i thought it means cut jungle boy and not cut mjf because the title is who should i get rid of. i dont see the clickbait unless you just dont look at the picture 😂
The WWE used to cut a dozen or two people every year after Mania. You have to refresh the roster. People get cut, go to TNA, indies, NWA, Japan and get a new coat of paint. They figure stuff out and go back to WWE. Plus it gave those other promotions new talent and helps the ecosystem. AEW has way too many people. They could cut 30 people and no one would notice.
Agreed, AEW all up has over 150 wrestlers, and hardly make any releases. 25% of the talent gets used on TV, and the rest what are they doing? And those guaranteed contracts are still wasting money, even though AEW made $250 million in the last financial year.
Here is my full list of who I think should be cut. Aaron Solo Adam Copeland Angélico Anthony Henry Ariya Daivari Athena & Billie Starkz (2) Butcher & Blade (2) Colt Cabana Danhausen Dark Order (3) Diamante Dustin Rhodes Griff Garrison Jeff Jarrett Kamille Keith Lee Kiera Hogan Komander Kota Ibushi Lee Johnson Leyla Hirsch Madison Rayne Marina Shafir Matt Menard (as a wrestler) Matt Sydal Mercedes Martinez Michael Nakazawa Miro Ortiz Outrunners (2) Penelope Ford Peter Avalon Rocky Romero Satnam Singh Serpentico Trish Adora Willie Mack That's 42 people, which I think is about the right number.
So you think Bobby Lashley is all natural? The traps and delts don't lie. The wellness policy is just a leverage Vince used to get people fired. If he wanted you on top, you could take all the gear you wanted. I don't know how the current WWE works but I reckon it's still the same thing.
Cage has the look but he is not as good as everyone say he is. Wardlow have the height and size and doesn't do flashy complicated stuffs. He has more upside.
My hot take, if Kahn is trying to foster relationships between wrestling companies and make their busy more noteworthy in the states and make the wrestling business grow as a whole, he should try working nicely with TNA and WWE.
It's a waste of money to have people on the roster if you're not using them. It's just bad business sense and in the long run not only does it hurt the company it hurts the employees.
@Algo1 do they always? I am certain there are many bench players that get so few mins that it isn't even worth counting as playing at all. I believe a lot of AEW talent can continue to work outside the company should they chose. They just aren't simply held to sitting at home under contract if creative has nothing for them. In wrestling, it's easy to get injured in the most basic of moves so it is good to have a deep bench in case of injuries like the few that just happened.
@@DStavinaBench players get more play time and have bigger roles on any team because they are still contractually obligated to practice and show up everyday. Half the guys on the WWE or AEW roster don't even have to do that. The point is working out on your own away from the "team" is still less work and responsibility than bench players who literally have to be at every single team meeting or practice. Horrible ignorant comparison. Can you show me any wrestling contract that says you must attend every event and "practice/rehearsal" even if you are hurt like bench players must do or else they don't get paid? You can't. Because that's not how wrestling does business. And if they did, yall would complain.
Agreed, but given the likelihood of injury at least 1/3 of the roster needs to function as backup. As a rule of thumb I would say: take total number of wrestlers appearing in matches across all shows in one week and double it: that’s your roster size.
My only major disagreement here is with the whole Rampage roster, ONLY because it’s a 1hr show, including commercials, and I think it would be REALLY hard to give everyone a shot on Rampage with Interviews, Promos, Vignettes, Entrances and Matches, unless you only have like 3 or 4 matches per show and they’re only 10-12min matches then it would do some of the talent there a disservice
A one-hour show only needs three matches maximum. One match can be the main focus and the others are just there to fill time. The build to the final match starts at the beginning and carries on through the hour.
Of all the videos I click on, this one was dope. So many points I agreed with from champions working all shows/getting more money, let rampage be the more adult show, doing people a disservice by keeping them under contract and their not doing anything.
@@thefuturist8864 agreed, but, I don’t think it should be a show you use major talent on regularly. The roster split should be Dynamite & Collision as they are the longest shows, and people from both rosters compete on Rampage, perhaps using Rampage as a show to have your Champions competing against someone from the other show, like a Champion on Dynamites roster has a match against someone from Collision on Rampage and that’s how you make the shorter show mean more
I totally agree with putting Luchasaurus with Jack Perry. A face team that breaks up then comes back later as heels is a classic rivalry. It always worked with the Canadians. Hart family. Everything between Edge, Christian, Jericho, Benoit, Stratus, Test. Now the Samoans.
Enzo?? Isn't it true pretty much every wrestler he's worked with says he's an awful worker and completely unreliable? Not even close to worth the risk, I'd say
Most of the guys there aren't interested in improving and branching out. Madusa was brought in to train the women's division, with Dustin, she said herself some of them didn't bother coming to a free training session.
As a fan of AEW since its inception, I can fully understand the need/reason to have rosters set up this way. This is born out of two situations, the first one being that Tony Khan signed WAY too many people, but keep in mind that he brought on a LOT of talent back in 2019/2020 when WWE had somewhat of a stigma against independent wrestlers, so Tony signed up any people as he could to fill out shows. The run of signings brought up some talent who had been floating on the Indy scene forever, such as Joey Janela, Sonny Kiss, Sammy Guevara, Ricky Starks, Eddie Kingston, Marko Stunt, Luchasaurus/Killswitch, etc, and also gave the people from other companies such as WWE, TNA, and ROH a new place to ply their craft. That of course leads into the second situation, which was at the time, they had both AEW Dark and Elevation for people to wrestle on. Was it ideal as having actual TV time on Dynamite or Rampage? No. But were talents getting a chance to show up and show off in a company with a major television deal who could, if good enough, get to that promised land? Absolutely. I think the other issue at play here is that Tony doesn't dedicate his own roster to his TV shows. What do I mean by that? Well, obviously AEW has strong working relations with companies such as CMLL, AAA, New Japan, and STARDOM, and when you're building to the new annual Forbidden Door, this becomes such a strong ally to have. But when you're bringing in their talent to do the job that guys on his roster could be doing? That's where things can be a bit dicey. And I know someone might say, "But (insert name here) goes to (insert company here) and takes the place of one of their talents too!" Which is totally true and I get it. But NO company, not WWE, not New Japan, not TNA, not CMLL, not AAA, no one has the roster that AEW has. And, to go back to my point, if you want to bring in a talent from another company who is NOT a mega star, that's fine. But don't have them take the spot that someone, such as a Ricky Starks, WAR DOG, or Will Hobbs, could have within their very own company because you want to flex the partnerships that you have around the world. Rant, over.
We are like 5 minutes in and I hear “I’m picking edge cuz people will tune in to see him”…:respectfully that’s been proven to be untrue multiple times now
You are correct he sure as shit hasn’t brought those eyes I’m up to this point. I think that could change if he’s presented properly. There’s still potential there and i think that’s what Stevie is going for here.
I mean he's better than anyone else. But that's just me..someone who believes they should be crowning Dustin Rhodes with anything and everything right now. He deserves it.
While I would love to agree with you, if you go to AEW’s UA-cam channel and sort videos by “Popular”, Edge’s debut is huge and a few other segments/matches have millions of views. The guy can definitely lure in some eyeballs in the right circumstances. But goddamn do I wish he would just stop. He was a young good looking guy whose best runs were essentially as a chicken shit heel that always cheated to win. At one point his finishing move was a briefcase shot. Now he’s a 50 year old dude whose face has melted and his hair looks like it caught on fire blowing out a birthday cake. And he’s supposed to be a kickass babyface or something. Bro just let it go.
Put Wardlow back with MJF, only this time, MJF respects him- is maybe even a tiny bit afraid of him, like Wardlow in spite of some losses, has his number. Wardlow did squash him.
Other good ideas: Make MJF leader of the Undisputed Kingdom and turn Adam Cole face. Make Daniel Garcia International Champion. Give Katsuyori Shibata and Action Andretti shots at the FTW Championship. Then have Sammy Guevara win it. Give Bennett & Taven, Samoa Joe & Hook, the Lucha Brothers, the Acclaimed, Kings of the Black Throne, the Gunns, O'Reilly & Cassidy, and Top Flight title shots after FTR win the Tag Team Championship. Have Blackpool Combat Club challenge the Patriarchy. Give Moxley and Castagnoli more individual title shots. Have Darby Allin temporarily join the House of Black, filling in for Buddy Matthews. Turn Rush and the LFI face. Have Mariah May take over the Outcasts after she wins Toni's title. FINALLY give "Hangman" Page a win over Swerve Strickland. Make Will Ospreay the world champion before the year is out.
