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One massive problem was that they used WWE’s (at the time) bad quality and practices as a crutch to look like heaven in comparison so once WWE sobered up they got nothing to rely on.
@ What’s even worse is that AEW’s management and practices are starting to show some symptoms of McMahon-era WWE with the whole Rey Fenix debacle and whatnot.
not really, AEW fans just hate Vince cause their favorite indie wrestler wasnt pushed on the big stage, this is what happens when fans (Tony Khan) think they can do better than a man who has done wrestling promotion for decades.
This is it. 100%. AEW's point of comparison was 'WWE is bad under Vince McMahon in 2019, and we will do all the things right that his promotion is doing wrong'. As soon as they got back to competent booking and direction under HHH, AEW didn't know what to do anymore, or rather, still doesn't. They don't have clear market differentiators about why you would want to watch their show instead of WWE.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but having their wrestlers show up every week in regular street clothes took away from their characters. They looked like random fans arguing with each other
Yeah skinny Wyt boys with beautiful long hair who can do Canadian Dystroyers won't really workout if you're trying to beat the Wwe where their men look like actual straight men.
Right. It loses impact when you see it all the time (which is a recurring theme in AEW.) If it happens once in a blue moon, it has impact. For instance, in 1998 on an episode of Monday Night RAW, the Undertaker (still in his "Deadman" gimmick) came to the ring wearing sweats and cut a "worked-shoot" promo on Vince McMahon. Fans weren't accustomed to seeing the Undertaker out of character like that, so that immediately got everyone's attention and made his worked-shoot sound serious.
Comments like these make me think, Damn, Vince was right all along. I see so many comments online that are essentially Vince McMahon rules in WWE. He was adamantly against wrestlers showing up in “casual clothes.”
The one big thing the video didn’t mention is that AEW expects you to have a certain level of knowledge of pro wrestling, and doesn’t want to spend time getting you up to speed. WWE would have spent weeks building up Okada, and telling you everything about him and why you should want to see him. AEW assumes you already know that and just throws him out there. Same for Jay White, Suzuki, lord knows how many others. You’ll get the sickos, maybe, but at some point you need to appeal to mainstream fans as well
It's genuinely absurd. It's VERY similar to what the incredibly insular (and always wildly UNsuccessful) modern comic industry does in the west where it doesn't tend to bother filling people in on anything. "Every issue is someone's first issue" used to be a rule for writing in comics where you should always assume you need to fill in the reader on what is happening to catch them up...and now that is not done. AEW is exactly the same where they do not treat any episode as a jumping on point to inform people.
Forbidden Door is a big offender. Bringing in a bunch of guys I may or may not have ever heard of, and certainly didn't care about at all, ended up being the beginning of the end for me. It was the first AEW PPV I didn't bother to watch since the start of the company. I lost interest in the shows building up to it cause I had no emotional attachment or investment in anybody they were bringing in for Forbidden Door. Sure, maybe it's great for the niche audience that knows all of these wrestlers from Japan, but it does nothing for the casuals or to draw more people in. For somebody like me, it pushed me away for several weeks. By the time the next Forbidden Door came around, I had checked out completely and only listen to recaps on YT and will watch the occasional match if it's an absolute trainwreck or something special like Sting's retirement.
Let's talk about their women as well who don't appeal to neither straight men or gay men (diva stans) and not to mention they got 40 of them with The Japanese girls wrestling once a year (Riho, Yuka, Emi, Mina Melons) then you have some who are getting paid by sitting at home, most of the time they use the same girls to put over the whoever is the flavor of the month. Like why not do it like how TNA did it by having just 10-15 girls? Do you really need to have Red Velvet coming out doing her stereotypical khetto dance, Abadon with trying to be scary, the Japanese women who only wrestle once a year, Leyla Grey who is green and is insecure about her natural God giving hair? Like come on now.
It’s Tony Khan. Everything is is fault. He won’t be a boss. He can’t handle conflict. He lets the guys do what they want. He lets them decide what they will and won’t do. He won’t be a boss or a booker.
@@mattpryokra2245Yes, Cody. He's a founding father of the promotion AND he's the one who said casual fans are not welcome or a concern. You and the original commenter dismissed Tony's idiocy for years. Don't try to act like you only realized now.
@basedfrosti He could have stopped it at anytime but not only did he do nothing, but is partially responsible for the dumpster fire AEW has become. He's the one who chased the casuals away. The fact that you won't hold a freakin' FOUNDING FATHER accountable for his actions with his creation says a lot about you.
You don't love the Canadian Destroyer off the top rope onto the steps for a 2 count? Or how the refs go check on a guy instead of counting them out. Then they pop up, run back into the ring, and hot more finishers?
Tony cant build stars. They wasted Wardlow. They had a few months when Eddie Kingston was hot and they did nothing with him. He doesn’t know how to take advantage when guys get over. This “Death Rider” storyline is ratings death.
building them isnt the issue..his issue is when they get white hot he doent know what to do after they become stars..see wardlow as mentioned. was white hot then he poured ice cold water on him..doing the same with mariah may she was white hot and has done nothing but face jobbers ever since. she turns on mina at the ppv then two weeks later they are already having a match on dynamite..it does nothing to make money.
They keep doing "we have NWO at home" stories (the Outcasts, the BCC, now the BCC replacement), and it just makes them look even more insular & insecure cuz they HAVE to define themselves against "look, it's the big bads who worked at That Other Place out to get our pure & innocent Home-Growns" instead of any more personal storylines.
Tony Khan became what he stood against at the beginning of the promotion. A promoter stuck in his ways, who doesn't listen to the fans, and doesn't change, and doesn't think that there's anything wrong with his company. Unless TK changes, I don't see AEW changing, and I'm not holding my breath.
And for the first few years, AEW had a less toxic backstage culture. Vince McMahon losing control of WWE, though, exposed that AEW was kinda toxic the whole time too.
They always lie about what AEW was. They pretend as though AEW is doing bad because of a sudden change in quality when really it’s attrition from what they were always doing.
The lack of storytelling and the roster are part of why the jokes about the company being "Tony's Toybox" came about. I'll never knock AEW on their technical talent, because they do have some of the most insanely athletic and gifted people when it comes to that - but the problem is they just keep throwing those people at each other pointlessly. Like, yes it's great watching two high-fliers like Osprey & Ricochet do flips 'n shit at each other for 15mins... but also, who the fuck cares after a certain point? Kinda like Mox/Dustin nearly bleeding to death every week - at a certain point it's just so overdone that it doesn't even matter anymore. "Oh look, Moxley's having a match. He's probably going to get busted open and start bleeding profusely..." Yes it's a wrestling show, and you come for the matches, but the feuds and storylines are just as much a part of "professional wrestling" as an industry. They keep putting on these "Dream Matches" with no build, or "Legends matches" with people way past their primes. There's no build for anything, and through that they managed to make the product boring. It's essentially the IRL version of taking your action figures and just going "Hey you know who I've always wanted to see fight each other...?" and then having them do a bunch of random shit... and then Tony gets bored and shelves them. Part of the other major criticism within the Toybox meme has always been the absolutely stacked roster... and so many big names either sitting on the sidelines doing nothing, or getting jobbed out to the newer, shinier model. ETA: admittedly I went on this rant before watching the full thing and... RIP I ended up accidentally hitting most of the same points lol
I will play Devils Advocate here and say they did have a plan....up until Hangman won the title. After that though, the entire aspect of story fell off a cliff because Khan is an utter amateur when it comes to running a wrestling company. Its not about having so-called 'bangers' every week but more so giving the audience a reason to tune into your program. I doubt the guy cares all that much anyway as he's simply a nepo-baby man-child in his little playground who was given this hobby by his dad to keep him away from important business ventures.
Tony Khan needs to get out of creative. There's a reason why he is letting his roster do all of the crappy creative work instead. Let him handle the business side of AEW, like Nick Khan has done for WWE. Tony can still contribute to AEW without finding a way to screw up.
There’s no doubt that the “Honeymoon Period” for AEW is long gone. But I still love the company that gave fans who were tired of WWE in the late years of Vince McMahon an alternative we haven’t had since the days of WCW. Even though I don’t watch the shows on a weekly basis, I’m still rooting for them to be successful because wrestling is at it’s best when all companies are thriving
Nobody needs an alterative to WWE anymore. WWE is doing some pretty great stuff, especially with Vince gone. Vince losing control of WWE is the worst thing that's ever happened to WWE. AEW always sucked, but it was still better than WWE. Now that's not the case anymore.
Yeah, it's a pretty good representation of why a fan shouldn't just be able to run anything unless they actually know what they're doing. Just because you're a movie or video game fan for example, doesn't mean you know how to make them, and you likely shouldn't make them unless you've actually learned how to make them and garnered experience.
cody booked himself into a corner in aew. only an idiot would lose a match saying they could never win the world title. he also refused to go with the flow when he was getting booed..now hes doing the same boring gimmick of hes dustys son in wwe.
@@tgrfan42069 yeah and how much over is he right now in WWE? How much money has he made? Hes literally stayed at the top of the card for 2 years. Cody made the right moves, you can say its a boring gimmick but the fans love it. Meltzer fan detected?
@@tgrfan42069 The same boring gimmick that's drawing millions of dollars and getting cheered everywhere. It's not that deep it's just that AEW fans are too smarky for their own good. It's a fine gimmick.
There's nothing more sad than wasted potential. AEW at the moment seems like that. Fans don't want to come to the shows, but that is what happens when every AEW show feels like a fan playing GM Mode on a WWE game. I don't think AEW will ever go bust, TK has more than enough money and I doubt he would pull his investment as he's a genuine wrestling fan. But it is sad, All Out 2021 was when AEW peaked in my view. 2022 was when the cracks appeared, Cody leaving, Brawl Out and the dodgy booking decisions. One example being the mismanagement of Wardlow. Why couldn't they give MJF and Wardlow meteoric rises simultaneously? I do want AEW to turn this around. The more wrestling companies are thriving the better. Unfortunately that won't be happening when you book to keep a small portion of the IWC happy while alienating other AEW fans so much they leave.
agree.. they had the funding, a stacked roster, and a great tv deal...and it is squandered because the owner books for himself and other like minded match only fans want to see
You have no idea how badly I want AEW to survive. And this is coming from someone who watches primarily WWE. When WWE bought WCW I legit groaned because I knew a lack of competition would mean self-indulgent booking and no need to do better. So AEW needs to survive also because some of my fave wrestlers are still on it and they are getting paid well. With all that being said, AEW diehard fans are awful. WWE diehard fans are awful. Instead of cancelling each other out they drive the main discourse and it’s so annoying. AEW fans acting superior because their love is more “pure”, while WWE fans act superior because the product is hot at the moment. At any point all of this can change, so nobody should feel superior about anything. You all watch men in little pants grapple each other, get over it.
