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

[Big Boss Man]

For UK BGers, AEW will be up on the ITVHub later tonight and on ITV4 tomorrow at 11.20pm.

[Bandit]

Early estimate is 1.7 million.

[Big Boss Man]

Some early market ratings are available at this point for the debut of AEW Dynamite last night on TNT.

At this point there are no ratings available for NXT on the USA Network.

It's very tricky because these are only a few specific markets and don't include either New York or Los Angeles. But if we compare with the preview show, these ratings would indicate 1.5 million to 1.7 million viewers for the live airing and 650,000 for the taped show. I believe the actual number for the live show may be lower because these numbers are skewed by a freaky large number in Charlotte.

These are the household ratings for the show in different markets:

Live show --

Chicago: 1.0
Dallas: 0.9
Washington, DC: 0.7
Houston: 0.9
Atlanta: 1.0
Detroit: 1.4
Minneapolis: 0.8
Charlotte: 2.0
Replay show --

Chicago: 0.6
Dallas: 0.1
Washington, DC: 0.2
Houston: 0.4
Atlanta: 0.2
Detroit: 0.8
Minneapolis: 0.2
Charlotte: 0.8
For comparisons in these markets, these were the percentage differences in viewing from Tuesday's show that did 631,000 viewers.

Chicago up 233 percent
Dallas up 200 percent
Washington, DC up 75 percent
Houston up 125 percent
Atlanta up 11 percent
Detroit up 133 percent
Minneapolis up 300 percent
Charlotte up 82 percent

Source: F4W

[Bandit]

[Bandit]

WWE sent Wrestling Inc. the following statement regarding the AEW Dynamite premiere, congratulating the organization for a successful debut while noting "this is a marathon, not a one-night sprint":

"Congratulations to AEW on a successful premiere. The real winners of last night's head-to-head telecasts of NXT on USA Network and AEW on TNT are the fans, who can expect Wednesday nights to be a competitive and wild ride as this is a marathon, not a one-night sprint."

[Bandit]

[Ocelot]

HHH is a better opponent for AEW than Vince as he understands the value of healthy competition. Very happy for Wednesday nights now.

[Bandit]

The replay at 10 did 650,000 viewers. So 2 million people watched it Wednesday. And they did over 100,000 viewers in Canada with one day of advertising plus were running against opening night of the NHL and a Prime Minister debate. Raw does 300,000 viewers in Canada.

Also the AEW audience was mostly under 35 and NXT was over 40 so that's a very good sign for them. Not just because they may have fans who will stick with them for decades, but advertisers are going to be very interested in a show that draws 18-35 males this strongly.

This is a reverse of WWF vs WCW, where the older Hogan and Savage fans were pro-WCW and the younger fans liked WWF. Now WWE is for older fans.

[Big Boss Man]

Really enjoyed Dynamite. They cut out some of the video packages on ITV4 and the Brandon/MJF match too but the picture in picture matches were in full. Cody got a huge pop at the start of the show, it makes sense you have him chase Jericho for the belt as he's arguably the most over in the company.

The women's match was I think the match of the night. They could have had Britt defend Rhio from Nylas beat down instead of Kenny then she turns on her instead so you build up to Dr Britt Baker vs Rhio.

I agree the UK PAC/Hangman match was better
Not to say this wasn't good though. I've read some criticism of Hangman in reviews saying he's more a midcard/upper midcard guy. I disagree, I think he'd be better suited as a Stan Hansen type heel and to give him a running lariat as his finish instead and for him to work more so as a heel and to keep the flips etc to a minimum. I would put him in a feud with MJF since development wise they are kinda similar. Speaking of MJF.

The MJF/Brandon Cutler was OK and served its purpose. I think BC hurt his knee so they made a quick call to go home. MJF I think is a potential star and they are taking the time to build him up instead of fast tracking him to the main event.

Which brings me to Cody/Sammy. I think Sammy Guevara has a lot of potential too as the cocky heel. You could argue that MJF should be further up the card in his spot but it would make no sense for him to turn on Cody right away. They need to make it a slow burn, Taz/Sabu type of deal where it's gradual that MJF is using him and then you have him side with Jericho and co.

Main event was good. Mox coming out to attack Kenny made sense. I liked the DDT through the glass table spot, reminded me a bit of Funk/Flair in a way. I think they should have stuck to BTE cannon though so Kennys acting differently etc and such. As they were promising a new improved Kenny Omega. The nod to the Cleaner spot he did was fun though. The 6 man itself was fine, some good spots and I think the Bucks vs Santana/Ortiz will be good.

Overall a big thumbs up, enjoyed the entire show. I think they can build on it week by week. It felt more like watching a pay per view and if they can keep that momentum going I think as time goes by and more free agents become available it will be even better. I'll spoiler this in case

Spoiler

Martys deal is up on October 31st apparently so in theory they could debut him at the Nov 2nd Dynamite or at Full Gear. Flip has a year left I believe with ROH.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

None of the Elite guys are going to work as heels now. The crowd knows they are responsible for something they like so they won't boo. I think in the future Page turning on Cody and Kenny out of jealousy would work, but not for a year. Slow build resentment that Page thought he was going to be the star of AEW but is resenting being the third guy. Then you could have a hot Cody vs Hangman feud that could draw.

[Big Boss Man]

Yea that would make sense. If Marty does come in he could try to recruit Hangman to Villian Enterprises (similar to when they tried to get Sting in the nWo). But he says things like you mention about them promising he'll be a top guy, he's not on the Dynamite poster, that he hasn't been on BTE recently etc and then he turns on the Elite.

I think PAC would be a good fit with Marty too and I don't know how long PCO has left with ROH but I think he'd be a very good signing. So you could do Kenny, Cody and the Bucks against Marty, Hangman, PAC and PCO.

Someone asked TK in the media scrum about developmental and I think they could use Impact, MLW etc as theirs. That would allow the younger guys and girls to get experience and say they work with Impact, they could bring in Sami, Brian Cage etc.

[Big Boss Man]

[Bandit]

At least it's not AEW After Dark with Tony doing nudity.

[Big Boss Man]

[Big Boss Man]

[Big Boss Man]

New BTE~!

Spoiler

Jay & Silent Bob appearance!

[Hawq]

[Big Boss Man]

[Big Boss Man]