Wrestling Thread

American Dragon

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That was quite the newsworthy and focused Dynamite last night. Very angle heavy show but still fit in a good bit of wrestling. Two matches already logically setup for Full Gear with some more heavily implied (Cope vs. Okada, Ospreay vs. Fletcher, Mercedes vs. Shafir, Trios Texas Death) without having to bog the show down with 20+ minutes of promos.

This show was the creative boost I've felt AEW has needed for months. The creative has been noticeably worse - and in some aspects directionless - post Double or Nothing for various reasons, most of it their own fault of course but not entirely. For example, WBD has forced too many PPVs out of greed and PAC's death especially really screwed up things most recently.

Bang Bang Gang and especially Jay White turning heel is just the juice (no pun intended) they needed. Jay White is several factors better as a heel than a babyface so I am very much looking forward to that.

Young Bucks doing the job getting squashed by Davis & Doyle is great business. Instantly legitimizes D&D in a stacked tag division. Further helps legitimize the concept of the eliminator match, rather you like the concept of the match or not. Gets a tag match booked for the PPV that should be highly anticipated. All accomplished in less than 10 minutes. That's the kind of efficiency I want to see in the wrestling I watch. The story to tell with this match is easy now too. But now it just needs to be capped off with D&D winning.

Not thrilled with the B&G match but at least there is some logic behind it, just not very much heat, in my opinion. At this point I'm not sure if anything they booked for it I would have been thrilled with other than maybe furthering the trios title/Hangman/Swerve program. They better have a short leash on Borden so he doesn't try to kill himself again. Some stakes should be added for this match to increase the heat and jeopardy on it. I seriously doubt that this was the original plan for this match, probably a victim of the creative changes as a result of PAC's death,
 
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Laparkafan

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That was quite the newsworthy and focused Dynamite last night. Very angle heavy show but still fit in a good bit of wrestling. Two matches already logically setup for Full Gear with some more heavily implied (Cope vs. Okada, Ospreay vs. Fletcher, Mercedes vs. Shafir, Trios Texas Death) without having to bog the show down with 20+ minutes of promos.

This show was the creative boost I've felt AEW has needed for months. The creative has been noticeably worse - and in some aspects directionless - post Double or Nothing for various reasons, most of it their own fault of course but not entirely. For example, WBD has forced too many PPVs out of greed and PAC's death especially really screwed up things most recently.

Bang Bang Gang and especially Jay White turning heel is just the juice (no pun intended) they needed. Jay White is several factors better as a heel than a babyface so I am very much looking forward to that.

Young Bucks doing the job getting squashed by Davis & Doyle is great business. Instantly legitimizes D&D in a stacked tag division. Further helps legitimize the concept of the eliminator match, rather you like the concept of the match or not. Gets a tag match booked for the PPV that should be highly anticipated. All accomplished in less than 10 minutes. That's the kind of efficiency I want to see in the wrestling I watch. The story to tell with this match is easy now too. But now it just needs to be capped off with D&D winning.

Not thrilled with the B&G match but at least there is some logic behind it, just not very much heat, in my opinion. At this point I'm not sure if anything they booked for it I would have been thrilled with other than maybe furthering the trios title/Hangman/Swerve program. They better have a short leash on Borden so he doesn't try to kill himself again. Some stakes should be added for this match to increase the heat and jeopardy on it. I seriously doubt that this was the original plan for this match, probably a victim of the creative changes as a result of PAC's death,
Ya it was actually worthy of paying attention to - almost a storyline reset for some stuff
 

American Dragon

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Maybe. Their contract expires next year though. I'm not sure hw much longer you can put off them vs. New Level unless they've given reassurances they will be re-signing. I don't expect them to leave AEW to go to WWE by any means, but they contemplated retiring before re-signing last time. These aren't guys that seem like they want to work well past primes.
 
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American Dragon

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Ospreay is going from working a major show New Japan match in Japan to Blood & Guts in Florida in less than 48 hours. Can't believe he's running from the grind like this.
 

American Dragon

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At least he is self-aware about it this time unlike in AEW where he refused to accept it no matter how glaringly obvious it became.