Fortunately when WWE bought WCW, WWE did had competition and it's not TNA. After they bought WCW, they compete against one another that's why after the awful Invasion storyline ended they brought back Ric Flair and made the draft pick so Raw could had its own roster and storylines and SmackDown could have its own roster and storylines with the only exception being that the undisputed world champion could appeared at both shows before that got change later on. It's not the best decision but it did work out okay at first.
nah its all about viewership. wwe never has to worry cause international fans in india keep them well fed. thats why they wont massively improve their product. same with aew. for them 500,000 fans every week is a big deal and more then profitable so they wont change. which leads to a reptitive industry. and both wwe and aew losing viewership over time.
@nadiahassan5307 You sound like my little brother with that last sentence. He used to always say "Why y'all be watching oiled up dudes in booty shorts grabbing each other?" 😂😂. Now, he watches and justifies it with saying he is only watching for the women lmao.
Because Triple H knows what Punk is like. And the people who have an issue with him have issues with him about stuff that actually involves them. As unprofessional as Punks treatment of Page was, Page poked him about something that didn't have anything to do with him. Rollins and Drew, kayfabe or reality, their issues with Punk are personal, and they can work with that more
I stopped watching AEW because Tony is obsessed with smaller guys beating bigger guys. I remember Gates of Agony losing to Darby and Nick Wayne which made me crack.
It have no problem with little guys beating bigger opponents but there needs to be a story there. That’s the problem with AEW, the storytelling is bad to nonexistent.
Call me old school, but I remember when wrestlers looked and dressed unique and like wrestlers. Now you tune in to aew and everyone is dresses in street cloths, you can't till if your watching a fan or some random guy from the streets.
@@MarekTheHoundthose are some exceptions, but he makes a point. You got the world champion wrestling in sweat pants, or those green/khaki looking pants. You’ve got Jack Perry with his waist slimmer than most women and wrestling in plain jeans. Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta look incredibly out of place as well.
@@attackonmemory These are not opinions, they are nonsense. Moxley's look aligns with his character and the story he is portraying: he hates egocentrics, he hates extravagant people, he hates flashy belts. For him, only wrestling and violence matter. Let's also add that his look is inspired by the skinheads from 'Romper Stomper,' and we've hit the nail on the head. If you don't follow AEW, refrain from commenting, because you just come off as low-level haters. Not to mention that WWE is full of talents with physiques similar to Perry's and Garcia's, but strangely, no one seems to have anything to say about that. So, stop it. Oh, and let's remember we are talking about people who are much fitter than the average commentator
@@MarekTheHound Man thanks for making sense I was reading those comments and wondering if any of those people actually watched a single AEW show before having an opinion. Like "everyone dresses the same and look casual" yeah no literally the only people having similar fits are the ones coming in classic wrestling boots and shorts and that's exactly how most WWE go to the ring.
On creative side AEW has already lost their credibility longtime ago. They didn’t have much creative talent to write a make sense storyline, the talent keep working themselves into injury, talent risk their livelihood just tried to be relevant, talent keep working themselves to a shoot to much, no control over roster like a bunch of friends playing to be a real company, and the most important thing is TK as a booker. TK was trash, garbage, poor, and mark.
@@BlahBlah-v1y Um, so we will just forget Chris Jericho (as well as Darby Allin) and the sh*t he's been up to, huh? The cognitive bias is real with you lot. The pendulum swings both ways, friend. Never forget that.
@@ScuffedFI don't agree with nothing others do when it comes to miss treatment of people. The difference in this is talent and owner. Jericho and Darby was hired not signing checks. Just sick how so many wanna just over look what Vince did. Walmart ceo does what Vince did it's look at differently then if walmart hires people that did as he did. That's just rich being untouchable and no accountability. Trump has 34 charges yet here's the president again. Don't mean I have to agree with it!
Yeah that's pretty much every new coming secondary new promotion. From WCW to TNA and now this crap. I truly wish once AEW is belly's up (hopefully soon) we won't see another televised secondary promotion. I'm fine with the indies, and the international promotions but those secondary companies are always a cringe.
1) Too many shows 2) Too many titles 3) overloaded roster 4) Inconsistent storylines 5) Injury risk wrestling style 6) overreliance on ex-wwe stars 7) Tony khan is bad booker 8) Tony khan is just a mark 9) Anything related toROH shouldn't be on aew 10) Egotistical wrestlers 11) Poor locker room management 12) less entertainment, more flips 13) Weak tag team division 14) very few established stars 15) orgasmic spot fests directed to super fans 16) short term fueds no build up of stars for future 17) use of wwe storyline for their TV 18) most of roster does same thing 19) why so many lucha stars who does same thing 20) degraded NJPW kenny omega's legacy 21) holding ricky starks,fenix until their stock fell or until contract expire without showcasing on tv 22) no performance center 23) dumb talk shows 24) rushing injured wrestlers to wrestle again 25) over rely on hardcore style
Dude seems to have forgotten to mention this but it wasn't all in Tony for how bad AEW is. It's his talent who have creative control over their booking and refuse to put over talent. Guys like the Bucks, Jericho, Moxley, are people who do things their way and keep convincing Tony they're right.
Don't forget how long the women's division was "Britt Baker getting progressively worse versus Saraya who should never have been cleared" until both were too injured to put on TV.
I think out of all the points on the list, the Okada one hurts me the most. I fucking loved Okada in Japan. The man was regarded as a wrestling hero (or even god) in his home country. Seeing him reduced to a comedic upper-mid card act is really depressing and just makes me want to tune out of AEW at times.
Man, the elite vs aew felt like it was actually going to be a great long term story that shakes things up throughout the entire roster. But aside from all winning belts and taking out TK it all just fizzled out... The continental classic has some "dream matches" and I want to be more invested but there's so little story to really pull me in. It's baffling
he should've aim for the AEW World Champion by now and be treated as a main eventer instead he stuck being the AEW Continental Champion which he barely do anything about it. he should've win the AEW World Champion and be a dominant Champion like his 4th Reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion which he held the title for 720 days.
@@yuhin4694 tbf i think okamura would also be treated badly by wwe. even under triple h. he would have a badass entrace but thats about it. he aint beating any top talent cause he cant cut a promo to save his life. NEW JAPAN. thats the company he should stay with. dont care about the money. presentation and legacy matters the most. find a company that treats you like god. we LOVED him in new japan. he was their roman reigns.
Its crazy, my daughter and i are sitting here saying how long we've been saying EXACTLY all of this, while we no longer can stand to watch the AEW product and have went back to WWE.
AEW's biggest failure was going from trying to "challenge" WWE to....dive deep into the "we're just an alternative!" branding. 60 minute draws. Matches that nobody can sit and rewatch. Like, I'm not gonna sit and rewatch Bryan vs Omega. I'm not gonna sit and rewatch 1 hour matches or even 30 minute matches. Another thing is momentum. You've got guys like Pentagon kicking out of finishers against top guys. Heck, just 2 hours ago Brodie King kicked out of 2 HIDDEN BLADES from Ospreay. Guess what's gonna happen? Brodie will be in 6 man tag matches next week or put on a banger against Kommander or Beast Mortos. Momentum in wrestling is the most important tool in storytelling. If Dolph Ziggler had that Survivor Series moment where he single-handedly beats The Authority, I expect big thing for him on tbe horizon and i want to see that happen. Brodie King kicking out of 2 Hidden Blades from Ospreay back to back tells me nothing, it's just a thing that happend. The third and final blow, is laziness. AEW had CM Punk and they were making him do 6 man tag matches at Collision. Imagine if they kickstarted a big angle and imitated WWE at their best and put on a great fucking product? No. They insisted on pissing on every opportunities the fans given them. Look where it's gotten them now.
If they stop worrying about the other company and focus on their actual talent then they can succeed. I wish that Tony never brought Ring of Honor cause it went downhill just like AEW did. Ring of Honor needs to be it's own show with a different network not under Tony Khan's wing.
I think a big part of the problem is, when Khan actually let's people have creative control and freedom to do their own thing and try something new, he gives it to the wrong people. Mox, Mone, and Jericho have all been terrible handling their own creative. It's at a point where I don't think they can course correct because Khan would have to bring in external help to run creative, and there are too many people embedded in power positions who aren't going to give up their creative control.
When they aired the CM Punk footage and it was obvious to ANYONE with two functioning brain cells that it did nothing but bury AEW itself for no gain I knew it was unironically over. It showed that TK is genuinely too stupid to run anything resembling a wrestling company. He only has a shadow of a hint of a clue of what he's supposed to be doing.
@@yagamifire7861 I still remember AEW diehards trying to claim that the footage totally showed that Punk was a tornado of violence & murder, and I could only wonder what alternate universe they were viewing. They're still doing it.
Professional wrestling thrives on one core element: storytelling. Engaging stories for wrestlers and their characters, crafted week by week, keep audiences invested and eager to tune in to see what happens next. Matches become unforgettable when a strong story is involved, eliciting genuine emotional reactions from fans. AEW seems to have lost sight of these fundamental principles for creating compelling weekly television, which is why many viewers struggle to connect emotionally with the product.
I think at this point, what needs to happen to AEW is a new buyer who actually cares about wreastling. In other words, buy it off TK hands and do NOT let wrestlers be on the board. Have a president/CEO, right-hand man, and others with knowledge in wrestling and booking to all run and function as a company. That's what AEW needs. TK running it by himself and having immature ass talent is going to cause this to keep going downhill!
Not really surprising, Triple H is a wrestler with close to 30 years of experience, he's been around many great talents, he's had his share of failures, he was once an egotistical dude with a chip on his shoulder who buried wrestlers when he was an active performer, as his career waned.. he had a change of heart, he ultimately became the light at the end of the tunnel (ran NXT) when Vince became a terrible tyrant of a booker ruining most of the talents on the main rosters.
@@FloydWhoElseTVit was also built on great angles, good matches, and good promos. WWF had great tag teams as well. I get it's easy to remember just steroids, but WWF in it's golden era was built on a helluva lot more than just big guys looking like action figures come to life.
Why are there no people who see these truths on social media? I was chased off Bluesky, X and Threads for pointing out AEW's failures. I pulled for AEW at first, but it's irretrievably broken, TV deal or not. I could find no support on those platforms, just people telling me I hate wrestling, I'm hateful, and I need therapy. Because I gave up on AEW. These people are crazed, but where were all the people who agree with this video when I needed your backup? 😢
We've all been driven into silence by AEW cultists, too. It's a shame whenever I see my online mutuals gushing over whatever terrible slop they're doing - be it praising guests from TikTok to trying to paint Osprey online as a sex pest to pretending Adam Page is intimidating in any way - and then watch them ignore actual bad behavior from both the wrestlers & the fanbase. It's not gonna change, no matter how much I wish it would.
