Paid Members Jazzy G Posted February 28, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 28, 2022 I think they did a fine job of getting Page back over with the crowd after his departure for paternity leave. I was worried with his disappearing from TV just as Punk & Danielson had arrived that they might have ruined it and he'll get shuffled back into the pack while somebody else gets the big title win, but when he came back in that ladder match and got the win I was on board with it again. I agree his title reign has been inconsistent, not least because of some of the programs he's found himself in, but I thought he was really good against Danielson, and on this last episode of Dynamite when he ran out after the battle royal and cut that promo he managed to get me more interested in the match with Cole than anything Cole's done since he arrived. MJF beating Punk and moving onto Page next could be an interesting next move, especially as it can put Page in that underdog role again. I don't think that's the plan though, as I can see MJF and Wardlow getting into something over the ladder match and maybe a TNT title win? How about Jericho beats Kingston because Santana and Ortiz turn on Eddie, then Jericho and the Inner Circle set their sights on trying to get the world title back? There are definitely things they can do, unless Kenny's on the way back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lenin Posted February 28, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 28, 2022 4 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said: MJF beating Punk and moving onto Page next could be an interesting next move, Especially as MJF is the fourth of the four pillars isn't he? I think it's too soon for MJF to hold the big one to be honest. Him winning it off of Danielson or Punk a bit down the road might be the way they go. Page does need a high profile program though because Adam Cole just isn't it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted February 28, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 28, 2022 1 minute ago, Suplex Sinner said: Page does need a high profile program though because Adam Cole just isn't it. At least he's not Moose having to pretend Heath Slater is a threat to his world title. I know I talk about how good Impact is, but I don't even think I can defend that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinity Land Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 (edited) Overall I didn't mind the Lance Archer feud. The problem has been taking a backseat in the Danielson feud as Dragon ran through the Dark Order. Now the timing and the focus is off in the Cole feud as well. They've barely interacted and the PPV is in a week. I think Cole might have spent more time humming and hawing between the Bucks and ReDragon. The Mox feud is going to be a major What if... Mox would have ran through the Dark Order in a similar way. It's just there would have been a lot more wild brawls and heated promos in the build up between him and Hangman. Edited February 28, 2022 by Infinity Land Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted February 28, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 28, 2022 (edited) 37 minutes ago, RedRooster said: They've also retained a consistent audience - over time, I suspect retention will translate to some level of growth. On average the ratings for Dynamite have grown 30% in the past 12 months. Crowd size is noticeably up too in comparison to pre pandemic. That's how AEW will succeed, consistently good shows will lead to slow and steady growth. If they chase big angles and announcements for short term boosts they'll probably stumble as the audience just isn't there at the moment. Edited February 28, 2022 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted February 28, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 28, 2022 15 minutes ago, RedRooster said: Not having a go at you, Arch, but I find the term "casual audience" a little meaningless. How is that term defined, exactly, and why should appealing to them be high on anyone's priority? Your whole post here was great, but just to answer this part since you picked me up on it - I probably just shouldn't have used the term 'casual audience' originally, I should have just referred to the TV audience, because that's what I meant by it. AEW are a TV promotion foremost, that's where their sustainable income is coming from. They need to be appealing to, and trying to grow, an audience that will tune in every week to follow episodic stories. There seems to be an acceptance now that in the age of a million different items of media content competing for your attention at any one time, that wrestling won't ever be able to appeal to casual TV viewers again and that those that still watch are going to watch whatever happens, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't still try to appeal to a broader audience. There are literally millions of people out there that used to watch wrestling on TV every week, that no longer do. A bigger audience is there for the taking if AEW give them a reason to tune in. If they grow the number of eyes on the product the whole business grows with it. So that's why I'd say a 'casual audience' should still matter to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 38 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said: I agree his title reign has been inconsistent, not least because of some of the programs he's found himself in, but I thought he was really good against Danielson, and on this last episode of Dynamite when he ran out after the battle royal and cut that promo he managed to get me more interested in the match with Cole than anything Cole's done since he arrived. The more I think about it, the more I feel like the reason Page's title run has felt secondary is because Punk/MJF has been so good. How can anyone compete with that? It's overshadowing everything else on the show, and it's all people want to talk about. Hangman's run hasn't been bad - it's just that it's competing with one of the best wrestling storylines of the past 20 years. In addition, you have Moxley/Danielson and Jericho/Kingston, both of which have been very compelling viewing. 4 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said: There seems to be an acceptance now that in the age of a million different items of media content competing for your attention at any one time, that wrestling won't ever be able to appeal to casual TV viewers again and that those that still watch are going to watch whatever happens, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't still try to appeal to a broader audience. There are literally millions of people out there that used to watch wrestling on TV every week, that no longer do. A bigger audience is there for the taking if AEW give them a reason to tune in. If they grow the number of eyes on the product the whole business grows with it. So that's why I'd say a 'casual audience' should still matter to them. I was initially going to say, after reading this, that this argument doesn't hold water anymore - assuming that you were referring to the people who tuned out after the Monday Night Wars ended. However, while "millions" may or may not be an overstatement, WWE has shed a lot of viewers over the past decade. I know you're dismissing the fragmented media landscape, but I think that's very relevant. It's hard for anyone to grow their audience in this environment; particularly when it comes to attracting a younger audience. People are far less likely to sit down at a set time