AEW London 2023

[Infinity Land]

Really should have more shows promoted 7-8 weeks out. Was brilliant TV knowing Danielson v. MJF would take 2 months to happen.

If only Cilla Black was still with us and it turns out the Blind Tag Eliminator tournament was really the Blind Date Elimintor tournament. Surprise, surprise Adam! you were secretly proving yourself good enough to be MJF's opponent at Wembley.

[Chris B]

I don't understand complaining that you've spent a load of money on tickets, and that you don't have the opportunity to spend more money to watch the show on TV later.

[d-d-d-dAz]

38 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I don't understand complaining that you've spent a load of money on tickets, and that you don't have the opportunity to spend more money to watch the show on TV later.

I think the issue is more that if nots PPV, there is less onus on the promoter to deliver something of consequence that matters.

I think ‘it’s not PPV’ is basically ‘it’s not going to be important’, rather than someone saying they want to rush home and whack 30 quid on the repeat.

[air_raid]

9 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

I think the issue is more that if nots PPV, there is less onus on the promoter to deliver something of consequence that matters.

Isn’t putting on a card that knocks the socks off of your biggest live audience of all time onus enough?

[d-d-d-dAz]

32 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Isn’t putting on a card that knocks the socks off of your biggest live audience of all time onus enough?

I mean I was more explaining a position, then I was explaining my position but I think you’re back down to the debate about what you want from wrestling. I think a lot of people want their wrestling to ‘matter’, i.e. to be something of relevance and consequence; that usually means it’s something taken from the TV shows, with a bit of heat. The highest level of ‘consequence’ in wrestling is PPV matches as that’s where things come to a head. So I think if that’s your position, it makes perfect sense that you’d want this show to be PPV.

It also makes perfect sense that you’d expect this to be that sort of card, as wrestling in the modern era has sort of conditioned us to believe ‘book stadium level venue, get Mania level show’.

Others I guess are just happy to have technically brilliant matches, even if there’s no pre-heat or stakes and in that world the TV distribution or canon/non-canon element is irrelevant.

I think I’m somewhere broadly in the middle. I think the flagship 3 or 4 matches should be something taken directly from television, but think there’s room outside of that for them to play around a bit.

There’s still a lot of road before August 27th, I don’t think anyone needs to jump to conclusions. At this point the show could be absolutely anything.

[air_raid]

Got it. And there’s certainly room for the broader debate. I’ve always been able to invest in matches simply based on if enjoying what’s happening without any care for the winner (just like watching the football if a good match is a good match) but there are plenty of people who need to care about winners and losers to care about the match e.g somebody to “support” - and I get that, the matches I’ve enjoyed more have always been when I wanted one side to win, but on occasion it’s been nothing to do with stories as told on TV but simply by being sucked in to the story being told between the ropes by the wrestlers on the night e.g on Indy shows without TV or without my own personal knowledge of why the match is happening or matters.

To segue into “stakes” I had a mate now twice lapsed who completely loses interest when he hasn’t got a “favourite” to root for. He stopped watching when Shawn retired the first time and slowly started getting back into it when he came back. Eventually Punk became his favourite because he identified with him. He went to Indy shows and had favourites there too and even posted on here a few times. After Punk quit WWE he started losing interest again and eventually migrated to MMA and never looked back - and “stakes” were a big part of why he lost interest. In part because of parity booking, he felt like 90% of the matches he was watching served no purpose, nobody was going to get closer to a belt by winning or have their spot in jeopardy by losing. In UFC he told me every fight mattered to either staying in the roster or climbing the rankings for a title fight. Every time wrestling has tried to duplicate that it’s either become convoluted or boring.

I’ve never been that person. “The purse money” is (subconsciously) 100% enough if the two wrestlers tell me a story and I can care about who’s going to win.

[AndyUK]

I get that there’s a PPV a week later but let’s not pretend AEW build up their entire PPV cards months in advance. They often announce half of their cards at the last minute anyway, so I don’t see them having too many issues putting together two impressive looking shows that both feel like their usual big events.

Edited July 13, 2023 by AndyUK

[Guest]

I can’t believe people think aew are gonna have one of the highest paid attendances of all time and make it for the house only. You have as many cameras as you can and show as many as you can. Honestly dunno what’s happening to on here lately  

[Infinity Land]

All the talent are saving their best stuff for that 3rd night in Chicago the following week.

[DavidB6937]

16 minutes ago, Louch said:

Honestly dunno what’s happening to on here lately  

Lately? You've been on here long enough to know it's not a lately thing. It's the Internet.

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Lately? You've been on here long enough to know it's not a lately thing. It's the Internet.

On here is usually less batshit mental so you can have proper informed and rationale chats about wrestling, unlike what you get on twitter that’s all people who post without thinking or questioning what they are writing. 

[air_raid]

10 minutes ago, Louch said:

On here is usually less batshit mental so you can have proper informed and rationale chats about wrestling,

.....

19 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

If only Cilla Black was still with us and it turns out the Blind Tag Eliminator tournament was really the Blind Date Elimintor tournament.

 

[d-d-d-dAz]

22 minutes ago, Louch said:

On here is usually less batshit mental so you can have proper informed and rationale chats about wrestling, unlike what you get on twitter that’s all people who post without thinking or questioning what they are writing. 

I don't think the debate on here has been massively crazy has it? ...and if anything I think it's interesting to learn what people want/expect from bigger shows.

I don't think anyone expects the show to be just for the house, but I think the question was more whether it would be 'house show' quality. I guess, it's actually a sign of how wrestling terms have evolved to mean things beyond their intended meaning; my interpretation of people questioning whether the show would be a 'house show', is them saying 'is this going to be a card filled with matches of little consequence, with no real bearing on what I see on TV, made with the intention of filling a card and eliciting a good reaction in the moment with no real live-on value for the company'. The same as how 'IS IT NOT PPV?' is more a question, as discussed, of whether it's going to be a show of PPV-consequence level matches, which pay off the things people watch on Dynamite or Collision each week. Not just a match between people feuding either, but one that has significant bearing on the outcome or trajectory of that rivalry.

I think that's all fairly interesting stuff, and i've enjoyed hearing other people's opinions on how they *don't* feel it necessary that the show should be considered 'canon' or a significant part of the ongoing TV, but rather feature great matches between big names.

I get the impression a lot of people bought tickets assuming they'd be seeing a big, meaningful show of real consequence for the TV shows and arcs of their favourite wrestlers, and given the ambiguity around the broadcast, and Omega's comments around talent usage, are now wondering whether actually it'll be something more akin to Insurrection or Rebellion.

 

[Michael_3165]

I've not read the thread but adding my thoughts...

I don't watch AEW religiously. For me I'll dip in and out according to what sounds decent. So I am not aware of most of the storyline etc.

So for me, I just look for big matches, great action and a decent stage etc. For me it doesn't need to play into wider stories on TV though can see why some would want there to be links. 

It'll always be "the" event that solidified them as a big deal esp outside of the US. I'd really be up for NJPW involvement and no British indy shit on the card. 

As long as there is a great card I'll be happy regardless. I can't imagine them main eventing Sabian v Pac! Though on that note, they need to realise the UK isn't all that big on patriotism for home grown talent. Getting brits doing the media round as though we are all that fussed w them. 

[Lorne Malvo]

I'm more than likely way off on this, but I can see them doing Adam Cole & MJF vs FTR (or Bullet Club Gold) on this show, with Cole vs MJF for the belt coming the week after at All Out. That just makes more sense to me than MJF feuding with two different guys in the build-up to these shows, or repeating the All In title match one week later.