AEW - OCTOBER 2024

[Technico Support]

3 hours ago, Log said:

I still joke about Yokozuna joining the Hart Foundation, so that one's still got legs.

Not to shame you because I'm old, too, but I was on dial up when Al started that one.

[The Natural]

3 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Not to shame you because I'm old, too, but I was on dial up when Al started that one.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/08/d6/42/08d642d5326b96a65f2dbb3b27ad9e1e.gif

[Zimbra]

Damn, Anthony Henry tore his bicep wrestling Gabe Kidd and is out indefinitely.  The Workhorsemen just can't catch a fucking break this year.

[Technico Support]

34 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

Damn, Anthony Henry tore his bicep wrestling Gabe Kidd and is out indefinitely.  The Workhorsemen just can't catch a fucking break this year.

Does this mean we get BEEF as a sub vs FTR at this weekend's Deadlock show?  Because god damn, FTR vs Drake & Beef (Beefdrake?) would rule.

[SovietShooter]

1 hour ago, Zimbra said:

Damn, Anthony Henry tore his bicep wrestling Gabe Kidd and is out indefinitely.  The Workhorsemen just can't catch a fucking break this year.

Earlier this year Henry was seriously injured while wrestling in a non-AEW show, and shortly thereafter was released. The internet threw a fit about this, and shortly thereafter Henry was rehired. Now, he has once again been seriously injured while working a non-AEW show.

I'll always be on the side of the working man/labor, but at some point TK has to either stop letting these guys take outside bookings, or let go of the guys getting hurt, doesn't he? Obviously TK/AEW can afford to pay this guy while he is injured, and it sucks for Henry to be in this position. 

[AxB]

1 hour ago, SovietShooter said:

Earlier this year Henry was seriously injured while wrestling in a non-AEW show, and shortly thereafter was released. The internet threw a fit about this, and shortly thereafter Henry was rehired. Now, he has once again been seriously injured while working a non-AEW show.

I'll always be on the side of the working man/labor, but at some point TK has to either stop letting these guys take outside bookings, or let go of the guys getting hurt, doesn't he? Obviously TK/AEW can afford to pay this guy while he is injured, and it sucks for Henry to be in this position. 

The Anthony Henry vs Gabe Kidd match was held at an ROH taping though.

[SovietShooter]

1 hour ago, AxB said:

The Anthony Henry vs Gabe Kidd match was held at an ROH taping though.

Fair enough... I don't watch ROH and I assumed that was an Indy show since Collision was taped on Thursday last week (the original tweet I saw about this mentioned "Saturday",IIRC).

[Kevin Wilson]

There have been no hints of them doing so as far as I know, so this is just me spitballing, but I hope AEW uses the new TV Deal money to make finding new young talent to mold a priority, as that has really dropped off the last two years. The first thing I'd do if I was them is bring back a Youtube show (since now WBD doesn't have exclusivity) and have a studio show. Decide what the hottest market is for them and run long tapings there every other week to give the younger/less experienced wrestlers practice while also trying out other indie wrestlers. We've talked about it before but Dark is really underrated/underappreciated for allowing some wrestlers to get a boost in AEW, who knows if we'd have had Willow, Skye Blue, and others without Dark. I don't know if they'd "make money" on it but it shouldn't be too much of a money loser and it would improve everything as a whole.

Now that they are a profitable promotion with five years under their belt they really need some type of developmental brand/shows or process.

[Technico Support]

They could be doing that with ROH right now.

[The Natural]

Thought this could be fun, which AEW belts would you put on whom and which would you get rid off?

Here's mine:

AEW World Championship: Bryan Danielson.

AEW TNT Championship: Brody King.

AEW International Championship: Claudio Castagnoli.

AEW World Tag Team Championship: FTR.

AEW Women's Championship: Jamie Hayter.

AEW TBS Championship: Athena.

Get rid:

AEW World Trios Championship.

AEW Continental Championship. I miss the visual of the Continental Championship, ROH World Championship and NJPW Strong Championship.

[SovietShooter]

14 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Thought this could be fun, which AEW belts would you put on whom and which would you get rid off?

 Keep:

AEW World Championship

AEW TNT Championship

ROH Championship

AEW World Trios Championship

AEW World Tag Team Championship

AEW Women's Championship

AEW Women's Tag Championship

 

Get rid:

AEW World Trios Championship.

AEW International Championship

AEW Continental Championship

AEW TBS Championship

ROH Tag Championship

ROH Six Man Championship

ROH Pure Championship

ROH Television Championship

ROH Women's Championship

ROH Women's Television Championship

[COLETTI]

Two singles belts (World and Television), a tag belt, and a trios belt each for the men and women. All ROH belts absorbed as the brand is finally put to rest and it's programming becomes Dark 2.0. 

 

Edit to add the trios belts would be defended with lucha libre style tag rules (no tag needed if one team member exits the ring) to make those matches fun sprints. 

