AEW TV 2026 discussion

[RedTwoster]

5 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Everyone is assuming MJF is lock in to be the next TNT champion. Except he’s fighting Kevin Knight. In Virginia. Where a certain cowboy, with a grudge, is from.

Are they?! I’m assuming the opposite, and that he’s a lock to take the World title back from Darby sooner rather than later. 

[Statto]

Yeah, I don't see him being likely to win the TNT title either, but it reminds me of the other point(s) I wanted to make about the show - I liked that:

1) when it looked like they were about to launch into an impromptu TNT title match, they gave a logical reason for the usually besuited MJF being in his gear (having initially come out to demand a rematch with Darby there and then)

2) they gave MJF the motivation of not necessarily wanting the TNT title, but wanting to win it to piss Knight off. Obviously you don't want just any character denigrating your championships, but it's perfect for MJF.

[Chris B]

I'm assuming the "you need to put something on the line" will lead to MJF doing the "never challenging again" stip, which Hangman will then cost him.

[LaGoosh]

Anyone know where Swerve is? I haven't seen any reports of an injury or anything.

I'm still making my way through the show. Mark Davis is excellent. Can't believe how good he's turned out. Needs new entrance music though for sure. 

They are putting on good stuff at the moment for the most part but nothing is really grabbing me or exciting me too much. It's consistent, mostly logical and the wrestling quality is excellent but I don't know if it's the product or just watching 4 hours of this stuff every week for 6 years has tired me out but I feel just a bit uninspired by everything. Visually the weekly TV's are very drab and unexciting. Every slow fade transition shot, every wide shot filled with dead space, every weird awkward timing issue where nothing is happening, every backstage promo filmed in front of a TV screen in that weird WWE style....I'm getting fed up. I guess there's only so long you can watch something fail to reach its full potential and make the same silly mistakes over and over before you start to give up on it.

[Lorne Malvo]

56 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

They are putting on good stuff at the moment for the most part but nothing is really grabbing me or exciting me too much. It's consistent, mostly logical and the wrestling quality is excellent but I don't know if it's the product or just watching 4 hours of this stuff every week for 6 years has tired me out but I feel just a bit uninspired by everything. Visually the weekly TV's are very drab and unexciting. Every slow fade transition shot, every wide shot filled with dead space, every weird awkward timing issue where nothing is happening, every backstage promo filmed in front of a TV screen in that weird WWE style....I'm getting fed up. I guess there's only so long you can watch something fail to reach its full potential and make the same silly mistakes over and over before you start to give up on it.

I've not been able to watch since the start of March (due to the MyAEW mess - I know I haven't mentioned it much!) but I'm not missing it as much as I thought I would, and this pretty much sums up exactly why. 

After the company had a difficult 2022/2023 after the Punk/Elite debacle, it seems since early 2024 they've been stuck in a holding pattern of 'this company has all the potential in the world, why arn't they living up to it?' Every single PPV you leave with the feeling of 'okay, all the pieces are in place for them to start putting on some really great stuff now', then 15 minutes into the next Dynamite you realise they're still on autopilot. It just seems like Groundhog Day in AEW for the most part - it's a Groundhog Day filled with great wrestlers and brilliant matches, but it's a Groundhog Day nonetheless.

We know the company can be incredible - AEWs 2020-early 2022 run is perhaps my favourite run of any promotion in history - but seeing them consistently putting out decent stuff but never really capitalising on any momentum and failing to reach the heights they should be reaching just leaves you feeling kind of burned out and numb after a while. 

[LaGoosh]

24 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

seeing them consistently putting out decent stuff but never really capitalising on any momentum and failing to reach the heights they should be reaching just leaves you feeling kind of burned out and numb after a while

Of all the things that bother me that's probably the main one. A roster full of all timer talent and most of them are just not doing anything. You get moments but they never capitalise. Willow wins the TBS title against her biggest rival Mercedes Mone, should be primed for a top spot in the company and a focal point but what have they done with her since? Well, not much really. It's been years of this. A glimpse of the promised land followed by an immediate cool off. You can only be edged for so long before you give up.

But I think finally two things did it for me.

The first being Hangman Page being primed for an absolutely stonking all-timer babyface second World title run and they did fuck all with it, cooled him down pretty much straight away with no interesting storylines then had him drop it in the most unsatisfying way possible to someone who didn't need or deserve the title at that time. An exact copy of his unsatisfying first World title reign.

