Current Events > Fans obsess over AEW's ratings/ticket sales/etc WAY too much.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Look, until AEW formally announces they're closing their doors for good, I couldn't care less. I'm enjoying the product. Is it perfect, no, but its entertaining to me so, for me anyways, it's doing its job.

It's the same for most 'team' shit. Console wars are no different.

There's nothing wrong with just liking shit.

People let this kinda shit validate and dictate their bias all the time.

ClayGuida posted...

It's the same for most 'team' shit. Console wars are no different.

There's nothing wrong with just liking shit.

It is if all the reasons you can come up with for why it's "good" amount to excuses for mediocrity.

It's okay, there's nothing WRONG with having crap taste. It just means I know when your input on a matter is no longer of importance.

AEW? All Elite Wrestling?

Solid_Sonic posted...

It is if all the reasons you can come up with for why it's "good" amount to excuses for mediocrity.

If you take exception with someone enjoying something you don't, the problem is you, not them.

Wrestling, like almost every other fandom, has a bad case of fanboys both for AEW and WWE. When AEW first started and was doing well and WWE was in a bad spot, their fans rubbed the ratings in the WWE fans' faces. Now the shoe is on the other foot and it's the other way around.

I don't like AEW so I just don't watch it. Same for WWE. Hate watching and/or going into certain fan communities to shit all over what they like is petty and stupid as hell.

As a fan it's really frustrating because the problems with AEW have been glaringly obvious for the longest time and Tony Khan knows damn well what they are since he spends most of his time being terminally-online yet he insists on doing everything that doesn't work.

Compared to earlier AEW there aren't any interesting storylines or angles and all of the booking consists of dream matches literally nobody outside a few hundred online turbonerds care about.

Yeah, posting about the ratings is cringe.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

The simple solution is to just focus on interesting character work and angles while making Dynamite feel like unpredictable, must-see TV. For a really long time their weekly television has been extremely predictable with the only angles consisting of wrestlers claiming they're the best, only to be interrupted by another wrestler claiming they're the best, followed by them staring each other down.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


The Elite are only interested in working with each other and have no investment in getting anyone outside their clique over.

CRON posted...

The simple solution is to just focus on interesting character work and angles while making Dynamite feel like unpredictable, must-see TV. For a really long time their weekly television has been extremely predictable with the only angles consisting of wrestlers claiming they're the best, only to be interrupted by another wrestler claiming they're the best, followed by them staring each other down.

To be fair, I don't think Dynamite has ever been unpredictable.

I haven't watched since Punk left, but I know prior to that every Dynamite was filled with matches like Bobby Fish vs Brian Danielson, Orange Cassidy vs Butcher, Eddie Kingston vs Rey Fenix, Kenny Omega vs Trent, Moxley vs Ishii, or Jericho vs Dante Martin

All tend to be awesome matches, but the winner was as clear as day unless it was Jericho losing to Action Andretti or Mox losing to Lance Archer.

Honestly, wrestling fans are what make me embarrassed to be a wrestling fan

no shade at any of you, just really tough to observe the way some fans treat wrestling and each other online

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

I say all of that as someone who only watches AEW. I got into wrestling again through the first PPV they put out and ever since the ROH acquisition there's been no attempt to do anything remotely similar to the Hangman Page storyline.

I loved Dynamite for the longest time because even when the roster wasn't as robust as it was now, it had a lot of chaotic Attitude Era-esque vibes to it where you had no idea something was going to happen and you wanted to tune in next week to see what else was going to happen. The company now has arguably the best roster in modern history and their production's never been better, but outside of great wrestling matches there's something missing.

AlCalavicci posted...

Honestly, wrestling fans are what make me embarrassed to be a wrestling fan

no shade at any of you, just really tough to observe the way some fans treat wrestling and each other online

It also doesn't help that the audience at a live show is exactly what you'd expect it to be.

Stereotypes tend to be based in reality, though over exaggerated.

I try my best not to look at all the online fan discussions, dirtsheets, etc like I did as a teenager for WWE and TNA. It just turns you into a hate watching fan of the product. With AEW/ROH, I just watch the product for what it is and it's been a big difference in enjoyment.

Ticket sales still need to be decent, but I try to tune out any time someone starts talking about TV ratings. They almost irrelevant by this point.

Hayame_Zero posted...

Ticket sales still need to be decent, but I try to tune out any time someone starts talking about TV ratings. They almost irrelevant by this point.

Ratings have fractured for WWE since like 2015 and yet WWE has made more in the last decade than ever before.

