AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

10 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

 

Fun segment. 

Josh Alexander looks small there! 

[organizedkaos]

Had there been any development on Kenny & Jack Perry since their interaction on Dynamite (I too have given up on Collision)? Seems more of this slightly unfocused join the dots yerself storytelling we've been chatting about.

Also GOA/Hurt Syndicate is confusing. People said the non hardcore rematch to the hardcore trios was a odd "escalation" but you could argue if thistag  match was on PPV it would make sense, the two titan teams without their 3rd wheels ready to prove who is the toughest (and then GOA go the fuck over the temporary stars). Instead this is also being thrown out on Dynamite to build for a rematch of a rematch? 

There's loads of good matchups on the show but things have just felt so unurgent and circulatory recently it's a shame seeing more of the same especially with the fear ratings are reflecting the fact TV has become all a little unnecessary. 

Don't want to be overly negative or doom and gloom but it just feels like the super hot All In period feels further and further away and the "you need a quiet time in wrestling because there's no off season" period has started to just feel the norm rather than the calm before the next super exciting storm (fun fact, I just genuinely had to pause for a moment to figure out if Hangman/Joe was the next world title match or the last world title match, I thought maybe it'd happened and we didn't have the next challenger yet)

[tiger_rick]

17 minutes ago, organizedkaos said:

Had there been any development on Kenny & Jack Perry since their interaction on Dynamite (I too have given up on Collision)? Seems more of this slightly unfocused join the dots yerself storytelling we've been chatting about.

Yeah, it was on Collision. I don't always watch Collision but, quite a few things that have been criticised lately were on Collision or progressed on that show. Seems quite a few don't watch it, because often it's skippable but, when they book it like a show that matters, feature people on that show exclusively and have big announcements or story progression on this show, people who don't watch it are complaining about stuff that happened, as if it didn't happen! I think they're a bit damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Recapping some of it on Dynamite definitely wouldn't go amiss. I get why they don't and I always appreciate them trying to avoid stuff that has grinded my gears about WWE over the years but one segment or a few sprinkled highlights would help keep people up to speed and show them that Collision matters.

[Supremo]

Kota Ibushi reckons it’ll take two years for him to return to in-ring competition. Rough. Extra sad that he looked surprisingly alright in this most recent, brief run.

Two years is a long time in pro-wrestling. In that time, I predict Andrade will return to WWE and then come back to AEW.

[LaGoosh]

19 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I don't always watch Collision but, quite a few things that have been criticised lately were on Collision or progressed on that show. Seems quite a few don't watch it, because often it's skippable but, when they book it like a show that matters, feature people on that show exclusively and have big announcements or story progression on this show, people who don't watch it are complaining about stuff that happened, as if it didn't happen! I think they're a bit damned if they do and damned if they don't.

There's this weird thing where pretty much any time anything great and noteworthy happens on Collision people complain that it should of been on Dynamite. They want you to watch Collision!

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

6 minutes ago, Supremo said:

 

Two years is a long time in pro-wrestling. In that time, I predict Andrade will return to WWE and then come back to AEW.

What about year 2?

It does suck for Ibush. Wrestling has so few real mavericks anymore and he has always just done what he wanted. Has always seemed as happy moonsaulting off cars on the street as he was at the Tokyo Done. Let's hope he has a speedy recovery. 

[organizedkaos]

9 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

There's this weird thing where pretty much any time anything great and noteworthy happens on Collision people complain that it should of been on Dynamite. They want you to watch Collision!

Funny thing is I've only skipped the last couple weeks due to life offering less free time and the Collision cards seemingly starting to resemble each other so much (lots of good wrestlers but just everything always seems so samey, and Eddie Kingston at PPV made me feel sad so his stuff isn't feeling must see atm).

There's a funny effect where Collision often feels missable even though as pointed out stuff is actually happening there. I mean at the moment it does genuinely feel like i'd rather just be a little out of the loop on booking than try and find time to watch it. Then again autumn tends to have a lot of TV starting up along with fun things happening in the real world so may settle back in to watching it at some point

[Cannibal Man]

keep Ibushi out of the ring for a while and have him chasing people round empty blocks of flats again 

[RedTwoster]

4 hours ago, organizedkaos said:

There's a funny effect where Collision often feels missable even though as pointed out stuff is actually happening there. I mean at the moment it does genuinely feel like i'd rather just be a little out of the loop on booking than try and find time to watch it. Then again autumn tends to have a lot of TV starting up along with fun things happening in the real world so may settle back in to watching it at some point

It’s probably their fault to be honest - the matches advertised for Collision are often underwhelming, meaning there’s little incentive to watch based on what you know is going to happen. But more often than not there are really important angles that take place alongside that. It’s not that the matches are bad - it’s more that they are usually pretty predictable, and feature lower card talent in some form. 

[tiger_rick]

55 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

It’s probably their fault to be honest - the matches advertised for Collision are often underwhelming, meaning there’s little incentive to watch based on what you know is going to happen. But more often than not there are really important angles that take place alongside that. It’s not that the matches are bad - it’s more that they are usually pretty predictable, and feature lower card talent in some form. 