Tony Khan is the worst booker in the history of the business so all good talents are buried and a bad comedy, useless performer like Orange Cassidy is always pushed, it's alarming how clueless Tony Khan is.
Yeah, its a shame. Orange cassidy needs to drop the pockets gimmick, Jericho is TV old, and the fans dont want to see him. Even MJF is becoming stale and id never thought id say that
AEW biggest problem is that WWE started getting good and they can’t compete with them. They’re gonna end up like ECW and TNA. They tried to compete but couldn’t. ECW went out of business and Impact Wrestling now owns TNA and they had a whole rebrand called TNA Impact
AEW lost the three biggest draws they had to WWE. Jade Cargill, Cody Rhodes, and CM Punk. Even though she can't wrestle her way out of a wet paper bag, AEW booked Jade Cargill like Bill Goldberg, and it WORKED. It brought attention to the Women's division. They tried to replace her with Mercedes Mone' but she hasn't been relevant since she left WWE. Cody Rhodes was one of the founding fathers and cornerstones of AEW. For him to leave AEW, and to have Vince McMahon himself get onto his own plane and fly to Florida to bring a contract to Cody's house, that's a huge blow. CM Punk coming to AEW was "supposed" to be as huge as Hulk Hogan coming to WCW. It started out good, but when you have someone that is used to things making sense in an environment where little to nothing at all makes sense, it's not going to end well, and it didn't. As much as AEW, Tony Khan, and it's fanbase have tried to drag CM Punk, literally everything that he has said has come to pass with pinpoint accuracy. Any halfway decent wrestling promoter would probably have the number one wrestling company with all the assets that AEW has, or at least would be giving WWE a run fro it's money. Tony Khan literally is playing with living action figures and AEW exists for no purpose other than that. It's not that Tony Khan doesn't listen to the advice from vets. It's the fact that these vets are getting paid millions of dollars and AEW has become their pension-plan. They'll keep their fool mouths SHUT until they feel they've made enough money to live off of for the rest of their lives. Then they will right books about how horrible it was in AEW later on to make some extra coin on top of that.
@@LaidBack-- He WAS the one who came up with the "All In" PPV, which ultimately gave birth to AEW... He was the only sane Vice-president in AEW, that tried to keep the business going instead of booking himself to the stratosphere... He was the actual boss of AEW, when Tony Khan was busy drooling like a fan-boy over how many wrestlers were around him... He was the soul of AEW and when he left, that's when things got out of hands and they started to spiral downwards... After he left AEW, the other EVPs started to sabotage Punk's career in the company... and we all know how it went, when there wasn't an actual Boss to get things under control.
@@Ben.SK2346 it doesn't matter what he came up with, that's beyond the point. That doesn't mean he was the guy everybody was coming to see because he never was at any point in AEW.
@@LaidBack-- The point is, he was way more important to AEW than the entirety of their roster put together... If you can't see that, then you're just a blind AEW fan-boy still souring over him, leaving the crappy company he helped to create behind...
Ever since Cody & Punk left and Triple H became head of creative in WWE, AEW has been struggling. Not to mention lots of the backstage drama we hear about.
AEW is this luxury mansion, but was not built brick by brick, but created over night by wood and aluminum, however it's still a house that can be reinforced the right way.
The ph level of the concrete laid for the foundation was weak though and over time, it has compromised the entire structure of the building. Im a carpenter, so I should know.
Nowadays in AEW we can see the fights, fights and fights. There is no story telling. Once upon a time they had an OG story line between Kenny and Hangman.
A videogame is nothing like real life though. In real life booking, you had to book matches but also make sure the storyline doesn't jump all over the place and the wrestlers who you book together must know how to get the job done. You also had to give orders to the guys at the watch tables to also do their jobs and know when to end matches or if to keep the matches going or if someone would interfere in the match. Loud pop from the crowd means the match is getting interesting so the match could be extended a bit longer, close to silent from the crowd means nobody is enjoying the match so you must had them find a way to end the match quickly or had someone interesting come to ringside to interfere to heat up the matches. You had to be able to communicate like this to the people at the table and the referee without ever being at ringside. Also know that in real life, sometimes some wrestlers will not be on the same page as you and they will request a change to the booking, it's up to you to figure out if that booking could be done or not. Long story short booking matches ain't that easy. Sometimes if the booking sucks or the main event wrestlers got injured due to your bad bookings you may even get suspension or fired as well.
@@VOAN But I have a better roster of superstars with the likes of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Drew Mctinyre, Cody Rhodes, Bobby Lashley, as well as Bray Wyatt. And for the women, I like using Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Nia Jax as well as Charlotte Flair. At least I know who to draft for my roster and who should be in the main event for the Universal title.
Another issue with AEW is the way they tailor their storylines. Each promo in a weekly Dynamite or Collision or the recently defunct Rampage always has one of these tropes. - Heel character talking trash to the hosting city. Extra point for dissing a local celebrity or team. - The usual interview with the performer going for the "I'm going to win this match and/or the title belt" speech - Two wrestler saying to each other "Remember that one fight we had years ago in an indie promotion? Let's settle the score" The problem with AEW isn't the use of these tropes, which they are fine by themselves, but the ripetitive nature of those to the point they feel like they were written by an AI. For comparison, WWE use the same tropes but they also makes interesting segments that help flesh out their Superstars to the point that you get the grasp that seeking to win a match isn't always because their want a victory for the other. There are personal matters that needed to be settled. Case in point: the CM Punk v. Drew McIntyre storyline. From an injury to Punk during the Royal Rumble it led to a bloody HIAC at Bad Blood and the entire story behind it spell "Vendetta" all over it.
You’re completely right, the problem is that Tony Khan’s decisions sunk AEW in a way that they are not even seen as a threat by WWE anymore, competition needs to exist if we as wrestling fans want a better product on the shows, but seems difficult if one of the parties is digging instead of climbing and all because of their own boss
@@neondragon6046I've said it before and I'll say it again, competition shouldn't be an excuse to make an awful or good product. You should be making good products regardless of competition. Rockstar is a game company that pretty much has zero competition in the open world crime sandbox genre and constantly one up themselves with their games. Say what you want about Rockstar but every company should base themselves on Rockstar's model of one upping themselves almost every single time.
@@CantRead1 yes indeed, in an ideal world every company would give us the best product regardless of competition, but the thing is that not every company is like that, some companies only gives the minimum (obviously to a certain extent, of course they will not give you the worst possible product) because they know they’ll have their audience secure without the concern of them leaving, maybe WWE is like that or maybe not, but the fact is that if you have a competitor you’re forced to be better or you’ll get behind eventually, no competition usually (NOT always) comes with laziness
Poor Mercedes. She joined a shut up and wrestle company, all while being produced like she's on a WWE-style program. It's mismatch, but she's still hotter than a $2 pistol and I hope the AEW incel base doesn't chase her off.
Meh, she’s an average worker at best who thought she was a bigger star than she actually is. Also, both AEW and WWE have much hotter women anyway. 🤷♂️
She’s a millionaire who will probably get the Punk treatment when she inevitably returns to WWE. She’ll be alright. You’re right. She is hot though. Only reason I tolerate the cringe mic work.
She appeals to gay ppl. Many of these sassy women's wrestlers go onto a secret ritual where a homosexual demon takes over their body and gets over on TV. Real women do not act like that in real life. See Mercedes Martinez, that's a natural womanly woman.
AEW prime, was when DB and Adam Cole debuted in the same night, after cm punk`s first match and Kenny by God Omega as world champ! This is when i thought they would surpass wwe. but somehow they managed to blow it
Storytelling is without a doubt the main issue. Feuds either make no sense at all or aren’t given enough time. They have the pieces to make a great product that can compete with WWE but Tony hasn’t been able to use them correctly in what feels like forever.
Correction: Punk didn't quite AEW as the video states. He was released from his contract. Wrestlers aren't allowed to just quit one company and go work for another as they are bound to a contract.
AEW is going the same route of WCW. Which is ridiculous because the fans want AEW, not WWE. I might hate modern wrestling but even I can tell that what made AEW profitable and great was AEW was AEW. Now, just like with WCW when Ted Turner bought it, they just want WWE. Which is not gonna work because WWE is already the best at being WWE. But apparently, after so many companies fail trying to emulate WWE, seems no one learned anything. And guys like Jericho, who once lambasted Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and the rest of the main event talents for turning WCW into trash by hogging the spotlight and taking chances away from the home grown talent and undercard talents, are now doing the exact same thing. Guess the Batman movie was right, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain".
Yes, thank you! I swear, did everyone forget Britt & Saraya leading as much of the division as they could to gaslight the fuck out of LuFisto AND repeatedly like any fans going directly after her? That was the last straw for me ever expecting AEW to ever get any better until there's a severe reorg. And Tony's taken up that strategy of "QT random people & let my sickos sort 'em out" now, too. At least WWE has someone going "behave yourself online" instead of encouraging this Tumblr fandom BS.
I think the best example of how insufferable AEW has gotten nowadays is their handling of disliked storylines Back in AEW's early days, we had the awfulness that was Brandi Rhodes and her Nightmare Collective stable. It was boring, it latched onto every other women's match and storyline like a parasite, there was nothing entertaining about it. And when Tony and Co were told by the viewers that they didn't like the storyline, they cut it, they pulled the brakes, they moved on. Nowadays, we have Chris Jericho and his Learning Tree Bullshit. A faction that is the third repeat of the exact same "Chris Jericho's Kiss My Ass Club" stable we've been seeing for the past five fucking years. So how does AEW respond to their fans saying they don't want Jericho hogging all the TV time? By giving him a segment literally called "TV Time" just to mock the fans, oh and they also made him ROH world champ purely to spite people. Because that's a great message to send to fans "watch our product, we'll actively insult you if you criticize it"
@@SirAsdf Your second paragraph: that was Cody. He brought it in and stopped it. Your fifth paragraph: that's what AEW fans have been saying since the very beginning.
Ever since Punk was fired, they quickly lost their audience to the point where hardly anybody watches AEW anymore. This promotion would have already gone out of business If not for Tony's dad Shad Khan and his money to keep it afloat.
They actually only lost their audience when they started publicly antagonize punk. It made his fans feel alienated from the product. Many people siding with Punk kept watching before then.
@@sjdrifter72 The thing is that many fans didnt see that or saw it as the bucks going into business for themselves. When they aired the punk footage and made bucks and perry the bloodline of the show, that was basically Tony telling a large part of the audience that the show isnt for them anymore. And then wrestlers like Adam Copeland requested promo time the week after to try to salvage the situation.
@@BigmanDogs Whatever the reason. The fact is AEW sucks and nobody watches it except for a VERY small niche of marks that Tony caters to. The near empty venues and abysmal viewership reflects that.
