AEW TV 2026 discussion

[The Curious Orange]

2 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Edit: I'm not fixing that typo. Copland is Adam's new movie coming to Prime Video.

I would be fine with an Adam Copland gimmick as long he puts on a load of weight for it like Stallone did.

[BomberPat]

I've just clocked that Darby Allin vs. Hechicero is a title match as well as a qualifier.

So that's the TNT Champion defending against the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, while also competing for a shot at an AEW World Title match, which the AEW International Champion is also trying to get a spot in, despite having just lost to the AEW World Champion, who also just beat the AEW Continental Champion. Oh, and he's teaming with the AEW National Champion, who also has a shot at the World Title. I'm beginning to think there's too many belts, lads.

[tiger_rick]

8 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I've just clocked that Darby Allin vs. Hechicero is a title match as well as a qualifier.

So that's the TNT Champion defending against the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, while also competing for a shot at an AEW World Title match, which the AEW International Champion is also trying to get a spot in, despite having just lost to the AEW World Champion, who also just beat the AEW Continental Champion. Oh, and he's teaming with the AEW National Champion, who also has a shot at the World Title. I'm beginning to think there's too many belts, lads.

Genuinely, the CMLL Title is the only bit that I hate in there. The rest isn't hard to follow. The people who pop-up with titles that aren't AEW titles annoy me. I don't want them to ignore the ecosystem but I don't want them to show belts on TV that aren't AEW titles unless it's Mercedes belt collector gimmick or it's a major deal IWGP World Champion.

[LaGoosh]

42 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

So that's the TNT Champion defending against the CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, while also competing for a shot at an AEW World Title match, which the AEW International Champion is also trying to get a spot in, despite having just lost to the AEW World Champion, who also just beat the AEW Continental Champion. Oh, and he's teaming with the AEW National Champion, who also has a shot at the World Title. 

[Kamran]

WrestleDream is THIS SATURDAY and we still need to confirm the remaining 5 wrestlers competing in the Clockwork Carnage match, luckily it's a 3-hour Dynamite and Collision special tonight:

[The King of Old School]

I reckon Adam Copeland is getting the Owen Cup/All In build next year based on that.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, The King of Old School said:

I reckon Adam Copeland is getting the Owen Cup/All In build next year based on that.

I wonder if it'll be held in Canada, with Copeland having his final World title match there as you're suggesting. 

I know not everyone here has been a fan of Copeland's AEW run, but what a fantastic ambassador for the company he's been. In every interview he talks glowingly about the company and how much he's enjoying himself and he really makes it sound like a company you'd want to work for if you were a wrestler, or watch if you're a fan. I imagine Tony Khan has viewed him as a very worthwhile investment. 

I wouldn't be shocked if Christian Cage decided to retire alongside him, but I hope we have a little bit more of him before he calls it a day. The Patriarch character is one of the best AEW creations of all, and he's had the run of his career in that company. 

The show on the whole was a little mediocre, but I can't do anything other than give them a pass considering the horrific circumstances they had do deal with in between All Out and Wrestledream. It's perfectly understandable why the build to the show has been so rushed. 

I still don't think there was any need to run with the predictable qualifying matches, though. Why on earth should Myron Reed, Lee Moriarty or Ace Austin be in contention for a World Title match? If they want to run a series of qualifiers like that, frame it as a themed set - an 'opportunity of a lifetime' in which younger wrestlers are being given the chance to prove themselves against the best, and have one of them actually succeed. 

The New Level segment was painful. Fair enough, they were probably obliged to give that guy the chance to promote whatever he was promoting but fucking hell, that was the opposite of promotion, it made me never want to see that guy ever again. It was definitely the worst segment AEW has run this year. 

Talking of painful, that segment with Andrade, Ospreay and The Brawling Birds...my goodness. It was very WWE, wrestlers uttering the same tired lines and the same old catchphrases. I can do without hearing Alex Windsor saying "slags" and Andrade asking "How you know?" ever again. 

And the selfie spot? Bin it. Stop. It's shit and adds nothing to his matches. First time round it was fun, now it's the wrestling equivalent of a Little Britain catchphrase. 

Wrestledream should be a fun show and although I hope they're able to move on to their next big storyline as soon as it's done, whatever it may be. 

[Supremo]

There are definitely Copeland matches I’d like to look at before he retires, like against Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Darby or Okada, but anyone suggesting Copeland should be World Champion has lost their fucking mind.

Has enough time already passed for us to forget how truly dreadful Cope vs. Mox was? How awful Cope is when doing the TOUGHEST, HARDEST MAN ALIVE act? The very reason this Tag Team run with Christian worked so well was because it sidelined all that bollocks.

Copeland’s final year needs to see him return to his TNT Title form, where he’s having fun matches with people you’d never expect him to wrestle. At most he should be in the co-main events. Never headlining. The higher up the card you push him, the GRITTIER he’ll become, and no-one needs that.

