AEW NEWS - OCTOBER 2025

[RazorbladeKiss87]

POST Wrestling has a decent video explaining it on their YouTube.  

[HarryArchieGus]

12 hours ago, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

Twitter is the worst thing to happen to Dave. He maintains that business is up with it but it's cost him his reputation in the eyes of many. It's sad to see.

I followed the Andrade/Dave links to twitter, and was amazed to see how often he tweets. With the amount of unconscious tweeters on there, this cannot be good for one's mental health. I'm not sure I totally agree on his rep - he's always had passionate haters. On twitter, it's a lot of shit from a lot of shitty ppl. I'm not so sure that's something worth taking too seriously. It isn't a reasonable person who throws melodramatic shit the way these half-wits do. Despite the hate, Dave Meltzer seems to me to be a fairly good reporter when he has the facts. When he's relying on unreliable sources there's a problem, but ppl also don't account for liars able to save face without solid proof against their actions. 

13 hours ago, Casey said:

He’s also cherry picking his complaint because the rest of that tweet specifies he’s talking about the last four weeks of his time in AEW but only mentions his wins (early in the month) and not the loses he took on his way out the door IE his final two weeks/final three matches.

I’ve never been one to rail against Dave but this is the first time I can remember actively disagreeing with him about something. And I’m not even a huge Andrade guy.

You're right on the cherry picking,but his theory isn't entirely wrong either. I think Dave probably does have a fair argument against Andrade, but this clearly isn't something that needs to be aired for everybody to hear. I mean what is the end game? What does soiling Andrade's rep right now do for anybody? 

9 hours ago, Craig H said:

It's even worse if you listen to him on WOR. There has been a noticeable decline in his ability to reason or understand an alternate point of view. Bryan is the only one there that pushes back against him. Garrett is basically a yes man for Dave and there is no way Dave is jumping on a podcast with Vinny or Tom. The only other person he would do a show with is Lance and I'm not sure how much Lance could take it.

I think the most aggravating thing from this week, other than the Andrade stuff, is him just completely failing on two podcasts and the newsletter to adequately explain the change in Nielsen's ratings methodology. It's a real thing that is happening. I want to say I even read about it on Nielsen's website and the change was effective as of late September. But Dave can't even begin to articulate what it all means, what the change was, etc.

Again, agree on some of Dave's opinions being silly, but to suggest whining Bryan Alvarez has the clearer head is ridiculous. Dave's quotes are always going to be more high profile than anything from Alvarez (I rarely see him quoted), but Bryan's catalog of quotes are far, far worse. Every episode he complains about angles or ppl doing something that has happened because of something he's missed. His overall respect level for the wrestlers is pathetic - especially considering he's been a worker. Garrett isn't there to argue, and it's refreshing. He asks questions and lets Dave present his opinions. I find this far easier to listen to. 

 

[Technico Support]

22 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

So many online reviewers who I assume get read (and somwhat believed) review Collision and complain about it being not newsworthy or 'just' a set-up for Dynamite, and 'filler'. This is what a B show is. And 'filler' is the kind of ignorant comment one makes when they can't see how talented this undercard roster is. I'll take it over any list of top 'Superstars'. It's foolish to go into a Collision expecting AEW to throw out their biggest matches/angles on a show being viewed by a portion of the audience. That said, they often enough have news-y items eg. the Toni/Stat stuff this week. It would benefit AEW to provide recap videos of this show more frequently on the 'A'. I also wonder if it wouldn't benefit them to bring back the Control Center on Mondays or Tuesdays with longer highlight packages from the week that was for those who missed it. 

Yes, but I have to offer this polite counterpoint: I'd like them to put some major angles on Collision because once it becomes clear a show is optional, people will skip it.  Look at Rampage.  

14 hours ago, Craig H said:

It's even worse if you listen to him on WOR. There has been a noticeable decline in his ability to reason or understand an alternate point of view. Bryan is the only one there that pushes back against him. Garrett is basically a yes man for Dave and there is no way Dave is jumping on a podcast with Vinny or Tom. The only other person he would do a show with is Lance and I'm not sure how much Lance could take it.

