All Elite Wrestling Thread (It's Wednesday...you know what that means.)

[Dr. Zoidberg]

That post was OK, he's just taking the piss.

[Bandit]

If he's really a fan he's not going to be rooting for the guy who AEW will probably be dead in the water if they don't get going to WWE.

[Big Boss Man]

That post was OK, he's just taking the piss.

Yea I guess so, but to me it's Nick saying something akin to

If he's really a fan he's not going to be rooting for the guy who AEW will probably be dead in the water if they don't get going to WWE.

Yea, I get that, but still, the fan might have dropped however many dollars on merch, went to All In etc. So you don't really know who is sending these messages yet your calling them out and taking the piss. They also might be a fan of Kennys and want to see him succeed in WWE.

[Big Boss Man]

And yea if Kenny Omega signs with WWE they are fighting an uphill battle. All In succeeded because you also had Okada et al and you had ROH talent on the card, Rey was on it etc. AEWs main signing now is Chris Jericho and if Kenny doesn't go there who's he feuding with?, Cody I guess. MJF has potential but he's like a EC3/ADR type gimmick. Joey Janela is still injured and he will likely be part time since he's doing his own thing. SCU are good but they aren't must see talent. Only really Kenny is and that depends on who his opponents are. His match with Jericho was great in New Japan but he doesn't really have anyone else of his calibre to face. Ibushi is rumoured to be part of AEW, but again its likely he will tag with Kenny. There's likely to be no Okada, Naito, no talent agreement with ROH or New Japan (unless they change their stance).

Really I think in hindsight they should have all took WWE deals because you're tapping into a worldwide fan base. WWE should have reached out to New Japan and talent shared with them, then when they tour there you'd have really made established stars - Nakamura, AJ, Gallows and Anderson, Finn etc.

So yea I do agree AEW needs Kenny Omega, he's their Hogan rather than Chris Jericho. They might have some cool ideas planned but there's already things like the New Japan G1 Climax for example fans can get invested in.

AEW needs high quality matches out of the gate, a deep roster which is real talented, innovative angles which don't insult the fans intelligence and characters fans can get behind. Going back to my original point if you have a ethos where you want the fans behind you you don't call them out for asking a question. They need each and everyone of them to be on board. There's no guarantee they will succeed regardless of financial investment. They could go through millions and there's the fact if they are on TBS, TNT etc they'll need to continuously get good ratings or they'll be cancelled so there's a lot of variables in the equation.

They are starting off from grassroots. They successfully promoted one show which had an all star cast so to speak. I can't see Double or Nothing having the same impact unless they sign Kenny and not only him but other high quality talent too. Really they needed that partnership with NJPW as a statement of intent and youd have an influx of talent come through and they could have run Omega v Okada", Naito v Jericho, had a Bullet Club v Elite angle etc but now they are seemingly building around Hangman v Pac. Itll probably be a good match but its not a must see one. So yea AEW have their work cutout and itll be intruguing to see if Double or Nothing is an even bigger show. To me its like they are taking a big risk and when youre relying on your fanbase you need to have them 110% on board. Yea Nick was joking but to me it doesnt look good putting a fan out there like that (mark or not) when youve not even run one show under the AEW brand. So yea AEW need to win fans over, not make them look bad. Nicks one of the EVPs so he should have been professional and could have just ignored the question.

[Bandit]

They also might be a fan of Kennys and want to see him succeed in WWE.

If you're a Kenny Omega fan you definitely don't want him to go to WWE to be in shitty, boring feuds with Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin. The only people who want that are WWE fans who don't know any better. "No, really, they'd start booking good stuff if they got Kenny." Really? Did they see Raw after they promised it would be good again and the only thing that changed is Vince is in two angles now?

[Big Boss Man]

Yea but for the majority of WWE fans thats the be all and end all of pro wrestling. Its unlikely theyve even seen one Kenny Omega match but as hes getting a big buzz they are all like hyped up he might be in the Rumble.

Personally I think The Elite should have all stayed with New Japan/ROH and on the indie circuit. But the Khans have come in with what I assume is a great deal so you cant fault them for taking that. But I dont know if we will see 5 star or even 4 star matches in AEW, theres no guarantee of that until we see how the final roster takes shape. With WWE you could potentially have those with Kenny vs AJ, Finn, Nakamura. Those matches would be great to see on a grand scale like WrestleMania but on that same token theyd likely be better at a Wrestle Kingdom in the Tokyo Dome. Ideally from a fans point of view AEW need the same level of prestige New Japan has.

Their big shows like Wrestle Kingdom come across as important and AEW will need to do that as otherwise theres no differentation to what WWE, Impact, RoH, MLW etc are doing. I think they should cycle their talent too so its not too much reliant on the same talent, otherwise it will get boring quickly. I still think they definitely need New Japan and who knows maybe theyll partner with them in the near future because they have sime great talent they can utilise and a lot of the Elites history is in New Japan.

But back to Kenny, he will need quality opponents in AEW too. A feud with Jericho will be great, I think its safe to say hed have a great match with Pac too. If Kota comes in you can do Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks. But outside of that, its rather limited til we know who else they are signing. A G1 Climax style tournament to crown the first AEW World champion I think would be cool. Then that could conclude that season and the runner up faces the champ at like All In 2. Then they begin in again and by then it might open the door down the road to working with New Japan, signing other quality free agents etc.

