The All Elite Wrestling Discussion Thread

[Matt_Black]

3 hours ago, ColdBloodedSausageMaker said:

Her gimmick was pretty good before AEW went way too far with it. Now she's got go-away heat.

I think the fans don't accept Toni Storm with that gimmick as a main eventer, but she could be a good midcard heel with the timeless gimmick.

It also doesn't help that the title was hot potatoed with little seeming rhyme or reason. Toni dropped the belt to Shida, who dropped the belt to Saraya, probably for the feel good moment of THE HEEL celebrating with her family in her home country (because the people who had a friggin' movie made about them really DO need more pats on the back), who dropped it back to Shida instead of Storm (which, you know, would have made sense to pay off the Outcasts break-up storyline), and THEN Shida drops it back to Toni. It makes the TNT title business from 2022-2023 look steady and stable by comparison.

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

Ringside News published an article saying WBD might not re-new AEW and/or WBD may alter the deal.

Right now, it looks pretty likely WBD will sign WWE RAW. CM Punk's debut being seen as a key component of the deal.

Given that WBD only greenlit Collision because Punk would be featured, I think many (including me) predicted this might happen.

If they have to move to a smaller network, I do think AEW will recover long-term. Re-signing MJF and Ospreay is huge, and the company always has the UK market as a backup.

I do worry that short-term the company will struggle given that AEW is a bit financially overextended right now. Moving from TNT would definitely be a major setback.

[aXminster]

42 minutes ago, ColdBloodedSausageMaker said:

Ringside News published an article saying WBD might not re-new AEW and/or WBD may alter the deal.

Right now, it looks pretty likely WBD will sign WWE RAW. CM Punk's debut being seen as a key component of the deal.

Given that WBD only greenlit Collision because Punk would be featured, I think many (including me) predicted this might happen.

If they have to move to a smaller network, I do think AEW will recover long-term. Re-signing MJF and Ospreay is huge, and the company always has the UK market as a backup.

I do worry that short-term the company will struggle given that AEW is a bit financially overextended right now. Moving from TNT would definitely be a major setback.

The source to all that is Hausman, who is Punk's message man, so I'd take that with a pinch of salt.

NBA's right are up next year so WBD has a lot on their plate right now, and they are doing the best thing for them by meeting WWE. TK, on the other hand, is always hyping up the partnership and even refusing to listen to any offers, which IMO is dumb.

At the end of the day it's just business and none of us know anything about it.

[aXminster]

That sucks

 

[milamber]

Final Battle overdelivered.

[spoiler]Taurus vs Vikingo, Page vs Nese, 6-Way match and Jay Briscoe Tribute were all great.

Billie vs Athena was my MOTN. Contender for North American women's MOTY. I was super invested in the storyline. Didn't mind the ending.... Billie is only 19 and proved herself against the best while Athena proved she's unbeatable in ROH. Athena looked badass in the protective mask. I hope she appears in AEW more often.[/spoiler]

Edited December 16, 2023 by milamber

[CQI13]

On 12/15/2023 at 2:58 AM, aXminster said:

The source to all that is Hausman, who is Punk's message man, so I'd take that with a pinch of salt.

NBA's right are up next year so WBD has a lot on their plate right now, and they are doing the best thing for them by meeting WWE. TK, on the other hand, is always hyping up the partnership and even refusing to listen to any offers, which IMO is dumb.

At the end of the day it's just business and none of us know anything about it.

By saying he's Punk's message man, the implication is that he's making it up. After all, Punk has no knowledge of what is going on at WBD or with WWE's TV rights. And yeah, Hausman may be making it up.

But as with any leak, the question to ask is "Who does this leaking out benefit?" And that's how you determine where it came from. As with most wrestling "news" I will take the side that Hausman is trying to piece this together just like anyone else, and that really he has no inside knowledge of anything.

[milamber]

Based TK playing hardball with WBD and booking 2 women's matches for Collision.

[Matt_Black]

Thunder Rosa has been out for over a year. They teased a return back in June. And THAT is the best they could come up with for her big return?!?

[CQI13]

Is Tony really that thin skinned that he feels the need to respond to criticism he gets on X? Dude, you're a creator - once you create, you're not there to try to explain what something meant, or why you did it, or whatever. Let it be. I guess he only wants positive feedback on his product. Myopic, if you ask me. 

