I think when it said in a way when it's not meant to just trash on WWE and make a more to make a point about the character it's fine. However there are times where I wish Tony Khan would not do that.
WWE use to bash WCW when WCW was #1 and WWE was #2 and ECW who was #3 bashed both WCW and WWE. So it's far game, with AEW being #2 and WWE being #1 for AEW to bash WWE. The UFC and Dana White did the same thing back before the UFC was the #1 MMA promotions. The UFC and Dana White bashed other bigger MMA promotions and big boxing promotions and even networks that aired boxing promotions and bigger MMA promotions.
Regarding cost: On a forum I saw someone post: Wrestlemania 13 - $34.99, Using an online calculator: $35 in 1997 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $68.37 today, Aew ppv are a good deal in comparison
As a fan of both companies: 1) They take shots at each other. AEW does it by name, WWE alludes to it because they dont want to give AEW any direct attention. 2) i grew up in the Attitude era, and enjoy blood in my wrestling. It does happen often (not as much as it used to) but it still excites me. 3) WWE PPVS used to be 60 bucks a piece, the 5 big ones were 80ish. I watch every PPV from AEW, and it is expensive. But i love their product so i want to support it how i can. But obviously would love for it to be on a streaming service. 4) some people have a hard time retiring. It happens in both companies but wwe is a much safer and toned down style of wrestling, so injuries are far less of a concern. 5) im not saying they wont ever crossover, but it took tna 20ish years. At the end of the day, i love pro wrestling. I watch as much of it as i can. I just wish the tribalistic people would stop and just enjoy wrestling as well 🤷♂️
Violence like blood and use of weapons in wrestling will never become stall to me. It’s the same as using a move that use to be a finisher but is now a transitional spot.
These are all really great questions! AEW as whole is stuck in the position of the little brother. Over the past 5 years WWE has taken shots at AEW but they’re most sly about it,never referencing people or company by name, but if you’re tuned it you’d catch it. AEW usually ends up taking direct shots in response, it definitely feels a bit gaslight-ish at times, when people point at AEW for taking shots when they are responding. The key difference is WWE doesn’t do it on their own programming just on press, whereas AEW will do both 2. AEW typically reserves larger violence for PPV’s and blow off moments, I definitely think they could dial it back and still be great. A lot of the wrestlers on the AEW roster are “for the love of the game” THEY want to do this stuff 3. In the past I didn’t have an issue spending the money for AEW PPV’s bc like you pointed out THEY ARE LONG, and enjoyable all the way through. It was only the second half of last year where they really kicked up the frequency, and now it’s been a ppv every month which is pretty annoying, I’m hoping they hammer out a deal for streaming soon, idk how much more my wallet can take 3. Old wrestlers in AEW are a case by case for me, it comes back to the love of the game. WWE typically stops providing for older talent as they become “less marketable” so these older guys will leave to have more freedom before they retire. Adam Copeland has been very open about wanting to push himself before he retires, obviously I never want to see anyone hurt but I’d say it’s 50/50 sometimes I do just want them to go rest 4. WWE never has an issue working with other companies on the huge condition that the other company looks smaller, it’s a hard thing to describe bc it’s just a pattern, so it is usually just TNA. And infrequent at best. AEW works with so many companies and it’s a part of what makes their shows exciting, you can never REALLY know who might show up. In an ideal world without corporate nonsense I’m sure the wrestlers would love to work with each other. For me I would love to see a Jon Moxley and Seth Rollins mix it up again since they have so much history together and have both grown so much I hope these responses were insightful, the tribalism is a viscous cycle that fuels itself and wrestling is for everyone. There is no shame in missing any show, there is no shame in only being a wwe fan or only being a AEW fan. I have only so much time to dedicate to wrestling and I chose AEW mostly bc I think it respects my time (on dynamite) as a viewer. HOWEVER I think your criticism of DoN was spot on, AEW would 1000% benefit from taking moments to breathe. If you read all this, Have a great day!
AEW is definitely worth it. 1. The ppvs are really good 2. Tony goes for all of the top talent so you’re always watching some of the best in the industry perform 3. There’s a lot of diversity in matches. Most the matches don’t seem the same 4. It’s geared towards adults vs kids 5. Most the times the storylines are to lead you to the ppv but the storylines that are longer are really good
Diversity in matches is a bold choice of words. Their matches have a lot of the same things in them. I can agree that AEW does give u a little bit of almost everything and that's not a good thing when AEW gives the fans a steel cage match every 3-6 months and the same for no DQ matches, constant blood, ect.
AEW and WWE had a little bit of a crossover at Ric Flair's Last Match. Jeff Jarrett was working for WWE at the time, and had refereed at SummerSlam the night before he wrestled in Ric Flair's Last Match where he tagged with Jay Lethal who was in AEW, and fought against Flair and Andrade (who was also in AEW at the time). I wouldn't count on any full fledged WWE vs AEW kind of thing. Little things might happen tho so it's cool when you see it. On of the coolest such things in the past I can think of was Taz (as a WWF wrestler) facing Mike Awesome (as a WCW wrestler) for the ECW Championship in an ECW ring.
1. AEW will never have 15 PPVs in a year. AEW has 9 PPVs. ROH (AEW's sister company) does 3 PPV's per year, but they are all part of a monthly streaming service that chargers $9 a month, and also includes weekly ROH TV on it. I have no problem paying for AEW PPV's as long as they stay in the 9 to 10 PPV's per year range. Although, I was a fan back during the 90's when WCW was the first wrestling promotion to do 12 PPV's per year, and I got all 12, plus WWE's top 3 PPVs. I remember back in the early 90's when WWE only did 5 PPVs per year. 2. As for blood and having been a wrestling fan for a long time. I believe blood is more logical and realistic to have in matches. So I like what AEW does in this regard. WWE not having blood, is unrealistic, but then again with the exception of the Attitude era, WWE has always been programed to little kids, where promotions like Jim Crockett Promotions, WCW, ECW, AWA, ROH, TNA, and now AEW have all been programmed to more young adults. swearing , blood, and so forth. 3. As for AEW mentioning WWE. I don't care. WWE did the same thing when they were the #2 promotion in the world and WCW was #1. Vince would bash WCW, Ted Turner WCW's owner, and eh bashed WCW's top stars and he did this ALL THE TIME. So much so in fact that the USA Network threatened to drop WWE out of fear of Ted Turner (who at the time was the most powerful man in media) from coming after their network. WWE did skits about WCW, they has WWE talent show up to arena's that WCW was at. WCW was obsessed with bashing WCW, until WWE finally became the #1 promotion. Then the WWE stopped bashing WCW on TV. So do, i care if AEW bashes WWE? No. It's promoting. Even Dana White head of UFC bashed other bigger promotions when the UFC was in it's early days. It's all part of promoting your company and getting your name out there. It gets people talking. Also, as for Tony Khan calling WWE the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling. I don't disagree. Look, WWE has had DECADES of horrible stuff happen in that company. Young ring boy who gets raped, a female ref who gets raped by Vince Mcmahon, women pro wrestlers who have to perform sexual favors to management get a push, NDA's of women who were sexually assaulted, HBK sleeping with under age girls in the UK, Vince paying off the police when SuperFly was accused of murder, Vince/WWE vs the US government in the steroids case, Owen Hart falling to his death during a PPV, Benoit murdering his family, John Stossel being knocked out by a WWE wrestler during a interview backstage and losing part of his hearing, WWE paying local strippers to show up to TV in the stands and flash their tits, A WWE female wrestler who gets drugged and raped on tour and the WWE covers it up. The plan ride from hell where wrestlers sexually assaulted flight attendants and WWE tried to cover it up. I can go on and on for days about all the horrible stuff that has gone on in WWE that at the very least you could call the company the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling. WWE has a long dirty, history of sexual abuse, assault, rape, death, drugs, and other horrors. 4. When it comes to average AGE of wrestlers on rosters. AEW has BY FAR a much, much younger roster than that of WWE. WWE has a massive amount of OLD talent, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, The Rock, Lita, Trish Stratus, Carlito, CM Punk, LA Knight, Randy Orton, Tama Tonga, Karl Anderson, The Miz, Shinsuka Nakamura, Asuka, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Shayna Baszler, Damien Priest, Finn Balor, Kofi Kingston, Luke Gallows, Maryse, Satomura, MVP, Nia Jax, Robert Roode, Shawn Spears, Sheamus, Tamina, Titus Oneal, wade Barrett, Regal, HBK, HHH. Hell, WWE even has an on air manager for Karrion Kross that is 70 YEARS OLD in Paul Ellering. As for the Hardy Boyz, Matt Hardy no longer works for AEW, and Jeff Hardy's contract ends in a couple weeks and he'll also be out of AEW, and rumor has it they are both headed BACK to WWE to continue wrestling.
Die hard AEW fan here (but also a long time wrestling fan in general, WWE included) gonna try and seriously answer these 1. Been a fan since the mid 90s so the WWE mentions don't bother me. It was common place with WCW and WWF. AEW have taken some shots no doubt, but I also feel a lot of the WWE mentions are just recognizing wrestling history or wrestling in general. I can see how it could bother some fans but it doesn't bother me. The massive egos of the men and women invloved and the competitiveness in wrestling makes me feel like it's bound to happen. I get why some people might not like it though. 2. I dont mind the blood or extreme matches in AEW. Again, growing up in the 90s and 2000s, it was common place in WWE. But at the same time, I can totally understand newer fans being shocked at the blood in AEW. Especially if they aren't used to seeing it. 3. Cost sucks but I watch every PPV. Fortunately I have a group of wrestling friends that we all get together and pitch in and watch. But I do hope they get some kind of streaming deal with their new TV rights deal. 4. I use to worry about older wrestlers but as I've gotten older I've changed my opinion. These men and women know the risks and they love what they do. Let them do it as long as they want to. If they feel the reward of the joy of doing what they love out weighs the risk of injury then let them do what they love. Life is short. And I mean that for both companies. 5. Maybe. But not anytime soon. But you never know. Ultimately money talks and I've learned to never say never. However I would LOVE to see that! And if it happened my dream feud would be the origial Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) vs. The New Day. However, that may not be possible even if they work together due to Big E's injury. Again, die hard AEW fan. It's my style of wrestling and I feel it's written specifically for me but I also understand if fans who are more into WWE's style of wrestling may or may not like AEW. And vice versa. Hope those answers helped! I hate tribalism on both sides and wanted to give good faith answers to your good faith questions. Also, whether you continue to watch AEW or not, enjoy being a wrestling fan! Ignore the negative online voices and watch what you enjoy. Glad to have you
If you enjoy the work rate style you should check out Kenny Omegas series of matches with Okada in New Japan. Genuinely the greatest wrestling matches of all time
1. For me the little digs at each other. Like vaguely referencing past storylines form the opposite promotion - don’t bother me. I do hate it when it’s a clear push down of the other promotion. 2. I think they do blood so often that it’s not that shocking anymore . Some of the hardcore matches don’t even feel extreme. They’re just typical grudge match for them. WWE goes beyond the grain so rarely that when it happens it more interesting. 3. $50 ppvs is too expensive. I would much rather they get on Max or anything where it’s one flat fee for everything. $50 for a show I’m going to watch one time is insane. 4. Age doesn’t bother me but there’s a point where they got to call it quits. Their peak eventually is long gone. Copeland & Christian seem to have some longevity but have to reel it back a bit. The Hardies need to retire. They can still take bumps but are long past their prime. 5. We’re more likely to get a AEW & WWE partnership now than ever before. The only thing holding it back is pettiness & entitlement on both sides and even the fan base. I feel like if wrestling fans weren’t taking everything so seriously Tony Khan, Triple H & TKO will eventually see that there’s a way to play rivales for tv but co exist as a business opportunity.
@@Dporticus I know when he was in charge of NXT he admitted to watching. Not so sure about current day but previous interview comments suggest he’s neutral. There’s things he likes and stuff he doesn’t feel WWE needs to adapt. At one point saying he wasn’t big on all the blood spots they do.
WWE spent most of the week leading up to Wrestlemania 40 taking shots at AEW in the media. Tony Khan felt pressured to respond, and doing so gets his company free publicity. The majority of AEW fans are former WWE fans who were disenfranchised by bad booking, so when AEW talent trash talks WWE, they're just saying what we've all been thinking for years. If anything, it's refreshing to know that our frustrations have been heard for a change. AEW is so much more than Deathmatches. They are artists, masters at their craft, and they want to prove that they are the best at EVERY style of wrestling. Every match brings new innovations to the genre and elevates wrestling as a whole. AEW PPVs ALWAYS deliver! If you really love wrestling as an art form, then AEW PPVs are the best value in the business. Me and my friends have watch parties where we all pay $5 each. The real draw in AEW is the young talent. Omega, Okada, the Young Bucks, etc. are the old guard. Osprey, MJF, Swerve, etc. are the future of this industry. The retired WWE stars are, at best, a side show. They get nostalgia pops and usually a nice send-off. Sting's retirement match was legitimately one of the greatest shows that I have ever seen as a wrestling fan of +40 years. Tony Khan takes wrestler safety very seriously, giving them lots of time off to heal and suspending anyone he feels was reckless enough to jeopardize the wellbeing of others. Do guys still push the limits? Of course. They are artists who want to create something so spectacular that their work will be remembered after they are gone, but TK has them clear all spots with professional stun crews first to ensure safety. As for people we wish would retire, many people would no doubt mention Jericho, but the reality is that WWE was terrible about this stuff for years. Foley should have retired sooner, Hogan, Goldberg, my God Undertaker, HHH, and don't even get me started on Ric Flair. The biggest problem is that the industry, including WWE, treats wrestlers as independent contractors so they get no benefits, retirement plans, and are only making money if and as long as they're working so the majority of them can't afford to retire. It's a messed-up system that leaves our heroes broken, penniless, and alone. AEW's next PPV is Forbidden Door, which is a crossover event with NJPW and CMLL. They also have Wrestle Dream in October with NJPW. At one time, Kenny Omega was the World Heavyweight Champion in FOUR different companies at the same time!!! AEW was founded on companies working together to produce once in a lifetime wrestling matches. WWE tends to be more insular, and the few times they crossed over with other promotions, they just had their wrestlers crush the other companies' guys. It actually made the other promotions look WORSE for working with them. As a lifelong wrestling fan, I hope that AEW never works with WWE simply because I don't trust them to treat our talent fairly.
On the crossover-part: Thing is, AEW would do the same if they had the chance; one can't blame them, they will always want to "protect" their own assets, and make their own product look strong. Really the best option would be if BOTH companies decided on a collab with yet another promotion (maybe TNA?) to set up a sort of "wrestling open"-event, and which then was responsible for the booking. Not exactly realistic anyway since such an event would instantly become THE greatest show (and thus diminish Wrestlemania, or All In).
Before you read my answers, the vampire guy is named Gangrel, and I am begging you to learn more about him because he's fantastic. Iconic entrance, fun gimmick, and even though he personally didn't have a super notable run in WWF/WWE, he was so, so important. Without him we wouldn't have the Edge and Christian we have today, and without them going on to do what they'd do and who they did it with, I imagine American wrestling would be a lot different today. Also, welcome to being a wrestling fan! Try not to learn about attendance numbers/ratings/backstage stuff/match ratings; wrestling is a lot more fun when you can just watch it and enjoy it for what it is. 1.) I don't care either way when they do it. AEW has always acknowledged that other companies exist, and it doesn’t strike me as any more unusual than when they mention any other promotion. For context, since you say you’re a newer fan, WWE has historically only rarely mentioned other companies and for a very long time would do their best to either erase someone’s past completely or would just refer to their time on “the independents.” I haven’t watched WWE in years so I have no idea if this is still the case or not, but for the majority of my time as a wrestling fan WWE’s policy has been “Nothing you have done outside of WWE matters, and we don’t want to let our fans know they can watch wrestling elsewhere” Also, Bryan Danielson has mentioned WWE favorably several times on AEW programming, so it isn't so much that AEW is having people go out and trash WWE so much as wrestlers are allowed to just say what they think and some had a better time in WWE than others. 2.) No. There are entire promotions that have been around for decades where the majority (if not all) of the matches are focused on hardcore/extreme/deathmatch rules, so people can watch that type of thing regularly and not get tired of it. The “extreme” stuff you’re seeing in AEW is nothing new and a lot of it is quite mild compared to some of what you’ll see elsewhere. AEW is a promotion with a lot of different styles, and this is just one of them. 3.) I have no preference either way. AEW only runs one PPV a month with the rare exception, and it’s rare that their PPVs aren’t top tier shows, so buying them isn’t going to break my budget and I never have to wonder if I’m about to waste money or not. 4.) It depends entirely on the wrestler; I’ve been more excited to see some veterans than others, but I think the important thing to look at is the fact that they clearly want to be there. They get a new batch of people to work with and a lot more creative freedom, and they seem pretty happy to be there. Wrestlers are going to get hurt, and they know that. It’s just part of the job. So if a vet can still go and isn’t ready to stop being in the ring this yet, AEW looks like a pretty good place for them to go. 5.) Quite possibly. Tony Kahn is a wrestling geek, and while I've been out of the loop regarding WWE for at least five years now, I’ve heard that it’s a completely different company with Hunter in charge. I’ve also heard that they have working agreements with some other companies, and Hunter let CM Punk come back. I don’t think it’s going to happen yet, but I can see it happening in a couple of years. The wrestling landscape has never been as open as it is now, so we’ll see. I'd definitely like for it to happen.
In prowrestling, wrestlers take shots at each other. But it's a turnoff when the company takes shots at another company? Promotional shots have been happening for ages up until WWE became a bubble company.
I will start of by saying, i've been watching wrestling for 30+ years, since a young child. I love pro wrestling and I've watched EVERYTHING. I currently watch WWE and AEW, along with some NJPW and ROH dabbling. I watch less WWE currently because I just got burnt out and time but I keep up with the major storylines so when I watch I'm not lost. So I'm going to do my best to answer your question and give an honest and as unbiased answer to you as someone who considers himself a wrestling fan who prefers AEW the most. 1. On the topic of MJF/TK "taking shots" at WWE. --- To put it simply TK spouts off a bit too much and its cringy. However, I think people REALLY give him too much crap for ANYTHING he does. He's a wrestling nerd who is living out his dream trying to create a wrestling company that is a legitimate alternative so the wrestling industry is better. But one thing that you definitely haven't seen because you're new to wrestling is how underhanded WWE was when AEW first started doing ANYTHING to take eyes off of it and put them down. And WWE only looks like the "bigger" person now because WWE is putting on a great product right now, where as 4-5 years ago it was doing terribly. To give you some examples, AEW was putting on a free PPV event, I believe there was some fundraiser element to it. And WWE changed an event date and aired it on the same day as this event. WWE took their NXT show which was pre-taped and decided changed it to a live show on TV (was only on their WWE Network App at the time) and aire it against AEW Dynamite who chose the Wednesday spot because nobody was airing Wrestling at that day. At the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, in front of everyone Triple H called AEW a "piss-ant company". There are many other things that WWE did here and there but it wasn't just 1-sided. All that being said, its VERY common for companies to take shots at other companies however. It has happened throughout the years and will continue to happen. On a side note, people are making WAY too much out of what MJF said on surface level but doesn't think about what he MEANT. When his contract was in question so many people were saying he needs to go to WWE so he can become a big star. What MJF was saying is he doesn't need other companies to be a star. It wasn't a dig at any company it was him saying he will make himself a star. ________ 2. Am I numb to the extreme stuff? --- Yes and no. I still cringe at some truly crazy things. But this is what wrestling was like for the longest time. Yes, it was more tame in some aspects but blood and wrestling always went hand in hand. A little history, after WWE has basically bought up and crushed all their competition, they eventually hanged their TV rating from TV-14 to PG. And started putting on a more kid/family friendly product. So many of the very dangerous spots, chair shots, and blood went away. So for me, the AEW product is actually going back to a different time in wrestling and a return to form in some regards. Yes there are some diminishing returns but overall its actually one of the things I enjoy about AEW. _______ 3. Price --- While $49.99 is expensive, I personally find it worth the price as AEW always delivers on their PPV events. While I don't have actual knowledge of this, its widely rumored that AEW's current Media Rights contact negotions going on right now are including a streaming app which will make aquairing these PPVs at a lowe price. Remember AEW is still a new company so you can't just have an app right away. You need to build a "match library" so people can spend time watching the content with that app or its not worth having. Now that they have hit their 5 year mark, along with ROH's media library, they have the content now to go to a streaming app. _______ 4. "Older" wrestlers ---- I don't want them to hurt themselves. But I would try to take a different perspective on this. These guys LOVE what they do. And nobody is forcing these guys to do ANYTHING they don't want to do. AEW does provide a place for them to express themselves creatively and yes I don't wanna see them get hurt and I cringe a big when I see some dangerous stuff. But remember, WRESTLING IS DANGEROUS. Injuries happen EVERYWHERE. It was about what 2 or so years ago, Big E broke his neck in WWE. Its dangerous but these guys and gals love it. Side note, AEW allowed me to see one of my childhood heroes and favorites, Sting. They allowed me to see him live when he won the tag titles with Darby and that was 25-years in the making because the 1 time WCW came to AZ, Sting wasn't there and I was so upset as a child. Then they gave him a beautiful send-off of a retirement match. It was gratuitous, over the to, and still amazing. There is a lot of positive to AEW having veterans on the roster as they can and have been used to build new start. _______ 5. Will we ever see AEW and WWE together ----- No. WWE is a walled garden and they don't do ANYTHING that they don't have complete control over. They only recently started acknowledging their current wresters pasts in other companies instead of trying to pretend that some of these wrestlers were nobodies before they came to WWE. One of the biggest problems with WWE is how unethical and unfair their contacts are. Their wrestlers are "Independent Contractors", however they are almost NEVER allowed to perform unless its on a WWE banner. While it does happen from time to time (only more recently), you will almost NEVER catch a WWE contracted talent performing outside the WWE. AEW really helped with this however. They have always from the start been open to allowing their wrestlers (within reason) to go perform on Indie shows and make money outside the company. They also have working relationships with NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) and have talent from both companies go over and wrestle on each others shows. AEW has a partnership with CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) which is the #2 (I think) company in Mexico. In the past, AEW also did things with AAA, Mexico's #1 promotion, and with TNA for a short time. Tony Khan purchased ROH (Ring of HOnor) so the "crossover" there isn't the same. AEW also will bring in wrestlers from the Indies and give them spots don't he shows from time to time. Actually, some of AEW's biggest starts were Indie wrestlers who got a chance during the pandemic and got signed. Regardless what company you like and don't like. What AEW does in this regard is a GREAT thing for wrestling. AEW has a PPV coming up called Forbidden Door ( a play on the term of wrestlers from different companies working together). It will be a show where AEW/NJPW/CMLL and possibly more are competing together or against each other. Its fun to get to see. Especially because it gives you a glimpse of some international talent you might never get to see normally. ________ Hope I gave you some good feedback. Always love talking about wrestling and always willing to give you my perspective or answer questions.
Reguardinf cost: AEW doesn’t have to change their prices, because people are willing to pay for them. However, if they would just bundle there PPV’s for the year (or maybe quarterly or seasonally) to lower the price by a small bit, I could see it being a much better purchase.
1. Being in competition and perception of winning even on the small scale hits well with the fanbase. Something that appears to be unique to AEW is acknowledging that other companies exist. There is very much an us vs them mentality, especially in a David and Goliath way. AEW teams up with NJPW, CMLL, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and actively talk about the Indie promotions where many of them came from, this is all positive. This also stems from where our fan base comes from. Many of us where disillusioned with WWE for nearly 20 years and longed for the Attitude Era/Monday Night Wars. The weird part is that many of us where WWF fans back then. That said AEW has strong ties and call backs to WCW. We never thought we would get a competitive company. The other half of our fan base watched the other promotions and are excited to see our favorites make it to the big league. Example: Saraya was a WWE Diva (back then she was Paige) years ago and was injured. She healed and came to AEW as a Baby Face. However in early in a face to face she mocked Britt Baker the then women's champion for having come from the Indies and never working for WWE. This went over so poorly that the fans turned on her so hard that to keep the feud alive they had to swap Britt to a baby face because the fan base hated her for that one comment. That said competition is good for everyone and both shows. It forces them to make better products and pay their people better. You would not have liked WWE pre AEW. 2. I was never shocked by it. As mentioned above I started in the Attitude Era and seeing blood was just part of the show. WWF had a Hard Core Championship Belt that was basically the Mankind/Mick Foley belt. It never made sense to me that you could be hit by these things and not rip open and bleed. Its known as getting color and dates back to the Regional Days before there was cable TV and the WWF was just the North East Regional company. If you are worried about feeling numb and this being too hardcore look up Nick Gage Matches. AEW is fairly tame and very safe. They practice the stunts and gimmicks. Although watching Swerve Staple his own face last December felt super hardcore and squimish, it wasn't new WWF had a guy in the 80s that would staple his face even when he wasn't hyped up like before the match or during promos. After the Monday Night Wars the WWF became the WWE and they started the PG era and wanted to bring in a younger audience. 3. I have never bought a PPV and just watch the 3 free shows. With the exception of the PPV that I went to live to watch Sting Retire. AEW is trying to get a streaming service. They are negotiating with Netflix and HBO Max. This has to do with 5 years ago when they made their original deal with Time Warner Discovery. It was built around this model and there was no streaming for them because they had no back catalogue and at that time had done 2 or 3 PPVs and no live weekly shows. Also back then they only did 3 or 4 PPV a year (which honestly I miss because the weekly shows had prestige monthly Dynamites) as of 2023 they expanded to 9 to have more to offer for the streaming services so they could get a better deal. The original contract expires in January and you can bet this change will happen a I will subscribing to whoever has that contract. 4. As long as they can still perform and want to perform, I want them to continue to live their dreams. Honestly, though I am starting to wonder if we have picked up too many former WWE talents. Some of them I love like Chris Jericho, but at the same time he has been with AEW since the very first PPV that started AEW. Gangrel the Vampire is likely a 1 off for the PPV and was the leader of the original team when Adam Copeland (Edge) and Christian started with in WWF back in the 90s. 5. No, the WWE rose to dominance by crushing their competition in the 80s often in very dastardly and underhanded ways (watch Dark Side of the Ring on Vice for Details). They won the Monday Night Wars because Turner Broad Casting was bought out AOL Time Warner and they sold off WCW to Vince McMann. They pretend the other companies don't exist and don't even acknowledge them. Would it be cool if we had a Forbidden Door style PPV with AEW vs WWE? Absolutely, but I can't see that ever happening. As I mentioned the competition is good for the quality of the show and the wrestlers make way more money. As for the other companies mentioned in Q1 they crossover all the time. AEW features wrestlers from the other companies, has title matches on their shows for belts that are owned by other companies and their wrestlers go to wrestle on the other shows often in different companies. Right now Jon Moxley has the IWGP Heavy Weight belt that you saw him defend at Double or Nothing. That is the top belt in NJPW he is currently defending that for half of this month in Japan on NJPW shows. This leads into this months Forbidden Door the crossover PPV with NJPW. On the weekly shows nearly every month they have people from the other companies around once a month. As for WWE I don't even know who is on their active roster, except for Roman Raynes (since he has been the top guy for years now) and Cody Rhodes because he went back to WWE from AEW. Oh and the Good Brothers (but WWE probably renamed them). Honestly, I don't have an answer for that. Bonus: I wrote a thorough response to the questions you had on your First Time watching Video. However, it glitched when I went to post it and it was all lost. I really liked it and it was nice to see a fair perspective. We are very tribal and I believe that has to do with Wrestling History and the competition between the companies in the 80s and 90s.
