AEW Rampage - 20th August 2021

[KawadaSmile]

What if he returns as Blackjack Wyatt tho

[Laz]

He'll avoid any possibility of getting sued, so he'll be Page's new buddy, Hangman Rotunda.

[FMKK]

Bray Wyatt is the drizzling shits. Keep him away.

[MoS]

Yeah, I really don't want Bray Wyatt in AEW. Even if they revamp him, just.. why? He doesn't fit in AEW. His idea of wrestling is very different from what AEW presents. Brother NintendoLogic mentioned how Broken Matt Hardy flopped. So what's the point behind taking in Wyatt and changing his gimmick? Why? Cuz he sells merch? AEW has enough merch sellers. AEW has enough over stars who need more prominent pushes as it is. Their homegrown talent can barely make television. I bet they could sell merch too

[C.S.]

Wyatt has never done it for me in the ring, but I absolutely believe he's creative enough to make an AEW run work.

As for Punk, @cubbymark mentioned the possibility of him becoming one of the EVPs if he had signed two years. When was that ever on the table? I've never heard that. Jericho isn't an EVP. J.R. isn't an EVP. Even two years ago, I can't see an offer like that being made to Punk.  

[Tim Cooke]

Remember that Punk’s lawsuit wasn’t settled when AEW started. That was definitely one reason he wasn’t on board at the beginning. Probably plenty of other reasons as well. 

[Blehschmidt]

Add me to the Cult Leader Wyatt over Fiend Wyatt camp ten times out of ten.

The original theme, the crowd singing "whole world in his hands", Harper and Rowan, Follow the Buzzards....

I found every bit of that far more entertaining than anything that ever happened with The Fiend.

Cult Leader Wyatt had so much potential if they'd gone a more Charles Manson/Jim Jones route with it and left the supernatural nonsense alone. 

[The Man in Blak]

I think both iterations on the Wyatt character had potential, but neither one had a chance in the world of succeeding with 50/50 booking and (especially in the case of The Fiend) no restraint whatsoever.

I feel like he could still be effective in AEW, if only because they’ve shown they can be patient - good booking can go a long way towards turning things around.

[sek69]

LOL @ the idea of Punk possibly being an EVP, dude publically big timed Cody at the time because he didn't think AEW would make it. He also had his hands full with other matters too, but it's been noted Punk was 100% one of the primary targets when AEW was being conceived and he turned them down flat. 

[Al]

20 hours ago, MoS said:

Yeah, I really don't want Bray Wyatt in AEW. Even if they revamp him, just.. why? He doesn't fit in AEW. His idea of wrestling is very different from what AEW presents. Brother NintendoLogic mentioned how Broken Matt Hardy flopped. So what's the point behind taking in Wyatt and changing his gimmick? Why? Cuz he sells merch? AEW has enough merch sellers. AEW has enough over stars who need more prominent pushes as it is. Their homegrown talent can barely make television. I bet they could sell merch too

I think AEW has reached the point where talent benefits more from joining AEW than AEW benefits from the talent joining. That's not to disparage anyone individually. But they're selling out now, they're currently building up multiple main event talents and every person they add is someone else they have to cut from a card. They get diminishing returns from each person they add.

[Dav'oh]

On 8/22/2021 at 12:35 AM, MoS said:

Nobody took a bigger L last night than u/pearpressure12

I just had to find out what happened. From the man himself: "I'll do the top 3. I'll get the tattoo but not on my neck (at least not exactly where Cody got his). I'll donate the $200 to charity. I'll record myself staring at a wall for 569 minutes....I would get terminated from my job if I got the tattoo on my neck. I'm creating the compromise that works for everyone. I'm not a liar, afraid of commitments or seeking attention. I am, however, keeping my job."

[sek69]

1.129 million viewers for Rampage, a show that airs at 10pm on Friday nights. Holy shit.

[NintendoLogic]

Big Dog gonna have to eat his words about Punk not moving the needle.

[sek69]

1.7 in the demo in Chicago, which even considering it's his home town is fucking nuts.  Dude just jacked Jericho's Demo God gimmick.

[SirEdger]

Impressive numbers

[Steenalized]

11 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Big Dog gonna have to eat his words about Punk not moving the needle.

Got me to possibly follow wrestling (and log in here) for the first time in five years, seems legit.

[DMJ]

35 minutes ago, sek69 said:

1.129 million viewers for Rampage, a show that airs at 10pm on Friday nights. Holy shit.

And there are some folks trying to spin it as a disappointment because they assumed CM Punk would somehow do better than RAW, the most established wrestling show in TV history, or SmackDown, which is on network TV.

