AEW - MAY 2023

[For Great Justice]

Shit yeah I hope it’s piranesi

Need that Hobo Army and Wardlow Fashion Watch

[twiztor]

well, it only makes sense. CM Punk is supposedly coming back, might as well bring in his DVDVR alter ego as well. gotta be FSW.

[Infinit]

I'm surprised they didn't make Kenny vs Mox next week an IWGP US title match as well.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I interacted with Will a bunch on Twitter before deleting it and I found him to be a super nice guy, with really similar tastes to mine especially as it concerns the overall TV presentation (kinda tracks that he would be a member here). 

Very happy for him, and I have zero doubt this is going to pay dividends with the on-screen stuffing and potatoes given how detail-oriented he comes across on his pod and socials.

[Craig H]

Will Washington is DVDVR alumni. He's exactly the type of hire I was saying AEW needed instead of the also rans from WWE and TNA.

[Infinit]

To all the members here who are going to Forbidden Door...want me to set up a reservation at Real Sports for pre drinks? @HarryArchieGus @S.K.o.S. @John from Cincinnati @ChesterCopperpot @GuerrillaMonsoon @Krone (sorry if I forgot anyone...everyone is welcomed!)

Lets get a head count and I will set up the reso

[John from Cincinnati]

15 minutes ago, Infinit said:

To all the members here who are going to Forbidden Door...want me to set up a reservation at Real Sports for pre drinks? @John from Cincinnati 

Happy to be thought of, but I'm not among the group of Forbidden Door attendees. Was considering maybe catching a show later in the Canada loop. 

Hope everyone has fun though. Should be a good one. 

[Pete]

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

58 minutes ago, Infinit said:

To all the members here who are going to Forbidden Door...want me to set up a reservation at Real Sports for pre drinks? @HarryArchieGus @S.K.o.S. @John from Cincinnati @ChesterCopperpot @GuerrillaMonsoon @Krone (sorry if I forgot anyone...everyone is welcomed!)

Lets get a head count and I will set up the reso

I wish I were going. Whenever I get parole from nappy changing duties, I'd love to hit you guys up for a pre show catch up.

[Niners Fan in CT]

50,000 sold.  Jeeeesus.  I thought 35K-40K would have been spectacular for them.  Now it's looking like they may do north of 60K or more.  Insane numbers.  

I hope Tony still puts a really good card together.  I don't think 60k+ want to watch Sammy Guevara. 

[Casey]

There’s a long list of other outdoor stadiums in the UK that they could have booked if they were content to do 50-60k. I’ve gotta believe they’re aiming to sell out the whole thing, otherwise why even book something like Wembley but only put the amount of people that, say, the Emirates Stadium can hold?

Tomorrow will be interesting. Personally I think they do the impossible and max it out.

[Go2Sleep]

I know wrestling promoters can be a delusional bunch, but presumably AEW did some market research before booking a venue like Wembley.

[Ziggy]

17 minutes ago, Casey said:

There’s a long list of other outdoor stadiums in the UK that they could have booked if they were content to do 50-60k. I’ve gotta believe they’re aiming to sell out the whole thing, otherwise why even book something like Wembley but only put the amount of people that, say, the Emirates Stadium can hold?

Tomorrow will be interesting. Personally I think they do the impossible and max it out.

I just invision he and Punk talking about him coming back and Punk saying "Let's do a PPV at Wimbley Stadium in late August " I don't think the time frame was a coincidence. I don't think it was about selling it out. 60 plus thousand fans was probably something realistic they probably set out for but I think now they probably want to go as close to selling out as they can, anything close to modern era realistic Wrestlemania stadium numbers would be good for them. You have DoN and Forbidden Door beforehand,  I want to know how much more tickets will be sold after official matches are announced. It's basically being sold based on the fact they haven't ran the UK and the assumption that Punk will be on the card. I don't think by the time Forbidden Door is over and the card takes shape that people will be more drawn in to buy a ticket if they hadn't already by then

 

[odessasteps]

Presumably, they booked Wembley for a number of reasons

1. it’s Wembley. One of most famous stadiums in the world, as opposed to Spurs Stadium for example. 

2. Summerslam nostalgia

3. Shad tried to buy it once and may try again who knows. Show the FA he can book  it and put tens of thousands people in it. 

