The rumors and gossip mill to dilute the interest and or over hype it will be interesting to watch this weekend. I fully expect some absurd rumor to hit Saturday night. It’s almost baked in to expectations this weekend as Content Creators try to go into business for themselves during the height of wrestling content on these PPV / Premium event weekends
@Alex_Patel how has betting against TK produced PPV buy rates worked historically? I will concede at some point you’ll be correct so I love the consistency. It touches my heart as a YOLO gambler myself
I think we possibly see something with MJF and Stokely Hathaway revealing some sort of super group designed to put the title on him.
Morrissey (bad signing) was a guy MJF hired. Ethan Page has also been someone “unhappy”. The Gunns can be the groups annoying fodder and be the stables tag team.
They have to bring the guy back for fall ratings so I expect a big angle, making all out totally worth it.
I’ll totally agree, I wouldn’t put any money on it!
I think most people will concede this year’s buyrayw will be less than the last All Out but that’s to be expected. I’m not sure they’ll ever top that
My guess is 125 K? I don’t think that’s a great number but if they’re more than that I’ll be surprised but he has surprised me before.
There’s also the NXT pay-per-view which will hurt a little bit, and all the hype from the Serena stuff and the weird Mox build with punk. Not sure how many people saw Dynamite as well.
I thought March Madness would kill Mania and it did not.
The NXT show feels like an entire afterthought with both Clash and All Out happening
I am disappointed in AEW not selling out All Out. Hasnt every prior All Out incl All In sold out? Woof. Has Chicago market peaked? Eventually it has to show signs of it
I think one of the major issues was the fact they were selling those unsold All Out tickets as being part of trio combo tickets, and only finally allowed them to be sold alone last weekend.
I mainly attribute that to them over saturating the Chicago market. Since Punks return, I feel like they have been there for TV/PPV like 5 times.
Then you add in the honeymoon period being over and WWE creatively actually being competitors, and I think this is what you get. Bad optics though considering this is supposed to be their biggest show of the year, especially after last years amazing show on all levels.
I give no credence to WWE creative improvements impacting AEW live gates at least right now. Is there reason to believe 5 weeks of better WWE is making fans not want to go to AEW? Over time yes but considering price point of AEW tickets I’m not sure that’s hurting them yet.
I will say my own personal experience I am not in Chicago and was last year, and just recently realized pulling off Grand Slam will be challenging given cost of hotels and travel these days. At some point the economy will catch up with the traveling fans and pent up demand is drained (maybe already has) and that will hurt shows that previously did a ton of traveling audience. Something I’ve been nervous about with $WWE who plays at larger scale than AEW (price points and venue sizes)
I dont think it’s a major factor, but I do think it plays into it. I do agree though, WWE creative being better will have more of an impact over the long term then it will in the short term.
The way I look at it, is the more options there are for us fans the less of a stranglehold any one promotion has over anyone. I think that when AEW burst on to the scene years ago, it hurt WWE in many ways. Not saying WWE struggled, but certain metrics were down which I believe AEW’s success factored into. Now that WWE is improving, I believe the same thing is happening.
For example, a fan on a budget living in the Chicago area 6 months ago may have said there was no chance in hell they would go to a WWE show, now, they may have to choose between the next WWE show and All Out.
I can’t prove I’m right as there is no real metric to prove or disprove my theory, but either way I love it. I love that we finally have two quality options at that level to choose from.
Id add and I have long thought AEWs live experience was such that it was a no brainer for a consumer of both to decide which show they’d attend when in the market. When AEW was an hour for me it was a MUST attend, especially after the Pandemic where they got more interesting in production and WWE relied solely on just being together again. But law of deminishing returns says on the 2nd or 3rd time through I’d be less likely to want to travel to the show. Accelerated by inflation impact on travel and consumer behavior. Meanwhile as noted above by @kliq the WWE will benefit from the new tailwind (positive factor) of favorable sentiment and new excitement on their product. It’s a more analytical look at the change in sentiment which I think numbers bear out. For example, AEW still crushes it every new market they visit. Cali + Toronto come to mind. Yet hitting NYC or Miami again for the 4th time in a year won’t yield same results as first time. Ditto everywhere else.
