The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Try and get everyone over and no one gets over or however that saying goes. Focus on the key acts.

Feel like I say it every week, not enough Team Tazz. Or Britt Baker. Or Max Caster videos.

I really dig Tay Conti's Dustin style selling but my God she must have the worst Nearfall Face in wrestling.  

Edited April 8, 2021 by Mr Butternut Squash

[BrodyGraham]

2 hours ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

 

I really dig Tay Conti's Dustin style selling but my God she must have the worst Nearfall Face in wrestling.  

There's something that bugs me about Tay Conti and it feels ridiculous to bring up, but she has really lazy arms. Like in transitions and stuff she kind of meanders around with her arms flopping by her sides like a huffy teenager who's been asked to bring the bins in. She's the only person I really notice it with but I'm genuinely surprised that no one else brings it up. Proper kills my immersion in her matches.

[Yakashi]

For someone with as few matches as she’s had I think she’s pretty damn good all things considered. She’s Improving super fast so hopefully these things get ironed out too. WWE dropped it big time with her. I think she could be something.

[HeavyT]

8 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Biggest take away for me from Dynamite this week was The Pinnacle getting beaten down, virtually buried in a promo by Jericho and finally being run off partly by an obviously knackered Mike Tyson. 

Not a good look for Corbyn. 

Nah mike tyson sold more opvs in a night for an exhibition thsn aew would in a year. Hes one if the most recognised athletes in the world. It was a bit lame but i bet it gets more YT views than anything else on the show.

And jericho always looks like shit but he looked baked af with his promo.

My main gripe with AEW is too many guys. They need to realise who has potential and focus on them, not ram it all in every week.

Edited April 8, 2021 by HeavyT

[Yakashi]

This weeks rating with an advertised Tyson appearance was the shits. Shaqs appearance has meant less than nothing in the long run as their ratings keep  going down since he’s been on. Bad Bunny has meant zero to WWE that anyone can see so far and Logan Paul meant nothing to smackdown despite being advertised.

 

I think, with very few exceptions, celebrities just don’t mean anything to the tiny amount of us that are still watching this stuff. Those days seem to have passed.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Yakashi

[Chris B]

Everything felt just a step off on this show. Not terrible or anything - just nothing really clicked either. Hoping Tyson will be done and gone sooner rather than later. 

Bucks going properly heel is overdue. This was a building show - if they can move in a better direction, it'd be good. 

I really want a Jungle Boy / Omega match at some point, ideally for the title. 

[HeavyT]

Call me old fashioned but i want a heavier, older jungle boy when he gets to that level. TNT first.

[LaGoosh]

6 hours ago, Yakashi said:

This weeks rating with an advertised Tyson appearance was the shits. Shaqs appearance has meant less than nothing in the long run as their ratings keep  going down since he’s been on.

It was definitely below their usual rating of approx 700k but it wasn't a massive drop. The lineups the past few weeks have been fairly uninspiring and they were up against NXTs big show so a drop is surely to be expected. I don't think AEW expect Tyson to bump ratings, he does give them mainstream exposure though. Additionally if you look at the combined viewers of AEW and NXT this week it's the same number of people watching wrestling every Wednesday. Just this week people chose NXT over AEW. If they start dropping viewers when unopposed then yeah they should start to worry.

Personally, I just can't wait for them to get out of Dailys Place and in front of real crowds. That venue basically saved the company but I'm so sick and bored of it now. Proper crowds will help the shows immensely. 

[DavidB6937]

7 hours ago, Yakashi said:

This weeks rating with an advertised Tyson appearance was the shits. Shaqs appearance has meant less than nothing in the long run as their ratings keep  going down since he’s been on. Bad Bunny has meant zero to WWE that anyone can see so far and Logan Paul meant nothing to smackdown despite being advertised.

 

I think, with very few exceptions, celebrities just don’t mean anything to the tiny amount of us that are still watching this stuff. Those days seem to have passed.

But the celebrity appearances aren't really for us fans that are still watching are they? I don't really follow that logic.

They're to gain exposure in areas these companies don't normally get. Whether that translates to consistent increased ratings or not is another thing but I don't think the worth of a Bad Bunny or Shaq appearance is really measured by that by the higher ups. I'm sure they'd hope for a bump in the ratings sure, but they'll want the articles and the social media mentions etc. They know they're not losing the fans they've already got by doing it so they don't have a huge amount to lose by taking the risk apart from money and clearly both companies think that approach is worth whatever they splash out.

[Jimmyjokerz]

11 hours ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

Try and get everyone over and no one gets over or however that saying goes. Focus on the key acts.

Feel like I say it every week, not enough Team Tazz. Or Britt Baker. Or Max Caster videos.

I really dig Tay Conti's Dustin style selling but my God she must have the worst Nearfall Face in wrestling.  

Completely agree! Just feels like the tv show features way too many people....in way too many factions....and just comes across as chaotic 

[Yakashi]

2 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

But the celebrity appearances aren't really for us fans that are still watching are they? I don't really follow that logic.