Yeah I agree, I think them working as a team rather than Wardlow being his lackey could work. Especially since storylinewise Warlow is no longer bound by contract to MJF so MJF has to respect him now.
Will make zero sense, Wardlow was the breakout superstar after he split with MJF and def him in a feud. Wardlow have turned heel on MJF with Adam Cole. Now all this only for heel MJF and heel Wardlow to reunite makes zero sense. This is like the forced Shield 🛡️ reunion in WWE.
Wardlow had a guaranteed shot to challenge for the world title that they wasted in a lackluster match against Samoa Joe. Easy solution was, wait till MJF gets fit (keep giving Wardlow squash matches every other week till then). Then have call his shot against Swerve in PPV (instead of gifting Christian Cage a random shot). Referee down in match, rest of Undisputed Kingdom does their shenanigans, and MJF returns to squander their plans. That way you immediately have MJF vs Wardlow part 2 to avenge his past loss, as well as other Kingdom members. Could keep him face for sometime and justify creating that stable in the first place
I think they need to combine Rampage and ROH. 3 AEW shows is too much. Dedicate Rampage to ROH and use it as your NXT. Then you've got 2 main AEW shows with a split roster other than champions who work both shows. Putting main event talent on Rampage just means that people will never see that talent. There's too much wrestling on TV so I don't see a big viewership increase for Rampage even with top stars on it every week.
@JayJay-rl3fn It would require changing ROH to AEW: Ring of Honor. Then it's a true AEW show. Tony actually mentioned doing that a day or two ago, so it may be happening as part of their new TV deal. I'd do the ROH rebrand, merge it with Rampage, and put it straight to Max. That would be their weekly streaming show. Dynamite and Collision would also go to Max, but a few days after being live on cable. So they'd have 2 TV shows, which would be their main roster and Rampage/ROH on streaming as their developmental brand. Preferably, Tony would give booking duty for Rampage/ROH to someone else, so his focus is only on the main product. Very similar to how NXT used to be run under HHH years ago.
It's so weird to think of Stevie Richards starting in ECW,. He comes across as such a level-headed, grounded and sensible guy, the antithesis of what ECW was.
Why? ECW wasn't only hardcore . IT had the likes of Mysterio, Malenko, Beniot, Guerrero, Psicosis and Super Crazy to name a few where all in ECW at one times even after it became Extreme championship wrestling from eastern championship wrestling.
@lazyfrogeyes5949 and those guys left ECW after their stint. The luchadors were a special attraction, not full-time members of the ECW roster. When it comes to Stevie, he out in years there. When you look at the majority of those who went through the ECW system for a large chunk of their lifespan, I completely understand what OP is saying. Also, Stevie aged well.
@@mikebishop6707 Super Crazy was full-time on ECW's roster for three years. How about Tajiri? Jerry Lynn? Little Guido? Lance Storm? Chris Candido? Kid Kash? Yes, guys like Psicosis and Rey-Rey only popped in for a short stint in '95 (though Psicosis did come back briefly in 2000), but every card had variety. Maybe some of the most notorious stuff was some of the more hardcore matches, and people associate guys that ONLY really worked in the hardcore niche as being 'ECW guys' because they only really succeeded in that environment, guys like New Jack and Sandman, fine, but Paul Heyman kept the cards varied. You watch any ECW PPV show, you will see some hardcore stuff, sure, but it's interspersed with some technical stuff, some lucharesu, some guys who would have a wrestling match and use a bit of the hardcore style as and when necessary, not as a means to an end like a Shane Douglas or a Jerry Lynn, and even the violent stuff would be varied in nature, between an RVD/Sabu type match with hardcore spots in high flying, stuff like Rhino, Mike Awesome/Masato Tanaka or Taz/Bam Bam Bigelow with violent spots interspersed in a hard-hitting match, and then all-out chaos with almost no moves involved like Sandman or the interminable New Jack/Da Baldies feud. Hell, even a guy like Balls Mahoney could put on some reasonable mat wrestling when needed, even if what people were watching him for was wild unprotected chair shots.
When the bucks and jack perry come on screen, ratings die. It's been that way for many months in a row. I would cut both of them. They had their time but it appears to be over
@@TheGreatVivek7 The current identity isn't working. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels leaving changed Raw but it allowed other talent to fill the void and the show ultimately became better for it in the long run. Sometimes big names can suck up too much oxygen in a show and smother out the future. You can see that with Hogan/Nash/Hall in WCW or Cena in WWE.
I remember Brian Cage getting pinned by one of the young bucks and all I could think was, man this guy outweighs them both together - I'd have a hard time believing the bucks beating him in a handicap match. What the hell did this guy do be booked like a joke?
A common strategy in old Hollywood was to sign your competition to a contract and never use them. Whether TK knows it or not, collecting wrestlers like action figures isn't doing them any favors in the long-term. It's a paycheck, and that's better than being broke. But that only gets you so far if you're not out there building your name up.
My wife had an idea of having him adopt a Peaky Blinders gimick, maybe get a couple of bigger guys to back him up. It has potential, better then teaming with the Lucha bros for five years.
Danhausen is perfect to send out to do tv interviews, content collaborations, ads. I didnt watch wrestling for 20 years. I saw Danhausen one time on the G4 reboot that happened a couple years back. That was a huge influence in my eventual choice last year to try watching wrestling again.
Really need Britt Baker in there somewhere. Despite being out of action for a long while, I believe she's still AEW's top merch seller out of the ladies. Not having her as an important figurehead for the women's roster would be like contracting CM Punk and not using him for anything whether he's injured or not... which ironically is something AEW was also guilty of.
You're forgetting the caveat he threw in there. Swerve wouldn't he wrestling all 3 shows but he would have some kind of presence on all 3 shows NOT consistently but every other week or so.
You don't have your champion wrestle on every show. OR every week. You have him as a special attraction too many idiots think the heavy weight champion should be wrestling every week, NO he should be a god damned special attraction. You have him interact with the person he's wrestling at the PPV to build stories, have him interact with some people backstage to maybe tease some future stories or do something BUT you do not have him wrestling constantly
They don't have to wrestle, their presence is enough, Make them present but also seemingly far away, especially if the champion is heel, They can make the babyface rise to challenge them
This isn't perfect but why does this feel more thought out than what we actually see on TV. I'ts amazing how popular AEW has gotten with just 5 years in existence and that they've got 3 different cable shows in such a sort amount of time. They aren't giving anyone a reason to watch one of them with Rampage and Collision is hit or miss. I think breaking each show up into their own style is a good idea and might kill some of the tribalism between companies by appealing a WWE audience with one of their shows, however this might inadvertently create tribalism between the AEW base.
Early AEW, matches mattered, rankings mattered, progress mattered, growth mattered, investment paid off; The core group of stars mattered, allegiances mattered and they could give shine to those newer wrestlers. Matches were booked a week early which gave us a week to get excited. And it was all crammed into 2 unmissable hours.
Loved this! I'd love for you to do something similar with WWE as I feel there shows often feel too similar. Identity is such an important thing in pro wrestling, and that includes shows. I also love that the World Champions travel. It's a very old-school territory style approach. World Champions travel to different places and mix it up with different talents.
This comment section irks the hell out of me. Most it is just the most pessimistic takes possible. For the most part, I think a lot of Stevie's changes are great. Really enjoy his Rampage roster especially, It's a lot more thought out and well structured than people just randomly throwing shit out and echoing "AEW Sucks. They're too small!" in the comments. Good shit all in all.
yeah I think he was trying to be nice ha ha. Who I would get rid of? All of the elite and their hangerons. Omega can stay, he is less of a douche then the Bucks. People will say but they started the company( yes but so did Cody) and Jeff Jarrett also started TNA and he got pushed out. It could and should happen. I think there are people on that roster with the right story and character, could do really well. But the Bucks and their ilk, will always treat it like a joke. They are the poison.
