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

[Bandit]

He was at the MLW taping and in the deal Tony made with Court he can't be on TV within 24 hours of an MLW event. It doesn’t make sense but that's what people were saying.

[Big Boss Man]

OK thanks. I do think MJF should just be exclusive for AEW, but by working for MLW etc it does give him more opportunity to gain in ring experience. Speaking of MLW, they should talent share with AEW, same with Impact etc so it expands their talent base. Plus AEW can send like Marko, Jungle Boy, Sonny Kiss etc there to get more TV and in-ring experience.

[Bandit]

They don't have a choice. He had a deal MLW wouldn't let them buy out.

I don't see AEW networking with everybody because then it gets political. Then when they want Jungle Boy to put over Ace Austin on Impact they won't want him losing on television if he has an angle with so-and-so on Dynamite. Or MLW won't want Teddy Hart jobbing because he's kept strong on Fusion. So then you have guys never losing but can't be elevated to the top because they're not yours.

[Big Boss Man]

That's a very good point. Unless AEW becomes like the old NWA where it's more of an umbrella organisation and MLW, Impact etc operate similar to the old territory system. Then AEW can have the pick of the best wrestlers to put on their TV show each week. Plus you could have Chris Jericho defend the AEW belt on MLW, Impact etc like the old touring NWA champ. If they do buddy up with New Japan then the match with Tana could have been for the AEW belt as an example.

It seems outdated in theory but the old NWA formula worked for years. Plus with a modern twist it would mean AEW have to use the same roster week on week. Then with working with say New Japan, AAA, Impact, MLW, ROH etc together it gives them a very solid footing to really compete with WWE. Since they'd have an expansive talent base to choose from so each week Dynamite could really be a must see wrestling show.

The current formula of keeping wrestlers stuck with one "team" I think is counter productive since you can only have the same match(es) a certain amount of times before it becomes uninteresting.

[Bandit]

It can't be. Anthem have big egos and Court still wants to make MLW work. Maybe if MLW gets into trouble, but right now they're running small but big enough guys AEW should have like Tom Lawlor and the Harts want to stay. But in no scenario do I see Impact ever becoming involved. Anthem made them the flagship of their new network. They aren't sending Tessa to job for Riho.

[Big Boss Man]

If AEW really do want to compete with WWE they have to have the best roster they can have. Right now it's taking shape but there's guys and girls in Impact, ROH, MLW etc who need to be part of AEW for them to really make a competitive statement.

If AEW works with Impact, ROH, MLW etc instead of just doing what Vince did and cherry picking the best wrestlers from AWA, Mid South, Stampede, Crockett etc then it could be beneficial for all concerned. Say they had Tom Lawlor turn up on AEW and the announcers say "you can watch Tom on MLW too" it gets MLW a big plug on TNT.

You don't have to job the outside talent out to AEW wrestlers either. That's why the Invasion tanked. Had they made WCW and ECW strong or equal to WWF it would have had much more mileage and when Hogan, Hall, Nash and Goldberg did turn up that would have added even more and given fans some real dream matches.

If the rating is down again this week I do think that they need to see who's available who can really make a difference ratings wise. Plus Harold Meij hasn't closed the door of working with New Japan. But ideally AEW needs a mainstream level star who will bring in new viewers who'll hopefully stick around.

If he wasn't loyal to Vince I do think John Cena would be a huge get for them. In some ways he's the antithesis to AEW, but creatively without the WWE micromanagement I think he'd actually be very good there. Back in 94/95/96 you had guys in WWF who had some degree of mainstream appeal as a lot of fans watched Hulk, Macho etc during that era. Today that whole landscape has changed drastically where there's been no real breakout mainstream star (you could argue John Cena) in the past 10-15 years.

So when AEW needs to build their brand there's no Hulk, Macho level star they can go to. CM Punk I think could have drawn the casuals back in to a degree. But if he does comeback he's going to be with WWE. So AEWs only real option is to look into building partnerships with other companies and using their best on their show and in return sending their guys and girls to work there and plug their promotion on TNT.

Otherwise they have to wait til high profile free agents become available. But so far most have re-signed with their current promotion they are with. Only Mox made the jump over. Marty could be coming in, Flip seems to be weighing his options and his contract is still around a year or so with ROH I believe. So AEWs options are limited, unless they can create new stars and so far they've given it a good go. But certain things have been a swing and a miss. Hangman I think has all the criteria to be a star but I think he could do with a repackage or turn him heel and really turn up his intensity so he's like a Stan Hansen type character.

I also don't think you can really create anything new in regards to wrestling. The Attitude Era pushed the envelope to the nth degree. Turner standards and practices wouldn't let them go too far anyway and it would be WCW 2000 level bad if they went that route. I do think they'd benefit from a guiding hand in terms of booking/storylines. I don't think they need a writing team ala WWE but they do need a clear direction in what they are hoping to achieve.