They're to gain exposure in areas these companies don't normally get. Whether that translates to consistent increased ratings or not is another thing but I don't think the worth of a Bad Bunny or Shaq appearance is really measured by that by the higher ups. I'm sure they'd hope for a bump in the ratings sure, but they'll want the articles and the social media mentions etc. They know they're not losing the fans they've already got by doing it so they don't have a huge amount to lose by taking the risk apart from money and clearly both companies think that approach is worth whatever they splash out.

Here’s Dynamites ratings starting with the Shaq match up until now. 
 

934, 743. 768. 757, 700, 688.

Now I’m not saying that anyone has stopped watching because of Shaq. But it’s clear that he brought no new fans to the show. So for all the supposed exposure and publicity and articles and google trends, it’s meant nothing as AEW have gained no new fans at all. I guess it could help with sponsorships or something but that’s probably something we’ll never know unless Tony tells us. And What’s the point in Twitter mentions when your popularity actually goes down after the fact? Maybe it’s because those extra viewers Shaq brought were all old people (all gains were 50+, 18-49 was actually worse than the previous 2 shows so less young people wanted to watch the show with him on) and the old guys just didn’t like the show and never tuned in again.

 

Now, there are instances of course where it’s worth it. Ronda did nothing for WWEs popularity. No new fans, fan related business continually tanking etc. But they signed her when they were negotiating tv deals and she made a ridiculously huge difference. So I get it’s not all about ratings or tickets or PPVs. But AEW haven’t had something like this happen. There’s no evidence that anything has been benefited from having Shaq or Tyson on the shows yet.

 

Maybe if AEW used young mainstream stars for once instead of all these guys from the past it might work as their product is better suited to younger people than WWEs. Maybe someone like the Paul brothers would mean something for AEW as they have more synergy with their audience, existing and potential. 
 

Or, the more likely scenario is that wrestling is dying and it’s almost impossible to get new people to care no matter what they do.

 

 

[LaGoosh]

1 minute ago, Yakashi said:

Now I’m not saying that anyone has stopped watching because of Shaq. But it’s clear that he brought no new fans to the show. So for all the supposed exposure and publicity and articles and google trends, it’s meant nothing as AEW have gained no new fans at all. I guess it could help with sponsorships or something but that’s probably something we’ll never know unless Tony tells us. And What’s the point in Twitter mentions when your popularity actually goes down after the fact? Maybe it’s because those extra viewers Shaq brought were all old people (all gains were 50+, 18-49 was actually worse than the previous 2 shows so less young people wanted to watch the show with him on) and the old guys just didn’t like the show and never tuned in again.

It's for exposure and product awareness. In reality, TNT probably paid for it as a way to get publicity for both Dynamite and Shaqs NBA show. If AEW want lucrative sponsors they need to get mainstream media exposure. If AEW gets a shitload of Twitter mentions that is something that will attract sponsors and licensing deals. The problem with being the new wrestling company is that people outside the wrestling bubble don't know who or what you are and having appearances from mainstream celebs is how you do this.

When WWE was doing their weekly celebrity guest hosts for Raw that made no difference to ratings either. But what it did do, and what was WWEs whole goal in doing it, was bring regular mainstream publicity showing that WWE was a media friendly, relevant and current product with a fanbase and it directly led to them getting a huge sponsorship deal with Snickers and Subway.

It's not all about the ratings. You have missed the point here.

[Yakashi]

1 minute ago, LaGoosh said:

It's for exposure and product awareness. In reality, TNT probably paid for it as a way to get publicity for both Dynamite and Shaqs NBA show. If AEW want lucrative sponsors they need to get mainstream media exposure. If AEW gets a shitload of Twitter mentions that is something that will attract sponsors and licensing deals. The problem with being the new wrestling company is that people outside the wrestling bubble don't know who or what you are and having appearances from mainstream celebs is how you do this.

When WWE was doing their weekly celebrity guest hosts for Raw that made no difference to ratings either. But what it did do, and what was WWEs whole goal in doing it, was bring regular mainstream publicity showing that WWE was a media friendly, relevant and current product with a fanbase and it directly led to them getting a huge sponsorship deal with Snickers and Subway.

It's not all about the ratings. You have missed the point here.

I literally said it’s not all about the ratings. I mentioned sponsorships and I mentioned tv deals. 

[LaGoosh]

I'm not sure what your point is here. You say there's no reason to bring in Shaq because he doesn't have any effect on the ratings while also talking about the ratings going down. Are they related or aren't they?

[Yakashi]

2 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I'm not sure what your point is here. You say there's no reason to bring in Shaq because he doesn't have any effect on the ratings while also talking about the ratings going down. Are they related or aren't they?

When did I day there's no reason to bring in Shaq? I said there's no evidence there's been any benefit to it. They absolutely should keep trying things. But there's no evidence these things have worked yet.