Jmare007

Unless the 15 minute limit gives the match a defined and distinct feeling from everything else on the card, that belt is gonna become meaningless by year 2 when they ran out of interesting people to give the title to and it just becomes another filler match in cards.

The truth, the Space broadcast was hilariously bad.

Makes sense, the past few weeks Dynamite has felt like a backdoor pilot for ROH (I don't watch Rampage but from the card announcements it felt like that show was the ROH focused one for a while too). Tony usually promotes every latest development from AEW as it's biggest most important thing -as he should- so I don't know if his enthusiasm over having so much TV this week was him getting his promoter talk on, or if he indeed wants 5 hours of TV for his product. If he can't handle 3, I don't think he'll be able to handle 5 either, so I hope that if he gets what he wants, he finally get booking committee going. Then again, in the same interview he was proud about handling everything by himself...

I feel this whole Jericho run is for him to put García over. As much as I don't care about their feud, it seems clear that's the final goal.

I think Sammy has enough heat to put another guy over. Let him continue to be annoying, get Ws and then have Starks interrupt him, embarrass him on the mic and beat the fuck out of him in a match.

LOL. I gotta believe Sammy and Andrade only got into a shouting argument because there's now way Guevara was in a fight backstage and not only keep his spot in the main event, he also got to showcase and get the W. I know some folks are big fans of Jericho's run this year, and he indeed has had a lot of good matches in 2022, but I have no interest in another match with Dragon. Does García face Jericho at the PPV to unify the belts or does García costs Jericho his Ocho? I also have no interest in that match between them either (and neither does the crowd, it seems).

Well, DC did NOT want to see JB vs Luchasaurus. Barely reacted to Christian's tease.

Actually loved Mox's response to Hangman's challenge.

That darn Sneaky Swerve!

Seeing grown ass fans (30-40 year olds) going insane over scissoring is something else

Nah, keep Hobbs strong after the Starks feud.

Are there other hosses out there to copy this formula for Wardlow? dude could keep his momentum with 7 minute sprints against big opponents.

This AEW anniversary has been booked like an ROH special so far

Man, when the crowd goes quiet it feels like the building is fucking empty.

We need 2.Coke to eventually turn and have a blood feud with someone. Him bleeding buckets and firing up while mounting a comeback would have any crowd losing their collective shit.

Maybe Tony kept Sammy in the match so Danielson and García can do to him what Dragon and Strong did to the Bucks in DDT4.

That was a really good opener. Regal putting the knux on was dope

Is the tag match the main event? Doesn't feel worthy of a 15 minute overrun. For a while I thought TK might use those minutes to run an angle or even bring back The Elite. I think Yuta suffered from doing absolutely nothing after the hot angle that got him in the BCC. Crowds were reacting big and chanting his name. Then he never said a single word nor had any new showcase in AEW TV for months until this MJF mini feud (he did get the Pure Title and lost it, both matches came out of nowhere with little build). He was just member n°3 of the group and that was it. I agree him facing MJF is the right call, it's the right spot for him right now. It would just feel more meaningful if we would've been given a reason to care about Yuta since early April.

There was a middle ground were Tony could've signed them for short term deals so he could use them to get other people over. Instead of just having them as priced toys in the shelf and using them randomly or having weeks or months without booking them, it would've been better to get a 6 month focused run and then off they go. And if the talent was a hit, you extend him/her. Also, Starks not only their best prospect but also the voice of reason.

That's incredible.

The Rampage show not being an immediate sellout in a mid sized building kinda backs what @DMJ is saying. Given that it's not a TV show that airs in Canada, it's basically a taped house show and there wasn't enough interest even for the debut. Probably because fans have no idea what they might get and they'll wait till there's a semblance of a card and cheaper prices.

I get your point, but transitioning from appealing to those very hardcore fans that made your business not only possible but a very successful one for 3+ years is very complex. Not only you have the difficulty of alienating the audience that brought you to the dance and made you a major player but getting the attention -and more importantly, the money- from a fan you don't even know how to reach, is a tall task. I don't believe wrestling has a significant portion of casual fans that are there for the taking. I think the vast majority is either a hardcore/online/phased fans that have very different tastes and are not easy to please, let alone get them to spend money on you. I guess the answer is "put on a compelling TV product and the people will come", but that way easier said than done. It's just frustrating to watch how TK seems to go away from compelling stuff as time goes on.