And he should be looking to book coherently, not based on what the fans like. Tell a good story and the fans will like that.

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

14 hours ago, CQI13 said:

By saying he's Punk's message man, the implication is that he's making it up. After all, Punk has no knowledge of what is going on at WBD or with WWE's TV rights. And yeah, Hausman may be making it up.

But as with any leak, the question to ask is "Who does this leaking out benefit?" And that's how you determine where it came from. As with most wrestling "news" I will take the side that Hausman is trying to piece this together just like anyone else, and that really he has no inside knowledge of anything.

Given that according to Wrestling Observer AEW got Collision on WBD because they agreed to bring back Punk, it makes since that WWE would get a better deal with WBD because Punk signed there.

Multiple sources have confirmed that precedent exists for WBD to make a deal contingent on Punk joining.

I'm not saying Hausmen isn't biased. This statement definitely is supported by some evidence.

And given that CW Network moved NWA's deal over similarly flimsy justifications to accept a better deal, I could see WBD doing the same thing with AEW.

Either way, I think AEW still has a bright future. They just set an attendance record for Wembley, signed the biggest English free agent and just signed their ace MJF long-term.

Plus, their biggest Female star Jamie Hayter should be back soon. Hayter is another star English wrestler who will immediately improve the women's division.

2024 could be AEW's banner year.

Let's not overreact.

Edited December 17, 2023 by ColdBloodedSausageMaker

[milamber]

- Claudio vs Andrade was great.

- Abadon vs Allure was as solid squash. Julia! Skye! Rosa! Women's division getting a record number of concurrent storylines.

- Assclaimed should drop the titles to Top Flight Action.

- Cassidy (c) vs Keith was good. Rumor is Bryan Keith has already signed a deal.

- Solid promos from Miro, FTR and HoB.

- Willow & Statlander vs Martinez vs Diamante street fight was great.

- Timeless Toni lol.

- Cage vs Wright was a solid squash.

- Kingston vs Garcia was good.

- Brody vs Danielson was my MOTN.

 

AEW is having a great run of shows.

[aXminster]

The show was good except for the squashes and the OC match. I wasn't expecting a street fight so that was a good surprise.

I did like Collision more with a different pace. The show felt like a Dynamite with so little time for things to breathe. And Winter is Coming was pretty meh this year, we didn't even have the graphics, which was one of my favorite things. If you're not going to properly do a "special" show, just don't do it at all. I think they only added the name and everything else was just regular tv.

[CQI13]

6 hours ago, ColdBloodedSausageMaker said:

Given that according to Wrestling Observer AEW got Collision on WBD because they agreed to bring back Punk, it makes since that WWE would get a better deal with WBD because Punk signed there.

Multiple sources have confirmed that precedent exists for WBD to make a deal contingent on Punk joining.

I'm not saying Hausmen isn't biased. This statement definitely is supported by some evidence.

And given that CW Network moved NWA's deal over similarly flimsy justifications to accept a better deal, I could see WBD doing the same thing with AEW.

Either way, I think AEW still has a bright future. They just set an attendance record for Wembley, signed the biggest English free agent and just signed their ace MJF long-term.

Plus, their biggest Female star Jamie Hayter should be back soon. Hayter is another star English wrestler who will immediately improve the women's division.

2024 could be AEW's banner year.

Let's not overreact.

Except we're taking same "journalist's" word that there was ever a deal with the CW. All that was said was a "top 20" network, and then people started speculating. Then the cocaine spot happened and NXT signed with the CW, so they assumed it was all connected. We don't know any of that to be a fact. All these folks are just reporting what their people are telling them. How come no trade magazines mentioned an NWA deal falling through "due to a questionable segment" when NXT was signed? If anything, what I suspect happened is that IF CW was ever looking at NWA, they then saw NXT as a much better alternative to grow their network. Which it is.

As far AEW and Punk, maybe they lose Collision on WBD, but why should *that* affect Dynamite? The ratings might, but that's a separate issue.

In any event, I wish Tony the best. I just want him to be less thin skinned - it's a terrible look.

Edited December 17, 2023 by CQI13

[Matt_Black]

CW Exec: "Hmm we need more bland, unappealing content that features Gen Z people."

Assistant: "Hey, boss, have you heard about this thing called NXT...?"

