AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[RedTwoster]

I don’t normally like TV shows opening with a line-up rundown, but I didn’t mind it here, it was essentially Tony Khan saying to me ‘have a night off, we know you’re busy so we’re not doing anything interesting tonight.’

That said, I watched it anyway.

49 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Tay Conti is one of the most annoying promos around.

It’s funny you’d say that as I actually thought it was her best promo to date. Her and Anna Jay have made good progress, and they’re a decent little tag team.

49 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I skipped the TNT title match because Scorpio Sky is and forever will be a waste of TV time.

Yeah, me too. It’s a shame they parted ways with Ethan Page as Men of the Year were a fantastic team. Scorpio is incredibly bland as a babyface - possibly AEW’s most boring wrestler - so if I were Tony Khan I’d be looking to turn him heel and team him up with someone more charismatic - Lio Rush, maybe? It’s a little left field, but I could see him and Eddie Kingston working well together as a heel act. 

They need to end the Darby/Death Riders feud at Full Gear. It should be over now, but regardless it shouldn’t be extended further. I suspect the way this’ll go is that PAC will win, giving them a reason to abandon Mox. But even then I suspect Darby will end up teaming with Mox agains the remaining DRs. I hope I’m wrong.

The Toni/Mina pairing still isn’t working for me. I don’t think they have believable chemistry, and Storm works better as a solo babyface anyway. 

I hate Riho’s music more than almost any other theme, but she’s super fun to watch and I can’t help but think they should be doing more with her. She’s their first ever women’s world champion yet is never presented at that level. She easily could be, she’s talented enough and is very underutilised.

[The King Of Swing]

Riho is pretty much a jobber to the stars at this point.

A full time team with Windsor could be good but I'm already expecting Riho to vanish again once they do the honours in the tournament.

Overall the usual solid Collision. 

I'm actually going right off MxM, though. Never thought I'd be saying that. 

[RedTwoster]

17 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

I'm actually going right off MxM, though. Never thought I'd be saying that. 

They come across as absolute berks on their YouTube show. I’d compare it to the first time I heard the Jericho podcast, you maybe don’t want to get to know them as people.

[RedTwoster]

Apologies for the double post, but some really sad news - one of the most underrated non-wrestlers in AEW history, Rebel, has gone public with the fact she has lung cancer (link to wrestlinginc). 

Awful news. 

[Kamran]

It's a 3-hour Dynamite (and Collision) special tomorrow due to Full Gear taking place on Saturday:

 

[Merzbow]

Hopefully we see some 2014 Shibata tonight and get a banger, there's potential for an all time Dynamite match there.

 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

On 11/16/2025 at 11:45 PM, RedTwoster said:

Apologies for the double post, but some really sad news - one of the most underrated non-wrestlers in AEW history, Rebel, has gone public with the fact she has lung cancer (link to wrestlinginc). 

Awful news. 

My wife is in the process of being diagnosed with FND as well so know how hard that is to deal with. Fingers crossed for a full and speedy recovery for Rebel who I've always had a soft spot for 

[RedTwoster]

1 minute ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

My wife is in the process of being diagnosed with FND as well so know how hard that is to deal with. Fingers crossed for a full and speedy recovery for Rebel who I've always had a soft spot for 

I’m really sorry to read that. Thoughts are with you both.

[Statto]

I have a vague recollection there was a "good wrestling social media" or similar thread but I can't find it so it's going here.

Fuck I love Takeshita:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPG8FPAjj5w/?igsh=Y21nbWtsdmY2NzQx

 

[RedTwoster]

A very uneventful episode of Dynamite/Collision, which isn’t what you want heading into a PPV. Don’t get me wrong, things happened - it’s just that very few of them felt consequential.

Hangman/Joe is about as cold a title feud as AEW has ever had. It’s hard to buy into the idea of Joe winning. He won’t, and nor should he. I wish they’d had Page go up against someone else at this show, it’s not like there aren’t other options.

I don’t think Shelton Benjamin should be beating Mike Bailey, but the bigger issue here was the abysmal refereeing; made even more pointless by the fact that stopping the count had zero effect on the outcome. The National Championship couldn’t have gotten off to a much worse start. It shouldn’t exist in the first place, though. 

Why do they keep putting Statlander on commentary? She’s absolutely awful at it. I like her as a wrestler, but she keeps getting put in situations that make her look bad. 

I’m probably not going to order Full Gear, as much as I’d like to support a Saturday PPV. For the first time in a long time with AEW, I don’t feel invested in a single match on the card. Here’s hoping they pick things  up a bit next week.

[Supremo]

Historically, that’s got to be one of the coldest go-home shows of all time. Three hours of stuff just happening in front of my eyes. Seemingly everyone just going through the motions, with their pay per view opponents mumbling nonsense at the commentary desk. The performers themselves felt bored shitless! Full Gear will require you to wear your thermals before watching it. Ice cold.

Three hours is far too long for a TV show. Three hours with a fucking ten minute overrun? Tony, “more is more,” Khan strikes again.

Watching both WWE and AEW lifelessly limp towards the end of the year, both creatively bankrupt, I’m reminded of those early UFC shows when nobody had a clue how to make it work and they hadn’t implemented rounds or weight classes yet. You’d sometimes end up with two fighters completely cancelling the other out, left in a never-ending stalemate.

