They’ve cut two people in the entire existence of the company. I think they can stomach one more contract.
That said, there’s a far easier path to the top should Andrade go to New Japan or Impact. Could even argue the latter might book him the best. Unless I’m misremembering, Penta had a pretty good run there.
Perhaps it would be better for him to put the mask back on and work LL as La Sombra once again, for at least half a year. Re-establish his LL cred, and build a name for himself post-WWE, before any attempt by AEW to add him to their roster.
And we need to remember that AEW needs the mid-card and low-card talent (that list posted above), so there can be matches where a pushed talent can actually win matches.
If AEW ever gets another hour on TNT (as hinted at for over a year now), perhaps a Tuesday show (my belief is that Elevation in on Monday because Dark will go away on Tuesday if there is a TNT Tuesday show), then a few more top talent can be added. At that point a La Sombra could be a good get for AEW.
I can’t remember a non-finish or DQ finish ever happening on Dynamite or a PPV. I think that’s the least of their problems.
I have always loved big rosters. I dont want to see a bunch of rematches like WWE. AEW can keep things fresh with a big roster.
The problem with WWE is that they have a big roster but they only focus on the same few people over and over. Vince only cares about what the same old main eventers are doing anyways. That is why some people just get forgotten about and they dont get to have exciting new matches or stories.
There is nothing bad about the signing of Christian. The only bad thing was the way that he was brought in. He should have been an unannounced surprise. People would be confused because they just saw him at the Royal Rumble. It would be a shocking moment.
Actually, the more I think about this issue with roster size, the more I think it is a bit overblown to be honest. We’re all looking at it through a WWE lens. If AEW just cycles their talent, say every talent works 8 months, then has 4 months off, or something similar to that, I think they could easily fit all these guys on their roster.
Strongly disagree, IMO it was a horrible signing across the board. John put it best on the podcast, so Ill paraphrase him:
“There is nothing wrong with signing Sting, there is nothing wrong with signing Big Show, there is nothing wrong with signing Christian, there is nothing wrong with signing Matt Hardy, there is nothing wrong with signing Chris Jericho…there is an issue signing Sting AND Big Show AND Christian AND Matt Hardy AND Chris Jericho etc.”
I’m sure I left a few names off, but the point is that if you are going to go after some WWE guys, go after the guys in their prime like Moxley, Miro, possibly Andrade etc. Don’t go after any more WWE attitude era guys. IMO, the signing of Christian was them jumping the shark with that. I don’t want AEW to go the way of TNA. I don’t say any of this from a bad place, I want what’s best for AEW, and moves like this are not that. And for the record, that’s no disrespect towards Christian, I actually love Christian as a performer, this is just a bad fit. If they didnt already have Jericho and Hardy and Sting, he would be great, but they do and its too much.
I agree that they have enough older guys for now. The key is to not build the company around those guys. They need to build the company aroud guys like Moxley, Omega, and MJF which I am sure is the plan.
The older guys do have name value for casual or returning wrestling fans. The problem with TNA is that the older guys got pushed instead of guys like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. I am pretty sure that Tony Khan learned from TNAs mistakes.
Even if you don’t “build around them” there is still too many of them. Like I said earlier, if you are going to bring in former WWE guys, bring in guys in their prime. The problem is when you combine the guys in their prime with the older guys, it ends up giving off the optics of WWE castoffs.
Again, Im not saying that you cant have any former WWE guys, of course you can. But look at the list:
Jericho, Christian, Big Show, Matt Hardy, Miro, Spears, Cody, Dustin, FTR, Hager, Moxley, Sydal, Pac, kind of Sting, kind of the Good Bros…that’s 16 guys.
I have zero issues with signing guys like FTR, Miro etc., and I also think signing a few legends is smart (I loved the Sting signing). Its just too much right now, and I want them to leave some roster flexibly for guys like Andrade, Alister Black (if he’s released) etc. IMO Big Show and Christian was just crossing that line.
