AEW - January 2022

[John from Cincinnati]

I'm especially curious when I see the small handful of people wearing masks in these crowds. Like I get everyone around them who's just acting like it's over. But the people who've made a risk assessment that they care enough to remain masked, but they're also comfortable being in a crowd of barking mad lunatics? I just can't square that in my head. 

[Craig H]

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

I hate Emi's Twitter.  I wasn't hungry a second ago and now I'm starving.

Not going to lie...That post from Emi lead to me getting Jimmy John's for lunch.

It obviously wasn't as good as whatever that was in her picture.

[matt925]

19 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:

I'm especially curious when I see the small handful of people wearing masks in these crowds. Like I get everyone around them who's just acting like it's over. But the people who've made a risk assessment that they care enough to remain masked, but they're also comfortable being in a crowd of barking mad lunatics? I just can't square that in my head. 

I’ve been to a few Indy shows where masks were required but a good 20% of people didn’t bother. I’m masked and boosted and felt ok until omicron hit, and I ended up not going to a show I already had tickets to bring my son too. When this wave dies down again I think I’ll be ok going. I’m damn sure gonna wear my mask, I don’t care if I’m only one of the 5% you see wearing them on tv. But where I live it’s gonna be a lot closer to 80% masked than 5% anyway. 
 

Also in my planning I’m not taking into account that we all just had it, so I really don’t think I need to worry too much. But I’ll be wearing a mask I don’t care what others think. 

[Craig H]

I recently went to go see Spider-Man in the theater where there was supposed to be social distancing, but there clearly wasn't. I wound up wearing an N95 mask and not getting any snacks or drink so I wouldn't be tempted to remove my mask.

Not many others wore a mask in there, which made me feel kinda nervous being there. Funnily enough, I was the one person in that auditorium who was coughing at times because I had either bronchitis or a sinus infection. At least I wasn't infectious.

Anyway, that's in an auditorium with 200 to 300 seats that was maybe 2/3 full. There's no way I'd risk going to an arena with thousands unless proof of vaccination was required at the door.

Edited January 14, 2022 by Craig H

[chriskbrown50]

1 hour ago, supremebve said:

I literally just had a conversation with a friend about how we both saw that they were coming to DC, both picked up the phone to ask if they other wanted to go, before both of us realizing, "I ain't going to that shit during a damn pandemic."

Yeah and COVID spiked like crazy here in NC.  30% positive rate the other day. 

Reynolds is a really cozy place now that it's been re-made, actually kind of small. Saw the high school 4a boys basketball game there in 2019 and it was amazing place with all of its history.

Here in Charlotte they have run Bojangles, which for reference is the OLD OLD Charlotte Coliseum - the one you would see in JCP say from the late 70s timeframe.  It seats 9k or so for wrestling. Great old place, and perfect for AEW.  WWE runs the new downtown coliseum BTW.  Frankly, I am not sure what to make of attendance numbers at this point for indoor sports - it was wild to see UCLA play at home last night against Oregon with no fans (circa 2020), then turn the channel to see Gonzaga playing a home with looked like a full house up the coast in Oregon. 

Me - just here to enjoy some different and good pro wrestling (for the most part).

[Infinit]

Nevermind that we're in a pandemic, they ran Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh in a 5 week period. They really should've found another Markey for Battle of The Belts so it wouldn't have taken away from the Raleigh show's numbers.

[matt925]

49 minutes ago, Craig H said:

 

Anyway, that's in an auditorium with 200 to 300 seats that was maybe 2/3 full. There's no way I'd risk going to an arena with thousands unless proof of vaccination was required at the door.

Of course this is anecdotal, but the new japan show in November required proof of vax, so when I got to the front of the line I had my live record queued up on my phone and the dude looked annoyed when I tried to show it to him and just waved me through. But it would be crazy for someone to buy a ticket and go anyway with the hope of that happening though. 

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

Did AEW have any real hope of selling out a 21,000 seat arena?  I feel like 10K or so would have been their ceiling regardless.  Am I that far off.  Running the same area three times in five weeks seems sort of counterproductive.

