Jmare007

I mean, I don't think New Japan has gained anything significant out of that relationship. AEW wins most of their interpromotional matches -at best they can get the payback W, and most of the time it's not even in Japan, Okada beating Danielson is gonna be their biggest win in forever-, they very rarely lend main event talent for shows, they actually sign wrestlers that were important for New Japan and they haven't been able to come up with a useful excursion either. New Japan Strong has been the one that has gotten to rip some benefits but they are such a small operation that it doesn't really matter. At worst, they should sit with Tony and revise what the fuck is point (for New Japan) of having that working relationship.

I don't think that's true. An argument can be made that it hasn't made a significant difference on the positive side because every trend for the quarter hours has mostly stayed the same, but the CC matches do gain a little more viewers or lose a little less than the segments or matches that used to take place before the tourney. In the case of Collision it has actually reversed the trend of main events always losing viewers too (at least the ones that have Danielson in them). I also think the difference year to year isn't that significant either. At the end of the day, it's pretty natural for a company that has been cold for the past 18 months to have worse ratings than before.

Swerve has such a momentum that he completely eclipsed Joe's. I never though MJF would lose the strap in his hometown but Joe was looking like a good stop gap before Swerve could get it. Now it feels like they shouldn't go past early February without Swerve becoming champ.

I get why Tony feels so strongly about WBD but I've never understood why would he (as a businessman) attached himself so tightly to a company that every 5 years or so is going through a merger and some type of internal fuckery that more often than not ends up reshuffling plans put in motion by management. Now there's rumors of a Paramount merger and who knows what's gonna come out of that.

I mean, he's said countless times he isn't retiring. Shit, depending on how his body holds up in the next 10 years, wouldn't shock me at all to see him back in a regular basis once both his kids are teenagers, he's truly insane about wrestling

Another awesome promo from Danielson, that's 4 from this tournament alongside 4 dope matches

I hope we get a 5 way tie at 9pts for the Blue League, just to see how the hell they explain the tie breakers . Or maybe they just do a 5 way elimination match for the semis lol.

Kenny out indefinitely and now SRS reports this I'm pretty sure TK's booking would've made sure to kill Mercedes' drawing power rather quickly, but not even having the chance to at least take advantage of a couple of months of good ticket sales thanks to her, plus a couple of interesting matchups is gonna hurt.

Basically everyone that follows AEW agrees that 1) Swerve should be their world champ ASAP and 2) the Devil storyline has no possible good payoff, which is gonna hurt even more than usual considering it's a mystery angle that has ran for 3-4 months at this point. And still, I have very little faith Tony's booking will let 1) happen at an appropriate time and continue to push 2) as a huge angle even though there's no way to make it compelling or even have a good reveal.

Yeah, even if they have a rematch in the semifinals it feels like an unnecesary way to protect Mox. A draw would've been fine. I read that TK confirmed that the TC champion will defend the belts throughout the year (basically replacing the ROH champ) and now I don't want Swerve to win, but that L to Mox doesn't serve much of a purpose anyways.

So there are legit semifinals so everything I posted goes out of the table, lmao

If it's not about WBD, Meltz gonna get roasted again for being so coy about stuff he can't truly report yet but can't help but try to put out there in a vague manner.

If he likes going to night clubs and that life style, he should turn his character into a boxer/MMA fighter type were he lives the good life (dancing included) but when the ring bells he fucks you up. I feel his eureka moment shouldn't be choosing between "wrestler or sports entertainer" once again. He should realize he can do whatever the hell he wants as long as he's prolific in the ring and come out as a whole new character because of it. Screw what Jericho or Danielson think, find yourself young one.

And by lawd, this promo by Dragon!

Danielson vs García was really fucking good, very much worth watching.

How would a draw go against that though? If anything, it sets up a rematch down the line were he can get the W over Mox. The whole point of having a tournament like this one is that you can play with different results and not worry about protecting people so much. Swerve better get the world title belt by Revolution. I'm honestly kinda scared that this Triple Crown will be something that's defended regularly and if that's the case that's the last thing Swerve should be doing because that's the kiss of death in Tony's booking.

Wouldn't the Gold League be over one week in advance if either of them win? At most they could tie at 12 (which would require Swerve losing to Rush in the final week) and whoever wins next week has the tie breaker anyway. They kinda have to draw to keep things interesting.

Mox vs Swerve Is gonna be the first draw, right?

And now Narita joined House of Torture, lol. For the love of Terry Funk, someone take the fucking book away from Gedo.

Well, if WWE is not making good money on house shows given how well they've been doing for the past year, then I kind agree they have to change the model because it's not gonna get better than what they are making right now.

I mean, Okada becoming a free agent in February isn't really news. He usually becomes one considering how short term New Japan contracts are, lol. But with Bushiroad having a shitty year and wanting to cut costs, I guess this is the ideal time for someone to come in an snatch Okada away from them. It would be a heavy blow though, they have no one set up to become their next Ace. I have no clue why Tsuji, Umino and Narita are still booked as midcarders.

I feel like we should get Eddie vs Dragon III with Kingston finally getting the W, though at the same time they could save that for later on a PPV.

Has it been confirmed if there's going to be semifinals for the shows in Orlando? I think I heard Tony announce them but he could've just been implying that each block gets decided that week and not straight up semis.

And fuck Ric Flar man, it's 2023 let's talk about how awesome Eddie was yesterday. Dude screaming "no" to Danielson knowing he was about to lose and go 0-2 in the tournament before getting his head knee'd off was beautiful.

Yeah, the company is still in the red as far as we know. They just continue to get bigger revenue after a 2023 with more PPVs, the monster that was All In, a new TV deal for Collision (plus some international deals) and more shows because of that. I think it was Brandon Thurston who theorized that the only way for AEW to be profitable in the short term is that the next TV deal is indeed the big bump they are expecting it to be. Regardless, they are not in trouble and they'll more than likely come out of 2024-2025 looking stronger than ever financially.