@@adamandanna I hate that they started their Vince McMahon gimmicks. Like it’s gross and already outdated. They should have dropped it already. They were so good in ROH and NJPW. But it’s seems they care more about annoying their haters instead of proving them wrong like they used to. Like remember when Matt Jackson (convincingly)sold a back injury for like 7 years? They have a great capacity to really fucking good. However, they’ve gotten obsessed I think with, “killing the business”. Omega will always have a bit of that in him, but for the most part I truly believe he knows when to turn it on/off. Maybe in a few years they’ll start to mature again?? Lol
Yeah, they have a lot of roster that stays unused after being probably featured like twice in their first month, so one thing that could work is just cut half the "roster" since they aren't active
I'm pretty sure Danhausen is done with AEW. He might still have a little time on his contract, but he's not on tv and rumor has it there's no plan to renew his contract.
Surprised you haven't got your "ex-girlfriend" ECW's Francine on your podcast to cover your angle with her and Beulah. That was good stuff. She also trained with you in wrestling school and pinned you for the ECW Tag Titles. You always made the women look good.
The key thing here, Stevie Richards is looking at this as a WWE fan, and not a wrestling fan. Richards included the Bucks who don't appear very often due to their contract, but did not include Osprey at the top and put Keith Lee, who is injured closer to the top.
@bbb4228 where I'm from, if you are going to insult someone, you "say it with your chest". But you're too much of a punk to say retard on the internet because you're a sensitive little child. I'm getting Neon vibes.....
If Brody was still alive maybe or if they went with the original idea and made matt Hardy the exulted one that could have been possible but ever since Brody died and the dark order became faces they'll just never hit the same ever again
I think one issue that Stevie is leaving out is the talent listening to the vets or seeking advice from the vet. From what has been said in other UA-cam shows the younger talent doesn’t listen to vets. Agree 1000% on too many groups.
Look what was originally pitched for him to do. Pip Sabien’s Best Man with Q-Tip Ostrich hair and pink shirts and feuds over video games, aka Bitcharoos booking.
@@johndoe-yw7ebI wouldn’t want to lose to Orange Cassidy either. It doesn’t make sense to me to have a guy that big coming back just to lose. That’s the same shit that ruined Lance Archer.
@@johndoe-yw7eb He lost with an actual build and a story while they were gonna have Miro appear just to lose all in one night. Also mox is an established guy in AEW. Miro was still building . He had one of the best reigns as tnt champ and showed he can be a main event player. It makes no sense for him to be trying to elevate OC into an underdog threat when he still had to keep as much momentum going as possible. Especially when injuries halted his momentum.
He said he was purposely doing it WWE style... and yeah, WWE style doesn't work well this way, especially since Rampage is the equivalent of Main Event or Superstars.
@@Falcnuts he said they’ve cooled off Adam Page when in reality he’s in the middle of a year long feud with Swerve… Not one mention of Takeshita from either of them…I could go on and on…
I like how Stephan tries to say Orange Bollocks is only on the roster because he's besties with Tony, and not because he's over like Grover. Does he honestly think Orange Bollocks isn't over with the crowd? Like there aren't 10 people a show dressed like Orange Bollocks, half of which are kids. I mean, one day, Orange Bollocks might have the droves and droves that Stevie did when they showed up wearing daisy dukes and mid-riff shirts or black Dockers and white button-up shortsleeve shirts.
Why AEW's roster? Why not WWE's? WWE has a dramatically more bloated roster than AEW does. Not to mention, a MASSIVE amount of talent that are 40+ in age.
WWE's booking is more consistent (sometimes a little too consistent that it's dull and unwatchable) but AEW is all over the place that it's hard to follow. It's not like Stevie's roster idea is any good though.
Because WWE could book their wrestlers sitting in the ring and talking for the whole show and people would still show up even if they expected it to be that way. They have those mainstream bots just moving exactly how they like so they don't ever truly have to try in order to stay afloat. They didn't stay on USA that whole time because the show was good, they got that CW "we literally have nothing else like this and honestly not much else to speak of" carry for YEARS. A river flows under WWE. It's a machine that barely needs anyone running it in order for them to make enough money to just.. show up to work and play on their phones until it's time to leave. Also, age isn't anything in pro wrestling. It's about what they did to themselves during their career (drugs, fights, bumps, injuries) and whether they took the time to fully recover from those issues AND kept working on getting back into the ring without rushing. Like, wrestlers are playing video games in the back and eating healthy these days. That's a massive improvement from eating drugs like candy, working through injuries (and making them worse), never taking time off, and using super glue to close that stab wound they got when their daddy issues erupted at the bar. The mental alone has to be WAY better as well. A lot of variables at play. Age though, not really as important as most think.
I know he said it's a rough draft but I'm like 50/50 I feel like there's not enough style variation for Dynamite and nobody wants to just see 4 or 5 big man matches. I mean I really think Triple H has a good formula for how he structures each card with good variety. But the idea was not using Brody King except for ROH it's f****** insane. The same thing with not making will ospreay your franchise because love him or hate him he's moving merchandise and people like him way more than Christian
Yeah, AEW fans don't want a ton of WWE big men fighting other WWE big men, and WWE viewers don't want to watch AEW period. This brand split would actually destroy AEW almost immediately
I've been telling my friends this for a year, ever since they did that tag team tournament, and there were like 32 teams, and I knew less than half of them. AEW should have a solid 25 male competitors on the roster, 5 to 6 tag teams, about 10 women, that's it... They have that too, but somewhere mixed into the other 100 randoms taking on valuable tv time that could help make their potential stars into legit stars.
Khan likes working with New Japan, TNA, CMLL etc, good places to loan out talent and bring talent in from there. But it doesn't lend itself to AEW having more control over a wrestlers development. AEW does need to trim the roster of talent they don't plan to put on TV regularly, even as jobbers. I suggest AEW needs it's own development promotion along the lines of NXT. Put it on a streaming platform, Apple+, Amazon etc. Set up a clear development path - such as the champion of the development promotion gets a title shot for a mid-card belt in AEW, and/or a prominent Premium live event match. Put a few veteran leaders in the development promotion, more as managers/bookers, maybe to wrestle sporadically but more yo teach the business to the up and coming talent. It could also be a place where talent that is returning from injury or a long absence could work some easier matches and get back their form before rejoining one of the AEW main shows. Jarrett or Chris Jerhico could lead this new promotion, and still appear on regular AEW shows as needed. The development promotion gets the younger talent in broadcast matches regularly and mixing in some veterans some of the time to attract viewers and help get the younger ones over. I agree that signing someone but never using them isn't helping them get over - AEW signed Kamille from NWA over 4 months ago, still hasn't appeared. The development promotion would be a perfect situation for someone who comes in from the indies, to actually be wrestling meaningful matches and honing their craft.
Why have wwe or aew not got stevie working in there creative teams, I think he has so much to give . Loving this new show along with James , it’s a wonderful listen
Corny would keep like 10 people tops lol, he did this before too! The bottom line is Tony has no balls and won't stop booking Dave dicksucker meltzers fantasy ejaculation matches. That's a whole company dedicated to keeping dicksucker Dave happy and giving out those irrelevant stars. That is the truth, that's all they care about! Attendance way way down, tv ratings way way down, but everything is great because Dave dicksucker meltzer keeps the adulation flowing for aew.
Who'd have thought that all Tony Khan needs is Stevie Richards and a Powerpoint presentation and he could turn AEW around. This is a brilliant watch that needs to be seen by Tony.
Bring back AEW Dark. That show is needed for those people who aren't used right now to improve. Also we had a great time on UA-cam in the livechat during that show.
I’m the most casual of casual wrestling fans. At this point I only watch maybe a PLE. If AEW created a format like Stevie laid out, it would definitely make me interested in tuning in.
Great video. I especially liked the bit where you have a couple going through a divorce and put them together on tv despite the fact that one of them doesn’t even work there anymore
I think what this highlights is the arms race to stockpile wrestlers when AEW first began has led to this pool of talent in purgatory waiting for a call about a push or to be released. There could be a whole wrestling promotion setup with half of the inactive guys of AEW and they could do really well working on their ability to draw crowds. Pac, Miro and Claudio are very talented guys for example.
