The Wrestling Thread

[Reprise]

I don't know, the fact that she has spent ZERO time in AEW makes me not hyped about Athena taking the title off of Mercedes.

I'm honestly sick of ROH and wish it would just go away. It has literally no reason to continue existing. To the average AEW viewer, Athena is a nobody.

Well I am not suggesting I want her to show up out of the blue and immediately start taking titles with no build and no story. I want her to debut and to start being introduced properly. She could debut next week and have months long build to taking the TBS title off Mercedes.

I just know I have watched her and many women's matches in ROH and thought "huh, why aren't the women booked this way in AEW?"

I'm actually more interested in Ann Jay now since that video package of her after returning from Japan. They should have her join The Elite (because of Perry) and have HER win the TBS title. The Elite turning on Mercedes could actually be a way to flip her babyface, and maybe even turn Okada against them since he's obsessed with her for some reason. I'm just trying to come up with story ideas, cause Athena vs Mercedes without a story behind it just doesn't interest me, especially since Athena has been a non entity in AEW. I'm tired of matches in AEW with no heat or story lines. Swerve/Hangman needs to be an example to the rest of the roster. It's the best thing AEW has done this whole year.

I like that idea too. That could be interesting.

Five fucking years and it continues to be the weakest part of the company. They got a fucking WWE horsewoman and a partnership with the best women's wrestling company in the world (though Marigold could take that spot some day I guess) and it still amounted to nothing in the grand scheme of things. Willow Nightingale has been the only real success story this year and that's literally it.

Yeah, it was the weakest thing from day one. There was always a massive gap in the quality of the men's division and the women's and I have no idea why. They had some decent talent, the Joshi's were interesting, Shida is great, Britt had the perfect look and charisma to be a star. They could have done a lot more with the women. But they ended up in a viscous cycle of thinking their audience doesn't really care about the women much, so then often treating them like an afterthought without considering that the fact they treat them like an afterthought is why the audience are not so invested.

It's like Rampage and Collision and all their b-shows. They end up in the same vicious cycle.

[Raging Justice]

This Godzilla vs. King Kong thing is one of the best things in WWE right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSEtn4EbVXY

Actually a fun Raw. We even witnessed a miracle. Someone pinned Bianca Belair! Clean!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hlYpFBjfBs

[Reprise]

Sometimes less is more. Lucha Underground was only one hour wasn't it? I think sometimes episodes were just one long match, like the Aztec Warfare specials (was that the name? I don't know, I am too lazy to google it and check I am getting it right).

I wonder if that would work in today's climate. One or two shows per week, just one hour in length and all killer with no filler. That's the problem that WWE and now AEW have I believe. With AEW they arguably grew too quickly and rushed to add unnecessary new shows.

With WWE I remember when they first added the third hour to Raw and it was just too much imo. There wasn't a need for it, not in terms of enhancing the quality of the show. Hell, I swear Smackdown was once just one hour when it first started

As I think about this, there are rumours going around about the new AEW deal with WBD. It's supposedly done and signed with an announcement coming very soon. It's way more money per year, but for TWO shows and Rampage allegedly being cancelled. So it would be interesting to see what happens to Collision and how AEW adapt to less television. It would be a good thing in my opinion. Three shows is overkill. Collision needs a rebrand and a change in direction in my opinion, maybe even a new timeslot.

Then again, there's rumours they're doing a new show in Rampage's place on a different network, so hmmmmm...

Regardless, I wish we could just get a wrestling promotion that can just give me one consistent show that is must-watch every week. Lucha Underground more or less gave me that. Dynamite has been too inconsistent and I just couldn't maintain watching Rampage and Collision for long. I watched Rampage for all of two weeks after it launched I think before I stopped other than the occasional episode. Collision I lasted until Punk was fired and it just turned into Rampage #2.

[Raging Justice]

Even if AEW had a perfect product I don't think it would matter. Wrestling fans are fickle, and they are notorious for not sticking around. There's no consensus among them either about what AEW, or any wrestling company for that matter, needs to be. Case in point. Some people think Mariah May/Timeless Toni is peak pro wrestling. I think it's unwatchable trash.

You can't win.

WWE is lucky that the power of their brand brings in enough sheep to keep them profitable, but that's all it is, the brand. People think WWE is pro wrestling, so that's what they watch, no matter how awful it is.

Ultimately, pro wrestling fans suck, and that's the real problem, and there's no solution for it. AEW could put out a product that was The Wire of pro wrestling, and fans wouldn't show up. Even if they did, they wouldn't stick around. The fans are the problem.

[Reprise]

True, fans are fickle and spend far more time worrying about what appears to be cool and what isn't, instead of just watching the shows.

