Wrestling Thread

[Nightwish]

Oh good, after a spring freakout of NO ONE IS GOING TO WRESTLEMANIA we get to live through a summer of NO ONE IS GOING TO SUMMERSLAM 200 SIREN EMOJIS. Is that just an AEW fan and are we really doing this as Dynamite tonight will have 2500 in attendance for a go-home show with a new world champion?

From my understanding, SS tickets have been on sale for around 20 days and close to 40K have been sold. They likely won't match last year's numbers but we're barreling towards a mindset where say, 50K per night is somehow a failure when it's not. AEW is never going to match that first Wembley show again but I'm not going to make fun of them if they do 40K or 30K instead.

 

[Laparkafan]

Oh good, after a spring freakout of NO ONE IS GOING TO WRESTLEMANIA we get to live through a summer of NO ONE IS GOING TO SUMMERSLAM 200 SIREN EMOJIS. Is that just an AEW fan and are we really doing this as Dynamite tonight will have 2500 in attendance for a go-home show with a new world champion?

From my understanding, SS tickets have been on sale for around 20 days and close to 40K have been sold. They likely won't match last year's numbers but we're barreling towards a mindset where say, 50K per night is somehow a failure when it's not. AEW is never going to match that first Wembley show again but I'm not going to make fun of them if they do 40K or 30K instead.

These AEW marks are obsessed with WWE ticket sales it’s like they have to post anti-WWE to get enough engagement farming. If they only talk about AEW there’s not enough clicks or outrage to be had.

 

[CrimeDawg18]

Sorry my attempt at humor didn't work.

Someone mentioned Big Bill. It's being reported Enzo Amore was spotted at the WWE PC recently.

Dynamite for tonight

AEW Champion Darby Allin vs. Speedball Mike Bailey.

AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O'Reilly in an Eliminator Match.

AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong.

Mark Briscoe vs. Tommaso Ciampa: Anything Goes.

AEW Women's Tag Team Champions Divine Domination in action.

ROH Women’s Champion Athena & AEW Women’s Champion Thekla & Skye Blue & Julia Hart vs. Thunder Rosa & Mina Shirakawa & The Brawling Birds. Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter of the Brawling Birds

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Will Ospreay.

Swerve Strickland appears.

 

[GeraldV]

Sorry my attempt at humor didn't work.

Someone mentioned Big Bill. It's being reported Enzo Amore was spotted at the WWE PC recently.

Dynamite for tonight

AEW Champion Darby Allin vs. Speedball Mike Bailey.

AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O'Reilly in an Eliminator Match.

AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong.

Mark Briscoe vs. Tommaso Ciampa: Anything Goes.

AEW Women's Tag Team Champions Divine Domination in action.

ROH Women’s Champion Athena & AEW Women’s Champion Thekla & Skye Blue & Julia Hart vs. Thunder Rosa & Mina Shirakawa & The Brawling Birds. Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter of the Brawling Birds

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Will Ospreay.

Swerve Strickland appears.

Sounds like a really good show tonight.

 

[Laparkafan]

Someone posted an article that Wwe is revitalizing their tag division - so if they are repairing Enzo and Bill maybe they are actually going to?
Wouldn’t bring them in to sit in catering…

 

[GeraldV]

Someone posted an article that Wwe is revitalizing their tag division - so if they are repairing Enzo and Bill maybe they are actually going to?
Wouldn’t bring them in to sit in catering…

Hasn't Enzo been trouble in just about every organization he has joined? Or maybe I am misremembering.

Edit: the crowds would lose their minds at hearing their intros, though.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Hell, WWE would have to pay me to attend any show right now.

As long as they’re paying two executives $100M a year while cutting $200K a year talents for “budget” reasons, charging thousands of dollars for live event tickets, bragging about fleecing their fans with “record gate” announcements while the fleeced clap like seals, and trying to squeeze every dollar out of fans they possibly can, I am happy with my decision to read their TV results and steal their PLEs.

 

[American Dragon]

Since Darby's been champion, the Dynamite ratings have decreased each week (617K, 596K, 590K). I'm glad you're enjoying it and it's cool he's gotten this opportunity but "generational run"? How? It's only been a few weeks and hardly anyone is talking about Darby unless you're on the AEW subreddits.