Christian? Is that who they gangral guy is? Lol dang that would make sense. I remember that from the n64 game my buddy had. Sorry you had to type all that twice. But I appreciate the thorough response!
Edge had already retired and made a comeback in WWE before moving over to AEW. He was having really good, diverse matches against a bunch of different people before this one. The elbow drop was a bad idea, but he also fucked up of his own accord. He was trying to protect Malakai Black from taking all of his weight but basically overcompensated and stuck the landing. Wrestling is dangerous, but if that move went as intended they would have been sore but fine.
I love when AEW takes shots at WWE. The whole reason I love AEW is because I grew up on the attitude era. AEW is the closest thing to that period of time that I have ever seen. The thing that set off the attitude era was the Monday night wars. The jawing back and forth reminds me of the rivalry with WCW. I love everything that they are doing.
When it comes to using a VPN yes it's legal to use a VPN to purchase PPVs for less money on triller tv and with aew plus you can watch the shows commercial-free
Plus the commentators during commercial breaks are so free spirited that you get additional entertainment during it. They make each other laugh with jokes and tell anecdotes, it's a very unique feeling that is kind of based on their commentary of AEW Dark (one of their youtube shows with lower card acts and squashes against local talents where Taz and Excalibur just had fun watching some matches). The match cooks on on low heat during break, but sometimes they even show cool stuff during it like a wrestler argueing with fans or certain moves that work anyways (a chop duel or some moves that work in PiP as well as live to keep the audience entertained).
Most of the time the older wrestlers are handled very well. Look at sting being partnered with Darby Allen who did most out of the wrestling. And then injuries do happen but like in WWE Edge was doing just as extreme stuff when he first came back. The injury has to do with how Edge landed. He messed up his landing and that could have happened to anyone. But they've handled Aaron Anderson, Jake, The Snake Roberts very very well.
The user KruseControl did an excellent job answering all of your questions and I agree with them pretty much 100%, but just wanna add some of my own thoughts. AEW used to only have 4 PPVs per year but have been slowly adding new ones. 2024 will have a total of 8 PPVs for the year, which is the most in a single year. I've ordered every PPV in the past 4 years and I have no regrets because they put on great shows every single time in my opinion. Some are better than others of course, but they never half-ass anything, even if some PPVs are a bit disappointing. In my opinion WWE's PPVs (or PLEs) don't have as much value. The only PLEs that have any importance are WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam. The rest usually feel like fancy SmackDowns with championship matches. In WWE you kinda know that after WrestleMania nothing major is gonna happen on a PPV until SummerSlam. and then again until Royal Rumble. Although, this could be changing in the near future with Triple H in charge. AEW doesn't have PPVs that are more important or significant than others. Sure, Double or Nothing was an anniversary show, but the brand new PPV called Dynasty last month did not feel any less important in its build or match card. So that is why to me every AEW PPV feels can't miss and worth it. But yes, with the increases in PPVs, I am starting to get a little bit uncomfortable forking out $50 nearly every month. Doing it once every 3 month was much easier to manage than doing it nearly every month now. I loved the Hardy Boyz as a kid but unfortunately they are way past their prime. Jeff has had many infamous problems with drugs, including last year which got him suspended for quite a while. Matt Hardy struggles to move in the ring. In AEW if you cannot perform at a high level in the ring, then you will stand out like a sore thumb. The Hardy Boyz are very nostalgic to most millennial wrestling fans but unfortunately they just can't keep up with the competition in the ring anymore and many times its been sad watching them rather than exciting. Adam Copeland on the other hand, as well as Christian, who actually came up in the business with the Hardy Boyz, are in great shape and can still keep up with today's talent on a high level. You saw Christian fighting for the AEW world championship at Double or Nothing and he looked great. Copeland looked great too, until his unfortunate injury. But his injury wasn't because of his age, it was just a very high risk move that he did and he clearly had second thoughts when he climbed up the cage, which caused him to hesitate and screw up whatever move he was attempting to do. Chris Jericho is another old timer who has been a major name in wrestling since the 90s. As much as AEW fans like to complain about him being on TV too much, he is also still very much capable of putting on great performances. When I see him in the ring I don't feel worried for him. I was worried about Sting, because that man went absolutely crazy at the age of 64, especially on his farewell match a few months ago, but thankfully he made it through okay and had one of the best career sendoffs in wrestling history. AEW has done an excellent job with old wrestlers in my opinion. They are great nostalgic acts, but most of the time they are used as side characters, or mentors who help put over the younger talent. In comparison with WWE, many times they would have an old wrestler such as Goldberg, Undertaker, Steve Austin, The Rock or even Brock Lesnar, come in and destroy a younger talent, or even win a championship from them, and then disappear for many months. AEW almost never brings in an older wrestler to stick them into a main event of a PPV or have them win a championship. A good recent example is Rob Van Dam in AEW. He has made a few appearances within the past year. He put on great performances but he lost clean to Jack Perry and to Swerve Strickland. The only times that RVD has won matches in AEW is when he teamed up with Hook, and them winning as a tag team helped build up Hook, as well as give RVD some wins. AEW has worked with Ring of Honor, NJPW, DDT Wrestling, AAA, CMLL, TNA, and GCW. AEW's wrestlers are also allowed to work in other independent promotions, which further extends the crossovers. WWE on the other hand has always refused to even mention the existence of other promotions, let alone collaborate with them. Again, a lot of this is on Vince McMahon. He micromanaged every little thing about every wrestler. There have been incidents where WWE has fired wrestlers for simply attending TNA shows before. Thankfully Triple H seems to be more open about cross-promotion, but you have to manage your expectations. If history is anything to go by, WWE will never collaborate with anyone or anything unless they themselves greatly benefit from it. Anything can happen, but my brain completely glitches out when I try to imagine a scenario in which WWE collaborates with AEW without the condition that AEW wrestlers must look like total idiots in every match and segment.
I hope I can help, mexican AEW fan, been watching since 2019 and I love wrestling, I am not really into WWE anymore but I tune in on TH-cam when something I like it's happening. (Like my boy Sami Zayn being IC champion). 1. Sometimes, is cool/ okay, ngl, most times is stupid. I like the MJFs it has been some and most Vince or HHH related ones. I don't mind the Will Ospreay to HHH cause it was a response to some nasty spirited comments HHH did. WWE does it but nothing compared with the amount AEW does. (I really like the Young Bucks "I'm sorry, I love you parody" or Cody smashing the throne, or Mr. Broddie Lee making some refferences). 2. Double or Nothing was a PPV, most weekly matches are not Anarchy on The Arena nor WiredSteel Cage. Most are just singles, tag and trios matches with some edgier/brutal spots. So most of the times I like bizarre stipulations. The blood can be really often but are most character base, like Jon Moxley or Brody King that are violent groesome and sometimes sadistic personas. 3. I do it ilegally, i'm mexican, that's why my english is shitty. I watch in a sketchy platform, here in México AEW has a partership with a shitty streaming service called VIX and it's been rumoured that internationally they are working an HBO deal. (Also, most AEW PPV are real bangers, even when weekly tv it's not at it's best, most of them are not skippable, for me at least). 4. Fxck Ric Flair and his m0l3zt1ng ass. It can be amazing like Christian Cage, Adam Coppeland, Billy Gunn I likes Arn Anderson as Cody manager, it also can be really stupid. I want the Hardys out of my screen, Jericho is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time and even I want him to take more breaks. Also, most legends don't do risky spots, most are managers or one, two, maybe three times appareances, like Gangrel, the vampire dude, he is probably not going to weekly TV. Adam Coppeland injury was an extraordinary event more like a 2 mothly Legend broked his something. 5. Probably not, AEW does do lot of crossover, mexican companies CMLL and AAA have worked with AEW. Japanese companies Stardom and NJPW. American side ROH, TNA and some indies. Even Kenny Omega, belt collector phase, was AAA, TNA and AEW world champion at once. Defending in the 3 companies. I have lots of AEW vs WWE dream scenarios but are truelly non real. Loved your first AEW video, loved your questions and I hope I helped. c: Again, sorry my english might be broke.
Some of my Dream scenarios would be. Sami Zayn as the face vs Bryan Danielson as the heel. Kenny Omega vs Roman Reings. Jon Moxley vs Seth Rollings. House of Black vs CM Punk. "Timeless" Toni Storm vs Becky Lynch or Bayley. Kevin Owens vs The Young Bucks. Cody Rhodes vs Chris Jericho or Kenny Omega.
AEW weekly shows does have mixed reactions specially right now but when it comes to their PPVs they are always hits. In past they used to just have 4 PPVs per year and even paying huge money felt worth it. But with them adding 9 PPVs maybe the cost needs to go down
Hey dporticus, I just want to recommend TNA Against All Odds. It's on Friday the 14th I believe, and the card is very good imo for someone who doesn't know anything about TNA to get into. The main event will likely be Broken Matt Hardy vs Moose for the TNA World Championship. Matt returned to TNA very recently after a lackluster stint in AEW. He's gone back to his "broken" gimmick which, fair word of warning, takes some getting used to. He's been TNA champion under two previous gimmicks (Big Money Matt and just regular Matt I'm pretty sure) but his goal is to "procure the championship of the world from the mammoth known as Moose". Moose is pretty much a different version of Bobby Lashley. Moose's faction, The System, holds the TNA world championship, the TNA world tag team championships, and 1/2 of the TNA Knockouts (women's) tag team championships. The TNA tag team champions, Bryan Myers (used to be Curt Hawkins in WWE but that was before either of us started watching) and Eddie Edwards, are defending against Nic Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler) and his brother Ryan Nemeth. Mustafa Ali will be defending the X-Division championship against Trent Seven (who used to be in a faction called British Strong Style with Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate, and won the NXT UK tag team championships with Bate, and is a really good wrestler) after Seven defeated his tag partner, Speedball Mike Bailey, after those two (Speedball Mountain) beat another team called ABC (who I recommend checking out) in a match to determine which team would face each other to determine Ali's opponent at Against All Odds. Jordynne Grace, who is challenging Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Championship at Battleground on Sunday, is defending her Knockout's world championship in an open challenge, which should be interesting given the relationship between WWE and TNA. If you're interested I would say it's a pretty good show to do a video on and it's nowhere near as expensive as Double or Nothing since it's technically not a PPV. The best (and I'm pretty sure only way) to watch it is to subscribe to TNA+. The lowest tier is called Special Attraction Monthly and is $9.99 per month. This gets you access to Monthly Special Events (which is what Against All Odds is), weekly shows and the entire video library. If you enjoy it and want to get further into it I recommend upgrading your membership to World Champion Annual. It gets you all PPV's and MSE's included as well as weekly shows and the library, and is cheaper than paying for for Special Attraction for the year and buying all PPVs. I personally enjoy TNA and would recommend you checking it out, especially now that you've watched AEW. Hopefully you see this.
WWE Pay Per Views were $50 dollars until the WWE Network became a thing in 2014 but the thing about WWE back then would have bundle deals during WrestleMania season and Summer Slam season so it’s normal for those that have been life long wrestling fans to pay for pay per views but with streaming services now a thing we Pay Per Views/PLE’s should be free with a subscription to whatever service for example NBCU and Peacock TV like WWE and hopefully AEW gets a streaming deal done with Warner Brothers Discovery and HBO Max so we don’t have to pay for every Pay Per View if we have a HBO Max subscription
wanted to throw this in about the PPV thing but you can watch the PPVs at Dave and Buster's (lol). However, I try and support by paying for the PPV when I can and paying for it on Sling TV or TH-cam, but I think TK plans to get this streaming somewhere.
Let’s go for all of them! 1: I generally don’t care. When Tony does it it’s mostly funny and when talent does it it’s almost always referring to a wrestlers past, which is good. Tony actually hates HHH and the wwe office (The stuff with his mom, the Billy Gunn hall of fame situation, Association with Vince) but still, most people don’t really ride or die behind Tony. He’s a dork, he’s funny, it’s whatever. I get how to someone who doesn’t know the history of the shots and the ins and outs of things it would be nasty though. 2. No not really. The in ring work rate is obviously higher, but that’s how it is in the majority of companies, it’s the wwe in house style to be less high-impact (not saying it’s bad, I’m just not a fan) but as for blood and crazy stunts, they don’t happen that often. Mostly at ppvs or when the feud calls for it. (With exceptions, Dustin Rhodes really likes to bleed when he gets tv time) Even then I don’t mind though. It’s gnarly and adds to the psychology of the match. 3. The ppv cost is really rough, I always use the vpn method, so it’s whatever. I absolutely prefer what wwe does with peacock though, and what Tony does with ROH (ppvs come with the roh streaming service). Hopefully they get a max deal and can streamline things. 4. This depends. It really just depends on the talent. With Christian, Dustin, Copeland, they’re still great in the ring, and barring mistakes like the Copeland elbow drop, safe. With Jericho, and the hardy’s, they need to hang it up. Safety wise though I’m rarely concerned, I trust in a company this big to keep these people safe within reason. 5. No, not really. Tony legitimately hates the management at wwe, and from Triple H’s recent press conferences and pre-shows, an more subliminal shots, it’s mutual. It sucks, but that’s how it is. As for matchups, Bianca Belair vs Toni Storm, or Jamie Hayter, or Riho would be awesome. Bianca’s one of the only people I check wwe socials for matches of. Hope my responses are helpful and what not, live laugh wrestling.
4:36 About using of blood in Wrestling. Well when you watch MMA fights they usually bleed. Watching Wrestling is supposed to make you feel it's real and dangerous. They're professionals they know their jobs better than I or anyone on Twitter/Podcast yelling at them knows.
Firstly, hi, Im Valo and i run RWL here in England - I watch both and tend to lean towards AEW. 1) doesn’t bother me. All companies often take jabs at each other. There was an AEW reference on NXT with Ethan Pages debut last week and HHH has taken shots in press conferences and also during the DX HoF speech. TKs jab during the NFL Draft was massively uncalled for. Yes, other companies take jabs at each other. Look back to 1996 where WWE (then WWF) was taking jabs at WCW. 2) The hardcore aspect doesnt bother me personally. This style of wrestling is very common across the wrestling world and dare i say WWE is the outlier.
Q2- Speaking of Blood and Violence, someone who grew up with ECW and Attitude Era Wrestling. I don't think you ever get numb watching blood or dangerous wrestling spots because you know one wrong move can end a wrestler's career. You know they're feeling pain while doing those moves and you just feel it
As for the PPVs, they only do nine. I fully expect them to eventually do one a month. Because they sometimes struggle with the lead-up to the PPVs, although they usually excel with their pay-per-views. There will just be absolute must-see PPVs considering the matches. There will also be ones you can totally skip. It was like that when the WWE still focused on PPVs.
From a 20yr old WWE and AEW fan, grew up on WWE, went big AEW 2020-22, currently enjoying both. Been to 5 episodes of dynamite, 1 Raw, 2 house shows, and both nights of WM 40. AEW started with only 4 PPVs per year and that was something I really enjoyed. Revolution, DoN, All Out, and Full Gear. I'm actually happy with 49.99 as I believe UFC PPVs are 79.99. I believe they're working on a deal with HBO for streaming which would be ideal. If the older guys can still go and look good I'm fine with it, but there gets a point that it can be tough to watch. Depends on booking, for example Sting was booked great. AEW definitely fires more shots but WWE has as well, most famously Triple H referring to the "pissant" company. Cody speaks highly of his time in AEW and relationships with the Bucks/Kenny. I'm just glad people are watching wrestling.
Personally it's all good to me. I actually wish both shows would be free enough to mention the other as many times as they want. But that's because I actually want cross company feuds and matches. I want a real forbidden door every year like Mania where one company invades the other and starts feuds up that culminate in a PLE to end said feuds. But I guess when I say that, I mean that I want these two companies to collab and lift each of their names to higher levels by doing so. Of course the chances of that happening is slim to none but one day I hope TK and Hunter can actually work together to give us something like whats happening with TNA and Dub down in NXT. As a product I watch WWE over AEW because I like stories over five star matches but I've never had a problem with one show mentioning the other. Punk and MjF have had some of their best promos taking shots at Dub. The biggest problem is that AEW, staff and stars as a whole seem to actually hate Dub whereas Dub seems to just ignore AEW as maybe their estranged cousin a few families over that they are embassed to mention publicly. If both companies can get over these hangups I can see an even newer Era in Pro Wrestling where we work to build each other up instead of pushing each other down. But of course, thats probably a pipe dream for me.
The only time I've heard of WWE mentioning AEW was during a Sami Zayn TV Segment like 2 or 3 years ago and Triple H mentioned them during a HOF speech where Billy Gunn was there.
When they mention WWE idgaf usually. Its not that deep. But the WWE literally is the Weinstein of wrestling, the company is being sued and investigated not just Vince. WWE spent the whole wreatlemania week throwing shots at AEW trying to little bro them, which in some ways in warranted, and in others, it came across bitter. Both companies do this though. Tony Khan took that shot after constantly getting shit on by WWE and its fans for weeks. He deserved to get that off in my opinion. But i personally just focus on kayfabe idgaf about “real” drama. Except for the fed case because that is very serious. I grew up on death matches in CZW so extreme stuff is always fun for me. But you just happened to watch a PPV that was full of that stuff. If you watched the previous one Dynasty, it was all just regular wrestling. AEW mostly does normal wrestling and the in ring quality is far superior to WWE. Its hard hitting intense and the stories in AEW are told through the wrestling mostly, rather than with promos and stuff. Though AEW has that stuff too. But AEW does things more subtly and you have to pay attention to the show to follow along. And blood is just blood idk its never shocked me really but ive been watching since 1998 so thats probably why. Also it never takes away from my love for NJPW or TNA or STARDOM. AEW actually shows love to all styles of wrestling so you can get strong style, lucha, joshi, kings road, and deathmatch stuff all in one night or even one match sometimes. It makes me appreciate all forms of wrestling even more. Sadly 49.99 is pretty standard for PPV and WWE used to be like $10 higher i think back in the days. Well their big four did at least. But AEW should be moving to MAX at some point this year so this whole thing will change with the coming TV deal from WB. But for now yeah the PPV prices are stinky haha. If i were you, I would tune in for ALL IN which is their Wrestlemania. And then maybe Full Gear or Worlds End depending on what the cards look like. Adam Copeland has been absolutely fantastic in AEW and i never expected him to be so great this late in his career. But i think he even said himself he got on such a hot streak that he forgot hes 50 lol. Hes around so many young guys doing fun stuff he wanted to keep up but now he knows better. It was just a case of Adam pushing too hard. Most of the other old guys dont jump off cages lol. Only Cope. WWE is never going to coexist with AEW. They have never played nice with others. They barely play nice even now with more open talent “exchanges”. They will mention companies now at least. And bring people like Jordyn Grace in. But WWE is the most hyper capitalist company out there (they all are, the fed is just the worst with it) and they will never do anything that hurts their bottom line. Profits are the only thing that matter to the WWE. Whereas other companies do also care about their product in ring and otherwise (they also focus on profits though). But WWE would destroy all other companies and become a monopoly again if they could. Thats just the reality of it. If i could get Kenny Omega vs John Cena i would absolutely love that so much. But realistically i think Roman vs Kenny would also be fun af. Also i need to see Young Bucks and DIY in a tag match.
Also everyone loved WWE back in the day and they still talk about the incredible TLC matches or the brutal hell in a cell matches and then WWE just made those matches into their own pay previews. It takes away from the story. It’s like oh it’s October so it’s time to have a hell in a cell match. It’s stupid. The Match is meant for a heated rivalry and a good way to close it out. AEW doesn’t have an anarchy in the arena pay per view. They do it every once in a while and they’re great matches when they do put them on. The wrestlers leave it all out there for us.
a lot of these questions can be answered by either watching aew from the start or just continuing to watch it, their unspoken rules and quirks are usually said out loud whereas wwe is just catching up their communication skills, i guess it comes down to if you like to be told that you're watching a best of eight match up while its happening (aew) or only being told it took place, after it's over and done with (wwe) it's all wrestling but one focuses on the culture the other focuses on brand awareness
Now in the triple H era I think it's more of a possibility than it ever has been. You also have people on the roster that are really good friends with people on both shows. I think it would be amazing to have like a new day versus the Young Bucks match and they have actually feuded before and it all led to a street fighter tournament but I'd love for it to actually end in the ring.
I would say wait for just 1 year it is guaranteed coming to HBO max.infact dynamite and collision will be available on max so you can watch it then and it doesn't have to live
as a AEW fan, i dont mind mentioning WWE (who I also like) very know and then. But it seemingly more and more common, and I think it gets old quick and some are in very poor taste. the 4 PPV a year was perfect, I had no problem paying the $50 but with them doing the more shows I will not be watching those sadly. But I think thats why you have 12 match PPVs, I feel at least I do get my moneys worth when I buy a PPV. I dont think they will work together with any time soon with all the shots that Tony takes at WWE, but maybe one day far down the road they will
For the "old guys still wrestling" question: When we watched DoN and Copeland climbed that cage we were all screaming "NO PLEASE DON'T DO IT" and when he jumped the way he did I immediately said he would probably break something. I was thinking of ankles or knees. I've got mixed feelings about this and I think it's a very case by case kind of situation. I feel Sting had a fantastic time in AEW with great matches and great moments that showed he could still go but he did it in a very VERY safe way. Even when he took bumps that looked kind of dangerous I always felt he knew what he was doing and he knew what he was capable of doing without hurting himself or anyone else. And I loved seeign him in AEW... like more than almost anything else. He was an absolute hero of mine as a kid watching him in WCW and WWE really did him dirty. I didn't see most of his TNA stuff, because I didn't watch much wrestling at the time and his AEW stuff was just a perfect sendoff. I feel like Jericho sometimes looks like he shouldn't wrestle anymore... but then sometimes he shows that he can still go and he's funny as fuck. The Hardies... well... idk. Jeff had a couple singles matches at the end that were decent but his high risk stuff just looked too dangerous, especially since he just looked unsteady as fuck. Billy Gunn is another one that looks absolutely phenomenal at his age and I think he knows very well how to wrestle for his age. He can be out there every week and not look like he's ruining his life with it. Overall I'm happy that some older wrestlers that can still go are getting the opportunity to do so in AEW and not be relegated to some legends type deal where they get to enter the Royal Rumble once a year do 3 signature moves and then get eliminated by this years big guy monster heel.
WWE mentions AEW more than you think. Though they don't mention them by name. Numerous references have been made throughout the years from talent and lately Triple H. Fans that only consume the WWE product will miss these references. The relationship between TNA and WWE has only happened because AEW has partnerships with NJPW, CMLL, Stardom, AAA and at one time TNA. ROH is owned by Tony Khan and is a sister promotion to AEW and should honestly be their version of NXT. As for paying $49 for a PPV. Thats how it alwats was before WWE made the network and moved to Peacock. Other promotions also charge $49 for a PPV/PLE. We will probably see AEW content show up on Max in the near future if all AEW shows stay on Warner networks. Im mostly an AEW fan these days. AEW got me back into professional wrestling. I'm 38 and grew up watching WWF and WCW. Seeing WWE and AEW is a great thing. Its nice to see a promotion that has the money to compete and pay talent comparably to what they would in WWE. You hadn't seen that since WWE purchased WCW. Competition is good for the fans and talent.