Wow here is a guy I was always in a mid card position but guess what look how smart he is and how much he does understand the business and understands how to mix Talent especially mixing between veterans and young guys
3:56 Creed is my favorite band of all time. But I know for a fact that when the WWF did the music video of Triple H rehabilitating his torn quad, they played Beautiful Day by U2.
I like it Stevie. I would do some different. Definitely add some guys that aren't on either list to the lists. But yes definitely divide up the roster so guys can be seen. I got tired of seeing Danielson, Claudio and Moxley on every show, while never seeing some of the other talent at all. It seems like they kill the momentum that guys get going. Jericho is money, i think he needs to stay on a roater like Dynamite and always have a group. But anyway, fun discussion, cant wait to see more.
I could not agree more with the match time comment. The matches on Dynamite, Rampage and Collision are way too long. Free TV matches should be 10 - 15 minutes max with some even being 6 - 8 minutes. PPV matches can be 20, 25, 30 or 60 minutes. Shorter matches get more guys TV time, which only helps the guys.
I think wrestling is at its best when wrestlers come and go, so things dont get stale. I dont want to see the same handful of people every week. Wrestling the same style and cutting the same promos gets old, it's more fun to see fresh styles and fresh faces. Just how I feel though :3
I always feel like "How I'd do it" type shows are fruitless hypotheticals just a step about tier lists, but something did stick out to me. The mention of actually using injured talent for something really is a headscratcher as to why it isn't done. I'd guess liability reasons, but I don't know how the sausage is made well enough to do anything but a blind guess.
its been done but that only works for a feel good comeback story. Not every injury needs a montage of therapy. Unless it's like someone had a life threatening injury or battled with a serious illness. Edge doesn't need a rehab montage because he was dumb and jumped off a cage at 50 years old lol
I can say as someone who doesn't watch AEW TV regularly, I would be more likely to watch these shows. Even though it's a more polished WWE like presentation it would actually work to differentiate AEW with WWE as WWE has sort of abandoned the old methodology of the brand split which was to make diametrically opposed products under one umbrella.
Not having a brand split makes AEW more open and free, and more unique now. A loose brand split would be smart and directed, but a hard split makes it WWE.
I don't like this idea at all. Luchasaurus doesn't have a TV face. Thats why he has a mask. HAVE YOU SEEN HIS FACE?! Also the way the rosters are split I totally disagree. Stevie is usually on point but this was bad. Edge & Christian should end up as a tag team eventually. Jay Lethal needs to be a major star. I do think Malachi Black should be a #1 star on par with MJF & Osprey & Danielson. Keith Lee is meh. Jack Perry is NOT over. The Young Bucks on all 3 shows will tank the ratings. Dustin deserves a world title. I would end all gimmick matches & only allow the FTW title to have hardcore matches. I would place the International title on Collision & the World title on Dynamite. The Continental title can go to Rampage. Each show SHOULD have a flavor. Thats why you use the titles to do it. Nigel is a great heel. I don't know why youd change him face. Have Don Callis be the heel authority figure. Keep Nigel on the desk. Jericho should be a face authority figure. He has been heel for too long. Brian Cage is signed for life. So he is never leaving.
I think it could be an interesting dynamic to have Jericho and Nigel competing as authority figures. I immediately envisioned the little angel and devil on people's shoulders lol
With all due respect to Stevie, I would watch this even less than the current product if that were possible. EDIT: I made that comment before I saw the Rampage roster. Now that’s a show I would give a look.
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You knew exactly what you were doing when you made that thumbnail 😂😂😂
No maybe he was serious
Lol that clickbait thumbnail
I mean surely nobody actually falls for that lmao
#RealGlass
Steve's gotta eat too
i thought it means cut jungle boy and not cut mjf because the title is who should i get rid of. i dont see the clickbait unless you just dont look at the picture 😂
Exactly 😂
The WWE used to cut a dozen or two people every year after Mania. You have to refresh the roster. People get cut, go to TNA, indies, NWA, Japan and get a new coat of paint. They figure stuff out and go back to WWE. Plus it gave those other promotions new talent and helps the ecosystem. AEW has way too many people. They could cut 30 people and no one would notice.
they could cut the entire roster and no one would notice
they have worse ratings then an infomercial on MeTV
Agreed, AEW all up has over 150 wrestlers, and hardly make any releases. 25% of the talent gets used on TV, and the rest what are they doing? And those guaranteed contracts are still wasting money, even though AEW made $250 million in the last financial year.
But that would mean tony has to be a boss and we all know he can't do that. Clearly this isn't about making money just hanging with friends
@@thequartersfootythey won’t release people because Tony Khan is a little bitch and doesn’t have the balls to fire people.
Here is my full list of who I think should be cut.
Aaron Solo
Adam Copeland
Angélico
Anthony Henry
Ariya Daivari
Athena & Billie Starkz (2)
Butcher & Blade (2)
Colt Cabana
Danhausen
Dark Order (3)
Diamante
Dustin Rhodes
Griff Garrison
Jeff Jarrett
Kamille
Keith Lee
Kiera Hogan
Komander
Kota Ibushi
Lee Johnson
Leyla Hirsch
Madison Rayne
Marina Shafir
Matt Menard (as a wrestler)
Matt Sydal
Mercedes Martinez
Michael Nakazawa
Miro
Ortiz
Outrunners (2)
Penelope Ford
Peter Avalon
Rocky Romero
Satnam Singh
Serpentico
Trish Adora
Willie Mack
That's 42 people, which I think is about the right number.
As long as WWE has a wellness policy, Brian Cage will never be part of their roster.
Jordynne Grace
@@AKrg9916is part of TNA
Anabolic Cage
So you think Bobby Lashley is all natural? The traps and delts don't lie. The wellness policy is just a leverage Vince used to get people fired. If he wanted you on top, you could take all the gear you wanted. I don't know how the current WWE works but I reckon it's still the same thing.
Cage has the look but he is not as good as everyone say he is. Wardlow have the height and size and doesn't do flashy complicated stuffs. He has more upside.
Have Toni Storm beat the shit out of Perry. Would be 100 percent believable.
Let's be realistic. After all, a gust of wind could kick Perry's ass so give her a mild challenge
Toni Storm is probably a better fighter than CM Punk. We’ve all seen the UFC highlights.
She can suffocate anyone with her huge ass. Big deal!
@@DontBuryTheLead with only 2 women on the show, this will be week 2, theres no week 3 as he hasnt enuf wrestlers to fill a card
That would terrify tony khan
Tony needs to forget about the NWGP, AAA,, CMLL wrestlers and worry only about the AEW roster.
My hot take, if Kahn is trying to foster relationships between wrestling companies and make their busy more noteworthy in the states and make the wrestling business grow as a whole, he should try working nicely with TNA and WWE.
He is losing them all to NXT sky blue and Starks will do well
What Tony needs to do is send guys to mexico and japan on loaner so they can get work in and help expand AEW audience internationally
Nah . How many companies you made from the ground up ?
@@4chub896Starks would be fired in 2 weeks in wwe that junkie needs to stop doing drugs first 😂😂😂😂😂
Luchasaurus desperately needs rebranding you can’t just call him killswitch
He'll be Killswitch until he decides to commit patricide on poor Christian for no reason at all
@@IzzyDunn He should've been called Patricide
yeah, I could see him and Archer teaming up as big man monster tag team, could work.
He should be a Kane like monster on AEW.
He's just a dinosaur named Killswitch 😆
It's a waste of money to have people on the roster if you're not using them. It's just bad business sense and in the long run not only does it hurt the company it hurts the employees.
So bench players don't belong?
@@DStavina Bench players do get minutes, tho.
@Algo1 do they always? I am certain there are many bench players that get so few mins that it isn't even worth counting as playing at all. I believe a lot of AEW talent can continue to work outside the company should they chose. They just aren't simply held to sitting at home under contract if creative has nothing for them. In wrestling, it's easy to get injured in the most basic of moves so it is good to have a deep bench in case of injuries like the few that just happened.
@@DStavinaBench players get more play time and have bigger roles on any team because they are still contractually obligated to practice and show up everyday. Half the guys on the WWE or AEW roster don't even have to do that. The point is working out on your own away from the "team" is still less work and responsibility than bench players who literally have to be at every single team meeting or practice. Horrible ignorant comparison. Can you show me any wrestling contract that says you must attend every event and "practice/rehearsal" even if you are hurt like bench players must do or else they don't get paid? You can't. Because that's not how wrestling does business. And if they did, yall would complain.