AEW should make use of long lines into their venues (a very fun communal experience in my personal experience) and get some atendee data. How many shows, did they travel to show, etc. They could also get this from Ticketmaster I’m sure but it would be most interesting to me with a real history of touring now.
Do you guys all think WWE is really that much better? I mean is it better then Vince, sure, but I don’t think it’s much better. Do you guys think it’s really improved THAT much?
After the initial interest in a Triple H led WWE, I’ve stopped watching again because the improvements weren’t worth accepting the over-production and camera cuts. From what I’ve read/heard about the shows I’ve missed combined with the talent re-signings Triple H has made and will continue to make, I don’t think I’m missing much, it doesn’t seem drastically different from Vince’s WWE (yet).
Having said that, I’m most looking forward to Clash at the Castle. The first big show here since Summerslam '92 has my interest for that alone, though big, unique stadium shows are always appealing. Especially as there’s a great chance there’ll be big title changes and good to great matches. Plus, I get to watch a live event at a decent time of day and I’m still open to seeing if WWE is going to start really moving in a new direction; maybe this event will be an ‘end of an era’ moment.
I’m looking forward to Clash at Castle & All Out. i will skip the live viewing of CAC & watch it Sunday afternoon with my friend. We will watch All Out live following our CAC watch along. He follows main roster WWE. He just started watching Dynamite earlier this summer so I’m curious to see his reaction to a AEW PPV. On the WWE show he wants to see the Drew vs Roman match & he is also a fan of Bray Wyatt so if that shakes out i want to see him lose his mind!
I work early Sunday so i hope i don’t hit the fatigue wall with All Out going late into Sunday night. I’m off Monday so I’ll catch up worlds collide on that day.
THANK YOU!!! Someone not being blinded. I am 100% in agreement. The shiw is definitely better and has a better flow, but people are so blinded by how bad the show was before, they actually think the WWE is “hot” right now.
I live in Cardiff and was super excited to hear the event was coming to the Principality. Bought tickets on release.
Its not got a great deal of buzz at all here though. I got given 4 free tickets this week and no one wanted them so I gave them back.
I saw no scenario where Drew was beating Roman and saw a standard Bloodline demolition finish but - Drew is literally doing all the media rounds. TV, and Radio everywhere and he was even on Welsh news last night - no one watches Welsh news! And he was in the hotel reception when I went to a business meeting yesterday morning.
Its now got me super excited for a Drew win (which i know wont happen)
It really is a great time to be a wrestling fan and I’m here for the ride. Sure, the industry may not be a in big, mainstream boom but it sure as hell in a better spot than 10-12 years ago.
Like I said, people are blinded by Vince being gone. That is why the ratings are up. Just because the ratings are up, doesnt mean it is hot. It is just people being suckers.
Yes the show is better. The flow is better. Matches mean more. Some of the titles are treated better. But it is sill the same boring WWE style of wrestling. Every guy has their 5 moves of doom that have to be hit in every match. It is a very robotic style and guys very rarely deviate from it. You see the odd time like the Edge destroyer, but its rare. Only now, theyve added the ridiculous shocked NXT face to every near fall.
The storylines are not noticably better. I like the Miz/Lumis story, but its pretty fucking ridiculous really and if it happened under Vince, people would put it up there as one of the worst of the year. Someone gets kidnapped and doesnt want to speak out and its laughed at? Everyone in the world can see Dexter Lumis, except for Ciampa and Kevin Patrick?
You had months knowing that Drew would challenge for the title at Clash at the Castle and you have the most basic build for him? The video packages are tremendous, but who gives a shit? The Bloodline/Sami and Owens stuff is way better.
The atmosphere at WWE shows is is still horrendous for the most part, 90% of the shows the crowd is dead for, except for the people are they consider stars.
Anyways, that is only my opinion and what I see. I definitely dont fast forward as much as i used to. It is more watchable now, but I dont get the feeeling I get when watching AEW where I am always hyped after Dynamite.
There is something about the pacing of Dynamite that while frantic does shoot adrenaline into me as a wrestling fan. With Raw or Smackdown I often feel like the presentation of long entrances interrupted by long other things just makes it a long slog. Even if it makes a lot more sense segment to segment