 

Dave and Garrett shows are dryer than the worst Thanksgiving biscuit you've ever had.  And I HATE the FM DJ way Garrett pronounces the word "both."  ("BOWL-th")

The lack of timestamps just makes their shows worse.

12 hours ago, Casey said:

To be fair, I’ve been on wrestling boards since like 2002 and I’ve never, ever understood Nielsen data.

Quick explanation from my own understanding:

Neilsen has always used a method they call "panel," where they poll roughly 40-some thousand homes.

Now they use panel and "Big Data."  Big Data uses information from set top boxes and smart TVs.  So they've gotten a roughly tenfold increase in sample size. 

While panel + big data caused a huge increase in other live sports, it caused a decrease in pro wrestling and nobody can figure out why.

[tbarrie]

14 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Yes, but I have to offer this polite counterpoint: I'd like them to put some major angles on Collision because once it becomes clear a show is optional, people will skip it.  Look at Rampage.

I agree. As I recall they did a decent job of this for a few weeks back some months ago, but they didn't keep it up.

14 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Neilsen has always used a method they call "panel," where they poll roughly 40-some thousand homes.

Now they use panel and "Big Data."  Big Data uses information from set top boxes and smart TVs.  So they've gotten a roughly tenfold increase in sample size. 

While panel + big data caused a huge increase in other live sports, it caused a decrease in pro wrestling and nobody can figure out why.

Clearly this shows that pro wrestling has greater prestige than actual sports. When they relied on self-reporting, people would pretend they watched wrestling even if they actually didn't, to seem cool. The opposite happened with sports because watching sports is embarrassing.

Okay, maybe not.

[Technico Support]

No word on how panel + big data logs the 50+ year old lone gooners/midnight chokers (miss you, Dean) watching NXT for 63.2 seconds.

Edited October 6, 2025 by Technico Support

[tbarrie]

32 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

No word on how panel + big data logs the 50+ year old lone gooners/midnight chokers (miss you, Dean) watching NXT for 63.2 seconds.

Wait, are there an unusual number of hot chicks competing in NXT?

...asking for a friend.

[HarryArchieGus]

1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

Yes, but I have to offer this polite counterpoint: I'd like them to put some major angles on Collision because once it becomes clear a show is optional, people will skip it.  Look at Rampage.  

It sounds like you're continuing to skip it - Toni/Stat/Triangle/Harley was a World Title build segment and angle. I'd say the World Title is a major concern. I know Garcia/Menard wouldn't qualify as 'Major', but it was also an excellently executed and significant angle. Further, there's plenty of significant stuff happening on the show if you're into, ya know, Wrestling matches and promos. Rampage certainly had some bad episodes, but it also featured a ton of good to great matches and promos. I tune in for great matches and promos perhaps that's where we differ.

Quote

Dave and Garrett shows are dryer than the worst Thanksgiving biscuit you've ever had.  And I HATE the FM DJ way Garrett pronounces the word "both."  ("BOWL-th")

It might be worth keeping in mind that the Garrett-Dave shows are post-WO news shows. Not the sexy review shows. I agree that Garrett has a FM broadcast professional quality presentation, but I think that's what I like most. His job on those shows is to give Dave a platform to discuss the news of the week. Clearly a different format, but whenever he does show reviews alongside Dave, I find them to be exactly what I want, and forgive me haters, Dave's opinions. I value hearing what he thinks of things, and often with some insights that I either hadn't thought of or couldn't have known. And to be clear, I often find myself disagreeing - especially on what's a great or good match and what's not. Hearing Dave and Bryan argue over minute details that I rarely care about is to me a wet soggy thanksgiving biscuit. "I know Dave, but you're telling me...' 'Yes!!! It's...' FFWD.     

1 hour ago, tbarrie said:

I agree. As I recall they did a decent job of this for a few weeks back some months ago, but they didn't keep it up.

Again, and with all due respect, curious if you're actually watching the show your commenting on? Collision's been on a solid to excellent run for most of the year. There have certainly been some bumps in the road since debuting, but 2025 has been very consistent. I think it's smart of them to use the B show, seen by a smaller portion of the audience, to build up the young stars. Kyle Fletcher is a great example of the system they have in place, and I don't see him getting to where he has without working Collisions when the A show line-up is filled up.

