AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[WeeAl]

17 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

A long time ago, I predicted that we'll get Omega & Hangman vs. The Young Bucks at Revolution 2025, for the fifth year anniversary of that match, which for a lot of people was Hangman's coming out party. I still think it's quite likely that's what they end up doing, and maybe on the same show they have Darby finally beat Moxley, then lose it to Christian Cage when he cashes in. I'd have Hangman or Omega beat Christian soon after, unless the plan is for Omega to have a substantial run as Continental Champion and make that belt mean something after beating Okada. Not sure where that leaves Darby Allin, but given that he's apparently planning on climbing Everest in April anyway, it's not like they should be giving him a proper title run until after that anyway.

Darby's not the guy and shouldn't be getting the belt, despite it looking like the current direction. His promos are pure shite. On a roster with Hangman, Osprey, Swerve, Omega having returned, OC even. 

It will be fine if Darby's title win is merely to set up Christian taking it off him immediately - but I question why that is a direction at all. I've loved Christian's heel run in AEW, but if he wins the title like that, in such a WWE manner, when there are younger, fresher options ready? That'd be an awful look I feel. Especially with some recent old hand additions to the roster like Lashley etc. 

PAC needs to get back to work immediately, for one week, to drop the trios belts to FTR and Copeland. I'd have Copeland win the gauntlet, set up his match with Moxley. Have him come up short but then give them the trios titles win to get some shine back and to run with for a while. Gets them at least around a waist again and not stuck in a briefcase or somewhere else equally as stupid. 

[BomberPat]

I think the lack of identity for titles is more significant than a lack of hierarchy on the roster; I think there's a pretty clear matrix of top guys who can slot in and out of main events, even if AEW doesn't always do the best job of presenting them all as on that level. 

I couldn't tell you what the difference is between the International and TNT Titles, and there's not enough of a distinction made between the Continental belt and the other titles, even though it's the only one with some kind of clear delineation, in that it has a slightly different set of rules to it. At some point, either in a Continental Title match or in the Continental Classic itself, they need to book someone to interfere - rather than just telling us that there's "no outside interference", actually show us what the consequences for it would be, and how it differs to the consequences of outside interference in any other match (i.e., it has to be more substantial than just a disqualification). Because that's how you establish rules and get them over. 

The TNT Title had a nice little existence as a kind of "open challenge" belt, particularly when the World Title was governed by rankings. I don't think they necessarily need to bring rankings back, but I'd like to see the TNT belt used in that sense a little more, that it's a bit more unpredictable, and kind of a de facto TV Title. Just come up with something to give the belts distinct identities, so there's a sense of why someone would fight for one over another. 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

The TNT Title had a nice little existence as a kind of "open challenge" belt, particularly when the World Title was governed by rankings. I don't think they necessarily need to bring rankings back, but I'd like to see the TNT belt used in that sense a little more, that it's a bit more unpredictable, and kind of a de facto TV Title. Just come up with something to give the belts distinct identities, so there's a sense of why someone would fight for one over another. 

You're right, but then Orange Cassidy's international reign was based on exactly that, and blew any TNT reign out of the water. At least Takeshita is making the point of doing what they'd always talked about when the belt was first announced, going and defending it elsewhere, but if you're going to do that, you also need to lose it elsewhere. 

 

I think you 're bang on about the belts being far too similar. Yoyu can differentiate through rules, or through heirarchy, and they've done neither.

Edited January 7, 2025 by Duke

[BomberPat]

2 minutes ago, WeeAl said:

Darby's not the guy and shouldn't be getting the belt, despite it looking like the current direction. His promos are pure shite. On a roster with Hangman, Osprey, Swerve, Omega having returned, OC even. 

It will be fine if Darby's title win is merely to set up Christian taking it off him immediately - but I question why that is a direction at all. I've loved Christian's heel run in AEW, but if he wins the title like that, in such a WWE manner, when there are younger, fresher options ready? That'd be an awful look I feel. Especially with some recent old hand additions to the roster like Lashley etc. 

