I really want to know what Darby whispered in Jay's ear. Also, Jay calling Darby "elusive and weird" only to then kiss the tip of Sting's bat is wild.
https://preview.redd.it/bfnjojqso0nc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c388d057d8bee70871db98bd0e20d3a3dd8855f
So based on what AEW drew last night for Dynamite (~3,100) and what they've drawn tonight for Collision tapings (~2,200) in metro Atlanta, it appears that they've ... (checks notes) ... drawn about the same number of fans as the last standalone Dynamite on the market when combined.
Tony - please stop cannibalizing your audience with these back to backs.
That method killed what could have been a decently attended Montreal Dynamite because Collision was taped the day before in the same arena. I hope they also learn this lesson for same arena booking for Collision and PPVs.
I was watching Kevin Nash's guest booker shoot interview and he talked about he would have made a tag team of Sid and Waltman called "Sid and Kid," and holy shit I never realized how awesome that pairing woulda been. 1-2-3 Kid as the babyface in peril and then Sid just cleans house, yes please.
I don't even remember how regularly I watched wrestling but I remembered that story, and the most memorable part was Kane saying Suck It with the voice thingy and getting a huge reaction (from what I remember). but maybe watch those matches and you'd get your wish!
I'm just continually disappointed that jerkers are only brave enough to brigade ratings threads when they are 750k instead of 850k
Running.from.the.grind
It's just the Dynamite threads. The Raw thread this week had 20 comments and zero upvotes. The NXT thread today has 10 comments and 5 upvotes. The Dynamite thread just opened and has 589 comments. Things can't be more transparent than that. People who love to use the "Oh, I'm just very interested in the business side of wrestling, that's normal right" are full of shit, you literally only have interest in one specific company on a Thursday evening.
Granted, I'm not checking out every post on here, but whenever I've looked at the ratings ones they're full of people I never really see commenting on anything else. Probably the same people who call AEW fans a "cult" while they're yelling the same 10 points about the product they don't watch, into an echo chamber.
I think it's people pushing back on the attitude a certain type of AEW fan gives off. I don't think they need to do it and I don't think it's a good thing to do, but I sort of get it.
> I think it's people pushing back on the attitude a certain type of AEW fan gives off. I don't think they need to do it and I don't think it's a good thing to do, but I sort of get it.
Trying to justify straight up trolling with "well the other anonymous Reddit posters started it and I need to respond because this is a WAR and I need to defend my chosen side" or "the fans of something else made me upset with how they posted 3-4 years ago and I've held a grudge since then" is even more pathetic than the trolling itself. And that is saying something.
It isn't hard to post mostly positive stuff and not throw a bunch of negativity out about something you aren't actually even watching. Or if you're watching something and hate-posting about it, just why? There are basically infinite options for entertainment in 2024, go find any one of them you enjoy.
If I was justifying it, I wouldn't say point blank that it's not a good thing to do haha. I'm saying I can understand why it rubs some people the wrong way.
> Or if you're watching something and hate-posting about it, just why?
Genuine negative opinions about something you watch are totally valid, they're not the same thing as trolling.
Genuine negative opinions =/= hateposting, but hateposting = trolling.
And it's not particularly difficult to tell the difference in 99% of situations.
That WBD consider Nielsen inaccurate hence they use a new service for ratings they consider a better reflection of what is actually happening (that whenever WBD use to give AEW kudos people say "it's obviously wrong if the Nielsen's ratings are where they are"). Ultimately if WBD want to give AEW a new massive deal, they'll find numbers that justify it. If they don't, they'll find numbers that don't. At this point it's pretty clear WBD are puting more and more eggs in the AEW basket (they literally helped design the new Dynamite set), it's just whether every AEW show stays on Warner or Tony maybe tries to move one or both of the B shows elsewhere like WWE is doing. But I'd be shocked if Dynamite isn't on WBD for the forseeable future.
yeah in a universe of one bidder it could work that way. the ratings do matter though yes perhaps in this case discussing nielson numbers week to week is not as relevant. But maybe other potential bidders would look at that. (assuming nielson is what's getting posted on Thursdays.)
Again what I said about WBD applies to any other bidder. There are so many numbers (Youtube views and subs, FITE TV Subs, International Viewership in places like Canada and the UK, new TV metric systems that most of these places are using rather than Nielsen and will have access to that outsiders don't, PPV buys, etc, etc, etc) that if you want to sell yourself on AEW you can and if you don't you don't have to. Even if you want to use Nielsen ratings, you can sell yourself on "AEW is first on the night in the demo" or "AEW isn't that high in overall" etc. But people using it as any kind of end all be all metric to measure the health of the company are idiots. More than anything else it's gonna be simply "do we want our brand associated with this brand". Depending on what the answer is you'll ALWAYS be able to find answers for or against. That's really how modern business works.
With that story of Okada's earnings being put out, you know Drew is knocking on Trips door as we speak.
Genuine question though, why are WWE being so stingy with their money? Is Endeavor blocking them from using funds?
the example to look at is UFC not booking Jon Jones and mcGregor for a long time after they got their ESPN guaranteed money deal. Why pay more to those guys when you have guaranteed money? WWE still doesn't have as good profit margins as UFC, even with more revenue. It's going to be cheaper to lean on Bron, Tiffany Stratton, and ilya than it is to give big money to Mone, Okada, Drew and Ospreay.
they do want to, but they will risk him leaving if they can pay him less ya know. and the push is like, hey look how great it can be? you can get this great push and be a great heel. you just have to accept this salary. but if they have to put corbin back in that spot for 750k in order not to pay drew 2.2M, maybe they would do it lol. I'm just pulling those numbers out of my ass, but I think that's how they must be thinking.
That's fucked up. Its understandably how the business works, but it's still pretty fucked up. I can understand why AEW looks like a much better alternative. Tony will essentially pay you however much you want and you work much less too. Drew has expressed that he misses being with his family, so hey, if WWE aren't going to pay him (what he feels is) his worth, why not walk.
It worked for Mone after all.
Now granted, Okada is a special case as he's close friends with Matt and Nick, so they probably had to go to ball to get him that deal, while I can't see Tony paying that much for Drew, even after this recent push of his.
Oh yeah if you look at UFC, there are many cases where they diminished the onscreen product in order to save money. And WWE must feel so invincible going from the bloodline to Cody/Rockmania that I assume everyone else is expendable if they won't play ball.
I like to think Triple H understands the business enough to understand that is a bad idea for the long-term product is trying to convince Khan and TKO to let him either hire new guys or retain the ones they have. But if the talent ask for too much, TKO are more than willing to let them go and Trips has no choice but to let it happen.
I saw the Iron Claw a few weeks ago and it moved me significantly, being a story about being a son and a brother. That renewed my interest in professional wrestling that I had in years past, but I want to go back and see the saga from when I was a kid so my question is where can I stream a collection of 90s wrestling, if anywhere?
Also if there’s a beginners guide or something for me to read I’d like to start there.
Thanks.
