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The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread


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15 hours ago, MVP RULZ said:

they dont seem to be drawing in any new fans to wrestling

It's still just the same anti/lapsed WWE Fans, Indy Fans etc who are watching.

There was something Meltzer said the other day about demographics, and one of the biggest growth areas for AEW has been women in households where someone already watches wrestling. Lockdown might be one of the reasons for that, but it seems like there's a lot of wives and girlfriends who have started watching AEW with their other half, when they had never watched wrestling before.

I have said before that, anecdotally, I have seen this to be the case - one of my best friends started watching AEW because her boyfriend watches it, having never had any interest in wrestling before, and loves Jurassic Express and Orange Cassidy. 

Whether it's substantial enough to make a difference, I don't know, but it doesn't look like the only people watching are people who watch indie wrestling, and there's enough difference between AEW and NXT viewing figures to suggest that it's not just people who would watch any wrestling on TV, either.

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12 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

That's the entire wrestling audience at this point. There are millions of former fans but they've been former fans for so long now, they're not coming back. To grow, they're going to need to attract new fans while retaining what they have. That's going to take a long time, probably years. If they're in it for the long haul, it's possible. Though it's just as possible that the arse falls out of the entire industry. We can't be too many more scandals away from that. 

I do wonder about that. WWE switched back to a family-friendly product on the basis that the industry moves in cycles, and that they were going to cultivate young fans again like they did in the 80s, who then grew up and were catered to in the Attitude Era.

That was back in, what? 2005? 2006? And it's been going for a while now. There must be a couple of generations of those kids now grown up looking for their own Attitude-style product, surely (though hopefully not too Attitude-style)?

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22 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

I do wonder about that. WWE switched back to a family-friendly product on the basis that the industry moves in cycles, and that they were going to cultivate young fans again like they did in the 80s, who then grew up and were catered to in the Attitude Era.

That was back in, what? 2005? 2006? And it's been going for a while now. There must be a couple of generations of those kids now grown up looking for their own Attitude-style product, surely (though hopefully not too Attitude-style)?

I've wondered this myself, albeit not enough to actually go into the archives and check the facts (although based on how much wrestling likes to inflate buyrates and attendances, I doubt that'd be much use). If you count 80s' fandom starting with Hulkamania at WM 1, that's 1985; I'd say 13 years later is when you count Attitude, the Monday Night Wars, etc. starting proper. If the official switch to PG was in 2006, those fans starting around then would have hit "attitude" age last year. Has anything changed significantly with WWE programming to match that supposed trend?

By the way, I'm aware that one 'cycle' does not a trend make, but it would be interesting to see if there genuinely were 10-15 year peaks, and what actually sparked them. I doubt they just magically happened and the industry was just waiting for fans to come back of their own accord. Rogers, Flair, Hogan, Austin, etc - that's your true pattern, I think.

Back to AEW, they absolutely need to cater for as many demos as poss, especially those that aren't being explicitly catered to by WWE. It's why I was a little disappointed by AEW's choice of opening toy line; you've got guys like Jurassic Express and the Lucha Bros that'd be perfect for the £5-10 toy market, and instead we got the same mo-capped overpriced collector shite as the opposition are trotting out, for the captain's wife and the Flying Elvises.  I get that you need some kind of design parity so toys are compatible with others on the market to encourage more buys, but I expected more imagination and vision that the EVPs uploading their photos to a custom site. Basically, I want a Butcher Hasbro. Gimme.

Can't wait for Mimosa Mayhem, just the kind of midcard goofery that Jericho will excel in to cap this OC feud off. I reckon it'll be like a citrus inferno match, and I can imagine now Jericho screaming as his face is pushed nearer and nearer a pool of chilled OJ. I love how straightforward the whole angle has been, just watching two opposites clash and having genuine fun with it. Whoever's putting together AEW's video game needs to make sure it has Stadium Stampede and Mimosa Mayhem modes, otherwise fuck those guys.

Promo gold from start to finish. MJF quivering, MJF's lawyer (who is that guy?), Moxley channeling his inner Jake Roberts, Starks showing how money he is, and Kingston's wink.

I think I'm getting a man crush on Cash Wheeler. Tully with the sleeves of his bomber jacket rolled up his forearms looks ten times tougher than sweater-vest Arn.

Main event was a revelation. Not being 100% into Dark Order, I checked the clock and saw 15 minutes to go and thought, OK, WWE main event time. But no. Just Cody eating a royal kicking for 5 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of brilliant angle. Lee proving to his minions he IS the Exalted One. The steady upswing in violence as Lee turned his and the DO's attention to the whole Nightmare family. STRAPS-DOWN BRODIE. Tipping the broken shards of the toy-town belt over Cody's broken body. Great, great stuff.

 

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21 minutes ago, CavemanLynn said:

By the way, I'm aware that one 'cycle' does not a trend make, but it would be interesting to see if there genuinely were 10-15 year peaks, and what actually sparked them. I doubt they just magically happened and the industry was just waiting for fans to come back of their own accord. Rogers, Flair, Hogan, Austin, etc - that's your true pattern, I think.

I've mentioned this before, but my pet theory is that wrestling booms are kickstarted by changes in either production or presentation, at least as much by any one individual star. If you look at every post-WW2 boom period, it's roughly;

1940s-50s: Advent of television
1980s: Change from regional to national TV, cable, PPV and increased production values; think WCCW having multiple dynamic cameras, music videos, etc., compared to what came before
Late 1990s: More change of presentation than production, but Attitude Era being very much of its time
Early '00s: Indie boom period kick-started by recording equipment and DVD production and distribution becoming more affordable
2010s: Second indie boom thanks to social media, streaming services, instant access to international promotions, etc.