Tony is like that rich kid who gets a new toy then gets bored with it in short time and the begs papa to buy a new one and wonders why he is not happy 🤪
One thing i noticed is that many of the WWE stars who went to AEW shows how much so many wrestlers need the production and character building to help them. Look at Mercedes Money as an example
Problem is Tony, starts and ends with him. Trust in talent is earned, not one of them should be booking their storylines. Moxley and Mone are utterly delusional on what fans want.
I was at AEW's first PPV in Vegas 2019. I enjoyed the show. Went tovearly Dynamite tapings. I enjoyed those too. But they had alot of warts that we all kind of glossed over because it was new and we wanted a legit alternative to what was awful wwe television at that time. Now WWE is very good on the whole and AEW's warts can't be hidden anymore. Surgery needs to be done but the patient, Tony Khan, won't let anyone operate. By the time he does, it might be too late.
it was doomed from the start. Tony wanted to be friends with everyone. they brought in untouchables like marko stunt and jungle boy and people who dont sell tickets..... its Indy wrestling
He went out with a meaningless win in a tag team match having helped build up no one... That is not doing a wrestler justice...it is badly wanking them. Shawn Michaels did justice to Ric Flair with their match which Ric lost. A wrestler should lose their last match and use it as closing the last page on a career.
He built up Darby. You can say what you want about AEW and critique it all you like but don’t go around lying and fabricating nonsense when there’s real complaints to be had.
My opinion is that from the moment it started, it expanded too much too fast. Adding various shows not too far after Dynamite aired like Dark, Rampage then Collision and really over saturated the wrestling market especially when you had endless televised daily and even local professional wrestling shows that it made it hard to catch up with and follow..... AEW eventually gave everyone that has a TV spot a championship and WWE is on the same page too and makes the title feel like a prop than elevating that wrestler (s). Less is always more
Quite simply, AEW was built on spite. On defining itself as being against WWE, which at that time, was synonymous with Vince McMahon and generally bad booking. Now Vince is gone, and although it’s far from perfect, WWE is miles ahead of what it once was. And with that, Tony and AEW have been unable to pin down what makes them unique anymore. They’re a progressive company, yet rely on callbacks to the attitude era and ECW, which were anything but PC. They can’t draw with their five star matches since they’ve done everything including throwing the kitchen sink, plus Dave Meltzer’s bias is impossible to hide anymore. It was doomed from the start.
AEW is so full of homegrown talent but without good booking and a weak bosse equals chaos. He needs vets to manage these egos, they can still do their thing like they do, we just want it to matter.
Aew has lots I would like fixed or changed....especially in production, story pacing, and introduction of new characters from other companies. But this is just the cool thing to do for content at this point lmao. Everyone in their mama has a "downfall of AEW doc" dropping this week.....this is like the 4th 45min long one on my timeline this week lol.
Too many wrestlers, new names appearing/disappearing really hurt long term storytelling. Got seriously bored seeing random nobody's debut week and week out with no payoff.
Punk used the word quit himself on the Helwani podcast. I think Tony absolutely had to announce he fired Punk with cause because Punk probably had no contact with AEW after All In and was not gonna show up at Collision or All Out in Chicago regardless of being fired or not.
It's somewhat right tho. Punk told TK that he wants to be released from his contract way beforehand, specifically just after the Adam Page-Elite altercation.
@KingofNewark Punk is also someone who , according to him , is NEVER at fault for anything, but here is how you know he was fired,, in that same interview he let slip that he told Nick Khan he didn't have a 90 day no compete,, if he actually had Quit, there's no way in the world that tony wouldn't had exercised a non-compete clause for the remainder of the year. The only way he could have a non compete is if his contract just ran out or if he was fired
@anut8733 except , Brian Danielson has gone on record and said he was one of the people on the disciplinary board who told Tony that punk needed to be fired, and then Tony went on Collision and said under the advice of his lawyers AND the disciplinary board, he chose to fire punk. So is Danielson a liar now too?
Wrestling is bad in aew, it's too choreographed Stars are none Stories are non sense, need to know a lot of insider lingo to understand what they are referring to
When AEW (Tony Khan) had people such as Cody & Punk behind the scenes they were competition. Now they have Richoshit & Mercedes No Money (people who WWE let go). Plain & Simple.
I honestly would be more intrested in AEW if they at LEAST has some decent storytelling and booking. Cool matches that are 5 star every week is nice and all but I have nothing to make me go "I want THIS guy to win" or make me invested in WHY they are fighting. Thats just me though
So if WWE and AEW came together for the ultimate forbidden door ppv and one of the matches was Will Ospreay vs Seth Rollins you wouldn't be interested?? If no you're not a wrestling fan... you're just like console fanboys ..you like one logo over the other where gamers that play games on console or pc
AEW hasn't changed, it's always been pretty bad, but it was still a lot better than WWE for the first few years. But then WWE changed, it got better, Vince was gone, it was cleansed of it's toxicity. AEW's whole mission was to be an alternative to WWE, now nobody needs an alternate to WWE anymore because it got better, and it got better than AEW. That also exposed that AEW was kinda toxic the whole time, but nobody noticed because WWE was that much worse. AEW got by on not being WWE for a while, but they can't ride that train anymore and have failed to establish their own identity. They're not connecting with the audience because the audience is more interested in the stories that WWE is telling. Tony doesn't know how to write stories that can be told over a long period of time. He can book PPVs, but he can't write weekly television very well. He books to please only 1 fan; Dave Melter. He doesn't care what the wider audience wants to see. CM Punk was right, AEW isn't a real business. It's Tony Khan's real life wrestling playset. What could save AEW? Tony stepping back and letting someone else book TV shows that actually knows how to tell a story. Also, hiring a general manager (a real one, not just on screen) and someone a lot more competent than Christopher Daniels to run talent relations. Do I think Tony will do any of that? Nope. It's cool though, WWE is doing some great stuff, so I'll just watch that.
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Wwe sucks
One massive problem was that they used WWE’s (at the time) bad quality and practices as a crutch to look like heaven in comparison so once WWE sobered up they got nothing to rely on.
Agreed. Vince’s foibles being discovered was in all actuality the WORST thing to happen to AEW.
@ What’s even worse is that AEW’s management and practices are starting to show some symptoms of McMahon-era WWE with the whole Rey Fenix debacle and whatnot.
Based
not really, AEW fans just hate Vince cause their favorite indie wrestler wasnt pushed on the big stage, this is what happens when fans (Tony Khan) think they can do better than a man who has done wrestling promotion for decades.
This is it. 100%. AEW's point of comparison was 'WWE is bad under Vince McMahon in 2019, and we will do all the things right that his promotion is doing wrong'. As soon as they got back to competent booking and direction under HHH, AEW didn't know what to do anymore, or rather, still doesn't. They don't have clear market differentiators about why you would want to watch their show instead of WWE.
And Tony khan needs to stop listening to Dave meltzer
This is eerily reminiscent of WCW. They caught WWE (WWF) at a weak point, but now that it's found its way again, it's just a superior product.
They didn't catch anything, lmao. They were never a threat to WWE at any point like WCW was.
A mouse is no threat to an elephant but it will catch the elephant’s attention and may even convince it to alter its path.
@rmcastillo83 translation: you're right, but since I don't want to fully accept that
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
@@LaidBack-- are you naturally this pleasant or blah blah blah you’re just a jerk?
@LaidBack-- true they just got traction from cody Rhodes
Probably an unpopular opinion, but having their wrestlers show up every week in regular street clothes took away from their characters. They looked like random fans arguing with each other
Facts
Yeah skinny Wyt boys with beautiful long hair who can do Canadian Dystroyers won't really workout if you're trying to beat the Wwe where their men look like actual straight men.
Right. It loses impact when you see it all the time (which is a recurring theme in AEW.) If it happens once in a blue moon, it has impact. For instance, in 1998 on an episode of Monday Night RAW, the Undertaker (still in his "Deadman" gimmick) came to the ring wearing sweats and cut a "worked-shoot" promo on Vince McMahon. Fans weren't accustomed to seeing the Undertaker out of character like that, so that immediately got everyone's attention and made his worked-shoot sound serious.
That’s because they can’t dress or dress like bums. WWE ladies and gentlemen dress in street clothes and they do it just fine
Comments like these make me think,
Damn, Vince was right all along.
I see so many comments online that are essentially Vince McMahon rules in WWE. He was adamantly against wrestlers showing up in “casual clothes.”
The one big thing the video didn’t mention is that AEW expects you to have a certain level of knowledge of pro wrestling, and doesn’t want to spend time getting you up to speed. WWE would have spent weeks building up Okada, and telling you everything about him and why you should want to see him. AEW assumes you already know that and just throws him out there. Same for Jay White, Suzuki, lord knows how many others. You’ll get the sickos, maybe, but at some point you need to appeal to mainstream fans as well
Yeah, they'd do better treating fans like the morons they are
It's genuinely absurd. It's VERY similar to what the incredibly insular (and always wildly UNsuccessful) modern comic industry does in the west where it doesn't tend to bother filling people in on anything. "Every issue is someone's first issue" used to be a rule for writing in comics where you should always assume you need to fill in the reader on what is happening to catch them up...and now that is not done. AEW is exactly the same where they do not treat any episode as a jumping on point to inform people.
Forbidden Door is a big offender. Bringing in a bunch of guys I may or may not have ever heard of, and certainly didn't care about at all, ended up being the beginning of the end for me. It was the first AEW PPV I didn't bother to watch since the start of the company. I lost interest in the shows building up to it cause I had no emotional attachment or investment in anybody they were bringing in for Forbidden Door. Sure, maybe it's great for the niche audience that knows all of these wrestlers from Japan, but it does nothing for the casuals or to draw more people in. For somebody like me, it pushed me away for several weeks. By the time the next Forbidden Door came around, I had checked out completely and only listen to recaps on YT and will watch the occasional match if it's an absolute trainwreck or something special like Sting's retirement.
wwe have great story telling their products now.
Let's talk about their women as well who don't appeal to neither straight men or gay men (diva stans) and not to mention they got 40 of them with The Japanese girls wrestling once a year (Riho, Yuka, Emi, Mina Melons) then you have some who are getting paid by sitting at home, most of the time they use the same girls to put over the whoever is the flavor of the month. Like why not do it like how TNA did it by having just 10-15 girls? Do you really need to have Red Velvet coming out doing her stereotypical khetto dance, Abadon with trying to be scary, the Japanese women who only wrestle once a year, Leyla Grey who is green and is insecure about her natural God giving hair? Like come on now.
It’s Tony Khan. Everything is is fault. He won’t be a boss. He can’t handle conflict. He lets the guys do what they want. He lets them decide what they will and won’t do. He won’t be a boss or a booker.
Blame Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and the Jacksons too, you elitist.