That’s WWE vs. AEW in 2025. Both Triple H and Tony Khan proving that in a never-ending, weekly medium every booker has a shelf life and it should be law that creative teams get a complete refresh every three to five years. Before we know it it’ll be 2030. Raw will feature Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk. Dynamite will see The Elite teasing a reunion/split. And Smackdown will be see The Bloodline teasing a reunion/split. *Terry Funk Voice* “Forever!”

Do you know who’s absolutely fucking awful? MVP! Probably my least favourite performer in the business. Most counterproductive talent alive. Similar to Charlotte Flair, the man absolutely reeks of 2010 WWE. Beyond taking some losses for ulterior, political purposes, he’s otherwise completely incapable of understanding that wrestlers should give and take in order to tell a better story. Every promo MVP cuts in AEW is this awful, meta burial of everyone else, constantly interrupting and talking over people, ensuring the Hurt Syndicate always looks like the smartest and hardest men alive. His commentary on this show was more of the same. Poor Bryan Danielson trying to - you know - tell the story of the match, and MVP’s just shouting over him that everything Mike Bayley is doing is shit because he’s shit. I think they went to an armbar at least three times and any drama or excitement was quickly shat on every time by MVP explaining how the hold wasn’t on correctly and wouldn’t hurt Shelton at all. Fuck’s sake.  I swear the only reason they put Shelton and Lashley as Number One and Number Two in the Gauntlet is to force MVP to maybe put a fucker over in a promo for a change. Absolute whopper.

A few positives so I don’t just sound like a moany prick…

Fantastic finish in the Mercedes match. The case continues to grow for her to use any finisher on the planet other than the awful-looking Money Maker.

Hangman wrestling in Cowboy boots was cool. Cute promo referencing the last time he had a cage match and committed literal murder, too. The Opps attacking Hangman in the cage on Saturday, with Swerve fucking Strickland making the save? Yes please!

Okada continues to be the highlight of the show. Funniest wrestler alive. I wish William Hill took AEW bets. I’m not saying Tony Khan is a predictable booker, but I’d bet my house on Okada and Takeshita being in the Finals of the Continental Classic. Provided Dolph Ziggler doesn’t turn up in the brackets, anything’s an improvement.

Edited November 20, 2025 by Supremo

[RedTwoster]

23 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Okada continues to be the highlight of the show. Funniest wrestler alive. I wish William Hill took AEW bets. I’m not saying Tony Khan is a predictable booker, but I’d bet my house on Okada and Takeshita being in the Finals of the Continental Classic. Provided Dolph Ziggler doesn’t turn up in the brackets, anything’s an improvement.

Ah bollocks, I completely forgot about the Continental Classic. Not that I’m against Okada/Takeshita, but I was really hoping they’d run an Okada/Hangman feud before then. I’m slightly worried that they’ll actually put the title on Joe again, on account of Hangman having pretty much no one to feud with. 

27 minutes ago, Supremo said:

That’s WWE vs. AEW in 2025. Both Triple H and Tony Khan proving that in a never-ending, weekly medium every booker has a shelf life and it should be law that creative teams get a complete refresh every three to five years. Before we know it it’ll be 2030.

The most frustrating thing with AEW recently is that they have very obvious and easy-to-get-to options that would heat things up. The Death Riders turning on Moxley should have happened by now. When I say Hangman has ‘pretty much no one to feud with’ that’s a bit of an exaggeration - there are better options than Joe - Powerhouse Hobbs, Darby, Okada, Takeshita, Lashley, Bandido, Eddie Kingston, Hechisero, Jeff Jarrett, The Bucks, Ricochet, Rush, OC or even Mortos - yes, this would involve some creative detours or even hearing a few cold acts up, but it’s better than prolonging the Samoa Joe feud; particularly given that Page has already beaten the guy clean. 

I also think the decision to put the World title on Statlander has quite clearly been proven to be a mistake. Imagine if they were building up to Storm/Mercedes 2 right now? That’s your Full Gear main event right there. I imagine they’re going to get to that match after Mone is champion, but Statlander is so bad as a face she’s undone some of the value Storm created with the belt. She just doesn’t feel like a top act. If they were going to switch the belt to try to build another main event female star, as annoying as I find her, it should have been Willow. 

[theringmaster]

I think I'm in the minatory in actually caring about the women's tag belts but i really feel for TayJay, they have essentially been THE tag team for years and now they have been pushed aside for a put together tag team because they want to give Toni something that isn't the main belt.

[DavidB6937]

I have no interest in TayJay as champs in any scenario.

[RedTwoster]

36 minutes ago, theringmaster said:

I think I'm in the minatory in actually caring about the women's tag belts but i really feel for TayJay, they have essentially been THE tag team for years and now they have been pushed aside for a put together tag team because they want to give Toni something that isn't the main belt.

I don’t expect Storm to win the tag titles - I reckon it’ll be Bayne and Shafir, and rightly so to be fair.

I’ve no idea if caring about the belts makes you a minority, but I’m also invested. I think the build to anointing the first women’s tag champions has been good, with logical, coherent partnerships that actually feel like teams (as opposed to feeling thrown together, even if that might be the reality in some cases) and enjoyable matches. 

As far as TayJay goes, while @DavidB6937 is, in my opinion, one of the best posters on this forum, I side more with you on this one, @theringmaster.

I think both Melo and Jay have improved significantly both on the mic and in ring, and they work well together as a team.

That said, I don’t think their story is being the first tag champions. Why do that when you have the emotional story of them finally achieving that dream? They’re AEW’s most established female tag team and there’s really no one else they could run that story with. I’m pretty sure they’ll hold the titles eventually, but it shouldn’t happen for a while so the moment means a lot more.