Edited October 10, 2024 by COLETTI

[Gordi the recovering AEW f]

I would keep all current belts and add:

AEW Women's Tag Titles

AEW, ROH, AEW Women's, and ROH Women's Quatros Titles

AEW Battle Royal Champion

AEW Women's Battle Royal Champion 

AEW Tournament Champion

AEW and ROH Men's and Women's Battle Royale Tournament Champion

Men's TBS Champ

Women's TNT Champ

Whatever Streaming Service Title 

Cruiserweight Tag and Trios Champs

BMMSM Title

BMMSM Tag Titles 

BMWSM Belt

First Blood Brass Knux Title 

UWF Style Match Champions Belt

24/7 Title, which is defended 24 hours per week, seven months a year

and

AEW Osaka Championship Belt which has to be defended in Osaka, Kyoto, or Nara once a month.

 

 

 

[Log]

I was hoping you'd have some sort of Brass Knux title in there. Nice work.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

4 hours ago, The Natural said:

Thought this could be fun, which AEW belts would you put on whom and which would you get rid off?

Hard brand split. Dynamite & Collion have separate rosters. All World Titles travel both brands.

Traveling World Titles:

AEW World (men's) -both

AEW World (women's) -both

AEW Wolrld Tag (men's) -both

AEW World Tag (women's) -both 

Show Specific Titles:

International (men's) -Dynamite

International (women's) -Dynamite

Continental (men's) -Collision

Continental (women's) -Collison

 

Third developmental brand Ring of Honor. Completely separate brand with an emphasis on newer and developing talent. Basically on an island with minimal to no AEW involvement or overlap like the beginning years of NXT.

ROH Pure Champion (men's) -top title

ROH Pure Champion (women's) -top title

ROH Tag (men's)

ROH Tag (women's)

 

Between all 3 brands combined you have 12 Titles. 6 men's. 6 women's. 4 Tag Titles. 8 singles Titles. Zero trios titles or titles named after TV networks.

[Technico Support]

4 hours ago, Gordi the recovering AEW f said:

UWF Style Match Champions Belt

I don't know if they still do it, but I used to watch indy group Paradigm Pro Wrestling's UWFI-style shows (when they were on IWTV) and loved them.  You have to kind of turn off your brain because it's a promotion that also does regular matches and deathmatches, so a UWFI match ending in a backdrop driver feels ridiculous when you might see several in a straight wrestling match.  But it's a really fun style if you suspend your disbelief.  They also did some kind of gimmick match where if the match went to a draw in UWFI rules, it went into overtime as a deathmatch.

Edited October 10, 2024 by Technico Support

[just drew]

AEW World Championship; Mox. 

AEW TNT Title; Keep it on Jack Perry for now until Daniel Garcia is ready. Or Eddie Kingston. 

AEW International; Takeshita (pins Ricochet so Ospreay doesn't eat the loss).

AEW Continental; Takeshita wins the C2 and merges those 2 titles.

AEW World Tag Team; It's a sorry state of affairs right now. They've gotta build that division back up. I'd have the Bucks drop them to GYV, then work on building to a rematch between GYV and FTR while you establish some other teams.

AEW Trios; House of Black. For like 3 years. 

AEW Women's: Probably Willow Nightingale, honestly. Ruby when she gets back. She's earned a run.

I'd dissolve the TBS title and add Women's Tag Titles; Mercedes & Kamille.

I think at this point ROH is a sunk cost. You had your chance to put it on the CW and now CW is biting you in the ass. 

Also, regarding their developing young talent; I think I'd just buy a wrestling school somewhere like Atlanta and send QT and Serena there when they aren't on the road. Atlanta's a transportation hub and is a place young singles don't mind relocating to. It's like Tampa with less qAnon and more traffic. I think it's something AEW needs to address, though. 

[just drew]

9 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I don't know if they still do it, but I used to watch indy group Paradigm Pro Wrestling's UWFI-style shows (when they were on IWTV) and loved them.  You have to kind of turn off your brain because it's a promotion that also does regular matches and deathmatches, so a UWFI match ending in a backdrop driver feels ridiculous when you might see several in a straight wrestling match.  But it's a really fun style if you suspend your disbelief.  They also did some kind of gimmick match where if the match went to a draw in UWFI rules, it went into overtime as a deathmatch.

Wouldn't that be a Sudden Deathmatch?

[SovietShooter]

6 minutes ago, just drew said:

Also, regarding their developing young talent; I think I'd just buy a wrestling school somewhere like Atlanta and send QT and Serena there when they aren't on the road.

If I had the virtually unlimited funds that AEW now has with their new television deal, here is what I would do...

I would purchase 4-8 small facilities in various locations that could serve as both a training center, and a facility to do studio-style television shows.  Something that could seat 50-100 fans... not very different from what OVW has.  I would run something akin to weekly or bi-weekky shows at these venues. 

