A major match has been added to AEW Dynamite next week in Missouri.
AEW President Tony Khan teased a big announcement and revealed that Kenny Omega will face Hijo del Vikingo next Wednesday at the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri.
It was a match that AAA had attempted to make for a long time and couldn’t coordinate their schedules to make the big match.
In a dream match that was postponed in 2021, Kenny Omega will finally go one-on-one vs the amazing El Hijo del Vikingo LIVE on TBS this Wednesday! pic.twitter.com/V8ouCwiJGU
Genuine question - is this something that legitimately wil detract from your enjoyment of the match?
People can google. By this time AEW has likely or will likely put out a hype video.
In the announcement alone they mention why the match was made.
These types of bad faith arguments are going to keep plaguing AEW.
100% of the people who heard about this match announcement are online. 100% of them likely are familiar or will Google moments later. Vikingo’s clips go viral all the time among wrestling twitter.
It’s not a “bad faith argument”. You are making massive generalizations and assumptions. I am online. I have heard about this match online. And I have no clue who Vikingo is and don’t plan on spending time googling him before Wednesday. I also have twitter and have never seen a clip with him or heard of him.
Having familiarity with a character is absolutely important to being invested in a wrestling match. It’s pro-wrestling. It’s scripted. We watch to see who wins or losses because we care about the characters.
When I (and likely most) of the audience have never heard of one of the participants it does reduce my interest in the match. I’m still sure it will be good. And Vikingo might make me a new fan. But if he’s not sticking around AEW it’s a bit of a waste of time.
I would have been more excited for Omega vs Malaki Black or Omega vs Jericho to continue the feuds from last week.
It’s been over three years of Dynamite. When has a big match ever disappointed? When has a big Omega match ever disappointed?
This is how they operate. The vast majority of their audience have no complaints.
The bad faith take is that “fans wil be lost if things aren’t spoon fed to them and they’re not building TV like WWE” essentially.
I haven’t watched a NJPW show since WCW Japan Supershow 3. Yet, I can see the excitement people have for talent coming into AEW shows and easily get excited. As a company, they haven’t disappointed in that regard. And it think most would agree?
I had never seen a Minoru Suzuki match, but the way an AEW crowd responded to him made me immediately realize this was somebody to pay attention to.
I had never watched Komander - but his work in the ladder match made me a fan.
People can enjoy a match that’s just a good match. Sometimes the story can be “two really talented wrestlers going at it 100%”
It’s exhausting to always see these arguments after anything is announced or there’s a debut and shit’s not spoon fed to fans. Every damn time.
To be fair nothing they have done has grown their audience. Ratings are the same or down, PPV buys are same or down and live attendance is down.
Maybe doing things the same way is what their core audience wants but I’m not sure delaying this a week was going to turn off any old fans with some build and perhaps doing something different might lead to new fans.
But as we know TK will TK. He has guys on his own show burying the product over and over again even though it’s not working like Dave says so he won’t change.
The match will be very good. But it’s not groundbreaking or biased analysis to say that they’re not maximizing the impact. They will pop a rating among the people already following AEW. If it’s really that big of a deal, then doing it as a hotshot “dream match” on free TV is not the way you build a larger audience.
This isn’t a fair comment. @RedRaider07 isn’t saying anything out of line or even that negative about AEW. People shouldn’t feel like they have to walk around on eggshells when it comes to AEW. It is a more then valid complaint from a fan of the product to want to know who a wrestler is when the company is scheduling a match on their #1 show.
I hate doing comparisons like this, but how many callups from NXT did we see in the Vince era where Vince just brought someone up from NXT with zero build, and the fans didn’t care. I realize the average AEW fan is much more invested online then the average WWE fan, but not everyone follows promotions like AAA, and its important to cater to those fans as well, unless your true goal is to keep your product niche.
I dont know a thing about Hijo del Viking, and I would have loved to see build for a week showing me who he is to get me to care more. Just being told “care about this, and don’t complain” isn’t going to get me emotionally invested.
I love AEW just as much as you do, I really do, but it feels like you just refuse to admit that stuff like this, is not in the best interest of the company.
Sure, we can all enjoy a match, that is just a good match. Or enjoy when a guy comes in that we have never seen and appreciate him. Thats all great, but then what?
They have too many matches, for the sake of just having a good match and they bring in too many guys as surprises, just for the sake of a dream match and this stuff doesnt build the audience.
What about the performers they already have that we barely get to see?
Why cant we get a big Kenny match against a member of the House of Black?
Why do we rarely get to see Swerve or Keith Lee or Eddie Kingston (and I dont even like Lee or Kingston) on Dynamite?
How is it so hard to come up with anything for Miro, but these outside guys get spots?
They finally brought back Stu Grayson and he is pretty great, but he will just be another guy who isnt used in a few weeks.
We can still have great matches as well as great stories, with the over abundance of people they already have on the roster. The guys they should be making fans care about and bring in a fresh guy with a week or 2 of build, once in a while.
I’ve always believe this is the way. Let the fans who don’t know the person be introduced with fan reaction or with a match that creates interest instead. Organically fans will either gravitate or not. Usually the less well versed fans will see more well versed fans get excited and mimics this or at the very least pay attention which probably does way more than video packages where it’s just another talent being brought in.
I just don’t think many fans need their hands held when presented a fresh match with an international star. WCW brought in Mexican and Japanese talent all the time and it worked - no long elaborate storyline needed.
Especially today when if you’re that confused you can find anything you want online. There are problems with AEW but bringing in talented wrestlers for high profile matches is not one of them.
It’s not even an AEW or WWE thing - just this past year alone Solo Sikoa, La Knight, Bronson Reed, Gargano, etc all showed up as surprise returns or debuts with zero build up. I think those have been mostly well done.
Hell Logan Paul main evented a ple after one match. I’m a fan of fresh matches and there are so many ways to present them.
Above all else I assume it’s something Omega wants. There has been chatter about him possibly leaving so they should be doing whatever they can to keep him happy.
I’m not even asking for a vignette, just something to make me care within the context of the show. I’ve truly never heard of this guy.
I’d be completely satisfied having Omega cut a promo this Wednesday talking about how he’s always wanted to face HDV, and maybe giving a brief backstory. Issue a challenge for the following week, I’m good. You can even have the announcers talk him up for a couple minutes.
Look, this isn’t the worst thing in the world by any stretch, this is hardy something I’m “upset” about. But I don’t think it’s fair to criticize fans for wanting slightly better build when they don’t know the person.
There is a big difference between guys debuting and then being on the show weekly afterwards and guys who debut and then are not seen again in weeks, months or never again.
At least we get the opportunity to care about those guys.