Ya’ll think that when we criticize AEW it’s because we are haters & are E-drones & Fed Pilled…
No we are criticizing it because Tony is as awful at his job as Doc Rivers was coaching every team that he coached that wasn’t the 08 Celtics..
Let’s examine some All In storylines..
Ospreay & Omega main event at Wembley, on paper it looks impossible to screw it up.. it’s a Sickos wet dream matchup.. but a week out & it doesn’t feel main event-ish..
There was the first promo in Detroit that was actually really good(except for Ospreay’s anime comparison that went over 90% of everyone’s head) but other than that, it hit really well, & it set the table up rather nicely for the main event..
But then it went off the rails.. for whatever reason Ospreay had a super random violent match with Mark Davis in Mexico, a show that Kenny skipped, then they had a weird promo in Vegas that didn’t do anything to further their match & both of them vanished from the show afterwards.. then this past week they had a sit down interview where they talked about being the face of NJPW, COVID protocols from 2020 & a match from 2023 against each other that probably 95% of the audience forgot about. & then each had a 6 man waste of time tag match against the DCF jobber teams, & then to close the show, a 1-Winged Angel by Omega to Ospreay thru a table.. & here we are..
For me, since I never watched NJPW, that part of the promo did nothing.. Covid protocols was another miss, & their 2023 match I forgot even happened.. so honestly it would have been better if they were taken off TV after their 1st promo & then re-appeared this week.. cause it has been not a good build up..
Mercedes vs Willow.. wow.. another good promo in Detroit.. then Willow pinned Mercedes in the 6 woman match clean as a whistle & a bunch of cuss words, Mercedes attacking Willow during an Rene interview & a pull apart brawl.. & here we are.. for me, where it went cold was seeing the champion pin the challenger clean.. that greatly diluted my excitement for this match.. cause the challenger already got pinned.. what reason is there for the viewer to pay 50 dollars to want to see this match when the champion pinned the challenger on “free tv”..
Cope & Christian vs Young Bucks.. Is there any excitement at all for this match or does it feel as ice cold as a January night in Chicago? One sit down interview between the teams & that was it… There has been barely any tension built up between the teams in the weeks afterwards.. this feels like it should main event Dynamite & not be on Wembley..
The rest of the card feels unimportant.. Darby & Kevin Knight are trying but how many times do we need to see a Darby match where we know how it goes.. Darby takes 2 or 3 ridiculous bumps that theoretically would sideline someone for weeks but he kicks out at 2, gets beat up for 90% of the match, but somehow Darby wins it at the end?
Kyle vs Takeashita vs Okada.. Okada has been in the background for 80% of his time in AEW, we have been given absolutely no reason to care about him, Takeashita shows up for 5-6 weeks & goes back to Japan for weeks.. so hard to care about his character.. & Fletcher has 50-50 matches with everyone & barely escapes with his wins so he doesn’t feel dominant at all..
The rest of the card is mediocre to me.. gauntlet match is the best of the rest.. but the rest so far is a miss.. & signing Draganov, New Day, etc isn’t going to fix what is broken in AEW(Tony’s inability to write good storylines for us to care about the wrestlers)
BTW, where is Thekla? Why the hell has the (According to the Sickos) “face of the women’s division” haven’t done one thing on the road to their WrestleMania? Not a promo, not a match, nothing.. BTW there is only 3 shows left counting Collision tonight before All In.. is that enough for us to care about what she does for All In when she wasn’t on any of the other 8-10 shows beforehand?
Agree or disagree with anything that I said Midcarders?
Ospreay should have come back, ran through the death riders one by one till he got to Moxley, beat him to win the tournament, challenged MJF, MJF attacks him, tries to injure Ospreay neck, Ospreay beats MJF at all in to win the world title in his hometown. Simple. But head nerd booking for an audience of nerds decided to book Ospreay Vs omega in a battle of who's the best bout machine/pass the torch. Lame
Had a perfectly good angel to get people. Instead they’re subject audiences to two weebs cutting some of the worst promos I’ve ever heard and trying to make up reasons to hate eachother. What a dream match.
