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What is your opinion on the standard of reporting on Andy Williams's passing by certain outlets? Unfortunately, that Saturday night, I saw some very irresponsible handling from the weakest of sources where it seems like the race to get the story first only matters to them. It's unbelievably disrespectful and sickening. To me, the people who should know first must be the family given to them from the authorities.
That is the world that we live in, unfortunately. We have always tried to be respectful and have no desire to “be first” when reporting stories like that. But, others don’t share our point of view.
Hold up - are we supposed to act like getting 16K plus for 3 shows in 4 nights isn't a number to brag about just because it's WWE? I think a little perspective is in order - AEW doesn't move 47K tickets for all shows over a couple of months unless they have a PPV in London or NYC, and for NJPW it's even longer. So why do we need to take a crack at WWE for what is an objectively great number? We're really entering into "fed bad" territory here with some of these comments.
Beats me. WWE did good business in Mexico. To say otherwise is unfair. But that doesn’t mean that people can’t compare the numbers that WWE do in buildings compared to what they did in them their last few times. It’s about being fair and honest.
I have noticed the WWE Universe having muted reactions during some excellent matches like Mysterio-Gable and Penta-Phoenix. Have you noticed this too? Do fans only care about main eventers, character turns, and world title changes now?
I have noticed those things but when I look at the fans, I don’t see people cheering that I am not hearing.
Do you think WWE has trained their audiences with so many run-ins, ref bumps, title belt shots, celebrity involvement, finisher spam, and finisher kick outs - that normal great wrestling can’t get over anymore without overbooked finishes?
No, I don’t think that. I think that to a large part of the fan base, the characters and the stories they are in are the most important thing. When they are invested in the characters and stories, they invest more in the matches. I know that it’s counterintuitive but to a lot of fans, the actual in-ring wrestling is the least important part of pro wrestling.
My question is about the current state of AEW. As of Oct 1 they will have been in the TV business for 7 years.
TV production: They do not have detailed regular production meetings. As such they frequently have missed significant moves (which can happen in a live sporting event but not as often as they do on AEW) and also quite often wrestlers fight into the crowd into areas that are not properly lit (which there is no excuse for). TV does not work if you cannot see what is happening.
TV Overrun: AEW has gotten to the point of running anywhere between 6-40 minutes over their scheduled time. My DVD is set up to record 15 minutes over so frequently I miss the end of show if I am not at home. How difficult is it to work with TNT/TBS to have the guide that controls the DVR reflect the appropriate overrun. There is no excuse for this not being resolved and has now started to hurt their tv ratings.
Roster: The AEW website currently reflects 187 wrestlers (145 men and 42 women) which does not count the occasional New Japan or CMLL one off import. Many of those on the list have not been seen in TV in months or years (Britt Baker?). I do not count ROH as TV. When they bring somebody in for a one off they almost never give a solid background story on who some is or why they are there. They assume you know. When there are WWE releases joining the roster more of the limited homegrown roster gets pushed off TV.
Marketing: TNA has wrestlers doing appearance (sporting events/TV/Radio/Etc) during almost every city they are in. AEW sometimes has wrestlers doing appearances before the big PPV Shows but even that is not on a regular basis. Additionally when they do appearance they do not always stay on topic such as talking about WWE or TNA (See multiple MJF rants around Wrestlemania about Carlos Silva making a decision to protect his promotion). Talking about the competition does nothing to help your show.
Character Development: With the exception of Chris Jericho (which is Chris doing it on his own) their is almost no Character Development on the AEW roster. Hook and Dominik debuted within about 6 months of each other. Dominik has evolved a number of times and Hook is the same angry loaner who is now buried on ROH.
Merchandise: I lived in Chicago area until just recently. When I have order items from ShopAEW(PW Tees) it can take weeks for the item to be shipped including figures. I received most WWE and TNA purchases with a week to 10 days of being ordered.
Video Games: reports are that they lost millions on their one attempt at a video game due to significant delays and cost overruns.
Booking: Very little long term storytelling. Tends to rely on either Tournaments or new signed (WWE Releases) talent for new storylines.
Business Relationships: AEW has signed almost all of the top New Japan talent that was willing to come to the US to AEW contracts. Occasionally they will allow some to work for NJPW but usually not top level guys. They are now starting to do the same with CMLL. Hechicero is the current CMLL World Champion but has been on the losing side in the majority of his recent AEW Matches.
Attendance: AEW has started running 2000-5000 seat buildings for all but their biggest shows. At one point they sold out multiple shows in a row in Chicago and now the next show has around 5000 which seated over 11,000 for the original All In.
TV Network: They are now signing Indy promotions to contracts because that worked so well for PWTV, DAZN and Triller. Even the WWE Network could not get the Indy TV model to work profitability.
Wrestler safety: AEW/ Tony Khan lets wrestlers for the most part due what they want to do. With what is known about concussions today, how does AEW allow Darby to be shot putted into the corner post or anybody taking chair shots to the head?
Profitability: While I am not Shad Khan so the business losses do not matter to me personally, it is part of the bigger picture. Tony was recently asked about 2025 profitability (which a reporter from another website guaranteed that 2025 would be profitable) and provided a non answer answer about growing the business and infrastructure which indicates they were not profitable.
I look at this almost 7 year history and there is nothing that shows they have a professional business infrastructure. This leads me to my actual question. How is AEW anything more than a 43 year old Son of a Billionaire playing with his action figures (albeit in real life)?
Is it Tony Khan’s fiefdom? Sure. But the flip side is that a lot of people are making a great living because of him, including WWE stars that can use AEW as leverage in negotiations. It became pretty clear to me when it started that Tony loved wrestling and was going to deliver shows that he likes. There are worse things!
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