I assume live events are off some in my region, but most of the events I've been to have had pretty healthy attendances,  Men's basketball games lately have drawn 10, 11K in an arena that seats 14,000 or so.  Several ranked teams are coming to town, so I'm guessing it will be a packed house for those. A local concert tonight supposedly sold a lot of tickets.

Movie theaters were doing decent business through New Years.  We haven't been to the theater for a week or so, though wife and I will probably go see Scream once we get back.  We're out of town for Steelers game this weekend,

A relative's is competing at Wodapalooza (lrg. CrossFit competition in Miami) this weekend, so I've been watching some of the event streams.   Really surprised how packed the stands are, even for the afternoon events.

My general impression is that people are going to turn out for a live event if they want to, and probably won't if they are on the fence.  

[For Great Justice]

We were sort of talking about this in the Dynamite thread, but for as logically sound and non-intelligence insulting as AEW’s booking is (long term, wins and losses matter, continuity matters)….when was the last time they featured a genuinely surprising result or twist?

They did this in the beginning (Private Party over the Bucks being the obvious example), but man the road that these stories are taking seems a bit too tidy if you ask me. I’d like to see a curveball or three. 

Like Hangman’s arc was good. MJF/Punk/Wardlow is good. Bucks/UE split is good. But as sound as it all is, they are multi-month storylines that we know the ending to. Give me something totally out of left field every once in a while; Garcia over Sammy on Tuesday would have been a perfect example of mixing it up in a good way.

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

29 minutes ago, For Great Justice said:

when was the last time they featured a genuinely surprising result or twist?

Sammy beating Miro for the TNT title.

Maybe Shawn Dean "beating" MJF also counts?

Edited January 15, 2022 by Gordlow

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I've got tickets to a Dynamite in February that I bought pre-Omricon and I'm definitely a little sketchy on it now. I bought the ticket insurance figuring that if things were bad enough to not go, then it'd probably be postponed, but I didn't count on this weird limbo where we just go to work and go shopping and pretend everything is cool.

[matt925]

39 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I've got tickets to a Dynamite in February that I bought pre-Omricon and I'm definitely a little sketchy on it now. I bought the ticket insurance figuring that if things were bad enough to not go, then it'd probably be postponed, but I didn't count on this weird limbo where we just go to work and go shopping and pretend everything is cool.

At the same time, I go to work and I go shopping, so why can’t I go have fun. It’s all weird. But we’ve done everything we can to be good members of society. 

[chriskbrown50]

6 hours ago, Infinit said:

Nevermind that we're in a pandemic, they ran Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh in a 5 week period. They really should've found another Markey for Battle of The Belts so it wouldn't have taken away from the Raleigh show's numbers.

Raleigh and Charlotte are really different markets; Greensboro is the one place that back in the day people from the Carolinas would travel to. It sits essentially half way between Charlotte and RDU. I always found interesting that JCP, based in Charlotte for years, had the biggest cards in Greensboro - granted the Greensboro Coliseum was the biggest coliseum in NC.  

Where has AEW not been that is traditionally pro wrestling strong holds in the US? Memphis, Houston,  New Orleans, Baltimore, Philly - given the PWG surprised So Cal. 

 

[The Natural]

8 hours ago, Craig H said:

I recently went to go see Spider-Man in the theater where there was supposed to be social distancing, but there clearly wasn't. I wound up wearing an N95 mask and not getting any snacks or drink so I wouldn't be tempted to remove my mask.

Not many others wore a mask in there, which made me feel kinda nervous being there. Funnily enough, I was the one person in that auditorium who was coughing at times because I had either bronchitis or a sinus infection. At least I wasn't infectious.

Anyway, that's in an auditorium with 200 to 300 seats that was maybe 2/3 full. There's no way I'd risk going to an arena with thousands unless proof of vaccination was required at the door.

Masks were mandatory at the cinema for Spider-Man: No Way Home last month and recommended in October when I watched The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on the silver screen. When I went to WWE Live in November last year, I was one of only five people to wear a mask. Seriously. I lifted my mask up to get my drink.