[Big Boss Man]

https://m.sportskeeda.com/pro-wrestling ... w-japan-ss

[Big Boss Man]

Hunter on AEW via the NXT conference call

Clearly something we’ll keep an eye on,” Triple H said. “They are out there doing their business and we’ll do what’s right for our business and what’s right for our fans.”

[Bandit]

I guess Vince will be in 5 angles if they draw 2 million viewers.

[Big Boss Man]

[Bandit]

Kind of a dull episode, but at the end Kenny finds his phone and turns it over to show the countdown clock is at 9 days and hours. That would end the day of the AEW Las Vegas event on February 7th.

[Big Boss Man]

Yea BTE isn't the same without Marty & Flip in it. As for Kenny, apparently he's signed with an agent for contract negotiations so he might[/b] still be considering the WWE offer. But with the countdown on his phone ending at the AEW rally date it's almost agiven now he's heading there. I imagine he'll still work New Japan too for the big shows (Dominion/Wrestle Kingdom etc). The documentary about him is coming out soon too

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2019/ ... 06-650352/

[Bandit]

An agent would be for the AEW deal too. He hasn't signed anything yet because he can't legally. But for a big AEW deal he'd be dumb to do it alone.

[Big Boss Man]

Yea that's true. Reading the article apparently KO has been not focusing on wrestling and taking a timeout so to speak. I would assume the AEW deal is more than the 3.5m that WWE have on the table, or its structured in such a way that he can still work for New Japan. Kenny will definitely be a huge signing for AEW but he will need quality opponents to go up against. Jericho tweeted (then deleted) about them having eyes on 6-8 talent currently under contract so I don't know if recruiting talent not already on the radar will do for getting any mainstream attention.

Moose was hinted at in the Road to Double or Nothing. Brian Cage has been on BTE in the past so he's another possibility. Ideally I still think they need to work with NJPW since it opens the door for Bullet Club v Elite/Kenny v Okada again/Y2J v Naito etc. Plus AEW can essentially be the USA expansion wing of New Japan and they have the talent who arguably got non Japanese fans invested in the NJ product like Kenny Omega, Young Bucks, Hangman, Cody etc.

I also think once his ROH deal is up Marty will come in. I believe it expires in April. Flip is under contract til 2020 but I think he'll join up with AEW eventually also. Although AEW needs to be more than The Elite & Friends to compete with WWE, ROH, Impact, New Japan etc. With NXT and NXT UK they have a lot of promising talent who'd have been great signings for AEW and really the talent pool is smaller since for most the dream is to go to WWE. So that reduces the amount of potential signees because majority of the best indie talent is with NXT or NXT UK. Apparently Bea Priestly turned down a WWE deal so perhaps once talent deals are up for renewal etc they can bring in new talent then.

[Bandit]

I doubt it's for more money than WWE. But Kenny doesn't care about money, he's spending his money on video games and not cars like Cena. If they paid him half and he got to be with his friends, wrestle how he wants and go to Japan a few times a year he'd be happy. That 4 million from WWE would mean 200 days on the road, only maybe one Japanese house show a year, being micromanaged, etc.

[Big Boss Man]

Yea that's a very good point. I think AEW will work a much lighter schedule too so it gives Kenny an option to go to Japan. Joey Janela and Chris are free to do their respective things too so giving talent that freedom is something that will be intriguing to other non AEW talent also.

They've not announced anything bar Double or Nothing yet so we don't know whether they'll be doing house shows etc. It'll be likely they will have weekly TV, not sure what their PPV model will be yet though.

Going back to the traditional four would be good and gives them time to build up to them. Double or Nothing in May is their real first PPV under the AEW name but I'm assuming they will run All In II down the line. From what I've read ROH own the footage for All In so ideally they need to license that or purchase it but maybe the real beginning starts with Double or Nothing and you can start everything from that point.

If they are planning like a AEW video on demand service they will need content to fill it. They can put BTE on there but it's available on YouTube and if it's exclusive to a VOD service that's reducing your potential consumer base. Ideally they need TV before Double or Nothing to build up to the event too. I know they are doing the video build up on YouTube but on TV they can establish things better and give fans an idea on who's involved.

It's real interesting how they are starting every from scratch and building from the ground up. In theory if they run weekly TV and do big shows/PPVs their content will quickly fill up so there's that. I don't think they've announced how many championships they will have, how big the roster will be etc yet either. I don't think they need too many belts - AEW World, AEW World Tag, AEW Womens, AEW US /IC or TV title would be fine. A 6 man belt would be interesting and something different to what WWE are doing.

[Bandit]

Dave said they're doing 3 PPVs this year and seeing how things go.

[Big Boss Man]

Thanks, that makes sense to have a wait & see approach. I'm assuming one of the other two PPVs will be All In 2. I wonder if they would co-promote a PPV with New Japan down the line in Japan since The Bucks, Kenny etc are popular there.

[Bandit]

Dave said last night Ambrose is close with Cody and Jericho, so his abrupt exit makes more sense. He's also a guy who saved all of his money and he made a lot from Shield shirts plus had a $1 million downside guarantee deal, so when WWE offered him more money he didn't care and said he hasn't been happy for a while.

[Big Boss Man]

KENTA could be AEW bound too

https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/hide ... wwe-275771