Agreed, but given the likelihood of injury at least 1/3 of the roster needs to function as backup. As a rule of thumb I would say: take total number of wrestlers appearing in matches across all shows in one week and double it: that’s your roster size.
My only major disagreement here is with the whole Rampage roster, ONLY because it’s a 1hr show, including commercials, and I think it would be REALLY hard to give everyone a shot on Rampage with Interviews, Promos, Vignettes, Entrances and Matches, unless you only have like 3 or 4 matches per show and they’re only 10-12min matches then it would do some of the talent there a disservice
At this point they should either turn rampage into an all women show or add that extra hour to dynamite
Rampage is really the C show now, Collision seems to have taken a step back as well.
A one-hour show only needs three matches maximum. One match can be the main focus and the others are just there to fill time. The build to the final match starts at the beginning and carries on through the hour.
Of all the videos I click on, this one was dope. So many points I agreed with from champions working all shows/getting more money, let rampage be the more adult show, doing people a disservice by keeping them under contract and their not doing anything.
@@thefuturist8864 agreed, but, I don’t think it should be a show you use major talent on regularly. The roster split should be Dynamite & Collision as they are the longest shows, and people from both rosters compete on Rampage, perhaps using Rampage as a show to have your Champions competing against someone from the other show, like a Champion on Dynamites roster has a match against someone from Collision on Rampage and that’s how you make the shorter show mean more
I totally agree with putting Luchasaurus with Jack Perry. A face team that breaks up then comes back later as heels is a classic rivalry.
It always worked with the Canadians. Hart family. Everything between Edge, Christian, Jericho, Benoit, Stratus, Test.
Now the Samoans.
I like that .ScapeGoat and Killswitch would make a heck of a heel team.
I mean I get the idea however Perry, Jericho and the Bucks kill week after the week the ratings
Enzo?? Isn't it true pretty much every wrestler he's worked with says he's an awful worker and completely unreliable? Not even close to worth the risk, I'd say
Also, as much of a legend Dustin is, he does not need a championship push...unless he becomes part of some amazing story, which is very unlikely
He can draw a bigger reaction than all of your favorites THAT is why aew needs him, there's no one on that roster that can get legit heel heat.
@@1KQ_ Heel heat, or go away heat.
Enzo getting a hard time here wow. He is definitely isn't the best worker but could cut promos like raven. Coaching for him hopefully
Most of the guys there aren't interested in improving and branching out. Madusa was brought in to train the women's division, with Dustin, she said herself some of them didn't bother coming to a free training session.
Alundra Blayze? Had no idea they hired her
@@4zafinc Around 2020 or so AEW brought her in for guest appearances. I don't think they hired her as she appeared for WWE in 2022.
That thumbnail is wild.
As a fan of AEW since its inception, I can fully understand the need/reason to have rosters set up this way. This is born out of two situations, the first one being that Tony Khan signed WAY too many people, but keep in mind that he brought on a LOT of talent back in 2019/2020 when WWE had somewhat of a stigma against independent wrestlers, so Tony signed up any people as he could to fill out shows. The run of signings brought up some talent who had been floating on the Indy scene forever, such as Joey Janela, Sonny Kiss, Sammy Guevara, Ricky Starks, Eddie Kingston, Marko Stunt, Luchasaurus/Killswitch, etc, and also gave the people from other companies such as WWE, TNA, and ROH a new place to ply their craft.
That of course leads into the second situation, which was at the time, they had both AEW Dark and Elevation for people to wrestle on. Was it ideal as having actual TV time on Dynamite or Rampage? No. But were talents getting a chance to show up and show off in a company with a major television deal who could, if good enough, get to that promised land? Absolutely.
I think the other issue at play here is that Tony doesn't dedicate his own roster to his TV shows. What do I mean by that? Well, obviously AEW has strong working relations with companies such as CMLL, AAA, New Japan, and STARDOM, and when you're building to the new annual Forbidden Door, this becomes such a strong ally to have. But when you're bringing in their talent to do the job that guys on his roster could be doing? That's where things can be a bit dicey. And I know someone might say, "But (insert name here) goes to (insert company here) and takes the place of one of their talents too!" Which is totally true and I get it. But NO company, not WWE, not New Japan, not TNA, not CMLL, not AAA, no one has the roster that AEW has. And, to go back to my point, if you want to bring in a talent from another company who is NOT a mega star, that's fine. But don't have them take the spot that someone, such as a Ricky Starks, WAR DOG, or Will Hobbs, could have within their very own company because you want to flex the partnerships that you have around the world.
Rant, over.
We are like 5 minutes in and I hear “I’m picking edge cuz people will tune in to see him”…:respectfully that’s been proven to be untrue multiple times now
well he’s currently in his best run according to tony khan
You are correct he sure as shit hasn’t brought those eyes I’m up to this point. I think that could change if he’s presented properly. There’s still potential there and i think that’s what Stevie is going for here.
I mean he's better than anyone else. But that's just me..someone who believes they should be crowning Dustin Rhodes with anything and everything right now. He deserves it.
He also said MJF would bring people, when MJF has empirical data against him that says the exact opposite.
While I would love to agree with you, if you go to AEW’s UA-cam channel and sort videos by “Popular”, Edge’s debut is huge and a few other segments/matches have millions of views. The guy can definitely lure in some eyeballs in the right circumstances.
But goddamn do I wish he would just stop. He was a young good looking guy whose best runs were essentially as a chicken shit heel that always cheated to win. At one point his finishing move was a briefcase shot.
Now he’s a 50 year old dude whose face has melted and his hair looks like it caught on fire blowing out a birthday cake. And he’s supposed to be a kickass babyface or something. Bro just let it go.
Put Wardlow back with MJF, only this time, MJF respects him- is maybe even a tiny bit afraid of him, like Wardlow in spite of some losses, has his number. Wardlow did squash him.
Other good ideas:
Make MJF leader of the Undisputed Kingdom and turn Adam Cole face.
Make Daniel Garcia International Champion.
Give Katsuyori Shibata and Action Andretti shots at the FTW Championship. Then have Sammy Guevara win it.
Give Bennett & Taven, Samoa Joe & Hook, the Lucha Brothers, the Acclaimed, Kings of the Black Throne, the Gunns, O'Reilly & Cassidy, and Top Flight title shots after FTR win the Tag Team Championship.
Have Blackpool Combat Club challenge the Patriarchy.
Give Moxley and Castagnoli more individual title shots.
Have Darby Allin temporarily join the House of Black, filling in for Buddy Matthews.
Turn Rush and the LFI face.
Have Mariah May take over the Outcasts after she wins Toni's title.
FINALLY give "Hangman" Page a win over Swerve Strickland.
Make Will Ospreay the world champion before the year is out.
Yeah I agree, I think them working as a team rather than Wardlow being his lackey could work. Especially since storylinewise Warlow is no longer bound by contract to MJF so MJF has to respect him now.
@@SeasideDetective2 Blackthorne is an awesome game for the SNES.
Will make zero sense, Wardlow was the breakout superstar after he split with MJF and def him in a feud. Wardlow have turned heel on MJF with Adam Cole. Now all this only for heel MJF and heel Wardlow to reunite makes zero sense.
This is like the forced Shield 🛡️ reunion in WWE.
Wardlow had a guaranteed shot to challenge for the world title that they wasted in a lackluster match against Samoa Joe. Easy solution was, wait till MJF gets fit (keep giving Wardlow squash matches every other week till then). Then have call his shot against Swerve in PPV (instead of gifting Christian Cage a random shot).
Referee down in match, rest of Undisputed Kingdom does their shenanigans, and MJF returns to squander their plans. That way you immediately have MJF vs Wardlow part 2 to avenge his past loss, as well as other Kingdom members. Could keep him face for sometime and justify creating that stable in the first place
I think they need to combine Rampage and ROH. 3 AEW shows is too much. Dedicate Rampage to ROH and use it as your NXT. Then you've got 2 main AEW shows with a split roster other than champions who work both shows. Putting main event talent on Rampage just means that people will never see that talent. There's too much wrestling on TV so I don't see a big viewership increase for Rampage even with top stars on it every week.