Bottom line, if you are cool with it, thats great for you, and I truly don’t mean that sarcastically. The reality though is that A LOT of fans feel the way I am describing, and AEW needs to grow, and I think this will hinder them as A LOT of fans are going to see it as TNA light. When you have that many WWE legends, its inevitable for them to be involved in top programs. Look at the last PPV, you had a Sting match, a Hardy match, a Christian/Show segment, a Moxley match, and Miro match, a Cody match etc. You dont want seemingly every segment/match to be a former WWE guy, they need to select who they choose, and select them wisely.
Andrade’s skill is just too good for AEW to ignore. Not to mention the fact that Zelina is available to manage him there and we can see them return to the amazing combo we had in NXT.
I don’t care how many former WWE guys the company has, it’s all about how they use them but I don’t want to see them all every week.
100% agree with the first line.
As for the second paragraph, there are two types of AEW fans; There is that loyal 750K that will watch Dynamite every week regardless of what they promote, and will likely only stop watching if the product declines over a long period of time. Then there are about 200K fans that tune in depending on the week. These are the fans that watch when there is a big show, or something that catches their interest. These people comprise of the additional fans when Dynamite hits anywhere over 750K and just under (or slightly over) 950K.
Then there is the wrestling fan that just doesn’t watch AEW. This is the fan AEW at this point needs to reach.
While you and the poster I quoted above don’t care about former WWE guys and legends all over the show, the other two groups do. Go on social media, its all over the place.
One of the first things I learned in business was to never assume the average consumer thinks just like you. In this case, I think a lot of fans are doing just that. They don’t care, so they assume the rest of fans won’t care, especially non fans who AEW want to bring in. AEW needs to be careful here, because if they dont appease these fans, they are going to be stuck between 750-950K fans forever, and while this is just one thing, it is important, because its the first time IMO that AEW is failing to read the room.
To be fair, Paul Wight has only done commentary and that appears to be his role. I’ve watched both episodes so far of Elevation and Wight is fine, if not a standout.
However, I agree that Christian was one legend too far. It really felt imposed upon me, and AEW fan, to buy into the “legendary” Christian. As someone who never really watched much WWE back when Christian was a thing there, all that “legend”-ness just doesn’t mean anything.
I’ve mentioned before that I dislike AEW picking up so many WWE people.
Anyway, back to Andrade: I don’t want him to be his WWE/NXT character. He needs to be his old lucha self, a better version than his WWE (at least main roster) version.
You’re right, and I wasn’t even shaking my head after Wight joined. Like you said in the next paragraph, it was Christian that was one too far. Plus it didn’t help that they joined so closely together. After both being involved in the same WWE angle last summer, you just can’t help but group them together.
With DVR Numbers AEW does 1.25 million each week.
That’s not taking into account international viewers either.
They usually hit over 100K live viewers in Canada. They have what has been called a “staggering” amount of viewers who watch internationally on Fite with AEW+ or whatever it’s called.
Plus, that’s not including other worldwide tv deals.
The idea that there are only 750-900K viewers total for Dynamite / AEW is an often mentioned, but hardly realistic point people try and make.
I’m very aware and I feel the same way which is why I also stated I don’t want to see them all every week.
If Andrade is willing to sign with AEW I think they have to grab him. You can always make room for talented people like him.
I just don’t see it happening though. I see him going to AAA and maybe NJPW.
He probably wants to remind people he can still go in the ring and that’s the easiest way to do that.
Aside from obvious reasons an AEW makes sense moreso than international work, is that I would imagine he would like to stay close to his wife on a somewhat regular basis.
He’d be mad not going to AEW - next year, he too could be stood in a ring surrounded by sparklers posing as explosives. Or fake laughing at sugar daddy’s shit jokes
Sure, the total numbers isn’t even my point, it’s that AEW need to appeal to the people who aren’t watching or that watch occasionally. Just take every number I listed and increase it by 20% then.