@@Ticketman99Blame Cody? Give over man 😂
@@mattpryokra2245Yes, Cody. He's a founding father of the promotion AND he's the one who said casual fans are not welcome or a concern.
You and the original commenter dismissed Tony's idiocy for years. Don't try to act like you only realized now.
@@Ticketman99Blame Cody when he seen the dumpster fire and checked out before it went completely downhill? lol
@basedfrosti He could have stopped it at anytime but not only did he do nothing, but is partially responsible for the dumpster fire AEW has become. He's the one who chased the casuals away.
The fact that you won't hold a freakin' FOUNDING FATHER accountable for his actions with his creation says a lot about you.
They need to stop with the constant no-selling
No-selling isn't fundamentally bad. The issue is when non-stars do it. No selling is a tool to present a minority of wrestlers as larger than life.
You don't love the Canadian Destroyer off the top rope onto the steps for a 2 count? Or how the refs go check on a guy instead of counting them out. Then they pop up, run back into the ring, and hot more finishers?
Hands down this company killed my enjoyment for pro wrestling. I can't wait to see it belly's up soon.
And way too many super kicks. Diluting the once powerful looking finishers was a mistake AEW simply can't stop doing.
@HanDaimond but when the uso's do it. It's ok?
Tony cant build stars.
They wasted Wardlow.
They had a few months when Eddie Kingston was hot and they did nothing with him.
He doesn’t know how to take advantage when guys get over.
This “Death Rider” storyline is ratings death.
Wardlow should have been their biggest star. Tony just failed him for no reason at all. Absolute clown of a man.
building them isnt the issue..his issue is when they get white hot he doent know what to do after they become stars..see wardlow as mentioned. was white hot then he poured ice cold water on him..doing the same with mariah may she was white hot and has done nothing but face jobbers ever since. she turns on mina at the ppv then two weeks later they are already having a match on dynamite..it does nothing to make money.
Wardlow was never going to be a star. That powerbomb crap was rubbish.
They keep doing "we have NWO at home" stories (the Outcasts, the BCC, now the BCC replacement), and it just makes them look even more insular & insecure cuz they HAVE to define themselves against "look, it's the big bads who worked at That Other Place out to get our pure & innocent Home-Growns" instead of any more personal storylines.
and a copy and paste of undisputed kingdom and evp elite storyline
Tony Khan became what he stood against at the beginning of the promotion. A promoter stuck in his ways, who doesn't listen to the fans, and doesn't change, and doesn't think that there's anything wrong with his company. Unless TK changes, I don't see AEW changing, and I'm not holding my breath.
Storytelling in AEW was always horrible, they just relied on bringing in big free agents early on to create a buzz.
And for the first few years, AEW had a less toxic backstage culture. Vince McMahon losing control of WWE, though, exposed that AEW was kinda toxic the whole time too.
They always lie about what AEW was. They pretend as though AEW is doing bad because of a sudden change in quality when really it’s attrition from what they were always doing.
@@christopheraaron8299True
The lack of storytelling and the roster are part of why the jokes about the company being "Tony's Toybox" came about.
I'll never knock AEW on their technical talent, because they do have some of the most insanely athletic and gifted people when it comes to that - but the problem is they just keep throwing those people at each other pointlessly. Like, yes it's great watching two high-fliers like Osprey & Ricochet do flips 'n shit at each other for 15mins... but also, who the fuck cares after a certain point? Kinda like Mox/Dustin nearly bleeding to death every week - at a certain point it's just so overdone that it doesn't even matter anymore. "Oh look, Moxley's having a match. He's probably going to get busted open and start bleeding profusely..." Yes it's a wrestling show, and you come for the matches, but the feuds and storylines are just as much a part of "professional wrestling" as an industry.
They keep putting on these "Dream Matches" with no build, or "Legends matches" with people way past their primes. There's no build for anything, and through that they managed to make the product boring. It's essentially the IRL version of taking your action figures and just going "Hey you know who I've always wanted to see fight each other...?" and then having them do a bunch of random shit... and then Tony gets bored and shelves them.
Part of the other major criticism within the Toybox meme has always been the absolutely stacked roster... and so many big names either sitting on the sidelines doing nothing, or getting jobbed out to the newer, shinier model.
ETA: admittedly I went on this rant before watching the full thing and... RIP I ended up accidentally hitting most of the same points lol
I will play Devils Advocate here and say they did have a plan....up until Hangman won the title. After that though, the entire aspect of story fell off a cliff because Khan is an utter amateur when it comes to running a wrestling company.
Its not about having so-called 'bangers' every week but more so giving the audience a reason to tune into your program. I doubt the guy cares all that much anyway as he's simply a nepo-baby man-child in his little playground who was given this hobby by his dad to keep him away from important business ventures.
Tony Khan needs to get out of creative. There's a reason why he is letting his roster do all of the crappy creative work instead. Let him handle the business side of AEW, like Nick Khan has done for WWE. Tony can still contribute to AEW without finding a way to screw up.
There’s no doubt that the “Honeymoon Period” for AEW is long gone. But I still love the company that gave fans who were tired of WWE in the late years of Vince McMahon an alternative we haven’t had since the days of WCW. Even though I don’t watch the shows on a weekly basis, I’m still rooting for them to be successful because wrestling is at it’s best when all companies are thriving
Then turned into 2018 WWE 😂. So many stars with inconsistent story telling. Crazy how the roles flipped
Nobody needs an alterative to WWE anymore. WWE is doing some pretty great stuff, especially with Vince gone. Vince losing control of WWE is the worst thing that's ever happened to WWE. AEW always sucked, but it was still better than WWE. Now that's not the case anymore.
their slow clapping gate keeping tribalistic fan base is big reason for aew failure . hey they got their wish aew all to themselves 🤣
@@bb-gc2txTony Khan is the biggest issue with AEW, but the hardcore fans who excuse his terrible booking are also a big part of why it is failing.
@@georgeh4171 and that clown Dave Melzer too
I'm gonna keep it simple: This is what happens when a fan runs a wrestling company
Yeah, it's a pretty good representation of why a fan shouldn't just be able to run anything unless they actually know what they're doing. Just because you're a movie or video game fan for example, doesn't mean you know how to make them, and you likely shouldn't make them unless you've actually learned how to make them and garnered experience.
The noment Cody, a founding EVP of AEW, returned to WWE in 2022, we knew there is something wrong in AEW.
Sound stupid that entitled prick left because he let bums influence him
cody booked himself into a corner in aew. only an idiot would lose a match saying they could never win the world title. he also refused to go with the flow when he was getting booed..now hes doing the same boring gimmick of hes dustys son in wwe.
@@tgrfan42069 yeah and how much over is he right now in WWE? How much money has he made? Hes literally stayed at the top of the card for 2 years. Cody made the right moves, you can say its a boring gimmick but the fans love it. Meltzer fan detected?
@@tgrfan42069 The same boring gimmick that's drawing millions of dollars and getting cheered everywhere. It's not that deep it's just that AEW fans are too smarky for their own good. It's a fine gimmick.
@@freew0rrld the boring stale gimmick isnt the draw.. the letters w w and e are the draw
There's nothing more sad than wasted potential. AEW at the moment seems like that. Fans don't want to come to the shows, but that is what happens when every AEW show feels like a fan playing GM Mode on a WWE game. I don't think AEW will ever go bust, TK has more than enough money and I doubt he would pull his investment as he's a genuine wrestling fan. But it is sad, All Out 2021 was when AEW peaked in my view. 2022 was when the cracks appeared, Cody leaving, Brawl Out and the dodgy booking decisions. One example being the mismanagement of Wardlow. Why couldn't they give MJF and Wardlow meteoric rises simultaneously?
I do want AEW to turn this around. The more wrestling companies are thriving the better. Unfortunately that won't be happening when you book to keep a small portion of the IWC happy while alienating other AEW fans so much they leave.
AEW is just Tony Khan's real life wrestling playset.
agree.. they had the funding, a stacked roster, and a great tv deal...and it is squandered because the owner books for himself and other like minded match only fans want to see
You have no idea how badly I want AEW to survive. And this is coming from someone who watches primarily WWE. When WWE bought WCW I legit groaned because I knew a lack of competition would mean self-indulgent booking and no need to do better. So AEW needs to survive also because some of my fave wrestlers are still on it and they are getting paid well.
With all that being said, AEW diehard fans are awful. WWE diehard fans are awful. Instead of cancelling each other out they drive the main discourse and it’s so annoying. AEW fans acting superior because their love is more “pure”, while WWE fans act superior because the product is hot at the moment.
At any point all of this can change, so nobody should feel superior about anything. You all watch men in little pants grapple each other, get over it.
Fortunately when WWE bought WCW, WWE did had competition and it's not TNA. After they bought WCW, they compete against one another that's why after the awful Invasion storyline ended they brought back Ric Flair and made the draft pick so Raw could had its own roster and storylines and SmackDown could have its own roster and storylines with the only exception being that the undisputed world champion could appeared at both shows before that got change later on. It's not the best decision but it did work out okay at first.
nah its all about viewership. wwe never has to worry cause international fans in india keep them well fed. thats why they wont massively improve their product. same with aew. for them 500,000 fans every week is a big deal and more then profitable so they wont change. which leads to a reptitive industry. and both wwe and aew losing viewership over time.
@nadiahassan5307 You sound like my little brother with that last sentence. He used to always say "Why y'all be watching oiled up dudes in booty shorts grabbing each other?" 😂😂. Now, he watches and justifies it with saying he is only watching for the women lmao.
There's Women too not just Men in their underwear
They have 3 guaranteed years for TV and streaming
God damn it you're such idiots with your fake concerns
AEW diehards will dismiss this as tribalism and ask hard hitting questions like, “why do you hate fun?”
Funny, Punk has been back in WWE for over a year and not a single report about him having punch ups backstage.
wwe knows his reputation so they can control things around him. if he went back to wwe first he would be in aew right now.
Because Triple H knows what Punk is like. And the people who have an issue with him have issues with him about stuff that actually involves them. As unprofessional as Punks treatment of Page was, Page poked him about something that didn't have anything to do with him. Rollins and Drew, kayfabe or reality, their issues with Punk are personal, and they can work with that more
Because WWE is staffed by actual adults instead of fragile 10th graders in 30-40 year olds' bodies like AEW.
I stopped watching AEW because Tony is obsessed with smaller guys beating bigger guys. I remember Gates of Agony losing to Darby and Nick Wayne which made me crack.
Same Here I Hate Seeing Big Guys Like Lance Archer Brian Cage And Shane Taylor Taking L's
Lol wardlow and Hobbs are jokes while tiny 5 footers get all the dubs 😂😂......tiny tony can relate more to them I guess😂😂😂😂
It have no problem with little guys beating bigger opponents but there needs to be a story there. That’s the problem with AEW, the storytelling is bad to nonexistent.
@@larrypotter2015 You stopped because of something that is always there from the beginning?