It really doesn’t bother me mostly because up until Triple H took over creative 2 years ago. WWE rarely or did not acknowledge the greater wrestling world after WCW and ECW went under back in 2001. Before that all the companies in the US would take potshots ateach each other. Either outright or small subtle jabs at each other. The only other instances I can personally think of companies really taking jabs at each other or wrestlers are in Japan. And the blood feud between AAA and CMLL. Not really, they kind of save most of that for pay-per-view or special event episodes. Occasionally on a episode of tv. $50 is the standard for wrestling pay-per-views. WWE used to charge the same prices until they made the network and then eventually moved onto Peacock It’s pretty cool seeing some of the older wrestlers being able to do what they want to do in AEW (except for Chris Jericho). Some people like Christian weren’t given the opportunity to thrive in WWE
As one of the few fans (it seems) to both shows, I'll throw some of my answers out there. 1. I enjoy when names are thrown out through companies, because it lets me believe that maybe... just maybe... we'll see some cross-brand feuds in the future. I highly doubt this will EVER happen, but never say never. 2. I've never felt numb to the extreme action. I think it's awesome for the most part. But there are things that make me cringe and feel bad for the wrestlers. For instance, one of the last PPVs had Swerve Strickland using a staple gun on his opponent and then he turned it to himself and started stapling a paper to his face. That was too far for my eyes. I also couldn't stop saying "My Gosh he's going to die" when Darby Allin dangled from that rope for 10 minutes during the last PPV. 3. When they first started out, AEW was doing the $50 PPV's every 2 or 3 months which was great. Now it's every month of course (except for All In and All Out which are a week apart for some stupid and costly reason). $50 is crazy expensive but it's nothing new to me because that's how WWE was pre-Peacock. It irritates me that the PPVs go on until 12:30 in the morning but at the same time if I pay that much money, I want my moneys worth. 8 or so matches make me feel like I got that. I would prefer streaming deals, and I do watch every PPV, but I have a group of friends that come over and pitch in with the money. 4. While I love these older guys coming back and giving it another go in the company, there are definitely times that I say "C'mon, just retire and work backstage man." I think people like Christian and Edge coming back are okay because they still got it. Every time I watched a Sting match I cringed because the dude is 65 Years old and still diving off of ladders and stuff. Same goes with the Hardy Boyz. They are who made me a wrestling fan years ago, but pain is why Jeff got into drugs and alcohol in the first place and it hurts me to see that he's still wrestling. 5. Answered that one up there!
to answer your questions so #1 wwe never name drops wrestlers from aew and this is something they basically always have done even during the monday night wars vs wcw they focus on there own product and thats basically why they won the monday night wars, at first it was cool to mention wwe but its to much now i dont get super annoyed but they should stop and only 1 time wwe had this segment where samy zayn asked the crowd for any questions they have, he was disappointed by the questions and said why hasnt anyone ask him about AEW :O oh and during the DX hall of fame billy gunn said vince cant fire him so triple h did reference aew cause billy gunn was leaving to go there and triple h said vince could buy that piss as company and could fire him #2 - i love the non pg of AEW cause its something that is really missing in wwe and it reminds of the attitude era or ECW , the only part is when jon moxley bleeds alot, he does it so much it isnt special anymore #3 - i dont have cable so i find a way to watch AEW shows and ppv for free, there is websites that stream it, its similar to websites that play movies, iv done this for years and has never got in trouble, i wont drop the link cause could get you in trouble but i basically type watch aew for free and you could try and find these sites, but i dont watch it live cause it lags alot so i wait when the shows and ppv is done #4 - i dond mine seeing some of my favorite legends like edge, christian, jericho, billy gunn, sting being part of aew cause they got to face new people, refresh there characters that got stail when they were in wwe, my problem is they been signing way to many wwe talent and push them more then many aew originals, sure aew has there big stars but many of the mid carders are struggling, they dont get any tv time or just plan forgotten or some former wwe stars come in and get that flavor or the month and they havnt done anything, the big problem was signing first cm punk when he went off at the scrum that change my opinion of him and now i dont like him at all, same for mercedes mone, im actually super mad she won the tbs title on her first match ever and didnt deserve it, she always felt overrated too me and i cringe when she speaks and that stupid dance #5 -WWE and AEW will NEVER EVER work together!! way too many egos and if the matches were to happen who wins? it depends whos booking the show, if its triple h then all the wwe talent wins, if its tony khan then all the AEW talent wins, so this will never happen, its pretty much when WWF vs WCW they would take shots at each other but never worked with each other
I've been staying out of the wrestling discourse and news bubble because it's so toxic I contemplated giving up watching wrestling, but I thought I'd jump in just to answer from my perspective. Should anyone other than Dporticus feel the need to reply for whatever reason, I will not respond, so don't bother. :P People from AEW name dropping WWE or people in WWE for no reason other than cheap heat is just that. I don't think it helps them. It has it's place, and I like when we can acknowledge the existence of other companies, but it's often done in poor taste. WWE doesn't really mention AEW on their programming, but they're very petty towards them in other ways. I am not numb to the extreme aspects of AEW. I'm not into deathmatch wrestling, sharp things are scary, chair shots to the head hurt my stomach, I would prefer them to ease up a bit, because I often ask myself why they're doing an extreme match in the first place when it's not really necessary. For a while, Jon Moxley was infamous for bleeding in pretty much every match. Luckily he doesn't do it as often these days. PPVs are expensive, there's no way around it. Me and my friend kinda work together to watch AEW. I pay for the VPN to watch commercial free on Fite (now Triller) in the UK, an account that he pays for. And for PPVs, because of what he does, we basically get the shows for free, but a streaming deal would be better. Why AEW is not on the HBO service is perplexing. Wrestler age depends on the wrestler. Adam Copeland can still wrestle just fine and he's in great shape. You'd be surprised how many guys in WWE are close to or over 40 if you don't know already. Once it becomes apparent that wrestlers are struggling, then it's not as fun to watch as a fan. I thought Undertaker should have stopped at WrestleMania 28, it even made sense storyline wise, but he kept going. Anyone jumping feet first off of a cage can only go badly. I don't see a day where AEW and WWE work together, but I also didn't think the Elite would sell 10,000 tickets in 2018, nor did I think they'd sell 80,000 tickets in 2023. I didn't think WWE would work with any other company until Mickie James entered the Royal Rumble as Impact Knockouts champion a couple years ago. The past 6 years have been crazy for wrestling, so anything could happen.
As far as I remember AEW was name dropped only once by Sami Zayn, way before the whole business with the Bloodline. WWE usually doesn't name other companies, unless there is some sort of business relation going on, like TNA now
Saw your other video and then watched this so I will answer some questions. You almost have to know that WWE was the only real game on TV for about 20 years, so many people have been indoctrinated by WWE. Back in the 90's, we had WCW, WWF, and ECW to watch. Many of us flipped back and forth during the Monday Night Wars. So most of the people like me love having AEW around. WCW was really more of a southern style of wrestling while WWF was the northern style. But those lines are definitely blurred these days. WCW also had the cruiserweight title with people holding that title like Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr all before they were in WWF/WWE. It wasn't unusual to see wrestlers jump between companies back then. I would say AEW is a mix of WCW, ECW, and the Japanese and luchadore styles. Plus AEW has more tag wrestling, whith some of the greatest tag teams alive today. The name dropping has to do with WWE being the only big wrestling on TV for so long and refusing to aknowledge that there is other wrestling on planet Earth. It doesn't bother me relaly, it's a big fat nothingburger for most of us. MJF is probably the most over wrestler today. His charachter has evolved from the rich eastern blue blood to the denim/leather jacket and vest. Just like Triple H. His whole outfit was a tribute to Trips. As far as the blood and hardcore style of AEW, I love it. My teenage years was filled with ECW. ECW, hardcore wrestling and Japanese death matches is how I became a wrestling degenerate. WWE is really too squeaky clean for my tastes. But again I am a wrestling degenerate! So you will se more older wrestlers move over to AEW because AEW doesn't have the brutal schedule that WWE has with house shows and the travel. AEW also allows their wrestlers to take indie bookings, and persue other projects outside of wrestling. Thankfully Matt is gone(needs to retire) and Jeff won't be there much longer. Matt is cooked as a wrestler. I personally don't see AEW and WWE really working together. As for AEW ppv's, AEW really has a few signature ppv's like Double or Nothing, Revolution, Full Gear and All Out. But I think All Out has been over taken by All In. Especially with how huge an event All In is. And All Out is the next weekend after All In. Personally DON, REvolution, All In, and Full Gear should be the must see PPV's. Like many people, AEW has brought me back to wrestling after being a lapsed fan for so long.
WWE definitely had a smear campaign during WrestleMania's pre show scrum thing. Triple H basically being bitter that he missed out on the top free agents, pat making fun of AEWs attendence, punk has made a few shots about AEW, Ethan page had a shot at AEW just a few days ago. It happens on both sides, but AEWs references to WWE are usually from the talents mouth as AEW doesn't script promos, WWE on the hand scripts all promos.
Dporticus my sweet summer child. As a long time wrestling fan (over 40 years) let me explain the difference between WWE and everybody else. WWE is sports entertainment. They are a cast of characters acting out a soap opera with a bit of "wrestling" thrown in. Most of the "Superstars" (they aren't allowed to be called wrestlers) are there for the paycheck. They have little to no say in how their character is developed or portrayed. AEW is much closer to NJPW and the indies. The AEW fans recognize when wrestlers from other leagues show up in AEW or ROH. AEW fans are people who also watch CMLL, NJPW, GCW, Defy, and loads of other leagues. WWE fans believe because WWE is the biggest league, they are the best - but they haven't really taken a look around. An example would be when WWE fans claim the Usos are teh best tag team ever. Honestly, they aren't even the best tag team in their family (That would be Tama Tonga and Tama Loa - the Guerrillas of Destiny). Everyone who goes from watching WWE to AEW complains about the lack of story lines but AEW is more about what goes on in the ring. Beside, if they were to concentrate of long, drawn out story lines, they would be trying to complete with WWE at its biggest strength. Ask WCW how that turned out. (which is why I find Eric Bischoff giving unsolicited advice to AEW constantly hysterical) That is RAW has 3 hours of TV time and 45 minutes of in ring "action." I honestly believe why AEW's numbers have cooled as of late is because they are adding too many story lines (ie: long speeches, backstage bits, etc.) AEW is about having great wrestlers get in the ring and push boundaries. Not every match needs a huge 4 week build up. They don't have to have 3 - 7 matches before settling things at a pay per view. The bottom line is, watch what you want but know comparing WWE to AEW is comparing a BMW to a Jeep. They are both good at what they do but won't necessarily appeal to the same audience. And it would be foolish for a Jeep to try and compete in the same market space as a BMW - and vice versa.
Question 1: Short Answer: I feel it is fine and it shouldn't turn you off. It should be a fun feature that lets you go " oh OH!" because WWE generally aren't too obvious about their own jabs. Long Answer: If you think about it, it's a weird question. It's like an American being surprised that America is mentioned in a Canadian TV show. Basically, WWE's been at the top of the hill for decades and they almost never acknowledge that wrestling exist outside of it. To the point where NXT Champion Kevin Owens' first appearance to confront John Cena on the main roster was a huge deal. Think about it, they barely acknowledge their own developmental. And they've "brainwashed" their viewers into thinking that's the way it's gotta be. But it's totally different for AEW. They're the new kids on the block. WWE is a HUGE elephant in the room. Why WOULDN'T they mention WWE? ECW mentioned both WCW and WWF back in the day, because they were the small rebel company. AEW's acknowledgement of other wrestling companies is what brought us Forbidden Door. Without their practice of acknowledgement and cooperation, you wouldn't be seeing TNA stars on WWE programming right now. Cody Rhodes and Jade Cargill, would not be presented as they are, were it not in part, for this practice. AEW HAS to mention WWE because let's be honest, they're ants compared to the elephant that is WWE. WWE has also made negative comments about AEW, especially in the past. Those tend to be out of left field while AEW's comments tend to be regarding criticisms that fans have had on WWE for years. But aside from CM Punk, the WWE wrestlers seldom take negative jabs at AEW. As for Tony Khan specifically... long story short, it's his job to stir things up but WWE's less insultable since Triple H replaced Vince McMahon as the face of the company. Question 2: Short Answer: Nope, not numb yet. You've only seen the PPV, and those tend to be more extreme, and Anarchy in the Arena is meant to be extra crazy. AEW has a wide variety of styles. Long Answer: Again, we need context. For years, WWE has slowly but surely promoted a certain style of wrestling, to the point where people have been calling it the WWE style. And it's a very samey style, to the point where every wrestler kind of blended together. AEW started as an alternative to WWE, and that included having many varieties of matches. From athletic high flying "indy style", to comedy wrestling, to lucha libre, to Japanese strong style, to highly technical and eventually, even hoss style (AEW started not having a lot of big guys, so they lacked big hosses brawling). They also had more style vs style matches, but it kinda depends on who gets paired up, and admittedly, a lot of the high flyers get paired up because they're the young guys at the bottom of the pecking order while the older guys higher on the card practice slower styles. That said, AEW has a wide variety of styles but it does go through phases. A few months ago, you'd have noticed a lot of Japanese strong style with a lot of trading chops. It depends on who's being featured a lot and who's on the bench. Blood isn't a common thing in AEW these days. It was used fairly sparingly in the early days. The really big blood baths were reserved for special matches. This statement discounts Jon Moxley by the way, who seemed to be contractually obligated to bleed in EVERY match. If it feels like blood is bled a lot in AEW, blame Jon Moxley. Now, having said that, blood is indeed used in AEW and there's a handful of truly... I mean, Jesus, figuratively LITERAL blood BATHS in AEW. Check out Double of Nothing 2019. It's the first AEW show, so it's a good point to start and is something of an ideal for AEW. Question 3: Answer: The higher price for the PPV is one reason why AEW offers so many matches. So that you'd get a sense of getting your money's worth. PPV model is actually the norm and the main way to survive for smaller companies. WWE is special but definitely way more worth it for the consumer. Hopefully, AEW will be able to get a streaming service soon. They've accumulated enough content over the last 5 years as well as the ROH footage, to justify it now. I may sound pro AEW but that doesn't mean I don't acknowledge the cons. Cost of PPV is definitely a thing. If you're going to pay for it yourself and not split the cost or use some nefarious means (no judgement), then perhaps you should just focus on Double or Nothing, Full Gear, All Out and Revolution, as these are their big shows. Forbidden Door is probably not worth it for you, as a new fan, as you wouldn't get the significance of all the crossovers (ref: Question 1). And don't forget, as a TH-camr, you can look into writing off the cost as a business expense, tax-wise. Question 4: Answer: It's STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! *ahem* Fans love the wrestlers. That's why they chanted "please help Darby!" because although they're being entertained, they also know it's a work and they're concerned for the safety and well being of the wrestlers. And Darby seemed to be hanging up there like, reaaaally long. It's why when Jake the Snake broke his hip, the fans paid for his surgery and not the multi-billion dollar corporations that he spent years working for. WWE treated old guys like trash for years. And "unfortunately", AEW has treated the old guys with such respect and deference that now, the old guys keep wanting to do stuff. And while we as fans would be fine with old guys doing less, we're still happy that they can continue to do what they love. In the end, it's their choice. Question 5: Answer: Vince days? Heck no. Triple H/Nick Khan regime, maybe. Not until AEW gets a good TV deal so that they're on more equal terms though. There's no real reason for WWE to work with AEW right now. AEW would be happy to work with WWE. It would require a number of factors to coincide. Or WWE buys AEW. Or Tony to get a big chunk of WWE shares. ------------- I know I mention WWE a lot in my answers but it's like in Question 1, they're the elephant in the room. We gotta acknowledge them. AEW became instantly successful because WWE was such a monopolizing juggernaut for the prior 20 years that they were able to afford producing an ever poorer product year over year, and they were so anti-fan as well; that AEW was able to capitalize by addressing all the issues that WWE was facing. Now Vince is gone and Triple H is addressing the issues that WWE was facing, which allowed AEW to even exist. WWE is objectively better now because of AEW because without AEW, we'd probably still be stuck with the goddamn "zooming shakey-cam". Is AEW worth watching? I believe it is. Now is as good a time as any to jump in. I think AEW is old enough that you can't reasonably be expected to catch up from the beginning. But I think it's worth it to like, maybe have a watch list of key matches, episodes and PPVs that you can maybe watch on the side. Of the very least, if you're interested, perhaps you can watch promos and famous segments. I recommend watching via AEW's TH-cam channel as opposed to a fan's compilation, as the compilations have to chopped up and that really affects the flow.
As a lifelong wrestling fan of over 30 years and someone who used to be a big aew fan I’ll offer my opinions on these questions 1. I don’t like the shots. I don’t like tribalism. I won’t lie there was a time where I had been disenfranchised with main roster wwe in the 2010s and I followed the rise of the elite. They pointed out things in wwe that I also agreed with at the time. When AEW started I had bought into that stuff and I didn’t mind the shots. But my opinion did change over time. I lost interest in AEW around the time of the brawl out 2022 incident. Being a cm punk fan I guess I took his side in things. I did go to forbidden door last year and had a great time but my interest outside of that show had dissipated. I haven’t cared for a lot of their creative and I felt with Vince gone, new ownership, HHH creative, I started to prefer wwe probably around the time that you first started watching. So for me the shots come off as weak and desperate now. You’re correct this kind of stuff only appeals to their biggest fanboys who hate all things WWE. Tbh if someone tells you they “don’t mind it”, they most likely are one of these people themselves. Now to be fair guys like HHH and Pat have taken shots as well which I also didn’t like. But at least it’s never been on their weekly TV show. TV time should be spent focusing their own product. Also TK seems like a good guy and a big wrestling fan but he also comes off a bit emotionally unstable and thin skinned to me. Why are you arguing with faceless profiles on twitter? Don’t you have Businesses to run? Why are you so reactionary and focus so much of your tv because of an interview cm punk did on a podcast? To me he pushes the tribalism more than anyone and is a big reason why I’ve lost interest in aew. It is off putting it’s not just you. 2. I grew up in the attitude era and I used to watch ecw. So I’ve never minded the extreme stuff. Plus I’ll defend it and say it was a ppv, if you’re going to do it, it should be on a ppv. Personally as a teen I used to enjoy hardcore wrestling but as I got older I started caring less about it and now I prefer more the technical style of a Gunther match. I will say a complaint they get a lot which I kinda agree with is the overuse of blood. At an aew dynamite I went to last year moxley was in the opening match and a fan l mockingly yelled “Hurry up and bleed already”. He bled within 3 minutes of an opening match on a dynamite. To me it kills the meaning of it. Everyone remembers when stone cold bled at mania 13 because it was shocking. You don’t see it often it means more. Like when Cody bled recently. That’s my opinion. 3. I won’t lie I would prefer it if they were on a service like hbo max, but the ppv model was how wrestling was presented for a long time. wwe was on ppv for decades too. They also don’t do monthly shows like WWE does. I bought every ppv for the first few years of aew. Lately I haven’t because I’ve lost interest in the product. I still follow it but yeah when you see a $50 ppv that you don’t really have a lot of interest going in, you might tend to skip it. Happened a lot with wwe ppvs as well with me prior to the network. 4. Older talent doesn’t bother me if they can still keep up. Edge and Christian have both shown they can perform at a high level. But I’ll echo other comments guys like the Hardys probably should hang it up soon. It’s funny you only started watching recently but Vince used older guys a lot for a long time well past their prime. Ric flair wrestled in wwe until he was 58, taker and HHH had matches in their 50s. Goldberg was all over programming in recent years despite being terrible. You just missed that era thankfully lol
I think Triple H fully taking over a year or two ago was the moment where it was a hard reset on what a WWE/AEW relationship could be. There was a conscious public effort to let everyone know there were clean slates being handed out. The AEW/CM Punk relationship became so messy that if everyone is being honest, they know Hunter started catching some strays. I think a lot of the opportunity for a working relationship of any kind went by the wayside and is probably postponed until further notice. Basically, I think Levesque was indifferent about AEW and was more focused on working with Nick Khan on the WWE transition, so all options were open. I believe Tony Khan still thinks he's warring with Vince McMahon & CM Punk, and has now made an enemy of Levesque. It probably didn't have to be that way, but WWE is too big and established to want to work with other companies that don't respect what they do. And I think AEW is too proud to care to try to repair that relationship and/or opportunity. I know Tony referenced AEW as "Pepsi" but it's not that at all from my perspective. It's more like WWE is Pepsi and AEW is microbrew beer. The only things in common really is that they are both drinkable liquids. 😂 I also think that a working relationship between WWE & AEW would never be "Omega vs. Reigns at Wrestlemania" type of relationship. It would likely look a lot more like Toni Storm doing the Timeless gimmick and beating Natalya on Smackdown, with some kind of interference to progress a storyline with Natalya. Or bring in former WWE stars like Adam Copeland or Jon Moxley in for a 3-week nostalgia angle. Like a "who's going to be Seth Rollins' mystery partner?"
The PPV are too expensive.... I might order one pay-per-view a year.... And I pay about $13 to be able to watch all the TV shows like dynamite, rampage and collision. It's in Canada through the TSN plus app.
MJF's whole character was that he was going to leave for more money (WWE) because was upset that other legacy wrestlers got more money. WWE is literally named in a sex trafficking lawsuit. Their board protected the owner. They just protected Grew Gulak. WWE literally changes their dates of their ppvs against AEW shows. The whole creative of TNA x WWE was done to bury AEW's forbidden door season. The injury rate for AEW/WWE is similar. People blade to add "realism" and to homage southern wrestling. Moxley specificslly will talk about the logic being if you see peoole get hit in t he face repeatedly in combat sports, they bleed. You can have people blade or have lesnar beat your head in. VPN's are legal to use... and yes, the ppvs are worth it. They only will have 9. Its 2024, if you are worried about money then you can stream it. AEW is probably going to MAX. NJPW does have a streaming service AND PPVS. Not worried about Adam Copeland breaking his leg when he broke his neck in WWE. AEW works with every company except WWE and TNA, at this point. They did work with TNA at one point. I have no desire to AEW to work with WWE because WWE wouldnt any aew wrestlers win.. plz god no to mjf and the miz. I would love to see WWE talent in AEW or NJPW tho. Depending on who it is you can see all of current wwe talent v aew talent on indies pre 2020 ie Greyson Waller v orange cassidy or Ricochet v Ospreay.
It's become popular and profitable to sh!t on AEW. But guys like MJF Swerve and Ospreay are having better runs than alot of other wrestlers are having, in the ring. I enjoy AEW, and could care LESS what other ppl think.
😂😂🤣🤣 no they are just being paid more. They are not having better runs. Paid more work less. That works if they were Roman Reigns. But put all three in the WWE and they are no where near Roman. So they took more money to work less. Meanwhile top guys in the WWE get paid and work more and become more well known.
@@evacody1249 tbh, I had to ask a friend who's in the MITB match tonight. I listed the guys and only 2 of them I could see being World champ. I guess my point is, you like and watch what you like. And that's cool. But to someone who doesn't, it's kinda bland. As I'm sure AEW is to you. No shots fired, it's just about what you like, really?
Q1- WWE and WCW throwing jabs at each other during Attitude Era was way worse than little Twitter jabs we see now. - Pat McAfee have made fun about their attendance - Triple H have called them "Pissant Company" during DX HOF Speech AEW wrestlers like MJF throwing jab at WWE is fine because there was a point where fans legit thought he would jump ship and he have history with WWE as a background character in NXT with Regal failing to give him opportunities and his mentor Cody being their Face of the Company. AEW actually does lot of reference about WWE is because lot of wrestlers formerly worked there and WWE shares lot of history in general for Pro Wrestling Now, about TK taking shots at WWE, well he's not doing onscreen and most of his rants are just Twitter or interviews so you can easily ignore what CEO of the company says and just focus on what talented wrestlers provide on screen
Disclosure: I say this as a genuine AEW fan, I’ve been watching since All Out 2021. If Tony Khan made his Weinstein comment 5 years ago when Vince McMahon was still running the company, I would’ve agreed with it a little more (I wouldn’t have 100% agreed because there are good people that work for the company). However, Tony made this comment once Vince was already gone, so it didn’t make sense. Im ok with the companies taking shots at each other sometimes, it does hurt more when they take shots at more sensitive subjects (Tony’s comment is a good example because it didn’t come off as a cheap shot and more like a genuine attack). MJF’s comments were different because his shot was meant more as a message as he doesn’t need a huge company to make him a star, he just needs to do what he does best.
I'll go ahead and trry to give these questions a crack too, it's always interesting to see an outsiders perspective on this. For context, I've been watching wrestling since I was like 4 years old (26 now) and I have watched AEW since it started. 1) The whole name dropping thing has become really stale for me personally, on both sides. Even though MJF's at DoN wasn't neccessarilly a dig, he's done more in the past where it's feels like low hanging fruit. It's cheap and the way I see it is that the more they do it, the more they're trying to stay relevent outsifde of their own bubble. It's no secret that compared to around 2021& 2022, their veiwership has taken a nose dive and in my eyes, a lot of that is due to them only catering to the audience they have and not trying to grow outside of that bubble. You're a prime example of an outsider who (probably) doesn't know all the backstage hoohaa and just wants to watch a good show, so it's weird when they take a jab at something else you're watching for no reason. 2) This is the biggest reason I have stopped watching AEW regularly. I am still in the loop of what goes on and I will watch if I know someone I like is gonna be on Dynamite or whatever, but every match to me feels the same and I am very numb to it now. There's no real creative in the matches, they all follow the same formula or it's just high spots repeatedly and (sometimes) very stupid stuff that could injure someone really badly. My favourite wrestler is Edge (Adam Copeland), and it was really dissapointing to see him do something he really didn't need to do at 50 years old and break his leg. You can have a good cage match without doing dumb shit like that if you really care about wrestling psychology. 3) I'm outside of the U.S (Australia), so we still use Fite to watch it and the prices are whatever. I use my friends account and he's a diehard so he always gets the PPV's. I'll pitch in if I really want to watch the show, but I haven't done that since 2022 lol. 4) This piggybacks onto Q2. I am not a fan of what Edge has been doing since he's been there. Some of the stuff with Christian was cool, but now it's just get every match with everyone here before my body quite literally can't take it anymore and I feel like we saw the worst of that at DoN. He needs to slow down, he was never a high workrate kind of guy; his character is what I like the most about him. Christian on the other hand has been (for the most part) highly entertaining in terms of his character, but even he needs to slow down before he really gets hurt like Adam. 5) I don't think so, not unless Tony gets over the fact that he will always be number 2 whether he likes it or not (and that's fine). My biggest gripe with AEW as a whole is I feel like they can't stand on their own anymore, and when they have someone with genuine starpower or you start to feel like the fans are really behind them, they vanish off of TV for no reason or you hear whispers that they're "injured" and are just sitting around doing nothing. Before AEW was even a thing, NXT would sign EVERYONE and it felt very bloated and you could see on TV that they didn't know what to do with everyone. I see the same thing happening here with AEW.
As a mainly WWE fan who does enjoy AEW and would watch more if they had a streaming deal, I don't like when either company takes jabs back and forth. It doesn't matter if it's someone in WWE doing it or someone in AEW doing it, it feels petty and I'd rather they just exist in their own bubble. It distracts from the rest of the product and only seems to be done so people will talk about it on social media. Edit: The only real time that I don't mind them mentioning the other company is when it's in context of the accomplishments of a wrestler. I wouldn't mind AEW mentioning that Adam Copeland or Bryan Danielson is a former WWE world champion in the same way I wouldn't mind them mentioning that Jade Cargill or Cody Rhodes are former champions in AEW.
I was a huge aew fan from 2019-2023 after I quit watching Wrestling in 2017. I didn't really get back into wwe specifically until 2022 and there was a brief period where I was a fan of both but some of the things Tony Khan has said about wwe has really turned me off when it comes to watching aew and the show isn't as good as it was two or three years ago.
I dont know if anyone has said this or not but AEW wrestlers come up with their own promos. They have a outline they have to hit but for the most part their Promos are their own. Where the WWE has a team of writers that come up with the promos and the wrestlers have to remember their line. WWE loves to crap on AEW all the time a few week ago Triple H, Pat Mcafee and a number of WWE's Superstars who have signed Legacy contracts many of whom have podcast, have been badmouthed AEW. The violence doent matter to me. It doesnt happen all the time but I have not become numb to it. I used to watch ECW as a teen so yeah. I am hoping AEWs next contract with Warner Brothers will have a streaming part so that PVPs will be on Max.