Edited January 15, 2022 by The Natural

[The Natural]

2 hours ago, Gordlow said:

Sammy beating Miro for the TNT title.

Maybe Shawn Dean "beating" MJF also counts?

I wish Sammy Guevera didn't beat Miro for the TNT Championship. Miro needed to hold it a little longer and drop it to Eddie Kingston. Guessing the switch was done sooner as Miro hasn't wrestled since losing to Bryan Danielson at Full Gear 2021 in an underwhelming match. I still contend Kingston was the one to end Miro's TNT Championship reign.

Edited January 15, 2022 by The Natural

[Matt D]

Most people coming in to the Danielson vs Page matches weren't sure who was going to win because it made a lot of business sense to put Danielson over and spend months putting him against all comers even if it might have pissed off the core fanbase (but you had them anyway).

[Krone]

AEW desperately needs to quit running the same markets to help improve their carbon footprint in the wrestling industry. We all know that NOOOOOOORTHHHH CAROLINAAAA will sell tickets as will Chicago and the NYC area, but I feel between those three places and Texas - that's about the only place we have seen shows recently. I don't know if that's because of the pandemic, but they need more variety in the locations they choose to go to.

Also, last surprise for me was actually just a week ago with 2.0 and Danny boy FINALLY getting a big win over PnP and Eddie Kingston. PUSH THE NEW NASTYS NOW!!!

[Just Dave]

Yeah, felt like they went to the North Carolina well one too many times. One of those shows could've been in Greenville or Clemson easy. 

It's also bizarre to me that after that first fantastic Atlanta Dynamite in 2020, they took it forty minutes up the road to Buford. Gwinnett Co is massive, and heavily populated, but getting around on a weeknight there is a bitch. Got most of the Atlanta gridlock with none of the amenities or surrounding businesses. I wonder if State Farm in Atlanta is one of the venues WWE is trying to muscle AEW out of...

[Casey]

 

[JLowe]

3 minutes ago, Casey said:

 

WWE, we don’t support gory self-mutilation of women performers, but we do support regimes who mutilate reporters and jail women.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

44 minutes ago, JLowe said:

WWE, we don’t support gory self-mutilation of women performers, but we do support regimes who mutilate reporters and jail women.

God damn pal self mutilation is uncouth. Murdering journalist and regular mutilation is just the cost of doing business.

[supremebve]

21 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

We were sort of talking about this in the Dynamite thread, but for as logically sound and non-intelligence insulting as AEW’s booking is (long term, wins and losses matter, continuity matters)….when was the last time they featured a genuinely surprising result or twist?

They did this in the beginning (Private Party over the Bucks being the obvious example), but man the road that these stories are taking seems a bit too tidy if you ask me. I’d like to see a curveball or three. 

Like Hangman’s arc was good. MJF/Punk/Wardlow is good. Bucks/UE split is good. But as sound as it all is, they are multi-month storylines that we know the ending to. Give me something totally out of left field every once in a while; Garcia over Sammy on Tuesday would have been a perfect example of mixing it up in a good way.

I honestly feel like having fairly predictable storylines is a good thing in wrestling, so when you do pull a swerve it hits harder.  One of the things that WWE did to lose me is trying to always swerve the audience.  Tell good stories even if they are predictable, and I'll be satisfied.  When you do swerve the audience, make sure that it matters and turns into something bigger.

[Ultimo Necro]

3 hours ago, Casey said:

 

Didn’t they (WWE) literally have a wrestler burn to death in the ring last year? 

[Casey]

33 minutes ago, Ultimo Necro said:

Didn’t they (WWE) literally have a wrestler burn to death in the ring last year? 

Yeah but he didn’t BLEED.

Plus they singled out the women’s match, and not Danielson/Hangman 2, so you could probably draw conclusions that it’s more about how they perceive violence with men is acceptable but violence with women isn’t.

[John E. Dynamite]

That statement wasn't made with fans in mind, only advertisers. If there's one advertiser that doesn't want to associate their brand with women bleeding all over the place, and if WWE's statement makes them realize it, they did their job. Smear the competition and make their brand less valuable.

Edited January 16, 2022 by John E. Dynamite