The All Elite Wrestling Discussion Thread

[Dalton]

3 hours ago, Jaysin said:

Did that many people genuinely only tune in for MJF? Such a weird thing if true. I like him and everything, but so many of his promos were typical edgelord stuff. 

No, that many people did not only tune in for MJF. That is a take that is fabricated out of thin air. 

[Matt_Black]

Kris Statlander ended Jade Cargill's 2 & 1/2 year undefeated streak and the longest AEW title reign.

You wouldn't know it from how she's been booked the past month or so.

[milamber]

6 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

Kris Statlander ended Jade Cargill's 2 & 1/2 year undefeated streak and the longest AEW title reign.

You wouldn't know it from how she's been booked the past month or so.

It's called storyline and character development. They are even teasing her and Willow both turning heel. Stat had a good title run last year... now it's time for her to do some work lower down the card.

Edited March 21 by milamber

[Matt_Black]

5 hours ago, milamber said:

It's called storyline and character development. They are even teasing her and Willow both turning heel. Stat had a good title run last year... now it's time for her to do some work lower down the card.

It's called inconsistency. The whole purpose of feeding nearly the entire women's division to Jade Cargill should have been to eventually make even a bigger star, and they kinda dropped the ball on that, almost immediately from the get-go by having Kris show up as a surprise after Jade had already wrestled.

Adding Mercedes Mone into the mix just muddles things up even further. How the story has progressed so far, the logical outcome would be for Kris and Stokely to turn heel on Willow, but then they tease a Willow turn with Mone.

[milamber]

- Still presenting Mercedes like a big deal. Nice to open the show with a women's segment and follow up with another in the 1st hour.
- Okada vs Kingston (c) was good but needed a bit longer to make the finish more exciting. Bastard!
- HOOK vs Jericho was a good extended squash. I want Hook/Takeshita in a german suplex battle.
- Wardlow in the doghouse. Ospreay's promo segments are pure hype. Big match for next week.
- Toni & Mariah vs Deonna & Rosa was solid but unsurprisingly too short.
- Swerve vs Butcher was a solid squash. Another big match set.
- Copeland vs Christian (c) I Quit was my Dynamite MOTN. Street Fight was my Rampage MOTN.

Edited March 22 by milamber

[MightyDavidson]

Wondering why they hot shotted the Continental Title onto Okada straight away, rather then waiting for a pay per view.  Also despite the NJPW Strong title, the Continental Title and ROH Title being some sort of crown they're apparently not all defended together as Kingston is still listed holding the Strong and ROH titles.

[Wrestling Machine]

On 3/20/2024 at 6:52 PM, ColdBloodedSausageMaker said:

Given that the main event was A) an AEW woman's division match and b) both women were in the midcard and 3) it was a face vs. face match, the main event drew better than expected. 

 

But why should you have two babyface midcard women fighting in the main event of your flagship weekly tv show? Was it their best option? 🤔

[Jaysin]

10 hours ago, MightyDavidson said:

Wondering why they hot shotted the Continental Title onto Okada straight away, rather then waiting for a pay per view.  Also despite the NJPW Strong title, the Continental Title and ROH Title being some sort of crown they're apparently not all defended together as Kingston is still listed holding the Strong and ROH titles.

They explicitly said numerous times that it was only for the Continental title

[Jaysin]

I was curious as to when the last time the AEW Trios title was defended and they haven't defended them since the end of January...

[Matt_Black]

On 3/24/2024 at 5:37 AM, Wrestling Machine said:

But why should you have two babyface midcard women fighting in the main event of your flagship weekly tv show? Was it their best option? 🤔

You'd think one of the two women was the first AEW women's champion and the other had a pinfall victory over arguably the most popular women's wrestler today, or something.

[SanX]

On 3/24/2024 at 3:07 PM, Wrestling Machine said:

But why should you have two babyface midcard women fighting in the main event of your flagship weekly tv show? Was it their best option? 🤔

It would have been fine if Mone didn't debut earlier. I don't know whose idea it was to have 2 debut angles for Mone on the same show. Either do the post-match angle or the big debut angle, not both. People saw that Mone had her debut earlier and dipped, didn't expect her to have that post-match angle as well.

[Wrestling Machine]

4 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

You'd think one of the two women was the first AEW women's champion and the other had a pinfall victory over arguably the most popular women's wrestler today, or something.

Oh c'moooon Matt! Don't act like Riho is a draw or something lol being the first AEW Women's champ doesn't automatically make you a star. And usually it's better to have major draws or stars in your main event, right?

Also, Willow pinned Rhea Ripley? Or Charlotte? Or Becky? 🤔 I don't recall that

[Matt_Black]

I did say "arguably" (and let's be honest, Charlotte isn't nearly the big star WWE wants her to be). That's how you make stars, you put them in prominent positions and see if the crowd takes it.

And since you brought up WWE superstars, let's not forget that they're the company who thought putting Jinder Mahal in the main event a few weeks ago was going to put butts in seats.

[milamber]

Funny how the people complaining about Riho vs Willow aren't complaining about Ospreay vs Shibata. Nothing wrong with babyface vs babyface if the wrestling is good.

 

[milamber]

Supeprcard of Honor just got an injection of Stardom. I believe the PPV is free for subs.