I think the change in TV production has steered these sports package deals. It's simply cheaper for a network to pay a billion dollars for a few hundred hours of content a year than to produce their own shit.

CM Punk is not just on his last chance in a promotion but his last chance with the fans.

If he injures himself again it is FUCKING DONE. You need to give up the dream.

Solid_Sonic posted...

CM Punk is not just on his last chance in a promotion but his last chance with the fans.

If he injures himself again it is FUCKING DONE. You need to give up the dream.

Did he injure himself again since returning to WWE?

BlazinBlue88 posted...

Did he injure himself again since returning to WWE?

Yup, almost immediately. Came back in November, his first match back was in January, and he tore his triceps.

TNA is still alive. AEW isn't going anywhere.

BlazinBlue88 posted...

Did he injure himself again since returning to WWE?

Oh yeah. First televised match. Royal Rumble 2024. Tore his OTHER tricep and he's out for six-ish months.

tony khan is an enormous loser so i'm praying on AEW's downfall

Hayame_Zero posted...

Yup, almost immediately. Came back in November, his first match back was in January, and he tore his triceps.

Solid_Sonic posted...

Oh yeah. First televised match. Royal Rumble 2024. Tore his OTHER tricep and he's out for six-ish months.

Wow. Not a big fan of Punk but that's super unfortunate.

Delirious_Beard posted...

tony khan is an enormous loser so i'm praying on AEW's downfall

"I don't like one guy so I'm praying for hundreds to lose their jobs."

Because Tony is an embarrassment and it's funny to make fun of him

Its because AEW fans (AKA Reddit) acted like AEW was this perfect masterpiece of a company and product every single week and would endlessly troll NXT and WWE forums for years, so AEW starting to fail because the novelty wore off and their trump cards made no difference in ratings is hilarious to watch.

AEW would be fine if they had better stories. they put together an angle then abandon it a week later, TNA style.

too many chiefs and not enough indians. TK has no idea about what hes doing. he should start downsizing to 2-3K seat arenas.

WalkingPlague posted...

AEW would be fine if they had better stories. they put together an angle then abandon it a week later, TNA style.

Yeah, it was amazing at first, but the problems they had early on just ballooned to be even worse later. I got sick of lower card people starting to get pushed, and then disappear for no reason for months afterwards. It happened to Wardlow like three times.

Rosstin316 posted...

Its because AEW fans (AKA Reddit) acted like AEW was this perfect masterpiece of a company and product every single week and would endlessly troll NXT and WWE forums for years, so AEW starting to fail because the novelty wore off and their trump cards made no difference in ratings is hilarious to watch.

^^^This right here... Tony, the bucks, Orange, Moxley, Jericho and company have run some many people off its embarrassing...

Punk leaving and Vince being gone has done a number of AEW business, about all they have left if good PPV buy numbers...thats it...

Same thing happened to RoH and NJPW, just great wrestling only gets you so far...

Hayame_Zero posted...

Yeah, it was amazing at first, but the problems they had early on just ballooned to be even worse later. I got sick of lower card people starting to get pushed, and then disappear for no reason for months afterwards. It happened to Wardlow like three times.

I agree about the push-and-then-disappear comment....id argue Lance Archer is the biggest victim of this.

I wish WWE would start letting heels shit on someone's dead relatives for heel heat like Christian did to Jungle Boy.

Solid_Sonic posted...

I wish WWE would start letting heels shit on someone's dead relatives for heel heat like Christian did to Jungle Boy.

Candice LeRae just did that to Maxxine Dupri a couple of weeks ago.

Solid_Sonic posted...

CM Punk is not just on his last chance in a promotion but his last chance with the fans.

If he injures himself again it is FUCKING DONE. You need to give up the dream.

He could roll himself out to ringside in a wheelchair and still get cheered so long as he's accompanied by Cult of Personality.

Solid_Sonic posted...

I wish WWE would start letting heels shit on someone's dead relatives for heel heat like Christian did to Jungle Boy.

Christian's done that to so many people on the roster with deceased relatives. He cut a promo on Daniel Garcia and "doxxed" his dead mom by saying the IRL address to the funeral she's buried in.

Solid_Sonic posted...

I wish WWE would start letting heels shit on someone's dead relatives for heel heat like Christian did to Jungle Boy.