[AxB]

Shad runs Wembley every year with the Jags, and tends to fill it. He owns Craven Cottage, has spoken about hosting NFL games at Craven Cottage, but never has because the far higher capacity at Wembley (90,000 for Soccer, as opposed to 25,700 for Soccer at the Cottage). They knew what they were doing.

[SturmCRF]

11 hours ago, Infinit said:

To all the members here who are going to Forbidden Door...want me to set up a reservation at Real Sports for pre drinks? @HarryArchieGus @S.K.o.S. @John from Cincinnati @ChesterCopperpot @GuerrillaMonsoon @Krone (sorry if I forgot anyone...everyone is welcomed!)

Lets get a head count and I will set up the reso

My girlfriend and I will be at Forbidden Door from deepest north London, I'd be up for that. I regretted not really interacting with anyone when I went to Wrestle Kingdom five years ago, this sounds fun.

[Infinit]

5 hours ago, SturmCRF said:

My girlfriend and I will be at Forbidden Door from deepest north London, I'd be up for that. I regretted not really interacting with anyone when I went to Wrestle Kingdom five years ago, this sounds fun.

Sounds good! I will relay details once I have set them up 

[Krone]

20 hours ago, Infinit said:

To all the members here who are going to Forbidden Door...want me to set up a reservation at Real Sports for pre drinks? @HarryArchieGus @S.K.o.S. @John from Cincinnati @ChesterCopperpot @GuerrillaMonsoon @Krone (sorry if I forgot anyone...everyone is welcomed!)

Lets get a head count and I will set up the reso

I'm riding with a buddy to the show and we won't be getting there til pretty close to bell time so I'll have to sit this one out. If we get there early by the grace of god I'll still try and swing over so I can say hello to the crew though!

[Kevin Wilson]

I can admit when I was wrong, AEW tickets at Wembley are selling like hotcakes. With general sale, estimates are already over 60K sold, although I am sure TK will keep us updated with the sold number. I expect it to be a very "fan-service-y" show if nothing else to keep the large crowd engaged and excited, something they can use in highlight clips for the rest of their existence. 

[Infinit]

This guy who has crunched some numbers thinks they have hit 70k already. Looks like he's done the work...but I guess we will get something official soon

 

[Craig H]

Holy fucking shit. AEW rules the motherfucking world.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I am going to wait until an official announcement before I start doing cartwheels. However, even as positive thinking as I was, I might have been too conservative:

https://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/10407-aew-april-2023/&do=findComment&comment=1289420

I thought a decent crowd was between 40,000 - 50,000 worst case scenario. There was that pipe dream (however brief) that UFC could have ran AT&T Stadium which was pretty new at the time with Lesnar vs. Fedor and done a record crowd. The record crowd for UFC at that time wasn't that high. The big record crowd everyone would remember among UFC fans was Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields at Rogers Centre (fka Skydome) in 2011. Since then, for the stadium shows they have done they have topped out at a little over 55,000. The UFC has had some pretty big fights since UFC 129 (GSP vs. Shields), which was well over a decade ago. 

WCW was pretty damn hot for two or three years, and they topped out at 41,000 for the Hogan vs. Goldberg title change at the Georgia Dome.

They're doing this with no card announced. That's insane.

[caley]

20 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

50,000 sold.  Jeeeesus.  I thought 35K-40K would have been spectacular for them.  Now it's looking like they may do north of 60K or more.  Insane numbers.  

[B]I hope Tony still puts a really good card together.  I don't think 60k+ want to watch Sammy Guevara. [/B]

They could book QT Marshall in the main and AEW fans would go "Well, let's just see where this goes...looking forward to it!" That's what I've come to appreciate about them: "Keep Jeff Jarrett away from AEW...I love Jeff Jarrett now!"

[Dog]

 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Someone take me through how this happened.  I'm 5-years old.  So WCW did 41,000 for Goldberg vs. Hogan and they were red hot. They were selling out arenas, the TV ratings were bonkers, the merchandise was flying off the shelves.  Everyone had an nWo t-shirt.  

Obviously AEW in the U.S. isn't as hot as WCW once was. I know ratings don't mean everything, a lot has changed but everyone knew people who were watching WCW during that period. They were household names. 

Did WCW top out at 41,000 just because of the market?  Atlanta?  Was it because of short notice?  It feels like all metrics would suggest that WCW should have been able to have sold out stadium shows.   WWF had done it.  Some Japanese promotions had done it.