The first question I love it and I'm a fan of both. Competition breeds excellence, and with you being a new fan you don't know the awful 2015-2019 wwe years. And there's not extreme stuff going on every week, and I think of it has when do you see a ufc or mma fight without blood, it adds a realistic feel to it. The old WWE ppvs was the exact same price back in the day, AEW us 5 years old vs WWE being way older then that, it'll take time to get to a streaming rights deal. Look, the wrestlers are old enough to make there own decisions and I'm not gonna say they should or shouldn't do anything. If it makes them happy doing crazy shit then I'm gonna let them be happy. With the last question I would love to see them do a ppv once a year together but I'm not sure if Trips and Kahn could swallow there pride enough to do it. Much love, I hope you continue to enjoy pro wrestling and hope you check out more AEW, WWE, TNA or hell even stardom. Just enjoy as much of it has you can brother.
The main difference between AEW & WWE is the story psychology is foremost in the latter. This builds audience participation, tension drama and reactions. AEW presents matches based on the history of the performers involved and the story doesn't matter, the spots inside the ring they want to matter but pro-wrestling isn't like that. The crowds are silent and dwindling because there's no perceived drama, surprise or action because there is no psychology behind the story telling because there is no story telling. $50 for a PPV is also a joke considering you also feel almost obligated to watch all five plus hours of the damn thing and who can do that in one go live? Absolutely ridiculous.
*Do the extreme spots get tiring?* Doing the the same thing can always get tiring, but in general, a good match is a good match. And while AEW definitely tries to up itself from time to time, it's not like every match is that, not even every ppv match. You could have a long match with someone you don't care about and not be very invested, and even in that case you can find good spots, but then the next match is someone you do care about, and suddenly interest is restored; you're never gonna care about everyone, but they do have variety, so the worst you'll have is matches you don't care for. *Are shots at other companies annoying?* Depending on what they are and how frequent. Some shots taken in either direction is expected. What I don't get is the pure hate for AEW even mentioning WWE for any reason, like no they're not the devil for mentioning that other companies exist. At least a response that's portional to how much of a 'shot' it is would be nice, like I understand people not liking Tony's comparison there, even though I personally don't care, but do we really need people up in arms because Toni Storm jokingly made a comment about her not bringing Khan on stage with her (like Cody and H), or Mercedes saying that they've proved that AEW's a viable option? It just makes the people complaining look like their easily butthurt. Also, in character references are completely find. *Are you scared for older wrestlers?* Maybe a little. And I always respect them learning how to wrestle in a less dangerous way. But as long as they are putting on great shows, and they want to do some cool spots, I'm not going to say that can't do dangerous stunts just because they're not as young as they used to be. At best I'll say, spread them out, build them up, and learn how to get pops in less dangerous ways. *WWE with AEW?* Honestly, I would be afraid how that would turn out. Do I think it will happened? Not likely. Maybe they'll do something similar to the CMLL guys on AEW to test the waters, bring a few to wrestle on one show, and then they continue the feud on the other. I don't have specific matches in mind, but some WWE people I'd like see face AEW guys are Finn Balor, Austin Theory, Carlito (cause I remember watching him as a kid), Bron Breakker, Asuka, Sheamus, and Dominik. And for AEW guys facing the E, some cool ones would be, Penta, Jay White, Claudio (I know he was already on, but hell, why not some new matches), Yuta, Konosuke, Mariah May, Ricky Starks, and Darby Allin. *Is it too expensive?* It is a little expensive to me. If I wasn't watching with other people, I would probably wait until the price goes down on ppvs I deem less important. Fun journey.
Outside of the very obvious Shield Triple Threat with Mox Roman and Seth, I’d love to see Ospreay take on Walter/Gunther again (their match at OTT 4th anniversary was an all timer). That or Timeless Toni vs Tiffy Time
One company started in 1963 as WWWF the other started in 2019.... not sure what people expect :D Just be happy there is always a 2nd company if the main company get boring for some reason.
WWE do make AEW jabs but they are a lot more subtle. AEW is very explicit with it as youve seen but theres a few snide jokes (Drew saying "cry me a river" is a Punk in AEW jab). As for the violence, i have noticed its a lot but i dont watch either show week to week so it isnt too much for me. Ive watched every PPV for AEW and it costs me $30 AUD per PPV but I would love if it was on streaming. I absolutely want the older wrestlers to retire. Matt and Jeff Hardy have had so many concussions and other injuries so far, Sting terrified me every match he was in, and it drives me insane that Adam Copeland did a move like that that caused his injury. I would love for AEW and WWE to work together but I think Tony Khan's attacks are making it less likely but if it did happen, i want to see a Shield Triple Threat or an Elite vs Team WWE match
I'm more of a WWE fan currently, but I've followed AEW and the main guys in it since before the company started. I feel the need to defend them because even though you said your questions were asked in good faith, you're repeating some anti-AEW talking points without full context. First, regarding the anti-WWE remarks made by MJF: HHH has a long history of taking subtle and not so subtle jabs at AEW and their talent. Most recently, during a post show presser, he not so subtly alluded to Will Osprey signing with AEW over WWE as Osprey being lazy for taking the easier work schedule. He was also once asked for his reaction to AEW beating NXT black and gold in the ratings consistently when both shows were on the same night. He said something to the effect of, "Congrats, you beat our developmental program" in a sarcastic tone. Nick Khan also referred to Tony Khan as a "kid" in an interview. CM Punk has also taken jabs at AEW in his WWE promos as well. So yeah, the shots go both ways. I think it's fair for AEW to retaliate in some way. I don't even think it's morally bad to do so. It drums up their base that wants to hear stuff like that. As for the hardcore stuff being overexposed, I personally agree with you, but this is total preference. Regarding the cost of the shows, as others have advised you, get a VPN and buy the shows for 20 bucks. It is not illegal. Also, AEW+ is available on the Fite app (with a VPN). For less than 10 dollars a month, you get all their weekly shows and their back catalogue of weekly shows. The pay per views are still extra as those are not included in AEW+. Plus, the fite app is leagues better than Peacock in terms of functionality. And with WWE, you have to have a cable package in addition to paying for Peacock. So if you think about it, you're probably paying more for WWE overall in comparison to the amount you pay for AEW when using a VPN. I still do not have cable, and I will never have cable as it's a huge waste of money. As for Edge breaking his leg. He didn't break it because he's old and "should retire". He broke it because he took the bump incorrectly. Go watch his matches with Christian in AEW. Some of the most intense, best matches of his career and HE DID not get hurt in them. All that said, booking wise, AEW is at a low point currently so I would not recommend going out of your way to watch it every week right now. However, you should definitely get AEW+ and go back and watch the Punk MJF feud. It is pretty much the best feud either company has done in years. Yes, it was better (but less long) than the bloodline feud.
I live in a Australia where thr ppvs are 20 usd on fite/triller. They usually have a 3 pack for 50 usd. Blood got to out of hand for a while and i think they dialed it back a lot. For a while there was a mox joke about bleeding every match. It became a bit much and its really been dialed back now. I think matt and jeff ahould have gone to an RVD schedule and do odd matches. Like them both but the roster was two deep with better brother and homegrown tag teams. Jeff looks ruff. Matts best gimmick (broken matt) didn't work in aew. Still love that i got to see matt and all egos matches during that fun aew dark run with the firm. Unless Disney boyght both companys and TK was gone i dont see any cross overs happening
1) its both companies taking digs at each other it started with HHH when dx were inducted to the HOF, ironically Cody rhodes was the first aew star to really dig at wwe 2) blood doesnt bother me an is necessary sometimes 3) im english so its not as bad here £20 a go but a streaming service would be fantastic 4) its a case by case basis if a wrestler can still go great if not then id want them to retire 5) i cant see it ever happening but would be great
The reason that I currently don't see WWE and AEW working together is simply because AEW is too busy shining the spotlight on a ton of different promotions. It first started out with ROH, then Impact, then New Japan Pro Wrestling, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, then AAA, and CMLL. Now they are finally working with Stardom to bridge the gap with their women's division. It is quite literally the best thing that has happened so far imo because the one slight with AEW ever since it got started has been it's women's division and when you look at the landscape of women's wrestling outside of America you can clearly see the worldwide influence Joshi wrestling has had on Professional Wrestling in general from the 90s with All Japan Pro Wrestling and the blood sweat and tears that Joshi wrestlers put into it many of them started training when they were young like Riho for example. The main theme of AEW with how they structure their shows and the philosophy behind it is to be a buffet of wrestling. You can be introduced to a ton of different styles and a lot of different promotions with the idea being behind it that it is best to showcase talent and celebrate pro wrestling all around the world. I would like to tell you that they are cooking up something special with Will Ospreay at the moment and he has a wish to bring AEW to a bunch of different parts of the world that they currently haven't been to. Another thing I would like to emphasize is that Tony Khan is a wrestling fan their are photos of him at ECW shows as a kid with his Dad and he frequented wrestling chat rooms growing up with Will Washington who currently works for AEW as well.
The MJF promo was a dig at the wrestlers I was the locker room needing other promotions , NJPW and the fed to make them,when he shoot did it on his own (nobody watched mlw). Before the monopoly, promotions taking digs was commonplace. And yes, there are current digs that you have missed on the feds end The references never bothered me until the Punk interview pushed TK over the line.
I want to discussion a point with the blood. I don't mind blood in wrestling as it has always been apart of it and always will be, but there is a problem with too much. The problem is over saturation with a lot of things in wrestling. I have been watching for almost 40 years and I have seen the business change countless times. I will give a couple of examples as to too much of something is a negative. In the early 90's in Japan there was a company called Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). I don't know how familiar you are with Japanese promotions and touring schedules, but one of their tours had their first ever barbed wire match. It was a major success for them and they wanted to do more. On the next FMW tour they did two of them. The fans with fanatical for it and eventually it caused a problem where every show on a tour would have a barb wire match. It lost it's shock value and wrestlers like Sabu ended up scaring their bodies because of it. Being a WWF/WWE fan all my life and watching Lucha Libre I could never understand why so many of the crowds don't react to some of the moves done by workers. It is because so many of them do high flying and they always do it. I used to watch a lot of CMLL and AAA and it was very obvious why the crowd had no major reaction to seeing things they saw constantly. If you go back in time to Antonino Rocca who was a wrestler from Argentina in the 40 and 50's he was one of the first workers to do a lot of crazy high flying things that was ahead of his time. The crowds loved him and he got very over, but as decades progress, we have seen an evolution in high flying and it really took off with Rey Mysterio. It is an amazing thing to witness a guy doing springboards and what not for the first time. The problem is you see so many people doing it now that it waters down the product. Finishers have a problem as well, everybody kicks out of them now days. over the last 3 decades finishers have lost their meaning. Back in the day when a person did it there move would end the match. A lot of finishers just don't mean anything anymore. Piledrivers, DDT's, Canadian destroyers, burning hammers, super kicks, cutters and so many others were all viewed as being powerful moves at one point where they just ended the match. Over use has led it all to just being nothing more than a arm drag or body slam. When it comes to blood, a great example of seeing it used well and rare is when Bret Hart wrestled Steve Austin at Mania 13. These guys had bled before, but nothing that was constant or seen every week. This case was so special because the blood added so much to the story about how Austin refused to tap out. If he had been bleeding as much as somebody like Jon Moxley does the story would of not meant as much. Thats my take on it anyways.
I was a lifelong WWE fan who's been following AEW from their start and now much more of an AEW fan. WWE has been getting much better the last couple years, but I only watch the PLEs for them at this point. 1. WWE superstars do allude to AEW but not directly usually, and it's a lot less than AEW. AEW doesn't do it too often either. It mostly comes up with MJF since there was a ton of speculation he would leave for WWE. I grew up during the Monday Night Wars and they do not throw shots anywhere near the way the did at each other back thennow the way it was back then 2. AEW does do it often, but, at least for me, it is varied enough that it still keeps me entertained. There is nothing like that anarchy in the arena match, but there will usually be at least one pretty violent match per PPV. 3. Hopefully everything with AEW goes to MAX soon how WWE is on Peacock. Before the WWE Network it was the same way with WWE and impossible to legally watch all of the PPVs. I either watch AEW with friends and split it or watch it illegally online rn. 4. AEW works a much lighter schedule than the WWE and it is easier for the older wrestlers to keep up there. That being said, there are a lot more risks taken in AEW and there are definitely moments where its a little sketchy, but overall I think its a great thing and for the most part they have utilized the older wrestlers pretty well. 5. It's possible since there's new ownership in WWE, but it's still a long way off IMO. One of the things I love about AEW is that they allow their wrestlers to work with other promotions and feature other promotions and their wrestlers regularly. You will regularly see wrestlers from NJPW, AAA, CMLL, and other promotions on AEW TV, or see an AEW wrestler show up with a title from one of those promotions. WWE has historically not worked with other promotions, but with new ownership anything is possible.
The only time WWE took a shot at AEW is when Nick Khan (WWE President) called Tony Khan a kid in an interview (seen only by smart marks) with Ariel Halweini. HHH said on a press conference (also seen only by smart marks) recently that "some people aren't here because they didn't want to be on the grind" (I'm paraphrasing) but it was in regards to wrestlers (that were not named) who chose AEW instead of WWE. AEW signed 3 big names Okada, Mercedes and Will Osprey. Osprey "clapped back" on their TV show (seen by the general wrestling fans) and said in so many VULGAR words and GESTURES that HHH only got to be the booker because he was "grinding" on "The Bosses Daughter" Stephanie Mcmahon. Go watch those late 99 early 2000s episodes of Raw and Smackdown. They were on screen too. And it was pretty good too.
So Hunter never called AEW a pissant company? Or the Sammy Zayn doing a Q and A with the crowd while bringing up AEW? Or Vince getting butthurt over the ThunderRosa-Brit Baker St Paddy’s Day brawl. “It set wrestling back 30 years….Blood n Guts”
For me, AEW is unmatched in quality. While it’s not where it was in say 2021 (but also way better than a lot of 2023), I’ve never experienced a run like this and it feels like it’s ramping up again. To answer some of your questions, outside of TV I don’t really mind shots taken at WWE. It’s punching up. Who cares? But on the shows, I want AEW to focus on themselves. Acknowledging WWE is fine, AEW is the company that acknowledges the wider wrestling world. I’m definitely in favor of more PPVs. 4-5 a year worked when it was just Dynamite but now it paces better with more. I don’t want 12 tho. 8-9 feels right. I’m fine with paying for them but understand not everyone is in the same financial position. So I hope AEW’s next deal includes putting the PPVs on Max. We’ll see.
1) No, WWE doesn't really do this. There might be the odd thinly veiled reference to a wrestler's history with "the other company" or whatever, or a sly insider reference here and there, but no, they don't really do that and if they make references, it's never a direct shot at them. My main gripe with AEW is how Tony Khan handles himself as a person, a business man and an on-screen authority figure. Unfortunately, he is ultimately a fan of wrestling and he is this moreso than anything else and it shows. He places way too much stock in what the toxic IWC tribalistic fans say and uses that as fuel for what he says next, so feels he has to keep namedropping WWE and taking shots. It's also what he watched WCW doing during the Monday Night War, so he's trying to build a similar narrative as a way to help get AEW over. In my personal opinion, it's only damaging AEW's reputation. It didn't go over well in WCW and it certainly won't fly today when the fans are more vocal. TK is yelling into a void, trying to make a fight happen between the two promotions that simply doesn't exist, and it's this that I dislike most about AEW. Without this, I would personally find it more watchable, but when he behaves in these ways (not that it's just him), I personally find it hard to take him and the company seriously - much as I want them to succeed. These kinds of comments alienate people and more often than not, push people away, though I'm sure the tribe love these comments. 2) Yeah, this is one of many, many reasons why WWE phased this kind of stuff out. It's part of why ECW plateaued. It's why promotions like CZW only progress so far. There's a limit to how far this extreme stuff can go, and when it's more of a focal point like with CZW and ECW, it does start to lose that shock value and viewers get desensitised to it. I remember watching WWE in my teens almost with a bloodlust for the more extreme "hardcore" style for a while, but then the novelty wore off because it was a part of every show. As I grew older, I learned a lot more about the human condition and became a lot more concerned for the talent's welfare. Everything learned about concussions and brain damage in pro-wrestling led to a lot of stuff being outlawed in promotions like WWE, and that really opened my eyes and I turned away from that style of wrestling. There's still a place for weapons and gimmick matches and stuff, but it really needs to be done safely, sparingly and tastefully in this day and age, I believe. I personally find AEW too much sometimes, because they try to go over the top so often. 3) AEW's model is currently the traditional model. It's what WWE used to do. I believe they're priced a little bit higher than WWE used to be, but I'm not personally familiar with US pricing. I know WWE, when they did PPVs, it was between £15-20 here in the UK, which is a noticeable difference when converted to $. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s we even got a couple of PPVs either on free TV or as part of our regular satellite TV package. I believe WWE used to charge upwards of $30 for a PPV but don't quote me on that! Then came the WWE network and the value prop for that was more than worth the 9.99 (in most currencies) per month! TNA have their own streaming platform, as do NJPW I believe, and many independents rely on services like Fite/Triller as their PPV or weekly streaming provider. AEW originally did this, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. Either way, as one-off events, I think around $20-40 is the norm for those who don't bundle in with a monthly subscription. I do know TK wants AEW to have their own streaming offering (such as with Max) and is negotiating with Warner/Discovery around that alongside the renewal of their TV deal, so I guess we'll see what happens there! Personally, I prefer the all-in-one monthly bundle idea as it's the best value for money, you know what you're getting, there's no hidden costs and it's accessible for all, if priced correctly. 4) This actually used to be an issue in WWE; there used to be an over-reliance on legends and Hall of Famers to come in or remain active to keep the long-time fans hooked, or to entice in the lapsed fans. WWE for the longest time didn't really cultivate new stars, so it forced them to rely on the older talent. The same thing is happening in AEW to an extent, but the problem there is that the younger talent is there and exists, but just needs that cultivation and nurturing and guidance to become the next generation of stars, but a lot of the older veterans are being brought in to give the show some star power, rather than creating their own from the ground up. They started off doing it, but then got lost along the way somewhere, and I hope they find their way back to building up that younger talent, and using the veterans in a way to put the younger ones over and/or help them learn, which isn't always the case. It's always nice to see familiar faces, but my personal opinion is that the older legends and Hall of Famers should be used as torch-passers and should be helping cultivate that next generation, not continuing to try and get themselves over at the risk of damaging their bodies further, and potentially permanently. Edge is a little bit like Undertaker in that he's looking for that "perfect" way to end his career, and I worry that it's just not going to happen how he thinks it is. I understand that it's hard to let go of a life you've lived for 20-30 years, but sometimes it's better to let the dream go and take care of your body, rather than look for the perfect ending or another pop. There are a few exceptions, but generally, that's how I feel. 5) So Tony Khan owns both AEW and ROH and he was trying to do... something... as a crossover, but I get the feeling it didn't turn out too well, and now I think the presentation is that ROH will feed into AEW and act as an NXT of sorts, but with some more established talent moving over there from time to time? AEW and NJPW have a working relationship and both co-host "Forbidden Door" (that being the concept of never working with another promotion). There are arrangements with AAA and CMLL in Mexico too, but to a lesser extent than the NJPW relationship. That said, WWE has worked with NJPW and All Japan in the past, as well as AAA and CMLL. WWE scouted talent from ROH for a number of years. There was a time where WWE wouldn't be caught dead working with the likes of TNA and here we are now with the "Prohibited Portal" parody working relationship. WWE has working relationships with ICW in Scotland and Progress Wrestling, WWE bought Evolve too. So I wouldn't ever say never, to WWE and AEW working together. A lot of things would need to be worked out and egos would need to be put aside for it to happen, and under WWE's former leadership, I would've said that's as close to impossible as you're gonna get, but now? I think that ball would be in AEW's court. WWE have said multiple times, they're "open for business", so we will have to wait and see. Time will tell. Never say never... I would like to see MJF in WWE one day and feel he could slot in with many people, including Kevin Owens or even Roman Reigns. Really good, provocative questions. Hope Captain Essay was able to provide a solid answer for them all! 👍
I do sometimes wish aew would spend less energy talking about wwe, but i do understand the reasons for it (as pointed out by other commenters here), so it doesnt upset me that much. I'm neutral towards the blood. I look for good matches and stories. If blood happens, fine. If it doesnt, fine. I guess i'm not as hardcore of a fan as most commenters. I've never bought an aew ppv and never bought a wwe ppv before they went to peacock. Ppv's and ple's are cool, but not really essential to enjoying wrestling, especially in this age where you can find out what happened via the internet. If i was going to spend that type of money, i would put it towards going to a live event before buying a ppv. As far as older wrestlers, edge and jeff hardy both went directly from wwe to aew, so i don't see an issue there. I worried a little about Sting doing it a 65, but he had long periods between matches to heal up. And i worried a bit about seeing ric flair just getting in the ring to do promos.😂 And as many others have pointed out, it doesnt seem likely that they will cooperate, but i never thought i would see wwe cooperate with tna, so never say never.
This name drop promo was necessary as MJF makes a good point when he says that a lot of guys in AEW were made by Vince therefore it’s appropriate. When it’s not needed like CM Punk calling MJF a less famous Miz then it crosses into a territory of not appropriate use as it only done for pop factor and not for literal use as Miz and MJF often compared MJF is pretty different. I’m not a fan of Osprey referring to the HHH’s grind promo, but it doesn’t make me dislike the product. It just makes me not acknowledge it and move on to the next segment.
for question 2: hardcore is one of many facettes of wrestling. You don't have bloody matches every week in AEW, but you do have some wrestlers that tend to have a lot of bloody matches like Mox. I have friends that like AEW but are turned off by the hardcore side of it and I get it but to me it's just one more aspect of wrestling. I get some cool lucha fights, I get some technical wrestling, I get some Joshi (not nearly enough), some strong style and some hardcore. I've been watching ECW back in the day and japanese hardcore since I had internet in the late 90s. Blood doesn't bother me, but it's also not something I tune in to the show for. It's just part of some types of matches. It certainly doesn't have to be part of as many matches as it is, but looking at DoN I think it made sense in every match. Copeland was talking about the "House of Blood" before so that fit, Anarchy in the Arena is always an extreme match so that makes sense and Jericho's match was a FTW match which brings the no-holds-barred stipulation with the title. Did anyone else bleed? I don't remember. Maybe Strickland.. he's like Mox a bit^^
Great video. So as a fan of AEW…1. Yes I hate it when AEW mentions WWE or vice versa. Especially when it Tony. He has said some stupid things. But I think he does because he takes it very personally. 2. Love seeing the blood. It’s scripted but not fake, I expect blood. 3. Yes $50 is a lot. It’s like pre-wwe network days. Hopefully Tony gets a streaming deal soon. 4. Depends on who the older wrestler is. Copeland no, Flair hell yes I worry. 5. It will never ever happen lol. But I would love to see Rollins vs so many in AEW.
It's kinda annoying when the companies go against each other. I chose AEW, they won me over. They don't need to mention WWE. The blood isn't desensitized to me. I got excited for DoN because I thought I would get MORE blood, but it was just for a couple of matches (out of 12?!) The only time I think it was getting overused was when Mox almost got cut up every week a couple of years ago? But even then it was still shocking because he is wild like that. Only recently they've been adding on the PPVs. They usually had 5 per year. Now we're looking at 9 minimum?? Yeah I'd skip some too tbh. I did skip last year's PPVs after DoN. They HAVE to start putting these things on Max! They are absolute fools if they don't. I saw Wrestlemania this year because I had Peacock, please let it be this simple for those willing to try AEW. For the older wrestlers, I have not grown up with wrestling so I am always being introduced to the icons so I can't say I'm worried for them as much as those who grew up with them. I saw Copeland not land on his feet correctly and now he's out for a while. I am worried why he felt like falling off the top of the cage was necessary but he is responsible for his own decisions. This stuff just happens. The only time I was really worried was back in 2020 for Matt Hardy. Dude really did not catch a break and that wasn't always on him. I hope the peaceful crossover can happen. If it does I am interested in the Women's division. I want to see Rhea Ripley vs. Julia Hart. Britt Baker vs. Becky Lynch. In a way, this kind of thing IS happening because now we are at the point where AEW stars are introducing themselves in WWE (Jade Cargill) I am not a tribalist. My heart is with AEW, but they got me to love wrestling so much I can't hate WWE. RoH, AAA, CMLL, Impact, TNA, GCW, NJPW. Wrestling is just aewsome 🖤
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I think when it said in a way when it's not meant to just trash on WWE and make a more to make a point about the character it's fine. However there are times where I wish Tony Khan would not do that.
That's my one complaint even though I like AEW. It does irk me a little if that's what you're asking me.
WWE use to bash WCW when WCW was #1 and WWE was #2 and ECW who was #3 bashed both WCW and WWE. So it's far game, with AEW being #2 and WWE being #1 for AEW to bash WWE. The UFC and Dana White did the same thing back before the UFC was the #1 MMA promotions. The UFC and Dana White bashed other bigger MMA promotions and big boxing promotions and even networks that aired boxing promotions and bigger MMA promotions.
You should do your research before talking about Aew. You seem to know nothing about all elite wrestling.
@mynameisnotearl4383 .... wut 😆
It would be so much easier to follow AEW if their PPVs were on Max
Hopefully with the new contract negotiations they can reach a streaming deal with WB 🤞
That is reportedly part of the current contract negotiations AEW and WBD are having
Soon hopefully
Honestly, even if their past ppv were on streaming. There's no way to watch years old ppv besides paying full price
Hopefully
The biggest AEW pay per views are Revolution, Double or Nothing, All In and Full Gear. All In is basically the Wrestlemania of AEW.
All Out too, but this could change with All In becoming yearly
@@kylefellin9067 With All Out being as big of a show that is it, it's not hard to see it being the big one now.
Regarding cost:
On a forum I saw someone post: Wrestlemania 13 - $34.99,
Using an online calculator:
$35 in 1997 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $68.37 today,
Aew ppv are a good deal in comparison
Aew prices are very good considering I bought a package for dynasty, double or nothing and forbidden door for about $80 aud (about $53 usd)
As a fan of both companies:
1) They take shots at each other. AEW does it by name, WWE alludes to it because they dont want to give AEW any direct attention.
2) i grew up in the Attitude era, and enjoy blood in my wrestling. It does happen often (not as much as it used to) but it still excites me.
3) WWE PPVS used to be 60 bucks a piece, the 5 big ones were 80ish. I watch every PPV from AEW, and it is expensive. But i love their product so i want to support it how i can. But obviously would love for it to be on a streaming service.
4) some people have a hard time retiring. It happens in both companies but wwe is a much safer and toned down style of wrestling, so injuries are far less of a concern.
5) im not saying they wont ever crossover, but it took tna 20ish years.