Lmao
Call me old school, but I remember when wrestlers looked and dressed unique and like wrestlers. Now you tune in to aew and everyone is dresses in street cloths, you can't till if your watching a fan or some random guy from the streets.
Only cena and roman can pull the street look
Sure, I usually go to the grocery store dressed like Darby Allin, and my accountant has the same look as Malakai Black
@@MarekTheHoundthose are some exceptions, but he makes a point. You got the world champion wrestling in sweat pants, or those green/khaki looking pants. You’ve got Jack Perry with his waist slimmer than most women and wrestling in plain jeans. Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta look incredibly out of place as well.
@@attackonmemory These are not opinions, they are nonsense. Moxley's look aligns with his character and the story he is portraying: he hates egocentrics, he hates extravagant people, he hates flashy belts. For him, only wrestling and violence matter. Let's also add that his look is inspired by the skinheads from 'Romper Stomper,' and we've hit the nail on the head. If you don't follow AEW, refrain from commenting, because you just come off as low-level haters.
Not to mention that WWE is full of talents with physiques similar to Perry's and Garcia's, but strangely, no one seems to have anything to say about that. So, stop it. Oh, and let's remember we are talking about people who are much fitter than the average commentator
@@MarekTheHound Man thanks for making sense I was reading those comments and wondering if any of those people actually watched a single AEW show before having an opinion. Like "everyone dresses the same and look casual" yeah no literally the only people having similar fits are the ones coming in classic wrestling boots and shorts and that's exactly how most WWE go to the ring.
On creative side AEW has already lost their credibility longtime ago. They didn’t have much creative talent to write a make sense storyline, the talent keep working themselves into injury, talent risk their livelihood just tried to be relevant, talent keep working themselves to a shoot to much, no control over roster like a bunch of friends playing to be a real company, and the most important thing is TK as a booker. TK was trash, garbage, poor, and mark.
AEW entire identity is "WWE bad We good"
Yep and that died out when Vince retired
@@BlahBlah-v1y Um, so we will just forget Chris Jericho (as well as Darby Allin) and the sh*t he's been up to, huh? The cognitive bias is real with you lot. The pendulum swings both ways, friend.
Never forget that.
@@ScuffedFI don't agree with nothing others do when it comes to miss treatment of people. The difference in this is talent and owner. Jericho and Darby was hired not signing checks. Just sick how so many wanna just over look what Vince did. Walmart ceo does what Vince did it's look at differently then if walmart hires people that did as he did. That's just rich being untouchable and no accountability. Trump has 34 charges yet here's the president again. Don't mean I have to agree with it!
Yeah that's pretty much every new coming secondary new promotion. From WCW to TNA and now this crap.
I truly wish once AEW is belly's up (hopefully soon) we won't see another televised secondary promotion. I'm fine with the indies, and the international promotions but those secondary companies are always a cringe.
@SuperWildsnorlax yea once the "bloodline" story ends . What does wwe have that's intriguing . Exactly nothing after that
We thought AEW was becoming the new ECW, but now it’s the new Dixie Carter era of TNA.
They couldn’t surpass wwe at its worst . Now wwe actually cares about their product
1) Too many shows
2) Too many titles
3) overloaded roster
4) Inconsistent storylines
5) Injury risk wrestling style
6) overreliance on ex-wwe stars
7) Tony khan is bad booker
8) Tony khan is just a mark
9) Anything related toROH shouldn't be on aew
10) Egotistical wrestlers
11) Poor locker room management
12) less entertainment, more flips
13) Weak tag team division
14) very few established stars
15) orgasmic spot fests directed to super fans
16) short term fueds no build up of stars for future
17) use of wwe storyline for their TV
18) most of roster does same thing
19) why so many lucha stars who does same thing
20) degraded NJPW kenny omega's legacy
21) holding ricky starks,fenix until their stock fell or until contract expire without showcasing on tv
22) no performance center
23) dumb talk shows
24) rushing injured wrestlers to wrestle again
25) over rely on hardcore style
Dude seems to have forgotten to mention this but it wasn't all in Tony for how bad AEW is. It's his talent who have creative control over their booking and refuse to put over talent. Guys like the Bucks, Jericho, Moxley, are people who do things their way and keep convincing Tony they're right.
Don't forget how long the women's division was "Britt Baker getting progressively worse versus Saraya who should never have been cleared" until both were too injured to put on TV.
I think out of all the points on the list, the Okada one hurts me the most. I fucking loved Okada in Japan. The man was regarded as a wrestling hero (or even god) in his home country. Seeing him reduced to a comedic upper-mid card act is really depressing and just makes me want to tune out of AEW at times.
Man, the elite vs aew felt like it was actually going to be a great long term story that shakes things up throughout the entire roster. But aside from all winning belts and taking out TK it all just fizzled out...
The continental classic has some "dream matches" and I want to be more invested but there's so little story to really pull me in. It's baffling
He's still getting treated better than how Nakamura has been treated for years in WWE
he should've aim for the AEW World Champion by now and be treated as a main eventer instead he stuck being the AEW Continental Champion which he barely do anything about it. he should've win the AEW World Champion and be a dominant Champion like his 4th Reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion which he held the title for 720 days.
@@yuhin4694 tbf i think okamura would also be treated badly by wwe. even under triple h. he would have a badass entrace but thats about it. he aint beating any top talent cause he cant cut a promo to save his life. NEW JAPAN. thats the company he should stay with. dont care about the money. presentation and legacy matters the most. find a company that treats you like god. we LOVED him in new japan. he was their roman reigns.
I keep forgetting he's there, Tekken 7 did a better job of promoting the man 😂
Its crazy, my daughter and i are sitting here saying how long we've been saying EXACTLY all of this, while we no longer can stand to watch the AEW product and have went back to WWE.
Rey Fenix: "I'm going to WWE"
Tony Khan: "hahahahaha... you're serious?"
Ever since Cody Rhodes and CM Punk left... AEW went down hill. 📉
Don't forget Jade Cargill. After she left, no Womens Divisions rised up
Brian phill man jr penta Blair Davenport
I always felt when Cody left, the soul left. When Punk left, the money went.
@vigoroushero8623 you're spot on
Cody and CM Prick are complete trash
AEW's biggest failure was going from trying to "challenge" WWE to....dive deep into the "we're just an alternative!" branding.
60 minute draws. Matches that nobody can sit and rewatch. Like, I'm not gonna sit and rewatch Bryan vs Omega. I'm not gonna sit and rewatch 1 hour matches or even 30 minute matches.
Another thing is momentum. You've got guys like Pentagon kicking out of finishers against top guys. Heck, just 2 hours ago Brodie King kicked out of 2 HIDDEN BLADES from Ospreay. Guess what's gonna happen? Brodie will be in 6 man tag matches next week or put on a banger against Kommander or Beast Mortos. Momentum in wrestling is the most important tool in storytelling. If Dolph Ziggler had that Survivor Series moment where he single-handedly beats The Authority, I expect big thing for him on tbe horizon and i want to see that happen. Brodie King kicking out of 2 Hidden Blades from Ospreay back to back tells me nothing, it's just a thing that happend.
The third and final blow, is laziness. AEW had CM Punk and they were making him do 6 man tag matches at Collision. Imagine if they kickstarted a big angle and imitated WWE at their best and put on a great fucking product? No. They insisted on pissing on every opportunities the fans given them. Look where it's gotten them now.
If they stop worrying about the other company and focus on their actual talent then they can succeed. I wish that Tony never brought Ring of Honor cause it went downhill just like AEW did. Ring of Honor needs to be it's own show with a different network not under Tony Khan's wing.
I think a big part of the problem is, when Khan actually let's people have creative control and freedom to do their own thing and try something new, he gives it to the wrong people. Mox, Mone, and Jericho have all been terrible handling their own creative. It's at a point where I don't think they can course correct because Khan would have to bring in external help to run creative, and there are too many people embedded in power positions who aren't going to give up their creative control.
Then he refuses to lesson to others about things. To the point many have given up and are there for the money. I can't blame them.
Words you never said when Vince McMahon was still in charge of WWE.
Stop being a hypocrite.
Kenny’s injury was losing the heart, Cody’s departure was losing the soul, and Cm punk debacle was AEW losing their mind.
When they aired the CM Punk footage and it was obvious to ANYONE with two functioning brain cells that it did nothing but bury AEW itself for no gain I knew it was unironically over. It showed that TK is genuinely too stupid to run anything resembling a wrestling company. He only has a shadow of a hint of a clue of what he's supposed to be doing.
@@yagamifire7861 I still remember AEW diehards trying to claim that the footage totally showed that Punk was a tornado of violence & murder, and I could only wonder what alternate universe they were viewing. They're still doing it.
Professional wrestling thrives on one core element: storytelling. Engaging stories for wrestlers and their characters, crafted week by week, keep audiences invested and eager to tune in to see what happens next. Matches become unforgettable when a strong story is involved, eliciting genuine emotional reactions from fans. AEW seems to have lost sight of these fundamental principles for creating compelling weekly television, which is why many viewers struggle to connect emotionally with the product.
He got injured before the reveal. A huge difference.
I think at this point, what needs to happen to AEW is a new buyer who actually cares about wreastling. In other words, buy it off TK hands and do NOT let wrestlers be on the board. Have a president/CEO, right-hand man, and others with knowledge in wrestling and booking to all run and function as a company. That's what AEW needs. TK running it by himself and having immature ass talent is going to cause this to keep going downhill!
He needs to be a boss not a friend
Tko needs to buy them have hbk or regal take over aew
@@trafalgarlaw6499 that would be similar to when Vince bought it. That would still feel like WWE written all over it. Not a good idea.
Didn't figure Triple H for storyteller of the decade, but when you think about it it makes sense
Not really surprising, Triple H is a wrestler with close to 30 years of experience, he's been around many great talents, he's had his share of failures, he was once an egotistical dude with a chip on his shoulder who buried wrestlers when he was an active performer, as his career waned.. he had a change of heart, he ultimately became the light at the end of the tunnel (ran NXT) when Vince became a terrible tyrant of a booker ruining most of the talents on the main rosters.
hes trash as a booker as well
Triple H is boring as a booker he is way too predictable.
No stars. Everyone looks the same, sounds the same, wrestle the same, speak the same and do the same moves. They’re a borefest man.
All the macho man's are looking like robbers in aew
Wwf was built on action figure looking real life athletes
@@FloydWhoElseTVit was also built on great angles, good matches, and good promos. WWF had great tag teams as well. I get it's easy to remember just steroids, but WWF in it's golden era was built on a helluva lot more than just big guys looking like action figures come to life.
Jack Petty and the Young Sucks really tarnished AEW popularity
so did cm junk you blind mark
@@NotToBeMessedWid One mark calling another a mark.
