Going by the ratings it's not worth it to cater to those folks. They are much better when they do long term story telling. The arc with Kenny and Adam Page was must see TV and was maybe the best feud AEW ever did.
Yeah, that's one of my favourite arcs in AEW history.
I feel like even with Punk, if they had just done "dream" matches with him, the novelty would have worn off quickly. His program with MJF was what made people tune in.
Yeah, that's one of my favourite arcs in AEW history.
I feel like even with Punk, if they had just done "dream" matches with him, the novelty would have worn off quickly. His program with MJF was what made people tune in.
Especially since CM Punk is not a great in ring performer so much as he is great at selling a story.
Honestly, I think one of AEW's biggest problems is that they're still trying to blend kayfabe and shoot into their angles. It was somewhat novel and cute when they were starting up, but it comes off as tired and desperate now.
I'd disagree with that because when done right, it's amazing. They're just doing some awkward things with it.
Their roster is pretty thin right now as well. Just think about it....
The four "pillars":
MJF: Injured
Sammy Guevara: Suspended
Jack Perry: Suspended
Darby: Injured
Then their five biggest draws
Punk: WWE
Cody: WWE
Sting: Retired
Omega: Injured
MJF: Injured
That's a pretty big blow to their roster. Bryan, Swerve, Mox, Jericho, Joe, Copeland, Christian, are all ex-WWE guys whose best days are behind them. I don't know if any of them can move the needle.
The same can be said about the abundance of Japanese stars who also don't seem to draw ratings. I think a big problem is how they're introduced to the company, most of the time they just "show up" randomly without any kind of fervor or anticipation. If you're just a casual wrestling fan you have no idea who these people are. I know many AEW fans tend to be hardcore fans, not casuals.... but how are you going to bring in those casual viewers.
Thing is some of this is their own doing to your point.
Ospreay and Okada should have gotten the Adam Cole and Danielson debut treatment, make them seem like stars and a big deal.
The Okada debut especially was bad...you have a guy who is at worst a top 5 wrestler in the world. A guy that should have been treated as a final boss level introduction and instantly thrown into the top of AEW.
Instead they introduced him to casual fans in a way that made him seem "meh"
Even without the absences you mentioned I feel like they have a great roster, they just need to utilize it better
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Honestly, I think one of AEW's biggest problems is that they're still trying to blend kayfabe and shoot into their angles. It was somewhat novel and cute when they were starting up, but it comes off as tired and desperate now.
Sounds very Vince Russo'ish.
At least if you're going to do the back stage exposure of Punk, have a great show around it to hook the more casual fans that tune in to watch the footage.
Instead it wasn't a great show, they aired the footage and had the fans pretty much side with Punk by chanting his name.
Its just an all around poop show. And even worse, they did a 819,000 overall with a 0.30 P18-49 rating.
Now coming off or two in a row historically bad rated shows, fine, coming off two weeks of 752,000 and 747,000 viewers respectively, they bumped to slightly below the mean for the last year or so. But this did nothing to ensure that fans come back.
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Its just an all around poop show. And even worse, they did a 819,000 overall with a 0.30 P18-49 rating.
Now coming off or two in a row historically bad rated shows, fine, coming off two weeks of 752,000 and 747,000 viewers respectively, they bumped to slightly below the mean for the last year or so. But this did nothing to ensure that fans come back.
I do think we need to stop looking at the ratings and comparing them year over year. From what I understand, Dynamite's declines have been consistent with overall cable declines. It does make what Raw and Smackdown are doing right now very impressive, but the main thing to watch with Dynamite is wear it ranks among other original programming.
As long as it's consistently in the top 5, they should still be able to land a new TV deal.
This is why ratings matter... Tony Khan bragging about a one time bump in ratings, because he featured a guy no longer employed by the company. Khan is terrible. He should be completely hands off. Let someone who knows what their doing run this thing.
Quote:
Tony Khan
@TonyKhan
Just got the great news from
@TBSNetwork
:
Last night Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite, up 29% from last week, + up 17% over prior 6 week average! Thank you all watching AEW Wednesdays! See you at a stacked TBS wrestling show Wed in Indy + Rampaging & Colliding this weekend on TNT
This is why ratings matter... Tony Khan bragging about a one time bump in ratings, because he featured a guy no longer employed by the company. Khan is terrible. He should be completely hands off. Let someone who knows what their doing run this thing.
Yes, we all know Tony's an idiot, and has pretty much pissed away all of the goodwill the company had. Doesn't make what I said inaccurate.
Man, I saw that footage of All In. I don't think it makes hay the way AEW thought it would. I think if they wanted to show it, they should have just posted it on YouTube and said 'here it is, fill your boots' and moved on. No one wins by showing it as part of an angle on Dynamite.
I also think the footage confirms that CM Punk is a meathead who goes into business for himself and can't get along with talent. Truly a carny piece of #### who says one thing ('work with the youth!') and degrades himself to dude-bro carny behavior. If I never see that guy again on TV I'll be elated. Average wrestler, toxic mess.
Here's hoping Levesque has him under control.
I will say, this has really helped Jack Perry's momentum, especially as he has a match with Umino at Windy City Riot. Dude is coming out of his Jungle Express shell in a big way.
Tama Tonga likely to make his debut on Smackdown tonight as part of the Bloodline. I've never seen any of his work in New Japan. How was his work there, will be a fit with the group?
The one thing that you can generally guarantee in the Wrestling industry is that everyone has some level of Dude-Bro Carny behaviour in them.
Some more (Punk), some less, but generally it's all there to some extent.
Khan is pretty hilarious there though...bragging about your ratings in a week where A) WWE killed the ratings on Raw and Smackdown, and B) you needed to air the CM Punk footage to get a bump.
Tama Tonga likely to make his debut on Smackdown tonight as part of the Bloodline. I've never seen any of his work in New Japan. How was his work there, will be a fit with the group?
I remember watching him live at NJPW shows, and the man has one of the filthiest mouths while in the ring ever, haha. Dude was a swearing machine, even second word begged for his mouth to be washed out with soap. He's definitely a decent wrestling talent! Guerrillas of Destiny (G.O.D.) was an awesome tag team.
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-The Rock introducing the People’s Championship belt was not just for show. There are ideas that he is presenting for him to defend it.
-As of now there are no plans for The Rock to wrestle again this year. That doesn’t mean he won’t, but WrestleMania 41 is most likely when his next match will be, potentially against Cody Rhodes.
-It is reported that Steve Austin was originally going to be in the end of the Roman Reigns/Cody Rhodes match but he and WWE couldn’t agree on a price so Undertaker took the spot instead.
Kind of what I figured, they can make it into a Legends belt of some kind. A complete novelty in a sense, but gives part timers a belt they can chase other than the World/Universal belts. In that way it makes complete sense... Provided they have enough legends that have the appetite to return to the ring.
