The AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite Thread

[Yakashi]

To be fair, they would have beaten AEW handily had the football not drew like 20m people. If they didn’t hotshot all the title stuff I dread to think what the number would have been.

[Guest]

When Hook wrestles they need to ban any strikes to the face or hair 

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, Yakashi said:

To be fair, they would have beaten AEW handily had the football not drew like 20m people. If they didn’t hotshot all the title stuff I dread to think what the number would have been.

What was the excuse for getting beat last week when there was no MNF game on?

[DavidB6937]

5 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

What was the excuse for getting beat last week when there was no MNF game on?

No one gave an excuse last week. But if people are going to get obsessed with ratings then it's fair to view them in context. MNF isn't an "excuse". It has been an issue for Raw for far longer than AEW has existed.

[The Gaffer]

Sure look, it may be low down schadenfreude with mitigating circumstances permitting, but there's something amusing about the idea that Vince is blowing a gasket about this somewhere. Hopefully it leads to more crazy hotshotting from the other side. TNT must be delighted with it.  

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

No one gave an excuse last week. But if people are going to get obsessed with ratings then it's fair to view them in context. MNF isn't an "excuse". It has been an issue for Raw for far longer than AEW has existed.

LOL.

MNF pulled in 20m viewers. What were they watching last week? Fucking wasn't Raw.

They've had 8 months of no football on Mondays and gotten themselves into a position where they're drawing terribly come the big new TV seasons. AEW and NFL are irrelevant to the argument. 

[Yakashi]

7 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

What was the excuse for getting beat last week when there was no MNF game on?

There is no excuse. They got beat last week. Stop being  a nob.

[sukhy]

8 hours ago, JNLister said:

So AEW beat Raw in the key demo with a main event featuring two guys who just got cut from WWE's developmental show.

Raw got a TASTE

[Matthew_90]

There’s obviously a number of factors that have led to this but perception is reality as Vince loves to say. If the ratings continue to look like this for the next couple months it will only further legitimise AEW to TV execs and in the media. That’s why booking Omega-Dragon for next week makes so much sense, strike while the irons hot. TV is the biggest money maker these days and they’ve never been hotter than they are now.

[Hannibal Scorch]

23 minutes ago, Yakashi said:

There is no excuse. They got beat last week. Stop being  a nob.

I’m not the one making stupid statements, allowing me to point out how stupid your take is.

[WyattSheepMask]

Omega/Bryan being a non-title match doesn’t damage it one bit, which an argument I’ve seen a few people having “elsewhere”. 
It doesn’t matter if Bryan made the challenge or not, you can’t make a song and dance against Wins & Loses mattering, Ranking Systems and Eliminator Tournaments just to have someone waltz in and say “I challenge you to a title match” for their first match. If Bryan did that then everyone would be able to, it completely undermines everything they’ve been doing the last 2 years.

Instead, you’ve got a logical story of Bryan wins the challenge match, then works his way up through the rankings to earn a title match down the line, be it against Omega or not. If they’ve switched the belt in that time it gives Bryan a fresh match/feud, if not then you’ve got the built-in story “I’ve beaten you once, I can beat you again”.

Edited September 17, 2021 by WyattSheepMask

[Supremo]

Even if you’re the biggest hardcore WWE fan in the world, the more AEW beat them in the demo the better it is for everyone. I can’t imagine there was a single person watching on Monday who was annoyed they got Big E winning the Title instead of whatever throwaway tag they were planning to main event with. Long may this continue. Next week will probably be a massacre. It’s going to be wild.

[Yakashi]

24 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I’m not the one making stupid statements, allowing me to point out how stupid your take is.

It’s a stupid take to say that literally the only reason Raw didn’t beat AEW this week is because a football game with 20m viewers cannibalised their their audience? Even though it’s demonstrably proven by facts? Also, as the final calculations are being made, it looks like Raw actually did beat AEW, even with the football game.

Raw is a terrible show and has had an audience drop in line with its quality. Eventually I think AEW will be beating them regularly. But this is an anomaly as you well know. Outside of a fake wrestling war, no one would think different.

[RedRooster]

14 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Omega/Bryan being a non-title match doesn’t damage it one bit, which an argument I’ve seen a few people having “elsewhere”. 
It doesn’t matter if Bryan made the challenge or not, you can’t make a song and dance against Wins & Loses mattering, Ranking Systems and Eliminator Tournaments just to have someone waltz in and say “I challenge you to a title match” for their first match. If Bryan did that then everyone would be able to, it completely undermines everything they’ve been doing the last 2 years.