Rather ironic, dont you think?
@@ScuffedF Where's the lie tho?
Young is a questionable word now
@@brahmanprabha yes ask ur mom about it. Tell her i said Hi you silly goof 🤣
Why are there no people who see these truths on social media? I was chased off Bluesky, X and Threads for pointing out AEW's failures. I pulled for AEW at first, but it's irretrievably broken, TV deal or not. I could find no support on those platforms, just people telling me I hate wrestling, I'm hateful, and I need therapy. Because I gave up on AEW. These people are crazed, but where were all the people who agree with this video when I needed your backup? 😢
We've all been driven into silence by AEW cultists, too. It's a shame whenever I see my online mutuals gushing over whatever terrible slop they're doing - be it praising guests from TikTok to trying to paint Osprey online as a sex pest to pretending Adam Page is intimidating in any way - and then watch them ignore actual bad behavior from both the wrestlers & the fanbase. It's not gonna change, no matter how much I wish it would.
Tony Khan is the worst booker in the history of the business so all good talents are buried and a bad comedy, useless performer like Orange Cassidy is always pushed, it's alarming how clueless Tony Khan is.
Yeah, its a shame. Orange cassidy needs to drop the pockets gimmick, Jericho is TV old, and the fans dont want to see him. Even MJF is becoming stale and id never thought id say that
A dream fued between Punk and MJF that happened already
There is always create a wrestler in wwe 2k it can still happen just in video game form 😶
how a few ego hungry indy wrestlers helped destroy AEW's chances.
Making a whole show around small dudes who don’t bring in viewers wasn’t a winning formula. Meltzer’s 5 star matches don’t get ratings
AEW biggest problem is that WWE started getting good and they can’t compete with them. They’re gonna end up like ECW and TNA. They tried to compete but couldn’t. ECW went out of business and Impact Wrestling now owns TNA and they had a whole rebrand called TNA Impact
AEW lost the three biggest draws they had to WWE. Jade Cargill, Cody Rhodes, and CM Punk.
Even though she can't wrestle her way out of a wet paper bag, AEW booked Jade Cargill like Bill Goldberg, and it WORKED. It brought attention to the Women's division. They tried to replace her with Mercedes Mone' but she hasn't been relevant since she left WWE.
Cody Rhodes was one of the founding fathers and cornerstones of AEW. For him to leave AEW, and to have Vince McMahon himself get onto his own plane and fly to Florida to bring a contract to Cody's house, that's a huge blow.
CM Punk coming to AEW was "supposed" to be as huge as Hulk Hogan coming to WCW. It started out good, but when you have someone that is used to things making sense in an environment where little to nothing at all makes sense, it's not going to end well, and it didn't. As much as AEW, Tony Khan, and it's fanbase have tried to drag CM Punk, literally everything that he has said has come to pass with pinpoint accuracy.
Any halfway decent wrestling promoter would probably have the number one wrestling company with all the assets that AEW has, or at least would be giving WWE a run fro it's money. Tony Khan literally is playing with living action figures and AEW exists for no purpose other than that. It's not that Tony Khan doesn't listen to the advice from vets. It's the fact that these vets are getting paid millions of dollars and AEW has become their pension-plan. They'll keep their fool mouths SHUT until they feel they've made enough money to live off of for the rest of their lives. Then they will right books about how horrible it was in AEW later on to make some extra coin on top of that.
Cody was NOT a draw in AEW, lol.
@@LaidBack-- He WAS the one who came up with the "All In" PPV, which ultimately gave birth to AEW...
He was the only sane Vice-president in AEW, that tried to keep the business going instead of booking himself to the stratosphere...
He was the actual boss of AEW, when Tony Khan was busy drooling like a fan-boy over how many wrestlers were around him...
He was the soul of AEW and when he left, that's when things got out of hands and they started to spiral downwards...
After he left AEW, the other EVPs started to sabotage Punk's career in the company...
and we all know how it went, when there wasn't an actual Boss to get things under control.
@@Ben.SK2346 it doesn't matter what he came up with, that's beyond the point.
That doesn't mean he was the guy everybody was coming to see because he never was at any point in AEW.
@@LaidBack-- The point is, he was way more important to AEW than the entirety of their roster put together...
If you can't see that, then you're just a blind AEW fan-boy still souring over him, leaving the crappy company he helped to create behind...
@@Ben.SK2346 The point is exactly what I said it was. Not what you want or trying to make it be.
The crime that mad me stop watching
AEW was the butchering push of Wardlow.
You pretty much hit all the points.. great video 👍🏼
Bro, WWE's product is and has been genuinely far far better than it's 2019-20 version and even the time before that as well as the AEW's.
Ever since Cody & Punk left and Triple H became head of creative in WWE, AEW has been struggling. Not to mention lots of the backstage drama we hear about.
Y'all must be WWE fans making up y'all own stories lol. Because nobody cared about Cody leaving. It was Punk and Punk only.
AEW is this luxury mansion, but was not built brick by brick, but created over night by wood and aluminum, however it's still a house that can be reinforced the right way.
Tofu dreg
Nah, it’s more like a sand castle, about to be washed away by the tide.
The ph level of the concrete laid for the foundation was weak though and over time, it has compromised the entire structure of the building.
Im a carpenter, so I should know.
And Tony is not to blame for this.
He IS to blame for pretty much everything else though.
And the fans failed AEW
Seeing How They Act Everytime Someone Criticize AEW They Definitely Did
The fans have probably driven more people away from AEW than anything. Dogpiles & death threats will do that.
Nowadays in AEW we can see the fights, fights and fights. There is no story telling. Once upon a time they had an OG story line between Kenny and Hangman.
Honestly I have more passion in wrestling then Tony khan and can book better matches as seen whenever I play gm mode in the wwe 2k games
Dude, if you can actually tell a coherent story......you are already miles ahead of Mr Nepo-Baby himself.
A videogame is nothing like real life though. In real life booking, you had to book matches but also make sure the storyline doesn't jump all over the place and the wrestlers who you book together must know how to get the job done. You also had to give orders to the guys at the watch tables to also do their jobs and know when to end matches or if to keep the matches going or if someone would interfere in the match. Loud pop from the crowd means the match is getting interesting so the match could be extended a bit longer, close to silent from the crowd means nobody is enjoying the match so you must had them find a way to end the match quickly or had someone interesting come to ringside to interfere to heat up the matches. You had to be able to communicate like this to the people at the table and the referee without ever being at ringside. Also know that in real life, sometimes some wrestlers will not be on the same page as you and they will request a change to the booking, it's up to you to figure out if that booking could be done or not. Long story short booking matches ain't that easy. Sometimes if the booking sucks or the main event wrestlers got injured due to your bad bookings you may even get suspension or fired as well.
@@VOAN But I have a better roster of superstars with the likes of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Drew Mctinyre, Cody Rhodes, Bobby Lashley, as well as Bray Wyatt. And for the women, I like using Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Nia Jax as well as Charlotte Flair. At least I know who to draft for my roster and who should be in the main event for the Universal title.
Another issue with AEW is the way they tailor their storylines. Each promo in a weekly Dynamite or Collision or the recently defunct Rampage always has one of these tropes.
- Heel character talking trash to the hosting city. Extra point for dissing a local celebrity or team.
- The usual interview with the performer going for the "I'm going to win this match and/or the title belt" speech
- Two wrestler saying to each other "Remember that one fight we had years ago in an indie promotion? Let's settle the score"
The problem with AEW isn't the use of these tropes, which they are fine by themselves, but the ripetitive nature of those to the point they feel like they were written by an AI.
For comparison, WWE use the same tropes but they also makes interesting segments that help flesh out their Superstars to the point that you get the grasp that seeking to win a match isn't always because their want a victory for the other. There are personal matters that needed to be settled.
Case in point: the CM Punk v. Drew McIntyre storyline. From an injury to Punk during the Royal Rumble it led to a bloody HIAC at Bad Blood and the entire story behind it spell "Vendetta" all over it.
Fans forget that a wrestling Monopoly is terrible. AEW success helps the industry as a whole.
You’re completely right, the problem is that Tony Khan’s decisions sunk AEW in a way that they are not even seen as a threat by WWE anymore, competition needs to exist if we as wrestling fans want a better product on the shows, but seems difficult if one of the parties is digging instead of climbing and all because of their own boss
@@neondragon6046I've said it before and I'll say it again, competition shouldn't be an excuse to make an awful or good product.
You should be making good products regardless of competition.
Rockstar is a game company that pretty much has zero competition in the open world crime sandbox genre and constantly one up themselves with their games.
Say what you want about Rockstar but every company should base themselves on Rockstar's model of one upping themselves almost every single time.
@@CantRead1 yes indeed, in an ideal world every company would give us the best product regardless of competition, but the thing is that not every company is like that, some companies only gives the minimum (obviously to a certain extent, of course they will not give you the worst possible product) because they know they’ll have their audience secure without the concern of them leaving, maybe WWE is like that or maybe not, but the fact is that if you have a competitor you’re forced to be better or you’ll get behind eventually, no competition usually (NOT always) comes with laziness
It has to be watchable first..Aew in 2021 was a good watch..Even the earlier collision episodes were good..Rest is just abysmal..
Poor Mercedes. She joined a shut up and wrestle company, all while being produced like she's on a WWE-style program. It's mismatch, but she's still hotter than a $2 pistol and I hope the AEW incel base doesn't chase her off.
Meh, she’s an average worker at best who thought she was a bigger star than she actually is. Also, both AEW and WWE have much hotter women anyway. 🤷♂️
She’s a millionaire who will probably get the Punk treatment when she inevitably returns to WWE. She’ll be alright.
You’re right. She is hot though. Only reason I tolerate the cringe mic work.
She appeals to gay ppl. Many of these sassy women's wrestlers go onto a secret ritual where a homosexual demon takes over their body and gets over on TV. Real women do not act like that in real life. See Mercedes Martinez, that's a natural womanly woman.
2 bland jobbers as big as highschoolera, trade forearms, no sell, cooperative gymnastics, no sell, kick out. Rinse and repeat
Even the "oh you're just a wwe shill" comments are gone, for the most part
AEW prime, was when DB and Adam Cole debuted in the same night, after cm punk`s first match and Kenny by God Omega as world champ!
This is when i thought they would surpass wwe. but somehow they managed to blow it
Storytelling is without a doubt the main issue. Feuds either make no sense at all or aren’t given enough time. They have the pieces to make a great product that can compete with WWE but Tony hasn’t been able to use them correctly in what feels like forever.
Welcome back, my broski!! Merry Christmas to you too. 🎄❄️
Correction: Punk didn't quite AEW as the video states. He was released from his contract. Wrestlers aren't allowed to just quit one company and go work for another as they are bound to a contract.
Lol I remember when every youtuber mark would cope about AEW being good. How the turntables.