Maybe I stretched the truth a bit. I've seen Trainwreck, Suicide Squad and Peacemaker and liked him in those.
But I can see him overacting. He graduated from the WWE school of acting, everyone overacts there.
Wreddit hivemind, I am running my first ever show in April and it features a king of the Ring style knockout tournament with wrestlers from around my country of New Zealand (its a supershow featuring wrestlers from promotions around the country, paired with a rock music and Craft Beer festival)
I need an inspired non-cliche name for the tournament (King of the Ring feels tired).
Please help, thanks! :-)
I feel like last night’s show (and Revolution as an extension) really opened the door to AEW being that insane “5 star match” workrate fed with sports entertainment elements that people expected when doors opened five years ago. We’re not only in for some all time bangers, they will likely be built up in some pretty strong storylines with developed characters like the Bucks, Swerve and Cole.
I don't get it, they've literally always had great matches. and Ospreay should not try to have matches at good on TV every week. If only to make the PPVs special. That match was insane. He's just on another level right now.
Some people wanted results from day 1. It took about 5 years to get to this point.
Covid hurt them as an upstart. So did some big injuries to key wrestlers. And Tony Khan is partially to blame too. It feels like the lessons have been learned that needed to be.
Now we have an infusion of top tier talent, along with veterans who are known from the start of AEW, and also younger stars being developed.
Yeah and I think the roster is better for it since we have an actually developed midcard thanks to that period of growing pains. Hopefully with three shows now, the young guys will still get a chance to develop their characters
Putting Okada with the Young Bucks was a ballsy move by Tony Khan.
The live fans weren't exactly enthusiastic about it. But an hour late it definitely felt like an amazing idea.
I like that AEW is going back to the tunnels. If Tony can write a good story for Osprey and Danielson I’d be pumped to watch it but I’ll hold my breath on that. I wouldn’t mind a build to it similar to Joe Vs Angle in TNA, no physical contact just training and promos.
Also Dave Meltzer needs to retire
AEW revamped its roster page slightly and there's no Kevin Kelly in the announcers section.
Could be a mistake like when Yuka Sakazaki disappeared for like a day. Could be something else.
Never say never and all that, but why? Spent years avoiding going to WWE and when he finally did it was an utter disaster, and now he's left got to ride off into the sunset on a high
No. He is more likely to randomly show up at AEW big events like All In. He is already in the WWE Hall of Fame. He has zero reason to crawl his way back there.
Bianca is one of the best to ever lace up a pair of boots. She made her Wrestlemania debut in the main event and absolutely killed it along with Sasha Banks. And hasn’t looked back since.
God that Ospreay match was unbelievable. I feel like it should have ended with the first hidden blade but maybe he wanted to give his friend a leg up. Tony Khan has himself a stud, man.
The Viking Raiders are lowkey a great tag team.
I’m watching their match from Dominion 6.11 and thinking about how athletic and precise they are considering their size. It’s incredible to watch, particularly the top rope stuff.
Injuries after their NXT run, combined with neither of them really working to stay in good shape has hurt them a lot but damn they were awesome late in their NJPW run
It's not the first time WWE called The Rock, "Dwayne" it's been well established in WWE canon that he half uses his regular name for acting, but still Rollins using an alliterative insult on his regular name it seems cheap and petty, and even though Rock sometimes uses both names in wrestling, it still feels somewhat kayfabe breaking because it reminds the fans that wrestlers have both regular names and wrestler names.
Jericho is the anti-Christian. He loves being around people with good dads and being their second father figure.
but fuck me, this HOOK-Jericho thing better be quick. what an awkward pair. if theoretically HOOK is an avatar for a younger audience, why would you have him around this old looking guy?
Just started Tough Enough S6 and it’s insane how much of the main cast is now with AEW. The two hosts, Renee and Chris Jericho, are AEW. Two of the judges, Paige and Daniel Bryan, are AEW. The head coach, Billy Gunn, is AEW. Watching pre-AEW media really puts into perspective how much AEW really improved the industry for the talent.
[Cool photo of Hiroshi Tanahashi hanging out with Kentaro Miura (late mangaka behind Berserk on the right) and Kouji Mori. Miura drew a portrait of Tanahashi that he's holding.](https://www.aazealh.net/Divers/Miura/MoriWifeBlog-002.jpg)
How do y’all feel about Okada potentially going for the continental crown championship? That seemed to be what they were hinting towards last night. The other belts kind of feel like they’re firmly in the mid card, so I feel like this could be a good opportunity to elevate the C3 as a real alternative for these main event level guys that are kind of stuck waiting for their shot at the world title. I know a lot of people had slotted him to immediately be in the world title picture though, so that might be controversial. Interested to hear what other people think about it
It's the main event belt of Collision realistically. What that means in the larger picture is it's own discussion but they treat it like a top prize on that show. I kinda figure that's why Tony stopped caring about the International Title because that was the original plan for the Collision belt until the CC.
The only reason I’m iffy about him going immediately for the world title is that they have real lightning in a bottle with Swerve and Ospreay. I think you have to pull the trigger on them now. Having Okada go for the big one immediately either puts that at risk entirely, or risks his legitimacy like with the whole Jay White fiasco. Having Okada go for a run with the CC instead would allow them to book him strongly to build the belt and keep him fresh for a world title run down the road
White has taken what he's been given and run with it, for however long that lasts. With his resume, Okada is better suited for a World title run if he doesn't beat Kingston for the Continental Crown. I would say Okada could challenge for the World title in about a year or so.
Sounds like a great first opponent for Okada. And they've built up the C3 a ton with Eddie's reign and it could be a good time to pass that onto someone else, many thought it would be Danielson. Then you just give Okada the Gunther push. In my dream he also takes the Interational and puts that to bed.
I think it'd be a mistake to slot him into the world title picture right now, you either derail the spinning plates and put Okada at the top still basically an unknown quantity to much of the viewing audience or you have him lose straight away and fall into the midcard title scene which looks bad.
Isn't it Cagematch? It roughly does align. He's more generous to WWE and like Young Bucks matches, but nothing that would throw off the averages too much. He also studied the VOW top 100 list and said he agreed with most of it, and that's a ton of media people compiled into one list.
So is there really a high chance of Darby dying on Mt. Everest? Like from what I read the chances of death are pretty slim, but only if you’re fully prepared with a guide. So is Darby going unprepared? Like what’s happening?
The death rate is about 1-2%. So not a high chance, but it is a real danger. If you’ve ever played an rpg or strategy game you’ll know those 1-2% chances come up more often then most think
When I got an emergency cardio cath they explained to me that there's a series of risks that add up to roughly a 1% chance of death.
That plus the fact they had written stuff on my feet with markers like I was already a cadaver made that 1% feel a lot bigger than I was happy about...
Generally speaking as long as you aren't a completely untrained idiot and listen to your guides/sherpa's, and don't try to push yourself beyond your means (risking running low on o2, etc) you're probably going to end up being fine.
