You gotta think that this TV deal has got to be announced soon definitely by the end of Double Or Nothing
The problem with booking for the marks is that at casual fans won’t gravitate to what the marks like. If that was the case NXT would be 10 times better then they are right now, ROH would be able to sell out Madison square garden anytime during the year not just when all the marks are in town for wrestlemania.
I get that AEW as to get his feet under them and so that have to start with the marks and booked for them, but is really by trying to get guys like Orton and Lesnar that they will booked for the marks? Hell no. And what happens when they finally get to a point where they have done all they could for that fan base and they have to change the product to get the more casual fans?
I’m all for them going after the marks in the beginning but they need to go booked for everybody within the first year to grow beyond the fanbase they have right now.
Appealing to your core fan base is a good move, especially when you’re starting out. As you get established, a company can try to broaden it’s audience. But an effort to appeal to the casual, WWE wrestling fan, right away would be incredibly misguided.
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I would argue NXT has grown into what it is because they have booked for the hardcore fan and because it’s got such acclaim it was able to turn into a viable touring brand and be something Fox may want to invest in. The ground swell that is so organic in NXT is the Mark audience and the growth is the more casual fan gravitating to what they hear is good wrestling and storytelling.
But yes, will it ever get mass appeal? No, and that’s because WWE decides to tweak its characters when they debut them for the main roster.
Hunter has said as much. What works in NXT is different than Main Roster, yet the overwhelming feeling is most NXT call ups are half of what they could be or were in NXT and therefore never reach the Over territory we think they could.
So AAA is AAAllElite
Hope “The Big Man” Reeback joins AEW tonight.
We already know that guy is a troll. There’s no point responding to him, even if you are right.
Extremly happy to see Sonny Kiss joining the roster. Dude is an incredible talent, and I’m happy for him.
I don’t know how he will play on big stage. His gimmick is super indy and I don’t know how network officials will feel about him doing it on their channel in prime time. He might have to tone it down a bit.
I would love to him in WWE just to see how the gimmick would get over and how much legs it has. I personally find him disgusting and don’t want that on my wrestling show. I loved Goldust but Sonny is just too much for me.
If you’re comparing Sonny Kiss to Goldust, I think you don’t get or understand Sonny at all as a talent or a human being.
Having booked Sonny many times over the years, I’ve seen him connect with fans who see him as representation in a form of entertainment that has largely looked down upon them for their entire fandom.
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Yeah I get it I just find him as a human and as a wrestling character to be gross and off putting. I think he is a horrible ambassador for the LGBT community and I imagine many in the LGBT don’t want him representing them.
What he does is super indy and has very limited shelf life. I put what he does up there with the penis druids.
The more i find out about this promotion the less interested i am in the final product. I don’t consider myself a Hardcore wrestling fans or a marks but i’m not a casual fans either, i’m kinda in between those 2 groups but really, nothing gets me excited about this project at this time.
If they have a tv deal and it’s playing in canada, maybe i will take a look at it just by curiosity if they’re nothing else on tv at the same time but for now, they really don’T have anything that’S appealing for me.
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There is a lot of weight on the shoulders of the Bucks, Kenny, Cody and Jericho to help establish the rest of the talent. It will be very interesting to me if what helped New Japan will help AEW.
Come for Omega and the American guys, stay for Okada and Naito and Tanahashi.
The difference being the level those Japanese guys are compared to some of the signings for AEW.
Pentagon, Fenix, Pac, Hangman, those guys are who will need to keep fans coming back. And if an MJF or somebody like that can break through ala Jay White it’ll be big. But that’s a big IF
I am losing interest as well. Jericho and Omega are big signings, but the rest of the announcements they have made have been kind of underwhelming. Maybe they are saving some big surprises for further down the line.
The whole way they are presenting AEW comes across as smug to me.They are acting as if AEW is the greatest thing ever to happen to wrestling, and they haven’t even had one card officially under its banner yet. Will this be sustainable as a year round promotion? I hope it does for the sake of the business, but that remains to be seen.
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There also the fact at less for me, i don’t know who 90% of these wrestlers are since i don’t really follow wrestling outside WWE. I know Cody and Jericho because of their WWE run, The young bucks i know them from their TNA run mostly and Omega is mostly by name only as the only stuff i saw of him was when he started is career in winnipeg and some of his stuff in Deep south. So i know they got better as the years when on but yeah. Out of the rest of the guys i know pentagon and Fenix but i’ve heard they’re not exclusive to AEW as they are still able to go to other promotion so why bring them in if they’re not going to be full time guys and will help your competition as well.
Again, right now, everything feel bush league to me but again i’m not the target demographic they are after right now. The want the IWC crowd and those that consume a lot of wrestling. I don’t i try to watch as little wrestling as possible. So yeah, in a way i hope this work for everybody involve and it’s not a scenerio where AEW kills every other indy promotion in the process because this would be bad for the business.
I am really confused by so many of the responses. I don’t know what anybody was expecting out of the rally yesterday?
They’re clearly doing a slow roll-out. They are promoting the May event with a small series of promotional events… such as the rallies, etc.
People would be complaining if they hired a bunch of ex-WWE names - but I am pretty sure all of those people are the same ones who are “underwhelmed” or whatever by the signings they did have.
They are signing up talents who have done what the Bucks, Cody, and Kenny have done. Guys and girls who have over the last few years, bet on themselves and built up followings based on their own work. From the Lucha Bros, to Best Friends, to Sonny Kiss, to Janela.
It’s a long way till May… and longer till the Fall, when any TV deal would likely start. They are parceling out news and signings.
First rally was the launch and Jericho. This event was about Kenny signing, and setting up the first matches.
I also find it funny and sad, and more than a little suspect how a couple of LGBT+ personalities have been announced as on the roster, and suddenly a bunch of people have suddenly “lost interest”.
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So the most legit signee is a 50 year old japanese woman.
And I could make a joke about the Trans woman…but this place can’t handle that.
You dont know the fanbase do you? They’re all not going to be forward thinking or care about social justice…best thing about pro wrestling is how its really the only genre of entertainment that spreads axross both spectrums of political and social ideologies.
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I don’t follow much wrestling outside of WWE, and even when it comes to modern WWE I have a hard time following it regularly. I don’t watch Japanese wrestling. I prefer classic wrestling from the '80s and '90s over the modern product, so I am likely not in AEW’s target demographic either. I think competition is what WWE needs to better its product and hopefully AEW will give that.
Hopefully The Bucks, Omega, and Cody don’t get a free pass from the IWC to book themselves winning and main eventing all the time when they are also Executive Vice Presidents of the company. Triple H would be crucified by the IWC if he did that.
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Yeah I openly admit I find trans people and whatever Sonny Kiss is to be pretty off putting. I know a lot of people are going to hate on me for it but I’m just no that progressive of a person. Sue me