The idea here is to further relationships with the talent you have partnerships with already, that have training facilities (QT in Atlanta, Dustin & Thunder Rosa in TX, CAP in NY, etc) by subsidizing them. It gives you first crack at their talent while (hopefully) increasing interest in their schools because of the clear pathway to the pros. If you want a guy like Lee Moriarty to get more reps, send them down to work TV for one of these schools instead of a random indy in Peoria.

 

 

 

[just drew]

Just now, SovietShooter said:

If I had the virtually unlimited funds that AEW now has with their new television deal, here is what I would do...

I would purchase 4-8 small facilities in various locations that could serve as both a training center, and a facility to do studio-style television shows.  Something that could seat 50-100 fans... not very different from what OVW has.  I would run something akin to weekly or bi-weekky shows at these venues. 

The idea here is to further relationships with the talent you have partnerships with already, that have training facilities (QT in Atlanta, Dustin & Thunder Rosa in TX, CAP in NY, etc) by subsidizing them. It gives you first crack at their talent while (hopefully) increasing interest in their schools because of the clear pathway to the pros. If you want a guy like Lee Moriarty to get more reps, send them down to work TV for one of these schools instead of a random indy in Peoria.

 

 

 

Satellite locations might be fun. You could do periodic "campus challenges" with your developmental talent. 

I'd probably tape matches at every facility every couple weeks and edit the best 30-40% into a weekly show for HBOMax. You have some unique opportunities now. I'm hopeful that TK isn't so focused on being mainstream that he allows them to pass him by.

[SovietShooter]

1 hour ago, just drew said:

I'd probably tape matches at every facility every couple weeks and edit the best 30-40% into a weekly show for HBOMax.

Perhaps, but this is the type of content that would get views on YouTube and such, IMHO.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

40 minutes ago, SovietShooter said:

Perhaps, but this is the type of content that would get views on YouTube and such, IMHO.

Good point, and to expand upon that: even if it's a drop in the bucket compared to the TV deals, there is still ad money to be made there (either through monetizing the channel, or in-show stuff like when Dark was sponsored by Wish for a bit).

 

On another note:

We were joking about something in the omnibus, and '80s promos came up which got me to thinking - is Daddy Magic hurt, or did they just feel commentary was a better use of him while Cool Hand Ang is out on paternity leave? IMO there's some ready-made stuff there for those guys to get involved with the FTR/Outrunners angle were 2.0 to hypothetically make a return any time soon. With some of the criticism of the tag division as of late, you've also got the added bonus of having them a relatively established team to give a little bit of cred to shit. I know we're all kinda guilty of playing "What I'd Do With The TV Money" lately, but shit, I'd throw some of it at the guy from the Metallica movie and lock him in a room with Santana and Ortiz. It can't be that hard to get out of a TNA deal, right?

[just drew]

Apparently S&O are on good terms again. That’s a call I’d make immediately, unless Santana has convinced himself he’s next in line for an nXt cameo.

[AxB]

1 hour ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I'd throw some of it at the guy from the Metallica movie and lock him in a room with Santana and Ortiz. It can't be that hard to get out of a TNA deal, right?

Dane DeHaan?

[southofheavy]

AEW World: Looks like the plan is Mox, then Darby. I like the end result of that. Eddie Kingston needs a run and honestly, AEW needs Eddie Kingston to get a run. Should've happened instead of the convoluted Triple Crown thing. Also, the belt eventually needs to find its way back to Swerve. 

International: Takeshita. 

Continental: This is going back to being an annual round-robin tournament and it's getting renamed. No belt. You're getting a goddamn trophy.

Men's Tag: House of Black, with Freebird Rules. I'm building up The Outrunners while they hold it. 

Women's World: Toni Storm. She's the most over woman in the company. Follow her up with Athena, then Jamie Hayter. For my money, Hayter vs Athena is the best women's match AEW can book. 

TBS: Rename it. Sign Megan Bayne, strap her up. Let her, Stat and Willow beat the brakes off each other for a while. 

Women's Tag: Mercedes Mone and Kamille. 

I'm getting rid of the TNT title and renaming the TBS title. Those names scream TV Title, for obvious reasons. The Trios championship is gone, too. After the initial novelty worn off, it's largely become an afterthought and it's just another belt in a company full of them. I can see the argument that the men's division is deep enough to necessitate a third title, but I'm also making cuts to the roster. That's a whole other post. 

ROH just needs to be developmental. I like a lot of the ideas for that have already been posted, so I won't rehash them. The most important thing is that those belts need to be kept off of AEW TV. Outside of hyping the FTR/Briscoes matches, they've done nothing but muddy the waters. 

I'd also rename ROH. The promotion's best days were damn near twenty years ago and nothing is going to recapture that. It's time to get that archive on a streaming platform and MAX is the place to do it. 

Edited October 10, 2024 by southofheavy