Now darby wanting to wing suit down....that's uh...a different situation if he is allowed to even try.
one of my all time favorite things in wrestling is when somebody debuts in a new promotion and is so uniquely and distinctly good that they sort of end up lowkey changing the program around them. in WWE at least the radicalz in 2000, RVD in 2001, the shield & the 4HW all come to mind
I'm not really a fan of the Freebird Rule, but I do like how it's somewhat similar to substitutions in other sports.
Also, I don't believe Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson are true business heels yet. Otherwise, they'd already have LinkedIn accounts with posts written in corporate lingo.
It's their flagship show and the one that almost exclusively shows the main-event stuff so yes. I'd say check out Rampage and Collison too but if you can't you can always check the match highlights on AEW's YouTube and decide if those shows are worth the investment.
If you have to pick one, then yes, Dynamite is absolutely the flagship/"A" show of the three.
Rampage is targeted a bit more at the hardcores and has more niche/experimental matchups, it's the show that isn't afraid to get a bit weird. And Collision has a bit more of a retro feel to it, it's a bit slowed down and has some specific talents that are primarily on that show, but it is generally going to be a bit below Dynamite (unless you really really love those specific talents).
Definitely. At this point Rampage is it's own little NXT 2.0 esque world and Collision is only really important if you REALLY love Danielson and Kingston and Deeb and HOB.
I’m going to be the moron that says this so you can all come back and laugh at me in six weeks.
I don’t think Danielson vs Ospreay will be very good. 3 or 3.5 star at best.
Osprey has never been on my list of dream opponents for Danielson. Partly because i'm not a massive fan of Osprey and also just because I don't think their styles match together especially well. Styles and chemistry make great matches, it's more than just throwing two great wrestlers together.
Danielson is arguably the greatest of all time, Osprey is one of the best right now and they're both currently on career-defining runs so I'm sure it will be good but I doubt it's even going to scratch my top-10 Danielson matches of his AEW run, let alone his entire career.
Interesting! Why do you think this? Ospreay, dispte my criticisms of him, is a very good wrestler and Danielson is obviously excellent, but he's also very good at meshing with his opponents style. I reckon it'll be a MOTY contender.
The best way I can say it is that I don’t know that Danielson can keep up with him. Danielson’s good matches are all kind of slow, methodical affairs. Imagine the Fletcher match, but do the “yay-boo” forearms three more times and add in 6 minutes of submission holds and you’ve got the Danielson match.
They always talk about “switching gears” in wrestling. Start out in first, switch into second as it picks up, etc….and Ospreay does that very well. Danielson matches, to me, are 1st gear, second gear, back to first, back to second, back down to first, jump to third, back to first, and then back to second for the finish.
Honestly my favorite Omega match is probably the one with Danielson. That was very much a Danielson match. I'm confident he can get the same kind of match out of Ospreay.
Yeah I think it’s possible for Danielson to face a top-10 worker and not have it be a MOTYC like the first Okada match, but *** is touuuuuugh. I mean anyone can say they see it as *** to prove themselves right but a 6-7 on Cagematch? No fucking way.
This is an incredible double moot point because a) to a ton of fans Ospreay will never miss no matter what the match actually is b) Danielson has been on such a tear against such different opponents stylistically over the last year it's less likely.
To the point, I hope you're somehow correct.
Okada has 2 t-shirts out since his AEW debut, both pretty standard middle of the road designs nothing exciting, which means they are already better than 90% of his NJPW merch.
 So true. I know that some say that the merch in NJPW is mostly done by independent artists, but they still give it their stamp of approval by plugging it. Some of it is so bad.
Nah fam, [THIS IS THE 10%](https://preview.redd.it/yp7645j55ldc1.jpeg?width=1000&auto=webp&s=ac057286219acc1c021e70ee336025e696076f6f)
Seriously, this t-shirt was limited edition and probably is one of the best designs on a wrestling shirt ever
For those who aren't aware, this shirt used the same technology as Okada's most recent Wrestle Kingdom robe, so it changes color when exposed to UV light. So it would look like the left picture until you expose it to enough sunlight, then it would turn into the right picture.
I can't stop thinking about how great of a match Osprey v Fletcher was yesterday. Osprey feels like a huge deal and he was able to work a TV style match with commercial breaks like it was nothing. Great show overall. AEW is starting feel like the 2019 version I loved.
I try to stay out of the tribalism muck as much as possible but holy crap, the internet arguing that the Bucks are "copying/parodying HHH" because they're pointing at Okada in pictures is a new low. I saw that picture of the Bucks and Okada and immediately thought [Sonny Onoo in WCW](https://wcwworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/hokuto-onoo-poster.jpg) but apparently I was wrong and HHH invented that.
And even if they were, per se, they're parodying words and phrases from Tony Khan even more.
It's a pretty equal opportunity satire of "corporate" types, particularly in wrestling.
I've been wanting a BCC run since the end of the C2 and they tagged together the first time in January, so I'm absolutely here for them getting the belts for a short run before passing them over to someone.
I know people will complain but I like it when singles guys reasonably go after the tag titles. I liked that Omega & Page were champions. If done right (i.e., the established full-time teams aren't just jobbed out for two singles main eventers thrown together), it makes the tag titles more prestigious.
In the heyday of JCP the tag titles were held by guys like Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Blackjack Mulligan, and Sgt. Slaughter. AJPW's tag titles were in the hands of Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, Taue, Doc, and Hansen most of the time.
IF you do it right, it works especially when you have a S-tier guy like Mox teaming with a career tag team specialist like Claudio. It makes sense in kayfabe they can beat other "real" tag teams.
Like you said, as long as you just aren't jobbing your top teams specifically to further 2 singles' guys story, I think it's perfectly fine.
So far a spectacular week for wrestling in North America. Legendary AEW PPV, Raw was good, NXT was phenomenal, and last night Dynamite was just on another level. Looking forward to SmackDown and Collision.
AEW even with the big stars feels like it has a one for all mentality that Punk never fully bought into. That All Out scrum was just huge diva energy of a guy trying to position himself above the people who helped start the company.
The dude kind of ruined All In. It was a fantastic show and should’ve been the reset the company needed after all the drama from the year before, but he continued behaving like a spoiled toddler.
I get being a fan of the guy’s work, but the praise he’s gotten for glibly referencing his backstage meltdowns in AEW has been weird as hell.
I got downvoted in a thread about the AEW Pillars for pointing out that him getting fired was an overreaction to Jack Perry. There's really people out there who think Jack Perry woke up that day with the intention of getting Punk fired. He acted out of line but I don't think he expected the guy nearly 20 years older than him to fight him.
During the WM presser, people were celebrating that he, “slapped the shit out of,” the Bucks and Perry. Like it was some sign of virtue that he had violent hissy fits (which were conveniently never directly toward Hangman or Mox).
AEW getting back to laying out key matches a week or two in advance (at least for Dynamite) makes me happy. It's something I really liked about it in the earlier days.
What they did with a match as comparatively inconsequential as HOOK vs. Brian Cage is the template they need to try and adhere to.
It took something that could've been a throwaway, and with some pretty minor foresight and time allocation (including on Collision or Rampage), made it something people had some interest in.