The second being them doing an excellent job building up Okada and Takeshita over the Autumn last year then putting on a cracking Continental Classic and weaving their story perfectly through it. Then doing a brilliant twist of Okada fucking over both Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher to then lose in the final. They had perfectly set up a fantastic story to for the new year which could have gone a number of intriguing ways. But what happened instead? Okada just disappeared from television for pretty much all of Jan/Feb, they shot a few backstage segments then months later when everyone involved has cooled off and moved on they've just half-halfheartedly tried to heat the story up again randomly and thrown the match on PPV long after anyone has cared about it.

There's plenty of things about AEW that bother me but I think if they just capitalised on their own momentum that they have created I'd probably be okay with them. It's not like they stumble onto it by accident, they have shown themselves as very capable at putting on good storylines and angles but they have shown themselves as often incapable of following through with them.

It's like reading a book over and over which has a fantastic start, changes the story halfway through to something pointless, boring and unrelated then gives you a rushed conclusion which sort of matches what you were hoping for at the start but why did they middle have to be so crap?

I want to be invested but when you know it's not going to go anywhere why should I bother?

Edited April 24 by LaGoosh

[Lorne Malvo]

14 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

 Willow wins the TBS title against her biggest rival Mercedes Mone,

Willow finally beating her main rival and reuniting with her best friend afterwards genuinely could have been the main event of a PPV. Instead, it was done ages after the Willow vs Mercedes fued had wrapped up, with zero build-up on a throwaway Holiday-season Dynamite that no fucker would be watching. Just so frustrating. 

Their mismanagement of the Takeshita/Okada feud is mind-boggling. It should be the easiest storyline in the world to book and instead they've held off so long that my interest fizzled out around 6 months back.

Edited April 24 by Lorne Malvo

[tiger_rick]

Great analysis. I've tapped out a few times on AEW. The first was all the Punk nonsense, then hiring Ric Flair and then Hangman being a fucking moron. I've never felt like I've missed much. I love that AEW exists and at it's best, it really is proper pro-wrestling that requires some attention and rewards it. The roster is outstanding. A good 60-70% of them are worth watching in anything. Most importantly, the promo work is better than 99% of anything else I'd sufferered through in the decade prior.

But the big picture is rarely ever something that you have to be a part of. When it has been, like Hangman's two big wins, it's completely different and memorable but that's been rare in 6.5 years. 

I do think everything is harsher on them too, including me. Their biggest fans on here and elsewhere are mostly never watching the other guys and are desperate for this to be the wrestling they want to see so think about it more, nalyse it more and critique it to the far end of a fart. 

[Lorne Malvo]

5 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I do think everything is harsher on them too, including me. Their biggest fans on here and elsewhere are mostly never watching the other guys and are desperate for this to be the wrestling they want to see so think about it more, nalyse it more and critique it to the far end of a fart. 

A mate of mine made the point during the CM Punk nonsense fallout which I thought was quite interesting - he said AEW is constantly remembered for it's flaws and WWE is constantly remembered for it's wins. That is, AEW could put on an outstanding PPV which features one duff moment, and the majority of the 'IWC' (whatever that is now) will talk about the botch/the one bad booking decision/an unfortunate injury or whatever. Meanwhile, WWE will put out the most dogshit episode of Raw with one good return/promo/etc and 99% of the discourse online will be about that one specific moment.

I don't know if I entire agree (I think we talk about WWE's failures as much as their plus points, to be fair) but it does seem like AEW is judged much more harshly than every other company in history that I can remember. 

And here I am, doing it too!

[LaGoosh]

15 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I do think everything is harsher on them too, including me. Their biggest fans on here and elsewhere are mostly never watching the other guys and are desperate for this to be the wrestling they want to see so think about it more, nalyse it more and critique it to the far end of a fart. 

This is definitely true. Whenever I catch a glimpse of WWE I'm horrified by how absolutely fucking shite it is. There's been episodes of Raw and Smackdown that people praise that after I've watched think they don't even reach the level of a lacklustre episode of Collision. I think a decent amount of the flak AEW gets is unfair and rubbish. AEW is always just about good enough that I won't stop watching and you're guaranteed at least 1 cracking match a week (usually more). Matches that in any other era would be classed as match of the year candidates we get for free pretty much every week.

But what makes it hurt is that the building blocks are right there for everyone to see and the potential is through the fucking roof and it's just really hard to watch something which could quite easily be the best wrestling TV ever produced just miss open goals constantly.

Edited April 24 by LaGoosh

[DavidB6937]

For me it's very much one of those things where AEW and TK have had a fresh start, able to build from the ground up, learn from the issues with the competition etc. Especially when you've got a genuine wrestling fan at the helm. But that also comes with its problems obviously. And that's probably where the frustration comes in - sometimes there seems like there's a lot of easy wins that just don't happen.