[AxB]

1 hour ago, tbarrie said:

Wait, are there an unusual number of hot chicks competing in NXT?

...asking for a friend.

Shawn Michaels is the booker of NXT. He's always been a ladies man.

(Even though he's now so facially aged, he resembles a shaved basset hound)

[Technico Support]

@HarryArchieGus

I do enjoy Dave but his personality and sense of humor are both really understated, and Garrett does nothing to fill that gap.  But that’s just me, YMMV, etc etc.  I agree Dave and Bryan arguing over minutae gets severely grating after a few minutes, but more and more I feel like that’s on Dave.

[Craig H]

I'm sorry, but Collision is absolutely not must see tv if you're a wrestling fan. They may have tried to improve it's profile as of late, but when you go for more than a year of making it 2 hour Rampage then it's going to be hard to remove that stink. It doesn't help that TK in the last 2 or 3 has really moved away from building up every single show in advance.

Gone are the days of Excalibur breathlessly going through the cards for Saturday's Collision and next week's Dynamite. Now they may make mention of a couple segments or matches, but Tony has had this belief over the last year that they'll get more engagement by promoting the show 2 days in advance on whatever social media platform. His belief is misguided at best and flat out wrong at worst.

I love Dynamite, but Tony hasn't given me a concrete reason to skip basically everything I would do on a Saturday night or all day on a Sunday to watch wrestling UNLESS it's a PPV and even then I've gotten looser and looser with when I watch PPVs. I still buy them, but this past Saturday it was more important to help with my daughter's marching band in another state and that day went from 6 am until we got home at 3 am. There's no way I'm going to skip out on working pit crew for that. And with college football underway, I'm not skipping a Notre Dame night game, or with baseball, a Cubs postseason game to watch wrestling. If a miracle happened and a family member said, hey, you and your wife, go out on a day and have fun for the first time in 6 months, we'll watch your little one for the night, there's no fucking way I'm saying, naw dawg, I have to watch Collision to see obvious finishes and no real storyline development.

And with regards to storyline development, I couldn't give a fuck about whatever the fuck they're doing with the Acclaimed, I don't give a fuck about whatever happens with Toni and Stat unless it happens on Dynamite because honestly unless it happens on Dynamite it doesn't matter, and I love Hangman, but he's not doing anything major unless it's on Dynamite and even if he did something major on Collision, they would re-run it back on Dynamite anyway.

[Casey]

Collision was better when it was Punk’s island of misfit toys. Not explicitly because of Punk, but because it had a set group of talent that would only appear there and its own storylines that didn’t crossover with Dynamite. A loose brand split was never a terrible idea, IMO.

[HarryArchieGus]

49 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I'm sorry, but Collision is absolutely not must see tv if you're a wrestling fan. They may have tried to improve it's profile as of late, but when you go for more than a year of making it 2 hour Rampage then it's going to be hard to remove that stink. It doesn't help that TK in the last 2 or 3 has really moved away from building up every single show in advance.

Gone are the days of Excalibur breathlessly going through the cards for Saturday's Collision and next week's Dynamite. Now they may make mention of a couple segments or matches, but Tony has had this belief over the last year that they'll get more engagement by promoting the show 2 days in advance on whatever social media platform. His belief is misguided at best and flat out wrong at worst.

I love Dynamite, but Tony hasn't given me a concrete reason to skip basically everything I would do on a Saturday night or all day on a Sunday to watch wrestling UNLESS it's a PPV and even then I've gotten looser and looser with when I watch PPVs. I still buy them, but this past Saturday it was more important to help with my daughter's marching band in another state and that day went from 6 am until we got home at 3 am. There's no way I'm going to skip out on working pit crew for that. And with college football underway, I'm not skipping a Notre Dame night game, or with baseball, a Cubs postseason game to watch wrestling. If a miracle happened and a family member said, hey, you and your wife, go out on a day and have fun for the first time in 6 months, we'll watch your little one for the night, there's no fucking way I'm saying, naw dawg, I have to watch Collision to see obvious finishes and no real storyline development.