If I don't lose motivation, we're finally a quarter of the way through the very preliminary very wrong GWE list. Here's the top 25, presented in a way that doesn't make you scroll for minutes to read the other posts in the thread:
[1-5](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1aqjdmi/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/kqed0zp/): Genichiro Tenryu, Terry Funk, Bret Hart, Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi
[6-10](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1aujsfv/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/kr5rfkz/): Ric Flair, Tatsumi Fujinami, Stan Hansen, Bryan Danielson, Negro Casas
[11-15](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1aw8gnl/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/krgqaru/): Kenta Kobashi, Mick Foley, Eddie Guerrero, Shinya Hashimoto, Jumbo Tsuruta
[16-20](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1b0dxh2/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/ks88j8s/):Yoshihiro Takayama, Rey Mysterio, Akira Taue, El Solitario, Steve Austin
[21-25](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1b71om7/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/ktgsxf8/): Mitsuharu Misawa, AJ Styles, El Hijo Del Santo, Sami Zayn, Naoki Sano
I might be wrong but I'm not entirely sure you can just "solo" it these days - there is documentary stuff out there of literal lines of people going at one time to reach the top. Its crazy,
Young Bucks just pulling from LinkedIn, being the worst kind of corporate dudes just sent me last night. The Okada handshake too, *chef's kiss*
Looking real forward to what's cooking in AEW over the next few weeks.
"Hold on guys, we're not trying to boil the ocean here. Remember, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. So we should put a pin in this. Please check my calendry for availability to circle back to this in the future."
At this point I kinda want to know how they're so good at this since I'm pretty sure they've never had a regular corporate job. Just watching TV and movies? But they're SOOOO good at it.
I’ve been thinking the same thing! Even just bringing back “change the world” under this light reminds me of former Creative Directors hyping up “making the world better” (by selling consumer products). At this point I’m just waiting for them to tell someone to “check the Jira Tickets”
When Meltzer isn’t mocking murder victims he just sits there (with Elf Alvarez) backseatting companies on how they should do better.
Motherfucker, own a wrestling company and see if you can do better. So sick of it. Clearly Tony Khan isn’t going to listen to what you’re saying and he’s done a pretty damn good job the last 4 1/2 years cause of it.
"You can't criticize if you can't do it yourself" is always the smoothest of brain takes. You can enjoy or not enjoy a television show even if you can't produce or act in one yourself the same way you can enjoy or not enjoy a beef Wellington even if you can't make one yourself.
In the end, he has an opinion on how things would
be better in his mind just like we all do. He voices it just like we all do.
Truth. The reality is sitting in the big chair and speaking truth to the big chair are worlds apart in skill and intent. Easy to forget that when we’re all a comment button away from sharing our thoughts.
I considered skipping going to Dynamite last night, but talked myself into going. I made a great decision.
I was wondering how did the crowd sound? Sadly, half the arena was taped off, but it came off as super loud inside. Okada and Ospreay had what sounded like huge pops, so I wondered if that came across on TV.
Overall sounded great, especially for Ospreay. The only thing was that it was kind of hard to hear how the crowd reacted to Okada. It seemed they changed from picking up the music on the crowd mics to plugging music directly into the mix, so it was harder to hear the crowd.
Edit: So watching back the YouTube upload of Okadas entrance the crowd sounds incredible. Just to see if I was going crazy I went back and watched the DVR and the mix is definitely different. Still a good pop on TV, but way better in their upload
They had several technical issues in the arena last night. For example when Joe came out, his video just started to play with no music and then they turned it up to the house speakers only after he walked out, so there was no hit for the start.
editing to add: This is what happened in the arena at least, I don't know if those audio issues carried over to the broadcast but they were definitely having an off night inside.
There were at least two if not more instances of Justin Roberts' intro not being audible for several seconds. "--...Marks' Place, weighing 201 pounds, HOOK!"
I really want to know what Darby whispered in Jay's ear. Also, Jay calling Darby "elusive and weird" only to then kiss the tip of Sting's bat is wild. https://preview.redd.it/bfnjojqso0nc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c388d057d8bee70871db98bd0e20d3a3dd8855f
So based on what AEW drew last night for Dynamite (~3,100) and what they've drawn tonight for Collision tapings (~2,200) in metro Atlanta, it appears that they've ... (checks notes) ... drawn about the same number of fans as the last standalone Dynamite on the market when combined. Tony - please stop cannibalizing your audience with these back to backs.
That method killed what could have been a decently attended Montreal Dynamite because Collision was taped the day before in the same arena. I hope they also learn this lesson for same arena booking for Collision and PPVs.
What’s up with Ricky Starks and Big Bill not being in the video package highlighting the history of the tag team championship?
They've kinda disappeared from tv as well, which is what I was hoping wouldn't happen when they lost the titles
I was watching Kevin Nash's guest booker shoot interview and he talked about he would have made a tag team of Sid and Waltman called "Sid and Kid," and holy shit I never realized how awesome that pairing woulda been. 1-2-3 Kid as the babyface in peril and then Sid just cleans house, yes please.
is that how Kane and X-Pac worked matches?
Honestly I don't even remember them for their matches, I mostly remember the phase where Xpac taught Kane how to love and then turned on him haha
I don't even remember how regularly I watched wrestling but I remembered that story, and the most memorable part was Kane saying Suck It with the voice thingy and getting a huge reaction (from what I remember). but maybe watch those matches and you'd get your wish!
Going to my first wwe live show tomorrow, anything I should know ahead of time before I get there?
Have fun, don't be a dick, and acknowledge(in absentia) the Tribal Chief.
Rating threads should be used as a honeypot to ban people in this sub. Jesus fucking christ, awful vibes
I'm just continually disappointed that jerkers are only brave enough to brigade ratings threads when they are 750k instead of 850k Running.from.the.grind
It's just the Dynamite threads. The Raw thread this week had 20 comments and zero upvotes. The NXT thread today has 10 comments and 5 upvotes. The Dynamite thread just opened and has 589 comments. Things can't be more transparent than that. People who love to use the "Oh, I'm just very interested in the business side of wrestling, that's normal right" are full of shit, you literally only have interest in one specific company on a Thursday evening.
Granted, I'm not checking out every post on here, but whenever I've looked at the ratings ones they're full of people I never really see commenting on anything else. Probably the same people who call AEW fans a "cult" while they're yelling the same 10 points about the product they don't watch, into an echo chamber.
I think it's people pushing back on the attitude a certain type of AEW fan gives off. I don't think they need to do it and I don't think it's a good thing to do, but I sort of get it.
> I think it's people pushing back on the attitude a certain type of AEW fan gives off. I don't think they need to do it and I don't think it's a good thing to do, but I sort of get it. Trying to justify straight up trolling with "well the other anonymous Reddit posters started it and I need to respond because this is a WAR and I need to defend my chosen side" or "the fans of something else made me upset with how they posted 3-4 years ago and I've held a grudge since then" is even more pathetic than the trolling itself. And that is saying something. It isn't hard to post mostly positive stuff and not throw a bunch of negativity out about something you aren't actually even watching. Or if you're watching something and hate-posting about it, just why? There are basically infinite options for entertainment in 2024, go find any one of them you enjoy.
