Interesting tidbit from WON:
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They do have some massive crowds coming up (Revolution and Boston) but lots of soft ones including Toronto which was a sell out before.
I think the shows have been good so I’m not sure what else he can do about it but it does seem like he’s still being a bit of a carnie type in terms of acknowledging the issues.
I think Dave’s so clearly being fed info lately with a major agenda.
Literally last week, he was reporting that morale was super high in AEW. This week it’s “not so fast”.
He also had two stories debunked yesterday about Dreamer heading creative in TNA, and the rumour CMLL wouldn’t allow any other Mexican talent on AEW shows.
And even if you want to believe some are bummed about crowd size - what should Tony be publicly saying on it? "Oh, those crowds sucked! We won’t ever go back there!'.
They’ve clearly course corrected since late fall, and going back to a lot of things a great deal of their fanbase had wanted.
Everybody wants to jump to the idea they’re WCW in 2000. Why can’t they be WWF in 1996?
I think they are more WWF in 1996. To me at least this is the most interested I’ve been in the product since punk and Danielson came in.
You have three big new free agents coming in, you have the retirement show and you have a very hot face in swerve Strickland, who could be in the face of the company. They also for the first time have a legitimate women’s division now with timeless Toni and Marcedes.
Couple this with the fact that there are other big name, free agents, potentially coming up from WWE this year, who could jump ship and it’s an exciting time for AEW
The Toronto crowd I think also points to the fact it’s in the middle of March break. Like I would’ve completely bought tickets for that but my kids are home from school that week and I’m probably going somewhere.
I will say, however, the one problem with AEW, which I think applies to a lot of companies, is that Tony isn’t necessarily a likeable character. Like I don’t like Tony Kahn. I like AEW. Tony Kahn comes across too much like a message ball board troll.
Now, obviously, he’s not Vince McMahon or Dana White, and if Triple H knew what was going on He’s way better than him too, but I guess he doesn’t have the same likeability that Triple H and Shawn seem to have. I’m not really sure that affects the product too much but I would love it more if Tony dialled back his fandom message board personality and became a little more corporate.
Also, it’s like when people point to the fact that they crowds don’t compare to WWE they realize that they just had Roman reigns and the rock on the show. I don’t care who AEW has you can’t beat that star power.
Is that what he’s doing by focusing on positive business metrics and giving tangible reasons to explain how AEW is doing okay?
Saying that’s what Tony’s Twitter account is all about, is like saying Smackdown is all about Maxine Dupri matches. Yeah, it’s there, but it’s hardly what gets the most attention.
The Vancouver crowd for Collision in May is also going to be very strong. Which is pretty impressive considering the show doesn’t even air on cable here.
Crowds have been down overall though definitely. They have saturated the market and have run too many of the same places.
They also typically don’t announce any TV matches until the week of. And when you have a soft brand split it can then be hard for fans to know who will be appearing. That doesn’t help either
I feel you can search though almost any journalists history and find something they said or reported that looks bad in hindsight if your goal is to discredit them. Dave is universally thought of as the one of the most reliable sources of news in the industry.
It seems that any time a reporter says something negative about AEW you will either discredit them, or claim they have an agenda, while when it’s WWE, you will post every link and article you can find regardless of who posted it.
I agree that Tony had no responsibly to post on his Twitter about numbers being down, however I don’t think it’s fair to depict Meltzer as some “newz” reporter.
Drop ticket prices and get people back in the building by any means necessary. Hire a competent booker. Get rid of all the interchangeable masked lucha guys and ROH people nobody outside of forums like this cares about. Push and focus on your stars. Book and announce matches where the result may in some way be in doubt.
No more of this Adam Page vs Huechecharo and Moxley vs Kommander garbage. Like gee, I wonder who’s gonna win. But I’m sure it’ll be a “great match” and go on for 20 minutes and run off a hundred thousand viewers.
I’m sorry — I know there’s a contingent who doesn’t want to admit it, but nobody wants to watch that shit. And the numbers prove it.
To be honest, I don’t care that much if Tony acknowledges this type of thing publicly as long as behind the scenes with his inner circle he realizes it and isn’t in denial. AEW is a great product, but regardless of how great your product is, you always have to be thinking of ways to improve it.
