AEW TV 2026 discussion

[FTR2020]

2 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Add me to the list of people watching agog at the returning hero Ospreay going 50-50 with half of the fucking Swirl. Rubbish.

Gabe Kidd in his straitjacket reminded me of Madman Manson of mid-00s BritWres fame, except we’re meant to take Kidd seriously. More rubbish.

Mina attacked Toni, right? I hope so. Toni can then dispatch her quickly and bin off the team that’s been dragging her down since the autumn.

Osprey should maybe given him a bit of offense but ultimately destroy him in 5 minutes. Maybe Will wanted to try help get Blake over.  

42 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Toni Storm is out long term from injury, apparently. Tragic!

That's such poor timing. Maybe Mercedes Mone could come back to build a big match vs Ronda. 

Personally I would love to see Hayter & Windsor vs Rousey & Shafir. 

[LaGoosh]

The Jungle Jack Perry gimmick is so confused right now. One minute he's doing super serious promos in dark corridors while holding a knife then the next he's riding around in his magical bus with his dinosaur best friend and feeding squirrels. What the fuck is he doing?

I think there's plenty of value in him going all in on being a fun kid friendly cartoon character. HE can't be all things at once. Unfortunately Jack Perry tries to be, which is why he's pretty bad.

[Statto]

It seems to me that Ospreay going 50/50 with Blake Christian stems ultimately from the same basic "issue" that results in 6hr PPV nights - the perception that people are buying tickets for / tuning into AEW to get superior in-ring action to the competition, and that the only way to deliver that is endless lengthy, back-and-forth matches.

I feel like there's a concern fans won't come back next time if they feel short-changed by Ospreay only going 75 seconds on the show in their town, or won't buy the next PPV if only 8 of their 10 favourite "major" acts are featured on the one they just bought.

It can be just as much fun to see your favourite steamroll someone, IMO. I don't think Tony Khan agrees, though.

[DavidB6937]

8 minutes ago, Statto said:

I feel like there's a concern fans won't come back next time

To be fair, they'd probably be doing AEW a favour based on that episode.

[LaGoosh]

14 minutes ago, Statto said:

It seems to me that Ospreay going 50/50 with Blake Christian stems ultimately from the same basic "issue" that results in 6hr PPV nights - the perception that people are buying tickets for / tuning into AEW to get superior in-ring action to the competition, and that the only way to deliver that is endless lengthy, back-and-forth matches.

I feel like there's a concern fans won't come back next time if they feel short-changed by Ospreay only going 75 seconds on the show in their town, or won't buy the next PPV if only 8 of their 10 favourite "major" acts are featured on the one they just bought.

It can be just as much fun to see your favourite steamroll someone, IMO. I don't think Tony Khan agrees, though.

I'll take a good squash match over 95% of most "back and forth" matches.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I’d rather watch Ospreay do all his best moves in quick succession, in out and done, than anything Blake Christian has done or will ever do.

[organizedkaos]

Quote

perception that people are buying tickets for / tuning into AEW to get superior in-ring action to the competition, and that the only way to deliver that is endless lengthy, back-and-forth matches.

Nail on the head there. It's quite annoying and definitely ignores a whole host of ways you can do exciting wrestling but I appreciate this is what they're setting out to do and that's what's happening. Given the way Osprey prides himself on the quality of his work I do feel there was a mission statement to this match and it was to show he can work at the level he did before. Deliberate working of his neck (which is as close a reason as you can find to the match being 50/50) is in part to show "look, I can work to full capabilities". 

I guess you can make an argument you can subtley present a different style of wrestling in which matches generally seem competitive but the best wrestlers generally win competitive matches (this is how sports generally work right?). In that case though you can't do many squash matches and also maybe lean on the massive roster you have and don't have Blake Christian go from being "general jobber with no momentum" to "can go back and forth with a main eventer"

Small other note, you know how we joke that once something works (often seemingly happening in the moment) TK leans into it hard. After Revolution's fairly amazing final camera shot we then had two incidents of "camera lens gets obscured by fluids" in Dynamite after.. it's going to be a messy spring

Edited March 20 by organizedkaos
Jamie Bull - No one gets the re-edit

[LaGoosh]

Also I don't think things have to be either a squash or a 15 minute back and forth. It's perfectly possible to have a decent match in 5-9 minutes and they should do it more.