If I was justifying it, I wouldn't say point blank that it's not a good thing to do haha. I'm saying I can understand why it rubs some people the wrong way. > Or if you're watching something and hate-posting about it, just why? Genuine negative opinions about something you watch are totally valid, they're not the same thing as trolling.
Genuine negative opinions =/= hateposting, but hateposting = trolling. And it's not particularly difficult to tell the difference in 99% of situations.
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those numbers are crazy lol. though tbf, the Dynamite ratings, when the contract is being negotiated, are the biggest ratings news in the business rn.
Except WBD don't use Nielsen anymore.
what does that mean in the grand scheme of things?
That WBD consider Nielsen inaccurate hence they use a new service for ratings they consider a better reflection of what is actually happening (that whenever WBD use to give AEW kudos people say "it's obviously wrong if the Nielsen's ratings are where they are"). Ultimately if WBD want to give AEW a new massive deal, they'll find numbers that justify it. If they don't, they'll find numbers that don't. At this point it's pretty clear WBD are puting more and more eggs in the AEW basket (they literally helped design the new Dynamite set), it's just whether every AEW show stays on Warner or Tony maybe tries to move one or both of the B shows elsewhere like WWE is doing. But I'd be shocked if Dynamite isn't on WBD for the forseeable future.
yeah in a universe of one bidder it could work that way. the ratings do matter though yes perhaps in this case discussing nielson numbers week to week is not as relevant. But maybe other potential bidders would look at that. (assuming nielson is what's getting posted on Thursdays.)
Again what I said about WBD applies to any other bidder. There are so many numbers (Youtube views and subs, FITE TV Subs, International Viewership in places like Canada and the UK, new TV metric systems that most of these places are using rather than Nielsen and will have access to that outsiders don't, PPV buys, etc, etc, etc) that if you want to sell yourself on AEW you can and if you don't you don't have to. Even if you want to use Nielsen ratings, you can sell yourself on "AEW is first on the night in the demo" or "AEW isn't that high in overall" etc. But people using it as any kind of end all be all metric to measure the health of the company are idiots. More than anything else it's gonna be simply "do we want our brand associated with this brand". Depending on what the answer is you'll ALWAYS be able to find answers for or against. That's really how modern business works.
ITs all about the agenda.
With that story of Okada's earnings being put out, you know Drew is knocking on Trips door as we speak. Genuine question though, why are WWE being so stingy with their money? Is Endeavor blocking them from using funds?
Are they being stingy?
the example to look at is UFC not booking Jon Jones and mcGregor for a long time after they got their ESPN guaranteed money deal. Why pay more to those guys when you have guaranteed money? WWE still doesn't have as good profit margins as UFC, even with more revenue. It's going to be cheaper to lean on Bron, Tiffany Stratton, and ilya than it is to give big money to Mone, Okada, Drew and Ospreay.
You'd think they'd wanna retain someone like Drew at least given his recent popularity rise.
they do want to, but they will risk him leaving if they can pay him less ya know. and the push is like, hey look how great it can be? you can get this great push and be a great heel. you just have to accept this salary. but if they have to put corbin back in that spot for 750k in order not to pay drew 2.2M, maybe they would do it lol. I'm just pulling those numbers out of my ass, but I think that's how they must be thinking.
That's fucked up. Its understandably how the business works, but it's still pretty fucked up. I can understand why AEW looks like a much better alternative. Tony will essentially pay you however much you want and you work much less too. Drew has expressed that he misses being with his family, so hey, if WWE aren't going to pay him (what he feels is) his worth, why not walk. It worked for Mone after all. Now granted, Okada is a special case as he's close friends with Matt and Nick, so they probably had to go to ball to get him that deal, while I can't see Tony paying that much for Drew, even after this recent push of his.
Oh yeah if you look at UFC, there are many cases where they diminished the onscreen product in order to save money. And WWE must feel so invincible going from the bloodline to Cody/Rockmania that I assume everyone else is expendable if they won't play ball.
I like to think Triple H understands the business enough to understand that is a bad idea for the long-term product is trying to convince Khan and TKO to let him either hire new guys or retain the ones they have. But if the talent ask for too much, TKO are more than willing to let them go and Trips has no choice but to let it happen.
Did Wolfpac Sting exist because of Kane's introduction? I'm basing this on the similarity of their outfits. The timing makes it seem possible.
I saw the Iron Claw a few weeks ago and it moved me significantly, being a story about being a son and a brother. That renewed my interest in professional wrestling that I had in years past, but I want to go back and see the saga from when I was a kid so my question is where can I stream a collection of 90s wrestling, if anywhere? Also if there’s a beginners guide or something for me to read I’d like to start there. Thanks.
The new color scheme on the LED screens for the guardrails for Dynamite are butt fucking ugly, wow. Tough.
i'm 40 minutes into this Ricky Stanicky comedy with Cena and I haven't even so much as chuckled yet.
Thanks for doing the work so we won't have to. I usually like stuff Cena is in
he tries soo hard to be funny that it's painful sometimes
Maybe I stretched the truth a bit. I've seen Trainwreck, Suicide Squad and Peacemaker and liked him in those. But I can see him overacting. He graduated from the WWE school of acting, everyone overacts there.
Wreddit hivemind, I am running my first ever show in April and it features a king of the Ring style knockout tournament with wrestlers from around my country of New Zealand (its a supershow featuring wrestlers from promotions around the country, paired with a rock music and Craft Beer festival) I need an inspired non-cliche name for the tournament (King of the Ring feels tired). Please help, thanks! :-)
Whereabouts are you holding it? Also in NZ
Dozens of us! Porirua, Wellington - [here's a ton more info (no wrestling advertised yet)](http://www.poriruarocks.co.nz)
Battle Caucus
Ruler of the Ropes
I feel like last night’s show (and Revolution as an extension) really opened the door to AEW being that insane “5 star match” workrate fed with sports entertainment elements that people expected when doors opened five years ago. We’re not only in for some all time bangers, they will likely be built up in some pretty strong storylines with developed characters like the Bucks, Swerve and Cole.
I don't get it, they've literally always had great matches. and Ospreay should not try to have matches at good on TV every week. If only to make the PPVs special. That match was insane. He's just on another level right now.
Some people wanted results from day 1. It took about 5 years to get to this point. Covid hurt them as an upstart. So did some big injuries to key wrestlers. And Tony Khan is partially to blame too. It feels like the lessons have been learned that needed to be. Now we have an infusion of top tier talent, along with veterans who are known from the start of AEW, and also younger stars being developed.
Yeah and I think the roster is better for it since we have an actually developed midcard thanks to that period of growing pains. Hopefully with three shows now, the young guys will still get a chance to develop their characters
Putting Okada with the Young Bucks was a ballsy move by Tony Khan. The live fans weren't exactly enthusiastic about it. But an hour late it definitely felt like an amazing idea.