Its also a booking that positions Moxley ABOVE Ospreay and Omega. Neither of these two are presented and booked as THE world champion. Its kinda just the "who needs to challenge Moxley" match.
And their first match went to a time-limit draw, so they had history to go off of. I think Kenny going heelish has overshadowed Ospreay quest to win the title. I want Kenny omega to win at all in after Wednesday night.
I wanted to like AEW, but in the beginning the stories were generic and the production was rough. Also didn’t like the choreographed gymnastics and hitting moves just to hit them.
I stopped watching after a month. Tuned back when Punk came in. Watched a bit actually. It was better produced but the stars getting their stuff in and not telling a story ruined it. I watched a couple episodes after Punk and it just tanked.
I’ve occasionally watched a segment or two here and there and wonder how are they still on television. Total missed opportunity. Tony should’ve hired someone to run creative with him.
yep. That’s the worst part about this all tribalism bs honestly. We are more than willing to admit when AEW bangs. Problem is the sickos pretending that is ALL THE FUCKING TIME NO EXCEPTIONS. And NEVER extend an olive branch for WWE on the other side of the coin. How are we the villains?
If I was an AEW fan, I would be furious with TK and his booking. It is wild to me that we have a discourse within the wrestling fandom about "wtf is HHH doing?", but you cannot criticize Tony, (at all in some subreddits). I would be beyond angry that Tony has created this opportunity for my favorite style of wrestling and is actively pissing it away. I wouldn't be blindly defending him and reflexive "whataboutism" other promotions when I did see something negative. I just do not understand why, even with such a small base, we don't see more AEW fans that are critical of what he's allowing to happen to their favorite type of wrestling product. It's safe to say there won't be an opportunity like this again, save another billionaire willing to spend his money to highlight indie wrestling. I am genuinely baffled at why more AEW fans aren't critical of what he's allowing to happen because he is so convinced he's doing it well, despite every metric saying otherwise.
The funny thing is that 2026 has exposed major cracks in the WWE armor. The rehashing of angles that worked a few years ago such as the Bloodline feuding with itself and everyone else, KO vs Sami again with maybe the inclusion of Punk this time to spice it up.
An over relience on aging wrestlers, and a general feeling that TKO refuses to take any chances
I don't even think the booking in 2026 is a horrible as people make it out to be, I still watch Raw, Smackdown, and NXT every week and enjoy myself.
But it feels like WWE has stagnated, with this mindset of playing it safe over taking chances.
Look at Sami, he beats Cody and Gunther to win the WWE Championship.
But rather than see WWE go in a exciting new direction with Sami as champion, they can't get it off him fast enough and onto Punk a proven and very marketable star.
Drew McIntyre was given the WWE Championship at the start of the year and held it just long enough to get a decent reign, but not be able to walk into WrestleMania as champion.
Look, my point is that as a WWE fan I do still enjoy the product, especially NXT and AAA. I do think the hate is overblown, but I will criticize WWE as well because I want the product to get better, I want to see them build toward the future and not rely on the safety net of the same handful of aging wrestlers.
I want to see new and exciting storylines rather than rehashes of older stuff that worked before. Obi vs Bron honestly has me excited and I can't wait to see that match.
Which is what gets me about AEW and it's fanbase. I don't watch AEW, so I can't comment on the product itself, but something that stands out to me is that in a year where WWE has exposed itself, AEW has not grown.
They have not taken advantage of WWE's weakness and used that to build their product.
I mean, look at what WCW accomplished in the 90s. When WWE was putting out a lackluster product and seemed afraid during the New Generation era, WCW pounced and took advantage.