I'm not one of those "there's no story!" imbeciles who moan about matches with no story going in. But every match should have a point. What is the end goal of the match? Are you trying to get over one or both of the wrestlers? Is this feeding into a different story? Are you trying to establish a certain move or personality trait or character change? Is it just to fill some TV time up? Is it a big match that you're selling the show on? The length of the match should reflect whatever it is you are trying to achieve. And if you can save some TV time doing it and use that to showcase another act or develop a new storyline, why wouldn't you?

[BomberPat]

Absolutely. There were two good stories they could have told with an Ospreay return match, and that match didn't accomplish either of them - it wasn't dominant and short enough to show that he means business, and it wasn't structured around him selling enough to raise the question of whether he still had what it takes (and was the wrong opponent to tell that story anyway). It's frustrating because everything he did with the Death Riders afterwards was fantastic, and I'd sooner have just got there quicker.

To focus on the positives on this show, as I don't like to be down on everything:

Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Mark Davis was absolutely fantastic, by far the best match on the show. But not only that, I really enjoyed Speedball's promo too, and they're not a natural promo - they're not great when it comes to the rah-rah babyface stuff, but just talking honestly about their career, their journey, what it all means to them, felt very honest and believable, and that's the sort of promo that can make you care about someone long term. And speaking of good promos from people who rarely deliver on that front, I thought the Young Bucks - and Nick in particular - felt the most believable they ever have on-mic in that closing promo, before Cope came out to drag things down with his "I'm a very important babyface wrestler" schtick. Sorry, going to have to get negative again - Copeland wanting revenge on FTR for attacking his wife, but having to then point out that his wife is a super bad-ass professional wrestler who definitely doesn't need him fighting for her and could definitely just fight FTR on her own if she wanted to, completely dragged that segment off the rails. For the story to work, Beth can be Beth Copeland, the wife that it's unacceptable FTR put their hands on, or Beth Phoenix the tough bad-ass wrestling legend, she can't really be both, and we can't really waste time every time she's mentioned insisting that she can.

 

On the Toni Storm mystery, my first thought is that they're doing The Black Dahlia, in which case my money is on it being Mina and an accomplice. Am I remembering right that, although they kind of had Marina take responsibility for sending Mina flowers, they had Mina still receive some after that? If they're not doing that, there's something very Agatha Christie about a "murder" mystery where one of the people who found the body was the butler...

[LaGoosh]

Mark Davis has really impressed me the past few weeks. I love his selling. He's like a wounded animal that's just lashing out and still very dangerous. He's been a great surprise.

First time I saw Fletcher and Davis was about 10 years ago at a show in Shepard's Bush and I thought they were two of the shittest wrestlers I had ever seen. Fletcher in particular. Incredible how far they've come.

[Chili]

I hope the Toni Storm mystery is solved like the denouement to a detective show where she has all the suspects in the ring before j'accuse the culprit.

And a few weeks of her cosplaying Columbo or a film noir detective before that, thank you if you're reading RJ.

[RedTwoster]

According to Fightful, Toni Storm’s long term injury will see her out of action for the rest of the year. Absolutely devastating news, that’s about as big a loss as the company could have.

[Chili]

1 minute ago, RedTwoster said:

According to Fightful, Toni Storm’s long term injury will see her out of action for the rest of the year. Absolutely devastating news, that’s about as big a loss as the company could have.

Seen some scuttle that it might be a pregnancy, in which case, great for her. If it is an injury that's a real shit forecast for time out.

[LaGoosh]

Devastating. 

[RedTwoster]

32 minutes ago, Chili said:

Seen some scuttle that it might be a pregnancy, in which case, great for her. If it is an injury that's a real shit forecast for time out.

Congratulations to her if so, better be that than an injury. She’s the best thing in wrestling, so if she is pregnant, at least we can look forward to an absolutely glorious return. I’ll get goosebumps when that theme song hits once again.