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AEW - NOV 2019


Dolfan in NYC

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The more apt comparison for AEW, if you're dead set on business models and boom periods from over 20 years ago, would obviously be ECW. All of this talk about stagnant growth (lol they've been on TV for a month and have consistently been in the top 10 for their timeslot but oookay) and niche audiences and whatever, there's your comparison.

Maybe their ratings stay the same. Maybe it grows. Maybe it doesn't, and it drops to NXT levels. That's still at a level that TNT is happy with it. But some people on the internet aren't going to accept that, because they have this preconceived idea of this being viable competition for WWE. It's not. The talent has said that time and time again, but nobody really hears that (or thinks it's a joke or deflecting or whatever). You can't beat WWE. They won 18 years ago, ran a monopoly, stockpiled massive amounts of talent in the past 5 years, and brokered huge deals with corrupt governments and with television networks that grossly overpay for live content. AEW is the clear #2, and that's perfectly acceptable. It's an alternative, and obviously people are treating it as such.

Entertaining the thought of people like Roman, Seth, Orton, etc. jumping is dumb. Could it happen? I mean, I guess, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Let's say it does, though. Does it matter? No. Did Hall & Nash jumping create buzz among wrestling fans? Yeah. What broke into the mainstream, though? It was Hall, Nash and some guy named Hulk Hogan who was the most popular wrestler of the last decade at that point and brought eyes to WCW way before that when HE jumped. Using these analogies and scenarios are so, so, so dumb in 2019.

It's probably time to accept that wrestling just won't ever be popular like it was back then, and move the fuck on.

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Many things do not apply to 2019 but some do.  Such as losing nearly 50% of the premiere audience and a downward progression week to week.  Yes,  of course the World Series was a factor and I said that it was.  Yes, they are doing way better than even TNT had hoped. 

Nobody said "AEW is in trouble" or anything that even remotely suggested that.  But it is something to watch and eventually they have to level off somewhere, retain and build. 

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14 minutes ago, Casey said:

It's probably time to accept that wrestling just won't ever be popular like it was back then, and move the fuck on.

Well said.  And we should all be fine with this.  Trying to appeal to TMZ and a mass audience who drop in to help soar a pay per view number are of no interest to me.  From what I gather from the first 5 weeks of television and the 4 shows prior, Tony Khan cares about delivering a quality product.  Said quality product doesn't necessarily equal main stream billion dollar rewards.  But it may very well equal sustainability and financial upward mobility.  Who cares about widespread mainstream acceptance of a wrestling prroduct?  And why? 

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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6 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Many things do not apply to 2019 but some do.  Such as losing nearly 50% of the premiere audience and a downward progression week to week.  Yes,  of course the World Series was a factor and I said that it was.  Yes, they are doing way better than even TNT had hoped. 

Nobody said "AEW is in trouble" or anything that even remotely suggested that.  But it is something to watch and eventually they have to level off somewhere, retain and build. 

Exactly... AEW has a really nice house right now, but there ain’t anything wrong in saying “Maybe we should get a recliner, or add a wet bar”.

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16 hours ago, Casey said:

TNT always posts the full match listings for the upcoming week. Here’s what’s scheduled for 11/6:

Shawn Spears (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Brandon Cutler

Private Party vs Dark Order vs TH2 (Angelico & Jack Evans)  

Trent? (w/ OC & Chuckie T) vs Pac

Shanna & Riho vs Emi Sakura & Jamie Hayter

Hikaru Shida vs Big Swoll

Hangman Page & Kenny Omega vs Sammy Guevara & Chris Jericho

The tag match is now listed as just Private Party Vs. The Dark Order. 

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5 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

AEW certainly needs to grow their audience, but looking backwards to how WCW did it or WWF did it is not the best strategy.  The best strategy is what they are doing - putting on great episodic television.  Further, despite the light criticisms over needing more promos/vignettes, they are building their talent very well, and giving everybody a chance to shine.  The oft discussed 'modern problems with babyface-heel dynamics being lost' is resisting what the business is and has become in the year 2019.  Heel-face is the most basic storytelling, and certainly not without it's merits when done well.  Certainly it still can work, but (seems to me) most people are more excited about seeing quality action and quality characters than pretending to be pissed off over some dastardly act.  Heel heat is not as important as it was in the kayfabe years.  At least in the overall picture.