and watch something - whether it's a weekly wrestling show, a soap like Coronation Street, or an ongoing animated sitcom like The Simpsons. It's really hard for anyone to achieve significant - and sudden - ratings growth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chris B Posted February 28, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 28, 2022 1 hour ago, RedRooster said: I was initially going to say, after reading this, that this argument doesn't hold water anymore - assuming that you were referring to the people who tuned out after the Monday Night Wars ended. However, while "millions" may or may not be an overstatement, WWE has shed a lot of viewers over the past decade. I know you're dismissing the fragmented media landscape, but I think that's very relevant. It's hard for anyone to grow their audience in this environment; particularly when it comes to attracting a younger audience. People are far less likely to sit down at a set time and watch something - whether it's a weekly wrestling show, a soap like Coronation Street, or an ongoing animated sitcom like The Simpsons. It's really hard for anyone to achieve significant - and sudden - ratings growth. Very much this, and any show managing to keep (or even grow) an audience over the last few years is performing really well. It's also worth, as another measure, looking at their YouTube metrics here - they're almost doubling where they were before the Summer. And while Punk is by far the biggest jump in views, there's another massive spike for Full Gear, and steady growth since then. https://socialblade.com/youtube/channel/UCFN4JkGP_bVhAdBsoV9xftA For comparison, WWE (which is obviously far, far larger), has gone down by over a third in the same time. https://socialblade.com/youtube/channel/UCFN4JkGP_bVhAdBsoV9xftA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted February 28, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted February 28, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, RedRooster said: I know you're dismissing the fragmented media landscape, but I think that's very relevant. It's hard for anyone to grow their audience in this environment; particularly when it comes to attracting a younger audience. People are far less likely to sit down at a set time and watch something - whether it's a weekly wrestling show, a soap like Coronation Street, or an ongoing animated sitcom like The Simpsons. It's really hard for anyone to achieve significant - and sudden - ratings growth. I haven't dismissed it have I? I've very purposefully made a point of bringing it into my reasoning, because I recognise that it's the reality of TV today. You've expanded on the impacts but we aren't disagreeing on anything there. The point I was making was that I don't believe it's a reason not to continue to try to appeal to a broader audience, rather than catering to a niche audience, who are going to be watching whatever they do. Edited February 28, 2022 by Arch Stanton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 54 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said: I haven't dismissed it have I? I've very purposefully made a point of bringing it into my reasoning, because I recognise that it's the reality of TV today. You've expanded on the impacts but we aren't disagreeing on anything there. The point I was making was that I don't believe it's a reason not to continue to try to appeal to a broader audience, rather than catering to a niche audience, who are going to be watching whatever they do. I don't think that AEW isn't trying to cater for a broad audience. There are elements that do cater for a niche audience - such as the Japan references - but on the whole, I don't think the Page/Omega arc, for example, is "niche" in its contents. It was a great story, and great stories appeal to anyone. You're not going to get a sudden ratings boost on the back of one great storyline though - but if AEW is consistently producing compelling storylines like that, they'll succeed. And I'd argue that this has happened - you've had Jericho/Cody, MJF/Cody, Inner Circle vs. The Elite, Jon Moxley/Eddie Kingston, the general story arcs of Eddie Kingston, John Moxley and Hangman Page, Omega/Page, MJF/Punk, Moxley/Danielson, Miro's evolution into a religious psychopath...there's a lot to keep you watching. The one, continuing, fault is probably the women's division. It's yet to have a storyline to the level of what I've just mentioned, and I think, with the talent they have, that should have happened by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyAnderson Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 3 hours ago, Infinity Land said: The Mox feud is going to be a major What if... Mox would have ran through the Dark Order in a similar way. It's just there would have been a lot more wild brawls and heated promos in the build up between him and Hangman. He still could. Mox's feud/relationship with Danielson is centring on violence. They could easily team up for a few months, get a tag title match and lose to Jurassic Express (who were the first people Bryan teamed with in AEW) because Danielson takes pity on Jungle Boy only for Mox to turn round the following Dynamite and say Danielson isn't violent enough, that's why he couldn't beat Page. And he was going to show Danielson how it should be done and go with it from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Factotum Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 Yeah Mox V Page can still happen no problem. Could almost have Danielson 'unlock' that side of Mox again to go for Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinity Land Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 58 minutes ago, JimmyAnderson said: He still could. Mox's feud/relationship with Danielson is centring on violence. They could easily team up for a few months, get a tag title match and lose to Jurassic Express (who were the first people Bryan teamed with in AEW) because Danielson takes pity on Jungle Boy only for Mox to turn round the following Dynamite and say Danielson isn't violent enough, that's why he couldn't beat Page. And he was going to show Danielson how it should be done and go with it from there. It still can. However, not having it right out the gate changes the impact it would have had on Hangman's reign. Can't pick at all the threads 3 months later, but Winter Is Coming II certainly wouldn't have had an hour time limit draw. As good as the match might have been to those that liked it, it left a lot of people cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 (edited) There’s been talk of AEW heading to LA the last few days but it’s just been officially announced (whether this was TK’s “huge announcement” or not still seems a little unclear)  They’re also running Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit on June 28th Edited February 28, 2022 by WyattSheepMask Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinity Land Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 18 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said: There’s been talk of AEW heading to LA the last few days but it’s just been officially announced (whether this was TK’s “huge announcement” or not still seems a little unclear)  They’re also running Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit on June 28th I doubt it since they've announced it already. Also doing a live Rampage on June 3rd in Ontario, CA. Which is Ontario, California not Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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