AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[Chris B]

I've got to admit, I disagree that wrestling should be PG on a national level. I think it should feel dangerous at times, and carry that with it. When I started watching wrestling, that was part of the appeal - the bloody magazine covers, Macho Man getting bitten by a cobra, etc. 

However, I do think that they should also produce PG shows - and even U shows. I think AEW is absolutely leaving money on the table by not doing a Saturday morning show aimed at kids. They've got people who can absolutely do it. Doesn't need to be live and can have plenty of backstage skits, interviews, and comedy. And so many of their wrestlers would benefit from it.

[LaGoosh]

Yeah I'd be pretty devastated if AEW went PG. I want my wrestling to be violent and I want that violence to feel like it has consequences. That tension of knowing that AEW will go to dark and violent places if it needs to is an important factor in making it feel like a true alternative to WWE. And as they've hired more WWE staff the past few years and unfortunately taken on more of their visual language (to the shows detriment) it's one of the few things they have left that makes them feel different. I'm an adult and I want to watch a wrestling show that feels like it's catering to my tastes. I'm also a parent and I'm perfectly happy watching violent things...personally I'm hoping my kids will be too cool to watch wrestling.

From a business perspective - I dunno, I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference. Really, AEW should be aiming to catch the young fans as they start to grow out of WWE by offering them a more compelling and mature alternative.

But definitely agree with the above the a PG/U rated kids show would be fantastic. Myself and others have brought it up multiple times over the years. A quick 1 hour show full of luchadores, wacky characters and skits would be bloody wonderful.

Edited February 4, 2025 by LaGoosh

[tiger_rick]

34 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I've got to admit, I disagree that wrestling should be PG on a national level. I think it should feel dangerous at times, and carry that with it. When I started watching wrestling, that was part of the appeal - the bloody magazine covers, Macho Man getting bitten by a cobra, etc. 

Funnily enough, when I read Twoster's reply, that Macho Man angle immediately came to mind. The WWF was utterly PG back then but you'd have a sprinkling of really heavy angles that were pretty terrifying.

I think that can always happen, especially on PPV. Someone like Swerve, once you've made him with a match like the one with Hangman, you don't need to do it on TV all the time.

I think that being PG on TV would have two advantages. Firstly, it'd make it a more encouraging event for families week in and week out. Secondly, it'd massively improve the quality control and stop everyone saying "shit" in every promo or everyone having some pointy weapon in their pocket and the like. As much as I have adored their product for a lot of the time, it's been obvious that for every great, bloody brawl, there have been five meaningless ones that didn't need it. Some internal constraints would greatly improve the creativity, I reckon.  

[RedTwoster]

35 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I've got to admit, I disagree that wrestling should be PG on a national level. I think it should feel dangerous at times, and carry that with it. When I started watching wrestling, that was part of the appeal - the bloody magazine covers, Macho Man getting bitten by a cobra, etc. 

See, I think you can still have a product that feels dangerous within the confines of a modern PG environment. I’d point to Jacob Fatu as an example of that, or Cody Rhodes getting brutalised by The Rock.

I think AEW could still set itself apart by feeling gritty and real - that’s when it’s at its best for me - without crossing the line to the point it becomes unbelievable; such as the Death Rider murder angles. It also removes some of the crass nonsense that some wrestlers confuse for ‘non-PG’  - an over-reliance on swearing, or MJF’s lame attempts at being edgy. You might lose some of the more bloody PPV matches - but then again, perhaps Tony Khan would think ‘it’s PPV, we can still push the boundaries’ and there wouldn’t be much of a downturn in violence.

I honestly think it would improve the AEW product, and I don’t think the vast majority of the good angles and stories they’ve run would be affected by this in any noticeable way. I struggle to think of anything strong they’ve done on TV that would be impossible in a PG environment outside of perhaps the Cody whipping angle; and given some of the things WWE have done while PG, I’m not certain they couldn’t get away with doing that, or a version of it.

[Hannibal Scorch]

For what it's worth the Royal Rumble was rated as a 12 on Netflix. I didn't notice one for Raw, but I feel a 12/PG13 rating for AEW wouldn't be an awful idea for TV, but a 15/18 for PPV which is similar to WWE in the 90's/00's would be fine. Or, as you already have 2 shows, make Collision your family friendly show if you don't want to split them.

I do wonder what the idea for AEW Shockwave was/is, because I feel if they were speaking to people like Fox they would probably have to aim lower.

[LaGoosh]

I feel like the amount of swearing has dropped pretty significantly over the past year. There was a point where it was ridiculous and constant but it doesn't feel like that to me anymore. Personally, I love a bloody brawl and I wouldn't like them to disappear from their TV shows. But like pretty much anything, less is probably more.

The Death Riders stuff actually feels more PG to me than anything else because it's so over the top and cartoonish it doesn't feel remotely realistic or believable. They should just stop it because it's dumb.

To me the main thing is establishing their own unique presentation and visual language which makes them stand apart and feel fresh and original rather than the WWE- lite it has become. I don't think the odd blade job makes much difference in the grand scheme of things. I'd be surprised if its had any negative effect on their business to date. I'd argue that it definitely helped establish them in their early days. Except for that one dickhead on here who insisted that it was all ultraviolent garbage without actually having watched it once in his life.