Tony tried to pitched that to TNT/TBS and there simply not interested in a dead brand like roh
@JayJay-rl3fn It would require changing ROH to AEW: Ring of Honor. Then it's a true AEW show. Tony actually mentioned doing that a day or two ago, so it may be happening as part of their new TV deal. I'd do the ROH rebrand, merge it with Rampage, and put it straight to Max. That would be their weekly streaming show. Dynamite and Collision would also go to Max, but a few days after being live on cable. So they'd have 2 TV shows, which would be their main roster and Rampage/ROH on streaming as their developmental brand. Preferably, Tony would give booking duty for Rampage/ROH to someone else, so his focus is only on the main product. Very similar to how NXT used to be run under HHH years ago.
Tony khan should take notes.
Why?
@@AHTOtvWhy not
@@AHTOtvWhy not
It's so weird to think of Stevie Richards starting in ECW,. He comes across as such a level-headed, grounded and sensible guy, the antithesis of what ECW was.
Why? ECW wasn't only hardcore . IT had the likes of Mysterio, Malenko, Beniot, Guerrero, Psicosis and Super Crazy to name a few where all in ECW at one times even after it became Extreme championship wrestling from eastern championship wrestling.
@lazyfrogeyes5949 and those guys left ECW after their stint. The luchadors were a special attraction, not full-time members of the ECW roster.
When it comes to Stevie, he out in years there. When you look at the majority of those who went through the ECW system for a large chunk of their lifespan, I completely understand what OP is saying.
Also, Stevie aged well.
Tell us you haven't seen a lot of Stevie's career without saying you haven't seen a lot of Stevie's career.
@@crystalwater505 Tell us you missed the point without saying you missed the point.
@@mikebishop6707 Super Crazy was full-time on ECW's roster for three years. How about Tajiri? Jerry Lynn? Little Guido? Lance Storm? Chris Candido? Kid Kash? Yes, guys like Psicosis and Rey-Rey only popped in for a short stint in '95 (though Psicosis did come back briefly in 2000), but every card had variety. Maybe some of the most notorious stuff was some of the more hardcore matches, and people associate guys that ONLY really worked in the hardcore niche as being 'ECW guys' because they only really succeeded in that environment, guys like New Jack and Sandman, fine, but Paul Heyman kept the cards varied. You watch any ECW PPV show, you will see some hardcore stuff, sure, but it's interspersed with some technical stuff, some lucharesu, some guys who would have a wrestling match and use a bit of the hardcore style as and when necessary, not as a means to an end like a Shane Douglas or a Jerry Lynn, and even the violent stuff would be varied in nature, between an RVD/Sabu type match with hardcore spots in high flying, stuff like Rhino, Mike Awesome/Masato Tanaka or Taz/Bam Bam Bigelow with violent spots interspersed in a hard-hitting match, and then all-out chaos with almost no moves involved like Sandman or the interminable New Jack/Da Baldies feud. Hell, even a guy like Balls Mahoney could put on some reasonable mat wrestling when needed, even if what people were watching him for was wild unprotected chair shots.
When the bucks and jack perry come on screen, ratings die. It's been that way for many months in a row. I would cut both of them. They had their time but it appears to be over
As much as I dislike them too, they are seen as OGs. Show will lose its identity
@@TheGreatVivek7 The current identity isn't working. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels leaving changed Raw but it allowed other talent to fill the void and the show ultimately became better for it in the long run. Sometimes big names can suck up too much oxygen in a show and smother out the future. You can see that with Hogan/Nash/Hall in WCW or Cena in WWE.
Add Judas to that list, absolute disgrace
They had their "finger poke of doom", so that has made things worse for them.
You mean Jericho @@deathmetalmadness4642
They're doing Wardlow no favors by keeping him in AEW, he's got WWE superstar written all over him.
Tony killed his push after the MJF storyline by putting him with the charisma vacuum stable that Cole runs. Wardlow was super over at one point.
@@michaelmfwayneHis push was dead a year before then genius
I remember Brian Cage getting pinned by one of the young bucks and all I could think was, man this guy outweighs them both together - I'd have a hard time believing the bucks beating him in a handicap match. What the hell did this guy do be booked like a joke?
i was already thinking that when he lost against Ricky Starks ....
Probably by being a terrible worker
@@Buckeyes-lq3bs u must be blind then
A common strategy in old Hollywood was to sign your competition to a contract and never use them. Whether TK knows it or not, collecting wrestlers like action figures isn't doing them any favors in the long-term.
It's a paycheck, and that's better than being broke. But that only gets you so far if you're not out there building your name up.
I think PAC needs a real push
My wife had an idea of having him adopt a Peaky Blinders gimick, maybe get a couple of bigger guys to back him up. It has potential, better then teaming with the Lucha bros for five years.
Jack Perry is over? With who?
CM Punk haters
Perry cant draw a dime 😂
@@RZOMAX-l9rhe couldn't draw flies with a mouth full of horse shit
I like injury updates but at the same time "how can I miss you if you don't go away" is so true
Danhausen is perfect to send out to do tv interviews, content collaborations, ads. I didnt watch wrestling for 20 years. I saw Danhausen one time on the G4 reboot that happened a couple years back. That was a huge influence in my eventual choice last year to try watching wrestling again.
Danhausen deserves so much better than he is getting currently
Really need Britt Baker in there somewhere. Despite being out of action for a long while, I believe she's still AEW's top merch seller out of the ladies. Not having her as an important figurehead for the women's roster would be like contracting CM Punk and not using him for anything whether he's injured or not... which ironically is something AEW was also guilty of.
Loved the rampage idea
Would love to see more videos like this
Your videos treat wrestling like how fans treat other sports. Lots of numbers and stuff. This is the nerdy stuff I enjoy. It’s like inside baseball.
I honestly dont think I can look at Matt and Nick Jackson without changing the channel.
I was changing the channel even when they were in Tna back in 2011
Add Judas n Plumber Mox to that list 😂 hot garbage
@@joerestivo6212 i was changing the channel when they were generation me.....absolute garbage those two are
Me too they are awful
Can't stand them,
Just insufferable and they have change the channel heat, not good heat
swerve working 3 shows ? i personally hate the “workhorse” champion gimmick, it gets tired out real quick
You're forgetting the caveat he threw in there. Swerve wouldn't he wrestling all 3 shows but he would have some kind of presence on all 3 shows NOT consistently but every other week or so.
You don't have your champion wrestle on every show. OR every week. You have him as a special attraction too many idiots think the heavy weight champion should be wrestling every week, NO he should be a god damned special attraction.
You have him interact with the person he's wrestling at the PPV to build stories, have him interact with some people backstage to maybe tease some future stories or do something BUT you do not have him wrestling constantly
They don't have to wrestle, their presence is enough,
Make them present but also seemingly far away, especially if the champion is heel,
They can make the babyface rise to challenge them
@@technounionrepresentative4274 yeah we saw Roman do this though Brock was doing it a decade earlier.
Always enjoy your insight and breaking things down!
Jack Perry is over? Where?
In the pages of the Observer
I'm glad to see you, Stevie Richards. Good to see you're healthy and your voice is great
Binged all 4 of the podcast episodes. Your insights and story telling make them much watch/listens!
This isn't perfect but why does this feel more thought out than what we actually see on TV. I'ts amazing how popular AEW has gotten with just 5 years in existence and that they've got 3 different cable shows in such a sort amount of time. They aren't giving anyone a reason to watch one of them with Rampage and Collision is hit or miss. I think breaking each show up into their own style is a good idea and might kill some of the tribalism between companies by appealing a WWE audience with one of their shows, however this might inadvertently create tribalism between the AEW base.
Miro is a bit of an odd situation. Not only was he dealing with divorce, but according to him, hes been injured since September.
No young bucks and jack perry
But orange Cassidy doesn't ever get cooled off
I like him better as an Ant in Chikara.
make a wwe 2k24 gm mode series
22:00 I agree with the idea of Jericho as an authority figure. “The Authority of Jericho!”
Or a heel commentator . AEW's commentary team needs some spicing up.
Early AEW, matches mattered, rankings mattered, progress mattered, growth mattered, investment paid off; The core group of stars mattered, allegiances mattered and they could give shine to those newer wrestlers. Matches were booked a week early which gave us a week to get excited. And it was all crammed into 2 unmissable hours.
