ADVERTISEMENT

CI Wrestling Thread #56

Nightwish84 said:
Dynamite is starting to live in the low 800,000's. Somehow their product has become even more niche than before. The Punk situation tore their credibility to shreds and it's clear he was AEW's only needle mover. WWE Cody WAY > than AEW Cody (and there was no gimmick change). Can't say the same right now for AEW Punk vs WWE Punk because it's still early and the injury but we all know eventually it'll be WWE Punk > AEW Punk. And WWE Jade > AEW Jade and all she's done is take some photos and have an appearance in the Royal Rumble.

- Wardlow won by powerbombing a local jobber (again). Is this year three of this? Will his inflated record of beating nobodies get him a title shot out of nowhere in 2024? Wardlow is now male Jade without the IT factor. More wonderful booking by TK. Undisputed Kingdom has quickly become a joke.

- Britt Baker and a cast of others are sitting at home collecting checks. Tony buys up anyone the IWC happens to be talking about and then we get his chaotic booking of seeing someone every single week for a year and then we just have to act like they don't exist anymore until they randomly pop back up months later. No one seems to know why Britt has been gone. Danhausen is too silly for me but he's young and seems to want to work. Is it clear now Tony signed him just because a small portion of the IWC was talking about him and that's it?

- The Sammy/Jeff clip isn't surprising and that's all on Sammy. What's even less surprising is the match wasn't immediately stopped. AEW has some of the most inept refs. These untrained goobers listen to the dazed wrestler rather than make the decision for them. It's a pattern at this point.

- Despite the shitty booking, the niche decisions, the stagnant ratings and attendance (which is improving slightly), Revolution looks damn good. The PPV's usually deliver. It's the weekly product that suffers. At the end of the day, Dynamite's gone from close to 1 mil viewers per week to the 900,000's to the mid to high 800,000's to the low 800,000's, now bordering at times with the 700,000's. I won't be shocked if by fall the show is hovering in the lower 700,000's, even with ThE gReAtEsT rOsTeR iN hIStOrY.
Click to expand...
Cry more why don’t you while continuing to support a WWE product that still employs sex traffickers and the people who covered it up.

I remember just a few years ago when Raw used to draw routinely over 2 million viewers. Now they are lucky to even get 1.8 million outside of football season despite having all this supposedly massively over babyface talent.

And despite all that massively over talent and supposedly great booking, they have drawn Dynamite level viewership decreases for three straight quarters now - down 10% Q3 2023, down 7% Q4 2024, and now down 8% this current quarter. And they boasted record-breaking low levels of viewership throughout quarter four last year.

What kind of shitty booking they doing over there if their viewership is declining at Dynamite level rates?

But funny how you care more to complain about AEW every day of the week than about decades of felonies committed by WWE employees.
 
Last edited:
  • Haha
Reactions: Nightwish84 and Strokin_Bandit
AmericanDragon said:
Also, has WWE explained yet why Cody changed his mind about stepping aside for the Rock to face Roman at WM or are we just supposed to forget that this logic loophole still exists?
Click to expand...
You’re supposed to believe that them coming out and showing off the family tree triggered Cody to the point he changed his mind.
 
Col. Angus said:
You’re supposed to believe that them coming out and showing off the family tree triggered Cody to the point he changed his mind.
Click to expand...
That’s more illogical than just believing he randomly changed his mind.

I’d be more likely to believe that Arn Anderson held a Glock to his head backstage and told Cody to stop letting Rock cuckold him out of the WM main event title shot.

But hey the Rock is back twerking for us now to try to distract everyone from WWE’s decades long sex trafficking operation.
 
Last edited:
  • Haha
Reactions: Strokin_Bandit
AmericanDragon said:
That’s more illogical than just believing he randomly changed his mind.

I’d be more likely to believe that Arn Anderson held a Glock to his head backstage and told Cody to stop letting Rock cuckold him out of the WM main event title shot.

But hey the Rock is back twerking for us now to try to distract everyone from WWE’s decades long sex trafficking operation.
Click to expand...
👍
 
I believe that's correct on the Emmy.
I think someone may have mentioned it but Dynamite was up slightly in viewers and demo on Wednesday. Uncle Dave tweetered out something about beating every network except ABC in the demo that triggered all the E drones.

For those that might be interested Rampage is on at 7:00 pm tonight due to NBA Rookie All-Star game. It's also airing again after Inside The NBA. Also no Collision this week due to All-Star Saturday night.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CrittendenWildcat and GeraldV
Just your friendly reminder that Danielson never wrestled in a 5-star before signing with AEW...
according to Dave Meltzer.