And with regards to storyline development, I couldn't give a fuck about whatever the fuck they're doing with the Acclaimed, I don't give a fuck about whatever happens with Toni and Stat unless it happens on Dynamite because honestly unless it happens on Dynamite it doesn't matter, and I love Hangman, but he's not doing anything major unless it's on Dynamite and even if he did something major on Collision, they would re-run it back on Dynamite anyway.

Easty tiger, you certainly don't have to watch if you don't want to. Who said 'Must see TV if you're a wrestling fan'?  It's surely not gonna float the boat of somebody looking for 'Superstars' and 'moments'. There's been plenty of 'Storyline development' on the shows, but as you say you 'couldn't give a fuck'. I don't quite see the finishes being a whole lot more predictably than on Dynamite. That's kinda AEW in general. I said the show features a lot of good to great matches and promos. AEW's strength to me is Wrestling, not storylines. Basing your decision to watch or not on poor shows in the past doesn't seem like sound strategy, but to each their own. Excalibur's breathless rundown was amusing but not exactly something somebody could possibly remember. Which is more than a good enough reason as to why he doesn't still do it. I completely agree that not promoting going into the show is a mistake. I don't think it's simply Tony's strategy to not announce anything tho - I know the WOR discussions surrounding his belief in social media engagement, but I don't believe it concerns the full card. I think he's challenged by the workload, and doesn't get his shit in on time. Lastly, why in the age of streaming, or videotape for that matter, do you have to stop anything to watch Collision or any other show? I've seen less than 5% of these shows live. I watch Sunday mornings or afternoons or when it's most convenient. I do the same with Dynamite. 

20 minutes ago, Casey said:

Collision was better when it was Punk’s island of misfit toys. Not explicitly because of Punk, but because it had a set group of talent that would only appear there and its own storylines that didn’t crossover with Dynamite. A loose brand split was never a terrible idea, IMO.

I liked the difference in styles, and there was certainly more mainstream buzz to begin, but the shows were actually more miss than hit than they are now. Not to say Showrunner Punk's run wasn't far better than some of the shit happening week to week in 2024. I'm getting the clear sense that I perhaps have more interest in the AEW undercard than a few ppl here. Totally get it. I grew up on DVDVR and Dean and the gang sifting thru the shit to find great matches on Worldwide and Saturday night. Collision doesn't require anywhere near the sifting/ffwding. 

Edited October 6, 2025 by HarryArchieGus

[AxB]

If you don't like matches being announced last minute on social media, this could be your week!

[HarryArchieGus]

Sounds like Coach got the memo. Eddie Kingston-Beast Mortos! Ibushi-Alexander! Jetspeed/Willow-Bayne/FTR! Shall we give him another chance?

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

While panel + big data caused a huge increase in other live sports, it caused a decrease in pro wrestling and nobody can figure out why.

I know why.

When people filled out their books for Nielsen data collection, they tended to put when the show actually aired, not the time they actually watched it (ex: if you DVRed Dynamite and watched it Friday, but still recorded that you watched it Wednesday, Nielsen took your word that you watched it Wednesday like you said and not Friday like you did). The reason they did this is because the instructions for the Nielsen books outright said to put the timeslot the show aired, not when you watched it.

Now that data from DVRs and set top boxes is far more in play than it used to be, wrestling will take a plunge because a lot of people watch wrestling via DVR. The reason sports didn't drop is because sports is the one failsafe against DVRs, it almost HAS to be watched live; you don't know when it's truly going to end, and people don't want the result spoiled because then there's no point in watching, therefore they must watch as quickly as possible.

I always said the most valuable data isn't live+same day, it's live+3 and live+7, because that's when your more reliable audiences are watching with wrestling. Looking at just live data is thinking back in late-1990s/early-2000s terms, especially as we get more and more data that a majority of people don't skip ads when they watch via DVR (or have ad-supported streaming services where you can't skip the ads in the first place).

[Craig H]

Books are used less than people meters and now big data or whatever the hell it’s called.