Pretty much true, although I think that's often dependant on when Collision is taped. When it follows Dynamite, it's normally an afterthought and having been at a taping, I can see why, because the crowd are quieter and a lot have left. Standalone Collision tapings tend to feel a bit more of a reward for turning up. 

Also, Collision generally features more women's matches than Dynamite, sometimes up to about 50% of the show and also main eventing more often. That's another major complaint that there aren't more on Dynamite and yet they're a big part of a show that feels lesser. 

I think the balance is about right. Collision is rarely a must watch show but is normally good enough if you do watch it. 

Edited October 15, 2025 by tiger_rick

[LaGoosh]

A decent Collision hits my sweet spot. Low stakes relaxed with plenty of good action and fun promos/character stuff.

[The King Of Swing]

Yeah more often than not, Collision is my kind of wrestling show. 

Some Collision recaps on Dynamite would probably go a long way. Could easily shave a few minutes of wrestling off to accommodate putting something together.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Note for anyone who watches the ITV uploads of the shows, they’re likely to only put up the Dynamite portion of tonight’s show on Friday and not the last hour until they show Collision early next week. Happened last time they did the three hour block

[LaGoosh]

A not great 2 hour episode spread out over three pretty rough hours.

The two main negatives for me:

1) My biggest bugbear - drop that stupid "cinematic" shit! I hate it so much. There has never been a good "cinematic" promo in wrestling ever. It's dumb. Fuck off with your spooky music playing over shitty promos. So many wrestlers desperate to be actors putting on movies.  If you compare any of them to actual real films they'd be too rubbish to even go in the bargain DVD bin that @FLips gets all his movies from. And the content itself was awful meandering "grim dark" stuff. There was a bit where Darby said he thinks about joining the Deathriders every day because he understands their mission. Darby you dummy - the whole point is that Mox's "mission" is all lies to cover his ego. It's all ever only been about him! You're a babyface and should be pointing out the heels lies and hypocrisy! 

The Darby segment later was good in theory but I think the fans are generally sick of this feud. It's not exactly something you can get excited about. There's not much fun to it. Watching two blokes get increasingly miserable to build up cutting each others ears off or whatever they're going to do this weekend.

2) the lame Joe/Hangman stuff this week. To me the obvious and most logical booking for this Trios match would be for Hangman to have accidentally cost The Opps the Trios titles. It would have added a load of heat on the title match. You would have Joe furious. Hangman would be filled with regret but also have to stand up for himself. You would have got the titles off The Opps and ended their absolute nothing of a reign and actually do something interesting with Powerhouse Hobbs. Perhaps you could have had Hangman accidentally hit Shibata with the title belt or something and injured him adding more heat - have a guilty Hangman trying to check up on Shibata backstage but Joe goes mental on him. Instead they didn't really do anything at all.

Wasn't all bad though I suppose. I think the only stuff I really liked was the Statlander/Storm bit. Both women are great and it's the match I'm most looking forward to on the PPV by far. And every week I think they should be booking Willow Nightingale like she's their John Cena. In ring action was all pretty decent as per usual but it's remarkable how little it feels like is going on with so many people.

Edited October 16, 2025 by LaGoosh

[RedTwoster]

Not a bad episode of Dynamite/Collision, but also not an episode that made me feel like Wrestledream was money well spent.

Page/Joe could and should have felt so much hotter. Both men have the storytelling skills to do something better than this, but as it stands, it feels like a throwaway match. Maybe it’ll end up being chapter 1 of a longer story, who knows.

Statlander was pretty terrible on the mic. Kudos to them for trying something different to start the show, but it didn’t really work - pretty much entirely because of her.

Mercedes, on the other hand, is growing in confidence on the mic. I imagine her house of cards is set to collapse sooner rather than later, though.

Jack Perry carving wood backstage made me laugh and I don’t really know why. Maybe it’s because someone, somewhere equated that activity with ‘serious wrestler’. It’s nice to see Jurassic Express back together though, and I wouldn’t object to Marco Stunt returning - he was a fun part of that act.

Stokely’s recent promos have been slightly weaker than they had been. While I still think he deserves a nomination for Best Non-Wrestler at our annual awards, I’m now of the opinion that Renee Paquette or Taz should win this year.

Okada ‘pressing the wrong button’ was very well done, and made me laugh out loud.

The Darby/Moxley prison promo was what it was. A nice idea, based around a feud I don’t feel even slightly invested in. 

Eddie Kingston and Hook going into the tag division seems like a huge waste, when there are limited challengers to Hangman Page. I hope all of this is building towards a heel turn for Eddie.

Thekla’s promo was a mix of good delivery and dodgy content. I’m sure she’ll improve.

What on earth happened with Rush near the end of that match? There was a very weird moment with Shibata. 

The failure to mention Andrade didn’t feel odd to me last week, but this week is certainly does. If nothing untoward is going on, it’s strange to ignore it like that.