I like that AEW is going back to the tunnels. If Tony can write a good story for Osprey and Danielson I’d be pumped to watch it but I’ll hold my breath on that. I wouldn’t mind a build to it similar to Joe Vs Angle in TNA, no physical contact just training and promos. Also Dave Meltzer needs to retire
why does he need to retire?
Reporting his opinions as facts, hypocrisy, tasteless jokes of murder, double standards, condescending attitude, obvious biases
much easier to ignore. they even renamed the Meltzer Driver, so now there's no moves named after him.
He has been that way for years maybe even decades.
Are the AEW official rankings still a thing?
I am still impressed Ultimate Warrior managed to say Hulk Hogan 17 times in the span of 3 minutes in his promo at Wrestlemania 6
Cocaine's a hell of a drug.
AEW revamped its roster page slightly and there's no Kevin Kelly in the announcers section. Could be a mistake like when Yuka Sakazaki disappeared for like a day. Could be something else.
No kevin Kelly at the taping
I'm going to collision tonight, I'll let you know
Now that Sting has retired, do you think he will come back to WWE for some special appearances?
Never say never and all that, but why? Spent years avoiding going to WWE and when he finally did it was an utter disaster, and now he's left got to ride off into the sunset on a high
No. He is more likely to randomly show up at AEW big events like All In. He is already in the WWE Hall of Fame. He has zero reason to crawl his way back there.
Bianca is one of the best to ever lace up a pair of boots. She made her Wrestlemania debut in the main event and absolutely killed it along with Sasha Banks. And hasn’t looked back since.
God that Ospreay match was unbelievable. I feel like it should have ended with the first hidden blade but maybe he wanted to give his friend a leg up. Tony Khan has himself a stud, man.
I wouldn't blame Ospereay if he wanted to put his friend over in a stellar showcase match.
That first Blade looked SICK. Yes, it really should have been the finish.
The Viking Raiders are lowkey a great tag team. I’m watching their match from Dominion 6.11 and thinking about how athletic and precise they are considering their size. It’s incredible to watch, particularly the top rope stuff.
Injuries after their NXT run, combined with neither of them really working to stay in good shape has hurt them a lot but damn they were awesome late in their NJPW run
It's not the first time WWE called The Rock, "Dwayne" it's been well established in WWE canon that he half uses his regular name for acting, but still Rollins using an alliterative insult on his regular name it seems cheap and petty, and even though Rock sometimes uses both names in wrestling, it still feels somewhat kayfabe breaking because it reminds the fans that wrestlers have both regular names and wrestler names.
TIL that rhea ripley is only 5’7”. I mean granted thats still above average height for a women but on tv she looks to be closer to 6’
Jericho is the anti-Christian. He loves being around people with good dads and being their second father figure. but fuck me, this HOOK-Jericho thing better be quick. what an awkward pair. if theoretically HOOK is an avatar for a younger audience, why would you have him around this old looking guy?
It sounds like they're going to team up, break up, and feud. I can't think of *anyone* I less want Hook to be associated with.
Just started Tough Enough S6 and it’s insane how much of the main cast is now with AEW. The two hosts, Renee and Chris Jericho, are AEW. Two of the judges, Paige and Daniel Bryan, are AEW. The head coach, Billy Gunn, is AEW. Watching pre-AEW media really puts into perspective how much AEW really improved the industry for the talent.
[Cool photo of Hiroshi Tanahashi hanging out with Kentaro Miura (late mangaka behind Berserk on the right) and Kouji Mori. Miura drew a portrait of Tanahashi that he's holding.](https://www.aazealh.net/Divers/Miura/MoriWifeBlog-002.jpg)
How do y’all feel about Okada potentially going for the continental crown championship? That seemed to be what they were hinting towards last night. The other belts kind of feel like they’re firmly in the mid card, so I feel like this could be a good opportunity to elevate the C3 as a real alternative for these main event level guys that are kind of stuck waiting for their shot at the world title. I know a lot of people had slotted him to immediately be in the world title picture though, so that might be controversial. Interested to hear what other people think about it
The wrestler makes the belt. If Okada is holding the belts, they are by default important.
EVP Elite stable with Belt Collector Okada holding the 3 triple crown straps while coming up the Codyvator looks all too perfect in my head
It's the main event belt of Collision realistically. What that means in the larger picture is it's own discussion but they treat it like a top prize on that show. I kinda figure that's why Tony stopped caring about the International Title because that was the original plan for the Collision belt until the CC.
How 'bout Okada vs. Joe?
The only reason I’m iffy about him going immediately for the world title is that they have real lightning in a bottle with Swerve and Ospreay. I think you have to pull the trigger on them now. Having Okada go for the big one immediately either puts that at risk entirely, or risks his legitimacy like with the whole Jay White fiasco. Having Okada go for a run with the CC instead would allow them to book him strongly to build the belt and keep him fresh for a world title run down the road
White has taken what he's been given and run with it, for however long that lasts. With his resume, Okada is better suited for a World title run if he doesn't beat Kingston for the Continental Crown. I would say Okada could challenge for the World title in about a year or so.
Sounds like a great first opponent for Okada. And they've built up the C3 a ton with Eddie's reign and it could be a good time to pass that onto someone else, many thought it would be Danielson. Then you just give Okada the Gunther push. In my dream he also takes the Interational and puts that to bed.
I think it'd be a mistake to slot him into the world title picture right now, you either derail the spinning plates and put Okada at the top still basically an unknown quantity to much of the viewing audience or you have him lose straight away and fall into the midcard title scene which looks bad.
I'm at a point now where if SCSA doesn't coming out to neutralize rock at WM I'm going to be incredibly sad. I hate the internet.
If wrestling had Rotten Tomatoes I bet most people would be shocked and flabbergasted that Meltzer ratings would roughly align with consensus
Isn't it Cagematch? It roughly does align. He's more generous to WWE and like Young Bucks matches, but nothing that would throw off the averages too much. He also studied the VOW top 100 list and said he agreed with most of it, and that's a ton of media people compiled into one list.
What I think of when I hear AEW's next PPV is called Dynasty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns92Z1n2Qxo
Just give me an Okada entrance using the EVP-Vator at Dynasty, please Tony Khan!
So is there really a high chance of Darby dying on Mt. Everest? Like from what I read the chances of death are pretty slim, but only if you’re fully prepared with a guide. So is Darby going unprepared? Like what’s happening?
The death rate is about 1-2%. So not a high chance, but it is a real danger. If you’ve ever played an rpg or strategy game you’ll know those 1-2% chances come up more often then most think
When I got an emergency cardio cath they explained to me that there's a series of risks that add up to roughly a 1% chance of death. That plus the fact they had written stuff on my feet with markers like I was already a cadaver made that 1% feel a lot bigger than I was happy about...
Generally speaking as long as you aren't a completely untrained idiot and listen to your guides/sherpa's, and don't try to push yourself beyond your means (risking running low on o2, etc) you're probably going to end up being fine. Now darby wanting to wing suit down....that's uh...a different situation if he is allowed to even try.