Provided Christian can come back from what sounds like absolutely horrific injuries, I’d quite like Cope and Christian to wrestle each other in a double retirement match. 

Edited 13 hours ago by Supremo

[tiger_rick]

37 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

It was very WWE

I know the three people who still defend WWE will cry if we make the comparison but this was the most WWE feeling AEW show in forever. The horrible qualifying matches gave the build that feeling anyway but I agree with Twoster on the UE segment, the horrendous "celebrity" and I'd add the Wayne/Jericho shite too. That guy at ringside yelling "Jericho Sucks" did almost save it, god bless that man. To top it off, you had the literal carnage at the end of the show. An absolute A1 WWE trope. Fuck that. Who booked this shit?

The wrestling, the stuff I sat through anyway, was good. You'd only know it was an AEW show because the wrestling was mostly excellent and the commentary was really good.

The Moxley meldown was really, really good too. Most of the promo work was. Even thought Austin Creed spoke really well but it was lost amongst that car crash of a segment. Opener was a bundle of fun. They just let Wardlow be popular in his hometown and handled it great on commentary. How easy is that? 

Fucking hell, the rest was rough. I know I'm grumpy after this but I never need to see Don Callis, Chris Jericho or Nick Wayne ever again. 

Reset button on Saturday please, Tone.

[The King of Old School]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

There are definitely Copeland matches I’d like to look at before he retires, like against Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Darby or Okada, but anyone suggesting Copeland should be World Champion has lost their fucking mind.

 

I don't think anyone is suggesting it, apart from probably Tony Khan.

I think he's probably winning the Owen though and going for the title at All In though based on his spiel last night. 

Edited 11 hours ago by The King of Old School

[tiger_rick]

I think TK would want Adam Copeland on his AEW Title history. I just think that's something he would see as historically important.

[RedTwoster]

10 minutes ago, Supremo said:

There are definitely Copeland matches I’d like to look at before he retires, like against Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Darby or Okada, but anyone suggesting Copeland should be World Champion has lost their fucking mind.

I totally agree - unlike Danielson, I don't need to see him win the World Title again before he retires. I would, however, be perfectly fine with seeing him challenge for the belt one last time unsuccessfully. For that to work as effectively as it can, it would need to be a strong heel like MJF rather than Ospreay - although I suppose there's value in him putting Ospreay over. 

12 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Provided Christian can come back from what sounds like absolutely horrific injuries, I’d quite like Cope and Christian to wrestle each other in a double retirement match. 

I don't want them to retire together - I'd like a bit more of Christian before he hangs up his boots - but there isn't a more appropriate final opponent for him than Christian Cage; with Christian going full heel on him heading into that final bout, wanting end Edge's wrestling career by proving he's always been the better of the two of them. 

1 minute ago, tiger_rick said:

I think TK would want Adam Copeland on his AEW Title history. I just think that's something he would see as historically important.

I think you're probably right. I'm not sure Copeland would see it that way, though. 

[LaGoosh]

A very ok and skippable episode that. Enjoyed the opening six man a lot. Wardlow looked really good out there. Garcia put in a great babyface performance, this match made me weirdly interested in a Garcia/Wardlow singles match.

Brian Cage is fucking shit isn't he? Move spamming twat. For such a roided up bloke he never comes across as strong, his strikes are weak as piss and his highflying stuff looks proper rubbish. Unless he's against Darby Allin who can work miracles with him I'd be happy to never see him in singles action again. 

[The King of Old School]

Presume building to Death Riders vs DCF at Blood and Guts then seeing as they have given DCF a couple of wins over them recently?

[BomberPat]

I really disliked that show, just nothing to change my opinion on the pointlessness of the qualifiers, and most of the matches themselves weren't good enough to make up for it.

Shocked by how bad Christian's injury sounded, hopefully he can recover fully from that. I assume the plan was for a Cage and Copeland tag team retirement run next year, and they have pivoted to a Cope retirement run leaving things open-ended for Christian.

I was excited to see the Motor City Machine Guns actually show up, and a Best of 5 series with FTR could be fun, but immediately talking about RESPECT and LEGACY is just the dullest way to build a wrestling match. And then the weirdness of them challenging for a match on the show, Stokely saying no, and then FTR just leaving and the MCMGs having to lamely play to the crowd and get no comeback for not getting what they offered the crowd was weird.

 

The build to Clockwork Carnage means Ospreay is suffering from a similar problem to Hangman as babyface champion, where the World Champion isn't the focal point of the show, just a guy who shows up for a couple of segments. He's not feuding with anyone in particular, and has no lasting beef with the people in the title match, so he just sort of pops up now and then but isn't carrying the storyline. The show ended with a big schmozz of the entrants in Clockwork Carnage fighting each other, but Will didn't stand out any more than anyone else in that mix, he was just another guy there to take a move while everyone took it in turns getting their shit in.