I've read they are long term booking already (I think Vince and Pat did that back in the day) but today I think with how WWE have shaped the industry I don't know how a 6 month, even a year long story would plan out today. WWE have gone through so many storylines because of how rushed everything is they've run out of ideas. Which is why WWE is so boring right now. Going back to basics of two guys (or girls) who don't like each other competing to the best is really the easiest story but it's worked countless times. Chuck/Tito in the UFC, Fury/Wilder in boxing being just two examples. I don't know if you can translate that over to the pro wrestling formula since it's predetermined but if you do it well enough the fans will have that suspension of belief and believe they are watching a real contest. That's what made the 7 star Omega/Okada so good, because if you weren't smartened up that it was predetermined it comes across as a legit athletic contest. AEW can't do that every match but if they can get close to it then I think that formula will pay dividends for their fanbase. Plus if it looks more "real" not in UWF/UWFi worked shoot terms but like a contest then they can present themselves more so as a sport. Which I think the mainstream would find more appealing. I imagine the media in Japan treats New Japan as such because NJPW matches come across as legitimate sporting contests. If AEW can be a NJPW US of sorts in terms of in ring action and back that up with some compelling storylines (like with Cody and Dustin) that would make Dynamite must see every week and have the fans wanting to tune in each week to see what happens next. Which I imagine a lot wouldn't have felt like that since the Monday Night Wars.

[Bandit]

Turner is letting them say Shit every week, which even WWE couldn't do. They don't do T&A stuff because 2019 is a different time than 1999. They have Brandi and Allie with their asses hanging out but they aren't sex objects. Doing risqué stuff just isn't over right now.

[Big Boss Man]

Dave on AEW

There is the mentality that the promotion is a smorgasbord, a little of this, a little of that, as opposed to have a certain style and theme.

It comes from Eddie Graham, but the big difference is that when Eddie Graham was on his game, it was all about wrestling and being a sport, and granted, this is 45 years later and you can’t go back in time. But Eddie’s smorgasbord was technical matches with good workers underneath, a fun tag match, maybe a European style, good young guys, wily vets and both brawls and different gimmick matches and divergent storylines both with factions and blood feuds and rivalries over belts. It wasn’t about trying to appeal to different genres of hardcore fans, whether through great wrestling, silly gimmicks (which did come at the end in Florida when it was dying as attempted hotshots), comedy or irony.

The attempt to appeal to everyone isn’t going to work as people want a WWE alternative. The last few weeks are coming across very much TNT, essentially WWE Lite, except with hotter fans, better in-ring in some but not all cases, and definitely a higher level of promos.

[Big Boss Man]

On the TNT AEW commercial

That freakin' TV commercial on TNT. What the fuck. That was a bad idea. That was not an AEW idea. If you don't know what it is, there's a TV commercial on TNT where basically the whole thing is pushing "AEW Smashes." They do a bunch of media headlines where "AEW Smashes" or "AEW Destroys NXT." I'm all in for being aggressive in a war and the idea. Don't pretend you're not in a war because you are. But on TNT television commercials, you do not need to publicizing that there's an NXT. There's ways to do it. You can make your jabs during the show. Certainly do your jabs in the media. Both sides, that's fine, that's the reality. But your television commercials on your home station. Man, I would not have done that. [talks about how NXT won the over 50 demo every single week and AEW won the under 50 demo every single week] That commercial, when I saw that, it felt like WCW in late '98. In late '98 they were still strong but it was the beginning of the end. And we knew it at the time and I don't want to be reminded of that. They shouldn't be trying to repeat that.

[Bandit]

I think it's a good sign that TNT is strongly behind them at least.

[Big Boss Man]

Yes that's a huge plus for AEW they have TNTs support. I think when they are trying to appeal to the mainstream/casuals they have to go with a smorgasbord approach to see what clicks with that audience. If it was a straight up serious wrestling show then that only appeals solely to the diehard wrestling fans which reduces their potential audience.

I don't know in hindsight what fans were expecting when AEW launched but in most cases it has exceeded expectations and apart from a few missteps, on the whole, the shows have been really good.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Big Boss Man]

New BTE~!

Spoiler

I think Hangmans going to join the Dark Order

[Bandit]

Cody is over so huge in Dallas. This is crazy.

He's not the best mat technician, but the guy can sure lay out a match. And the match story of Cody making the jobber believe in himself was good.

[Bandit]

I wish they had a crowd like this every week. Even Aubrey is over.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Big Boss Man]

[Bandit]

He was on camera and then they cut away from him really fast. So he won't be getting hired it seems.

[Bandit]