At the end of the day, i love pro wrestling. I watch as much of it as i can. I just wish the tribalistic people would stop and just enjoy wrestling as well 🤷♂️
@@CahillJosh Most adults are, sadly.
This one should be pinned as it is the most sane comment
Violence like blood and use of weapons in wrestling will never become stall to me. It’s the same as using a move that use to be a finisher but is now a transitional spot.
These are all really great questions!
AEW as whole is stuck in the position of the little brother. Over the past 5 years WWE has taken shots at AEW but they’re most sly about it,never referencing people or company by name, but if you’re tuned it you’d catch it. AEW usually ends up taking direct shots in response, it definitely feels a bit gaslight-ish at times, when people point at AEW for taking shots when they are responding. The key difference is WWE doesn’t do it on their own programming just on press, whereas AEW will do both
2. AEW typically reserves larger violence for PPV’s and blow off moments, I definitely think they could dial it back and still be great. A lot of the wrestlers on the AEW roster are “for the love of the game” THEY want to do this stuff
3. In the past I didn’t have an issue spending the money for AEW PPV’s bc like you pointed out THEY ARE LONG, and enjoyable all the way through. It was only the second half of last year where they really kicked up the frequency, and now it’s been a ppv every month which is pretty annoying, I’m hoping they hammer out a deal for streaming soon, idk how much more my wallet can take
3. Old wrestlers in AEW are a case by case for me, it comes back to the love of the game. WWE typically stops providing for older talent as they become “less marketable” so these older guys will leave to have more freedom before they retire. Adam Copeland has been very open about wanting to push himself before he retires, obviously I never want to see anyone hurt but I’d say it’s 50/50 sometimes I do just want them to go rest
4. WWE never has an issue working with other companies on the huge condition that the other company looks smaller, it’s a hard thing to describe bc it’s just a pattern, so it is usually just TNA. And infrequent at best. AEW works with so many companies and it’s a part of what makes their shows exciting, you can never REALLY know who might show up. In an ideal world without corporate nonsense I’m sure the wrestlers would love to work with each other.
For me I would love to see a Jon Moxley and Seth Rollins mix it up again since they have so much history together and have both grown so much
I hope these responses were insightful, the tribalism is a viscous cycle that fuels itself and wrestling is for everyone. There is no shame in missing any show, there is no shame in only being a wwe fan or only being a AEW fan. I have only so much time to dedicate to wrestling and I chose AEW mostly bc I think it respects my time (on dynamite) as a viewer. HOWEVER I think your criticism of DoN was spot on, AEW would 1000% benefit from taking moments to breathe.
If you read all this, Have a great day!
AEW is definitely worth it.
1. The ppvs are really good
2. Tony goes for all of the top talent so you’re always watching some of the best in the industry perform
3. There’s a lot of diversity in matches. Most the matches don’t seem the same
4. It’s geared towards adults vs kids
5. Most the times the storylines are to lead you to the ppv but the storylines that are longer are really good
It’s geared towards marks not regular adults
Diversity in matches is a bold choice of words. Their matches have a lot of the same things in them. I can agree that AEW does give u a little bit of almost everything and that's not a good thing when AEW gives the fans a steel cage match every 3-6 months and the same for no DQ matches, constant blood, ect.
@Happydude45 im sure you mean wwe " FiNiSh HiS sToRy" marks. Ain't nothing but crybabies on that side
@@wadewilson8684 both companies are mainly marks including the wrestlers and bookers
@@wadewilson8684AEW is literally for Dave Meltzer and Marks lol its fastfood wrestling no substance.
AEW and WWE had a little bit of a crossover at Ric Flair's Last Match. Jeff Jarrett was working for WWE at the time, and had refereed at SummerSlam the night before he wrestled in Ric Flair's Last Match where he tagged with Jay Lethal who was in AEW, and fought against Flair and Andrade (who was also in AEW at the time).
I wouldn't count on any full fledged WWE vs AEW kind of thing. Little things might happen tho so it's cool when you see it. On of the coolest such things in the past I can think of was Taz (as a WWF wrestler) facing Mike Awesome (as a WCW wrestler) for the ECW Championship in an ECW ring.
1. AEW will never have 15 PPVs in a year. AEW has 9 PPVs. ROH (AEW's sister company) does 3 PPV's per year, but they are all part of a monthly streaming service that chargers $9 a month, and also includes weekly ROH TV on it. I have no problem paying for AEW PPV's as long as they stay in the 9 to 10 PPV's per year range. Although, I was a fan back during the 90's when WCW was the first wrestling promotion to do 12 PPV's per year, and I got all 12, plus WWE's top 3 PPVs. I remember back in the early 90's when WWE only did 5 PPVs per year.
2. As for blood and having been a wrestling fan for a long time. I believe blood is more logical and realistic to have in matches. So I like what AEW does in this regard. WWE not having blood, is unrealistic, but then again with the exception of the Attitude era, WWE has always been programed to little kids, where promotions like Jim Crockett Promotions, WCW, ECW, AWA, ROH, TNA, and now AEW have all been programmed to more young adults. swearing , blood, and so forth.
3. As for AEW mentioning WWE. I don't care. WWE did the same thing when they were the #2 promotion in the world and WCW was #1. Vince would bash WCW, Ted Turner WCW's owner, and eh bashed WCW's top stars and he did this ALL THE TIME. So much so in fact that the USA Network threatened to drop WWE out of fear of Ted Turner (who at the time was the most powerful man in media) from coming after their network. WWE did skits about WCW, they has WWE talent show up to arena's that WCW was at. WCW was obsessed with bashing WCW, until WWE finally became the #1 promotion. Then the WWE stopped bashing WCW on TV. So do, i care if AEW bashes WWE? No. It's promoting. Even Dana White head of UFC bashed other bigger promotions when the UFC was in it's early days. It's all part of promoting your company and getting your name out there. It gets people talking. Also, as for Tony Khan calling WWE the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling. I don't disagree. Look, WWE has had DECADES of horrible stuff happen in that company. Young ring boy who gets raped, a female ref who gets raped by Vince Mcmahon, women pro wrestlers who have to perform sexual favors to management get a push, NDA's of women who were sexually assaulted, HBK sleeping with under age girls in the UK, Vince paying off the police when SuperFly was accused of murder, Vince/WWE vs the US government in the steroids case, Owen Hart falling to his death during a PPV, Benoit murdering his family, John Stossel being knocked out by a WWE wrestler during a interview backstage and losing part of his hearing, WWE paying local strippers to show up to TV in the stands and flash their tits, A WWE female wrestler who gets drugged and raped on tour and the WWE covers it up. The plan ride from hell where wrestlers sexually assaulted flight attendants and WWE tried to cover it up. I can go on and on for days about all the horrible stuff that has gone on in WWE that at the very least you could call the company the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling. WWE has a long dirty, history of sexual abuse, assault, rape, death, drugs, and other horrors.
4. When it comes to average AGE of wrestlers on rosters. AEW has BY FAR a much, much younger roster than that of WWE. WWE has a massive amount of OLD talent, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, The Rock, Lita, Trish Stratus, Carlito, CM Punk, LA Knight, Randy Orton, Tama Tonga, Karl Anderson, The Miz, Shinsuka Nakamura, Asuka, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Shayna Baszler, Damien Priest, Finn Balor, Kofi Kingston, Luke Gallows, Maryse, Satomura, MVP, Nia Jax, Robert Roode, Shawn Spears, Sheamus, Tamina, Titus Oneal, wade Barrett, Regal, HBK, HHH. Hell, WWE even has an on air manager for Karrion Kross that is 70 YEARS OLD in Paul Ellering.
As for the Hardy Boyz, Matt Hardy no longer works for AEW, and Jeff Hardy's contract ends in a couple weeks and he'll also be out of AEW, and rumor has it they are both headed BACK to WWE to continue wrestling.
Die hard AEW fan here (but also a long time wrestling fan in general, WWE included) gonna try and seriously answer these
1. Been a fan since the mid 90s so the WWE mentions don't bother me. It was common place with WCW and WWF. AEW have taken some shots no doubt, but I also feel a lot of the WWE mentions are just recognizing wrestling history or wrestling in general. I can see how it could bother some fans but it doesn't bother me. The massive egos of the men and women invloved and the competitiveness in wrestling makes me feel like it's bound to happen. I get why some people might not like it though.
2. I dont mind the blood or extreme matches in AEW. Again, growing up in the 90s and 2000s, it was common place in WWE. But at the same time, I can totally understand newer fans being shocked at the blood in AEW. Especially if they aren't used to seeing it.
3. Cost sucks but I watch every PPV. Fortunately I have a group of wrestling friends that we all get together and pitch in and watch. But I do hope they get some kind of streaming deal with their new TV rights deal.
4. I use to worry about older wrestlers but as I've gotten older I've changed my opinion. These men and women know the risks and they love what they do. Let them do it as long as they want to. If they feel the reward of the joy of doing what they love out weighs the risk of injury then let them do what they love. Life is short. And I mean that for both companies.
5. Maybe. But not anytime soon. But you never know. Ultimately money talks and I've learned to never say never. However I would LOVE to see that! And if it happened my dream feud would be the origial Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) vs. The New Day. However, that may not be possible even if they work together due to Big E's injury.
Again, die hard AEW fan. It's my style of wrestling and I feel it's written specifically for me but I also understand if fans who are more into WWE's style of wrestling may or may not like AEW. And vice versa. Hope those answers helped! I hate tribalism on both sides and wanted to give good faith answers to your good faith questions. Also, whether you continue to watch AEW or not, enjoy being a wrestling fan! Ignore the negative online voices and watch what you enjoy. Glad to have you
Yeah nd pls ignore the trolls they aren’t real wrestling fans
best comments here exactly ignore the negative comments from marks watch and enjoy what you like
@@sosafredo1268 they aren't real wrestling fans how can you hate a company so much they are trolls you speaking the truth
If you enjoy the work rate style you should check out Kenny Omegas series of matches with Okada in New Japan. Genuinely the greatest wrestling matches of all time
1. For me the little digs at each other. Like vaguely referencing past storylines form the opposite promotion - don’t bother me. I do hate it when it’s a clear push down of the other promotion.
2. I think they do blood so often that it’s not that shocking anymore . Some of the hardcore matches don’t even feel extreme. They’re just typical grudge match for them. WWE goes beyond the grain so rarely that when it happens it more interesting.
3. $50 ppvs is too expensive. I would much rather they get on Max or anything where it’s one flat fee for everything. $50 for a show I’m going to watch one time is insane.
4. Age doesn’t bother me but there’s a point where they got to call it quits. Their peak eventually is long gone. Copeland & Christian seem to have some longevity but have to reel it back a bit. The Hardies need to retire. They can still take bumps but are long past their prime.
5. We’re more likely to get a AEW & WWE partnership now than ever before. The only thing holding it back is pettiness & entitlement on both sides and even the fan base. I feel like if wrestling fans weren’t taking everything so seriously Tony Khan, Triple H & TKO will eventually see that there’s a way to play rivales for tv but co exist as a business opportunity.
I would love to know what HHH thinks of aew
@@Dporticus I know when he was in charge of NXT he admitted to watching. Not so sure about current day but previous interview comments suggest he’s neutral. There’s things he likes and stuff he doesn’t feel WWE needs to adapt. At one point saying he wasn’t big on all the blood spots they do.
@@Dporticus He said it's "a pissant t-shirt company" in a Hall of Fame show I think
I buy AEW PPVs, and I always watch them more than once.
WWE spent most of the week leading up to Wrestlemania 40 taking shots at AEW in the media. Tony Khan felt pressured to respond, and doing so gets his company free publicity. The majority of AEW fans are former WWE fans who were disenfranchised by bad booking, so when AEW talent trash talks WWE, they're just saying what we've all been thinking for years. If anything, it's refreshing to know that our frustrations have been heard for a change.
AEW is so much more than Deathmatches. They are artists, masters at their craft, and they want to prove that they are the best at EVERY style of wrestling. Every match brings new innovations to the genre and elevates wrestling as a whole.
AEW PPVs ALWAYS deliver! If you really love wrestling as an art form, then AEW PPVs are the best value in the business. Me and my friends have watch parties where we all pay $5 each.
The real draw in AEW is the young talent. Omega, Okada, the Young Bucks, etc. are the old guard. Osprey, MJF, Swerve, etc. are the future of this industry. The retired WWE stars are, at best, a side show. They get nostalgia pops and usually a nice send-off. Sting's retirement match was legitimately one of the greatest shows that I have ever seen as a wrestling fan of +40 years. Tony Khan takes wrestler safety very seriously, giving them lots of time off to heal and suspending anyone he feels was reckless enough to jeopardize the wellbeing of others. Do guys still push the limits? Of course. They are artists who want to create something so spectacular that their work will be remembered after they are gone, but TK has them clear all spots with professional stun crews first to ensure safety. As for people we wish would retire, many people would no doubt mention Jericho, but the reality is that WWE was terrible about this stuff for years. Foley should have retired sooner, Hogan, Goldberg, my God Undertaker, HHH, and don't even get me started on Ric Flair. The biggest problem is that the industry, including WWE, treats wrestlers as independent contractors so they get no benefits, retirement plans, and are only making money if and as long as they're working so the majority of them can't afford to retire. It's a messed-up system that leaves our heroes broken, penniless, and alone.
AEW's next PPV is Forbidden Door, which is a crossover event with NJPW and CMLL. They also have Wrestle Dream in October with NJPW. At one time, Kenny Omega was the World Heavyweight Champion in FOUR different companies at the same time!!!
AEW was founded on companies working together to produce once in a lifetime wrestling matches. WWE tends to be more insular, and the few times they crossed over with other promotions, they just had their wrestlers crush the other companies' guys. It actually made the other promotions look WORSE for working with them. As a lifelong wrestling fan, I hope that AEW never works with WWE simply because I don't trust them to treat our talent fairly.
On the crossover-part: Thing is, AEW would do the same if they had the chance; one can't blame them, they will always want to "protect" their own assets, and make their own product look strong.
Really the best option would be if BOTH companies decided on a collab with yet another promotion (maybe TNA?) to set up a sort of "wrestling open"-event, and which then was responsible for the booking. Not exactly realistic anyway since such an event would instantly become THE greatest show (and thus diminish Wrestlemania, or All In).
"Our" talent. Do you get a check from aew, you geek?
@KoolKeithProductions big talk from the president of HHH's Kiss my @$$ Club
@@majinvegeta6364 lol bro, are you joking? If your tongue were any further up TK's rear, you'd be able to taste what he had for breakfast yesterday
Which one are you talking about where WWE crush a different company guy???? WWE don't really do collabs sooo
$50 is standard the PPV cost for most live event, some UCF and Boxing events are even more. Before Peacock was a think all the WWE events were $50
Before you read my answers, the vampire guy is named Gangrel, and I am begging you to learn more about him because he's fantastic. Iconic entrance, fun gimmick, and even though he personally didn't have a super notable run in WWF/WWE, he was so, so important. Without him we wouldn't have the Edge and Christian we have today, and without them going on to do what they'd do and who they did it with, I imagine American wrestling would be a lot different today. Also, welcome to being a wrestling fan! Try not to learn about attendance numbers/ratings/backstage stuff/match ratings; wrestling is a lot more fun when you can just watch it and enjoy it for what it is.
1.) I don't care either way when they do it. AEW has always acknowledged that other companies exist, and it doesn’t strike me as any more unusual than when they mention any other promotion. For context, since you say you’re a newer fan, WWE has historically only rarely mentioned other companies and for a very long time would do their best to either erase someone’s past completely or would just refer to their time on “the independents.” I haven’t watched WWE in years so I have no idea if this is still the case or not, but for the majority of my time as a wrestling fan WWE’s policy has been “Nothing you have done outside of WWE matters, and we don’t want to let our fans know they can watch wrestling elsewhere” Also, Bryan Danielson has mentioned WWE favorably several times on AEW programming, so it isn't so much that AEW is having people go out and trash WWE so much as wrestlers are allowed to just say what they think and some had a better time in WWE than others.
2.) No. There are entire promotions that have been around for decades where the majority (if not all) of the matches are focused on hardcore/extreme/deathmatch rules, so people can watch that type of thing regularly and not get tired of it. The “extreme” stuff you’re seeing in AEW is nothing new and a lot of it is quite mild compared to some of what you’ll see elsewhere. AEW is a promotion with a lot of different styles, and this is just one of them.
3.) I have no preference either way. AEW only runs one PPV a month with the rare exception, and it’s rare that their PPVs aren’t top tier shows, so buying them isn’t going to break my budget and I never have to wonder if I’m about to waste money or not.
4.) It depends entirely on the wrestler; I’ve been more excited to see some veterans than others, but I think the important thing to look at is the fact that they clearly want to be there. They get a new batch of people to work with and a lot more creative freedom, and they seem pretty happy to be there. Wrestlers are going to get hurt, and they know that. It’s just part of the job. So if a vet can still go and isn’t ready to stop being in the ring this yet, AEW looks like a pretty good place for them to go.
5.) Quite possibly. Tony Kahn is a wrestling geek, and while I've been out of the loop regarding WWE for at least five years now, I’ve heard that it’s a completely different company with Hunter in charge. I’ve also heard that they have working agreements with some other companies, and Hunter let CM Punk come back. I don’t think it’s going to happen yet, but I can see it happening in a couple of years. The wrestling landscape has never been as open as it is now, so we’ll see. I'd definitely like for it to happen.
Bro pro wrestling in America wouldn’t be different if there’s no edge and Christian 😂😂😂
@@si1verrrrsurfer Damn, great argument. You've completely changed my mind.
In prowrestling, wrestlers take shots at each other. But it's a turnoff when the company takes shots at another company? Promotional shots have been happening for ages up until WWE became a bubble company.
I will start of by saying, i've been watching wrestling for 30+ years, since a young child. I love pro wrestling and I've watched EVERYTHING. I currently watch WWE and AEW, along with some NJPW and ROH dabbling. I watch less WWE currently because I just got burnt out and time but I keep up with the major storylines so when I watch I'm not lost. So I'm going to do my best to answer your question and give an honest and as unbiased answer to you as someone who considers himself a wrestling fan who prefers AEW the most.
1. On the topic of MJF/TK "taking shots" at WWE. --- To put it simply TK spouts off a bit too much and its cringy. However, I think people REALLY give him too much crap for ANYTHING he does. He's a wrestling nerd who is living out his dream trying to create a wrestling company that is a legitimate alternative so the wrestling industry is better. But one thing that you definitely haven't seen because you're new to wrestling is how underhanded WWE was when AEW first started doing ANYTHING to take eyes off of it and put them down. And WWE only looks like the "bigger" person now because WWE is putting on a great product right now, where as 4-5 years ago it was doing terribly. To give you some examples, AEW was putting on a free PPV event, I believe there was some fundraiser element to it. And WWE changed an event date and aired it on the same day as this event. WWE took their NXT show which was pre-taped and decided changed it to a live show on TV (was only on their WWE Network App at the time) and aire it against AEW Dynamite who chose the Wednesday spot because nobody was airing Wrestling at that day. At the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, in front of everyone Triple H called AEW a "piss-ant company". There are many other things that WWE did here and there but it wasn't just 1-sided. All that being said, its VERY common for companies to take shots at other companies however. It has happened throughout the years and will continue to happen.
On a side note, people are making WAY too much out of what MJF said on surface level but doesn't think about what he MEANT. When his contract was in question so many people were saying he needs to go to WWE so he can become a big star. What MJF was saying is he doesn't need other companies to be a star. It wasn't a dig at any company it was him saying he will make himself a star.
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2. Am I numb to the extreme stuff? --- Yes and no. I still cringe at some truly crazy things. But this is what wrestling was like for the longest time. Yes, it was more tame in some aspects but blood and wrestling always went hand in hand. A little history, after WWE has basically bought up and crushed all their competition, they eventually hanged their TV rating from TV-14 to PG. And started putting on a more kid/family friendly product. So many of the very dangerous spots, chair shots, and blood went away. So for me, the AEW product is actually going back to a different time in wrestling and a return to form in some regards. Yes there are some diminishing returns but overall its actually one of the things I enjoy about AEW.
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3. Price --- While $49.99 is expensive, I personally find it worth the price as AEW always delivers on their PPV events. While I don't have actual knowledge of this, its widely rumored that AEW's current Media Rights contact negotions going on right now are including a streaming app which will make aquairing these PPVs at a lowe price. Remember AEW is still a new company so you can't just have an app right away. You need to build a "match library" so people can spend time watching the content with that app or its not worth having. Now that they have hit their 5 year mark, along with ROH's media library, they have the content now to go to a streaming app.
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4. "Older" wrestlers ---- I don't want them to hurt themselves. But I would try to take a different perspective on this. These guys LOVE what they do. And nobody is forcing these guys to do ANYTHING they don't want to do. AEW does provide a place for them to express themselves creatively and yes I don't wanna see them get hurt and I cringe a big when I see some dangerous stuff. But remember, WRESTLING IS DANGEROUS. Injuries happen EVERYWHERE. It was about what 2 or so years ago, Big E broke his neck in WWE. Its dangerous but these guys and gals love it.
Side note, AEW allowed me to see one of my childhood heroes and favorites, Sting. They allowed me to see him live when he won the tag titles with Darby and that was 25-years in the making because the 1 time WCW came to AZ, Sting wasn't there and I was so upset as a child. Then they gave him a beautiful send-off of a retirement match. It was gratuitous, over the to, and still amazing. There is a lot of positive to AEW having veterans on the roster as they can and have been used to build new start.
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5. Will we ever see AEW and WWE together ----- No. WWE is a walled garden and they don't do ANYTHING that they don't have complete control over. They only recently started acknowledging their current wresters pasts in other companies instead of trying to pretend that some of these wrestlers were nobodies before they came to WWE. One of the biggest problems with WWE is how unethical and unfair their contacts are. Their wrestlers are "Independent Contractors", however they are almost NEVER allowed to perform unless its on a WWE banner. While it does happen from time to time (only more recently), you will almost NEVER catch a WWE contracted talent performing outside the WWE.
AEW really helped with this however. They have always from the start been open to allowing their wrestlers (within reason) to go perform on Indie shows and make money outside the company. They also have working relationships with NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) and have talent from both companies go over and wrestle on each others shows. AEW has a partnership with CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) which is the #2 (I think) company in Mexico. In the past, AEW also did things with AAA, Mexico's #1 promotion, and with TNA for a short time. Tony Khan purchased ROH (Ring of HOnor) so the "crossover" there isn't the same. AEW also will bring in wrestlers from the Indies and give them spots don't he shows from time to time. Actually, some of AEW's biggest starts were Indie wrestlers who got a chance during the pandemic and got signed.
Regardless what company you like and don't like. What AEW does in this regard is a GREAT thing for wrestling. AEW has a PPV coming up called Forbidden Door ( a play on the term of wrestlers from different companies working together). It will be a show where AEW/NJPW/CMLL and possibly more are competing together or against each other. Its fun to get to see. Especially because it gives you a glimpse of some international talent you might never get to see normally.
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Hope I gave you some good feedback. Always love talking about wrestling and always willing to give you my perspective or answer questions.
Reguardinf cost:
AEW doesn’t have to change their prices, because people are willing to pay for them. However, if they would just bundle there PPV’s for the year (or maybe quarterly or seasonally) to lower the price by a small bit, I could see it being a much better purchase.
Until recently AEW only did one PPV a quarter. Four a year was nice. They have recently started adding PPVs so some of them are first time shows.
1. Being in competition and perception of winning even on the small scale hits well with the fanbase. Something that appears to be unique to AEW is acknowledging that other companies exist. There is very much an us vs them mentality, especially in a David and Goliath way. AEW teams up with NJPW, CMLL, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and actively talk about the Indie promotions where many of them came from, this is all positive. This also stems from where our fan base comes from. Many of us where disillusioned with WWE for nearly 20 years and longed for the Attitude Era/Monday Night Wars. The weird part is that many of us where WWF fans back then. That said AEW has strong ties and call backs to WCW. We never thought we would get a competitive company. The other half of our fan base watched the other promotions and are excited to see our favorites make it to the big league. Example: Saraya was a WWE Diva (back then she was Paige) years ago and was injured. She healed and came to AEW as a Baby Face. However in early in a face to face she mocked Britt Baker the then women's champion for having come from the Indies and never working for WWE. This went over so poorly that the fans turned on her so hard that to keep the feud alive they had to swap Britt to a baby face because the fan base hated her for that one comment. That said competition is good for everyone and both shows. It forces them to make better products and pay their people better. You would not have liked WWE pre AEW.
2. I was never shocked by it. As mentioned above I started in the Attitude Era and seeing blood was just part of the show. WWF had a Hard Core Championship Belt that was basically the Mankind/Mick Foley belt. It never made sense to me that you could be hit by these things and not rip open and bleed. Its known as getting color and dates back to the Regional Days before there was cable TV and the WWF was just the North East Regional company. If you are worried about feeling numb and this being too hardcore look up Nick Gage Matches. AEW is fairly tame and very safe. They practice the stunts and gimmicks. Although watching Swerve Staple his own face last December felt super hardcore and squimish, it wasn't new WWF had a guy in the 80s that would staple his face even when he wasn't hyped up like before the match or during promos. After the Monday Night Wars the WWF became the WWE and they started the PG era and wanted to bring in a younger audience.
3. I have never bought a PPV and just watch the 3 free shows. With the exception of the PPV that I went to live to watch Sting Retire. AEW is trying to get a streaming service. They are negotiating with Netflix and HBO Max. This has to do with 5 years ago when they made their original deal with Time Warner Discovery. It was built around this model and there was no streaming for them because they had no back catalogue and at that time had done 2 or 3 PPVs and no live weekly shows. Also back then they only did 3 or 4 PPV a year (which honestly I miss because the weekly shows had prestige monthly Dynamites) as of 2023 they expanded to 9 to have more to offer for the streaming services so they could get a better deal. The original contract expires in January and you can bet this change will happen a I will subscribing to whoever has that contract.
4. As long as they can still perform and want to perform, I want them to continue to live their dreams. Honestly, though I am starting to wonder if we have picked up too many former WWE talents. Some of them I love like Chris Jericho, but at the same time he has been with AEW since the very first PPV that started AEW. Gangrel the Vampire is likely a 1 off for the PPV and was the leader of the original team when Adam Copeland (Edge) and Christian started with in WWF back in the 90s.
