For me, I’m not that interested in Clash at the Castle. All Out looks great, but I’m most intrigued by Worlds Collide. Now that’s mostly because of how much I love NXT UK, and hoping it gets a decent send off. Mind you I’m aware in all likely hood they’ll just all lose to send it away, but I’m hoping lol
I’m interested in All Out the most because I think it will have best card, but Clash at the Castle will have that big stadium atmosphere and some potentially strong matches itself. I think I’m more interested in how the AEW World and Trios Titles will shake out than whether Reigns will lose to McIntyre (which would still be a big moment).
Worlds Collide looks set with a tight five title matches, but because of All Out I’m not sure if I’ll be able to watch it live. At least I have off Monday for Labor Day.
Despite a not so great build I am most looking forward to All Out. I do think the actual wrestling will be great and am hoping something major happens with MJF.
WWE has been a lot better but I’m still not invested enough to care about their “premium live events”
This is absolutely a valid reply. I will not be ordering All Out because its on a Sunday night and right now that is reserved for watching House of the Dragon with some friends. I could order All Out after but that would mean starting a 4+ hour PPV late and likely not getting done until at least 1am. At which point I’ll probably have been spoiled on any surprises.
I’m sure there will be excellent wrestling on the show. But AEW is almost hurt by the fact that they have excellent wrestling every week on Dynamite that doesn’t cost $50.
I also probably won’t watch Clash at the Castle live either. But considering I already do have Peacock I do think I will check it out at some point on Saturday. I’m expecting the buzz after the show to be positive enough for it to be worth watching the highlights.
A year ago it WWE ran any show against All Out, my answer would have been All Out, and All Out 2021 was my Show of the year. This year, not the case as I am nowhere near as invested as I was a year ago. I was over Mox as champ during his last title run, so to see him with the title again when there are so many other guys I would love to see get a run is disheartening and has turned me off. I’m sure All Out will be a good show in ring, but I just don’t care that much. Funny, I used to say this about WWE all the time.
Clash on the other hand has my interest. I can’t say I’m super pumped, but I am excited to see Roman vs Drew as they have gotten me to believe there is a chance Drew is able to take the title. I know the chances are small, but they have done a good enough job to suspend my disbelief.
Speaking as somebody who won’t be able to watch either live… I am more interested in Clash at the Castle because of the Reigns/McIntyre main event and the feeling for the first time in a while that there might be a significant title change.
But if you go match-by-match, I think it’s about even as far as how many I really care about: 3-of-6 for Clash and 5-of-10 for All Out with the potential World Title match making it 6-of-11.
I think the line-up looks great on paper, and they’ve been on a streak with big shows.
I also am very curious to see what they do facing for the first time, a vocal fanbase that’s questioning a lot of what they do / the momentum that WWE has picked up in the eyes of some fans. I think as a promotion they are incredibly self-aware, and will do their best to change the “narrative”. I see a big angle coming out of this show to grab some buzz. Something involving MJF is the obvious choice.
I can’t disagree with you, Alex. That AEW advantage seems to be fading away.
Personally, Clash at the Castle is more appealing because there’s a novelty to it. It’s a different place which will get different reactions. Plus it’ll look different, feel different and maybe we’ll get a giant AR Tom Jones graphic to go with the dragon.
FWIW, I’m kind of burned out on AEW at the moment. There’s an unintentional staleness that keeps growing and growing. It’s not that the in-ring competitors are talented and putting on good matches (they are!) but that formula can feel repetitive if you’re into wrestling for stories, crazy novelties and gags n stunts like I am.
I’ll probably stick my beak in on All Out night because I’m a weak-willed wrestling fan, but I would gladly take someone up on an offer to go to the movies instead.
Yeah I mean a lot of it isn’t their fault. They can’t control scandals and change in management in the other company.
Personally I think when Cody went over it switched the narrative. Suddenly WWE was the place anything could happen and it built off there.
AEW has amazing matches. It’s just how many amazing matches with crazy flip dives etc can you watch before you want more. It starts to feel to NJPW - too much of the same stuff. Even if it’s good it’s not engaging.
It also doesn’t help that Wardlow and FTR and in essentially throw away non storyline programs. Both deserve better. I don’t even understand why the tag titles are defended against The Acclaimed.
When they had MJF and some Cody stuff they had compelling storylines. Right now it just seems like great matches and less story.
I think after the injuries they will get back on track. Or else they will continue to fall. It’s not enough to have great matches anymore.
I think you’re right that AEW is very good at listening and changing the narrative (occasionally guilty of too much fan service for my liking; but if it works, it works). So I expect multiple surprises (returns or debuts) and big-time matches over the next few weeks, including All Out. They got a ton of talent and they’re smart enough to let them “do their thing” in the big moments. If you have Mox/Punk/Danielson, etc. you just let them work and enjoy the results.
