Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[Matt D]

3 minutes ago, Jmare007 said:

A part of me feels like the crowd that followed The Elite everywhere and spent money on them on a level we had never seen before on a niche product/act had their series finale once Hangman beat Kenny for the belt. 

I could be completely wrong but I feel those fans that started the wave in the mid 2010's and basically made it possible to create AEW and make it a viable n°2 option in the U.S weren't gonna stay by 2023 no matter what. At least not in a way that could've saved the company from falling to the level it's been at for the past year.

I’ve really enjoyed the last week and a half of tournament-heavy eliteless Danielson-driven AEW, let me tell you.

[Johnny Sorrow]

What's with the eyepatches in this promotion? It's All Eyepatch Wrestling. Tony Khan loves Tournaments, Friends?, and eyepatches. Did Tony accidentally order a shit ton of eyepatches once and Shad is insisting that he use all of them?

[Jmare007]

10 hours ago, Matt D said:

I’ve really enjoyed the last week and a half of tournament-heavy eliteless Danielson-driven AEW, let me tell you.

Matt, I know you have. But you answering business/drawing arguments with your personal opinion on the product is always quite something

[Stiva]

I can take or leave The Elite (even though I generally enjoyed Omega’s title run) but I always appreciated that the stories they were in tended to have a solid focus on where things were going. AEW can feel unfocused a lot so I always appreciated that side of their work.

[Matt D]

58 minutes ago, Jmare007 said:

Matt, I know you have. But you answering business/drawing arguments with your personal opinion on the product is always quite something

Given the drop in cable subscribers over the last four years they’re basically getting the same % of possible eyes over the last few weeks as they were when they were consistently getting more, no? 850k in late 2023 is how comparable to 1 million in 2019 or 2021? So either fans haven’t stopped watching or they picked up new fans as the promotion broadened out to make up for the drift of the BTE fans.

[El-P]

12 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

A part of me feels like the crowd that followed The Elite everywhere and spent money on them on a level we had never seen before on a niche product/act had their series finale once Hangman beat Kenny for the belt. 

I could be completely wrong but I feel those fans that started the wave in the mid 2010's and basically made it possible to create AEW and make it a viable n°2 option in the U.S weren't gonna stay by 2023 no matter what. At least not in a way that could've saved the company from falling to the level it's been at for the past year.

I'm basically one of them, although a bit late to the party (I really did not get all of them completely before 2018). And I totally echo the sentiment, that's actually pretty much what I said earlier on. 

And yes, there definitely have been a switch of part of the audience, that goes back for a while now, with the current audience being more shared with WWE (and sounding more like a WWE audience too at times).

12 hours ago, Alucard said:

Flair posted an apology, telling Tony that if he embarrasses the company, he'll walk away. 

Well, yeah, please do then. Just have him show up with a bouquet of flowers at Sting's retirement will absolutely do.

[Dav'oh]

If he embarrasses the company, he'll walk away? That's shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

[KawadaSmile]

Does Matt think he should be a past his prime guy featured in the upper midcard coasting on his name alone? In the same company as Jericho?

[Dale Wolfe]

I think you could give them five minutes creative input out of a week's episode of dynamite to do some weird shit and it would be a good laugh but i forget they are even there half the time

[sek69]

So a former Jags employee got caught stealing $22 million from the franchise.

[NintendoLogic]

I have no idea how legitimate this is, but Danielson as TK's Johnny Ace is too hilarious to not be true and I will refuse to consider any evidence to the contrary.

[El-P]

"Coach TK loved me, but that American Dragon, what an asshole."

[Mr Wrestling 2000]

getting the most beloved wrestler who is also an on the record little shit to be your deputy is pretty smart

[Timbo Slice]

https://x.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1734648014193467815?s=20

If Dave’s tweet from a couple hours ago means what I think it means, it seems like an all time blunder by Tony if the worst case scenario happens. 

[Jmare007]

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.

[Embrodak]

WBD picking up Raw because Punk is *that* much of a selling point to them would be funny, but I have a hard time believing that.

[El-P]

Oh, Dave...

[Timbo Slice]

Win-win either way. 

[NintendoLogic]

I think Dave is simply referring to a major rights fee increase. He reported a couple of weeks ago that WWE was hoping to receive $400 a million a year for Raw but would likely have to settle for $387 million. He also reported that it was widely believed in WWE that WBD owned a percentage of AEW and was a longshot for that reason. Given that, they probably just a made a pitch for the sake of due diligence. By the way, it pleases me tremendously that links to Twitter embed on this board but links to X do not.

[Embrodak]

Apparently Punk and Ace Steel, like the indie Yeet wrestler, also retained the services of Corny’s attorney Stephen P New in their dealings with AEW after Brawl Out.

[C.S.]

21 hours ago, Embrodak said:

Stephen P New

Is it just me or does this sound like the fakest rasslin' lawyer name ever?

Shockingly, it's real.

[Jmare007]

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.

[Timbo Slice]

Welp, Sasha’s return at the Royal Rumble is gonna be wild. 
 

Also, Kenny has diverticulitis, which is not gonna be a short road back, and an even longer road to feeling “normal.” Considering his surgery filled 2022-3, this has the potential to keep him out for a while as his body adapts. Shitty luck for him. 

[strobogo]

Man how bad was her ankle injury, she's been out like 8 months now

[El-P]

Considering how the women division has been booked, I did not see Mercedes showing up in AEW anymore. Fuck, she'd have a much better time in TNA, really, reuniting with Trinity and such. And that also goes for Giulia. This is pretty sad, because it had tons of potential *on paper*, but let's be realistic now. AEW made their bed with their women division.

Kevin Sullivan (not the Devil, I mean not *that* Devil either, the post-prod guy) being let go has been undersold here, but it's been a pretty unpopular and not understood decision backstage apparently. The writing is on the wall for something not so promising for next year unless some real changes are being made. And I mean in the right directions, which apart from the awesome Continental Classic, doesn't seem to be the case right now.