel Bryan signing as well as potentially cm punk, aew is ahead. In 6 to 12 months I can see Dynamite getting three times the rating of raw. Maybe more.

I personally hope aew near destroys wwe because only then would wwe likely be to finally change their product.

LineOfBeauty

Most exciting wrestling has been in over 2 decades.

Headshot

This was so so good

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1418008887123456006

titan18

Seen some speculation that Khan might announce a UK Tour for 2022 next week. Would love if that was the case

I thought it was the weakest show since fans came back but that's not me saying it was **** because the shows have been great. The card even before the show didn't look the best.

Kaz vs Gallows was as expected terrible.

Nyla Vs Baker was very sloppy and their chemistry was non existent.

Blade Vs OC dragged a bit.

I thought at some stage Gage would come in for a match but I'm shocked it's against Jericho.

I wonder will Andrade (+ 2 others) Vs death triangle see the introduction of the talked about 6 man titles.

Also surprised they didn't have Thunder Rosa on either Texas Dynamite show especially after her Dark pop last week. Would definitely have had her in a match over Yuka Vs Ford or have her confront Baker at the end of her match.

Loved the main event and next week is looking like a great card.

The White Wolf

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645042#Comment_117645042

As Zandig would say NICK GAGE.

J. Marston

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117646173#Comment_117646173

Daniel Bryan was in a Wrestlemania main event feud a few months ago and did nothing for ratings.

Where is the logic in him being the man that will get AEW 5 million viewers in 6 months time?

Monokne

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117645415#Comment_117645415

Brock is known further than Bryan would be but it is nominal and he would expect to be paid like 7 - 10 million dollars a year for 5 or 6 matches so as a value proposition, I don't think he is worth it.

I wonder if Bryan will be written off Total Divas/Bellas now.

B.A._Baracus

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117646652#Comment_117646652

Funny.... I did mention punk too. My post just wasn't about Daniel Bryan. That's a very weird reply by you. Its like you lasered in to one specific point (or took it up wrong?)

Look, Daniel Bryan by himself doesn't mean huge ratings by his lonesome. But he's more eyes on product. But more than that aew is the far superior wrestling product to wwe as is. Theyre growing. Theyre going in the right direction. The train is leaving the station. Punk comes on board too? ... forget about it.

If you think wwe will always win the ratings war with its boring product you may need to reevaluate lol

ThePott

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117646894#Comment_117646894

Pretty sure Bryan (and Brie?) asked to not be part of Total Bellas or Divas as they didn't want their child growing up on television.

As for the ratings debate, people need to temper their expectations. I'm massively excited for Punk and Bryan as most people will be but we have to ask ourselves where these viewers will come from. I'd wager plenty of the people who would be excited about Punk/Bryan are already watching AEW. Punk in particular. We also need to be realistic, Punk has been gone a long time, arguably the iron isn't as hot as it was. No doubt tehm being there will pop some ratings but will it double their viewership, probably not.

Could AEW beat WWE in the ratings? Absolutely but I don't think there's any one person who could do it, it could happen over time as a gradual process. That being said wrestling is niche, it will take a lot to bring it into the mainstream viewership wise again.

Agent Coulson

Hopefully they announce Danielson soon for the NYC show and say nothing more about it till he debuts.

Mention nothing about Punk and let him just turn up at All Out weekend.

ThePott

Might be nothing or just playing with the rumours but just saw a video of Jon Moxley promoting tickets for the Cincinnati show (the first one after All Out) and he said "AEW will be Live, IN LIVING COLOUR".

J. Marston

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117647005#Comment_117647005

I lasered in on it because it's fúcking hilarious.

If they sign Bryan and Punk ratings are gonna go up, probably to something like 1.4 or 1.5 million which would be huge for them.

"3 times the rating of Raw. Maybe more." Your words. AEW has hovered between 750k to 1.1 million for two years now. How does Daniel Bryan and Punk get them to 5 million in 6 months. I really want to hear the logic behind it.

B.A._Baracus

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117647271#Comment_117647271

You feeling alright in the head J, are ya? Seriously. do you need to see a doctor or something?

now if your peepers arent the best my post (that one you quoted) was saying how imo aew is the hottest promotion. It's product is better than wwe. With bryan signing, and even cm punk maybe signing it can only go up. Go on check. But somehow, in that brain box of yours you read DANIEL BRYAN = 10 BILLION PEOPLE WATCHING EACH WEEK...DUURRRRRRRP. Dude, theres twisting things and taking the piss like!

again, i will spell this out for you.... not just danial bryan and cm punk. the product as a whole is a million times better. How are you not getting this? It's like I am saying apples, oranges, pears and bananas and all you see is bananas and zoom in on that.

I. AM. NOT. SAYING. JUST. DANIAL. BRYAN. Do you understand that J? or do you want to laser point on something else?

J. Marston

I don't think I'm the one who needs to see a doctor.