[Matt_Black]

Oh, and Toni Storm? Great job building up interest for the #1 Contender's match next week. Nothing builds up interest in a PPV title bout like saying, "I don't really care who wins."

[Jaysin]

So, my partner was half watching Final Battle with me and they played the Sting retirement video package. She asked where it was and I told her and apparently it's possible we are going to take a short vacation in March to go to Revolution! Sting is why I became a wrestling fan and I have never seen him in person. I'm just hoping it doesn't sell out before we save up for it.

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

Some good and bad news on the MJF contract talks front. 

Bad news, he apparently hasn't re-signed with AEW, as previously reported. 

Good news, MJF wants to stay with AEW. Right now, it seems very likely MJF will remain with AEW long-term.

Tony has done a good job keeping MJF happy. Given how important MJF is to the company, you can't complain too much about mismanagement.

As long as MJF stays, AEW will have a bright future.

[FellaLibby]

5 hours ago, ColdBloodedSausageMaker said:

Some good and bad news on the MJF contract talks front. 

Bad news, he apparently hasn't re-signed with AEW, as previously reported. 

Good news, MJF wants to stay with AEW. Right now, it seems very likely MJF will remain with AEW long-term.

Tony has done a good job keeping MJF happy. Given how important MJF is to the company, you can't complain too much about mismanagement.

As long as MJF stays, AEW will have a bright future.

In my opinion, any MJF talk of him leaving is nonsense. The man is a made man in AEW and the "bidding war" story imo is just that, a story. Unless he actually leaves, I'll eat my words, but otherwise any contract talks to me are meaningless. That's just my opinion though.

[Jaysin]

I'm still sure that the entire bidding war thing is a work. 

Anyway, does anyone else get the vibes that Nigel is setting up a match with Bryan?

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

2 hours ago, Jaysin said:

I'm still sure that the entire bidding war thing is a work. 

Anyway, does anyone else get the vibes that Nigel is setting up a match with Bryan?

I would be shocked if MJF left. He seems really invested in AEW and on board with the company.

I'm sure if MJF was actually considering WWE, they would have made him an offer he can't refuse. MJF would be a way bigger get than either Cody Rhodes or Jade Cargill were for WWE -- and WWE gave both the red carpet treatment.

The official story now still is that MJF hasn't re-signed with the company yet. I also think MJF re-signed with AEW a few months ago, but I don't think we know for sure.

Which is good, because that uncertainty will make for more compelling TV.

Max isn't going anywhere.

 

[The Swanton825]

5 hours ago, Jaysin said:

I'm still sure that the entire bidding war thing is a work. 

Anyway, does anyone else get the vibes that Nigel is setting up a match with Bryan?

Man, if Nigel can still go after all these years that'd be an awesome match.

[Eternal Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, The Swanton825 said:

Man, if Nigel can still go after all these years that'd be an awesome match.

I'll maintain that Bryan could wrestle an inanimate object to a four star match at this stage in his career, so anything Nigel might do can only improve matters. Plus I want to give the man enough credit to know that if he can't surpass a broomstick, he ought to stay retired. Most of the truly excellent ones do seem to know when it's time to quit trying to be something other than a special attraction, and or me Nigel is one of those excellent ones.

[The Swanton825]

1 minute ago, Eternal Phoenix said:

I'll maintain that Bryan could wrestle an inanimate object to a four star match at this stage in his career, so anything Nigel might do can only improve matters. Plus I want to give the man enough credit to know that if he can't surpass a broomstick, he ought to stay retired. Most of the truly excellent ones do seem to know when it's time to quit trying to be something other than a special attraction, and or me Nigel is one of those excellent ones.

I really hope you're right. Nigel's ROH title run was what saved my love for wrestling after the guy I considered my idol... well, we all know what disturbing thing happened earlier that same year in 2007.

[aXminster]

Another pretty good show. The Swerve/MJF segment was incredible, the high point of the night for me. The three-way match next week is going to be out of this world.

[milamber]

- Swerve vs Rush was good.
- Kenny
- Briscoe vs Lethal was good.
- The Devil's Putty Squad. The storyline is fine but I'm ready for it to end.
- Saraya vs Riho was good. Toni the quip machine. Human Duplex Machine lol. Mariah!
- Christian Cage lol.
- MJF/Swerve backstage was great.
- Kommander vs Strong was good.
- White vs Mox was my MOTN.