We can all name several examples of silliness in AEW. It's not "for adults." Adam Cole came out dressed as a Ghostbuster and he and MJF hit kids with dodgeballs ala Billy Madison and in that segment black X's were drawn on the eyes of children with their tongues out. Jericho had 'The Learning Tree'. Is a child rubbing his chin for adults? I don't know why you talk up this different version of AEW when the real version is in front of us. You're like Hulk Dragon when it comes to AEW lol. Even in their more 'mature' moments it's silly, like a wrestler running around with his legs on fire, someone filling his mouth with his opponent's blood, and a busty woman's gimmick essentially being "look here viewer, I have large breasts."

It's fine to admit as bad as you believe WWE is, they are a marketing machine and are able to take full advantage of every situation. Fans were wrong about Danhausen and AEW has always been poor at mass marketing. We all know this.

Nielsen changed their ratings system again sometime in April. If you'll notice, all wrestling TV ratings have dropped, some quite significantly since then.

 

[American Dragon]

Ya man some of this stuff is so weird to say. I barely pay attention and know ratings went up when MJF had the belt and went down when he lost it.

Same guy also said Adam page was great even tho he’s basically a forgettable midcarder other than he’s buddies with the Jacksons.

Think Jericho would have been better off in wwe than AEW dealing with richochet but hulk dragon insisted wwe would botch his retirement but Cena/aj/brock/asuka seem pleased and hopefully offer a backstage mentor. I think if KO was healthy they would have run that feud back.

Remember Adam page didn’t want cm punk’s advice but cm punk is a legend with a hot wife and page has some weird cowboy gimmick even Dustin Rhodes and Trevor Murdoch probably laughs at.

AJ Lee is like bottom quarter of attractiveness in WWE and AEW combined. An that might be putting it a bit high

 

[American Dragon]

With AEW and Darby, I get the fighting champion routine.

But am I in the minority that defending the world championship every single week, sometimes twice in a week on free TV, cheapens world title matches?

For example, Darby faced Pac on Collision on Saturday. They already booked Darby/Okada for this Wednesday, so it’s painfully obvious Pac wasn’t winning on Collision. The match was fine was but the outcome was very predictable.

Maybe this and TK’s love of babyface vs babyface is just new school booking and I don’t understand it.

Defending the world title on TV was a regular occurrence during the attitude era

 

[American Dragon]

That rating is way down from what they were doing earlier this year.

 

[American Dragon]

Does Darby do promos?

Yes. You'd know this if you even attempted to be even the slightest bit educated instead of an uneducated hilljack.

 

[American Dragon]

First hour of Backlash on ESPN2 did 998K.

With the roster NXT currently has, they should be doing TNA numbers. I don't know what it says about NXT or AEW that a gutted developmental roster can still beat Collision and a week earlier do 641K to Dynamite's 590K.

Dynamite had another slight drop to 585K. They're losing around 5,000 viewers per week which is nothing but it's further proof this "generational run" by Darby isn't that and the title doesn't feel special if it's defended weekly against randoms. Imagine that. Treat your coveted world title like it's a WWE US Open Challenge I guess. I too remember when Steve Austin would defend the WWF title on Raw every week against the likes of Gangrel and D'Lo Brown. I don't dislike Darby but what are they doing? They drop a title reign in his lap, book him to defend it constantly against midcard guys in front of 2,000-3,000 fans, and do a hair stip for a rematch just so they can do some hair transplant and bald jokes?

NXT is on free TV that every person in America can get.

Collision is available to like 70 million households.

Quality doesn't mean quantity. I bet you're a big fan of McDonald's and Sobway since they sell so much slop.

 

[American Dragon]

It would be nice to imagine WWE even having Cody defend the title at all. Guy has had it for 75 days and defend it once in a clusterfuck of a match.

 

[American Dragon]

Being a fighting champion is one thing. It's having constant title matches against mid and lower card guys who are undeserving that's the issue. Sammy Guevara, a guy stuck in ROH for most of his AEW career, got a world title match out of nowhere on Collision. Tony's booking, at least with this, sucks. It's okay to admit that lol. Wouldn't the wrestling world be wondering what's going on and calling for Triple H to be fired if Jimmy Uso got a short run with the world title and had title matches against Gargano, Saints, Rey Fenix, Kit Wilson, and Theory?

