They should absolutely not have a women’s division. Stardom exists and was doing a great job - until the talent raid lol.
The women’s wrestling in AEW is hard to watch at times. Britt Baker is really bad. Like really bad.
I’m hoping it improves once Tessa arrives and some big WWE defections come if they are unhappy
Stardom exists… Unless WWE had their way.
Joey Ryan’s gimmick is great for indie events, and house shows but isn’t mainstream. I like the guy, he is a talented wrestler. I got to watch him at a indie show in Hamilton Ontario. I think the dick should be like the demon, shows up rarely but when it does there is some pageantry. It makes Ryan more than a one note pony.
With the dick flip spot being put on TV, I am not sure Impact is going for a mainstream market, not in the same way that AEW, and WWE are.
Cornette, he is just a guy with his head back in the territory days and the territory ways. He doesn’t like change, he feels his idea of wrestling is pure but doesn’t realize the styles evolve with the times. He is funny to listen to and sometimes makes a point or two, but so does my drunk uncle on Christmas Eve when he rants about how fruit cake is a blemish on an otherwise great holiday.
This is an all-time quote.
A bad example as I would take a Chevy Chase comedy movie over anything recent in a heartbeat.
… damn, now I need to watch Vacation in Europe for like 201-st time…
But that’s exactly the point.
Nobody is saying you’re wrong to enjoy a certain type of comedy. What would be wrong would be saying that that comics version of comedy is the only style people should be allowed to enjoy, and furthermore more that all other versions of humour are ruining comedy.
I think the difference is that the popularity of wrestling (at least for the larger promotions) is no where near what it used to be. As such someone could say what has been happening isn’t as good as what was. I’m not sure it would be accurate but in the case of Chevy chase you could point to sales numbers of those other performers and show that they are doing as well as he was. There isn’t a way to do that for anything in modern wrestling compared to its earlier incarnations. I think Cornette is a shock jock so he plays into the negativity with stupid humor and insults, but I’m not sure that he is wrong about it hurting the industry as far as main stream appeal when shows with larger platforms put out product that leans into the fact that wrestling is fake. People can enjoy whatever they want but it seems to me most people that want to watch wrestling at least want to pretend the matches are real battles (even though they know it’s fake) the Joey Ryan gimmick breaks that immersion. If you are going in looking for that style it won’t bother you, if you put it on the same show with say a Cody vs MJF blood feud I think it hurts that feud. That was my worry when AEW had that battle royal at double or nothing. That they would end up with guys like Moxley or Omega selling for Orange Cassidy. For me that would destroy my ability to buy into the product. They thankfully haven’t done that. So he is way over the top, but there is some level of truth to what he says, but it is a promotion by promotion thing for me. I think having comedy wrestling promotions is not an issue, I think crossing that stuff with more serious promotions is a potential issue for many people.
We keep talking about “mainstream appeal” and “casual fans” here. Maybe that is the problem. Chasing something (that may not exist) in some attempt to become the biggest company ever is perhaps not the best idea. There is room for other companies to make money, and get on TV. Maybe we should just admit wrestling is a niche product.
It is a niche product but even in niche markets there are mainstream/casual fans and smaller niche fans. I think companies can do whatever they like but if they are striving for being a top wrestling program then trying to appeal to the largest portion of the audience is key. I would think that part of the audience wouldn’t be huge Joey Ryan fans, or want Omega selling to Orange Cassidy. But I could be wrong in that assessment.
My impression is that most wrestling fans want characters that they can buy into with motivations they understand “fighting” semi-realistic matches. But maybe more people watch wanting silly comedy. My over aching point is I think promotions should pick a lane and stick too it. If you are going more serious do that and don’t also bring in silliness, if you are going comedy then don’t try to also be serious. Then the fans can pick the promotions they like. I think trying to do a little of everything to some extent pleases no one.
If I am AEW and I see between 2 and 3 million people tuning in to Raw, I am thinking of what things can improve my chances of attracting more of those fans while not hurting my rabid fan base. Which is what I think they are doing for the most part so far.
I was rushing in to post this but you beat me to it.
The guy is such a minor character in the history of wrestling.
Joey Ryan is one of the reasons why I have no interest in impact wrestling. The second is intergender wrestling.
I want to like them but I just can’t. I watched tna since the very beginning. They do have some good talent like Eddie Edwards, Elgin, and Brian Cage.
Cornette know wrestling good, but Joey is wrestling 2