 
Ya know, I don’t really give a shit about all the sins of WWE or AEW or WCW or NJPW or OVW. Only thing I give a **** about is the product. I’m also a piece of shit about a lot of things and pretty superficial so as long as I’m entertained that’s all that matters.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Strokin_Bandit and Wesley91581
AmericanDragon said:
Sure, when you stop supporting a company employing people who operating a sex trafficking ring and those who covered it up.
Click to expand...

Posts like this make it seem like you take your wrestling tribalism a tad too seriously. It makes you emotional. It’s an entertainment product. Nothing more.

I like both companies and will criticize them when warranted. I will never get mad when someone criticizs either one.

It’s not a huge stretch to think the pivot to the Rock and repivot back to Cody for WrestleMania is illogical and also admitting AEW trying to be NJPW west isn’t going to grow the business in its home country.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheBlueCat and Wesley91581
MegaBlue05 said:
Posts like this make it seem like you take your wrestling tribalism a tad too seriously. It makes you emotional. It’s an entertainment product. Nothing more.

I like both companies and will criticize them when warranted. I will never get mad when someone criticizs either one.

It’s not a huge stretch to think the pivot to the Rock and repivot back to Cody for WrestleMania is illogical and also admitting AEW trying to be NJPW west isn’t going to grow the business in its home country.
Click to expand...
If an entertainment product doesn't incite emotion, then it's failing as an entertainment product.
 
Someone needs to do a wellness check on Dave Meltzer. All the below happened since this morning.

Reported Tommy Dreamer was heading TNA creative, but it was refuted today by Dreamer himself and PWI

Talked about some Rock and HHH segment that he claimed aired after the press conference but actually happened 10 years ago

Said all Mexican wrestlers not under CMLL contract were banned from AEW shows featuring CMLL talent when that got quickly refuted by actual evidence in addition to Fightful and AEW itself.

Posted a report last week that morale was high in AEW only to turn around today saying a bunch of the locker room is pissed off about not getting TV time and the attendance woes. You can't have high morale if a bunch of the locker room is pissed off, which is it?

Does he just run with whatever anyone tells him without even making an attempt to fact check anymore? Like the one about AEW-CMLL was quickly debunked just by pointing to Komander, who has never worked for CMLL, being booked on the same AEW show as CMLL talent were.
 
There's nothing funnier than Dragon taking my opinions so seriously. Bringing up sex trafficking isn't going to change AEW's product for the better. Dynamite being stuck in the 795K-840K range isn't bad, it's just not growing. In 2021-22 while Vince was ruining WWE and AEW was hot, there was an opportunity to take advantage. AEW didn't and WWE became hot. Pushing ROH onto AEW tv was a mistake. As was turning a natural heel like MJF into a cornball face. Letting Mox bleed every week and putting Cassidy as the opener for two months to have the same 17 min. match were mistakes. Not controlling Punk and then basically siding with the Bucks and Perry were mistakes. The Devil storyline wasn't good. Having loads of gimmick matches are mistakes. I don't think you realize how much seeing MJF turn into sports entertainer Jericho to stop matches and dance and hop around, and then carry meaningless tag titles as world champion turned people off. I know several who gave up watching last year and consider AEW and TK a joke now. They're watching WWE again. AEW's John Cena (Mox) wrestled an awful backyard "wrestler" who bleeds in front of dozens in random ass fields on weekends. WWE gets the real John Cena back to put younger talent over and Moxley's buddy has been the talk of pro wrestling for the last couple of years. WWE is the more serious brand.

Want some anti-WWE takes? While I like Ivar, the viking gimmick needs to go and poor Sarah Logan provides nothing. Tozawa is a joke but he's also tiny so WWE might not be the best fit for him. Maxxine is atrocious in the ring and should become an interviewer or hit the bricks. Chad Gable could be this generation's Kurt Angle but he's been sidelined with the dumb shooosh gimmick. Would love to see him in AEW as a serious wrestler. The Cody decision didn't make sense but Rock (who has power now) believed he needed to "save" WM by forcing himself into the main event. He pushed creative into a corner and they did their best to rebound. In the process, they've managed to get more eyes on the product as a whole, more hype for WM, and we've now got heel Rocky. WWE somehow made this into a win for them. How's the Undisputed Kingdom doing after the Devil storyline?
 
Smackdown Preview for tonight

Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman and The Rock to appear.
WWE United States Champion Logan Paul vs. The Miz - Winner Advances to Men's Elimination Chamber.
Kevin Owens faces Dominik Mysterio - Winner Advances to Men's Elimination Chamber.
Zelina Vega vs. Tiffany Stratton - Winner Advances to Women's Elimination Chamber.
Naomi vs. Alba Fyre. Winner Advances to Women's Elimination Chamber.
 