Now it's the opposite
Triple H effect. I'm really enjoy watching wwe again now. new era one of best era after attitude era.
AEW is going the same route of WCW. Which is ridiculous because the fans want AEW, not WWE. I might hate modern wrestling but even I can tell that what made AEW profitable and great was AEW was AEW.
Now, just like with WCW when Ted Turner bought it, they just want WWE. Which is not gonna work because WWE is already the best at being WWE. But apparently, after so many companies fail trying to emulate WWE, seems no one learned anything.
And guys like Jericho, who once lambasted Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and the rest of the main event talents for turning WCW into trash by hogging the spotlight and taking chances away from the home grown talent and undercard talents, are now doing the exact same thing.
Guess the Batman movie was right, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain".
AEW is not even on the level of TNA at their peak don't compare that trash wanna be company to the greatness of WCW.
AEW also has a problem with their wrestlers getting on social media and being combative with fans. ESPECIALLY the women wrestlers.
Social Media ruined alot of everything.
Yes, thank you! I swear, did everyone forget Britt & Saraya leading as much of the division as they could to gaslight the fuck out of LuFisto AND repeatedly like any fans going directly after her? That was the last straw for me ever expecting AEW to ever get any better until there's a severe reorg. And Tony's taken up that strategy of "QT random people & let my sickos sort 'em out" now, too. At least WWE has someone going "behave yourself online" instead of encouraging this Tumblr fandom BS.
The promotion is finished
Now they should compete again NJPW and TNA
I think the best example of how insufferable AEW has gotten nowadays is their handling of disliked storylines
Back in AEW's early days, we had the awfulness that was Brandi Rhodes and her Nightmare Collective stable. It was boring, it latched onto every other women's match and storyline like a parasite, there was nothing entertaining about it. And when Tony and Co were told by the viewers that they didn't like the storyline, they cut it, they pulled the brakes, they moved on.
Nowadays, we have Chris Jericho and his Learning Tree Bullshit. A faction that is the third repeat of the exact same "Chris Jericho's Kiss My Ass Club" stable we've been seeing for the past five fucking years.
So how does AEW respond to their fans saying they don't want Jericho hogging all the TV time? By giving him a segment literally called "TV Time" just to mock the fans, oh and they also made him ROH world champ purely to spite people.
Because that's a great message to send to fans "watch our product, we'll actively insult you if you criticize it"
@@SirAsdf Your second paragraph: that was Cody. He brought it in and stopped it.
Your fifth paragraph: that's what AEW fans have been saying since the very beginning.
Ever since Punk was fired, they quickly lost their audience to the point where hardly anybody watches AEW anymore. This promotion would have already gone out of business If not for Tony's dad Shad Khan and his money to keep it afloat.
They actually only lost their audience when they started publicly antagonize punk. It made his fans feel alienated from the product. Many people siding with Punk kept watching before then.
@@BigmanDogs Firing Punk and then the Bucks doing a victory lap in the ring thinking the company was better off, when in fact it was a death blow.
@@sjdrifter72 The thing is that many fans didnt see that or saw it as the bucks going into business for themselves. When they aired the punk footage and made bucks and perry the bloodline of the show, that was basically Tony telling a large part of the audience that the show isnt for them anymore. And then wrestlers like Adam Copeland requested promo time the week after to try to salvage the situation.
@@BigmanDogs Whatever the reason. The fact is AEW sucks and nobody watches it except for a VERY small niche of marks that Tony caters to. The near empty venues and abysmal viewership reflects that.
@@sjdrifter72 No that's quite overdramatic. They're just severely underperforming given the resources they have at their disposal.
The downfall of AEW is the reason why I’m not invested in wrestling like I used to be and moved to watching UFC
Never invest in secondary promotions who go by the "Wwe's bad, we good"
Clickbait
AEW doesn't have any fans
lol
No fans but Fanboys
Tony is like that rich kid who gets a new toy then gets bored with it in short time and the begs papa to buy a new one and wonders why he is not happy 🤪
One thing i noticed is that many of the WWE stars who went to AEW shows how much so many wrestlers need the production and character building to help them. Look at Mercedes Money as an example
Problem is Tony, starts and ends with him. Trust in talent is earned, not one of them should be booking their storylines. Moxley and Mone are utterly delusional on what fans want.
NXT Is Whipping AEW Now
I Remember When It Was
The Other Way Around Though 😅
I was at AEW's first PPV in Vegas 2019. I enjoyed the show. Went tovearly Dynamite tapings. I enjoyed those too. But they had alot of warts that we all kind of glossed over because it was new and we wanted a legit alternative to what was awful wwe television at that time. Now WWE is very good on the whole and AEW's warts can't be hidden anymore. Surgery needs to be done but the patient, Tony Khan, won't let anyone operate. By the time he does, it might be too late.
AEW is nothing more than a circus now with Ricochet as their leading clown
it was doomed from the start. Tony wanted to be friends with everyone. they brought in untouchables like marko stunt and jungle boy and people who dont sell tickets..... its Indy wrestling
At least they did Sting justice
Whoopi doooo yay a has been
Meh
He went out with a meaningless win in a tag team match having helped build up no one...
That is not doing a wrestler justice...it is badly wanking them.
Shawn Michaels did justice to Ric Flair with their match which Ric lost. A wrestler should lose their last match and use it as closing the last page on a career.
He built up Darby. You can say what you want about AEW and critique it all you like but don’t go around lying and fabricating nonsense when there’s real complaints to be had.
@@theflyinyourdrink Built up Darby to what ? Darby is at the same spot on the card having the same matches. Nobody gets "built" in this company
My opinion is that from the moment it started, it expanded too much too fast. Adding various shows not too far after Dynamite aired like Dark, Rampage then Collision and really over saturated the wrestling market especially when you had endless televised daily and even local professional wrestling shows that it made it hard to catch up with and follow.....
AEW eventually gave everyone that has a TV spot a championship and WWE is on the same page too and makes the title feel like a prop than elevating that wrestler (s). Less is always more
Quite simply, AEW was built on spite.
On defining itself as being against WWE, which at that time, was synonymous with Vince McMahon and generally bad booking.
Now Vince is gone, and although it’s far from perfect, WWE is miles ahead of what it once was.
And with that, Tony and AEW have been unable to pin down what makes them unique anymore.
They’re a progressive company, yet rely on callbacks to the attitude era and ECW, which were anything but PC. They can’t draw with their five star matches since they’ve done everything including throwing the kitchen sink, plus Dave Meltzer’s bias is impossible to hide anymore.
It was doomed from the start.
Tk can't book, dude, just buying meh wrestlers past their prime and becoming the next WCW
Aew will end up like WCW
AEW is so full of homegrown talent but without good booking and a weak bosse equals chaos. He needs vets to manage these egos, they can still do their thing like they do, we just want it to matter.
@@rhameseshamilton8045 No, no it's not lmfao
Aew has lots I would like fixed or changed....especially in production, story pacing, and introduction of new characters from other companies. But this is just the cool thing to do for content at this point lmao. Everyone in their mama has a "downfall of AEW doc" dropping this week.....this is like the 4th 45min long one on my timeline this week lol.
Too many wrestlers, new names appearing/disappearing really hurt long term storytelling. Got seriously bored seeing random nobody's debut week and week out with no payoff.
2:59 , so "quit" is the new term for "getting fired on national tv"?
I dont understand why he said that. AEW making the mistake of firing Punk looks way worse for them anyway, and its the truth.
Punk used the word quit himself on the Helwani podcast. I think Tony absolutely had to announce he fired Punk with cause because Punk probably had no contact with AEW after All In and was not gonna show up at Collision or All Out in Chicago regardless of being fired or not.
It's somewhat right tho. Punk told TK that he wants to be released from his contract way beforehand, specifically just after the Adam Page-Elite altercation.
@KingofNewark Punk is also someone who , according to him , is NEVER at fault for anything, but here is how you know he was fired,, in that same interview he let slip that he told Nick Khan he didn't have a 90 day no compete,, if he actually had Quit, there's no way in the world that tony wouldn't had exercised a non-compete clause for the remainder of the year. The only way he could have a non compete is if his contract just ran out or if he was fired
@anut8733 except , Brian Danielson has gone on record and said he was one of the people on the disciplinary board who told Tony that punk needed to be fired, and then Tony went on Collision and said under the advice of his lawyers AND the disciplinary board, he chose to fire punk. So is Danielson a liar now too?
Wrestling is bad in aew, it's too choreographed
Stars are none
Stories are non sense, need to know a lot of insider lingo to understand what they are referring to
When AEW (Tony Khan) had people such as Cody & Punk behind the scenes they were competition. Now they have Richoshit & Mercedes No Money (people who WWE let go). Plain & Simple.
I honestly would be more intrested in AEW if they at LEAST has some decent storytelling and booking. Cool matches that are 5 star every week is nice and all but I have nothing to make me go "I want THIS guy to win" or make me invested in WHY they are fighting. Thats just me though
They should just shut it down
100%
I was really invested in Wardlow back in 2022. I'm sure most of us did. How the hell you screwed up a momentum
merry Christmas all.
You too!
AEW was never a legitimate contender given what we know now about Tony’s booking skills and the unprofessionalism there.
Fragile Mind, Fragile Body, Fragile Ego.
Says the alcoholic who can’t draw with a gold pen.
So if WWE and AEW came together for the ultimate forbidden door ppv and one of the matches was Will Ospreay vs Seth Rollins you wouldn't be interested?? If no you're not a wrestling fan... you're just like console fanboys ..you like one logo over the other where gamers that play games on console or pc
AEW hasn't changed, it's always been pretty bad, but it was still a lot better than WWE for the first few years. But then WWE changed, it got better, Vince was gone, it was cleansed of it's toxicity. AEW's whole mission was to be an alternative to WWE, now nobody needs an alternate to WWE anymore because it got better, and it got better than AEW. That also exposed that AEW was kinda toxic the whole time, but nobody noticed because WWE was that much worse. AEW got by on not being WWE for a while, but they can't ride that train anymore and have failed to establish their own identity. They're not connecting with the audience because the audience is more interested in the stories that WWE is telling. Tony doesn't know how to write stories that can be told over a long period of time. He can book PPVs, but he can't write weekly television very well. He books to please only 1 fan; Dave Melter. He doesn't care what the wider audience wants to see. CM Punk was right, AEW isn't a real business. It's Tony Khan's real life wrestling playset.
What could save AEW? Tony stepping back and letting someone else book TV shows that actually knows how to tell a story. Also, hiring a general manager (a real one, not just on screen) and someone a lot more competent than Christopher Daniels to run talent relations. Do I think Tony will do any of that? Nope. It's cool though, WWE is doing some great stuff, so I'll just watch that.
The booking is terrible these days. I’d love to see AEW do well but with Khan booking it’s not going to occur