5. No, the WWE rose to dominance by crushing their competition in the 80s often in very dastardly and underhanded ways (watch Dark Side of the Ring on Vice for Details). They won the Monday Night Wars because Turner Broad Casting was bought out AOL Time Warner and they sold off WCW to Vince McMann. They pretend the other companies don't exist and don't even acknowledge them. Would it be cool if we had a Forbidden Door style PPV with AEW vs WWE? Absolutely, but I can't see that ever happening. As I mentioned the competition is good for the quality of the show and the wrestlers make way more money. As for the other companies mentioned in Q1 they crossover all the time. AEW features wrestlers from the other companies, has title matches on their shows for belts that are owned by other companies and their wrestlers go to wrestle on the other shows often in different companies. Right now Jon Moxley has the IWGP Heavy Weight belt that you saw him defend at Double or Nothing. That is the top belt in NJPW he is currently defending that for half of this month in Japan on NJPW shows. This leads into this months Forbidden Door the crossover PPV with NJPW. On the weekly shows nearly every month they have people from the other companies around once a month. As for WWE I don't even know who is on their active roster, except for Roman Raynes (since he has been the top guy for years now) and Cody Rhodes because he went back to WWE from AEW. Oh and the Good Brothers (but WWE probably renamed them). Honestly, I don't have an answer for that.
Bonus: I wrote a thorough response to the questions you had on your First Time watching Video. However, it glitched when I went to post it and it was all lost. I really liked it and it was nice to see a fair perspective. We are very tribal and I believe that has to do with Wrestling History and the competition between the companies in the 80s and 90s.
Christian? Is that who they gangral guy is? Lol dang that would make sense. I remember that from the n64 game my buddy had.
Sorry you had to type all that twice. But I appreciate the thorough response!
Edge had already retired and made a comeback in WWE before moving over to AEW. He was having really good, diverse matches against a bunch of different people before this one. The elbow drop was a bad idea, but he also fucked up of his own accord. He was trying to protect Malakai Black from taking all of his weight but basically overcompensated and stuck the landing. Wrestling is dangerous, but if that move went as intended they would have been sore but fine.
I love when AEW takes shots at WWE. The whole reason I love AEW is because I grew up on the attitude era. AEW is the closest thing to that period of time that I have ever seen. The thing that set off the attitude era was the Monday night wars. The jawing back and forth reminds me of the rivalry with WCW. I love everything that they are doing.
When it comes to using a VPN yes it's legal to use a VPN to purchase PPVs for less money on triller tv and with aew plus you can watch the shows commercial-free
Plus the commentators during commercial breaks are so free spirited that you get additional entertainment during it. They make each other laugh with jokes and tell anecdotes, it's a very unique feeling that is kind of based on their commentary of AEW Dark (one of their youtube shows with lower card acts and squashes against local talents where Taz and Excalibur just had fun watching some matches). The match cooks on on low heat during break, but sometimes they even show cool stuff during it like a wrestler argueing with fans or certain moves that work anyways (a chop duel or some moves that work in PiP as well as live to keep the audience entertained).
Most of the time the older wrestlers are handled very well. Look at sting being partnered with Darby Allen who did most out of the wrestling. And then injuries do happen but like in WWE Edge was doing just as extreme stuff when he first came back. The injury has to do with how Edge landed. He messed up his landing and that could have happened to anyone. But they've handled Aaron Anderson, Jake, The Snake Roberts very very well.
The user KruseControl did an excellent job answering all of your questions and I agree with them pretty much 100%, but just wanna add some of my own thoughts.
AEW used to only have 4 PPVs per year but have been slowly adding new ones. 2024 will have a total of 8 PPVs for the year, which is the most in a single year. I've ordered every PPV in the past 4 years and I have no regrets because they put on great shows every single time in my opinion. Some are better than others of course, but they never half-ass anything, even if some PPVs are a bit disappointing. In my opinion WWE's PPVs (or PLEs) don't have as much value. The only PLEs that have any importance are WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam. The rest usually feel like fancy SmackDowns with championship matches. In WWE you kinda know that after WrestleMania nothing major is gonna happen on a PPV until SummerSlam. and then again until Royal Rumble. Although, this could be changing in the near future with Triple H in charge. AEW doesn't have PPVs that are more important or significant than others. Sure, Double or Nothing was an anniversary show, but the brand new PPV called Dynasty last month did not feel any less important in its build or match card. So that is why to me every AEW PPV feels can't miss and worth it. But yes, with the increases in PPVs, I am starting to get a little bit uncomfortable forking out $50 nearly every month. Doing it once every 3 month was much easier to manage than doing it nearly every month now.
I loved the Hardy Boyz as a kid but unfortunately they are way past their prime. Jeff has had many infamous problems with drugs, including last year which got him suspended for quite a while. Matt Hardy struggles to move in the ring. In AEW if you cannot perform at a high level in the ring, then you will stand out like a sore thumb. The Hardy Boyz are very nostalgic to most millennial wrestling fans but unfortunately they just can't keep up with the competition in the ring anymore and many times its been sad watching them rather than exciting.
Adam Copeland on the other hand, as well as Christian, who actually came up in the business with the Hardy Boyz, are in great shape and can still keep up with today's talent on a high level. You saw Christian fighting for the AEW world championship at Double or Nothing and he looked great. Copeland looked great too, until his unfortunate injury. But his injury wasn't because of his age, it was just a very high risk move that he did and he clearly had second thoughts when he climbed up the cage, which caused him to hesitate and screw up whatever move he was attempting to do.
Chris Jericho is another old timer who has been a major name in wrestling since the 90s. As much as AEW fans like to complain about him being on TV too much, he is also still very much capable of putting on great performances. When I see him in the ring I don't feel worried for him. I was worried about Sting, because that man went absolutely crazy at the age of 64, especially on his farewell match a few months ago, but thankfully he made it through okay and had one of the best career sendoffs in wrestling history.
AEW has done an excellent job with old wrestlers in my opinion. They are great nostalgic acts, but most of the time they are used as side characters, or mentors who help put over the younger talent. In comparison with WWE, many times they would have an old wrestler such as Goldberg, Undertaker, Steve Austin, The Rock or even Brock Lesnar, come in and destroy a younger talent, or even win a championship from them, and then disappear for many months. AEW almost never brings in an older wrestler to stick them into a main event of a PPV or have them win a championship. A good recent example is Rob Van Dam in AEW. He has made a few appearances within the past year. He put on great performances but he lost clean to Jack Perry and to Swerve Strickland. The only times that RVD has won matches in AEW is when he teamed up with Hook, and them winning as a tag team helped build up Hook, as well as give RVD some wins.
AEW has worked with Ring of Honor, NJPW, DDT Wrestling, AAA, CMLL, TNA, and GCW. AEW's wrestlers are also allowed to work in other independent promotions, which further extends the crossovers. WWE on the other hand has always refused to even mention the existence of other promotions, let alone collaborate with them. Again, a lot of this is on Vince McMahon. He micromanaged every little thing about every wrestler. There have been incidents where WWE has fired wrestlers for simply attending TNA shows before. Thankfully Triple H seems to be more open about cross-promotion, but you have to manage your expectations. If history is anything to go by, WWE will never collaborate with anyone or anything unless they themselves greatly benefit from it. Anything can happen, but my brain completely glitches out when I try to imagine a scenario in which WWE collaborates with AEW without the condition that AEW wrestlers must look like total idiots in every match and segment.
I hope I can help, mexican AEW fan, been watching since 2019 and I love wrestling, I am not really into WWE anymore but I tune in on TH-cam when something I like it's happening. (Like my boy Sami Zayn being IC champion).
1. Sometimes, is cool/ okay, ngl, most times is stupid. I like the MJFs it has been some and most Vince or HHH related ones. I don't mind the Will Ospreay to HHH cause it was a response to some nasty spirited comments HHH did. WWE does it but nothing compared with the amount AEW does. (I really like the Young Bucks "I'm sorry, I love you parody" or Cody smashing the throne, or Mr. Broddie Lee making some refferences).
2. Double or Nothing was a PPV, most weekly matches are not Anarchy on The Arena nor WiredSteel Cage. Most are just singles, tag and trios matches with some edgier/brutal spots. So most of the times I like bizarre stipulations. The blood can be really often but are most character base, like Jon Moxley or Brody King that are violent groesome and sometimes sadistic personas.
3. I do it ilegally, i'm mexican, that's why my english is shitty. I watch in a sketchy platform, here in México AEW has a partership with a shitty streaming service called VIX and it's been rumoured that internationally they are working an HBO deal. (Also, most AEW PPV are real bangers, even when weekly tv it's not at it's best, most of them are not skippable, for me at least).
4. Fxck Ric Flair and his m0l3zt1ng ass. It can be amazing like Christian Cage, Adam Coppeland, Billy Gunn I likes Arn Anderson as Cody manager, it also can be really stupid. I want the Hardys out of my screen, Jericho is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time and even I want him to take more breaks. Also, most legends don't do risky spots, most are managers or one, two, maybe three times appareances, like Gangrel, the vampire dude, he is probably not going to weekly TV. Adam Coppeland injury was an extraordinary event more like a 2 mothly Legend broked his something.
5. Probably not, AEW does do lot of crossover, mexican companies CMLL and AAA have worked with AEW. Japanese companies Stardom and NJPW. American side ROH, TNA and some indies. Even Kenny Omega, belt collector phase, was AAA, TNA and AEW world champion at once. Defending in the 3 companies.
I have lots of AEW vs WWE dream scenarios but are truelly non real.
Loved your first AEW video, loved your questions and I hope I helped. c:
Again, sorry my english might be broke.
Some of my Dream scenarios would be.
Sami Zayn as the face vs Bryan Danielson as the heel.
Kenny Omega vs Roman Reings.
Jon Moxley vs Seth Rollings.
House of Black vs CM Punk.
"Timeless" Toni Storm vs Becky Lynch or Bayley.
Kevin Owens vs The Young Bucks.
Cody Rhodes vs Chris Jericho or Kenny Omega.
AEW weekly shows does have mixed reactions specially right now but when it comes to their PPVs they are always hits. In past they used to just have 4 PPVs per year and even paying huge money felt worth it. But with them adding 9 PPVs maybe the cost needs to go down
Hey dporticus, I just want to recommend TNA Against All Odds. It's on Friday the 14th I believe, and the card is very good imo for someone who doesn't know anything about TNA to get into. The main event will likely be Broken Matt Hardy vs Moose for the TNA World Championship. Matt returned to TNA very recently after a lackluster stint in AEW. He's gone back to his "broken" gimmick which, fair word of warning, takes some getting used to. He's been TNA champion under two previous gimmicks (Big Money Matt and just regular Matt I'm pretty sure) but his goal is to "procure the championship of the world from the mammoth known as Moose". Moose is pretty much a different version of Bobby Lashley. Moose's faction, The System, holds the TNA world championship, the TNA world tag team championships, and 1/2 of the TNA Knockouts (women's) tag team championships. The TNA tag team champions, Bryan Myers (used to be Curt Hawkins in WWE but that was before either of us started watching) and Eddie Edwards, are defending against Nic Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler) and his brother Ryan Nemeth. Mustafa Ali will be defending the X-Division championship against Trent Seven (who used to be in a faction called British Strong Style with Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate, and won the NXT UK tag team championships with Bate, and is a really good wrestler) after Seven defeated his tag partner, Speedball Mike Bailey, after those two (Speedball Mountain) beat another team called ABC (who I recommend checking out) in a match to determine which team would face each other to determine Ali's opponent at Against All Odds. Jordynne Grace, who is challenging Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Championship at Battleground on Sunday, is defending her Knockout's world championship in an open challenge, which should be interesting given the relationship between WWE and TNA. If you're interested I would say it's a pretty good show to do a video on and it's nowhere near as expensive as Double or Nothing since it's technically not a PPV. The best (and I'm pretty sure only way) to watch it is to subscribe to TNA+. The lowest tier is called Special Attraction Monthly and is $9.99 per month. This gets you access to Monthly Special Events (which is what Against All Odds is), weekly shows and the entire video library. If you enjoy it and want to get further into it I recommend upgrading your membership to World Champion Annual. It gets you all PPV's and MSE's included as well as weekly shows and the library, and is cheaper than paying for for Special Attraction for the year and buying all PPVs. I personally enjoy TNA and would recommend you checking it out, especially now that you've watched AEW. Hopefully you see this.
WWE Pay Per Views were $50 dollars until the WWE Network became a thing in 2014 but the thing about WWE back then would have bundle deals during WrestleMania season and Summer Slam season so it’s normal for those that have been life long wrestling fans to pay for pay per views but with streaming services now a thing we Pay Per Views/PLE’s should be free with a subscription to whatever service for example NBCU and Peacock TV like WWE and hopefully AEW gets a streaming deal done with Warner Brothers Discovery and HBO Max so we don’t have to pay for every Pay Per View if we have a HBO Max subscription
wanted to throw this in about the PPV thing but you can watch the PPVs at Dave and Buster's (lol). However, I try and support by paying for the PPV when I can and paying for it on Sling TV or TH-cam, but I think TK plans to get this streaming somewhere.
I liked the name drop from MJF on this bc it related to early promos he had cut and made sense for the character
Let’s go for all of them!
1: I generally don’t care. When Tony does it it’s mostly funny and when talent does it it’s almost always referring to a wrestlers past, which is good. Tony actually hates HHH and the wwe office (The stuff with his mom, the Billy Gunn hall of fame situation, Association with Vince) but still, most people don’t really ride or die behind Tony. He’s a dork, he’s funny, it’s whatever. I get how to someone who doesn’t know the history of the shots and the ins and outs of things it would be nasty though.
2. No not really. The in ring work rate is obviously higher, but that’s how it is in the majority of companies, it’s the wwe in house style to be less high-impact (not saying it’s bad, I’m just not a fan) but as for blood and crazy stunts, they don’t happen that often. Mostly at ppvs or when the feud calls for it. (With exceptions, Dustin Rhodes really likes to bleed when he gets tv time) Even then I don’t mind though. It’s gnarly and adds to the psychology of the match.
3. The ppv cost is really rough, I always use the vpn method, so it’s whatever. I absolutely prefer what wwe does with peacock though, and what Tony does with ROH (ppvs come with the roh streaming service). Hopefully they get a max deal and can streamline things.
4. This depends. It really just depends on the talent. With Christian, Dustin, Copeland, they’re still great in the ring, and barring mistakes like the Copeland elbow drop, safe. With Jericho, and the hardy’s, they need to hang it up. Safety wise though I’m rarely concerned, I trust in a company this big to keep these people safe within reason.
5. No, not really. Tony legitimately hates the management at wwe, and from Triple H’s recent press conferences and pre-shows, an more subliminal shots, it’s mutual. It sucks, but that’s how it is. As for matchups, Bianca Belair vs Toni Storm, or Jamie Hayter, or Riho would be awesome. Bianca’s one of the only people I check wwe socials for matches of.
Hope my responses are helpful and what not, live laugh wrestling.
4:36 About using of blood in Wrestling. Well when you watch MMA fights they usually bleed. Watching Wrestling is supposed to make you feel it's real and dangerous. They're professionals they know their jobs better than I or anyone on Twitter/Podcast yelling at them knows.
Firstly, hi, Im Valo and i run RWL here in England - I watch both and tend to lean towards AEW.
1) doesn’t bother me. All companies often take jabs at each other. There was an AEW reference on NXT with Ethan Pages debut last week and HHH has taken shots in press conferences and also during the DX HoF speech. TKs jab during the NFL Draft was massively uncalled for. Yes, other companies take jabs at each other. Look back to 1996 where WWE (then WWF) was taking jabs at WCW.
2) The hardcore aspect doesnt bother me personally. This style of wrestling is very common across the wrestling world and dare i say WWE is the outlier.
Q2- Speaking of Blood and Violence, someone who grew up with ECW and Attitude Era Wrestling. I don't think you ever get numb watching blood or dangerous wrestling spots because you know one wrong move can end a wrestler's career. You know they're feeling pain while doing those moves and you just feel it
Idk if they mention WWE stuff. We were all influenced by WWE including Tony Khan.
Simpsons take stabs at South Park and we love it.
Renewed wrestling fan here (but fan from 04 up to 10) I feel like aew could attract more fans by being on max since they have a deal with TNT.
As for the PPVs, they only do nine. I fully expect them to eventually do one a month. Because they sometimes struggle with the lead-up to the PPVs, although they usually excel with their pay-per-views. There will just be absolute must-see PPVs considering the matches. There will also be ones you can totally skip. It was like that when the WWE still focused on PPVs.
From a 20yr old WWE and AEW fan, grew up on WWE, went big AEW 2020-22, currently enjoying both. Been to 5 episodes of dynamite, 1 Raw, 2 house shows, and both nights of WM 40. AEW started with only 4 PPVs per year and that was something I really enjoyed. Revolution, DoN, All Out, and Full Gear. I'm actually happy with 49.99 as I believe UFC PPVs are 79.99. I believe they're working on a deal with HBO for streaming which would be ideal. If the older guys can still go and look good I'm fine with it, but there gets a point that it can be tough to watch. Depends on booking, for example Sting was booked great. AEW definitely fires more shots but WWE has as well, most famously Triple H referring to the "pissant" company. Cody speaks highly of his time in AEW and relationships with the Bucks/Kenny. I'm just glad people are watching wrestling.
Best match for a cross over match for me would be a SHIELD triple threat. Roman, Seth and John Moxley. Cody Vs MJF
Personally it's all good to me. I actually wish both shows would be free enough to mention the other as many times as they want. But that's because I actually want cross company feuds and matches. I want a real forbidden door every year like Mania where one company invades the other and starts feuds up that culminate in a PLE to end said feuds.
But I guess when I say that, I mean that I want these two companies to collab and lift each of their names to higher levels by doing so. Of course the chances of that happening is slim to none but one day I hope TK and Hunter can actually work together to give us something like whats happening with TNA and Dub down in NXT.
As a product I watch WWE over AEW because I like stories over five star matches but I've never had a problem with one show mentioning the other. Punk and MjF have had some of their best promos taking shots at Dub.
The biggest problem is that AEW, staff and stars as a whole seem to actually hate Dub whereas Dub seems to just ignore AEW as maybe their estranged cousin a few families over that they are embassed to mention publicly. If both companies can get over these hangups I can see an even newer Era in Pro Wrestling where we work to build each other up instead of pushing each other down. But of course, thats probably a pipe dream for me.
I'm holding out hope!
Vince used to have old-timers perform all the time, especially at Wrestlemania. They've built the cache to be able to perform as long as they're able.
WHO BELIEVES?
The only time I've heard of WWE mentioning AEW was during a Sami Zayn TV Segment like 2 or 3 years ago and Triple H mentioned them during a HOF speech where Billy Gunn was there.
Wrestlemania also. People lost their minds when Ospreay told the truth about hhh. But it was ok for hhh to say what he said.
When they mention WWE idgaf usually. Its not that deep. But the WWE literally is the Weinstein of wrestling, the company is being sued and investigated not just Vince. WWE spent the whole wreatlemania week throwing shots at AEW trying to little bro them, which in some ways in warranted, and in others, it came across bitter. Both companies do this though. Tony Khan took that shot after constantly getting shit on by WWE and its fans for weeks. He deserved to get that off in my opinion. But i personally just focus on kayfabe idgaf about “real” drama. Except for the fed case because that is very serious.
I grew up on death matches in CZW so extreme stuff is always fun for me. But you just happened to watch a PPV that was full of that stuff. If you watched the previous one Dynasty, it was all just regular wrestling. AEW mostly does normal wrestling and the in ring quality is far superior to WWE. Its hard hitting intense and the stories in AEW are told through the wrestling mostly, rather than with promos and stuff. Though AEW has that stuff too. But AEW does things more subtly and you have to pay attention to the show to follow along. And blood is just blood idk its never shocked me really but ive been watching since 1998 so thats probably why. Also it never takes away from my love for NJPW or TNA or STARDOM. AEW actually shows love to all styles of wrestling so you can get strong style, lucha, joshi, kings road, and deathmatch stuff all in one night or even one match sometimes. It makes me appreciate all forms of wrestling even more.
Sadly 49.99 is pretty standard for PPV and WWE used to be like $10 higher i think back in the days. Well their big four did at least. But AEW should be moving to MAX at some point this year so this whole thing will change with the coming TV deal from WB. But for now yeah the PPV prices are stinky haha. If i were you, I would tune in for ALL IN which is their Wrestlemania. And then maybe Full Gear or Worlds End depending on what the cards look like.
Adam Copeland has been absolutely fantastic in AEW and i never expected him to be so great this late in his career. But i think he even said himself he got on such a hot streak that he forgot hes 50 lol. Hes around so many young guys doing fun stuff he wanted to keep up but now he knows better. It was just a case of Adam pushing too hard. Most of the other old guys dont jump off cages lol. Only Cope.
WWE is never going to coexist with AEW. They have never played nice with others. They barely play nice even now with more open talent “exchanges”. They will mention companies now at least. And bring people like Jordyn Grace in. But WWE is the most hyper capitalist company out there (they all are, the fed is just the worst with it) and they will never do anything that hurts their bottom line. Profits are the only thing that matter to the WWE. Whereas other companies do also care about their product in ring and otherwise (they also focus on profits though). But WWE would destroy all other companies and become a monopoly again if they could. Thats just the reality of it.
If i could get Kenny Omega vs John Cena i would absolutely love that so much. But realistically i think Roman vs Kenny would also be fun af. Also i need to see Young Bucks and DIY in a tag match.
Clearly you're clueless
Also everyone loved WWE back in the day and they still talk about the incredible TLC matches or the brutal hell in a cell matches and then WWE just made those matches into their own pay previews. It takes away from the story. It’s like oh it’s October so it’s time to have a hell in a cell match. It’s stupid. The Match is meant for a heated rivalry and a good way to close it out. AEW doesn’t have an anarchy in the arena pay per view. They do it every once in a while and they’re great matches when they do put them on. The wrestlers leave it all out there for us.
a lot of these questions can be answered by either watching aew from the start or just continuing to watch it, their unspoken rules and quirks are usually said out loud whereas wwe is just catching up their communication skills, i guess it comes down to if you like to be told that you're watching a best of eight match up while its happening (aew) or only being told it took place, after it's over and done with (wwe) it's all wrestling but one focuses on the culture the other focuses on brand awareness
Now in the triple H era I think it's more of a possibility than it ever has been. You also have people on the roster that are really good friends with people on both shows. I think it would be amazing to have like a new day versus the Young Bucks match and they have actually feuded before and it all led to a street fighter tournament but I'd love for it to actually end in the ring.
I would say wait for just 1 year it is guaranteed coming to HBO max.infact dynamite and collision will be available on max so you can watch it then and it doesn't have to live
as a AEW fan, i dont mind mentioning WWE (who I also like) very know and then. But it seemingly more and more common, and I think it gets old quick and some are in very poor taste.
the 4 PPV a year was perfect, I had no problem paying the $50 but with them doing the more shows I will not be watching those sadly. But I think thats why you have 12 match PPVs, I feel at least I do get my moneys worth when I buy a PPV.
I dont think they will work together with any time soon with all the shots that Tony takes at WWE, but maybe one day far down the road they will
For the "old guys still wrestling" question:
When we watched DoN and Copeland climbed that cage we were all screaming "NO PLEASE DON'T DO IT" and when he jumped the way he did I immediately said he would probably break something. I was thinking of ankles or knees.
I've got mixed feelings about this and I think it's a very case by case kind of situation. I feel Sting had a fantastic time in AEW with great matches and great moments that showed he could still go but he did it in a very VERY safe way. Even when he took bumps that looked kind of dangerous I always felt he knew what he was doing and he knew what he was capable of doing without hurting himself or anyone else. And I loved seeign him in AEW... like more than almost anything else. He was an absolute hero of mine as a kid watching him in WCW and WWE really did him dirty. I didn't see most of his TNA stuff, because I didn't watch much wrestling at the time and his AEW stuff was just a perfect sendoff.
I feel like Jericho sometimes looks like he shouldn't wrestle anymore... but then sometimes he shows that he can still go and he's funny as fuck. The Hardies... well... idk. Jeff had a couple singles matches at the end that were decent but his high risk stuff just looked too dangerous, especially since he just looked unsteady as fuck. Billy Gunn is another one that looks absolutely phenomenal at his age and I think he knows very well how to wrestle for his age. He can be out there every week and not look like he's ruining his life with it.
Overall I'm happy that some older wrestlers that can still go are getting the opportunity to do so in AEW and not be relegated to some legends type deal where they get to enter the Royal Rumble once a year do 3 signature moves and then get eliminated by this years big guy monster heel.
WWE mentions AEW more than you think. Though they don't mention them by name. Numerous references have been made throughout the years from talent and lately Triple H. Fans that only consume the WWE product will miss these references. The relationship between TNA and WWE has only happened because AEW has partnerships with NJPW, CMLL, Stardom, AAA and at one time TNA. ROH is owned by Tony Khan and is a sister promotion to AEW and should honestly be their version of NXT. As for paying $49 for a PPV. Thats how it alwats was before WWE made the network and moved to Peacock. Other promotions also charge $49 for a PPV/PLE. We will probably see AEW content show up on Max in the near future if all AEW shows stay on Warner networks. Im mostly an AEW fan these days. AEW got me back into professional wrestling. I'm 38 and grew up watching WWF and WCW. Seeing WWE and AEW is a great thing. Its nice to see a promotion that has the money to compete and pay talent comparably to what they would in WWE. You hadn't seen that since WWE purchased WCW. Competition is good for the fans and talent.
It really doesn’t bother me mostly because up until Triple H took over creative 2 years ago. WWE rarely or did not acknowledge the greater wrestling world after WCW and ECW went under back in 2001. Before that all the companies in the US would take potshots ateach each other. Either outright or small subtle jabs at each other.
The only other instances I can personally think of companies really taking jabs at each other or wrestlers are in Japan. And the blood feud between AAA and CMLL.
Not really, they kind of save most of that for pay-per-view or special event episodes. Occasionally on a episode of tv.
$50 is the standard for wrestling pay-per-views. WWE used to charge the same prices until they made the network and then eventually moved onto Peacock
It’s pretty cool seeing some of the older wrestlers being able to do what they want to do in AEW (except for Chris Jericho). Some people like Christian weren’t given the opportunity to thrive in WWE
As one of the few fans (it seems) to both shows, I'll throw some of my answers out there.
1. I enjoy when names are thrown out through companies, because it lets me believe that maybe... just maybe... we'll see some cross-brand feuds in the future. I highly doubt this will EVER happen, but never say never.