Nightwish84 said:
WWE gets the real John Cena back to put younger talent over
Click to expand...
And what exactly has that Cena rub done for Austin Theory and Solo Sikoa's careers? Cena spent half the time burying them on the mic, half assed the match, and look where they are now, no better than they were before.

Austin Theory couldn't even manage to make it past the first round of the US title tournament. And this was after losing the title to Rey Mysterio in less than 3 minutes.

Solo hasn't even managed to win a TV match since beating Cena and his stock has been declining for months.
 
Last edited:
TheBlueCat said:
I think about this tweet every now and then.

View embedded media
Click to expand...
I don't know why so many people act like Dave Meltzer's ratings are some sort of gospel and get all worked up about it. It's just one man's opinion.

But you shouldn't really be surprised that a company like WWE that has been historically devaluing wrestling during the TV era rarely ever gets five-star matches. HHH has been better about it than Vince, but for most of the last 30 years, WWE has actively gone out of their way to have as little bell to bell action as they could possibly get away with like having hardly any matches to mostly having matches go under 5-10 minutes. That's not the formula to getting highly rated matches. No one is going to give you big match ratings for short matches.

But like I said, Triple H is better about not treating wrestling like an unfortunate necessity, but still the weekly product still pretty frequently features wrestling as only 33% or less of the total tv time. Limit the amount of wrestling presented, and you limit the amount of highly rated matches you're going to produce.
 
Last edited:
K-mac18 said:
Smackdown Preview for tonight

Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman and The Rock to appear.
WWE United States Champion Logan Paul vs. The Miz - Winner Advances to Men's Elimination Chamber.
Kevin Owens faces Dominik Mysterio - Winner Advances to Men's Elimination Chamber.
Zelina Vega vs. Tiffany Stratton - Winner Advances to Women's Elimination Chamber.
Naomi vs. Alba Fyre. Winner Advances to Women's Elimination Chamber.
Click to expand...
Yup I’ll be watching
 
Nightwish84 said:
There's nothing funnier than Dragon taking my opinions so seriously. Bringing up sex trafficking isn't going to change AEW's product for the better. Dynamite being stuck in the 795K-840K range isn't bad, it's just not growing. In 2021-22 while Vince was ruining WWE and AEW was hot, there was an opportunity to take advantage. AEW didn't and WWE became hot. Pushing ROH onto AEW tv was a mistake. As was turning a natural heel like MJF into a cornball face. Letting Mox bleed every week and putting Cassidy as the opener for two months to have the same 17 min. match were mistakes. Not controlling Punk and then basically siding with the Bucks and Perry were mistakes. The Devil storyline wasn't good. Having loads of gimmick matches are mistakes. I don't think you realize how much seeing MJF turn into sports entertainer Jericho to stop matches and dance and hop around, and then carry meaningless tag titles as world champion turned people off. I know several who gave up watching last year and consider AEW and TK a joke now. They're watching WWE again. AEW's John Cena (Mox) wrestled an awful backyard "wrestler" who bleeds in front of dozens in random ass fields on weekends. WWE gets the real John Cena back to put younger talent over and Moxley's buddy has been the talk of pro wrestling for the last couple of years. WWE is the more serious brand.

Want some anti-WWE takes? While I like Ivar, the viking gimmick needs to go and poor Sarah Logan provides nothing. Tozawa is a joke but he's also tiny so WWE might not be the best fit for him. Maxxine is atrocious in the ring and should become an interviewer or hit the bricks. Chad Gable could be this generation's Kurt Angle but he's been sidelined with the dumb shooosh gimmick. Would love to see him in AEW as a serious wrestler. The Cody decision didn't make sense but Rock (who has power now) believed he needed to "save" WM by forcing himself into the main event. He pushed creative into a corner and they did their best to rebound. In the process, they've managed to get more eyes on the product as a whole, more hype for WM, and we've now got heel Rocky. WWE somehow made this into a win for them. How's the Undisputed Kingdom doing after the Devil storyline?
Click to expand...
Pretty solid takes on both companies. Maxxine should never be given another second in a wrestling ring.

The more I think about it, that post I made about Conrad Thompson's opinion of Tony Khan's booking is spot on. His booking at times makes no sense and it's like he's mimicking what he saw on wrestling tapes while growing up. There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind his decisions to put on some matches with no build up. And would it kill Tony to explain to the general wrestling fans why we should care about some of these random guys he brings, like the Japanese or Mexican wrestlers, who show up with also no build up?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MegaBlue05, TheBlueCat and Nightwish84
AmericanDragon said:
And what exactly has that Cena rub done for Austin Theory and Solo Sikoa's careers? Cena spent half the time burying them on the mic, half assed the match, and look where they are now, no better than they were before.

