AEW is attempting to “restore the feeling” – and with VERY good reason…
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So it is time for us to play Devil’s Advocate if we had the budget we’d do that Simpsons joke but we don’t but I the Bal aost Simon Miller always happy to get into it we do go through 2023 for one reason or another aew did a very
Good job in getting people talking sometimes it was very happy stuff sometimes it was very sad and then there was the crazy people that just get angry now some of this wasn’t expected at all but actually when you get into the nitty-gritty aew was right all along why here’s Why so what are we talking about let’s get into it when aw did first burst into life back in 2019 one of the things that people loved about it the most is that it offered a little bit something different when it came to mainstream American wrestling if you wanted to call
It the New Japan version that was just happening going on over here or in the USA you totally could and it was something very nice and different from WWE which at the time was definitely not finding its way I mean do not forget they called it all elite wrestling the
Clue is in the title you can’t just say that unless you’re going to back it up they did this with longer more meaningful matches and a sports based presentation which does feel like it’s about to come back and then the growth kind of balanced out now long associated
With the peak after all out 2021 I was always surprised that other people were surprised by this it had been 2 years of UT smashing and eventually you do have to slow down I mean it’s the tortois and the hair scenario you can keep going at
100 mph but eventually you will hit a wall and if you are in it for the long term then you need to take a breath and start planning your future more meticulously it me that we did get down into some more experimenting as if we had a test tube especially when it came
To that devil mask storyline instantly people accused it of being way too WWE and that always irks me WWE doesn’t have ownership over this stuff if you want to do something there a little bit more Sports entertainment you absolutely should now I love wwe2 but if you go
Back in the past all promotions were doing this and sometimes it’s Goofy and some sometimes it’s serious every promotion has to try new things as well otherwise you’ll never grow and as I said on ups and downs for weeks I actually quite like the darl narrative I
Didn’t know whether it was going to go left or whether it was going to go right and you know what some people didn’t like it and that’s totally fine we can respect each other’s opinions actually we can’t there was another train of thought though which was others going
Wait a minute has Tony khah been influenced by the bloodline story once again I scratch my rubbish beard I was like well does that even matter did you watch the bloodline story it’s not like it was a flop is it and if all of a sudden you saw numbers increasing
Somewhere else maybe you would go well we need a slice of that pie also it’s lemon and I love lemon at the same time though this was kind of capitulated by the fact that some fan favorites didn’t really seem to be featuring anymore someone like hangman paage for example
And when it came to the keser well we can still talk about this in 2024 are we going to try and make him a star or are we not sometimes he was having bangers on Dynamite and beating Kenny Omega and you wouldn’t see him for a month I mean
As soon as you have decided for a brand new person to beat someone like Mega you really should have a plan in place and yes we didn’t and it wasn’t the best idea again though I really do think we threw all these things at the world to
Try and find out what a modern day aew would be and yeah eventually I think we found it so I can only assume after trying all of this stuff and then doing a postmortem over the last 12 months the big conversation starter was well you remember when we were doing all that
Sports stuff people seemed to like that so why don’t we go back to the sports stuff I mean in many ways we should all be pleased about these cuz it means the powers that be are actually listening to us one fateful day Tony Khan did go
Public and he said oh hey it is November and do you know what I’m about to launch the Continental classic now around robin tournament over this side of the world has long been overdue unless you do want to go and watch that one that WCW did
Back in the day but I warn you leave your brain at the door it is so so stupid and therefore it’s funny but it wasn’t meant to be humorous and it’s hilarious you also want to plunge a fork into your eye after a while but don’t do
That but in St contrast when it came to the C2 it was like watching the flipping n NL or premier league three points for a win one point for a draw nothing if you do lose it was all about competition and it was all about Athletics and it
Was all about one person being better than the other and look at Eddie Kingston he had an amazing Tale the whole point was oh damn it I screwed up to begin the thing but now I’ve got to claw my way back up to the top and what
Did he win became the anoral winner of the Continental classic and nobody can ever take that away from him cuz not everything in wrestling has to be totally exaggerated all over the top and that’s what we did here I think the reason it resonated as much as it did is
Because it was so not w WWE but you didn’t want to watch WWE well you had something that was pure aew I me that’s why allite wrestling existed to begin with to be something different some people of course pretended they couldn’t do basic maths which was absolute
Gibberish but look what it did for somebody like Daniel Garcia he didn’t even clock up that many W’s during the C2 but here we are as I am recording this on the 24th of January 2024 and it’s quite clear he’s going to become one of the standout stars of the next 12
Months and that’s absolutely fabulous and it probably doesn’t happen without this to and even somebody like clao castignoli came out the other side with just a little bit more legitimacy and he was already legitimate as well a word that starts with f it’s why I like the