I just assumed he was planning to Coffin Drop his way down. A wing suit doesn't sound so bad by comparison.
Wrestlers exaggerate when giving promos.
i thought mone would debut? where was she?
Coming to save Bayley at Mania, don’t worry! (Big Business is in Bo$$ton next week, you’re a week early on the timeline)
one of my all time favorite things in wrestling is when somebody debuts in a new promotion and is so uniquely and distinctly good that they sort of end up lowkey changing the program around them. in WWE at least the radicalz in 2000, RVD in 2001, the shield & the 4HW all come to mind
i thought mone would debut? where was she?
It's the worst kept secret of all-time that she will make her presence known in Bo$$ton.
Big buisness is next week
That's next week.
thank god corporations and million/billionaires have randos on the internet to defend them
Sometimes the billionaire is right and deserves to be defended.
Ha, sure dude, if you say so
I'm not really a fan of the Freebird Rule, but I do like how it's somewhat similar to substitutions in other sports. Also, I don't believe Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson are true business heels yet. Otherwise, they'd already have LinkedIn accounts with posts written in corporate lingo.
Bang Bang Gang’s theme sounds like the No Role Modelz beat — never connected the dots til last night
It's from Sabata, a Western
if i want to start watching AEW is dynamite the show to watch if i can only watch one?
It's their flagship show and the one that almost exclusively shows the main-event stuff so yes. I'd say check out Rampage and Collison too but if you can't you can always check the match highlights on AEW's YouTube and decide if those shows are worth the investment.
Yeah, it's their Raw.
If you have to pick one, then yes, Dynamite is absolutely the flagship/"A" show of the three. Rampage is targeted a bit more at the hardcores and has more niche/experimental matchups, it's the show that isn't afraid to get a bit weird. And Collision has a bit more of a retro feel to it, it's a bit slowed down and has some specific talents that are primarily on that show, but it is generally going to be a bit below Dynamite (unless you really really love those specific talents).
Definitely. At this point Rampage is it's own little NXT 2.0 esque world and Collision is only really important if you REALLY love Danielson and Kingston and Deeb and HOB.
Can’t wait for the Toni awards!
I’m going to be the moron that says this so you can all come back and laugh at me in six weeks. I don’t think Danielson vs Ospreay will be very good. 3 or 3.5 star at best.
Osprey has never been on my list of dream opponents for Danielson. Partly because i'm not a massive fan of Osprey and also just because I don't think their styles match together especially well. Styles and chemistry make great matches, it's more than just throwing two great wrestlers together. Danielson is arguably the greatest of all time, Osprey is one of the best right now and they're both currently on career-defining runs so I'm sure it will be good but I doubt it's even going to scratch my top-10 Danielson matches of his AEW run, let alone his entire career.
Interesting! Why do you think this? Ospreay, dispte my criticisms of him, is a very good wrestler and Danielson is obviously excellent, but he's also very good at meshing with his opponents style. I reckon it'll be a MOTY contender.
The best way I can say it is that I don’t know that Danielson can keep up with him. Danielson’s good matches are all kind of slow, methodical affairs. Imagine the Fletcher match, but do the “yay-boo” forearms three more times and add in 6 minutes of submission holds and you’ve got the Danielson match. They always talk about “switching gears” in wrestling. Start out in first, switch into second as it picks up, etc….and Ospreay does that very well. Danielson matches, to me, are 1st gear, second gear, back to first, back to second, back down to first, jump to third, back to first, and then back to second for the finish.
Ospreay will hang with and shine with Danielson on the mat. I don't think lots of mat wrestling will be a negative.
Honestly my favorite Omega match is probably the one with Danielson. That was very much a Danielson match. I'm confident he can get the same kind of match out of Ospreay.
Yeah I think it’s possible for Danielson to face a top-10 worker and not have it be a MOTYC like the first Okada match, but *** is touuuuuugh. I mean anyone can say they see it as *** to prove themselves right but a 6-7 on Cagematch? No fucking way.
This is an incredible double moot point because a) to a ton of fans Ospreay will never miss no matter what the match actually is b) Danielson has been on such a tear against such different opponents stylistically over the last year it's less likely. To the point, I hope you're somehow correct.
Okada has 2 t-shirts out since his AEW debut, both pretty standard middle of the road designs nothing exciting, which means they are already better than 90% of his NJPW merch.
 So true. I know that some say that the merch in NJPW is mostly done by independent artists, but they still give it their stamp of approval by plugging it. Some of it is so bad.
https://preview.redd.it/9phi9y16vxmc1.png?width=265&format=png&auto=webp&s=7d7c8d048123bd4d45677e3707337918b877512e this is the 10%
Very sad I bought this when I was thinner.
Nah fam, [THIS IS THE 10%](https://preview.redd.it/yp7645j55ldc1.jpeg?width=1000&auto=webp&s=ac057286219acc1c021e70ee336025e696076f6f) Seriously, this t-shirt was limited edition and probably is one of the best designs on a wrestling shirt ever
For those who aren't aware, this shirt used the same technology as Okada's most recent Wrestle Kingdom robe, so it changes color when exposed to UV light. So it would look like the left picture until you expose it to enough sunlight, then it would turn into the right picture.
I can't stop thinking about how great of a match Osprey v Fletcher was yesterday. Osprey feels like a huge deal and he was able to work a TV style match with commercial breaks like it was nothing. Great show overall. AEW is starting feel like the 2019 version I loved.
I try to stay out of the tribalism muck as much as possible but holy crap, the internet arguing that the Bucks are "copying/parodying HHH" because they're pointing at Okada in pictures is a new low. I saw that picture of the Bucks and Okada and immediately thought [Sonny Onoo in WCW](https://wcwworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/hokuto-onoo-poster.jpg) but apparently I was wrong and HHH invented that.
And even if they were, per se, they're parodying words and phrases from Tony Khan even more. It's a pretty equal opportunity satire of "corporate" types, particularly in wrestling.
Who do you think are winning the AEW tag belt tournament? My guess is BCC, but I'd love to see Top Flight or Take/Hobbs get it
I've been wanting a BCC run since the end of the C2 and they tagged together the first time in January, so I'm absolutely here for them getting the belts for a short run before passing them over to someone.
I know people will complain but I like it when singles guys reasonably go after the tag titles. I liked that Omega & Page were champions. If done right (i.e., the established full-time teams aren't just jobbed out for two singles main eventers thrown together), it makes the tag titles more prestigious. In the heyday of JCP the tag titles were held by guys like Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Blackjack Mulligan, and Sgt. Slaughter. AJPW's tag titles were in the hands of Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, Taue, Doc, and Hansen most of the time.
IF you do it right, it works especially when you have a S-tier guy like Mox teaming with a career tag team specialist like Claudio. It makes sense in kayfabe they can beat other "real" tag teams. Like you said, as long as you just aren't jobbing your top teams specifically to further 2 singles' guys story, I think it's perfectly fine.