PAC needs to get back to work immediately, for one week, to drop the trios belts to FTR and Copeland. I'd have Copeland win the gauntlet, set up his match with Moxley. Have him come up short but then give them the trios titles win to get some shine back and to run with for a while. Gets them at least around a waist again and not stuck in a briefcase or somewhere else equally as stupid. 

I don't disagree with you any of this, I'm just going by what the direction already is - they've clearly set up Darby Allin as the guy to eventually beat Moxley, and I think it would be a worse decision to back out of that than it would be to go through with it. I don't think he's the guy to carry the company, but the cop-out of Christian's guaranteed title shot means that he's in a position to win the belt and then have the heartbreaking loss to get heat on Christian, while also writing Darby out to go and do Everest. The only downside to that is that the logical next step is for Darby to get a run with the title when he returns, but they can cross that bridge when they get to it - I think there are worse things they could do with him than have him as their Tommy Dreamer, never getting a proper run with the title, always having it snatched away from him.

I hate a magic briefcase cash-in gimmick, but Christian already has that, and it needs to pay off somewhere, so it's the best way to go about it, in my opinion. Completely agree about getting the Trios belts off of the Death Riders, and that Rated FTR are currently in the best position to do that. 

Getting into fantasy booking territory, but long-term, I'd go with something like this for the next few months of PPVs:

Grand Slam: Moxley vs. Jay White, Death Riders vs. Rated FTR, Kenny Omega vs. Jack Perry, Toni Storm vs. Mariah May, Swerve vs. Lashley, MJF vs. Jeff Jarrett, something for Hangman
Revolution: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. The Young Bucks, Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin - Darby wins, Christian Cage cashes in
Dynasty: Hangman vs. Christian Cage, Hangman wins, and The Patriarchy abandon Christian after the match. Somewhere around here, Rated FTR lose the Trios belts to whoever makes sense - let's say the Undisputed Kingdom, but it doesn't matter who.
Double Or Nothing: Hangman vs. Moxley and/or Swerve for the World Title, Hangman wins, Moxley takes a well-deserved break after this. Cope & Christian Cage vs. Kip Sabian & Nick Wayne (also involve Luchasaurus if he's healthy). Something for Omega that keeps him in the mix with The Elite, or else a diversion into him vs. The Don Callis Family in some capacity to tidy up some loose ends there. Jeff Jarrett wins the Owen Hart Foundation Cup.
All In: Jeff Jarrett vs. Hangman Page, Jarrett's Last Stand. Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada. Cope & Christian Cage vs. The Young Bucks. 
All Out: Hangman Page vs. MJF or Swerve, Cope & Christian vs. FTR, Omega vs. Ospreay.


There would be a lot of moving parts there, and a lot of people go missing from my plans very quickly - you'd need to find something for Orange Cassidy, for Swerve a lot of the time, for The Hurt Syndicate (maybe adding a third member and putting the Trios belts on them), and to factor in anyone returning from injury (sorry Moxley, you're not getting a holiday if the alternative is a feud with a returning Eddie Kingston). I've also skipped Forbidden Door, and given no real thought to pushing anyone new. But broad strokes, I think there's a road map there in terms of how to make some stuff matter more than it currently does.

[tiger_rick]

7 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I hate a magic briefcase cash-in gimmick, but Christian already has that, and it needs to pay off somewhere, so it's the best way to go about it, in my opinion.

I think the best way is to have Copeland lose to Mox, Christian "cash in" (ugh) and Copeland ruin it. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Darby Allin always seems popular when I bob in and watch some AEW but his treatment recently has been baffling for someone who's supposed to be lined up to win the world title. I'm not a fan of him or his style, really, but he's different and having him as world champ would be the sort of wild card call the company maybe needs. He doesn't seem to have been downgraded with some weird losses but you can only survive crap booking for so long.

I feel like they're holding back slightly on Ospreay and I can understand the thinking behind that, but not pulling the trigger on someone early doesn't always work. They don't want to risk burning Ospreay out and I don't see any reason not to involve him in the world title picture now. 

Edited January 7, 2025 by Devon Malcolm

[BomberPat]

7 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I think the best way is to have Copeland lose to Mox, Christian "cash in" (ugh) and Copeland ruin it. 

