They just put on two fantastic PPVs back to back and the television show seemed to be improving, but then they are now back in a bit of slump.
Double or Nothing also isn't really exciting me all that much. There have been PPVs like that before (basically all of their PPVs last year, bar All In [and I even criticised the build for that one] and Revolution) and then a lot of the time they turn out to be great. I am not sure Double or Nothing will be like that though.
I am not expecting any shocking returns or debuts, much in the way of story progression, any unexpected match results or for many "banger 5 star classic" matches. I also think this PPV will have another drop in buys, that will continue the "AEW is dying" narrative.
Here's a question though? Is unpredictability always good? Or does that also piss off fans? Are fans entitled or too impatient to sit through it now? Maybe they would be right to call out "bullshit".
I was thinking how during the Attitude Era, WWE basically tore up all the rules (WCW did too). I was also thinking how traditionally wrestling companies use the weekly television shows to promote their next PPV. But in the Attitude Era, WWE always used the PPVs to promote the next episode of Raw (in addition to using the tv shows to promote the PPVs).
This meant putting a bunch of cliffhangers in PPVs, doing a bunch of crazy swerves and and doing insane things. Like, do you remember Kane won the world title? Then he dropped it the next night on Raw. Their shows were always unpredictable and on paper, you could argue that much of it made no sense or was rubbish, but yet it was loved and everyone watched it. I remember the crazy face and heel turns too, like when DX were feuding with the Corporation leading into Wrestlemania 15. Chyna left and joined with the Corporation. Triple H and X Pac and probably the New Age Outlaws were on side DX and a big part of the feud was between Triple H and Kane I think, with Chyna partnering/managing Kane. Then at the PPV, Chyna turned on Kane and reuinted with Triple H and you were made to think it was a face turn and she was joining DX again. But then later in the night Triple H turned on DX and Chyna helped him, revealing that actually she hadn't turned face, HHH had turned heel and was joining her in the Corporation. Kane had been kicked out of the Corporation and I think that led to him having a face run with X-Pac, only for X-Pac to also later turn heel.
There's a fine line between unpredictability and just flat out randomness that turns off viewers.
Could AEW have Mone lose her debut match and still protect her and keep her character interesting?
What about Christian? He could win the world title, maybe even have some shenanigans involving his faction members (WWE loves to do that shit, don't they), and have Swerve win it back on Dynamite in a week or two after the PPV.
Maybe at some point, 'Killswitch' can turn on Christian and rejoin with Jack Perry and The Elite. I don't know.
AEW could also have missing individuals return, if cleared and have them make a "shocking statement" by unexpectedly interfering in matches.
Off topic, as a sidenote, I also really like the idea of Samoa Joe mentoring Hook, Raging Justice.
You know how many times wrestlers make threats about killing people but then just pin them in a match and act like they did what they said they were going to do? Not in Lucha Underground. Threats were real. Even casket matches were not a joke in Lucha Underground like they typically are in wrestling where you "bury" a guy and he just comes back a few months later. In Lucha Underground you could get away with that because they had supernatural characters. Fenix literally couldn't die, hence his name, and Mil Muertes was the embodiment of death so of course he couldn't die. What I liked was how Mil Muertes would get more powerful every time he returned from death, so killing him would bite you in the ass later. Also Fenix had an unknown limit to his resurrections like a video game character so they would often bring up how many lives he had left on the show. Like that was an actual story element, so if Mil Muertes killed him it was like, will he actually come back this time? I swear, no one would know who Fenix or Pentagon were today were it not for how awesome they were in Lucha Underground. That show launched some careers (did you know that Sammy Guevara was in Lucha Underground as well?)
