AEW Dynamite Thread 2024

[RedTwoster]

23 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

True, but I definitely think it goes the other way a lot more. Look at the comments on any AEW post on social media then compare it to WWE. You can clearly see the difference. And there's absolutely loads of relatively high profile grifters with anti-AEW podcasts and YouTube channels - I'm not aware of any WWE ones to the same level.

Given how many more WWE fans there are, surely that’s always going to be the case? I’d imagine, percentage wise, there’s a level of parity. 

You’re right about the grifters, though; making people angry on social media is a route to engagement and potentially money. I suspect that even some of the people who genuinely believe what they’re saying ramp up the rhetoric a bit to make sure they’re heard.

21 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Additionally there are a ton of bots that post loads of anti-AEW content. Where have these bots come from? I'm sure we can all guess.

This, I struggle to buy, I must admit. I know that bot farms are cheap and easy to deploy, but I struggle to see why WWE would even bother these days, there are enough tribalists out there to make it a bit unnecessary. Has anyone actually provided evidence of this being a thing that really happens, flagging up dodgy accounts etc?

[Hannibal Scorch]

43 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

Given how many more WWE fans there are, surely that’s always going to be the case? I’d imagine, percentage wise, there’s a level of parity. 

 

Maybe. But 10% of a million is more than 10% of a thousand so it doesn’t work like that. 

 

 

43 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

This, I struggle to buy, I must admit. I know that bot farms are cheap and easy to deploy, but I struggle to see why WWE would even bother these days, there are enough tribalists out there to make it a bit unnecessary. Has anyone actually provided evidence of this being a thing that really happens, flagging up dodgy accounts etc?

It’s weird you think this is to out there for them. Next you’ll be telling me the reason that a big story about AEW dropping in the week of one of their PPV’s is just really poor timing, every single time. Or that certain podcasters/influencers would receive the fast national numbers for AEW programming and release that as the actual ratings on their socials (at a cost of about $10,000 to get access to those reports). And not that have a successful and notorious PR person working closely with Nick Khan.

But, let’s go back to the bot farms, and if you apply the theory of copypasta then they are easy to find. I can’t find the one about AEW I saw a while back which was called out, but here’s an example of some pro WWE ones 

Edited December 21, 2024 by Hannibal Scorch

[RedTwoster]

15 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Maybe. But 10% of a million is more than 10% of a thousand so it doesn’t work like that. 

It kind of does if the suggestion is that AEW diehards are less prone to it than WWE diehards. There’s no ‘better set of fans’ here or anything like that.

17 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

It’s weird you think this is to out there for them. Next you’ll be telling me the reason that a big story about AEW dropping in the week of one of their PPV’s is just really poor timing, every single time. Or that certain podcasters/influencers would receive the fast national numbers for AEW programming and release that as the actual ratings on their socials (at a cost of about $10,000 to get access to those reports). And not that have a successful and notorious PR person working closely with Nick Khan.

But, let’s go back to the bot farms, and if you apply the theory of copypasta then they are easy to find. I can’t find the one about AEW I saw a while back which was called out, but here’s an example of some pro WWE ones 

That’s interesting, but it looks to me more like an effort to create a buzz around WWE shows online rather than to smear AEW. I’m sure it’s part of AEW’s strategy too, and also part of the strategy for many other major TV shows. And maybe you’re right, and the opposite happens too. But if one is doing it, you can be sure as hell the other is too. I mean, you have Tony Knan calling WWE the ‘Harvey Weinstein of pro-wrestling’ in a public setting, I imagine he’d feel perfectly comfortable doing similar in private. 

I remain unconvinced about its effectiveness, even if it does happen. But what do I know?

[Hannibal Scorch]

29 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

It kind of does if the suggestion is that AEW diehards are less prone to it than WWE diehards. There’s no ‘better set of fans’ here or anything like that.

That’s interesting, but it looks to me more like an effort to create a buzz around WWE shows online rather than to smear AEW. I’m sure it’s part of AEW’s strategy too, and also part of the strategy for many other major TV shows. And maybe you’re right, and the opposite happens too. But if one is doing it, you can be sure as hell the other is too. I mean, you have Tony Knan calling WWE the ‘Harvey Weinstein of pro-wrestling’ in a public setting, I imagine he’d feel perfectly comfortable doing similar in private. 

I remain unconvinced about its effectiveness, even if it does happen. But what do I know?

Facing facts WWE has a larger fan base, been around longer and is more popular so of course there are going to be more WWE accounts than AEW. My point wasn’t who is worse it’s by sheer volume WWE are going to be louder on socials than AEW.

I don’t even dispute it can’t happen both sides, but Chris Legentil is great at running PR, and it’s been proven the disinformation that’s been given out by wrestling journalists (such as the report All In 2023 was set up for 40k at the beginning which had been reported by some prominent pro WWE accounts by discredited almost instantly). We all know AEW doesn’t have the pros behind it in the way WWE do, they hire great people so it’s not again down to if they both do it or not as much as if both can do that sort of thing well, when they can’t. Anyway, it’s probably boring discourse and not on topic so I’ll just leave this last example 

 

[SuperBacon]

Anyway...I watched the Ospreay vs Allin match. What an absolute rager. 

Will is without a doubt IMO the best wrestler in the world at the moment. 