I don’t even know if I should even get into the people meter experience again, but it might be less reliable than an old filling out one of those books that come with a $1 bill. The last time I described the entire experience someone asked if I was legally allowed to talk about that and honestly, I didn’t know. However, it’s absolutely miserable and not the least bit accurate.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 minute ago, Craig H said:

Books are used less than people meters and now big data or whatever the hell it’s called.

I don’t even know if I should even get into the people meter experience again, but it might be less reliable than an old filling out one of those books that come with a $1 bill. The last time I described the entire experience someone asked if I was legally allowed to talk about that and honestly, I didn’t know. However, it’s absolutely miserable and not the least bit accurate.

The people meters are extremely finicky and as useful as the books. (Which were about as useful as a screen door on a submarine, so that should tell you how well the people meters are gonna work out.)

Real talk: Nielsen is desperately trying to stay relevant in a world that is progressing past it. They're nothing but an analytics firm. Streamers can get much more reliable minute-to-minute data in terms of what's actually being watched, and can run their own analytics without outsourcing to Nielsen and relying on shaky data from whatever nonsense Nielsen does to collect it.

The main reason Meltzer and his ilk keep pointing to Nielsen is because they need Nielsen to stay alive and relevant to prop up their businesses. Most broadcasters are moving past it as they look towards streaming.

[Craig H]

Fuck it, here’s the experience for anyone unaware. If you’re a people meter house, which means you fit certain demographics that feel slightly racist, then you allow Nielsen more invasive access into your life than any smart phone or computer you have.

Their technician comes out, cracks open all of your TVs, game systems, media players (DVD, Blu-ray, streaming, VCR), and I think everything short of a radio or computer. They hook up all of this monitoring equipment to a black box that must be with every TV in your house. The front of the box is lined with square lights and a button and number under each. Each of those numbers is assigned to every person in your house and I can’t remember if some extra buttons are assigned to anyone else that might come over.

When you watch tv you must click a button on a remote or clock the button on the device that is your assigned number. Anyone that watches with you must also click their button. Every 17 minutes I think you must relog back into the box or else it will start flashing red which sends a signal to Nielsen. If you do that more than a few times you get a call from them. Guess what? NO ONE USES THOSE PEOPLE METERS THE WAY THEY’RE TOLD. Others, like me, got tired of it and would throw a towel over it to not look at the flashing red lights. I don’t think more than one or two times did me or my wife at the time actually register the people that are actually watching. Usually we’d just click one button and that’s it.

After awhile we got tired of it and the invasion of privacy and their technician calling all the time or visiting our house all the time felt incredibly creepy.

Fuck Nielsen, their technology, and their methodology.

EDIT: You know what, I think they did want to crack my computer open too and then I lied saying that I don’t watch tv on my computer and meant that I’ll just watch a short clip a friend may send me or something.

Edited October 6, 2025 by Craig H

[zendragon]

Did you get paid for all that? I remember hearing about people being a Nielsen home and them using that as a sample size.

[Craig H]

12 minutes ago, zendragon said:

Did you get paid for all that? I remember hearing about people being a Nielsen home and them using that as a sample size.

I want to say we got $200 or $150 at the start? Then a quarter later it was $75, and then every quarter after was just $35 or something. Not a lot.

[zendragon]

Seems like a hell of a lot of rigmarole for not a lot of money 

[Curt McGirt]

I was gonna say it's pretty invasive and then thought it REALLY is because they can check your porn watching 

[Craig H]

At first you think, oh this is easy I’m getting paid to watch TV why not, which is how they sell it to you. And then it immediately turns into a huge pain in the ass and the money isn’t worth the hassle.

So that’s my example. Imagine how many other houses are similar to mine. You would have to have OCD or be on the spectrum or something to studiously log in to that thing all the time and also honestly track the amount of people watching. 

[porksweats]

For what its worth Nielsen ratings aren't worth discussing for AEW anymore due to the fact that they aren't factoring in Max simulcast viewings, so we'll truly never know the true viewership.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

7 minutes ago, porksweats said:

For what its worth Nielsen ratings aren't worth discussing for AEW anymore due to the fact that they aren't factoring in Max simulcast viewings, so we'll truly never know the true viewership.

For anyone. Nielsen ratings don't matter unless you're trying to buy ads on cable. (And if you are... get a better gig.)