Official WWE/ECW/WCW/TNA talk, or whatever v2

[trackercowe]

Lowest rated Dynamite in three years. Not good news for them. They are really suffering without MJF and Sting.

Per Wrestlenomics, Dynamite netted 747,000 viewers and a 0.23 rating with the 18-49 year old demographic.

This is the first time Dynamite’s viewership number has dropped below 750K since losing last October’s Tuesday night war against NXT. It’s the lowest demo rating Dynamite has drawn since being bumped to a Saturday in October 2021.

In other words, this week’s numbers are about as bad as it gets for Dynamite when airing in its typical Wednesday night time slot. You have to go back to an empty arena June 2020 episode airing opposite NXT to find a demo rating lower than this for AEW on a Wednesday night.

[SuperMatt18]

Think part of the problem with AEW right now is there isn't really a reason to watch the weekly show week to week from a storyline perspective.

PPVs are generally great quality and put up amazing matches.

The weekly shows are usually good quality from a match perspective, but also don't really build to anything most of the time.

If I miss an episode of dynamite I don't really feel like I missed anything most of the time.

[Ozy_Flame]

Guys, just watch WWE. I feel like some of you worry too much about AEW. Wrestling trends go hot and cold, they're just on a cold point, WWE was there a couple years ago too.

I personally enjoy the product and they have a niche/core audience. They always will.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Guys, just watch WWE. I feel like some of you worry too much about AEW. Wrestling trends go hot and cold, they're just on a cold point, WWE was there a couple years ago too.

I personally enjoy the product and they have a niche/core audience. They always will.

I don't get why you are so defensive of the product. Nobody else here really seems to even have an AEW vs WWE angle except for you. This isn't some intense wrestling forum that's debating the wrestling wars.

I honestly don't even really compare the two on a week to week basis. Don't really care about that at all. They are so different in terms of the product and what they try to deliver. When AEW tries to be more like WWE (or historically WCW) it's actually when they tend to get worse.

Its more about just being curious of the long term health of AEW and wanting it to be better as a product for me to enjoy. Even the Niche / Core audience seems to be declining at this point.

I wish it was as good as it was in the first year before they added way more talent to the roster.

And even with WWE being on a hot streak right now it gets the same criticism from me for the most part. There isn't a lot of reason to watch 6 hours of content each week, same with AEW and their 5 hours of content, it's just not consistently good enough to garner that.

WWE might be closer right now as their intertwined story telling is the best it's been in a while, but with both products it's too easy to watch it after the fact and gloss over it quickly, or just keep up to speed with YouTube clips of the most important moments without really missing anything of value.

[trackercowe]

If AEW (and WWE) didn't want us to care about ratings and backstage rumours/gossip they wouldn't brag about it openly (remember the "Demo God"). If they hit one million viewers I'm sure Tony Khan would have been the first person to post about it (he's usually posting in the middle of the night). Remember the ratings wars in the Attitude Era? We've been trained to care about these things, whether or not we have a horse in the race.

I think most of us do want a strong competition, but that's not happening. WWE can survive a prolonged cold streak, can AEW do the same? Tony has a fat wallet, but they're not trending in the right direction. What more can they do to head the ship in the right direction? They can't add more free agents, that's been said and done. In a future where Sting, Bryan, and Edge are retired. Omega might be finished, and who knows what happens with MJF... how long can they keep going at the current rate? The talent IS there, I think we all can agree on that. But talent in the ring alone isn't going to keep AEW afloat.

[Ozy_Flame]

I'm not confident you folks drive any benefit from watching AEW other than to compare it to WCW. It just seems like you want to position it as a second rate and point out more of its flaws and completely avoid highlighting anything positive about it.

As for the ratings, do you care about the ratings? Is it your dollar? No. And do you go to the shows? Do you have a good time? I certainly do. I mean, RAW's ratings is only half as good as it was in 2019, NXT has been declining year over year, and Smackdown has remained generally consistent. AEW - believe it or not - has been relatively consistent during that time.

But honestly, who gives a #### about ratings? They're still both some of the most watched programming on their respective networks.

I feel like the general trend with wrestling fans is to fulfill a self-fulfilling prophecy - especially when it comes to brand perception. Oh, I heard AEW is no good anymore? Then if you watch it you're looking for low hanging fruit to find why you don't like it. It's confirmation bias. And wrestling fans are absolutely horrible for that.

WWE and AEW are like art with four sides - what you might find interesting and awesome is no good to someone else. And vice versa. This is a tale as old as wrestling time. Sunrise, sunset.