I totally agree.
I hate moves and flips and non selling. I would rather watch an IRS headlock fest than watch another Komander rope walk and dive.
I don’t ever want to see another dive if I can help it
That being said if the match is built up well and a good story that uses highspots well then I’ll be invested.
But moves for the sake of the putting on a “good” match without any story or semblance of uncertainty about the outcome is an immediate fast forward.
The quality of the product has definitely turned around since the end of last year, but it takes time for that to be reflected in live attendances. Much like the principle that an episode’s TV rating is as much a referendum on the previous week’s ep than its own card, people often make decisions to buy or not buy a ticket based on reaction to the last time a band/show came through their town. In the short term, though, I’d continue to announce matches further out (which they have started doing over the past couple of weeks), and also being very clear in local advertising months out that you will see stars X, Y, and Z in two months time at the Schenectady Farmers’ Insurance Co-Op Coliseum or whatever. John Moxley, Swerve Strickland, Toni Storm, and all your other favourites will be in action three months from now, so buy great seats while you can. Doesn’t matter if they’re squashes or more substantive matches (booking needs to be reactive and flexible), and if you do have to do a bit of “card subject to change” closer to the date, so be it. If that means that some of the midcard and lowercard gets shunted to Rampage or ROH, so be it.
These are examples in the last week. Not going back years. Thanks for the response.
Very true and I think that’s TK’s biggest issue. Injuries, guys not wanting to do business and other things always come up.
Case in point the entire devil storyline. Started off as a decent idea but Cole got hurt and TK should have changed his original idea. Now we have an entire stable of wrestlers feuding with mid careers and led by a guy in a wheelchair
@TheBenjamin same here in London ON, not a great wrestling town, and it doesn’t air here and still a healthy number for Collision next month so far!
If I show clips of Conner McDavid missing a couple shots last week, does that make him a bad goal scorer? Of course not.
I’m not saying Dave gets it right 100% of the time, no journalist in this industry does when they are putting out stories based on sources, and people do make mistakes as human error is a thing. To judge a reporter and their credibility IMO should be based on their work as a whole. I’m sorry, but I think it’s wrong to dismiss Dave of credibility because he struck out a couple times. Now, am I saying that you have to take his word as gospel? Of course not, but the guy has a lot of credibility and is a part of the Post extended family and is someone both John and Wai speak very fondly of.
I tried to write what I did as respectful and non personal as I could, but I do feel there is a hypocrisy when it comes to when we can cite journalists here vs when we can’t as it very much seems to be specific to what’s being talked about, I’m sorry but I pointed that out as I feel that all topics should have the same set of rules when it comes to discussion.
I don’t understand why ticket prices are so high. Ice Cube was £130 in the UK but I got seat filler tickets for £20. Why not charge £50 for everyone.
All out is £27.50 at Wembley. Perfect 
I like Kommander and these guys but I’d rather they’d fight each other in a middle match or on Rampage not fight Mox in an obvious loss.
There are so many great wrestlers who aren’t even appearing like Keith Lee. It’s bizarre.
AEW is a brilliant product and it’s entertaining TV so I don’t wanna complain but it could be better I totally agree
I don’t think this will make any difference for AEW if they come in. Nothing against the three as they are all great, but nobody is complaining that AEWs issue is not enough talent and if Tony think that’s the problem, there is a bigger problem.
I think they may have some impact, and I feel better about them then Edge. I knew Edge would have no impact because his return is basically worn out it’s welcome and people really just want him to go away at this point. And he doesn’t look like his old self anymore.
We haven’t seen Mercedes wrestling in a long time so there’s definitely appeal and she can boost that women’s division.
Osprey and Okada are different – they have the potential to really build for huge pay-per-view matches but I don’t think they’ll make as much difference to weekly TV though.
However, I do think they’ll be a lot of interest in seeing Mercedes since she hasn’t wrestled in a while.
I think the people who are watching will be pumped for all three, but my question is will any of these three get the people who aren’t watching to watch? I think the people that love Okada and Osprey are already watching and going to shows.
Mercedes may be a bit different, but for her to actually be a difference maker Tony needs to actually focus on the women.