I can't remember the last time I was as excited for an episode of wrestling television as I am this episode of Dynamite. Ahead of All Out, I felt kind of ambivalent about the card, and then it turned out to be one of my all time favourite PPVs. The cards for Dynamite and Rampage next week, for me, are even stronger. Each show has tremendous potential. 

6 minutes ago, Yakashi said:

It’s a stupid take to say that literally the only reason Raw didn’t beat AEW this week is because a football game with 20m viewers cannibalised their their audience? Even though it’s demonstrably proven by facts? Also, as the final calculations are being made, it looks like Raw actually did beat AEW, even with the football game.

Raw is a terrible show and has had an audience drop in line with its quality. Eventually I think AEW will be beating them regularly. But this is an anomaly as you well know. Outside of a fake wrestling war, no one would think different.

I don't think "fake wrestling war" is particularly accurate. It may be a wrestling war that WWE is choosing not to acknowledge, certainly in public and perhaps even in private, but it undoubtedly affects them, particularly when it comes to their next TV rights deal. WWE didn't have a rival for bidders to compare its rating to when the last set of deals were negotiated, and the fact of the matter is that TNT is getting far more bang for its buck than either USA or Fox. Then there's a very real prospect of WWE losing top stars. What if, for example, Roman Reigns or Becky Lynch felt excited about the idea of the creative freedoms a move to AEW would bring? I don't think it's at all unrealistic to picture John Cena, with his link to Warner Bros through the DC films, stepping foot in an AEW ring. 

I'm taking @Supremo's point a little, but if WWE, and, in particular, its stockholders, feel like shots have been fired, it's better for everyone. They'll be forced to do something to heat up their shows. That doesn't guarantee that this "something" will be a good idea, but it'll surely be fun and fascinating to watch play out. 

[Yakashi]

2 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

I can't remember the last time I was as excited for an episode of wrestling television as I am this episode of Dynamite. Ahead of All Out, I felt kind of ambivalent about the card, and then it turned out to be one of my all time favourite PPVs. The cards for Dynamite and Rampage next week, for me, are even stronger. Each show has tremendous potential. 

I don't think "fake wrestling war" is particularly accurate. It may be a wrestling war that WWE is choosing not to acknowledge, certainly in public and perhaps even in private, but it undoubtedly affects them, particularly when it comes to their next TV rights deal. WWE didn't have a rival for bidders to compare its rating to when the last set of deals were negotiated, and the fact of the matter is that TNT is getting far more bang for its buck than either USA or Fox. Then there's a very real prospect of WWE losing top stars. What if, for example, Roman Reigns or Becky Lynch felt excited about the idea of the creative freedoms a move to AEW would bring? I don't think it's at all unrealistic to picture John Cena, with his link to Warner Bros through the DC films, stepping foot in an AEW ring. 

I'm taking @Supremo's point a little, but if WWE, and, in particular, its stockholders, feel like shots have been fired, it's better for everyone. They'll be forced to do something to heat up their shows. That doesn't guarantee that this "something" will be a good idea, but it'll surely be fun and fascinating to watch play out. 

I meant “fake wrestling” war to show how silly it is to take sides and ignore facts.

And WWE is acknowledging it. They’ve acknowledged it since the very beginning. From moving nxt, to signing geeks to massive money deals, to hotshotting things like big E, to reporting AEW to dominos, to counter programming with evolve events etc etc. 
 

When the TV deals come, it seems pretty obvious both AEW and WWE are getting a rise. AEW will get an enormous rise, as they deserve. But it’s not like WCW when there was a very real chance the wwf could have gone out of business if they didn’t turn it around. AEWs success likely won’t effect WWE getting massive money again. Raw is very often the number one show on cable and USA have fuck all else. Admittedly, I have no idea what happens to smackdown. But there’s enough desperate tv channels that would take a show that would be the number one show on Friday nights.

I can see top stars going over there. WWE seems a shit place to work. Their culture will no doubt force out even more people than it already has. They’re horrible, vindictive people.

And yeah, supremo is totally right. For wrestling fans this is the best thing to happen. We’ve already seen wwe make their show more exciting (not better) because of AEW this week. For wrestlers it’s also the best thing possible. I don’t think wwe are capable of turning it around, but it will be fun to follow it for sure and will end up, demo wise, the number 2 wrestling company (whilst still being number one everywhere else for a while anyway).