The booking has been outstanding. It's okau to just admit you hate wrestling. Jimmy Uso is one of the worst wrestlers in all of WWE. Of course everyone would wnat him to be fired for booking that. AJ Styles would struggle to get a good match out of that bum.

 

[American Dragon]

No one should ever call this Darby title reign a generational run

No one should ever listen to you

 

[American Dragon]

This is more like an Alberto Del Rio title run years ago than a “generational” run of any sort.

Calling it a generational run is an insult to guys like Okada or Tanahashi who carried NJPW during his reign.

No one is talking about New Japan.

 

[American Dragon]

Hmm man this Darby reign is rough

Cody and Roman doing the same.

 

[American Dragon]

Wow

People owe an apology to Meltzer. He was right all along about him not retiring at WM.

 

[American Dragon]

This could be an unpopular take, but Adam Page is way better at chasing than holding.

Facts

 

[Nightwish]

Nielsen changed their ratings system again sometime in April. If you'll notice, all wrestling TV ratings have dropped, some quite significantly since then.

They went back to their old system which is why Dynamite and NXT suddenly went back up to their usual numbers for a while. The current (bad) NXT number makes sense because several established talents moved up so they're using this Rook guy, Tony D. is champion, and we're seeing more of Dark State and other things that likely will bomb on the main roster. Dynamite did a poor attendance number for their Asheville show and fans kept saying "don't worry, it's a small market!" and "this isn't normal, it's Asheville, there's only 100,000 residents there!" I just don't know why everything has to be an excuse. It's not that Darby as champion doesn't work, it's Nielsen screwing up the numbers. It's not the random 50/50 matches and Ospreay going 20 minutes with One Shoe Joe McGee that 16 people know, it's just a tiny market.

Having said that, glad this weekend is a sell out.

 

[American Dragon]

Someone posted an article that Wwe is revitalizing their tag division - so if they are repairing Enzo and Bill maybe they are actually going to?
Wouldn’t bring them in to sit in catering…

Revitalize it by cutting one of the most popular tag teams in the entire company.

Real men of genius they have other there

 

[American Dragon]

They went back to their old system which is why Dynamite and NXT suddenly went back up to their usual numbers for a while. The current (bad) NXT number makes sense because several established talents moved up so they're using this Rook guy, Tony D. is champion, and we're seeing more of Dark State and other things that likely will bomb on the main roster. Dynamite did a poor attendance number for their Asheville show and fans kept saying "don't worry, it's a small market!" and "this isn't normal, it's Asheville, there's only 100,000 residents there!" I just don't know why everything has to be an excuse. It's not that Darby as champion doesn't work, it's Nielsen screwing up the numbers. It's not the random 50/50 matches and Ospreay going 20 minutes with One Shoe Joe McGee that 16 people know, it's just a tiny market.

Having said that, glad this weekend is a sell out.

It's not an excuse. It's a fact. Nielsen made changes again to their metric in April. It's why Dynamite, Collision, NXT, Smackdown, and TNA numbers are all down from where they were in March. If you don't like facts then maybe you should become a volunteer for the alternative fact Republicans.

 

[American Dragon]

Kentucky doing a collab with Danhausen apparently. Between partnering with that stupid *ucking clown and the *hit state of the basketball program for most of the last decade it's finally time to pull the plug and stop wasting my time on this stupid school.

 

[billCgmx_]

Defending the world title on TV was a regular occurrence during the attitude era

This is true. I decided to pull up results from the Attitude Era to see who got World Title shots on television

Guys like Goldust, X-Pac, Billy Gunn, Al Snow, British Bulldog, Shane McMahon, Hardcore Holly, Viscera, Rikishi, Taka Michinoku, Christian, Chris Benoit, Bubba Ray Dudley, Crash Holly, Spike Dudley, Tajiri, Jeff Hardy and Maven

 

[Nightwish]

It's not an excuse. It's a fact. Nielsen made changes again to their metric in April. It's why Dynamite, Collision, NXT, Smackdown, and TNA numbers are all down from where they were in March. If you don't like facts then maybe you should become a volunteer for the alternative fact Republicans.

Happy to go back and forth on wrestling but chill on the last sentence. It's not needed. The thread is a fun little escape even if we like different things, same with the Music thread I created when the site change happened. I used to talk cultural stuff on the Paddock but always kept this thread clean of it. Probably one reason why it's been allowed to stay. We're civil 90% of the time and don't go all the rails.