The 5th anniversary of Dynamite is coming up. I can't believe the show has already been around 5 years.

[Raging Justice]

I've very impressed right now with this BCC/Wheeler Yuta thing, as well as the ongoing Hangman saga. That's actual storytelling and it's interesting. I love how sinister Moxley's BCC feels right now, and this is the most interesting Yuta has been since way back when Regal first inducted him into the group. Christian as a looming threat to the title is great, and they are telling an interesting story with Kip Sabien. AEW is actually using their top guys really well right now, and you can see how people are ready for guys like Ospreay and Takeshita to break out at any moment.

I also like the break up of the New Day story line in WWE. They are FINALLY doing something interesting with that stupid group.

AEW and WWE can both be great when they actually put in the effort to tell a story. Also, the two companies are mirroring each other a bit right now with their camera and production tricks I've noticed. They are both trying to give their products a bit more of a cinematic feel or at least something resembling top tier TV series.

Now if we can just get away from having losers at the top of the card (Solo Sikoa, Cody Rhodes) and stop doing embarrassing, cringeworthy trash (Timeless Toni Storm and all of the shit that has surrounded her), maybe both companies can actually become awesome again.

I won't hold my breath.

Oh, and Mariah May absolutely sucks. Wow. What a letdown. Her title reign so far is trash, but it was built off of trash (Toni Storm's title reign) so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I wish Kamille would get an impromptu title match and just squash May, then her and Mercedes can brag about having both titles.

Mariah May, Toni Storm, and Mina Shirakawa have been the worst things to ever happen to the Women's title. It's WWE, divas era trash, and I don't even hate the divas era as much as some people do, but for AEW this is definitely a step backwards. What the women's division needs more than anything right now, is for a woman to come in AJ Lee style, and just bury everything that these three women have done and talk about bringing respect back to the women's title. It's time for someone to do a "Pipe Bomb" promo on these bitches.

[Raging Justice]

There's a very noticeable double standard in how WWE and AEW are covered these days, and I think it may have played a role in AEW's dwindling attendance and ratings. AEW gets harshly criticized for everything they do wrong while everything WWE does gets a thumbs up. WWE has become the media darling now and AEW isn't anymore. Anyone who hasn't noticed this is blind, but people are blind to a lot of things in 2024 so it's not surprising.

Like why is no one talking about what a joke CM Punk is now compared to the Punk who left WWE or even the one we saw in AEW?

[Reprise]

Mariah May has been pretty bad and the Women's championship now feels like an afterthought.

They clearly put a lot of time and energy into this Timeless Toni story arc, but seemingly never planned what story to tell after it concluded with Mariah taking the championship, which is weird.

The stuff with BCC/Yuta, Brian and Christian biding his time is interesting. A lot of the stuff AEW is doing right now is decent and you can tell they are telling a good story leading to Wrestledream.

There's a very noticeable double standard in how WWE and AEW are covered these days, and I think it may have played a role in AEW's dwindling attendance and ratings. AEW gets harshly criticized for everything they do wrong while everything WWE does gets a thumbs up. WWE has become the media darling now and AEW isn't anymore. Anyone who hasn't noticed this is blind, but people are blind to a lot of things in 2024 so it's not surprising.

100%. WWE has schmoozed the media and it's just become one big gaslighting exercise, with Youtubers and social media influencers telling us how awesome WWE is each week, regardless of whether they put on a good show or not, and how lame AEW is every week, with clickbait posts of empty seats and thumbnails of Tony Khan looking awkward next to an annotated viewership chart.

It's hard to find any real objective, impartial and fair discussions and debates on wrestling online.

[Raging Justice]

Hangman has now been in AEW's two best storylines. He's the soul of this company. People are making Swerve/Hangman music videos now:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/ ... vs_swerve/

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/ ... the_world/

There are rumors about a Deonna Purazzo faction. I like it, though I wish it were her, Britt Baker, and Chelsea Greene. That would be the best thing to ever happen to AEW's women's division

[Reprise]

Deonna is great. She had some great matches and feuds in TNA in the last few years. And in AEW I liked her feud with Thunder recently. I wouldn't mind seeing her leading a faction, that could be interesting.

I watched some clips of Mox and the BCC last night. It's interesting hear the way Mox talks, like he's a face and doing something for the good of the company, but is being incredibly vague. He said something to Darby about not having time to explain and that he needs that title shot and so on. I wonder where this story is going.

I expect things to pick up in the coming weeks with Grand Slam and the 5 year anniversary episode all happening leading up to Wrestledream.

Edit: It has been reported Lucha Bros have signed with WWE and will be debuting soon. It's going to be interesting to see what they do with them.