Loved this! I'd love for you to do something similar with WWE as I feel there shows often feel too similar. Identity is such an important thing in pro wrestling, and that includes shows.
I also love that the World Champions travel. It's a very old-school territory style approach. World Champions travel to different places and mix it up with different talents.
This comment section irks the hell out of me. Most it is just the most pessimistic takes possible. For the most part, I think a lot of Stevie's changes are great. Really enjoy his Rampage roster especially, It's a lot more thought out and well structured than people just randomly throwing shit out and echoing "AEW Sucks. They're too small!" in the comments.
Good shit all in all.
Too many manchild insensitive butt hurt AEW basement dwellers will defend their daddy TK just so that they get their WRASSLING!
I don’t get Rampage having its own roster, but I DO love the idea of Rampage being more of a Tag Team oriented show.
1:34 What do you mean? The ratings are up🙂 (except for when there's good weather, wwe being hot or a concert taking place on UA-cam)
Jack Perry is over? Jack Perry is trash
yeah I think he was trying to be nice ha ha. Who I would get rid of? All of the elite and their hangerons. Omega can stay, he is less of a douche then the Bucks. People will say but they started the company( yes but so did Cody) and Jeff Jarrett also started TNA and he got pushed out. It could and should happen. I think there are people on that roster with the right story and character, could do really well. But the Bucks and their ilk, will always treat it like a joke. They are the poison.
@@adamandanna I hate that they started their Vince McMahon gimmicks. Like it’s gross and already outdated. They should have dropped it already. They were so good in ROH and NJPW. But it’s seems they care more about annoying their haters instead of proving them wrong like they used to. Like remember when Matt Jackson (convincingly)sold a back injury for like 7 years? They have a great capacity to really fucking good. However, they’ve gotten obsessed I think with, “killing the business”. Omega will always have a bit of that in him, but for the most part I truly believe he knows when to turn it on/off. Maybe in a few years they’ll start to mature again?? Lol
He's over 70/30
Not including Jay White in any of the rosters is downright criminal.
Great video! I like the idea with the authority figures
The only thing is mjf can’t interact with Keith Lee (frasier crane) because he can’t talk & he is ALWAYS hurt.
Lose 60 percent of them.
Yeah, they have a lot of roster that stays unused after being probably featured like twice in their first month, so one thing that could work is just cut half the "roster" since they aren't active
I'm pretty sure Danhausen is done with AEW. He might still have a little time on his contract, but he's not on tv and rumor has it there's no plan to renew his contract.
Surprised you haven't got your "ex-girlfriend" ECW's Francine on your podcast to cover your angle with her and Beulah. That was good stuff. She also trained with you in wrestling school and pinned you for the ECW Tag Titles. You always made the women look good.
The key thing here, Stevie Richards is looking at this as a WWE fan, and not a wrestling fan. Richards included the Bucks who don't appear very often due to their contract, but did not include Osprey at the top and put Keith Lee, who is injured closer to the top.
I’d fire half the roster.
And then fire half of the half I kept.
Lol.... damn that hit hard....
Okay Etard
@bbb4228 where I'm from, if you are going to insult someone, you "say it with your chest". But you're too much of a punk to say retard on the internet because you're a sensitive little child. I'm getting Neon vibes.....
Look, it's easy:
I'd make Dark Order the top stable and I'd just give them ALL THE GOLD. (insert maniacal laughter)
The Dork Odour
If Brody was still alive maybe or if they went with the original idea and made matt Hardy the exulted one that could have been possible but ever since Brody died and the dark order became faces they'll just never hit the same ever again
Dustin Rhodes deserves to have a run with the AEW title.
Its too little too late for Dustin to be world champ. A solid TNT title run would pay him enough respect and keep that belt relevant.
No
Not with the AEW title,but TNT? Sure,a short,last run.
Having a rampage roaster is a laugh, any one on that show would be forgotten
What about a run with the RoH world title? I'm sure Dustin and Mark Briscoe could put on some great matches.
I love Stevie, he is one of the best analysts in wrestling media. He has the most thoughtful logical breakdowns
No other wrestling company has had THIS MANY people trying to help save it & Tony Khan absolutely refuses to listen.
Its over. 2029 is the last year
I think one issue that Stevie is leaving out is the talent listening to the vets or seeking advice from the vet. From what has been said in other UA-cam shows the younger talent doesn’t listen to vets. Agree 1000% on too many groups.
Miro is NOT the example to use for "not being fair to the talent". He refused to work every idea that they pitched to him. Enough already.
Look what was originally pitched for him to do. Pip Sabien’s Best Man with Q-Tip Ostrich hair and pink shirts and feuds over video games, aka Bitcharoos booking.
@@nickhughes8179 Stop. He'd already found the right character. He just didn't want to do any jobs.
@@johndoe-yw7ebI wouldn’t want to lose to Orange Cassidy either. It doesn’t make sense to me to have a guy that big coming back just to lose. That’s the same shit that ruined Lance Archer.
@@The_Shining_wizard And yet somehow Moxley ended up just fine after losing to him. Go figure 🙄
@@johndoe-yw7eb He lost with an actual build and a story while they were gonna have Miro appear just to lose all in one night. Also mox is an established guy in AEW. Miro was still building . He had one of the best reigns as tnt champ and showed he can be a main event player. It makes no sense for him to be trying to elevate OC into an underdog threat when he still had to keep as much momentum going as possible. Especially when injuries halted his momentum.
I've always liked you Stevie but you lost me at the first two
What? This is how you do a roster split if you have never seen AEW
It's becoming more and more evident he doesn't even watch, really lame because I enjoy the rest of the show
He said he was purposely doing it WWE style... and yeah, WWE style doesn't work well this way, especially since Rampage is the equivalent of Main Event or Superstars.
Oh maybe just maybe he's doing the split to move them away from what they're currently doing because it's not working
@@Falcnuts he said they’ve cooled off Adam Page when in reality he’s in the middle of a year long feud with Swerve…
Not one mention of Takeshita from either of them…I could go on and on…
I like how Stephan tries to say Orange Bollocks is only on the roster because he's besties with Tony, and not because he's over like Grover. Does he honestly think Orange Bollocks isn't over with the crowd? Like there aren't 10 people a show dressed like Orange Bollocks, half of which are kids. I mean, one day, Orange Bollocks might have the droves and droves that Stevie did when they showed up wearing daisy dukes and mid-riff shirts or black Dockers and white button-up shortsleeve shirts.
He appeals to a niche but puts off the larger audience who don't like his schtick.
Why AEW's roster? Why not WWE's? WWE has a dramatically more bloated roster than AEW does. Not to mention, a MASSIVE amount of talent that are 40+ in age.
WWE's booking is more consistent (sometimes a little too consistent that it's dull and unwatchable) but AEW is all over the place that it's hard to follow. It's not like Stevie's roster idea is any good though.
Because WWE could book their wrestlers sitting in the ring and talking for the whole show and people would still show up even if they expected it to be that way. They have those mainstream bots just moving exactly how they like so they don't ever truly have to try in order to stay afloat. They didn't stay on USA that whole time because the show was good, they got that CW "we literally have nothing else like this and honestly not much else to speak of" carry for YEARS. A river flows under WWE. It's a machine that barely needs anyone running it in order for them to make enough money to just.. show up to work and play on their phones until it's time to leave.
Also, age isn't anything in pro wrestling. It's about what they did to themselves during their career (drugs, fights, bumps, injuries) and whether they took the time to fully recover from those issues AND kept working on getting back into the ring without rushing. Like, wrestlers are playing video games in the back and eating healthy these days. That's a massive improvement from eating drugs like candy, working through injuries (and making them worse), never taking time off, and using super glue to close that stab wound they got when their daddy issues erupted at the bar. The mental alone has to be WAY better as well. A lot of variables at play. Age though, not really as important as most think.
