AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[LaGoosh]

I'd like to see more Cash Wheeler singles matches. He wrestles with a manic intensity that is really exciting, he feels totally in the moment when he's out there.

[LaGoosh]

I'm torn on this. On one hand booking a match completely out of nowhere the winners all get $100K is incredibly weird, dumb and unnecessary. 

However on the other hand this looks like an absolutely fucking bonkers fun match and exactly the type of nutty tag match they should be booking on their weekly TV.

[Kamran]

They did something like this before where AR Fox and Top Flight won $300K on Rampage in a Three Kings Christmas Casino Battle Royale. I can't believe anyone watching believes there is an actual cash prize and listening to the commentators trying to put it over is a little cringey. It definitely sounds like it could be fun though. 

Edited April 9, 2025 by Kamran

[Chili]

It's all bollocks though anyway, I always enjoy the old emphasis on the winners purse and while we might roll our eyes, there is probably younger fans who still believe in the magic I suppose. It's fine for me. Batshit mental looking match though, might be more action in the air than feet touching the canvas.

[Supremo]

58 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I'm torn on this. On one hand booking a match completely out of nowhere the winners all get $100K is incredibly weird, dumb and unnecessary. 

However on the other hand this looks like an absolutely fucking bonkers fun match and exactly the type of nutty tag match they should be booking on their weekly TV.

My mind immediately went to The Beast Mortos spending his winnings taking Harley Cameron to the poshest restaurant in town.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

We’re also getting all 4 male Death Riders in action tonight

PAC v Swerve

Mox v Shibata

Claudio/Yuta v Joe/Hook

And the forum’s favourite Women’s champ on comms for the Statlander/Rosa OHFT match

[RedTwoster]

Ah great, The Bucks coming back has revived AEW itself as an active character in storylines. Fantastic. I hated this gimmick before they left, they didn’t win me over today. What a shame, given how good AEW has been recently, that two of their founding wrestlers are responsible for dragging down the show.

Toni Storm was great on commentary once again, I could watch a whole show of her on the announce desk and never feel bored. 

[Guest]

Loved that opening segment, match into one story into another into another into another, and the slow tease of HAngman and Swerve continues. It also feels like this could lead to Hangman and Kenny vs the Bucks, and all the hells yes.

 

Did Jericho just say he was taking time off? Because if so, 5 star show.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

16 minutes ago, Duke said:

 

Did Jericho just say he was taking time off? Because if so, 5 star show.

Quite the Fozzy schedule 

https://fozzyrock.com/tour/

[tiger_rick]

A really rotten show. They quite often come off PPVs with these lukewarm efforts. I don't mind the rehab wins and I actively adore Jericho pissing off, even if it was another dreadful segment where he dropped an F-bomb for no justifiable reason other than he's a daft old bastard who wants to be relevant, but the rest was so much shite. Too many people doing stuff that is a million miles from what you'd want. Kenny & the bloody Young Bucks being the most obvious. 

I've given them mild praise for the re-emphasis of the Death Riders away from killing people to an act that works in wrestling but never booking the babyfaces to come together and not even having some of them there on most shows and then having Moxley cut promos to criticise them for it is stupid. I get why, there's obviously going to be a multi-man somewhere with the Death Riders vs. the good guys but drawing attention to your own naff booking to get there is stoopid.

The matches for the Owen shouldn't have been on PPV. They should have been on Dynamite, making it a red-hot, can't miss show. This just hammered that home.

Highlights: Swerve/Hangman interactions continue. Penelope Ford's outstanding tag team. Toni on comms. Joe's promo. 

Lowlights: All the rest. 

Pro-wrestling in the shitter. Boom period, my arse.

[BomberPat]

Yep, miserable show outside of the eight-man tag. And even in the eight-man, there was no need to have Ospreay get the win - he's always winning, won at the PPV, and will presumably have a run of wins in the Owen; couldn't have hurt to give Kevin Knight the win to get him some momentum after losing his first big match, or to give Speedball the win.

Glad to see Jericho finally realise it's time to fuck off, but the fact that he managed to do it without actually putting anyone over on the way out is beyond parody.

The Young Bucks being back was just a horrible segment. I was fully expecting their promo to be a "you people don't deserve an explanation", and the only nice thing I can say about it is that it wasn't that. We had finally moved away from everyone on-screen talking about how AEW is a miserable place to work and isn't good any more, and now we're right back to heel bosses, babyfaces talking about how the Bucks "almost killed the company", and "restoring the feeling". The shows are usually good now, why do we want people on the show saying, "yeah, this stuff is a bit shit, isn't it?". So much of wrestling has fundamentally broken the brains of the people who write this stuff, because in no other genre of TV would anyone ever think, "yeah, we should tell our audience that the show they're investing their time and money in, and that we want them to invest their time and money in, is bollocks". There's no need. AEW is at its best as a feelgood promotion, and at its worst when it's this.

The Young Bucks aren't good enough promo guys to fill in the gaping holes in the writing and make sense of it. Kenny Omega could be if the right version of Kenny Omega turned up to work, but we didn't get that Kenny Omega, we got chilled out laughing and joking Kenny Omega telling a silly story instead of being angry at his former friends who tried to fucking kill him. He's right that when he returned to AEW he said he wasn't about revenge, but then he immediately rushed Don Callis and Takeshita on sight and tried to fight them. But apparently the Bucks don't warrant that level of intensity or anger from him, despite everything they did to him.

