All Elite Wrestling - Discussion

[Scott Hall]

AEW Dynamite Premiere Draws More Than 1 Million Viewers, WWE NXT Season Premiere Under 1 Million
By Marc Middleton | October 03, 2019

Wednesday's WWE NXT season premiere episode on the USA Network drew 891,000 viewers while the AEW Dynamite premiere episode on TNT drew 1.409 million viewers, according to Showbuzz Daily.

[Stanford]

Could someone explain to a Canadian the difference between USA and TNT? Are the available in a similar number of households? Is one considered "bigger" by the public?

[Scott Hall]

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[Dr Positivity]

The problem with coming after WWE, is WWE are the kings of variety. No matter what draws you to wrestling, they do at least a bit of it. You can complain they care too much about size and having a character/look, but the WWE has invested a massive amount of resources in worker-first guys. In addition to creating the ultimate worker brand in NXT, along with another wrestling friendly one in 205, there's always a spot for guys who are better wrestlers than talkers. Cesaro, Ricochet, Andrade, Balor, etc. On any given night you might see Braun Strowman (big man), Rey Mysterio (small man), The Miz (great talker/weak wrestler), Cesaro (great wrestler/weak talker), The Fiend (supernatural character), R Truth (comedy character), etc. and anyone in between. So it's difficult to carve out a lane and fill the vacuum the WWE doesn't have. Network TV got trounced by streaming services because they had massive holes in their libraries by only making procedurals and sitcoms and generally medicore quality, so HBO or Netflix were able to give viewers something totally different. How do you fill the gaps WWE misses? You can't even brand yourself as the ultimate workers-first show since NXT already took that corner, I actually expect AEW to be settle around halfway between NXT and the WWE main roster in terms of their goals. If I was them I would target tag team wrestling as a place to plant my flag. I feel the WWE has been letting tag team wrestling down for years on the main roster. It is the most predictable match they do as half of it is spent waiting for a hot tag, and there is not enough double team work. They feel that if a face is getting beat up for half the match and then makes a tag, it tells enough of a story to satisfy people on a B level, and you're guaranteed to get high paced action for the last 5 minutes of the match. They're mainly avoiding a bad match. But it makes it harder to really steal the show because nearly every match is the exact same. Wouldn't the Revival cutting the ring in half and beating up a face be a more effective storyline if they're one of the only teams who wrestles that style? And tag teams who's style isn't so methodical and technical, instead wrestle a style and create a story that's unique to them?

[improper]

Nobody wants to watch WWE-lite.

Based on the way the ratings have been going for the past decade-plus, no one wants to watch regular WWE either.

[Flames24Rulz]

Could someone explain to a Canadian the difference between USA and TNT? Are the available in a similar number of households? Is one considered "bigger" by the public?

There really isn't a difference between USA and TNT. I'd say both of them are probably on the upper tier of non-broadcast TV stations here.

[Stanford]

Just watched the women's match. Thought it was good as well.

[NinjaBro]

Just watched the women's match. Thought it was good as well.

It was good and the crowd loved it. People here picky as hell

[jakecronus8]

“I’m so sick of wwe and their booking. I want something fresh and new.”

(Two wwe midcarders from 2013 do a run in)

“ZOMG!!!!! This is amazing!!!! AEW! AEW! AEW!”

[Spens1]

What is indie-wrestling? Indie like PWG? Indie like Chikara? Indie like CZW? Those styles couldn't be more different. Which one is NXT?

NXT is kind of like ROH from around 2014-2016 or so i'd say. A very very good product but a bit past its best as well (much like ROH at the time).

[Spens1]

Whatever it is, WWE's model hasn't been working for years so I can see the appetite for something different. Having said that, AEW still needs to hammer out some kinks, I'm not a fan of WWE-type interference antics in abundance. I am still hoping for a Western version of NJPW that's english friendly. Something that's treated like a sport, yet still has the memorable enough characters to give it the pro wrestling quirk (Naito and Okada are clearly pro wrestling "characters" that still feel like they could be sports athletes) People don't want to see WWE-except-not-booked-by-Vince, which is what TNA was. The women's division still needs more starpower (if they could nab Tessa or someone popular but lesser used in the WWE like Asuka, it would go a long way into boosting interest).

I would love it if AEW gets Hana Kimura. She's a godamn SUPERSTAR.

I could 100% get behind this. Hana is money (actually, if they could reach a deal to partner with stardom, or at least get Mayu and Hana, they'd really only need one or two more main event women).

[Spens1]

Finally got to watch it, sure, NXT probably had the better quality matches overall (that was a takeover level card) but i thought AEW did a better job at the storytelling aspect and showing what they would be doing going forward.