Fact the devil story line was running concurrently to this cuz you just got a little bit of everything and in my personal opinion that’s how wrestling should always be and it ended with once again Tony KH doing a post press conference out of pay-per-view and saying actually I’ve heard all the
Feedback and things like the C2 well you’re about to get more of it and there were obviously other things that were perpetu these conversations such as many aew wrestling that it didn’t really seem like they wanted to be there anymore case in point being Andrade as a bizarre reference
That nobody in the US will understand to me we should just approach these things like one Pep Guardiola in any of his teams if a player doesn’t want to be there he just goes well there’s the door goodbye I think that’s probably what aw should do too I mean you want to make
Sure that you have all hands on deck you can continue to smash it but we do need to bring back into the conversation is pay-per-view numbers cuz whether you thought the TV was going up or whether you thought the TV was going down when it came to pay-per-view aew always
Delivered on average would get about 140,000 buys per show that’s some damn good selling let’s not forget that it came to all in in Wembley 2o they did over 200,000 Buys so don’t tell me a bunch of individuals aren’t invested into this they absolutely are and they’re willing to spend cash and
Whether you want to admit it or not too when you actually do go through all the numbers they have found success on television as well we just have to sit here at the moment as I’m doing right now and figure out where they’re going
To go next now I assume they will re up with Warner Brothers Discovery and they’ll get a bunch more money and they will be profitable and this is good for professional wrestling and why because otherwise you’ll go back to WWE in 2018 nobody like that there’s also not a lot
Of nonsense finishes on aew because Tony Khan likes to keep it clean as possible so that’s something for everybody else let’s remind ourselves of the next Allin that is happening in a few months I mean not till August they have already sold over 30,000 tickets which means probably
If you were going to do a guesstimate they’ll hit about 50,000 and to do 70,000 Plus at Wembley one year and then 50,000 plus the next don’t come into my house and tell me they’re failing that’s absolutely crazy also look at aw revolutia which is happening in a month
Or so that is totally sold out there’s not one seat left I mean I’m sure there’s one but you take my point so I think all the building blocks are in place my friends and right at the core of that right at the center is the fact
That aew is going to go back to more like sports hence why we’ve also got the rankings back now you got to be careful with these cuz sometimes it and be like well wait a minute FTR have been the number one contenders for about 72 years and they haven’t got their title shot
That comes down to your creative and that comes down to your booking and if you do drop the ball here and there that’s okay just pick it up dust it off and make sure you get it right next time as I always say we have 52 weeks of
Programming a year not everything can be for you and not everything can be for me this may be update by the time you see it as well but they could also have their hands on Mercedes Mane and aarda and if you get two stars in the door of
That mag magnitude well the wrestling War and the ultimate game of tennis is certainly back on don’t play tennis like this you will lose so I think it’s a great thing that aw went out there and tried some things new only to come back to what brought them to the dance in the
First place cuz now they can double down on it and they can feel more confidence and again that ties into all of our Lives if you don’t have that confidence sometimes you need to fake it to make it but now in 2024 it’s time to hit a bunch
Of home runs and I totally believe that aew is going to do just that now of course the most important thing to do is leave me a comment below and let me know what do you think what do you think aw needs to do in 2024 to maybe win you
Back over or to cement your fandom like the video share the video and subscribe you can also click the video on the screen which is 10 wrestlers aw will sign in 2024 so you can mostly laugh at us cuz did we get them right I mean every here and there but ultimately no
Thank you again for joining me as always though my friends and as always don’t forget these videos are there to encourage intelligent discourse you can still go super troll down there if you wish but I will totally ignore you cuz ultimately there’s no right and there’s no wrong answer just try and enjoy
Resting as much as you can makes it so much easier goodbye
50 Comments
It's funny that punk is apparently the reason they got rid of the rankings. He was too busy dropkicking guardrails like a dumbass in order to actually work a consistent schedule and now he's injured again after his first literal televised in ring work. This is sadder to watch then his UFC escapades.
lmao the copium
Feeling restored! The Dub wins, the Fed Dead!
Man he is shining that AEW that is AEW.
Super troll.
AEW is terrible
Nobody can take that tournament win away from Eddie Kingston. Who wants to?
I still have no idea what AEW was right about. What was the point of this video? I guess to try and convince someone that AEW is not a flaming dumpster fire.
They still employ predators like flair, jericho, darby, lethal and justin roberts
AEW in ATX tonight 👍
My Hometown 😎
F the haters
I miss MJF, and WWE PPV’s are much easier to access in Canada, but otherwise I enjoy AEW and don’t understand why people get joy from craping on it
Thank you, Simon! You’re the best!!!
Aew would be fantastic if I didn't have to give 70 or $80 to Hulu to actually watch the shows not counting the pay-per-view if there was a normal easy way to watch it like WWE then I would be all in it.