2. I've never felt numb to the extreme action. I think it's awesome for the most part. But there are things that make me cringe and feel bad for the wrestlers. For instance, one of the last PPVs had Swerve Strickland using a staple gun on his opponent and then he turned it to himself and started stapling a paper to his face. That was too far for my eyes. I also couldn't stop saying "My Gosh he's going to die" when Darby Allin dangled from that rope for 10 minutes during the last PPV.
3. When they first started out, AEW was doing the $50 PPV's every 2 or 3 months which was great. Now it's every month of course (except for All In and All Out which are a week apart for some stupid and costly reason). $50 is crazy expensive but it's nothing new to me because that's how WWE was pre-Peacock. It irritates me that the PPVs go on until 12:30 in the morning but at the same time if I pay that much money, I want my moneys worth. 8 or so matches make me feel like I got that. I would prefer streaming deals, and I do watch every PPV, but I have a group of friends that come over and pitch in with the money.
4. While I love these older guys coming back and giving it another go in the company, there are definitely times that I say "C'mon, just retire and work backstage man." I think people like Christian and Edge coming back are okay because they still got it. Every time I watched a Sting match I cringed because the dude is 65 Years old and still diving off of ladders and stuff. Same goes with the Hardy Boyz. They are who made me a wrestling fan years ago, but pain is why Jeff got into drugs and alcohol in the first place and it hurts me to see that he's still wrestling.
5. Answered that one up there!
to answer your questions so #1 wwe never name drops wrestlers from aew and this is something they basically always have done even during the monday night wars vs wcw they focus on there own product and thats basically why they won the monday night wars, at first it was cool to mention wwe but its to much now i dont get super annoyed but they should stop and only 1 time wwe had this segment where samy zayn asked the crowd for any questions they have, he was disappointed by the questions and said why hasnt anyone ask him about AEW :O oh and during the DX hall of fame billy gunn said vince cant fire him so triple h did reference aew cause billy gunn was leaving to go there and triple h said vince could buy that piss as company and could fire him
#2 - i love the non pg of AEW cause its something that is really missing in wwe and it reminds of the attitude era or ECW , the only part is when jon moxley bleeds alot, he does it so much it isnt special anymore
#3 - i dont have cable so i find a way to watch AEW shows and ppv for free, there is websites that stream it, its similar to websites that play movies, iv done this for years and has never got in trouble, i wont drop the link cause could get you in trouble but i basically type watch aew for free and you could try and find these sites, but i dont watch it live cause it lags alot so i wait when the shows and ppv is done
#4 - i dond mine seeing some of my favorite legends like edge, christian, jericho, billy gunn, sting being part of aew cause they got to face new people, refresh there characters that got stail when they were in wwe, my problem is they been signing way to many wwe talent and push them more then many aew originals, sure aew has there big stars but many of the mid carders are struggling, they dont get any tv time or just plan forgotten or some former wwe stars come in and get that flavor or the month and they havnt done anything, the big problem was signing first cm punk when he went off at the scrum that change my opinion of him and now i dont like him at all, same for mercedes mone, im actually super mad she won the tbs title on her first match ever and didnt deserve it, she always felt overrated too me and i cringe when she speaks and that stupid dance
#5 -WWE and AEW will NEVER EVER work together!! way too many egos and if the matches were to happen who wins? it depends whos booking the show, if its triple h then all the wwe talent wins, if its tony khan then all the AEW talent wins, so this will never happen, its pretty much when WWF vs WCW they would take shots at each other but never worked with each other
I've been staying out of the wrestling discourse and news bubble because it's so toxic I contemplated giving up watching wrestling, but I thought I'd jump in just to answer from my perspective. Should anyone other than Dporticus feel the need to reply for whatever reason, I will not respond, so don't bother. :P
People from AEW name dropping WWE or people in WWE for no reason other than cheap heat is just that. I don't think it helps them. It has it's place, and I like when we can acknowledge the existence of other companies, but it's often done in poor taste. WWE doesn't really mention AEW on their programming, but they're very petty towards them in other ways.
I am not numb to the extreme aspects of AEW. I'm not into deathmatch wrestling, sharp things are scary, chair shots to the head hurt my stomach, I would prefer them to ease up a bit, because I often ask myself why they're doing an extreme match in the first place when it's not really necessary. For a while, Jon Moxley was infamous for bleeding in pretty much every match. Luckily he doesn't do it as often these days.
PPVs are expensive, there's no way around it. Me and my friend kinda work together to watch AEW. I pay for the VPN to watch commercial free on Fite (now Triller) in the UK, an account that he pays for. And for PPVs, because of what he does, we basically get the shows for free, but a streaming deal would be better. Why AEW is not on the HBO service is perplexing.
Wrestler age depends on the wrestler. Adam Copeland can still wrestle just fine and he's in great shape. You'd be surprised how many guys in WWE are close to or over 40 if you don't know already. Once it becomes apparent that wrestlers are struggling, then it's not as fun to watch as a fan. I thought Undertaker should have stopped at WrestleMania 28, it even made sense storyline wise, but he kept going. Anyone jumping feet first off of a cage can only go badly.
I don't see a day where AEW and WWE work together, but I also didn't think the Elite would sell 10,000 tickets in 2018, nor did I think they'd sell 80,000 tickets in 2023. I didn't think WWE would work with any other company until Mickie James entered the Royal Rumble as Impact Knockouts champion a couple years ago. The past 6 years have been crazy for wrestling, so anything could happen.
As far as I remember AEW was name dropped only once by Sami Zayn, way before the whole business with the Bloodline. WWE usually doesn't name other companies, unless there is some sort of business relation going on, like TNA now
Saw your other video and then watched this so I will answer some questions.
You almost have to know that WWE was the only real game on TV for about 20 years, so many people have been indoctrinated by WWE. Back in the 90's, we had WCW, WWF, and ECW to watch. Many of us flipped back and forth during the Monday Night Wars. So most of the people like me love having AEW around. WCW was really more of a southern style of wrestling while WWF was the northern style. But those lines are definitely blurred these days. WCW also had the cruiserweight title with people holding that title like Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr all before they were in WWF/WWE. It wasn't unusual to see wrestlers jump between companies back then. I would say AEW is a mix of WCW, ECW, and the Japanese and luchadore styles. Plus AEW has more tag wrestling, whith some of the greatest tag teams alive today.
The name dropping has to do with WWE being the only big wrestling on TV for so long and refusing to aknowledge that there is other wrestling on planet Earth. It doesn't bother me relaly, it's a big fat nothingburger for most of us.
MJF is probably the most over wrestler today. His charachter has evolved from the rich eastern blue blood to the denim/leather jacket and vest. Just like Triple H. His whole outfit was a tribute to Trips.
As far as the blood and hardcore style of AEW, I love it. My teenage years was filled with ECW. ECW, hardcore wrestling and Japanese death matches is how I became a wrestling degenerate. WWE is really too squeaky clean for my tastes. But again I am a wrestling degenerate!
So you will se more older wrestlers move over to AEW because AEW doesn't have the brutal schedule that WWE has with house shows and the travel. AEW also allows their wrestlers to take indie bookings, and persue other projects outside of wrestling. Thankfully Matt is gone(needs to retire) and Jeff won't be there much longer. Matt is cooked as a wrestler.
I personally don't see AEW and WWE really working together.
As for AEW ppv's, AEW really has a few signature ppv's like Double or Nothing, Revolution, Full Gear and All Out. But I think All Out has been over taken by All In. Especially with how huge an event All In is. And All Out is the next weekend after All In. Personally DON, REvolution, All In, and Full Gear should be the must see PPV's.
Like many people, AEW has brought me back to wrestling after being a lapsed fan for so long.
WWE definitely had a smear campaign during WrestleMania's pre show scrum thing. Triple H basically being bitter that he missed out on the top free agents, pat making fun of AEWs attendence, punk has made a few shots about AEW, Ethan page had a shot at AEW just a few days ago. It happens on both sides, but AEWs references to WWE are usually from the talents mouth as AEW doesn't script promos, WWE on the hand scripts all promos.
Dporticus my sweet summer child. As a long time wrestling fan (over 40 years) let me explain the difference between WWE and everybody else. WWE is sports entertainment. They are a cast of characters acting out a soap opera with a bit of "wrestling" thrown in. Most of the "Superstars" (they aren't allowed to be called wrestlers) are there for the paycheck. They have little to no say in how their character is developed or portrayed. AEW is much closer to NJPW and the indies. The AEW fans recognize when wrestlers from other leagues show up in AEW or ROH. AEW fans are people who also watch CMLL, NJPW, GCW, Defy, and loads of other leagues. WWE fans believe because WWE is the biggest league, they are the best - but they haven't really taken a look around. An example would be when WWE fans claim the Usos are teh best tag team ever. Honestly, they aren't even the best tag team in their family (That would be Tama Tonga and Tama Loa - the Guerrillas of Destiny). Everyone who goes from watching WWE to AEW complains about the lack of story lines but AEW is more about what goes on in the ring. Beside, if they were to concentrate of long, drawn out story lines, they would be trying to complete with WWE at its biggest strength. Ask WCW how that turned out. (which is why I find Eric Bischoff giving unsolicited advice to AEW constantly hysterical) That is RAW has 3 hours of TV time and 45 minutes of in ring "action." I honestly believe why AEW's numbers have cooled as of late is because they are adding too many story lines (ie: long speeches, backstage bits, etc.) AEW is about having great wrestlers get in the ring and push boundaries. Not every match needs a huge 4 week build up. They don't have to have 3 - 7 matches before settling things at a pay per view. The bottom line is, watch what you want but know comparing WWE to AEW is comparing a BMW to a Jeep. They are both good at what they do but won't necessarily appeal to the same audience. And it would be foolish for a Jeep to try and compete in the same market space as a BMW - and vice versa.
Sounds like we both watch the shows we heavily prefer. Awesome!
Question 1:
Short Answer: I feel it is fine and it shouldn't turn you off. It should be a fun feature that lets you go " oh OH!" because WWE generally aren't too obvious about their own jabs.
Long Answer: If you think about it, it's a weird question. It's like an American being surprised that America is mentioned in a Canadian TV show. Basically, WWE's been at the top of the hill for decades and they almost never acknowledge that wrestling exist outside of it. To the point where NXT Champion Kevin Owens' first appearance to confront John Cena on the main roster was a huge deal. Think about it, they barely acknowledge their own developmental. And they've "brainwashed" their viewers into thinking that's the way it's gotta be.
But it's totally different for AEW. They're the new kids on the block. WWE is a HUGE elephant in the room. Why WOULDN'T they mention WWE? ECW mentioned both WCW and WWF back in the day, because they were the small rebel company. AEW's acknowledgement of other wrestling companies is what brought us Forbidden Door. Without their practice of acknowledgement and cooperation, you wouldn't be seeing TNA stars on WWE programming right now. Cody Rhodes and Jade Cargill, would not be presented as they are, were it not in part, for this practice.
AEW HAS to mention WWE because let's be honest, they're ants compared to the elephant that is WWE. WWE has also made negative comments about AEW, especially in the past. Those tend to be out of left field while AEW's comments tend to be regarding criticisms that fans have had on WWE for years. But aside from CM Punk, the WWE wrestlers seldom take negative jabs at AEW. As for Tony Khan specifically... long story short, it's his job to stir things up but WWE's less insultable since Triple H replaced Vince McMahon as the face of the company.
Question 2:
Short Answer: Nope, not numb yet. You've only seen the PPV, and those tend to be more extreme, and Anarchy in the Arena is meant to be extra crazy. AEW has a wide variety of styles.
Long Answer: Again, we need context. For years, WWE has slowly but surely promoted a certain style of wrestling, to the point where people have been calling it the WWE style. And it's a very samey style, to the point where every wrestler kind of blended together.
AEW started as an alternative to WWE, and that included having many varieties of matches. From athletic high flying "indy style", to comedy wrestling, to lucha libre, to Japanese strong style, to highly technical and eventually, even hoss style (AEW started not having a lot of big guys, so they lacked big hosses brawling). They also had more style vs style matches, but it kinda depends on who gets paired up, and admittedly, a lot of the high flyers get paired up because they're the young guys at the bottom of the pecking order while the older guys higher on the card practice slower styles.
That said, AEW has a wide variety of styles but it does go through phases. A few months ago, you'd have noticed a lot of Japanese strong style with a lot of trading chops. It depends on who's being featured a lot and who's on the bench.
Blood isn't a common thing in AEW these days. It was used fairly sparingly in the early days. The really big blood baths were reserved for special matches. This statement discounts Jon Moxley by the way, who seemed to be contractually obligated to bleed in EVERY match. If it feels like blood is bled a lot in AEW, blame Jon Moxley. Now, having said that, blood is indeed used in AEW and there's a handful of truly... I mean, Jesus, figuratively LITERAL blood BATHS in AEW. Check out Double of Nothing 2019. It's the first AEW show, so it's a good point to start and is something of an ideal for AEW.
Question 3:
Answer: The higher price for the PPV is one reason why AEW offers so many matches. So that you'd get a sense of getting your money's worth.
PPV model is actually the norm and the main way to survive for smaller companies. WWE is special but definitely way more worth it for the consumer. Hopefully, AEW will be able to get a streaming service soon. They've accumulated enough content over the last 5 years as well as the ROH footage, to justify it now.
I may sound pro AEW but that doesn't mean I don't acknowledge the cons. Cost of PPV is definitely a thing. If you're going to pay for it yourself and not split the cost or use some nefarious means (no judgement), then perhaps you should just focus on Double or Nothing, Full Gear, All Out and Revolution, as these are their big shows. Forbidden Door is probably not worth it for you, as a new fan, as you wouldn't get the significance of all the crossovers (ref: Question 1).
And don't forget, as a TH-camr, you can look into writing off the cost as a business expense, tax-wise.
Question 4:
Answer: It's STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
*ahem*
Fans love the wrestlers. That's why they chanted "please help Darby!" because although they're being entertained, they also know it's a work and they're concerned for the safety and well being of the wrestlers. And Darby seemed to be hanging up there like, reaaaally long. It's why when Jake the Snake broke his hip, the fans paid for his surgery and not the multi-billion dollar corporations that he spent years working for.
WWE treated old guys like trash for years. And "unfortunately", AEW has treated the old guys with such respect and deference that now, the old guys keep wanting to do stuff. And while we as fans would be fine with old guys doing less, we're still happy that they can continue to do what they love. In the end, it's their choice.
Question 5:
Answer: Vince days? Heck no. Triple H/Nick Khan regime, maybe. Not until AEW gets a good TV deal so that they're on more equal terms though. There's no real reason for WWE to work with AEW right now. AEW would be happy to work with WWE. It would require a number of factors to coincide.
Or WWE buys AEW. Or Tony to get a big chunk of WWE shares.
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I know I mention WWE a lot in my answers but it's like in Question 1, they're the elephant in the room. We gotta acknowledge them. AEW became instantly successful because WWE was such a monopolizing juggernaut for the prior 20 years that they were able to afford producing an ever poorer product year over year, and they were so anti-fan as well; that AEW was able to capitalize by addressing all the issues that WWE was facing.
Now Vince is gone and Triple H is addressing the issues that WWE was facing, which allowed AEW to even exist. WWE is objectively better now because of AEW because without AEW, we'd probably still be stuck with the goddamn "zooming shakey-cam".
Is AEW worth watching? I believe it is. Now is as good a time as any to jump in. I think AEW is old enough that you can't reasonably be expected to catch up from the beginning. But I think it's worth it to like, maybe have a watch list of key matches, episodes and PPVs that you can maybe watch on the side.
Of the very least, if you're interested, perhaps you can watch promos and famous segments. I recommend watching via AEW's TH-cam channel as opposed to a fan's compilation, as the compilations have to chopped up and that really affects the flow.
As a lifelong wrestling fan of over 30 years and someone who used to be a big aew fan I’ll offer my opinions on these questions
1. I don’t like the shots. I don’t like tribalism. I won’t lie there was a time where I had been disenfranchised with main roster wwe in the 2010s and I followed the rise of the elite. They pointed out things in wwe that I also agreed with at the time. When AEW started I had bought into that stuff and I didn’t mind the shots. But my opinion did change over time. I lost interest in AEW around the time of the brawl out 2022 incident. Being a cm punk fan I guess I took his side in things. I did go to forbidden door last year and had a great time but my interest outside of that show had dissipated. I haven’t cared for a lot of their creative and I felt with Vince gone, new ownership, HHH creative, I started to prefer wwe probably around the time that you first started watching. So for me the shots come off as weak and desperate now. You’re correct this kind of stuff only appeals to their biggest fanboys who hate all things WWE. Tbh if someone tells you they “don’t mind it”, they most likely are one of these people themselves. Now to be fair guys like HHH and Pat have taken shots as well which I also didn’t like. But at least it’s never been on their weekly TV show. TV time should be spent focusing their own product. Also TK seems like a good guy and a big wrestling fan but he also comes off a bit emotionally unstable and thin skinned to me. Why are you arguing with faceless profiles on twitter? Don’t you have Businesses to run? Why are you so reactionary and focus so much of your tv because of an interview cm punk did on a podcast? To me he pushes the tribalism more than anyone and is a big reason why I’ve lost interest in aew. It is off putting it’s not just you.
2. I grew up in the attitude era and I used to watch ecw. So I’ve never minded the extreme stuff. Plus I’ll defend it and say it was a ppv, if you’re going to do it, it should be on a ppv. Personally as a teen I used to enjoy hardcore wrestling but as I got older I started caring less about it and now I prefer more the technical style of a Gunther match. I will say a complaint they get a lot which I kinda agree with is the overuse of blood. At an aew dynamite I went to last year moxley was in the opening match and a fan l mockingly yelled “Hurry up and bleed already”. He bled within 3 minutes of an opening match on a dynamite. To me it kills the meaning of it. Everyone remembers when stone cold bled at mania 13 because it was shocking. You don’t see it often it means more. Like when Cody bled recently. That’s my opinion.
3. I won’t lie I would prefer it if they were on a service like hbo max, but the ppv model was how wrestling was presented for a long time. wwe was on ppv for decades too. They also don’t do monthly shows like WWE does. I bought every ppv for the first few years of aew. Lately I haven’t because I’ve lost interest in the product. I still follow it but yeah when you see a $50 ppv that you don’t really have a lot of interest going in, you might tend to skip it. Happened a lot with wwe ppvs as well with me prior to the network.
4. Older talent doesn’t bother me if they can still keep up. Edge and Christian have both shown they can perform at a high level. But I’ll echo other comments guys like the Hardys probably should hang it up soon. It’s funny you only started watching recently but Vince used older guys a lot for a long time well past their prime. Ric flair wrestled in wwe until he was 58, taker and HHH had matches in their 50s. Goldberg was all over programming in recent years despite being terrible. You just missed that era thankfully lol
I think Triple H fully taking over a year or two ago was the moment where it was a hard reset on what a WWE/AEW relationship could be. There was a conscious public effort to let everyone know there were clean slates being handed out. The AEW/CM Punk relationship became so messy that if everyone is being honest, they know Hunter started catching some strays. I think a lot of the opportunity for a working relationship of any kind went by the wayside and is probably postponed until further notice.
Basically, I think Levesque was indifferent about AEW and was more focused on working with Nick Khan on the WWE transition, so all options were open. I believe Tony Khan still thinks he's warring with Vince McMahon & CM Punk, and has now made an enemy of Levesque. It probably didn't have to be that way, but WWE is too big and established to want to work with other companies that don't respect what they do. And I think AEW is too proud to care to try to repair that relationship and/or opportunity.
I know Tony referenced AEW as "Pepsi" but it's not that at all from my perspective. It's more like WWE is Pepsi and AEW is microbrew beer. The only things in common really is that they are both drinkable liquids. 😂
I also think that a working relationship between WWE & AEW would never be "Omega vs. Reigns at Wrestlemania" type of relationship. It would likely look a lot more like Toni Storm doing the Timeless gimmick and beating Natalya on Smackdown, with some kind of interference to progress a storyline with Natalya. Or bring in former WWE stars like Adam Copeland or Jon Moxley in for a 3-week nostalgia angle. Like a "who's going to be Seth Rollins' mystery partner?"
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The PPV are too expensive.... I might order one pay-per-view a year.... And I pay about $13 to be able to watch all the TV shows like dynamite, rampage and collision. It's in Canada through the TSN plus app.
I believe AEW should focus on their product try and save what they have and grow an audience.
MJF's whole character was that he was going to leave for more money (WWE) because was upset that other legacy wrestlers got more money.
WWE is literally named in a sex trafficking lawsuit. Their board protected the owner. They just protected Grew Gulak. WWE literally changes their dates of their ppvs against AEW shows. The whole creative of TNA x WWE was done to bury AEW's forbidden door season.
The injury rate for AEW/WWE is similar. People blade to add "realism" and to homage southern wrestling. Moxley specificslly will talk about the logic being if you see peoole get hit in t he face repeatedly in combat sports, they bleed. You can have people blade or have lesnar beat your head in.
VPN's are legal to use... and yes, the ppvs are worth it. They only will have 9. Its 2024, if you are worried about money then you can stream it. AEW is probably going to MAX. NJPW does have a streaming service AND PPVS.
Not worried about Adam Copeland breaking his leg when he broke his neck in WWE.
AEW works with every company except WWE and TNA, at this point. They did work with TNA at one point. I have no desire to AEW to work with WWE because WWE wouldnt any aew wrestlers win.. plz god no to mjf and the miz. I would love to see WWE talent in AEW or NJPW tho. Depending on who it is you can see all of current wwe talent v aew talent on indies pre 2020 ie Greyson Waller v orange cassidy or Ricochet v Ospreay.
It's become popular and profitable to sh!t on AEW. But guys like MJF Swerve and Ospreay are having better runs than alot of other wrestlers are having, in the ring. I enjoy AEW, and could care LESS what other ppl think.
😂😂🤣🤣 no they are just being paid more. They are not having better runs. Paid more work less. That works if they were Roman Reigns. But put all three in the WWE and they are no where near Roman.
So they took more money to work less. Meanwhile top guys in the WWE get paid and work more and become more well known.
@@evacody1249 tbh, I had to ask a friend who's in the MITB match tonight. I listed the guys and only 2 of them I could see being World champ. I guess my point is, you like and watch what you like. And that's cool. But to someone who doesn't, it's kinda bland. As I'm sure AEW is to you. No shots fired, it's just about what you like, really?
Q1- WWE and WCW throwing jabs at each other during Attitude Era was way worse than little Twitter jabs we see now.
- Pat McAfee have made fun about their attendance
- Triple H have called them "Pissant Company" during DX HOF Speech
AEW wrestlers like MJF throwing jab at WWE is fine because there was a point where fans legit thought he would jump ship and he have history with WWE as a background character in NXT with Regal failing to give him opportunities and his mentor Cody being their Face of the Company.
AEW actually does lot of reference about WWE is because lot of wrestlers formerly worked there and WWE shares lot of history in general for Pro Wrestling
Now, about TK taking shots at WWE, well he's not doing onscreen and most of his rants are just Twitter or interviews so you can easily ignore what CEO of the company says and just focus on what talented wrestlers provide on screen
Also, AEW was created with Anti WWE rally. Just check out any BTE segments from Cody calling Revival as FTR or Bullet Club invading Raw
Disclosure: I say this as a genuine AEW fan, I’ve been watching since All Out 2021. If Tony Khan made his Weinstein comment 5 years ago when Vince McMahon was still running the company, I would’ve agreed with it a little more (I wouldn’t have 100% agreed because there are good people that work for the company). However, Tony made this comment once Vince was already gone, so it didn’t make sense. Im ok with the companies taking shots at each other sometimes, it does hurt more when they take shots at more sensitive subjects (Tony’s comment is a good example because it didn’t come off as a cheap shot and more like a genuine attack). MJF’s comments were different because his shot was meant more as a message as he doesn’t need a huge company to make him a star, he just needs to do what he does best.
I'll go ahead and trry to give these questions a crack too, it's always interesting to see an outsiders perspective on this. For context, I've been watching wrestling since I was like 4 years old (26 now) and I have watched AEW since it started.
1) The whole name dropping thing has become really stale for me personally, on both sides. Even though MJF's at DoN wasn't neccessarilly a dig, he's done more in the past where it's feels like low hanging fruit. It's cheap and the way I see it is that the more they do it, the more they're trying to stay relevent outsifde of their own bubble. It's no secret that compared to around 2021& 2022, their veiwership has taken a nose dive and in my eyes, a lot of that is due to them only catering to the audience they have and not trying to grow outside of that bubble. You're a prime example of an outsider who (probably) doesn't know all the backstage hoohaa and just wants to watch a good show, so it's weird when they take a jab at something else you're watching for no reason.
2) This is the biggest reason I have stopped watching AEW regularly. I am still in the loop of what goes on and I will watch if I know someone I like is gonna be on Dynamite or whatever, but every match to me feels the same and I am very numb to it now. There's no real creative in the matches, they all follow the same formula or it's just high spots repeatedly and (sometimes) very stupid stuff that could injure someone really badly. My favourite wrestler is Edge (Adam Copeland), and it was really dissapointing to see him do something he really didn't need to do at 50 years old and break his leg. You can have a good cage match without doing dumb shit like that if you really care about wrestling psychology.
3) I'm outside of the U.S (Australia), so we still use Fite to watch it and the prices are whatever. I use my friends account and he's a diehard so he always gets the PPV's. I'll pitch in if I really want to watch the show, but I haven't done that since 2022 lol.
4) This piggybacks onto Q2. I am not a fan of what Edge has been doing since he's been there. Some of the stuff with Christian was cool, but now it's just get every match with everyone here before my body quite literally can't take it anymore and I feel like we saw the worst of that at DoN. He needs to slow down, he was never a high workrate kind of guy; his character is what I like the most about him. Christian on the other hand has been (for the most part) highly entertaining in terms of his character, but even he needs to slow down before he really gets hurt like Adam.
5) I don't think so, not unless Tony gets over the fact that he will always be number 2 whether he likes it or not (and that's fine). My biggest gripe with AEW as a whole is I feel like they can't stand on their own anymore, and when they have someone with genuine starpower or you start to feel like the fans are really behind them, they vanish off of TV for no reason or you hear whispers that they're "injured" and are just sitting around doing nothing. Before AEW was even a thing, NXT would sign EVERYONE and it felt very bloated and you could see on TV that they didn't know what to do with everyone. I see the same thing happening here with AEW.
As a mainly WWE fan who does enjoy AEW and would watch more if they had a streaming deal, I don't like when either company takes jabs back and forth. It doesn't matter if it's someone in WWE doing it or someone in AEW doing it, it feels petty and I'd rather they just exist in their own bubble. It distracts from the rest of the product and only seems to be done so people will talk about it on social media.