[RedTwoster]

23 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Facing facts WWE has a larger fan base, been around longer and is more popular so of course there are going to be more WWE accounts than AEW. My point wasn’t who is worse it’s by sheer volume WWE are going to be louder on socials than AEW.

I don’t even dispute it can’t happen both sides, but Chris Legentil is great at running PR, and it’s been proven the disinformation that’s been given out by wrestling journalists (such as the report All In 2023 was set up for 40k at the beginning which had been reported by some prominent pro WWE accounts by discredited almost instantly). We all know AEW doesn’t have the pros behind it in the way WWE do, they hire great people so it’s not again down to if they both do it or not as much as if both can do that sort of thing well, when they can’t. Anyway, it’s probably boring discourse and not on topic so I’ll just leave this last example 

No, you’ve demonstrated bots in action - so my cynicism was misplaced. If you know I’m wrong, it’s totally fair to say that and present the evidence.

The reason I’m cynical that WWE would bother to pay money for the negative stuff as opposed to it being an obsessed fan thinking they’re doing the lord’s work is that the unintended side effect of paying for negative tweets is that you end up helping your rival trend - it’s essentially free publicity. Then again, something doesn’t have to be a good idea to be a reality, so who knows.

Anyway - I agree that Ospreay is the best wrestler in the world right now. When they signed Okada and Ospreay, I was exp the former to win me over before Ospreay did, but I’ve yet to see anything from Okada that has me believing the hype was justified. He’s a fun character, but if I was Tony Khan, I wouldn’t be in any rush to push him ahead of their core group of main eventers. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Okada has been booked I would say unexpectedly. With all the hype I thought he was going to come in and dominate. I think he’s been good, sure but I think many were blown away from how Ospreay has (pun not intended) elevated himself to be a superb all rounder who can talk and not just a flips guy that a lot of people expected. But he seems to be enjoying himself and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. But I do expect at some point for him to step up and start having those big matches again, maybe they have been waiting for Omega to be fit again to pull that trigger?

[RedTwoster]

1 minute ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Okada has been booked I would say unexpectedly. With all the hype I thought he was going to come in and dominate. I think he’s been good, sure but I think many were blown away from how Ospreay has (pun not intended) elevated himself to be a superb all rounder who can talk and not just a flips guy that a lot of people expected. But he seems to be enjoying himself and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. But I do expect at some point for him to step up and start having those big matches again, maybe they have been waiting for Omega to be fit again to pull that trigger?

I suspect wrestlers ‘enjoying themselves’ might be part of AEW’s problem at the moment - allowing for the Moxley storyline to go off the rails. I can understand Khan wanting to keep his top stars happy after what happened with Punk and the damage that caused; but there has to be a happy medium that allows for an enjoyable workplace, and strong storytelling - where blocking a bad idea doesn’t cause backstage chaos. Most of AEW’s main event storylines recently are good ideas made bad through the apparent absence of an editor. 

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I forgot to say, that Coffin Drop on the apron... that looked nasty as Hell. I may not be a fan of Darby, but got to respect his toughness.

[Merzbow]

Willy with the 90's boy band hair and calling himself on "Another Level"? He needs a new theme.

 

[tiger_rick]

What do people think of the Bandido vignettes? I love a proper wrestling vignette, even the terrible ones. I've loved these though. Some real silliness that has helped Bandido feel above the roster of just-another-guys. 

Has it made others excited for his return and what do you want to see him doing?

I'm sceptical that they can deliver with him. They struggle with these guys who are sensational but don't have traditional US pro-wrestling charisma. I'd be interested to see the outcome if he didn't say a whole lot, just filmed a lot of unique intros and then they let the commentary put him over while giving him big wins over dispensable stars like Claudio, Jericho, Yuta, Perry, Archer, etc. They have enough name people to keep him winning and feeling important. 

Edit: read the ROH thread after posting this. Hmm.

Edited December 21, 2024 by tiger_rick

[HobowithaShotgun]

Bandido is one of my fave wrestlers and one of the nicest I've met in the business but he's having no luck injury wise unfortunately. A bit weird all his build was on AEW to return on ROH also. Want to see him in there with Takeshita/Ospreay and others.

[Vamp]

6 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Okada has been booked I would say unexpectedly. With all the hype I thought he was going to come in and dominate. I think he’s been good, sure but I think many were blown away from how Ospreay has (pun not intended) elevated himself to be a superb all rounder who can talk and not just a flips guy that a lot of people expected. But he seems to be enjoying himself and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. But I do expect at some point for him to step up and start having those big matches again, maybe they have been waiting for Omega to be fit again to pull that trigger?

I think that's something AEW struggle with sometimes. They see someone they want, sign them and then don't strike while the iron is hot. 

I'm not entirely convinced Okada cares a jot. AEW's an easy pay day and I can't imagine he's banging down the doors for a bigger push. 

[LaGoosh]

I aassumed the Okada signing was because they were planning some kind of big push into the Japanese market but that never happened so I'm not quite sure why they spent big bucks on him.

[Hannibal Scorch]

@Vamp

Simply put, he and the Bucks are great friends. I believe his wife is an actress and wanted a chance to try and get some roles there as well. 

@LaGoosh we don’t know what he’s being paid. Obviously more than NJPW, but the apparent amounts he was rumoured to be paid were laughed at. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. But they are starting to do more with Japan, look at what they have lined up in January.