[milamber]

- Ospreay vs Shibata was great.
- Loved the Danielson, Takeshita, Swerve & Copeland videos.
- EVPs vs Private Party was good.
- Tony Hawk is All Elite! Jericho as a mentor to Hook works for me.
- Willow vs Jay vs Statlander vs Blue was very good.
- Mankiewicz & Timeless Toni corporate synergy.
- Best Friends vs The Kingdom was solid.
- Swerve vs Takeshita was my MOTN. Joe not impressed.

My favorite show of the year so far. Crowd was hot.

[Mootinie]

8 hours ago, milamber said:

Funny how the people complaining about Riho vs Willow aren't complaining about Ospreay vs Shibata. Nothing wrong with babyface vs babyface if the wrestling is good.

 

I don't know, a lot of people are complaining about Ospreay versus Shibata now they've seen Dynamite's quarter hours haha.

[milamber]

1 hour ago, Mootinie said:

I don't know, a lot of people are complaining about Ospreay versus Shibata now they've seen Dynamite's quarter hours haha.

Swerve/Takeshita had a good bounce from the previous quarter so TK made the right call on the main event.

[Blackman]

AEW reminds me a bit about how I came into TEW. I mostly did random things that just... came to me. Unnecessary hires because I could and without any longterm vision at all. Ah... those were the days.

I sometimes watch youtube tidbits but imo these are really average. Now watched a fatal 4way with Moné at ringside. Feels random to me. But as I said: not watching so there might be some logic in it.

[Dalton]

What's the point of commenting on the randomness and logic of something while simultaneously saying you don't watch?

Three of the four women in the "fatal" four way have been feuding for quite some time and the winner gets a title shot at the fourth person in that feud. Struggling to wrap my head around how that's random whatsoever...?

[Matt_Black]

6 hours ago, Dalton said:

What's the point of commenting on the randomness and logic of something while simultaneously saying you don't watch?

Three of the four women in the "fatal" four way have been feuding for quite some time and the winner gets a title shot at the fourth person in that feud. Struggling to wrap my head around how that's random whatsoever...?

And Anna Jay is currently one of the division's designated "pin eaters".

I hope Starks is okay.

Lady Frost is terrific. She's good in the ring, has a great look, and most importantly, she's proven she can get a crowd reaction on Collision, which isn't always easy, as some of the Collision crowds have sounded like they need resuscitation.

Finally, 11:30 next week? Yeah, NO. Bad programming decision from TNT.

[bhalbur]

2 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

And Anna Jay is currently one of the division's designated "pin eaters".

I hope Starks is okay.

Lady Frost is terrific. She's good in the ring, has a great look, and most importantly, she's proven she can get a crowd reaction on Collision, which isn't always easy, as some of the Collision crowds have sounded like they need resuscitation.

Finally, 11:30 next week? Yeah, NO. Bad programming decision from TNT.

Collision isn't keeping the time slot with the Final Four on Turner networks. And it's also not on during Wrestlemania this way. 

[ColdBloodedSausageMaker]

Man, Anthony Bowens can really work a crowd like few others in wrestling right now. When he's on, his promos are a joy to watch. 

I love The Acclaimed, but I think the money for AEW will be with Bowens as a singles star. He's just on another level than Max. 

[Matt_Black]

7 hours ago, bhalbur said:

Collision isn't keeping the time slot with the Final Four on Turner networks. And it's also not on during Wrestlemania this way. 

Well, I hope all the gambling addicts get their brackets busted while they go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Also, don't see why they need all that pre-show and post show stuff. I was checking the schedule, and that stuff starts at like 2 or 3pm. That makes for over 8 hours of basketball.

[Wrestling Machine]

On 3/29/2024 at 2:05 AM, Matt_Black said:

did say "arguably" (and let's be honest, Charlotte isn't nearly the big star WWE wants her to be). That's how you make stars, you put them in prominent positions and see if the crowd takes it.

Charlotte still is 5x a bigger star than 95% of the female roster in WWE and 100% of the female roster in AEW (outside Monè).

 

On 3/29/2024 at 2:05 AM, Matt_Black said:

And since you brought up WWE superstars, let's not forget that they're the company who thought putting Jinder Mahal in the main event a few weeks ago was going to put butts in seats.

True! No idea how this has to do with Riho vs Willow tho! Also, and correct me if I'm wrong, it was a championship match against Seth Rollins who is a star and a main eventer.

 

On 3/29/2024 at 2:45 AM, milamber said:

Funny how the people complaining about Riho vs Willow aren't complaining about Ospreay vs Shibata. Nothing wrong with babyface vs babyface if the wrestling is good.

Babyface vs babyface was just a part of my thought man. My question was - replying to a specific post form another user - was Riho vs. Willow their best option for the main event of their flagship show? None of them are draws, none of them are stars, and you have a tv show on TNT and you're desperate to raise your viewers.

I understand that you like the wrestling you like, and probably don't care anything about the business around it, but from a business standpoint to me it made zero sense to have two midcard babyface women wrestler to close the show, as you should always tried to close the show with your best names and attract casual viewers. Do you disagree with this point?

Edited April 1 by Wrestling Machine