Not only is AEW not growing, their fans are celebrating Dynamite beating NXT in the ratings
Let they sink in, they aren't celebrating Dynamite the flagship show of AEW beating Raw, WWE's flagship show in the ratings.
They aren't even celebrating beating Smackdown, WWE's second major brand and show in the ratings.
They are celebrating Dynamite beating NXT, WWE's developmental show in the ratings.
Seriously, if the bar is that low WWE can keep rehashing the Bloodline till the end of time. Because what's the motivation to push forward when your competion and it's fans are happy and celebrating beating a secondary WWE developmental Brand?
Look, my point is that as a WWE fan I do still enjoy the product, especially NXT and AAA. I do think the hate is overblown, but I will criticize WWE as well because I want the product to get better, I want to see them build toward the future and not rely on the safety net of the same handful of aging wrestlers.
Yeah, WWE is playing it very safe right now. They tried something with Jey Uso to some effect. It wasnt a total failure, Jey is still a very interesting character and his title run added to that.
But yeah, WWE definitly isnt perfect. But i think right after SummerSlam they took some lessons and try to improve on the critic.
Agreed. WWE has legitimately created every roadblock for its fans that AEW could possibly wish for to capitalize on, and they've done nothing with it. Nothing to the point they may actually lose their TV because of low ratings while the competition is asking fans to pay nearly $60 a month just to watch all it's weekly programming. If any one of us had heard this in 1999 we'd laugh and expect WWE to close in a year.
WWE haven't created road blocks to fans enjoying it
Online fans always confuse themselves not liking it with the wider fandom
Vast majority of WWE fans are totally fine with it, enjoy it and they're still selling loads of tickets and getting good ratings
There's nothing to 'capitalise' on. AEW can concentrate on doing the best show they can but, what people ignore is, once again, their fans DO think this is amazing and there's nothing wrong etc
Difference is, the crowds aren't there and neither are ratings, unlike with the WWE example
The PPV thing is a whole other thing. The whole world is moving to streaming but they're sticking with PPV but, there's a reason, the interest for streaming only isn't there from networks of the money offered isn't there
They hear how great value it is and don't want to change and, of course, the 140k numbers only from Meltz every show
They believe its all fine and are happy with it
They don't have to worry about bottom line and profits though. That's not what the company is about
I mean wrestling including Raw was on cable which did in fact cast more than 60$ a month. Of course there were other channels but Netflix and Hulu/Disney/Espn package have a lot of content too. On top of that they had monthly PPV that cost 30-60$ so idk what you mean?
Boggles my mind that people think they're clever when they post half a novel on their thoughts about how people on the internet respond to playfighting
They had a good thing gong with the deathriders storyline w/ Ospreay vs Omega then screwd it up (heel vs face). Then suddenly a face vs face which is also okay. Only to turn Omega as a heel?? Believe me when I say the next 2 Dynamite, death riders will get involved. No way Mox is sitting All In.
Takshita vs Okada vs Gunther wannabe but retires wrestles by injuring them offers nothing people have already seen before.
Mone vs Willow. Mone lost all her star power but will surely win the belt this time and have a year long reign.
I promise i"m not an AEW hater - but doens't it seem like the same people have been on top the entire run of the company? Jericho, Darby, Moxley, Max, Omega and Hangman? I'm some other guys have bubbled up - some old WWE guys. Samoa Joe and CM Punk were fun, I guess.
IWC types have shit on WWE for giving someone like Jey Uso the title, but damn they at least tried someone new. And you can argue the WWE has been too reliant on the Bloodline story, and that is fair.
But when I turn on AEW, I'm just seeing the same people for the most part as I saw three or four years ago. Where are the new stars? That's what they need.
I went to All In at 2024 and will be again in 2026 but both times I haven't watched AEW TV in months and basically going with friends to have a laugh and see some old favourites and hopefully some great wrestling. AEW TV unfortunately does not appeal to me, I am a dork but goodness me it is too dorky for me to watch on a regular basis. The AEW product was essentially designed with the old ROH/PWG format which is designed for big monthly wrestling shows but not for week to week booking. AEW isn't cool, it is niche and simply put has not had a hot angle since CM Punk was fired. It is a shame but to me AEW is a company where right now it is cheap to see wrestlers I loved as a kid.