 
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CrimeDawg18

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As you talked about thought Dynamite was a really good show. Definitely felt like they needed a reset and that's what we got.

Even liked the Bang Bang Gang/Death Riders stuff.

Now that we have the teams for Blood And Guts, hopefully they'll move some tickets. I think as of yesterday they'd only sold 2,500 with two weeks to go.
 

American Dragon

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As you talked about thought Dynamite was a really good show. Definitely felt like they needed a reset and that's what we got.

Even liked the Bang Bang Gang/Death Riders stuff.

Now that we have the teams for Blood And Guts, hopefully they'll move some tickets. I think as of yesterday they'd only sold 2,500 with two weeks to go.
Last I saw was something like 3100 from the AEW Ticket Map Updates Twitter account. They posted that earlier today.
 

Nightwish

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Manning cast numbers are down too. The whole watch a group of guys on tv watch the game and talk about it as you watch the same game had it's moment after covid but I think it's done. Not every weekly game needs two or three alternate casts. MNF isn't that big of a deal now days.
 
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American Dragon

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Manning cast numbers are down too. The whole watch a group of guys on tv watch the game and talk about it as you watch the same game had it's moment after covid but I think it's done. Not every weekly game needs two or three alternate casts. MNF isn't that big of a deal now days.
I’ve never understood the appeal of those things unless it’s very unique or it’s bringing in an audience that might not typically watch the product. Getting the same people you use to cover the stuff every week isn’t producing anything remotely unique. Anyone who watches or listens to McAfee’s show is very likely already watching MNF to begin with.
 
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American Dragon

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One nice little touch from Dynamite that I didn’t really catch on to until just now was that the “random” tag match featuring Jay White and OC tagging together was actually just a ruse to throw people off from the Jay White turn. They worked together to win the match without the slightest hint of dissension to make you think everything was good, but Switchblade was basically a wolf in sheep’s clothing in that match.

AEW used their history of throwing random people together for a random match to work us.

One weird thing from last night is they ran a video package saying Rascalz are looking to get back into contention for the Trios titles then immediately announced Myron Reed for a singles match against Swerve which I have no reason to believe Myron will win.
 
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Laparkafan

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I’ve never understood the appeal of those things unless it’s very unique or it’s bringing in an audience that might not typically watch the product. Getting the same people you use to cover the stuff every week isn’t producing anything remotely unique. Anyone who watches or listens to McAfee’s show is very likely already watching MNF to begin with.
The manning stuff is fine when they are into it but when they spend a full drive interviewing some C list celebrity it drives people away.

I’ve never bought into mcafee and don’t watch gameday b/c of him.

I hope these sports networks realize there is a shelf like of over the top nonsense but as usual espn will be the last to figure it out.
 
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American Dragon

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Any opinions on whether this is good news or bad news for the E or AEW?
The Space Karen is just supporting his fellow fascists.

Considering Twitter canceled the WWE Speed show last year or whenever it was, I don’t think he particularly cares about wrestling.

Though I assume eventually AEW will be forced to censor the F*** ICE chants. But I assumed that was going to eventually happen ever since this whole Skydance deal was finalized
 
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American Dragon

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AEW on Hulu Japan launches November 1. This would be a good move for the Japanese audience. Otherwise, I don’t really care much for adding her.

With her being announced for the Jericho Cruise, I assume she will be working the Collision taping from the cruise.

But Dave has it backwards, she’ll have to get her AEW contract first before AEW can get her a work visa.

Of course that isn’t the only way to get a work visa, plenty of international indie wrestlers get one without a contract, but it’s more difficult and time consuming if it’s not sponsored by an employer.

 
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GeraldV

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AEW on Hulu Japan launches November 1. This would be a good move for the Japanese audience. Otherwise, I don’t really care much for adding her.

With her being announced for the Jericho Cruise, I assume she will be working the Collision taping from the cruise.

But Dave has it backwards, she’ll have to get her AEW contract first before AEW can get her a work visa.

Of course that isn’t the only way to get a work visa, plenty of international indie wrestlers get one without a contract, but it’s more difficult and time consuming if it’s not sponsored by an employer.