The best bits of the show were the hints of Hangman and Swerve reconciling, and Hangman and Nana doing stellar work in making it clear that they're not just going to become friends overnight, which is how it should be. But Hangman is, even as he's getting better and becoming a better person, still someone who can't let a grudge go and is aggrieved by anyone trying to control the narrative of his life - he was angry at Swerve for saying that he deserved what Hangman did to him, even though in theory that's what Hangman wanted. He was angry at Nana for trying to apologise. Because Hangman can't let go. Yet the Young Bucks talking about how they're still friends and they were just trying to help him, when he clearly never asked them to, doesn't even get a comment from him? He doesn't interact with them at all? I know they're not going to tell the whole story in one night, but it's off to a miserable start that reminds me of when AEW was at its worst, and it's no coincidence that it's all tied into the Young Bucks. I don't even dislike the Bucks, I just dislike them doing this. It doesn't fill me with confidence for the future, because it suggests that even once the Death Riders are out of the way, it's just back to terminal The Elite drama.

I don't care for the MJF/Hurt Syndicate story either. There's just no viable satisfying ending to this. They're not going to let MJF join the Syndicate or, if they do, it will be rubbish. If they're going to feud with them, what's the match? Is MJF going to fight them individually, or is he going to go for the Tag Titles? Why would MJF go for the tag belts again? Who would even want to team with him, and why would he want to team with anyone after what happened between him and Adam Cole? Best case scenario is he just pays someone to be his lackey, but then who and why? Worst case scenario is that they end up doing a strange bedfellows "can they co-exist" partnership either with MJF teaming with the Hurt Syndicate, or with MJF teaming with someone else against the Hurt Syndicate, and they shouldn't be doing that at the same time that they're also building towards Swerve and Hangman being on the same team. I can genuinely see Wardlow coming back as MJF's partner, though, and just hitting the reset button on him again.

[RedTwoster]

17 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I can genuinely see Wardlow coming back as MJF's partner, though, and just hitting the reset button on him again.

I can’t really think of who else it could be, unless it’s a new face like Kevin Knight or Josh Alexander. But you’d have to expect someone who would match up to Lashley physically, and Wardlow kind of fits the bill there.

I hope Jericho’s absence means Big Bill gets a push. He’s really good on the mic, decent in ring and is very different from most other top stars in AEW. I think he’s earned a better spot on the card, especially given that he’s survived an alliance with Jericho without people wanting to toss him into a black hole.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

The matches for the Owen shouldn't have been on PPV. They should have been on Dynamite, making it a red-hot, can't miss show. This just hammered that home.

As much as I generally enjoyed the show more than you, rrrrrrrrrrrick, I think this is spot on. The balance of the show wasn't right (partly of course down to Pac getting injured) and if all the matches on the show had been for the Owen, the show would've been in much better shape.

[Hannibal Scorch]

15 hours ago, Chili said:

It's all bollocks though anyway, I always enjoy the old emphasis on the winners purse and while we might roll our eyes, there is probably younger fans who still believe in the magic I suppose. It's fine for me. Batshit mental looking match though, might be more action in the air than feet touching the canvas.

Well, if Speedball comes out in shoes next week, we'll get our answer.

13 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

I can’t really think of who else it could be, unless it’s a new face like Kevin Knight or Josh Alexander. But you’d have to expect someone who would match up to Lashley physically, and Wardlow kind of fits the bill there.

 

Tony Schiavone mentioned Pinnacle on commentary. I could see FTR, Wardlow and a debuting Richard Holiday being a group with MJF once more.

[digforvictory]

Definite step backwards after what felt like a good few months of really good TV.

As others have said the Bucks in their return promo talking about taking control of the company and "restoring the feeling" and all that sort of stuff made my heart sink. I think a big reason for the vast improvement earlier in the year was that sort of talk stopped happening. The Death Riders stopped slagging off the company and vaguely talking about taking over AEW and just became a generic heel stable who cheated to retain their titles.

It still was the weakest part of the show by miles, other than Jericho probably, but it was much improved.  And now it looks like they're going back to the hostile takeover EVP bollocks. Just shite. Has a company doing a story where they say the company or the product is shit ever worked? It always comes across horribly. 

There was strangeness to the rest of the show, crowd weren't as hot and everything just felt a little bit off. Feel like you could say this after every show forever but the highlights were again Swerve/Hangman and Toni Storm of course.

Is that it for the Learning Tree break up? Is that meant to be the big babyface turn for Big Bill? What the fuck was that? He needed to chokeslam Jericho through a table for fuck sake. Through the ring! Something huge to get the crowd going and make it a memorable moment. He slightly pushes back against Jericho berating him and then Jericho smashes stuff up with a bat and leaves. Is that all we're getting? I'm as happy as anyone Jericho looks like he's off for a while but man, what a shite segment to write him out.

So yeah, very disappointing Dynamite off the back of one of the more forgettable AEW PPV's. Hoping it's just a slight hiccup and we get back to normal soon.