I assumed when Christian won it in the first place that the plan would be Copeland returning to prevent him using it, but at this point I'd rather they just bypass returning to that feud altogether, and get to the reunion run. Again, I would much rather just never see a magic title shot angle ever again.

I said to someone recently that the company is really missing Eddie Kingston and Bryan Danielson. Not because one or two wrestlers are enough to turn the ship around and fix all their problems, but because the shows are lacking in people who make you believe everything they say and do, and make you think that there's real consequence to what happens on the show. Everything Moxley is doing would be vastly improved by having Eddie around as his conscience, while also screaming about how he was always right about Claudio Castagnoli being a snake, and having to begrudgingly stand up for wrestlers he dislikes in the name of slapping some sense into Moxley.

[LaGoosh]

21 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I feel like they're holding back slightly on Ospreay and I can understand the thinking behind that, but not pulling the trigger on someone early doesn't always work. They don't want to risk burning Ospreay out and I don't see any reason not to involve him in the world title picture now. 

I don't think he should be Champion now but I think basically their mission for 2025 should be getting Ospreay ready to be Champion (and the fans absolutely chomping at the bit for it) by either the end of the year or very early 2026. If I was in charge that would be a clear booking priority.

Edited January 7, 2025 by LaGoosh

[Statto]

You've got to be aiming for Ospreay with the belt around his waist at Wembley in 2026, assuming that show remains on the cards. 

When he actually wins it will depend if you think you can shift more tickets by having him chasing going into that show, or having him do the rounds on This Morning etc as champ. 

[Guest]

42 minutes ago, Statto said:

You've got to be aiming for Ospreay with the belt around his waist at Wembley in 2026, assuming that show remains on the cards. 

When he actually wins it will depend if you think you can shift more tickets by having him chasing going into that show, or having him do the rounds on This Morning etc as champ. 

This is far, far too late, and risks (albeit not massively) the tide turning on Osprey as he runs out of non title stuff to do. He was ready when he faced Swerve, but it wasn't the right time for Swerve to lose. They should be strapping an absolute rocket to the man, so that he can have incredible title defences against everyone for a year, and be presented as head and shoulders above the rest, because he is and everyone knows he is. Your world title should have your most over stars competing for it, and he is their most over star. At the absolute latest he should win it at All In Texas this year. Restore the Feeling is a terrible catchphrase, but what he's been brought in to do. 

He told Darby he'd get involved with the Death Riders after the tournament. I want him to appear out of nowhere and assassinate Moxley while the rest of the Death Riders aren't looking. Regicide Bruv.

Edited January 7, 2025 by Duke

[Lorne Malvo]

I can see them holding off until Forbidden Door to crown Ospreay. They'll need a big match/reason to sell Forbidden Door to the non-UK PPV crowd as AEW vs New Japan in London doesn't really seem like a massive deal at the moment. Ospreay going for the belt on that show could do it.

Any later than that would be madness.

 

[LaGoosh]

Is that show even still happening? Weird that there's no date or venue announced at all.

[Lorne Malvo]

1 minute ago, LaGoosh said:

Is that show even still happening? Weird that there's no date or venue announced at all.

It's still listed on the AEW website that it's happening in London, August 24th. No venue yet though.

I remember reading a while back that one of the reasons AEW suffers from poor ticket sales is that a lot of times they leave it late in the day to announce dates/venues etc. It looks like this could be one of thoses cases.

[Guest]

If you'd attached battery cables to my nipples I'd have sworn blind they'd announced it was at the O2, but I can't any evidence for that, beyond Meltzer speculating that they can't announce that until after WWE's tour in March. 

[Chris B]

There's no evidence that it's the O2, but it's expected to be. As you said, @Duke, there's a deal in place with WWE that they're not allowed to promote other wrestling in the venue within X amount of months. 

There's an outside possibility that it's the Copper Box Arena, and they just didn't want to announce such a smaller venue after Wembley. But there's nothing stopping them promoting that at this point - so it's probably the O2.