 

[billCgmx_]

No one should ever listen to you

I don't you understand the meaning of generational

 

[tcurtis75]

 

[American Dragon]

This is true. I decided to pull up results from the Attitude Era to see who got World Title shots on television

Guys like Goldust, X-Pac, Billy Gunn, Al Snow, British Bulldog, Shane McMahon, Hardcore Holly, Viscera, Rikishi, Taka Michinoku, Christian, Chris Benoit, Bubba Ray Dudley, Crash Holly, Spike Dudley, Tajiri, Jeff Hardy and Maven

Bret Hart defended it against The Berzerker, The Mountie, Papa Shango (twice), Virgil, Budy Landel, the Patriot

 

[American Dragon]

I don't you understand the meaning of generational

It's the best world title run in AEW history. That by definition makes it generational.

 

[Nightwish]

This is true. I decided to pull up results from the Attitude Era to see who got World Title shots on television

Guys like Goldust, X-Pac, Billy Gunn, Al Snow, British Bulldog, Shane McMahon, Hardcore Holly, Viscera, Rikishi, Taka Michinoku, Christian, Chris Benoit, Bubba Ray Dudley, Crash Holly, Spike Dudley, Tajiri, Jeff Hardy and Maven

Benoit had been on national tv for several years and eventually became champion. Can't put him in the same group with Maven. I don't recall Snow, Crash, etc. getting title matches but my guess is those didn't last through multiple breaks with both guys looking even throughout, which is a staple of AEW booking. It's a perception thing. It was also a period where Triple H for instance would be like "okay, I'll put the title on the line" and then out walks Crash or Taka as a joke as HHH laughs and the crowd boos. It's a squash then the guy he's actually feuding with like Rock or Austin comes out. Hardy vs Taker is very memorable though but it worked for various reasons. I promise you no one is going to remember Darby vs Sammy or Bailey like we remember Jeff Hardy trying to make himself famous over an established legend in a ladder match. If we're waxing poetic about Darby vs Speedball in 2040 I'll say I was wrong though lol.

 

[CrimeDawg18]

I don't think anyone has posted this yet.

 

[American Dragon]

Benoit had been on national tv for several years and eventually became champion. Can't put him in the same group with Maven. I don't recall Snow, Crash, etc. getting title matches but my guess is those didn't last through multiple breaks with both guys looking even throughout, which is a staple of AEW booking. It's a perception thing. It was also a period where Triple H for instance would be like "okay, I'll put the title on the line" and then out walks Crash or Taka as a joke as HHH laughs and the crowd boos. It's a squash then the guy he's actually feuding with like Rock or Austin comes out. Hardy vs Taker is very memorable though but it worked for various reasons. I promise you no one is going to remember Darby vs Sammy or Bailey like we remember Jeff Hardy trying to make himself famous over an established legend in a ladder match. If we're waxing poetic about Darby vs Speedball in 2040 I'll say I was wrong though lol.

Bret Hart went 19 minutes with The Patriot on PPV. Neither WCW or WWF ever gave him a singles title. Most WCW did with him as far as a title belt goes was two reigns as a tag champ with Buff Bagwell that each lasted less than a month. At least Sammy Guevara won the TNT title three times while defeating Miro (his only loss), Cody Rhodes, Darby Allin, and Andrade in the process

 

[Laparkafan]

Someone must have upgraded their data plan good lord

 

[American Dragon]

I don't think anyone has posted this yet.

Mick said previously his legends contract ran thru June. Surprised to see this. Guess Mick was wrong.

 

[Nightwish]

Bret Hart went 19 minutes with The Patriot on PPV. Neither WCW or WWF ever gave him a singles title. Most WCW did with him as far as a title belt goes was two reigns as a tag champ with Buff Bagwell that each lasted less than a month. At least Sammy Guevara won the TNT title three times while defeating Miro (his only loss), Cody Rhodes, Darby Allin, and Andrade in the process

I remember that match vs The Patriot lol. What a terrible gimmick. Bret really felt like a man lost at times. His white meat character belonged in the 80s, WWF was bad in the mid 90s, and he simply didn't fit the craziness of the Attitude Era. The Canada stuff was great but I wish he would've been younger and around for the 2000s instead.