I don’t agree that it’s been great episodic tv because (again, other than Cody-Jericho) I’m pretty confident you could move segments from any show to any other show and people wouldn’t be able to tell.  If the Omega six man from this week was three weeks earlier, who would be able to tell?  Everyone is the same they were at the start of the promotion’s run.

The purpose about having heels and faces is to create an investment in who wins and loses. It’s easier to get behind Private Party if they aren’t facing someone else the crowd may want to win that week.  It would also be easier to make them stand out based on their athleticism if everyone wasn’t a super athlete.  If Marq’s ridiculously amazing shooting star press actually beat someone, that would be a plus. 

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8 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

 

I hope he never gets to announce it, and it becomes a running joke.

 

21 minutes ago, Goodear said:
5 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

 

I don’t agree that it’s been great episodic tv because (again, other than Cody-Jericho) I’m pretty confident you could move segments from any show to any other show and people wouldn’t be able to tell.

What weekly wrestling show in the history of weekly wrestling shows has ever not been formulaic to the point where it doesn’t run into a similar pattern from episode to episode? Even my beloved Nitro had this problem with segments repeating themselves from the following week like the hot Sting segments were redressed to make them appear new.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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7 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

I hope he never gets to announce it, and it becomes a running joke

Yes, how can he be so sure that he won’t be interrupted this time? Who knows what depths of skullduggery the heels could stoop to in order to derail him?

I do agree that the hook for building up a compelling weekly show cannot just be ‘interchangeable tag spotfest’ (there has been a storyline reason for it this far). The progression of the Cody-Jericho feud (in terms of promo, announcements, backstage stuff) should be their model for 2-3 other concurrent feuds. In particular the documentary-styled background pieces on the lesser know talent. Or, to be even more time efficient, crib off NXT and do the concise statements a la Mia Yim.

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1 hour ago, Goodear said:

I don’t agree that it’s been great episodic tv because (again, other than Cody-Jericho) I’m pretty confident you could move segments from any show to any other show and people wouldn’t be able to tell.  If the Omega six man from this week was three weeks earlier, who would be able to tell?  Everyone is the same they were at the start of the promotion’s run.

The purpose about having heels and faces is to create an investment in who wins and loses. It’s easier to get behind Private Party if they aren’t facing someone else the crowd may want to win that week.  It would also be easier to make them stand out based on their athleticism if everyone wasn’t a super athlete.  If Marq’s ridiculously amazing shooting star press actually beat someone, that would be a plus. 

Episodic - containing or consisting of a series of loosely connected parts or events.  Sounds like Dyn-o-mite!

I'm not so sure I agree concerning heels and babyfaces in the year 2019.  Seems to me there was a Young Bucks-Private Party match a few weeks back that didn't have clear cut good or bad guys, and the crowd seemed pretty invested in the finish.  That's just one example.  I don't disagree that a good heel/babyface story is potentially very effective.  I'm just saying it's not entirely necessary throughout the card.  Here's another example, the fued consisting of Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley!

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2 hours ago, Casey said:

Sounds like people are wanting AEW to be something it won’t be, and was clearly stated as such from the very beginning.

Can you explain this statement a little more? I think there were conflicting ideas on what it was going to be. 

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2 hours ago, odessasteps said:

I think there are probably going to be people conflicted who want to reject the wwe for staleness and/or moral reasons, but don’t end up liking the AEW style. 
 

they may just go away all together. 

I think the people who rejected WWE for staleness did so a long time ago. Those who left for moral reasons probably did so before Blood Money 2. 

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20 minutes ago, goodhelmet said:

Can you explain this statement a little more? I think there were conflicting ideas on what it was going to be. 

I can’t find the exact quote right now, but I remember reading a quote from someone (it was either Cody or Kenny or Tony) that said they’re doing something different with AEW and it’s going to polarize some people.

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27 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

So this Cody announcement thing. Does anybody think it might be health related? We haven’t seen Cody wrestle since the AEW Dark multi-man, and he’s only had one singles match since the start of Dynamite. 

I haven’t thought about health reasons, but my completely baseless hunch is that he’s putting his career on the line against Jericho, saying he’ll focus on running the company if he loses. Probably with a Triple H dig involved.

Edited by JonnyLaw
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