I haven't been able to find them (the website I checked say they won't post until tomorrow or Wednesday), but I'm curious to know how the show fared on the cable ratings compared to whatever else was on on Friday night on cable. 

[sek69]

Yeah anyone trying to dismiss this number is either a blind WWE stan, trolling, or being contrarian for the sake of it. Some people have made WWE such a part of their identity the idea another successful national company can exist is terrifying to them, as if it invalidates their existence as people. 

[JNLister]

32 minutes ago, DMJ said:

And there are some folks trying to spin it as a disappointment because they assumed CM Punk would somehow do better than RAW, the most established wrestling show in TV history, or SmackDown, which is on network TV.

I haven't been able to find them (the website I checked say they won't post until tomorrow or Wednesday), but I'm curious to know how the show fared on the cable ratings compared to whatever else was on on Friday night on cable. 

https://showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-150-friday-cable-originals-network-finals-8-20-2021.html

In 18-49s, second on cable behind NFL pre-season on ESPN and beat everything on broadcast TV other than Smackdown.

[El-P]

People have been moving the goalposts with AEW since day 1. Fact : they shouldn't even be competitive with a 35 years old (to speak strictly of the Vince Jr. era) juggernaut that has been synonymous with the business in the mainstream culture since Hulk Hogan and has operated basically on a monopoly for almost the last 20 years. Being able to exist and live its life while being relevant way behind WWE would be a success. Yet, they have thrashed NXT so bad that Vince is gonna kill revamp it. And less than two years of them being on TV, they get *those* numbers, and that's after a fucking pandemic that had hurt their early momentum when crowds disappeared. Yet every big success they have is *never* actually a success, it's just Uncle Dave being paid by Coach Tony K. to twist the facts and every missteps/mistakes they make is the imminent sign of their soon-to-come demise. 

People have been brainwashed. I would feel sorry for them but sadly, I'm too busy having a fucking blast and I'm kind of an asshole with low tolerance for complete dumbfuckery.

Well, can't wait until Bryan Danielson shows up. At this rate, fucking Nikki Bella could show up, really, I mean, once the brother-in-law is in, why the hell not ?

(and yeah, I'm interested in anyone, well, Kane and a few select others excepted, showing up anywhere out of the WWE system as this company has been a proven toxic waste (remember Bianca BeLair at Mania ? It sure ended well). Doesn't mean everyone will thrive or will be fun or different, but I'm willing to give even guys like *gasp* Bray Wyatt the benefit of the doubt to see what they can do away from Vince, Brucie, Ace & Dunn, the Three Musketeers of dumbfuck booking & production)

[sek69]

After Nikki went off on the bullshit that happened at Summerslam to Bianca, I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see her show up at some point. 

At this point AEW is where WCW was where from a perception standpoint it was the place the wrestlers you like to watch wanted to be, which made them look like they were winning against the WWF before the numbers actually backed it up.  WWE already looks super overproduced and sterile as it is, if people like Bray Wyatt and Adam Cole start showing up it will make AEW look like the cool place to be and WWE as the sinking ship everyone is fleeing from. 

[KawadaSmile]

4 hours ago, sek69 said:

1.129 million viewers for Rampage, a show that airs at 10pm on Friday nights. Holy shit.

Fucking awesome. It'll be great if they stay even around the 900k mark, given the time slot.

 

3 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Big Dog gonna have to eat his words about Punk not moving the needle.

...as much as The Rock.

[KawadaSmile]

Clarify something for me, bubbas: where does Rampage rank in terms of AEW shows? Dynamite is their main one, but what is the rest of the hierarchy?

There might come a point in which they need to do a brand split. They have FOUR shows on right now and an honestly gigantic roster. If they want to sustain some nice numbers, I think it wouldn't be the worst of ideas.

[Migs]

49 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Clarify something for me, bubbas: where does Rampage rank in terms of AEW shows? Dynamite is their main one, but what is the rest of the hierarchy?

There might come a point in which they need to do a brand split. They have FOUR shows on right now and an honestly gigantic roster. If they want to sustain some nice numbers, I think it wouldn't be the worst of ideas.

Dynamite is meant to be 1A, Rampage 1B. It may settle to being a more clear B show at some point, in the same way Smackdown has sort of swung between 1B and a true B show at times. I think right now Elevation > regular Dark.

[Coffey]

Dynamite is Nitro. Rampage is Thunder. Dark & Dark: Elevation are Worldwide & Main Event.

EDIT: Also, can anyone else not click on Timbo's thread about the Roster Crunch? It won't let me load it.