9 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

I’d point to Jacob Fatu as an example of that, or Cody Rhodes getting brutalised by The Rock.

Each to their own. Jacob Fatu running his bum on Braun Strowman's face til he bled didn't feel particularly gritty or realistic to me. EDIT: Strowman bled, not Fatu's bum.

I dunno, I feel like there's loads of popular things that are violent. Why should wrestling be any different? 

Edited February 4, 2025 by LaGoosh

[tiger_rick]

Just now, LaGoosh said:

I feel like the amount of swearing has dropped pretty significantly over the past year.

The episode with the second MJF/Jarrett face-off the other week had a "shit" in about every segment.

[LaGoosh]

Fair enough. I didn't watch it. MJF seems like the last bastion of saying "shit" in every promo. He's so edgy! What an edgy boy he is!

[Chris B]

Yeah, I'd rather keep the ability to do different things. The occasional death-match on TV (I'm thinking when Britt Baker briefly looked like a massive star, or Christopher Daniels being sacrificed at the alter of Hangman) or the 'Go fuck yourself' bit with Christian and Copeland. 

I'd rather not add restrictions that cut out these kind of things because MJF annoys me. Solving that is about MJF, not about the show as a whole. Use them sparingly, for sure, but cutting it out would just make it a show I'm less interested in.

[Carbomb]

I said back in the day when WWE first decided to "officially" go back to PG that the problem people had with it was that they weren't really being PG, they were being U. As Butch pointed out back then, all the great stuff from the early Monday Night Wars like the early nWo were PG. 

[RedTwoster]

31 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

To me the main thing is establishing their own unique presentation and visual language which makes them stand apart and feel fresh and original rather than the WWE- lite it has become. I don't think the odd blade job makes much difference in the grand scheme of things. I'd be surprised if its had any negative effect on their business to date. I'd argue that it definitely helped establish them in their early days.

It’s interesting that you think that - for me, what made AEW feel different during the early days was its long term storytelling, and the fact it felt like there was a clear plan for most characters - you had Hangman and the build to his title run as he overcame his demons, Cody blocking himself off from the title and the struggles that followed, MJF/Jericho, The Dark Order, Moxley/Kingston - I’m sure there was more, and I’d be surprised if this approach isn’t what led to WWE hiring someone to aid with long term stories. 

I suppose it would be simplistic to suggest just one thing set AEW apart - there were a number of things at that time that the company did that Vince McMahon’s WWE would never have done.

But bizarrely, I feel like Triple H has taken inspiration from what AEW did to set itself apart, while AEW has adopted some of the negative traits WWE once had, for whatever reason - incoherent storytelling at times, dropping stories without explanation and making the company a character in storylines, for example. 

[Chris B]

4 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

But bizarrely, I feel like Triple H has taken inspiration from what AEW did to set itself apart, while AEW has adopted some of the negative traits WWE once had, for whatever reason - incoherent storytelling at times, dropping stories without explanation and making the company a character in storylines, for example. 

I think the reason's pretty simple - it's the classic one of too many shows. Collision doubled the amount they had to do, and it wasn't as skippable a show as Rampage. Twice as many main events, twice as much stuff to do, etc. Throw in the problems of so many moving parts with major injuries, contract issues and the whole Punk situation, and it's clear they've had to rewrite and rewrite a shitload of times over the last two years.

That they do as much as they do, and the bigger shows remain fairly good, is pretty impressive. And it does feel like they're beginning to get a handle on it - Mox's last promo seemed to suggest they were slightly reworking that story, and they're getting more people in the right places, so fingers crossed they can quietly move away from it.

[RedTwoster]

42 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I think the reason's pretty simple - it's the classic one of too many shows. Collision doubled the amount they had to do, and it wasn't as skippable a show as Rampage.

Yeah, I totally agree with this point - and it’s surely not helped by the fact Tony Khan refuses to delegate. I don’t care who you are or how detailed orientated you might be, keeping track of every story on every show is going to be hard. The shows would be better off if he were to entirely hand ROH over to someone else, signing off on their plans if need be, but not doing anything more than that. 

I rarely watch AEW these days with the mindset of not being able to wait to see what happens next in a storyline - I definitely used to, though. I’d love to see them get back to the level they were once at as far as storylines are concerned. 

EDIT: Although, having said that, they continue to get Hangman right, I’d be very surprised if Hangman/Swerve didn’t win best feud at the UKFF Awards for last year, even if it wasn’t my own personal favourite story for the year.

Edited February 4, 2025 by RedTwoster

[Jesse]

I'm still 100% in on the idea that he should let RJ City book ROH. It seems like the stuff he's been involved with on the main shows has done well, I'd love to see him more involved on that side and ROH seems like the perfect place to let someone build some reps without too much risk.

[Tennessee Moltisanti]

Hangman is going to save Swerve from getting scissored (not the Acclaimeds way) by Ricochet isn't he? The redemption arc would be amazing.