Who is this lady? I've seen her mentioned several times over the last few months, and I don't think I know her.
 

American Dragon

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Who is this lady? I've seen her mentioned several times over the last few months, and I don't think I know her.
STARDOM legend that WWE never really figured out on the main roster. Over in Japan she’s basically on the Mount Rushmore of Joshi wrestlers from this century, joined by Iyo, Mayu Iwatani, and depending on who you ask because she is persona non grata in some circles, Asuka.

She left WWE on her own accord during the tail end of the Vince era. Triple H brought her back almost immediately because she was one of his darlings from the NXT Black and Gold era.
 
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American Dragon

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This is some high level wrestling IQ. In Pure Rules matches, you only get three rope breaks. If you use all three and are getting pinned, you can’t out your foot under or on the rope to break the pin.

So three minutes into the match, Mance Warner snapmared Lee Moriarity near the ropes, then he intentionally put Lee’s foot on the ropes as part of the pin, causing Lee to lose one of his three rope breaks.

 
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Nightwish

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I can't blame AEW for any of their recent signings but they're determined to sign the world. I've never seen a company debut wrestlers in bunches every couple years with rumors of more to come and only have a little over four hours of tv time per week. Rampage gets cancelled, WWE lets talent walk, and AEW is acting like they've got four shows a week with every match going 17+ minutes. If the situation with Skynet goes sideways next year, it'll be interesting to see what happens to a company with like 350 wrestlers as they scramble for a new deal elsewhere. And what if that deal is for one three hour show per week?

Dynamite did 661K which is down from last week so Dragunov's first match resulted in less eyeballs. So I was correct. Great, great talent but a midcarder in WWE who walked away after being unseen for several months wasn't going to bring in big numbers or big business. This was common sense.
 

American Dragon

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I can't blame AEW for any of their recent signings but they're determined to sign the world. I've never seen a company debut wrestlers in bunches every couple years with rumors of more to come and only have a little over four hours of tv time per week. Rampage gets cancelled, WWE lets talent walk, and AEW is acting like they've got four shows a week with every match going 17+ minutes. If the situation with Skynet goes sideways next year, it'll be interesting to see what happens to a company with like 350 wrestlers as they scramble for a new deal elsewhere. And what if that deal is for one three hour show per week?

Dynamite did 661K which is down from last week so Dragunov's first match resulted in less eyeballs. So I was correct. Great, great talent but a midcarder in WWE who walked away after being unseen for several months wasn't going to bring in big numbers or big business. This was common sense.
They faced 22 NBA teams having their opening day and the WNBA Finals. Yet again you’ve displayed a complete lack of understanding of context.

They only fell 7% in total viewership. The key demo was up 7% despite very strong competition.

Last year on this same day - opening night for the majority of NBA teams but this time without any other major sports competition - they had an 11% drop in viewership and 27% drop in the demo for totals of 534K and 0.11

So that’s a 38.6% increase year over year in viewership and an 87.5% increase in the demo for the same similarly positioned episode - meaning up against NBA opening night for the majority of teams.

For the month of October, they are up year over year by 42% in total viewership and 67% in the demo. For the 4th quarter it’s 39% and 67%. I’m assuming Wrestlenomics did their math right for this paragraph.

So you are incorrect, as usual.

1792847348571.gif
 

Laparkafan

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So they’ll sign Sheamus bc a couple buddies want him there? No wonder there’s no eagerness to sign him. He doesn’t improve the product just another guy to put on a banger match.
 

American Dragon

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The hell is WWE doing with Gunther?

This man spent roughly a year retiring legends and in the ensuing months he lost four straight chances to win the WWE title, failed to qualify for MITB, and is now wrestling a clown.

After next week, over an entire five-month stretch starting with June, his only real wins (as in not via DQ) for nearly half a year will be Nick Aldis, Matt Cardona, and, I pray to God, Danhausen.

 

GeraldV

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So they’ll sign Sheamus bc a couple buddies want him there? No wonder there’s no eagerness to sign him. He doesn’t improve the product just another guy to put on a banger match.
But he would not even be able to put on a banger match, I don’t think. I can’t think of any reason to bring him in.
 
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