Edit: The only real time that I don't mind them mentioning the other company is when it's in context of the accomplishments of a wrestler. I wouldn't mind AEW mentioning that Adam Copeland or Bryan Danielson is a former WWE world champion in the same way I wouldn't mind them mentioning that Jade Cargill or Cody Rhodes are former champions in AEW.
I was a huge aew fan from 2019-2023 after I quit watching Wrestling in 2017. I didn't really get back into wwe specifically until 2022 and there was a brief period where I was a fan of both but some of the things Tony Khan has said about wwe has really turned me off when it comes to watching aew and the show isn't as good as it was two or three years ago.
I dont know if anyone has said this or not but AEW wrestlers come up with their own promos. They have a outline they have to hit but for the most part their Promos are their own. Where the WWE has a team of writers that come up with the promos and the wrestlers have to remember their line. WWE loves to crap on AEW all the time a few week ago Triple H, Pat Mcafee and a number of WWE's Superstars who have signed Legacy contracts many of whom have podcast, have been badmouthed AEW. The violence doent matter to me. It doesnt happen all the time but I have not become numb to it. I used to watch ECW as a teen so yeah. I am hoping AEWs next contract with Warner Brothers will have a streaming part so that PVPs will be on Max.
The first question I love it and I'm a fan of both. Competition breeds excellence, and with you being a new fan you don't know the awful 2015-2019 wwe years. And there's not extreme stuff going on every week, and I think of it has when do you see a ufc or mma fight without blood, it adds a realistic feel to it. The old WWE ppvs was the exact same price back in the day, AEW us 5 years old vs WWE being way older then that, it'll take time to get to a streaming rights deal. Look, the wrestlers are old enough to make there own decisions and I'm not gonna say they should or shouldn't do anything. If it makes them happy doing crazy shit then I'm gonna let them be happy. With the last question I would love to see them do a ppv once a year together but I'm not sure if Trips and Kahn could swallow there pride enough to do it. Much love, I hope you continue to enjoy pro wrestling and hope you check out more AEW, WWE, TNA or hell even stardom. Just enjoy as much of it has you can brother.
The main difference between AEW & WWE is the story psychology is foremost in the latter. This builds audience participation, tension drama and reactions.
AEW presents matches based on the history of the performers involved and the story doesn't matter, the spots inside the ring they want to matter but pro-wrestling isn't like that. The crowds are silent and dwindling because there's no perceived drama, surprise or action because there is no psychology behind the story telling because there is no story telling.
$50 for a PPV is also a joke considering you also feel almost obligated to watch all five plus hours of the damn thing and who can do that in one go live? Absolutely ridiculous.
*Do the extreme spots get tiring?*
Doing the the same thing can always get tiring, but in general, a good match is a good match. And while AEW definitely tries to up itself from time to time, it's not like every match is that, not even every ppv match. You could have a long match with someone you don't care about and not be very invested, and even in that case you can find good spots, but then the next match is someone you do care about, and suddenly interest is restored; you're never gonna care about everyone, but they do have variety, so the worst you'll have is matches you don't care for.
*Are shots at other companies annoying?*
Depending on what they are and how frequent. Some shots taken in either direction is expected. What I don't get is the pure hate for AEW even mentioning WWE for any reason, like no they're not the devil for mentioning that other companies exist. At least a response that's portional to how much of a 'shot' it is would be nice, like I understand people not liking Tony's comparison there, even though I personally don't care, but do we really need people up in arms because Toni Storm jokingly made a comment about her not bringing Khan on stage with her (like Cody and H), or Mercedes saying that they've proved that AEW's a viable option? It just makes the people complaining look like their easily butthurt. Also, in character references are completely find.
*Are you scared for older wrestlers?*
Maybe a little. And I always respect them learning how to wrestle in a less dangerous way. But as long as they are putting on great shows, and they want to do some cool spots, I'm not going to say that can't do dangerous stunts just because they're not as young as they used to be. At best I'll say, spread them out, build them up, and learn how to get pops in less dangerous ways.
*WWE with AEW?*
Honestly, I would be afraid how that would turn out. Do I think it will happened? Not likely. Maybe they'll do something similar to the CMLL guys on AEW to test the waters, bring a few to wrestle on one show, and then they continue the feud on the other.
I don't have specific matches in mind, but some WWE people I'd like see face AEW guys are Finn Balor, Austin Theory, Carlito (cause I remember watching him as a kid), Bron Breakker, Asuka, Sheamus, and Dominik.
And for AEW guys facing the E, some cool ones would be, Penta, Jay White, Claudio (I know he was already on, but hell, why not some new matches), Yuta, Konosuke, Mariah May, Ricky Starks, and Darby Allin.
*Is it too expensive?*
It is a little expensive to me. If I wasn't watching with other people, I would probably wait until the price goes down on ppvs I deem less important.
Fun journey.
Outside of the very obvious Shield Triple Threat with Mox Roman and Seth, I’d love to see Ospreay take on Walter/Gunther again (their match at OTT 4th anniversary was an all timer). That or Timeless Toni vs Tiffy Time
One company started in 1963 as WWWF the other started in 2019.... not sure what people expect :D Just be happy there is always a 2nd company if the main company get boring for some reason.
The last time a WWE name drop on AEW felt necessary was when MJF was cutting a promo on Regal.
WWE do make AEW jabs but they are a lot more subtle. AEW is very explicit with it as youve seen but theres a few snide jokes (Drew saying "cry me a river" is a Punk in AEW jab). As for the violence, i have noticed its a lot but i dont watch either show week to week so it isnt too much for me. Ive watched every PPV for AEW and it costs me $30 AUD per PPV but I would love if it was on streaming. I absolutely want the older wrestlers to retire. Matt and Jeff Hardy have had so many concussions and other injuries so far, Sting terrified me every match he was in, and it drives me insane that Adam Copeland did a move like that that caused his injury. I would love for AEW and WWE to work together but I think Tony Khan's attacks are making it less likely but if it did happen, i want to see a Shield Triple Threat or an Elite vs Team WWE match
Also, sorry for the long comment, I was typing while I was listening so it was easier to just answer everything in one comment
I'm more of a WWE fan currently, but I've followed AEW and the main guys in it since before the company started.
I feel the need to defend them because even though you said your questions were asked in good faith, you're repeating some anti-AEW talking points without full context.
First, regarding the anti-WWE remarks made by MJF:
HHH has a long history of taking subtle and not so subtle jabs at AEW and their talent. Most recently, during a post show presser, he not so subtly alluded to Will Osprey signing with AEW over WWE as Osprey being lazy for taking the easier work schedule. He was also once asked for his reaction to AEW beating NXT black and gold in the ratings consistently when both shows were on the same night. He said something to the effect of, "Congrats, you beat our developmental program" in a sarcastic tone. Nick Khan also referred to Tony Khan as a "kid" in an interview. CM Punk has also taken jabs at AEW in his WWE promos as well. So yeah, the shots go both ways. I think it's fair for AEW to retaliate in some way. I don't even think it's morally bad to do so. It drums up their base that wants to hear stuff like that.
As for the hardcore stuff being overexposed, I personally agree with you, but this is total preference.
Regarding the cost of the shows, as others have advised you, get a VPN and buy the shows for 20 bucks. It is not illegal. Also, AEW+ is available on the Fite app (with a VPN). For less than 10 dollars a month, you get all their weekly shows and their back catalogue of weekly shows. The pay per views are still extra as those are not included in AEW+. Plus, the fite app is leagues better than Peacock in terms of functionality. And with WWE, you have to have a cable package in addition to paying for Peacock. So if you think about it, you're probably paying more for WWE overall in comparison to the amount you pay for AEW when using a VPN. I still do not have cable, and I will never have cable as it's a huge waste of money.
As for Edge breaking his leg. He didn't break it because he's old and "should retire". He broke it because he took the bump incorrectly. Go watch his matches with Christian in AEW. Some of the most intense, best matches of his career and HE DID not get hurt in them.
All that said, booking wise, AEW is at a low point currently so I would not recommend going out of your way to watch it every week right now. However, you should definitely get AEW+ and go back and watch the Punk MJF feud. It is pretty much the best feud either company has done in years. Yes, it was better (but less long) than the bloodline feud.
I live in a Australia where thr ppvs are 20 usd on fite/triller. They usually have a 3 pack for 50 usd.
Blood got to out of hand for a while and i think they dialed it back a lot. For a while there was a mox joke about bleeding every match. It became a bit much and its really been dialed back now.
I think matt and jeff ahould have gone to an RVD schedule and do odd matches. Like them both but the roster was two deep with better brother and homegrown tag teams. Jeff looks ruff. Matts best gimmick (broken matt) didn't work in aew. Still love that i got to see matt and all egos matches during that fun aew dark run with the firm.
Unless Disney boyght both companys and TK was gone i dont see any cross overs happening
1) its both companies taking digs at each other it started with HHH when dx were inducted to the HOF, ironically Cody rhodes was the first aew star to really dig at wwe
2) blood doesnt bother me an is necessary sometimes
3) im english so its not as bad here £20 a go but a streaming service would be fantastic
4) its a case by case basis if a wrestler can still go great if not then id want them to retire
5) i cant see it ever happening but would be great
Would I like them to stream, sure.
Have I felt every ppv has been worth it. Yes. Easily yes. Splitting the cost with a few homies helps.
The reason that I currently don't see WWE and AEW working together is simply because AEW is too busy shining the spotlight on a ton of different promotions. It first started out with ROH, then Impact, then New Japan Pro Wrestling, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, then AAA, and CMLL. Now they are finally working with Stardom to bridge the gap with their women's division. It is quite literally the best thing that has happened so far imo because the one slight with AEW ever since it got started has been it's women's division and when you look at the landscape of women's wrestling outside of America you can clearly see the worldwide influence Joshi wrestling has had on Professional Wrestling in general from the 90s with All Japan Pro Wrestling and the blood sweat and tears that Joshi wrestlers put into it many of them started training when they were young like Riho for example.
The main theme of AEW with how they structure their shows and the philosophy behind it is to be a buffet of wrestling. You can be introduced to a ton of different styles and a lot of different promotions with the idea being behind it that it is best to showcase talent and celebrate pro wrestling all around the world. I would like to tell you that they are cooking up something special with Will Ospreay at the moment and he has a wish to bring AEW to a bunch of different parts of the world that they currently haven't been to. Another thing I would like to emphasize is that Tony Khan is a wrestling fan their are photos of him at ECW shows as a kid with his Dad and he frequented wrestling chat rooms growing up with Will Washington who currently works for AEW as well.
The MJF promo was a dig at the wrestlers I was the locker room needing other promotions , NJPW and the fed to make them,when he shoot did it on his own (nobody watched mlw).
Before the monopoly, promotions taking digs was commonplace. And yes, there are current digs that you have missed on the feds end The references never bothered me until the Punk interview pushed TK over the line.
I grew up in the era where WCW and wwf took shots every week, it was part of the fandom.. I don't mind the shots
Aew is not WCW though. It’s a glorified Indy fed with money. WCW was actually beating wwe and real competition.
I want to discussion a point with the blood. I don't mind blood in wrestling as it has always been apart of it and always will be, but there is a problem with too much. The problem is over saturation with a lot of things in wrestling. I have been watching for almost 40 years and I have seen the business change countless times. I will give a couple of examples as to too much of something is a negative.
In the early 90's in Japan there was a company called Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). I don't know how familiar you are with Japanese promotions and touring schedules, but one of their tours had their first ever barbed wire match. It was a major success for them and they wanted to do more. On the next FMW tour they did two of them. The fans with fanatical for it and eventually it caused a problem where every show on a tour would have a barb wire match. It lost it's shock value and wrestlers like Sabu ended up scaring their bodies because of it.
Being a WWF/WWE fan all my life and watching Lucha Libre I could never understand why so many of the crowds don't react to some of the moves done by workers. It is because so many of them do high flying and they always do it. I used to watch a lot of CMLL and AAA and it was very obvious why the crowd had no major reaction to seeing things they saw constantly.
If you go back in time to Antonino Rocca who was a wrestler from Argentina in the 40 and 50's he was one of the first workers to do a lot of crazy high flying things that was ahead of his time. The crowds loved him and he got very over, but as decades progress, we have seen an evolution in high flying and it really took off with Rey Mysterio. It is an amazing thing to witness a guy doing springboards and what not for the first time. The problem is you see so many people doing it now that it waters down the product.
Finishers have a problem as well, everybody kicks out of them now days. over the last 3 decades finishers have lost their meaning. Back in the day when a person did it there move would end the match. A lot of finishers just don't mean anything anymore. Piledrivers, DDT's, Canadian destroyers, burning hammers, super kicks, cutters and so many others were all viewed as being powerful moves at one point where they just ended the match. Over use has led it all to just being nothing more than a arm drag or body slam.
When it comes to blood, a great example of seeing it used well and rare is when Bret Hart wrestled Steve Austin at Mania 13. These guys had bled before, but nothing that was constant or seen every week. This case was so special because the blood added so much to the story about how Austin refused to tap out. If he had been bleeding as much as somebody like Jon Moxley does the story would of not meant as much.
Thats my take on it anyways.
I was a lifelong WWE fan who's been following AEW from their start and now much more of an AEW fan. WWE has been getting much better the last couple years, but I only watch the PLEs for them at this point.
1. WWE superstars do allude to AEW but not directly usually, and it's a lot less than AEW. AEW doesn't do it too often either. It mostly comes up with MJF since there was a ton of speculation he would leave for WWE. I grew up during the Monday Night Wars and they do not throw shots anywhere near the way the did at each other back thennow the way it was back then
2. AEW does do it often, but, at least for me, it is varied enough that it still keeps me entertained. There is nothing like that anarchy in the arena match, but there will usually be at least one pretty violent match per PPV.
3. Hopefully everything with AEW goes to MAX soon how WWE is on Peacock. Before the WWE Network it was the same way with WWE and impossible to legally watch all of the PPVs. I either watch AEW with friends and split it or watch it illegally online rn.
4. AEW works a much lighter schedule than the WWE and it is easier for the older wrestlers to keep up there. That being said, there are a lot more risks taken in AEW and there are definitely moments where its a little sketchy, but overall I think its a great thing and for the most part they have utilized the older wrestlers pretty well.
5. It's possible since there's new ownership in WWE, but it's still a long way off IMO. One of the things I love about AEW is that they allow their wrestlers to work with other promotions and feature other promotions and their wrestlers regularly. You will regularly see wrestlers from NJPW, AAA, CMLL, and other promotions on AEW TV, or see an AEW wrestler show up with a title from one of those promotions. WWE has historically not worked with other promotions, but with new ownership anything is possible.
The only time WWE took a shot at AEW is when Nick Khan (WWE President) called Tony Khan a kid in an interview (seen only by smart marks) with Ariel Halweini. HHH said on a press conference (also seen only by smart marks) recently that "some people aren't here because they didn't want to be on the grind" (I'm paraphrasing) but it was in regards to wrestlers (that were not named) who chose AEW instead of WWE. AEW signed 3 big names Okada, Mercedes and Will Osprey. Osprey "clapped back" on their TV show (seen by the general wrestling fans) and said in so many VULGAR words and GESTURES that HHH only got to be the booker because he was "grinding" on "The Bosses Daughter" Stephanie Mcmahon. Go watch those late 99 early 2000s episodes of Raw and Smackdown. They were on screen too. And it was pretty good too.
So Hunter never called AEW a pissant company? Or the Sammy Zayn doing a Q and A with the crowd while bringing up AEW? Or Vince getting butthurt over the ThunderRosa-Brit Baker St Paddy’s Day brawl. “It set wrestling back 30 years….Blood n Guts”
Love your last two videos about AEW. But you almost made me angry suggesting a feud between Miz and MJF haha
Come on it'd be fun!
For me, AEW is unmatched in quality. While it’s not where it was in say 2021 (but also way better than a lot of 2023), I’ve never experienced a run like this and it feels like it’s ramping up again. To answer some of your questions, outside of TV I don’t really mind shots taken at WWE. It’s punching up. Who cares? But on the shows, I want AEW to focus on themselves. Acknowledging WWE is fine, AEW is the company that acknowledges the wider wrestling world. I’m definitely in favor of more PPVs. 4-5 a year worked when it was just Dynamite but now it paces better with more. I don’t want 12 tho. 8-9 feels right. I’m fine with paying for them but understand not everyone is in the same financial position. So I hope AEW’s next deal includes putting the PPVs on Max. We’ll see.
1) No, WWE doesn't really do this. There might be the odd thinly veiled reference to a wrestler's history with "the other company" or whatever, or a sly insider reference here and there, but no, they don't really do that and if they make references, it's never a direct shot at them. My main gripe with AEW is how Tony Khan handles himself as a person, a business man and an on-screen authority figure. Unfortunately, he is ultimately a fan of wrestling and he is this moreso than anything else and it shows. He places way too much stock in what the toxic IWC tribalistic fans say and uses that as fuel for what he says next, so feels he has to keep namedropping WWE and taking shots. It's also what he watched WCW doing during the Monday Night War, so he's trying to build a similar narrative as a way to help get AEW over. In my personal opinion, it's only damaging AEW's reputation. It didn't go over well in WCW and it certainly won't fly today when the fans are more vocal. TK is yelling into a void, trying to make a fight happen between the two promotions that simply doesn't exist, and it's this that I dislike most about AEW. Without this, I would personally find it more watchable, but when he behaves in these ways (not that it's just him), I personally find it hard to take him and the company seriously - much as I want them to succeed. These kinds of comments alienate people and more often than not, push people away, though I'm sure the tribe love these comments.
2) Yeah, this is one of many, many reasons why WWE phased this kind of stuff out. It's part of why ECW plateaued. It's why promotions like CZW only progress so far. There's a limit to how far this extreme stuff can go, and when it's more of a focal point like with CZW and ECW, it does start to lose that shock value and viewers get desensitised to it. I remember watching WWE in my teens almost with a bloodlust for the more extreme "hardcore" style for a while, but then the novelty wore off because it was a part of every show. As I grew older, I learned a lot more about the human condition and became a lot more concerned for the talent's welfare. Everything learned about concussions and brain damage in pro-wrestling led to a lot of stuff being outlawed in promotions like WWE, and that really opened my eyes and I turned away from that style of wrestling. There's still a place for weapons and gimmick matches and stuff, but it really needs to be done safely, sparingly and tastefully in this day and age, I believe. I personally find AEW too much sometimes, because they try to go over the top so often.
3) AEW's model is currently the traditional model. It's what WWE used to do. I believe they're priced a little bit higher than WWE used to be, but I'm not personally familiar with US pricing. I know WWE, when they did PPVs, it was between £15-20 here in the UK, which is a noticeable difference when converted to $. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s we even got a couple of PPVs either on free TV or as part of our regular satellite TV package. I believe WWE used to charge upwards of $30 for a PPV but don't quote me on that! Then came the WWE network and the value prop for that was more than worth the 9.99 (in most currencies) per month! TNA have their own streaming platform, as do NJPW I believe, and many independents rely on services like Fite/Triller as their PPV or weekly streaming provider. AEW originally did this, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. Either way, as one-off events, I think around $20-40 is the norm for those who don't bundle in with a monthly subscription. I do know TK wants AEW to have their own streaming offering (such as with Max) and is negotiating with Warner/Discovery around that alongside the renewal of their TV deal, so I guess we'll see what happens there! Personally, I prefer the all-in-one monthly bundle idea as it's the best value for money, you know what you're getting, there's no hidden costs and it's accessible for all, if priced correctly.
4) This actually used to be an issue in WWE; there used to be an over-reliance on legends and Hall of Famers to come in or remain active to keep the long-time fans hooked, or to entice in the lapsed fans. WWE for the longest time didn't really cultivate new stars, so it forced them to rely on the older talent. The same thing is happening in AEW to an extent, but the problem there is that the younger talent is there and exists, but just needs that cultivation and nurturing and guidance to become the next generation of stars, but a lot of the older veterans are being brought in to give the show some star power, rather than creating their own from the ground up. They started off doing it, but then got lost along the way somewhere, and I hope they find their way back to building up that younger talent, and using the veterans in a way to put the younger ones over and/or help them learn, which isn't always the case. It's always nice to see familiar faces, but my personal opinion is that the older legends and Hall of Famers should be used as torch-passers and should be helping cultivate that next generation, not continuing to try and get themselves over at the risk of damaging their bodies further, and potentially permanently. Edge is a little bit like Undertaker in that he's looking for that "perfect" way to end his career, and I worry that it's just not going to happen how he thinks it is. I understand that it's hard to let go of a life you've lived for 20-30 years, but sometimes it's better to let the dream go and take care of your body, rather than look for the perfect ending or another pop. There are a few exceptions, but generally, that's how I feel.
5) So Tony Khan owns both AEW and ROH and he was trying to do... something... as a crossover, but I get the feeling it didn't turn out too well, and now I think the presentation is that ROH will feed into AEW and act as an NXT of sorts, but with some more established talent moving over there from time to time? AEW and NJPW have a working relationship and both co-host "Forbidden Door" (that being the concept of never working with another promotion). There are arrangements with AAA and CMLL in Mexico too, but to a lesser extent than the NJPW relationship. That said, WWE has worked with NJPW and All Japan in the past, as well as AAA and CMLL. WWE scouted talent from ROH for a number of years. There was a time where WWE wouldn't be caught dead working with the likes of TNA and here we are now with the "Prohibited Portal" parody working relationship. WWE has working relationships with ICW in Scotland and Progress Wrestling, WWE bought Evolve too. So I wouldn't ever say never, to WWE and AEW working together. A lot of things would need to be worked out and egos would need to be put aside for it to happen, and under WWE's former leadership, I would've said that's as close to impossible as you're gonna get, but now? I think that ball would be in AEW's court. WWE have said multiple times, they're "open for business", so we will have to wait and see. Time will tell. Never say never... I would like to see MJF in WWE one day and feel he could slot in with many people, including Kevin Owens or even Roman Reigns.
Really good, provocative questions. Hope Captain Essay was able to provide a solid answer for them all! 👍
I do sometimes wish aew would spend less energy talking about wwe, but i do understand the reasons for it (as pointed out by other commenters here), so it doesnt upset me that much.
I'm neutral towards the blood. I look for good matches and stories. If blood happens, fine. If it doesnt, fine.
I guess i'm not as hardcore of a fan as most commenters. I've never bought an aew ppv and never bought a wwe ppv before they went to peacock. Ppv's and ple's are cool, but not really essential to enjoying wrestling, especially in this age where you can find out what happened via the internet. If i was going to spend that type of money, i would put it towards going to a live event before buying a ppv.
As far as older wrestlers, edge and jeff hardy both went directly from wwe to aew, so i don't see an issue there. I worried a little about Sting doing it a 65, but he had long periods between matches to heal up. And i worried a bit about seeing ric flair just getting in the ring to do promos.😂
And as many others have pointed out, it doesnt seem likely that they will cooperate, but i never thought i would see wwe cooperate with tna, so never say never.
1. Wwe started all of this when they called aew a pissant company. Since then which was like 2020 when hhh said that its been a back and forth
This name drop promo was necessary as MJF makes a good point when he says that a lot of guys in AEW were made by Vince therefore it’s appropriate. When it’s not needed like CM Punk calling MJF a less famous Miz then it crosses into a territory of not appropriate use as it only done for pop factor and not for literal use as Miz and MJF often compared MJF is pretty different. I’m not a fan of Osprey referring to the HHH’s grind promo, but it doesn’t make me dislike the product. It just makes me not acknowledge it and move on to the next segment.
for question 2:
hardcore is one of many facettes of wrestling. You don't have bloody matches every week in AEW, but you do have some wrestlers that tend to have a lot of bloody matches like Mox. I have friends that like AEW but are turned off by the hardcore side of it and I get it but to me it's just one more aspect of wrestling. I get some cool lucha fights, I get some technical wrestling, I get some Joshi (not nearly enough), some strong style and some hardcore. I've been watching ECW back in the day and japanese hardcore since I had internet in the late 90s. Blood doesn't bother me, but it's also not something I tune in to the show for. It's just part of some types of matches. It certainly doesn't have to be part of as many matches as it is, but looking at DoN I think it made sense in every match. Copeland was talking about the "House of Blood" before so that fit, Anarchy in the Arena is always an extreme match so that makes sense and Jericho's match was a FTW match which brings the no-holds-barred stipulation with the title. Did anyone else bleed? I don't remember. Maybe Strickland.. he's like Mox a bit^^
Great video. So as a fan of AEW…1. Yes I hate it when AEW mentions WWE or vice versa. Especially when it Tony. He has said some stupid things. But I think he does because he takes it very personally. 2. Love seeing the blood. It’s scripted but not fake, I expect blood. 3. Yes $50 is a lot. It’s like pre-wwe network days. Hopefully Tony gets a streaming deal soon. 4. Depends on who the older wrestler is. Copeland no, Flair hell yes I worry. 5. It will never ever happen lol. But I would love to see Rollins vs so many in AEW.
It's kinda annoying when the companies go against each other. I chose AEW, they won me over. They don't need to mention WWE.
The blood isn't desensitized to me. I got excited for DoN because I thought I would get MORE blood, but it was just for a couple of matches (out of 12?!) The only time I think it was getting overused was when Mox almost got cut up every week a couple of years ago? But even then it was still shocking because he is wild like that.
Only recently they've been adding on the PPVs. They usually had 5 per year. Now we're looking at 9 minimum?? Yeah I'd skip some too tbh. I did skip last year's PPVs after DoN. They HAVE to start putting these things on Max! They are absolute fools if they don't. I saw Wrestlemania this year because I had Peacock, please let it be this simple for those willing to try AEW.
For the older wrestlers, I have not grown up with wrestling so I am always being introduced to the icons so I can't say I'm worried for them as much as those who grew up with them. I saw Copeland not land on his feet correctly and now he's out for a while. I am worried why he felt like falling off the top of the cage was necessary but he is responsible for his own decisions. This stuff just happens. The only time I was really worried was back in 2020 for Matt Hardy. Dude really did not catch a break and that wasn't always on him.
I hope the peaceful crossover can happen. If it does I am interested in the Women's division. I want to see Rhea Ripley vs. Julia Hart. Britt Baker vs. Becky Lynch. In a way, this kind of thing IS happening because now we are at the point where AEW stars are introducing themselves in WWE (Jade Cargill)
I am not a tribalist. My heart is with AEW, but they got me to love wrestling so much I can't hate WWE. RoH, AAA, CMLL, Impact, TNA, GCW, NJPW. Wrestling is just aewsome 🖤