And yes, I personally find AEW more interesting. Here's why - it's a wildcard, and there is no pecking order for mid and main-card status. In WWE it is, and always has been that way. I also saw the Rock/Cody/Seth/Reigns far too much over the last 15-20 years to even give a flying hoot about them anymore. They are overexposed IMO, and bring nothing to the table in terms of young, interesting talent or talent that is due for a shine. Maybe Gunther (re: WALTER), but that's about it. Their women's division is also underwhelming, even with talent like Io Shirai. AEW is doing so much better with theirs at the moment IMO. Willow and Julia are going to be stars, and they're getting great screen time.

I'm also a sucker for the underdog - the team that has an uphill battle to prove itself. I think AEW is hanging just fine. The product has a market - this is a company that had 70k+ people in Wembley last year. And it has a strong following despite what fickle wrestling fans might think.

And even to the casual wrestling fan - if you can't flip to Dynamite one night and enjoy the incredible matches between Danielson/Omega/Moxley/MJF/Hangman/Swerve/Joe/Ospreay/Okada - even without a story - then I don't know what to tell you?

Just watch your favourite product. Don't worry about competition. You'll be fine.

[CaptainCrunch]

I don't watch near enough wrestling anymore, I think I burnt out on it, but to me having something like 5 hours of WWE and I guess 4 hours of AEW is too much.

So I kinda spot watch.

I would like to see AEW get better, get better results. I do watch it because it very much has WCW vibes, and the younger guy in me literally watched right through to the end of WCW because as horrible as the product was, it was like watching a airplane crash into a train in slow motion. It had awful work and awful storylines and awful matchups.

WWE for some reason has recaptured some of their formula's from the Monday Night Wars/extreme era. Right to the point of bringing in blood and slightly more adult promos.


With AEW, I think it needs to get better or its in real danger of not going out of business, but fading into what TNA is now compared to what it was during their height, and that would be a shame to me.

I think with AEW it does all come down to Tony with other effects. Tony really doesn't for being a superfan have a really good feel for the business. In a lot of ways he's like the guy he blasted Eric Bischoff. Eric caught lightning in a bottle, and then didn't evolve and let his ego take over and lost his fan base.

Tony is the same, I've said for years that he needs better writers and producers, and he needs producers that can say no to their workers.

No Darby you don't need to go through a pane of glass, why do you need to go through it?

A good producers or writer can answer the question, is this good for drawing money, or is this for the entertainment of the back?

One of the things that I find fascinating, when I listen to older wrestlers, or Cornette or Heyman is that it goes back to the carny concept of drawing in money.

I'm not sure with these workers in AEW that Tony is paying generously and giving a ton of entitlements to that they are asking that question, they don't need to care about drawing money, because frankly. In WWE if they were selling 4000 or 1000 tickets in a huge arena, that first the execs and then the recruiters would hit the roof, then they'd change the product, then they'd try to find their next big money draw. I don't think that thought process happens in AEW. I mean with Tony, him having all that money to me means that he's not hungry, whether he agrees or not, this is a hobby, or a toy set for him. I think he believes he's serious, but again, a owner that has to worry about numbers would look at the declining veiwership, the declining key demographics, and the declining attendance and change his product.

I mean with Mercedes in AEW they have to look for that drawing feud. I don't think a feud with Willow works to pop that division. I love Toni and she can work like a mad woman. So it seems logical to find that clash.

And on the AEW side of things, If I was a worker and they came to me and said we want you with Jericho, it would be a hard pass for me. Its time for Chris to go, or retire or go on a 1 year tour with the band. He's awful.

[Inferno]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1774533879598121020

[SuperMatt18]

Imagine jumping a wrestler in the ring...and then thinking that tapping out is going to save you lol

[Blaster86]

So Punk is doing an interview with Ariel Helwani right now and he is going full Punk.

[TheIronMaiden]

Any link for the full interview?

[mile]

I love Punk


It's never boring with him

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Any link for the full interview?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PNZZvgzE0Y

[SuperMatt18]

I only caught the second half and will watch the rest later, but seems pretty much what has been said and nothing too controversial.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I only caught the second half and will watch the rest later, but seems pretty much what has been said and nothing too controversial.

It's a lot of confirmation, and more in depth on stuff. Some new info. A lot of Punk just being Punk.

[SuperMatt18]

Yeah some interesting stuff for sure. Very much Punk being Punk.

I do think he held back a bit on Tony Kahn specifically...reading between the lines you could see he wanted to say more but seemed to think better of it.

This is good content too...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1XChxtvv-w

WWE's out of ring content really is great, probably better than their in-ring content lol.

[dammage79]

The Rock coming in making WWE great again is not something I'd have thought would happen but holy cow. Showing kids crying while watching him beat up Cody is brilliant.

"Waaaa, never watching Moana again!" It's mined gold.

[Paulie Walnuts]

The Rock is the best bad guy wrestling has had.

[Inferno]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1774988895597261205

[TheIronMaiden]

The end of Raw was as good as wrestling gets.