They've literally done that multiple times in the past several years. Very recently (as in like, it's happening right now), in fact.

internet wrestling fans are just really annoying and loud in general. its just this never ending string of total losers who want to feel like they have unlocked all the secrets of what makes punchgrabs good and absolutely have to tell you all about it in the most aggressive confrontational way ever, except 95% of their information is made up piecemeal by memes and things they've heard on podcasts

MarcyWarcy posted...

internet wrestling fans are just really annoying and loud in general. its just this never ending string of total losers who want to feel like they have unlocked all the secrets of what makes punchgrabs good and absolutely have to tell you all about it in the most aggressive confrontational way ever, except 95% of their information is made up piecemeal by memes and things they've heard on podcasts

I've found it's honestly better to just be more of a "mark" than a "smark." Yes, sometimes it's fun to debate the inner workings online, but I honestly just enjoy the product more, whether it's WWE, AEW, or something else, when I just let myself go... Fuck it, I'm gonna enjoy what I'm gonna enjoy.

StealThisSheen posted...

I've found it's honestly better to just be more of a "mark" than a "smark." Yes, sometimes it's fun to debate the inner workings online, but I honestly just enjoy the product more, whether it's WWE, AEW, or something else, when I just let myself go... Fuck it, I'm gonna enjoy what I'm gonna enjoy.

Pretty much. A lot of people seem to have this weird thing in their minds with wrestling where they worry way more about putting down "the enemy" than they do actually consuming and enjoying wrestling. The weird fed war people rarely seem like they actually watch a whole lot

MarcyWarcy posted...

Pretty much. A lot of people seem to have this weird thing in their minds with wrestling where they worry way more about putting down "the enemy" than they do actually consuming and enjoying wrestling. The weird fed war people rarely seem like they actually watch a whole lot

Yeah. I'm just gonna enjoy what I enjoy, whether I "should" or not.

I enjoy the hell out of Roman Reigns, but also, yes, I'm ready for him to lose.

I love midcard shit like Awesome Truth and DIY.

I absolutely love the hell out of Danhausen, Orange Cassidy, and the Best Friends.

Judge me, I don't care. I just like what I like.

MarcyWarcy posted...

Pretty much. A lot of people seem to have this weird thing in their minds with wrestling where they worry way more about putting down "the enemy" than they do actually consuming and enjoying wrestling. The weird fed war people rarely seem like they actually watch a whole lot

It's the same problem a lot of gamers and fans of "nerdy" media have. They're insecure as fuck that their hobby/interest is something a lot of the population looks down on, so they get incredibly defensive over what they perceive to be the most flattering, high-quality depictions of said media.

WWE smarks see the brand as top-notch, prestigious entertainment of the highest quality even though it's egregiously marketed towards children and still associated with the lowest-common denominators in demographics. AEW smarks see the brand as this spirited underdog reclaiming what wrestling should be about even though its completely aimless and has a fanbase largely comprised of cringey neckbeards.

In reality both brands do a lot right and wrong and are enjoyable in their own right. WWE is hitting a stride it hasn't seen in decades with a really engrossing championship angle and AEW is in the process of reinventing itself with impressive branding and a bunch of insanely talented, top-tier wrestlers jumping on board.

Solid_Sonic posted...

The Elite are only interested in working with each other and have no investment in getting anyone outside their clique over.

Yeah, in that aspect it's very much like WCW all over again.

WWE Fans obsess over AEW's ratings/ticket sales/etc WAY too much

Fixed that for you.

ScazarMeltex posted...

Yeah, in that aspect it's very much like WCW all over again.

It's really not, but a lot of people on the internet like to insist it is, for some reason.

Wrestling fans have often always been their own worst enemy. If they aren't taking shots at their rivals they are slamming the brand they follow it's weird.

There was a time where I talked about wrestling constantly in the Attitude era on the internet. Maybe I just found some sites where most of us were just along for the ride and just wanted to be entertained. Sure we got upset with some HHH bullshittery when he was a mega heel, but at the end of the day we just loved to watch and chat about it.

Maybe just in my memory I just filtered out the more trolling posters and didn't respond to them and just looked past them. I found a Discord that is pretty cool they poke fun at things but are generally just wrestling fans, but I haven't been keeping up much with either product and sometimes with my anxiety and other feelings. I can't keep up with a fast moving Discord.

Kamil posted...

Maybe I just found some sites where most of us were just along for the ride and just wanted to be entertained. Sure we got upset with some HHH bulls***tery when he was a mega heel, but at the end of the day we just loved to watch and chat about it.

It used to be a lot better than this lol. People talked shit about TNA or whatever else a lot, but at the very least they didn't seem to be into wrestling for no other reason than to get into arguments or stan for podcast dudes

Basically the only wrestling stuff outside of wrestling I interface with these days is Deadlock, because they clearly love wrestling and just wanna have fun, and even if they dont like parts of it their solution is to talk more about the stuff they do like