Austin Theory couldn't even manage to make it past the first round of the US title tournament. And this was after losing the title to Rey Mysterio in less than 3 minutes.

Solo hasn't even managed to win a TV match since beating Cena and his stock has been declining for months.
Click to expand...
Theory isn't ready and should be midcard for the foreseeable future. WWE threw him in the deep end and after the match he sort of floundered and wasn't getting a reaction. Cena crushed him on the mic but he also did the same thing to Reigns when he was still in Shield gear while Rollins and Ambrose had moved on. Reigns looked uncomfortable and Cena took over and said "it's called a promo Roman. If you wanna be the big dog you gotta learn how to do one sometime." If you impress Cena, you're golden. That's one reason why LA Knight might end up with gold soon (US title). Cena gave his seal of approval on air.

Solo's stock isn't declining. He's an enforcer who dominated Cena in one match. He's not a new Lesnar, he's there to protect Roman. He may be one dimensional but enforcer is his gimmick. Occasionally a Knight or an Orton or a Styles is going to beat him on their way to take on Reigns. I'm probably most disappointed in Jimmy. Jey is shining on Raw. They've turned Jimmy into an anti-Yeet comedy act.
 
Nightwish84 said:
Theory isn't ready and should be midcard for the foreseeable future. WWE threw him in the deep end and after the match he sort of floundered and wasn't getting a reaction. Cena crushed him on the mic but he also did the same thing to Reigns when he was still in Shield gear while Rollins and Ambrose had moved on. Reigns looked uncomfortable and Cena took over and said "it's called a promo Roman. If you wanna be the big dog you gotta learn how to do one sometime." If you impress Cena, you're golden. That's one reason why LA Knight might end up with gold soon (US title). Cena gave his seal of approval on air.

Solo's stock isn't declining. He's an enforcer who dominated Cena in one match. He's not a new Lesnar, he's there to protect Roman. He may be one dimensional but enforcer is his gimmick. Occasionally a Knight or an Orton or a Styles is going to beat him on their way to take on Reigns. I'm probably most disappointed in Jimmy. Jey is shining on Raw. They've turned Jimmy into an anti-Yeet comedy act.
Click to expand...
Only reason Theory was getting any push was b/c of Vince so once he wasn’t micromanaging creative Theory went back where he belonged.
 
billCgmx said:
Pretty solid takes on both companies. Maxxine should never be given another second in a wrestling ring.

The more I think about it, that post I made about Conrad Thompson's opinion of Tony Khan's booking is spot on. His booking at times makes no sense and it's like he's mimicking what he saw on wrestling tapes while growing up. There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind his decisions to put on some matches with no build up. And would it kill Tony to explain to the general wrestling fans why we should care about some of these random guys he brings, like the Japanese or Mexican wrestlers, who show up with also no build up?
Click to expand...
While AEW haters exist, a majority who have previous experience offer their opinions as a way of trying to help from afar. Bischoff, Russo, Cornette, Bully, etc. (no matter how you personally feel about them) do offer alternative ideas and solutions. Not saying TK should listen to them, but I think some hardcore fans feel these voices team up together to get in on the "attack" because they're pro-WWE or something. They're just watching and seeing that this isn't really working like it maybe should be working. A creative team consisting of Jarrett, Dustin Rhodes, Jake Roberts, and Arn Anderson with input from Copeland, Christian, Danielson, and Sting could do wonders. Of course Adam Page already said he won't listen to veterans because he helped start the company and they have a handle on things. It is what it is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: billCgmx
Nightwish84 said:
While AEW haters exist, a majority who have previous experience offer their opinions as a way of trying to help from afar. Bischoff, Russo, Cornette, Bully, etc. (no matter how you personally feel about them) do offer alternative ideas and solutions. Not saying TK should listen to them, but I think some hardcore fans feel these voices team up together to get in on the "attack" because they're pro-WWE or something. They're just watching and seeing that this isn't really working like it maybe should be working. A creative team consisting of Jarrett, Dustin Rhodes, Jake Roberts, and Arn Anderson with input from Copeland, Christian, Danielson, and Sting could do wonders. Of course Adam Page already said he won't listen to veterans because he helped start the company and they have a handle on things. It is what it is.
Click to expand...
Well that’s part of the problem just b/c you start something that’s only at that period of time - Cody left and now he’s main eventing WM and Page is losing to Swerve - Cody and Swerve have gotten better over the last couple years and Page is just ok maybe he’s resting on his laurels too much but that’s on him. Cody and Swerve are probably going to be holding big boy belts within the year and Page will be Page.
 
billCgmx said:
Bryan Danielson wrestled all the world for 21 years but didn't put on a single 5-star match until he showed up in AEW at 40 years old.