Pentecost

I don't think enough people in the wider community actually have any interest in wrestling these days for them to get much higher ratings than WWE get now. I don't think anyone they bring in can pull in significantly more viewers than that.

titan18

Ya, TV and entertainment is so fragmented now that any wrestling product will never get those numbers again imo, and if they do, it's one offs rather than consistently (if The Rock, Cena and Batista all came back to have matches, WWE could). You need those actual mainstream stars that are interested in wrestling bringing their fans over (Bad Bunny, Shaq etc drew viewers like) and those guys are invested enough to stay a bit rather than one offs, it might but that's about it.

Headshot

The card for Fight For The Fallen looks stacked

 No Disqualification match: Chris Jericho vs. Nick Gage

* Elimination match: Kenny Omega, The Good Brothers, and The Young Bucks vs. Adam Page, Alex Reynolds, John Silver, Evil Uno, and Stu Grayson (If Page and The Dark Order win, they earn shots at the World and Tag Team titles, respectively)

* FTR vs. Proud and Powerful

* IWGP United States: Lance Archer (c) vs. Hikuleo

* Christian Cage, Jungle Boy, and Luchasaurus vs. Angelico and Private Party

I personally cannot wait for FTR v Proud and Powerful.

LineOfBeauty

Seeing people have a go at the ratings but they are not as bad as people will make them out to be, not even close. I don't know very many other sports where the secondary brand (which is essentially what AEW is atm) routinely ranks in the top 5 for the night and only last week (?) finished 1st for the night.

riffmongous

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117647815#Comment_117647815

Yeah that looks prety good, I really hope the Dark Order can take the belts off the Young Bucks, they are really holding up the tag team division at this stage. No point introducing a trios title when your normal Tag could be so much better.

Private Party and Angelico combined entrance is great.

RollieFingers

Gage appearing for a mainstream promotion is nuts, love to see it.

Liking the Hikuleo appearance, G.O.D surely can't be too far behind. The door opens further again, the day a Naito or Okada walks out on Dynamite will be class.

I don't see how you could be a fan of pro wrestling and not enjoy the majority of what you get from AEW, it's easily the hottest and most enjoyable US promotion to watch by a mile.

Agent Coulson

Getting Chavo in as Andrade's mouth piece is a clever bit of business they could do after losing Thea, He is good on the mic and can work with the best of them.

To be fair you don't watch Death Triangle and Andrade promo work you watch for their in ring work.

I am loving Alex Abrahantes as Penta say mouth piece.

B.A._Baracus

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117647638#Comment_117647638

I get what you are saying, but WWE itself has had the lowest raw rating ever in recent times. People are switching off the product. Sure, many people have over the last 20 years. WWE's current mentality is bring in stars of the past to recapture those fans.

Shiminay

I enjoyed that show. Not quite as hot as last week, but very good nonetheless.

Nick Gage for the second Jericho task is a fun idea and I get a feeling that we're seeing a "greatest hits of Jericho" run before announcing retirement (I see MJF going 3 and 0 in their battles to support that- make a "you must break up the Inner Circle" part of it too to let people go their own way).

Britt is too over to remain a heel, the crowd reaction in spite of all her heel plays in the match. It wasn't a great match in truth, I don't think Britt and Nyla work too well together. I thought they might do a

Chavo in to speak for Andradé is a good plan. I have no problem with people switching into their native language and delivering firey promos that way - the intent is always clear and delivery much more forceful. The refs were about 30 seconds late making their run out, but that's not a major complaint. I think they could tell an interesting story with Andrade luring Penta and Fenix away from Death Triangle.

Darby and Yuta put on a decent show. Sting and OC popped me. It was very daft and I love that sorta nonsense. The Blade and OC match was fine, not as smooth as it might have been.

I didn't think Archer was taking the win against Mox, but it was a violent and brutal affair. Shoutouts to Abdullah the Butcher. Goodness me, Hikuleo is a large boi.

Pentecost

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117648214#Comment_117648214

Yeah there's no doubt that there's room for a little growth from where WWE are now. I just don't see the ratings being doubled by AEW, WWE or anyone else. If I'm wrong then great, I'd love to see AEW take off big time.

Headshot

That Mox Vs. Guile - Street Fighter X AEW shirt is pretty sweet

https://global.shopaew.com/mox-vs-guile-street-fighter-x-aew-limited-edition-official-capcom-x-nerds-clothing-collaboration-only-avail-1-week-until-7-28.html

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1418282316984721409?s=19

Yes!!!!!!!!

Pentecost

Great. Hopefully she gets more time on Dynamite in the coming weeks. Rampage starting should be a help too. I know she's been on Dark quite a bit but I haven't really found the time to watch that.

Headshot

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117648505#Comment_117648505

Damn you beat me to it

Get it, what a freaking great roster AEW has

She's coming for the belt, Britt v Rosa at ALL OUT I reckon

Anybody know what's the story with Serena Deeb, love to see her more