Reprise wrote:What the hell is this "new era" AEW keep hyping? WrestleDream is "the end of and start of a new era". This Wednesday's Dynamite is "the first Dynamite of a new era".
What does any of it mean? I swear if it's just TK overhyping nonsense again, I'll be mad
If it's about a streaming service, or whatever, them that's cool, but it's hardly "a new era".
Same if there's lots of debuts.
AEW does need a rebrand and to reinvent itself. Collision was a good start, but it all got a bit messed up with the drama involving Punk. AEW has become a bit stale and they need a shake up, but hard to know what they can do better other than the obvious stuff like booking the women's division better.
Anyways, onto WWE, which I have barely watched since Mania, outside of Summerslam. I see they have Fastlane next week. It always confuses me when they move their PPVs around the schedule. I thought the whole point of Fastlane's title was the whole "we're in the fastlane to Wrestlemania" shtick.
LA Knight is so ridiculously over. I wonder what WWE's plans for him are and if they will drop the ball along the way.
What AEW needs IMO:
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Tony needs to stop being a nice guy. He needs to enforce stricter rules among his talent to stop all the backstage bullshit, though I honestly think we're gonna hear a lot less about that stuff now that CM Punk is gone. He also needs to adopt some of WWE's practices, signing wrestlers to more strict contracts and instituting non compete clauses for people. I think AEW wrestlers make too many appearances in other wrestling companies and it makes them feel less special. This applies especially to indies. I've seen Moxley wrestle in like fifty billion different indie companies. I hate to sound snobby or elitist, but it does lower his overall value in my opinion. A top AEW star should not be wrestling in small time promotions. You want to see Moxley, you pay to see him at an AEW show, not some nobody indie company no one has ever heard of. They should not be wrestling anywhere else except for special events like Forbidden Door, unless they are holding the International title.
In fact, that should be the whole goddamn point of the International title in the first place. The guy who has it can wrestle elsewhere or he can accept challengers from international promotions like Revolution Pro, NJPW, etc. Tony needs to be a bit more cutthroat if he seriously wants to compete with WWE. There is power in exclusivity. In fact, in the gaming space one of the things people often use to justify owning a Playstation is that they have games you cannot play anywhere else, even on PC. AEW talent should rarely be wrestling elsewhere.
No more interaction between ROH and AEW. ROH should be its own thing, for the diehard fans only. Honestly, and I know this sounds harsh, but I'm being realistic here, they should just let ROH die. Nobody cares about it and hasn't for years now.
Tony likes tournaments, but they are usually short, meaningless ones. AEW needs a big yearly tournament like NJPW's G1 or Stardom's Five Star GP. That's what the Owen Hart Cup should be, a massive, multi-month tournament. Winning it should guarantee you a shot at any title of your choosing.
Ditch Jim Ross. Yeah, that's cold and heartless, but he's not good anymore. At times, he sounds senile and at other times he shits on the product. He's old and out of touch.
Get rid of Rampage and maybe move Collision to Friday. Collision's existence makes Rampage pointless. Actually, I'd move Collision to Tuesday and start aggressively going after WWE. Put THEM on defense for a change. You book a solid, 2 hour show every week, and NXT's numbers will start tanking.
Now I'm gonna ramble a bit about the women's division
Start using more joshis in the women's division. It's literally the only thing AEW can do to make their women's division stand out from everyone else. Put their matches in good time slots and let them go out there with no restrictions and give them whatever time they need to deliver kickass matches that will get everyone talking. Then find ways to create programs between them and the non-joshis in AEW's roster who actually have talent and who people actually give a fuck about like Britt Baker, Statlander, Jamie Hater, Serena Deeb, Willow Nightingale, etc. Get some of these younger or less skilled AEW ladies (like Sky Blue, Julia Hart) practicing in the ring with some joshis and you'll see how quickly all of them will improve in the ring. They'll be moving faster, executing moves better, and using stiffer shots. Hell, they could even make a women's Internatinal title if they need an excuse to get more joshis on TV. I'd rather see that than the pointless TBS title to be honest.
Forbidden Door needs a heavy Stardom presence. I know it is one thing that has disappointed people about the first two events. Also, how the hell does NJPW have a women's champ and she doesn't defend her title at Forbidden Door? In fact, NJPW has TWO women's champions now.
Hire someone (or just use Kenny Omega) to actually do creative for the ladies and also someone to coach them on promos. Frankly, you could probably just have Britt Baker coach everyone on promos. I also wish they'd get some of the ladies more involved in what the men are doing. They've always indicated some sort of relationship between Statlander and Cassidy. Why don't they make use of that?
Just fire Ruby Soho, Saraya, Marina Shafir, and Toni Storm. They are dead weight. Like I said, Tony Kahn needs to have a more cutthroat attitude. People want to see women with more charisma than those three have. Also, and I know this sounds douchey, but Soho is NOT easy on the eyes. I've being super honest in this post.
The women's division needs tag or trios titles. It'll give the ladies something else to do and to fight for. Stardom has some of the most awesome tag/trios matches ever and I'd like to see that kind of action in AEW.
Also, one area where WWE and even Impact Wrestling murders AEW is having their women in awesome stipulation matches. Why do we so rarely see that in AEW outside of the occasional, hardcore, blood bath that has become so bland and predictable. WWE women have Money in the Bank matches, Elimination Chamber matches, War Games matches, TLC matches, Cage matches, Last Woman standing matches, Royal Rumble matches, I could go on and on. It's like AEW just doesn't DO anything with their women.
One thing I like about Stardom is the epic entrances with elaborate outfits, kickass music (Stardom seriously has some of the best entrance themes ever), poses, and in some cases - dancing LOL. One member of Queen's Quest even comes out carrying a kickass flag. I kind of wish we could have that for some of the women in AEW. I mean look at some of the guys in AEW. House of Black gets the epic, lights out, entrances, and scary masks. Jericho has Judas. Do any of the women in AEW have cool entrances? No, they don't.
Lastly, if Mariah May shows up in AEW, PUSH THE FUCK OUT OF HER. Seriously, it's time AEW starting building their women's division around someone and not trash like Jade Cargill was. The Women's division needs at least one top face and one top heel and they should be pushed HARD and they should be talented enough to deserve that push. On that note...
Throw every goddamn, fucking dollar you have at Mercedes Mone and get her actually fucking working in your women's division. Oh, and FUCKING PROMOTE HER AND HYPE UP THE HELL OUT OF HER ON TV. Push her, push Mariah May, push DMD, push anyone else who steps up their game and WANTS it, get some joshi presence on your show, have Stardom (and the NJPW women's champions) show up every year for Forbidden Door, get some tag team/trios action going, some awesome stipulation matches, and holy shit - people actually give a fuck about the women's division now.
I realize a lot of this post is wishful thinking. In fact, I'm sure a few of the things I said would probably not even go ever well with AEW talent
RE: LA Knight. It sucks to be Cody Rhodes right now that's all I'll say