BCC would be cool considering they just beat FTR and are supposedly number 1 contenders by default
So far a spectacular week for wrestling in North America. Legendary AEW PPV, Raw was good, NXT was phenomenal, and last night Dynamite was just on another level. Looking forward to SmackDown and Collision.
This feels like the first time in years where AEW have had a few great shows and CM Punk isn’t there to make it all about himself. Feels good man.
AEW even with the big stars feels like it has a one for all mentality that Punk never fully bought into. That All Out scrum was just huge diva energy of a guy trying to position himself above the people who helped start the company.
The dude kind of ruined All In. It was a fantastic show and should’ve been the reset the company needed after all the drama from the year before, but he continued behaving like a spoiled toddler. I get being a fan of the guy’s work, but the praise he’s gotten for glibly referencing his backstage meltdowns in AEW has been weird as hell.
I got downvoted in a thread about the AEW Pillars for pointing out that him getting fired was an overreaction to Jack Perry. There's really people out there who think Jack Perry woke up that day with the intention of getting Punk fired. He acted out of line but I don't think he expected the guy nearly 20 years older than him to fight him.
During the WM presser, people were celebrating that he, “slapped the shit out of,” the Bucks and Perry. Like it was some sign of virtue that he had violent hissy fits (which were conveniently never directly toward Hangman or Mox).
Thank you to our benevolent champion and King of Television Samoa Joe for that.
AEW getting back to laying out key matches a week or two in advance (at least for Dynamite) makes me happy. It's something I really liked about it in the earlier days.
What they did with a match as comparatively inconsequential as HOOK vs. Brian Cage is the template they need to try and adhere to. It took something that could've been a throwaway, and with some pretty minor foresight and time allocation (including on Collision or Rampage), made it something people had some interest in.
So Max is obviously coming back to cost Wardlow the belt next week right?
What about costing Joe? [I realize Wardlow was in on the title change as well, but it was also Joe that took the belt etc]
If I don't lose motivation, we're finally a quarter of the way through the very preliminary very wrong GWE list. Here's the top 25, presented in a way that doesn't make you scroll for minutes to read the other posts in the thread: [1-5](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1aqjdmi/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/kqed0zp/): Genichiro Tenryu, Terry Funk, Bret Hart, Atlantis, Hiroshi Tanahashi [6-10](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1aujsfv/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/kr5rfkz/): Ric Flair, Tatsumi Fujinami, Stan Hansen, Bryan Danielson, Negro Casas [11-15](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1aw8gnl/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/krgqaru/): Kenta Kobashi, Mick Foley, Eddie Guerrero, Shinya Hashimoto, Jumbo Tsuruta [16-20](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1b0dxh2/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/ks88j8s/):Yoshihiro Takayama, Rey Mysterio, Akira Taue, El Solitario, Steve Austin [21-25](https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1b71om7/wreddits_daily_prowrestling_discussion_thread/ktgsxf8/): Mitsuharu Misawa, AJ Styles, El Hijo Del Santo, Sami Zayn, Naoki Sano
One thing that would’ve made Matt(thew) and Nick(holas) even funnier is if Hangman had accidentally struck those 2 refs
What do we know about Darby’s mountain trip. Like is he going with a team that has medics and professionals or is he legit just on his own Yolo
He is going with a guide service, I think Adventure Consultants.
That makes me feel a lot better
I might be wrong but I'm not entirely sure you can just "solo" it these days - there is documentary stuff out there of literal lines of people going at one time to reach the top. Its crazy,
Feels like now it’s something by people do for clout and Instagram likes. I imagine the entry cost has sky rocketed too
Young Bucks just pulling from LinkedIn, being the worst kind of corporate dudes just sent me last night. The Okada handshake too, *chef's kiss* Looking real forward to what's cooking in AEW over the next few weeks.
Telling Kingston “let’s take this conversation offline” killed me
"Hold on guys, we're not trying to boil the ocean here. Remember, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. So we should put a pin in this. Please check my calendry for availability to circle back to this in the future."
At this point I kinda want to know how they're so good at this since I'm pretty sure they've never had a regular corporate job. Just watching TV and movies? But they're SOOOO good at it.
I’ve been thinking the same thing! Even just bringing back “change the world” under this light reminds me of former Creative Directors hyping up “making the world better” (by selling consumer products). At this point I’m just waiting for them to tell someone to “check the Jira Tickets”
When Meltzer isn’t mocking murder victims he just sits there (with Elf Alvarez) backseatting companies on how they should do better. Motherfucker, own a wrestling company and see if you can do better. So sick of it. Clearly Tony Khan isn’t going to listen to what you’re saying and he’s done a pretty damn good job the last 4 1/2 years cause of it.
"You can't criticize if you can't do it yourself" is always the smoothest of brain takes. You can enjoy or not enjoy a television show even if you can't produce or act in one yourself the same way you can enjoy or not enjoy a beef Wellington even if you can't make one yourself. In the end, he has an opinion on how things would be better in his mind just like we all do. He voices it just like we all do.
We all constantly talk about how promotions could do better. Why is it such a big deal when Dave does it?
Truth. The reality is sitting in the big chair and speaking truth to the big chair are worlds apart in skill and intent. Easy to forget that when we’re all a comment button away from sharing our thoughts.
I considered skipping going to Dynamite last night, but talked myself into going. I made a great decision. I was wondering how did the crowd sound? Sadly, half the arena was taped off, but it came off as super loud inside. Okada and Ospreay had what sounded like huge pops, so I wondered if that came across on TV.
Overall sounded great, especially for Ospreay. The only thing was that it was kind of hard to hear how the crowd reacted to Okada. It seemed they changed from picking up the music on the crowd mics to plugging music directly into the mix, so it was harder to hear the crowd. Edit: So watching back the YouTube upload of Okadas entrance the crowd sounds incredible. Just to see if I was going crazy I went back and watched the DVR and the mix is definitely different. Still a good pop on TV, but way better in their upload
They had several technical issues in the arena last night. For example when Joe came out, his video just started to play with no music and then they turned it up to the house speakers only after he walked out, so there was no hit for the start. editing to add: This is what happened in the arena at least, I don't know if those audio issues carried over to the broadcast but they were definitely having an off night inside.
There were at least two if not more instances of Justin Roberts' intro not being audible for several seconds. "--...Marks' Place, weighing 201 pounds, HOOK!"
Could definitely tell Duluth was Swerve’s house. Energy for him was loud af.
You are right, I completely forgot about that segment. How stacked is a night when a match involving Swerve and Somoa Joe slipped my mind? Wild.
The Bucks work in just the past month alone is better than most of their work from last year hell even 2022
It sucked having them off TV so much the last couple years. They are killing it with these new characters.
be honest with me, is there money in a jake and logan paul tag team?
Bit of a long shot, but is there any clean-ish video of Ospreay's theme which has the fans chanting OSPREAY OSPREAY?
https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/s/0gTMAqatTi Here's his entrance from Wrestlekingdom, they hit the chants pretty hard there
What are your favorite changes that Kevin Dunn's replacement Lee Fitting has made to WWE's media and production?