It probably doesn't scan exactly, or hold up to much scrutiny, but I think it's rare that any one wrestling personality captures the attention of people outside the existing fanbase enough to bring in enough new fans to constitute a boom period. It requires something else, and that something else is in making the TV show itself feel exciting and new - and WWE haven't done that in a long time.

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38 minutes ago, CavemanLynn said:

Promo gold from start to finish. MJF quivering, MJF's lawyer (who is that guy?), Moxley channeling his inner Jake Roberts, Starks showing how money he is, and Kingston's wink.

That was 'Smart' Mark Sterling, an indie worker who comes from the same school/promotion as MJF, who works with Matt Cardona and Brian Myers on their wrestling figure podcast. I thought he did tremendous on Dynamite, I hope they keep him around as prominent part of MJF's entourage.

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6 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

That was 'Smart' Mark Sterling, an indie worker who comes from the same school/promotion as MJF, who works with Matt Cardona and Brian Myers on their wrestling figure podcast. I thought he did tremendous on Dynamite, I hope they keep him around as prominent part of MJF's entourage.

He's also been used in ring as enhancement talent and for backstage segments for Raw when they have been in the local area, so he's obviously made a business decision as I doubt they will want him back on Raw

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Given his two mates no longer work for wwe and likely helped him and the other Create a Pro school talent get work in the north east wwe events, he’s probably picked the right option for the next while at least 

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1 hour ago, Arch Stanton said:

That was 'Smart' Mark Sterling, an indie worker who comes from the same school/promotion as MJF, who works with Matt Cardona and Brian Myers on their wrestling figure podcast. I thought he did tremendous on Dynamite, I hope they keep him around as prominent part of MJF's entourage.

On a related note, and this may have been covered previously, any idea who portrays Smiley Nina? A very humorous running-gag.

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3 hours ago, BomberPat said:

There was something Meltzer said the other day about demographics, and one of the biggest growth areas for AEW has been women in households where someone already watches wrestling. Lockdown might be one of the reasons for that, but it seems like there's a lot of wives and girlfriends who have started watching AEW with their other half, when they had never watched wrestling before.

I have said before that, anecdotally, I have seen this to be the case - one of my best friends started watching AEW because her boyfriend watches it, having never had any interest in wrestling before, and loves Jurassic Express and Orange Cassidy. 

Whether it's substantial enough to make a difference, I don't know, but it doesn't look like the only people watching are people who watch indie wrestling, and there's enough difference between AEW and NXT viewing figures to suggest that it's not just people who would watch any wrestling on TV, either.

The same goes for my other half actually. Since lockdown started she's started watching Dynamite with me and generally enjoys it. She's a big fan of Santana & Ortiz, Britt Baker (despite having never seen her wrestle) and, like your friend, Orange Cassidy. 

I've no idea whether or not she'll keep watching once things become more normal, but at the very least she's a short-term convert. 

Edited by RedRooster
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2 hours ago, Louch said:

Given his two mates no longer work for wwe and likely helped him and the other Create a Pro school talent get work in the north east wwe events, he’s probably picked the right option for the next while at least 

Pat Buck, who runs the school with Myers is an agent for Raw and attack victim of Nia Jax to boot. But if this gets him a regular gig with AEW and MJF, i'd jump too

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2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

The same goes for my other half actually. Since lockdown started she's started watching Dynamite with me and generally enjoys it. She's a big fan of Santana & Ortiz, Britt Baker (despite having never seen her wrestle) and, like your friend, Orange Cassidy. 

I've no idea whether or not she'll keep watching once things become more normal, but at the very least she's a short-term convert. 

I know round my way a certain Mr Page has put a lot of female eyes on their product.

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It's definitely a smart thing to do, especially with producers of all sorts of media offerings recognising that there might be a bigger market out there than previously acknowledged. @Chris B has mentioned this before, but wrestling has missed out from going all-out to aim for the Pink Pound - with the advent of a few gay characters recently, it shows things are changing, but it's still slow and grudging. DragonGate led the way back in 2005 - they aimed their product at young women by focusing on the pretty boys like BxB Hulk, Milano Collection AT, YOSSINO, et al, and giving it a Japanese pop culture theme with elaborate EDM and dance-based entrances. This approach has led to them carving out their own niche, and not just surviving as an indy holding their own against the might of NJPW, but actually thriving as a legit No.2 in the country, long after NOAH and AJPW lost out by trying to compete.

EDIT: Actually, looking at it a little more closely, it seems to me that AEW have a singular opportunity right now. As long as WWE is still run in accordance with Vince McMahon's view of things, a nearly-80 year-old man who still sees gays and women a certain way, Khan and co. have a chance to make AEW the "modern" wrestling company. They've already shown they can do this, with their progressive approach to non-neurotypical people with the sensory booths, making Nyla Rose their women's champion, and so on. But the window of opportunity is closing - WWE have shown that they're gradually evolving with the times, as has been seen with women main-eventing WM and the women's Rumble. Vince won't be around forever, so AEW need to get stepping into that space before WWE do it with their bigger budgets and reach.

Edited by Carbomb
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Isn't it an open secret that Omega and Ibushi are a couple? Not that Kenny should have to disclose his sexuality if he doesn't want to but if he is due a run with the big belt there could be a huge chance for AEW to show their diversity by having an openly gay heavyweight champion.

Again I just want to stress that just because they can doesn't mean Kenny should nor should any person ever feel pressured into revealing their sexuality/gender etc just to help a company show their diversity. 

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