Not going to lie, Hager/Swagger as the main reveal is really weak but whatever, he's a mid card goon most likely (upper mid at best) which is fair. The fact they introduced a big heel stable with defined roles is great (they need to steal the stable setup from dragon gate, everyone should be in a stable with defined roles).

PAC vs Hangman was fantastic, Cody vs Guevara was kind of meh, womans match technically wasn't great but the story around that was first class, a perfect david vs goliath battle. I kind of wished their was more tag team wrestling and tag teams, like i would have liked to see Private Party and Angelico & Zach Evans etc, after all, they're probably the main company right now that

i think the main thing i'm waiting for now is honestly for Scurll to come in and maybe even King and PCO (Villain enterprises as another big stable would be great). I'm also kind of waiting to see where Kenny falls after its all said and done with his programs (a heel turn, his own stable idk)

It wasn't mind blowing, but it was good wrestling that felt different, we haven't had good wrestling that felt different really since TNA was somewhat good (pre-bischoff/hogan), in north america, on a mainstream level (so about a decade ago).

[Dominator83]

“I’m so sick of wwe and their booking. I want something fresh and new.”

(Two wwe midcarders from 2013 do a run in)

“ZOMG!!!!! This is amazing!!!! AEW! AEW! AEW!”

Yea Fin Baylor was most definitely a much better "Lex Luger moment " than Jack Swagger that's for sure. I don't mind it for the role he's gonna play though.

[Dominator83]

Finally got to watch it, sure, NXT probably had the better quality matches overall (that was a takeover level card) but i thought AEW did a better job at the storytelling aspect and showing what they would be doing going forward.

Not going to lie, Hager/Swagger as the main reveal is really weak but whatever, he's a mid card goon most likely (upper mid at best) which is fair. The fact they introduced a big heel stable with defined roles is great (they need to steal the stable setup from dragon gate, everyone should be in a stable with defined roles).

PAC vs Hangman was fantastic, Cody vs Guevara was kind of meh, womans match technically wasn't great but the story around that was first class, a perfect david vs goliath battle. I kind of wished their was more tag team wrestling and tag teams, like i would have liked to see Private Party and Angelico & Zach Evans etc, after all, they're probably the main company right now that

i think the main thing i'm waiting for now is honestly for Scurll to come in and maybe even King and PCO (Villain enterprises as another big stable would be great). I'm also kind of waiting to see where Kenny falls after its all said and done with his programs (a heel turn, his own stable idk)

It wasn't mind blowing, but it was good wrestling that felt different, we haven't had good wrestling that felt different really since TNA was somewhat good (pre-bischoff/hogan), in north america, on a mainstream level (so about a decade ago).

Yea I agree on the Cody/Guevara match. To me, it started off too slow. It lead me to switch the channel over to Riddle vs Cole, and I was hooked for the whole match. I'm surprised that quarter hour by itself didn't equal a smaller gap in the overall ratings battle

[Spens1]

Also the ratings where interesting, not for the final number so much (cause yeah, 1.4 Mill is great in this day and age and 800k is a bit concerning given they put out a takeover), but for the 18-49 demos. AEW doubled the NXT's in that regard which is just nuts. NXT actually drew an older audience (more typical of modern day WWE) and AEW had a very young audience, which tbh, i thought it would be the inverse cause of lapsed fans from the Nitro days going to watch AEW.

AEW, even though it is just the start, does have a lot of cool factor about it, something WWE will probably never really have again if we're being realistic (even if HHH took over, just cause of their sponsors).

[Spens1]

Also some final pieces to the puzzle i think they should get:

Men:
CM Punk (not as a wrestler however, that isn't happening, but if you can convince him to be a manager for an up and commer)
Cain Velasquez (would be a big addition and honestly one they need to make happen)
Rush (with him out of contract, he is one of the few legitimate guys they could sign that could/would be main event level)
Marty Scurll/Villain Enterprises (obvious and probably will happen)
Jiro Kuroshio (his gimmick would get over incredibly well in north america and i think he's a F.A, wouldn't be a huge star but in terms of lower card talent, he's very good)
Johnathon Gresham (incredible technical wrestler and would be a good addition to the midcard which needs a few technicians i think)

Women:
Mayu Iwatami (best woman not signed by a major american promotion or has links to one)
Hana Kimura (best young overall package in the world on the womans side of things)
Tenille Dashwood (unlikely but they should make a push for her)

[jakecronus8]

Any company looking to build around a young female star should sign Jordynne Grace and make her the face of their division. Just unique all around and gorgeous to boot.

[Stanford]

I was just going to ask if Jordynne Grace is a good wrestler. I follow her on ig for obvious non-wrestling reasons but I've never seen her work.

[Spens1]

Grace as well would be a good shout, i think if you where to build around someone though (and i completely forgot to mention her), it would be Tessa Blanchard.

[Stanford]

Is the problem that these women are under contract at the moment?