And now he has NINE 5-star matches or better over the past couple of years?

Sure, Dave.
Click to expand...
Would have had a bunch in ROH if Dave had been watching.
 
Nightwish84 said:
Theory isn't ready and should be midcard for the foreseeable future. WWE threw him in the deep end and after the match he sort of floundered and wasn't getting a reaction. Cena crushed him on the mic but he also did the same thing to Reigns when he was still in Shield gear while Rollins and Ambrose had moved on. Reigns looked uncomfortable and Cena took over and said "it's called a promo Roman. If you wanna be the big dog you gotta learn how to do one sometime." If you impress Cena, you're golden. That's one reason why LA Knight might end up with gold soon (US title). Cena gave his seal of approval on air.

Solo's stock isn't declining. He's an enforcer who dominated Cena in one match. He's not a new Lesnar, he's there to protect Roman. He may be one dimensional but enforcer is his gimmick. Occasionally a Knight or an Orton or a Styles is going to beat him on their way to take on Reigns. I'm probably most disappointed in Jimmy. Jey is shining on Raw. They've turned Jimmy into an anti-Yeet comedy act.
Click to expand...
Hasn’t Jey long been considered the better of the two?

Seems like virtually every tag team (though I know they aren’t a tag team now) has one guy that’s better than the other. Someone is seemingly always the Jannetty of the team.
 
Nightwish84 said:
While AEW haters exist, a majority who have previous experience offer their opinions as a way of trying to help from afar. Bischoff, Russo, Cornette, Bully, etc. (no matter how you personally feel about them) do offer alternative ideas and solutions. Not saying TK should listen to them, but I think some hardcore fans feel these voices team up together to get in on the "attack" because they're pro-WWE or something. They're just watching and seeing that this isn't really working like it maybe should be working. A creative team consisting of Jarrett, Dustin Rhodes, Jake Roberts, and Arn Anderson with input from Copeland, Christian, Danielson, and Sting could do wonders. Of course Adam Page already said he won't listen to veterans because he helped start the company and they have a handle on things. It is what it is.
Click to expand...
Half those guys should be at home retired, not attempting to do creative for a young audience. And all those old heads like Bischoff, Russo, Corny that all got fired for their terrible creative should never be seriously listened to by anyone running a wrestling company in 2024.

Don’t listen to those bums, don’t use people who have been indoctrinated into the archaic ways of the wrestling industry for decades, don’t hire writers whose experience is soap operas and reality tv like WWE does.

Let WWE continue to dominate that lowest common denominator stuff to appeal to the casuals and be mainstream. They have the name, resources, experience, and infrastructure that they will do it better than AEW ever will. They aren’t a wrestling company, they are a sports entertainment company. Don’t be like them.

Go out and get actual creative people, not use people just because they have been in the industry for decades but have zero creative experience.

If WWE is the Marvel Studios of wrestling, AEW needs to the A24 or NEON of wrestling - the independent operations frequently putting out high quality and unique movies that win major awards and get high acclaim by bucking all the ways all the other major studios operate from top to bottom yet still do pretty damn well financially.
 
Last edited:
  • Haha
Reactions: Strokin_Bandit
Midnight express
Rock n roll express
Blue bloods
LOD
Williams/gordy
FTR
Doom
Fabulous ones
Demolition
Akeem/bossman
Brainbusters
Mega Powers
New age outlaws
Edge/christian
Dudleys
Free birds
Strike force
Young bucks

Where’s the janetty’s?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T

David Lynch and Mulholland Drive

Replies
9
Views
539
The Paddock - General Discussion Forum
UnfrozenCatfanLawyer
UnfrozenCatfanLawyer
JRowland

FB Recruiting Confirmed interest: Marshall LB Landyn Watson

Replies
38
Views
2K
The House of Blue
T_Hall12
T_Hall12
flacat22

AND THATS WHY THEY PLAY THE GAME!!! GO CATS!!

Replies
25
Views
1K
Rupp Rafters - Basketball Forum
flacat22
flacat22
G

Super Bowl Halftime

Replies
216
Views
3K
The Paddock - General Discussion Forum
hmt5000
hmt5000
B

Four Roses Small Batch Select

Replies
17
Views
1K
The Paddock - General Discussion Forum
Stan the caddy
Stan the caddy
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back