In the end, I think we’re still talking about two different products and two increasingly tribal fanbases. It’s a very small percentage of fans that aren’t already destined to prefer one over the other, either because of their personal taste or because they’ve decided that AEW > WWE or vice versa, no matter what.
Number one on my viewing list 100% will be House of the Dragon.
As for wrestling, Clash at the Castle cannot come soon enough for me. I just love WWE stadium shows. They are always so well done. More than Roman vs Drew, I’m looking forward to Gunther vs Sheamus, Rollins vs Riddle and Edge & Rey vs Judgement Day. There’s also the 6 women tag and potentially Sasha and Naomi showing up. What role Sami will play on the show. Who else returns? Bray Wyatt please. This will be so good.
I’ve still got no interest in WWE, I’m quite surprised so many people seem so hyped for it because the line up is nothing special (as someone who gets all their intake from wai and john).
It does sound like WWE have been doing better PPV’s and I totally understand the attraction of watching them on the WWE Network over paying for All Out.
I’ll be watching All Out, I’m interested in Punk vs Moxley (I loved the 3 min squash, Mox deserved it after a great run). The trios is gonna be awesome, I wont lis the matches off but all but the Hook match will likely be excellent and Hooks will probably be fun enough to fill 2 minutes.
Enjoy your weekends! I feel for John and Wai having to watch it all.
I think with clash of the castle it’s because it’s the likely end of the biggest and longest title reign in modern history. It’s like witnessing when Sammartino lost the title or Hogan did the first time, you know it’s going to be something to remember when Roman finally loses and it’s probably happening.
I have the opposite effect yesterday – I did not like CM Punk promo. The first part of it was really weak with him coming out like a despondent loser. The second part once he got fired up was good but I didn’t like all the Chicago stuff. Most of the audience, including all of us watching on TV could give a fuck about Chicago. I think he needed something more about his own desire to do this is not just because he’s in his hometown.
Anyway it didn’t increase my interest at all. I know I said I wasn’t gonna order for Forbidden door but was happy that I did, this will be probably the first AEW pay-per-view that I will skip. I really am not interested in a single match other than Jericho vs Bryan. The only thing Im interested in is seeing if MJF comes back (since Punk sadly has to win and it seems obvious he will) but I’m not going to order a pay-per-view just to see that
Is it really that big? Again I haven’t been watching but I listen to John and Wai and Drew has just been fighting butch and Shamus for what feels like forever and before that it was Baron Corbin.
I’d be with you if this was someone they’d been building for a long time.
I havent seen Dynamite yet, I’m really not a big Punk fan. I love the fans reaction and I can see why people love him (what he stands for to so many) but I’d be happy if Mox got to keep the title and MJF screwed Punk. You’re probably right though and AEW will give the fans their Summer/Autum of punk they always wanted and I’m sure it’ll be fun.
Enjoy Clash of the Castle pal, I’m sure its gonna be a fun weekend whatever people choose to watch…unless your the guy above whos watching Game of thrones or whatever
The entire weekend feels like a big deal for both companies. This feels like the biggest weekend since Mania. Very much look forward to big shows and raucous crowds.
I think Tony basically said that didn’t he saying something big is gonna happen? The only issue is MJF comes back to attack Punk – as almost everyone thinks he will – you have to then hold that match off for the pay-per-view or do another goofy thing like this.
MJF should win the title I would think. It
makes sense he should come back closer to the next pay-per-view to set that up. However you could also have them win the casino battle royale althouh
nobody cares about that match, or have him be delayed while punk fights that battle roysl winner and somehow drag this out for four months
I think looking back this experiment us going to be seen as a fail. I will saw without reservation that if they had not given me the match a week ago and instead hyped up Punk vs Mox this the week I may have bought it. I was looking forward to seeing that and more build would have likely put me over the edge.
But given when I saw a week ago and the really weak punk promo yesterday I’m just not into them enough to order. However I’m one dude - I’m not sure if others are going to feel this way as well – I guess we’ll see what the buyrates are.
I would be very wary of getting your hopes up for MJF. There has been no indication that he’s coming. And the online rumors that he would show up on last weeks Dynamite to explain why Punk vs Mox was happening really hurt that match because when it was short and MJF didn’t show up felt like a double let-down.
AEW has done a good job in the past of telegraphing but not spoiling debuts like Punk, Danielson and Cole. Or the recent return of Omega.
But I haven’t gotten any impression MJF is coming back from AEW. It’s just fan rumors. So I would not got my hopes up. Otherwise you will likely be let down but only by comparison with your own imagination.