I've no interest in tribal rubbish. I've watched WWF and WCW from the start of my wrestling interest and I've gone through indy phases and ECW and TNA and AEW etc. If it's good and I can fit in it then I'll enjoy it. And there's definitely a lot of bad faith criticism that floats around - not on here mind - and it's all quite embarrassing really.

But yeah, I think it's just that frustration sometimes of knowing the potential is all there to be absolutely incredible and sometimes just missing the mark and repeating the same mistakes.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

The other issue, in a weird way, is TK is almost 'too nice' and likes everyone to have a go and get a chance, which is great but when you wheel out Trent and Rocky for a Dynamite main event for no reason in a tag machine and have them appear, but you've the likes of Eddie Kingston, Swerve, Hangman (for his flaws), Omega, etc not even being featured then you have issues. 

 

I'm probably the minority, as I dont watch any other wrestling other than the odd bit of WWE now and then, but people like Ciampo I just dont get why I should be invested in him. He's been brought in, obviously a relatively big deal by the fact he won a title inside a few matches and now has gone on to world title matches, and others have had to make space, but I just dont get why. It's the same with the other 35608 wrestlers on the roster. Trim it right down, focus on the stars while building up new ones, and stop bloating it with has beens, never weres or bang average guys.

 

Maybe bring back a YouTube only programme that is just guys that have never had a title or title shot within the last year or so, and very little storyline but just give them their moment to wrestle with AEW crowds and viewers. Stops them filling up TV with pointless stuff and focus on rocketing the top guys to the stars

[LaGoosh]

2 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

It's the same with the other 35608 wrestlers on the roster.

It's a weird problem. Because the deep roster is one of AEW's strengths but also means that inevitably you've got a lot of people with high potential not really doing very much. Also doesn't help when they keep bringing in new people who are fucking shit like Gabe Kidd, David Finlay and the Rascals when you've got loads of people with way more upside doing absolutely nothing.

I know they got rid of Rampage because it was a waste of time that no one watched but the roster is so stacked now that they could easily bring it back and turn it into something pretty decent without it taking anybody away from Dynamite and Collision. I'd love it if they brought back Rampage!

[BomberPat]

I think AEW have done a decent job in the last year or so of focusing on signing wrestlers who are additive, rather than just ex-WWE signings that might give a quick buzz and not a lot else - Ciampa is the most high profile ex-WWE signing in a while, and that's a guy who actively chose not to renew his WWE contract to come and work for AEW, rather than someone who got released and feels like a cast-off. Speedball and Kevin Knight have felt, in a good way, like part of the furniture ever since arriving, they just fit perfectly in with AEW and don't feel like it's at the expense of anyone else, and there's a clear trajectory for them, and Kevin in particular, to rise up the ranks and become more integral to AEW as a whole, and they don't particularly have any baggage of feeling overexposed from elsewhere. I don't care for The Rascalz, but I also don't think that they're an egregious signing for similar reasons.

In the last couple of months some things were juggled around that felt like getting back on track - we finally don't have any double champions! - but I agree with all the criticisms of just not letting moments sink in, or not explaining things enough. Not everything needs to be hammered home, but I don't think it's been brought up on a show that Hangman Page hasn't been seen since losing to MJF, or that Swerve Strickland has just completely disappeared off TV, and just a mention in a promo here or there would keep them in mind even when they're not on TV themselves. Same with the Okada/Takeshita feud, it's insane that they didn't follow that up immediately after World's End, and that it  looks like it took Kyle Fletcher getting hurt to force their hands into progressing it at all - I know that both guys were in Japan for most of January and February, so they weren't able to do an immediate follow-up, but they knew that ahead of time, so why didn't they do some pre-tape promos to keep that story alive? Or have Don Callis, who was there every week, keep that story going in their absence?

 

Obviously there's a lot of bloat on the roster, and that's part of the problem and always has been, but it's not allowing moments to matter, and not following up on them, that makes things worse. Where has Andrade been for the last two weeks? Why haven't Divine Dominion had a match since the pay-per-view? Why haven't Big Bill or Bryan Keith interacted with Jericho since he returned, especially given he just did an angle where he needed to find two tag partners? Where are any combination of the Bang Bang Gang? Where was Kamille this week? What was the point of Kris Statlander's "is she/isn't she?" story with the Death Riders, given that it never even led to a match with Marina Shafir? What was the point of a story about Stat and Willow making up and becoming friends if the resolution was that they would both just end up with different tag partners anyway? Why is Stat on her fourth "awkward tag dynamic" angle?

[AshC]

Too many featured talents. It's been the problem for years. Pick the ten or 12 most over and have them in the main events every week. If everyone is a headliner, nobody is.