I truly wonder if that hardcore fanbase that spent so much money in The Elite and made ROH, All In and AEW so successful is there anymore. As you've mentioned, a lot of the stuff that made them so into wrestling is either lacking or stopped existing: the "we are having fun/we are all friends" vibe is gone, WWE is not Satan anymore, New Japan stopped being the cool thing only the "real nerd fans" know about, even PWG's whole scene and unique atmosphere is gone. Even if that fanbase is still there and is willing to spend their money on wrestling, do you try to bring them back to the building? They have very specific tastes that are polarizing even for the IWC. Yes, they do give the product something unique, but it kinda showed it had a ceiling. If you TK, are you content with that ceiling? It's a complex decision. The next 6 to 12 months are gonna be very interesting. I truly hope things change quickly because the product is straight up bad for me, only reason I keep watching is because Danielson is still a full time performer, lol.

Some concerning stuff regarding future live attendance for AEW. I mean, they are still doing good but the drop in a lot of markets is very big, specially ones were they are coming back for just a second or third show in a year (there's no reason to think they've exhausted those places). Not sure if I can post this so please tell me and I'll edit/delete it if necessary. Dave comments that the hope that the great atmosphere and Arthur Ashe show would get live business back on track hasn’t shown up yet. He reports 10/12 in Toronto is basically sold out at 6,783, but the Rampage show on 10/13 is at 4,853. He assumes that the part of this may be that Rampage isn’t on television in Canada so its name value is nil, because the demand for Dynamite was off the chart and was an immediate sellout but the people turned away could have gotten Rampage tickets and most chose not to. He also reports 10/18 for the Tuesday night show in Cincinnati with Jon Moxley vs. Adam Page is at 3,053 at the Heritage Bank Center which he saw this is not good. 10/21 Rampage in Jacksonville is at 2,250. 10/26 in Norfolk is at 2,217, way down from the last show. 10/28 in Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Casino is at 3,768. 11/2 in Baltimore is at 1,525, which shocks Dave for that market. 11/4 in Atlantic City, NJ, is at 776, which is brutal, especially since they did 5,500 paid and 5,900 in the building in February in the same arena. 11/9 in Boston is at 2,322, about half of what it was in the same building last time they were there and Boston as sold out every prior AEW show very quickly. This is also two-and-a-half weeks before Survivor Series which is pretty much sold out in the same city. Dave continues to report that 11/16 in Bridgeport, CT is a 1,682, and they also did around triple that at the same point the last time in that building. 11/23 in Chicago at the Wintrust Arena is at 3,262, less than half of what last year’s night before Thanksgiving show did in the same arena which was an immediate sellout and Chicago has been the company’s best market. Dave notes that there are literally only three good numbers, the debut in Toronto which was a gimme, the debut in Seattle on 1/4 which is at 6,050 and many thought it would be a first day sellout but it’s still doing well and months away, and Full Gear. Dave reports Full Gear on 11/19 in Newark, NJ, for the first PPV in the New York market, is at 9,779 and a sellout would be a little over 12,000. Most AEW PPV shows (80 percent up to this point) were first day sellouts and this was not, but this will probably come close to selling out and be the next $1 million house so it’s good, but he’d say not selling out first day is a minor surprise for the first time AEW does a PPV in that market. The secondary market get-in price for Full Gear starts at $58, and while it is selling well at that price, that is above average for the market but the demand is not like prior PPV shows for the most part. Even the first night in Toronto the get-in price is $70, so demand cooled off for that show since tickets went on sale, and Rampage get-in price in Toronto is $6, meaning there is no interest at all in that show from those who didn’t get tickets right away and the secondary market is almost giving them away. Just more evidence that the honeymoon period is over. I also think Tony's style of phasing people out for so long and no storyline reasons behind has run it's course. Even with a healthier roster, it doesn't feel like AEW makes use of it.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/24b35ddcbefd2e240aca03cbf969209e43037f4d One of the most important figures ever in wrestling. RIP.