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15 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

Suspected broken ankle for Hangman (according to WOR). He's going to get it looked at but, if true, that's a shitter right there.

Bitter Hangman in a wheelchair could be bloody great. Obviously not what they want, but he can make it work

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BCC/FTR seemed a bit off to me, neither team seemed to have their timings together. 

Best Wardlow promo I have ever seen.

Loved that the crowd still desperately want to cheer Hangman. Gutted if his ankle has gone.

Edited by ReturnOfTheMack
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Maybe I'm alone in feeling this way, but to me it all felt a bit inconsequential. I think that's perhaps the problem I have with AEW. It's generally solid, but it's rarely unmissable. For example, it pretty much always opens with a long match. On this episode, at least, the outcome wasn't obvious; but I don't really care about the feud. The BCC is ice cold, to the detriment of almost everyone in that stable. 

Sting's last match doesn't feel like his last match. Sure, there are different ways to build to these things; but making it personal, bringing his sons into it - that just makes it feel like a standard feud. For me, it would have worked better if he was challenging for the tag titles in his last match, determined to retire as champion - make it about one final opportunity to win the title. Retaining the belt after a relatively short run seems less meaningful to me. 

On the other hand, Wardlow's promo was excellent. I laughed out loud when he petulantly said people in the back should be arrested and sent to jail for not given him a title shot. I never knew he had it in him to cut that kind of promo, and if he can keep it up, he's going to prove by far and away the most valuable member of whatever that shitty stable is called. People have assumed that Wardlow will turn face if he wins the title, and Cole demands it - but I think it would be far more interesting if he stays heel and the entire stable turns on Cole, beating him down - only for MJF to come out for the save; saying something like 'you may have turned your back on me, but I'll never turn my back on you'. 

Where the heck did the Angelo Parker/Ruby Soho thing come from? Maybe it's a Collision or Rampage thing?  

Christian was also a lot of fun. I won't spoil it, but pop the address he mentioned into Google maps. Brilliant stuff. 

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17 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I think attendances definitely will rise if they carry on putting on an entertaining show.

Attendance always has a bit of a lag as an indicator of how successful/hot a product is. If they keep up the consistency they're at now, with better shows (though I thought this one was one of the less interesting in recent weeks, it was still perfectly solid) and better TV ratings, less behind-the-scenes chaos either distracting from or negatively affecting the on-screen product, and more reason for people to stop giving WWE the benefit of the doubt instead, I expect things will pick up as the year goes on. They're certainly not in the doom and gloom position that half of Twitter desperately wants them to be in, and they've got back into the groove of just doing what works for them, rather than seemingly second-guessing everything.

12 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Where the heck did the Angelo Parker/Ruby Soho thing come from? Maybe it's a Collision or Rampage thing?  

It's been going on for months, but it's fairly low-key, so easy to miss. They are a couple in real-life, so I just find the whole thing kind of adorable watching them pretend to be doe-eyed and nervous about their first date on TV, even know I have no idea what the storyline pay-off to it could possibly be.

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58 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

Suspected broken ankle for Hangman (according to WOR). He's going to get it looked at but, if true, that's a shitter right there.

I did wonder if he was legit hurt because when the camera cut to him at the end he was clutching it and shouting.

Not sure if it was during the ad break but Tony commenting on how RVD was, followed by Taz saying he won't argue with that followed by Excalibur declaring Hook might is why I love the freedom AEW commentry has. 

Edited by Hannibal Scorch
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19 minutes ago, Chili said:

Hope Hangman hasn't fucked it there, he's on the verge of a fantastic new part of his character and it would suck.

It's not ideal, but Hangman ranting and raving about Swerve destroying his life, taking his ability to walk while in a cast or wheelchair could end up being absolute gold, and a weirdly logical next step for the character. 

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Regarding getting fans to come back to shows, hasn't that been one of the biggest problems in wrestling as fans often just don't come back regardless of quality? I can speak for myself and say I haven't come back to WWE in nearly a decade now, and it's been months since I last watched a full AEW show.

 

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17 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Regarding getting fans to come back to shows, hasn't that been one of the biggest problems in wrestling as fans often just don't come back regardless of quality? I can speak for myself and say I haven't come back to WWE in nearly a decade now, and it's been months since I last watched a full AEW show.

 

Is that really true, though? WWE's attendance picked up significantly when they started putting on good shows - and it seems to have remained pretty consistent. 

AEW tapings sound, historically, like they've been overly long; and I suspect that's put some people off returning. Sitting through Dynamite or Collision is one thing, but then when you consider all of the shoulder content, it surely feels like a slog to sit through. Plus, AEW is hit-and-miss as far as who you might see goes. Some Dynamite and Collision line-ups are absolutely loaded, but sometimes they can be dominated by second-rate stars. 

Speaking purely from a personal perspective, Dynamite feels a bit like a football friendly to me. You can watch it and have fun, but if you don't, you don't feel like you've missed out on anything. I don't think I'm alone feeling that way - I'd love for them to find a way of recapturing the feeling I got back in 2021 and early 2022, when it felt like anything could happen, and Dynamite felt like an 'event'.

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55 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

It's not ideal, but Hangman ranting and raving about Swerve destroying his life, taking his ability to walk while in a cast or wheelchair could end up being absolute gold, and a weirdly logical next step for the character. 

This is what I was thinking - it's a shame that they so recently had Roderick Strong play the wheelchair gimmick for laughs, because I can already envision an increasingly unhinged Hangman in a wheelchair like Pillman in ECW.

His whole motivation right now is stopping Swerve Strickland from getting any more success, and in the longer term his key characteristic is that he's consistently his own worst enemy and battling his anxieties and insecurities, and how he's looking at a situation where a freak accident that's arguably his own fault is not only taking him out of a PPV title match, but giving Swerve Strickland a clear, unobstructed run at the title? That should be exactly the thing to push him over the edge.

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12 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

This is what I was thinking - it's a shame that they so recently had Roderick Strong play the wheelchair gimmick for laughs, because I can already envision an increasingly unhinged Hangman in a wheelchair like Pillman in ECW.

 

But in better news, at least they already have the wheelchair.

Re: Attendance, AEW have been majorly consistent and atleast their TV has the matches continue and not stop for the advert break (seeing that happen during Smackdown where they dim the lights and the wrestlers just stop is really weird). But the difference is not down to quality but exposure and brand recognition. If you ask your nan for a wrestling figure for Christmas she goes down to The Entertainer and picks the most fun looking one. It's a WWE figure. You didn't want that, but she doesn't know what AEW is. If you have a kid and you want to take them to a live wrestling show, you're taking them to WWE. AEW is for the grown ups. WWE is so ingrained into the public concoiuos even people who stopped watching when Hulk Hogan left the first time are aware of it. AEW doesn't have that. 

They had a hell of a run before the pandemic of getting decent venues looking full, but they have never quite got that back and had already booked these venues well in advance to downgrade. Other than PPV's or big events, they struggle to shift tickets and I would rather the weekly TV is in smaller venues and have those big events in arenas. No shame in it.

Edited by Hannibal Scorch
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