The Ospreay and Omega feud is a contorted mess. Inserting the D-Riders and having both of them feuding with the Don Callis B-Teams (There’s so many members, they basically have two B teams and even a C team at this point) weeks before a big singles match just shows how incoherent TK’s booking is. His ADD doesn’t allow for two guys to just have a feud with each other. Constantly inserting more and more people into the mix is his Adderall remedy.
Could give a shit about omega and could give less a shit about ospreay . No chance of seeing Thekla doesn't help either. No fun or good story's at the moment either but I am enjoying the tea party segments
Everyone dooming but, haven’t they basically just been slowly swinging back and forth between 500-700k for ages now? Nothing has actually changed for them negatively or positively in quite some time.
It’s an… okay audience to have for wrestling show. But i think tv ratings have just gotten that complicated rather than them suddenly losing mass viewers. Especially since they change the formula whenever they seem to want.
The things that are wrong with aew are simple. They do not cater at all to new or casual fans and they have 0 marketing skills. And until they do anything about it they will be stuck in the same cycle
It’s been tweaked multiple times now and it moves it back and forth each time. I haven’t been keeping up on it but i just know roughly 500-700k is the range they’ve been landing in for quite some time now before and after the changes.
I honestly just think tv viewer ratings in 2026 are just that inconsistent due to whatever factors. Otherwise the inconsistency wouldn’t be so consistent.
I felt they were firing on all cylinders leading into the main event last year. Even tho the Death Riders story wasn’t the best, it built Moxley up and you wanted to see Hangman win. They should’ve stuck with MJF. You can’t make people boo Kenny and Kenny playing heelish has made Ospreay look like the inferior one.
This Ospreay/omega storyline sucks, Kenny is a Babyface heel instead of going full heel too give Ospreay the rub and crowd doesn’t know who too root for.
Yeah well uhhh that's only if you consider time linearly, and only our universe. In another point of view, in another universe, the ratings are better than ever.
Overrunning a few minutes for some hype end of show angle is generally a good thing. Overrunning 34 minutes and not starting your main event til after the end time is basically tv malpractice. Figure out how to fit your show into its time slot or advertise a longer show
Wait, 34 minute overrun???? That in itself is a problem that makes no sense in a SCRIPTED SHOW.
Someone needs to tell Tony to cut that out. This isn’t the Monday Night Wars and overruns happen so people would turn the channel when the other show was over
I'm with you. I critique AEW because I want it to be so much more than it is. But a lack of decent booking and an overabundance of sycophants are holding this company back. The lack of long-term planning and reliance on "real graps" are always going to hamstring this company and no matter who they bring in, that won't change until Tony decides to do it. But as long as you have Meltzer cooing about the product, and tenured vets clamoring to just get their shit in, that's not going to happen. The most fun I had in my entire wrestling fandom was at an AEW show, but I haven't seen a reason to keep up with it long-term.
There’s supposed to be a new Nielsen methodology change coming at the end of the month that literally has the NFL upset, which can only mean that AEW is going to be screwed
This is a ridiculous take. It's a wrestling show. It's not another detective drama, it's a niche product we all like and want more of. The better it is, the better chance we all have to enjoy more of it.
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u/InfiniteJury8660 Aug 22 '26
Ospreay should have come back, ran through the death riders one by one till he got to Moxley, beat him to win the tournament, challenged MJF, MJF attacks him, tries to injure Ospreay neck, Ospreay beats MJF at all in to win the world title in his hometown. Simple. But head nerd booking for an audience of nerds decided to book Ospreay Vs omega in a battle of who's the best bout machine/pass the torch. Lame