MoS

That Brandi-Kong promo was....intense. I hope Kong comes on Dynamite and squashes someone soon.

I really like the different ways they are opening their shows and incorporating segments without invisible cameras or insulting their fans' intelligence. I am cool with Khan being a babyface Tuney-like character who remains largely behind the scenes and makes appearances accordingly.

After Smackdown's FS1 number against baseball, I think the expectations from both will be very low, so hopefully both companies stick to their long-term planning for the show and don't do anything ridiculous.

I might be wrong, but the only heel they have heered against him is Fiend? Usually he gets meh reactions, and that is not being disrespectful to him. https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-raw-draws-third-worst-ratings-2019-296081 Apparently they did this number against a low-rated American football game. All demographics fell consistently throughout as the show went over, like the general trend has been, so at the very least, we can say the Rusev-Lana-Lashley angle is not generating any particular interest amongst viewers, cuz they built this show around the segment.

Yeah, unlike Seth, he is an actual draw. Forget about Roman, if Cena had received a push as strong as Seth has received, he would have been a bigger draw than he eventually became, and he was a pretty big draw. Wtf does Seth consider "enough respect" anyway? Crowd chanting "BURN IT DOWN" and "ROLLINS" every time he does a promo or interview?

I don't think Charlotte has been truly over in a long time, face or heel. She was in many ways the embodiment of WWE overbooking simple stuff during Ronda v. Becky, and while she gets a reaction and the Flair spots always get a pop, she just seems there, almost unimportant.

For all their weaknesses, I think WWE has done a good job booking Becky as the badass babyface ace in the last couple of months. The simple fact that she does not just shut up and listen to her opponents run their mouth and berate her, and comes out and starts fighting, goes a long way in doing that. I know people felt that Sasha should have won the world title, and I can definitely see that, but they are going all in on Becky and treating her as a genuine top person, and that's something that I respect. She cuts good promos and is charismatic so that helps.

Dave wrote in the Observer that the 3,000 number was so bad, they first thought it was a technical glitch, but there were no glitches and everything was fine. Perhaps it was just a bad night.

Meltzer wrote in the Observer that it "was the first non-sellout, with 6,000 fans in an arena that with the set up could have sold 9,500 tickets. But those there were hot for everything." Not a sellout, but a good number nonetheless. When was the last time a non-WWE American pro wrestling company did such numbers 4 weeks in a row?

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2019/10/24/20931010/aew-nxt-ratings-viewership-oct-23-2019-wednesday-night-war-wwe Given all the sports competition on Wednesday, with both NBA coming back and the World Series happening, is it fair to say that both shows did well? I think so. The 18-49 demographic remaining flat instead of declining has to be a good sign for both companies.

How many tickets did it end up selling? The crowd that was there was definitely hot, but I am curious because this was the first of the shows that did not immediately sell out, and that general region has seen a lot of AEW events over the past few weeks.

I liked how they sold the chance of a draw throughout the last 5 minutes, on commentary and in the arena. It made for a different change of pace, and allowed Mox to show his unhinged side by DDTing a ref, which genuinely came across as a good, major moment. Plus they shot a major angle after the show stopped airing which those watching on FITE could see, so I am guessing they wanted something to talk about on social media as well.

Lol at Baker getting a local promo to get her cheers. I hope this is leading to a heel turn and a midcard run.

That dig at WWE might have been a little too on the nose but the crowd absolutely loved it so what do I know.

It is so nice to see top faces booked neither like quiet cowardly chumps nor like plucky but dumb goofs. And it's so nice to see the top heel getting outsmarted and showing ass once in a while. It's just basic wrestling booking but it feels so refreshing.

Hopefully this means Dark Order will quietly go away and then get repackaged.

I really do not like the AEW chants. They are not as corny as say, if fans started chanting WWE at WWE events, but it still doesn't come across well to me.

Is this a regular match or a hardcore match? Although I am guessing that even if it's the latter, due to being televised and on TV, they probably won't go overboard with the weapons.

Really hope they give Moxley and Cody some solid interview time. As good as Jericho has been, both Cody and Mox are great promos and we need some good fiery babyface promos - Mox is a face, right?

I was going to say that I definitely remember it being much better than Rollins's reigns but then that is an absurdly low bar to clear.

If I recall correctly, the relatively brief run Ambrose had with one of the world titles in WWE was quite good and pretty well-received. It's one reason I am intrigued to see if AEW run with babyface Mox as world champ and the guy down the line sometime, and how it would feel.

WWE's flagship shows, which by now have become American TV institutions - as they will remind you literally every chance they get - are doing 2-2.5 million viewers every week. This week, Raw had 2.2 millions, I think, and last SD was about 2.4 despite being on a big network. The fact that AEW has got 1 million plus viewers on TV for three weeks - and today, there are plenty of avenues to get over your characters and sell your matches online as well - is honestly extremely impressive, in my opinion. I was certainly not expecting them to be able to do this. Last time a non-WWE company was regularly getting one million plus viewers was TNA in early 2010s, I think, and that was when WWE was getting, what, 5 million viewers on average for their shows?

I think Alicia Fox would be a great addition to the AEW roster. Riho doesn't have a last name or a stable/tag team helping her character get over, unlike Spike Dudley. And while crowds have been hot in general, there are definitely peaks and troughs and some acts don't get as big a reaction as others. In both singles matches she has had on Dynamite, the crowd has been mild, quietly appreciative early on, but by the end has been completely sucked in, with huge reactions to all the near falls, Riho's bursts of offence, and ultimately victory. I wish Awesome Kong was younger and not semi-retired. It would have been awesome to watch her destroy fools left right and centre as the women's champ.

https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2019/10/17/20918968/aew-nxt-ratings-viewership-oct-16-2019-wednesday-night-war 1.014 million for AEW; 712k for nxt. AEW seems to be approaching a steady state number of 1 million, which has to be greatly exceeding expectations of even one month back. Given how ratings for everything across the spectrum is declining, one million seems a solid number to build a promotion and get wrestlers over as stars and hot acts, thus selling tickets and drawing money and people in the long run. The ratings war is definitely not close. NXT is in a freefall and is getting murdered in the key demographic. I wonder if Vince will start interfering with nXt more and more.

At the risk of opening a can of worms, it's interesting to think, given his late career revival and I guess "post-prime" run, where he ranks amongst those regarded as all time great wrestlers like Shawn Michaels and Undertaker.