Because wwe is hot right now
I know he said it's a rough draft but I'm like 50/50 I feel like there's not enough style variation for Dynamite and nobody wants to just see 4 or 5 big man matches. I mean I really think Triple H has a good formula for how he structures each card with good variety. But the idea was not using Brody King except for ROH it's f****** insane. The same thing with not making will ospreay your franchise because love him or hate him he's moving merchandise and people like him way more than Christian
Yeah, AEW fans don't want a ton of WWE big men fighting other WWE big men, and WWE viewers don't want to watch AEW period. This brand split would actually destroy AEW almost immediately
I've been telling my friends this for a year, ever since they did that tag team tournament, and there were like 32 teams, and I knew less than half of them. AEW should have a solid 25 male competitors on the roster, 5 to 6 tag teams, about 10 women, that's it... They have that too, but somewhere mixed into the other 100 randoms taking on valuable tv time that could help make their potential stars into legit stars.
Khan likes working with New Japan, TNA, CMLL etc, good places to loan out talent and bring talent in from there. But it doesn't lend itself to AEW having more control over a wrestlers development. AEW does need to trim the roster of talent they don't plan to put on TV regularly, even as jobbers. I suggest AEW needs it's own development promotion along the lines of NXT. Put it on a streaming platform, Apple+, Amazon etc. Set up a clear development path - such as the champion of the development promotion gets a title shot for a mid-card belt in AEW, and/or a prominent Premium live event match. Put a few veteran leaders in the development promotion, more as managers/bookers, maybe to wrestle sporadically but more yo teach the business to the up and coming talent. It could also be a place where talent that is returning from injury or a long absence could work some easier matches and get back their form before rejoining one of the AEW main shows. Jarrett or Chris Jerhico could lead this new promotion, and still appear on regular AEW shows as needed. The development promotion gets the younger talent in broadcast matches regularly and mixing in some veterans some of the time to attract viewers and help get the younger ones over. I agree that signing someone but never using them isn't helping them get over - AEW signed Kamille from NWA over 4 months ago, still hasn't appeared. The development promotion would be a perfect situation for someone who comes in from the indies, to actually be wrestling meaningful matches and honing their craft.
Oh I love Chris Jericho as a manager great idea
This was pretty good. I agree with most of what Stevie said here and think it is a solid look at the roster from a overall POV.
This is basically stevie agreeing with everyone except Tony. If you put 50-60 people on each of the 3 shows you'd still have prepped left over in AEW.
Will there is an option to that release those people you are not going to use
Why have wwe or aew not got stevie working in there creative teams, I think he has so much to give . Loving this new show along with James , it’s a wonderful listen
Don't be scared to use real clips, just make sure they don't have audio, and they're 5 seconds or less, and it will fall under fair use.
Cornette should do this, but do this honestly and give credit to Stevie for the idea. Just my opinion.
He's done 2 videos already, like a year ago.
Cornette did it ages ago. He did it for the WWE too
He already did this
He's already done this.
Corny would keep like 10 people tops lol, he did this before too! The bottom line is Tony has no balls and won't stop booking Dave dicksucker meltzers fantasy ejaculation matches. That's a whole company dedicated to keeping dicksucker Dave happy and giving out those irrelevant stars.
That is the truth, that's all they care about! Attendance way way down, tv ratings way way down, but everything is great because Dave dicksucker meltzer keeps the adulation flowing for aew.
Who'd have thought that all Tony Khan needs is Stevie Richards and a Powerpoint presentation and he could turn AEW around.
This is a brilliant watch that needs to be seen by Tony.
Split? No, Stevie. Keith Lee is too broken down, and hes not got lightning personality. Edge is old and broken.
Bring back AEW Dark. That show is needed for those people who aren't used right now to improve.
Also we had a great time on UA-cam in the livechat during that show.
I’m the most casual of casual wrestling fans. At this point I only watch maybe a PLE. If AEW created a format like Stevie laid out, it would definitely make me interested in tuning in.
Great video. I especially liked the bit where you have a couple going through a divorce and put them together on tv despite the fact that one of them doesn’t even work there anymore
BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!! STEVIE IS A WRESTLING GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! This would make AEW amazing!
I think what this highlights is the arms race to stockpile wrestlers when AEW first began has led to this pool of talent in purgatory waiting for a call about a push or to be released. There could be a whole wrestling promotion setup with half of the inactive guys of AEW and they could do really well working on their ability to draw crowds. Pac, Miro and Claudio are very talented guys for example.
I would fire jungle boy so fast
I feel like the ratings would benefit AEW if they fired the bucks and jungle boy
I’ve always been a fan of Stevie and I hope this endeavor works out!!
Wow here is a guy I was always in a mid card position but guess what look how smart he is and how much he does understand the business and understands how to mix Talent especially mixing between veterans and young guys
3:56 Creed is my favorite band of all time. But I know for a fact that when the WWF did the music video of Triple H rehabilitating his torn quad, they played Beautiful Day by U2.
I like it Stevie. I would do some different. Definitely add some guys that aren't on either list to the lists. But yes definitely divide up the roster so guys can be seen. I got tired of seeing Danielson, Claudio and Moxley on every show, while never seeing some of the other talent at all. It seems like they kill the momentum that guys get going. Jericho is money, i think he needs to stay on a roater like Dynamite and always have a group. But anyway, fun discussion, cant wait to see more.
If you guys were running AEW, i would watch it
I could not agree more with the match time comment. The matches on Dynamite, Rampage and Collision are way too long. Free TV matches should be 10 - 15 minutes max with some even being 6 - 8 minutes. PPV matches can be 20, 25, 30 or 60 minutes. Shorter matches get more guys TV time, which only helps the guys.
I think wrestling is at its best when wrestlers come and go, so things dont get stale. I dont want to see the same handful of people every week. Wrestling the same style and cutting the same promos gets old, it's more fun to see fresh styles and fresh faces. Just how I feel though :3
I always feel like "How I'd do it" type shows are fruitless hypotheticals just a step about tier lists, but something did stick out to me.
The mention of actually using injured talent for something really is a headscratcher as to why it isn't done.
I'd guess liability reasons, but I don't know how the sausage is made well enough to do anything but a blind guess.
its been done but that only works for a feel good comeback story. Not every injury needs a montage of therapy. Unless it's like someone had a life threatening injury or battled with a serious illness. Edge doesn't need a rehab montage because he was dumb and jumped off a cage at 50 years old lol
@@Andrew-gk6bnOh yeah he does...
Remember Stevie saying that comedy angles are a very important part of the show 😂😂😂😂
If anyone's noticed, the elite camp doesn't work with anyone outside of their circle of friends and jobbers.
They literally work with everybody. Lol
Love the new format. James is a really good addition.
I can say as someone who doesn't watch AEW TV regularly, I would be more likely to watch these shows. Even though it's a more polished WWE like presentation it would actually work to differentiate AEW with WWE as WWE has sort of abandoned the old methodology of the brand split which was to make diametrically opposed products under one umbrella.
Not having a brand split makes AEW more open and free, and more unique now.
A loose brand split would be smart and directed, but a hard split makes it WWE.
Stevie is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more kind with who stays than I would be.
I don't like this idea at all. Luchasaurus doesn't have a TV face. Thats why he has a mask. HAVE YOU SEEN HIS FACE?!
Also the way the rosters are split I totally disagree. Stevie is usually on point but this was bad.
Edge & Christian should end up as a tag team eventually.
Jay Lethal needs to be a major star.
I do think Malachi Black should be a #1 star on par with MJF & Osprey & Danielson.
Keith Lee is meh.
Jack Perry is NOT over.
The Young Bucks on all 3 shows will tank the ratings.
Dustin deserves a world title.
I would end all gimmick matches & only allow the FTW title to have hardcore matches. I would place the International title on Collision & the World title on Dynamite. The Continental title can go to Rampage. Each show SHOULD have a flavor. Thats why you use the titles to do it.
Nigel is a great heel. I don't know why youd change him face. Have Don Callis be the heel authority figure. Keep Nigel on the desk. Jericho should be a face authority figure. He has been heel for too long.
Brian Cage is signed for life. So he is never leaving.
Tony should hire you after seeing this video. So many good ideas here and ways to keep people interested, get guys over, and stay consistent.
I think it could be an interesting dynamic to have Jericho and Nigel competing as authority figures. I immediately envisioned the little angel and devil on people's shoulders lol
With all due respect to Stevie, I would watch this even less than the current product if that were possible.
EDIT: I made that comment before I saw the Rampage roster. Now that’s a show I would give a look.