As someone who’s never watched AEW, and hasn’t watched WWE since like 2010… doesn’t Tony Kahn openly trash WWE on various topics? I feel like openly criticizing your competitors then stealing parts from their most successful storyline is a bit two faced. Again idk how if at all they did that but if so I can understand why people would call them out on it.
Where is the women’s division?
As a fan of women’s wrestling , I really couldn’t even remember the Kingston boy. We want the girlies!!!
That's easy. Tony Khan will sign everyone. It would be nice with the new tv deal if they can get Dark back so that they can fluff some numbers for the rankings and also give the rest of the roster some wrestle time.
I think you make a lot of great points and should also shave.
I'm happy AEW is here
I love AEW, they made me Wrestling fan again and give Wrestling World new opportunities
AEW dynamite last was on fire 🔥🔥🔥
This reminds me I need to change the oil on my jeep…😂
Seriously, people need more patience. AEW is doing slow burns on guys like Takeshita. Look at how WWE ruined so many stories by taking it too quickly. Maybe AEW strikes at the wrong time sometimes, that happens, but the point is we didn't want them to be WWE, we wanted them to be ALL ELITE.
I loved AEW's "real sport feel" era because I was always a bigger fan of the in ring action than all the Sports Entertainment fluff. When AEW tried Sports Entertainment I really didn't like it. Felt like WWE-lite. Seeing the tourny and the return of the real sports feel is very exciting. Plus, Triple H's brand of Sports Entertainment is actually appealing to me. So with TK doing real sports feel and WWE doing the best version of Sports Entertainment I can remember since the Attitude Era, I'm feeling great about wrestling in 2024.
I love AEW but few things that they could improve on is
1) Women's wrestling. It's obvious those aren't as fleshed out.
2) Too many faction shenanigans and Tag team matches.
3) Bring back more cage match or stipulation or something other than standard matches. And not in just hardcore way.
They just signed Osprey, Mone, and now Okada and everybody’s still talking about WWE. The focus on “sports” is fine but it needs to actually be sports entertaining.
All they really need to do, in my opinion, is start to make sense. Nothing is given more undue creedence in wrestling than these supposed all important brilliant storylines. They’re always juvenile and are stories worthy of a middle schoolers creative writing class. Leave that nonsense to the sports entertainment brand. That said, just make the matches make sense. Have concrete and clear progressions in feuds with stories told through the matches. There are mostly former Indy guys, with the exception of a few, they can’t cut promos. Don’t try to force them to. Leave that to the MJFs, Christians and Samoa Joes of the brand. And stick to proven wrestling cities and states like Philly, NYC, Chicago, Florida, North Carolina, California…rebuild momentum.
23 was by no means a bad year for AEW. It was an inevitable decline in viewers for weekly shows. They've always responded to criticism well and I feel journalists are quick to jump on doom based storytelling. Nobody with any form of intelligence thinks AEW is failing, that's just the hopes of tribal fans 😊
The thumbnail with the arrow pointing to Eddie Kingston contradicts the video's title.
Simpon. I mean simon. Why do you say you love wrestling but feel you have to make videos about it to divide opinion? Yeah you won’t reply cos you’re actually a weirdo who likes to make money off of toxicity. You. And the channel, IE everyone on the channel are the cause of the problem. Do not be such a transparent spineless coward saying “Wrestlings wrestling”.
YOU
ARE
ALL
JOKERS
ILL DUPPY YOU AND YOUR CRAP BEARD IF I SEE YOU AT WEMBLEY 🙃🙃🙃
As long AEW continues the stories and permits headshots from chairs and thumbtacks… I think people will be willing to support AEW
Now if WWE starts back again like the old days— then we will get another wrestling war…which we are long due.
Also, I think Cody Rhodes will be back in AEW after the story line with WWE.
The Rock’s influence on WWE may also be good for AEW..
If WWE are stealing views by initiating new matches— then AEW will also be boosting their bookings
So really— both companies make money haha
I was there watching both wcw ecw and wwf back in the day. Aew reminds me of that time again. But Better as Tony chan does it so much better than ted Turner ever did. AEW is my choice for wrestling and I'm really happy with what they bring. Better than wwe and wwf ever were
Simon I get the sense you don't believe all you say and you keep your love and hope of aew going to not disenfranchise your fanbase and subscribers.
I always knew this was piss ant company. Has no identity. It don’t know if it wants to be NJPW, TNA, WWE, ROH. The stars of the show are former WWE talent.
No story lines, just matched with no build.
They over invested in mjf the last 2 years… He's an amazing wrestler, but not a franchise player..
The double C was just bangers all around
HAHAHAHA
Love your videos Simon! Keep up the great work!
Right now, AEW feels like 2000 WCW. Sorry.
WWE is 10 times better than AEW
It'll be an interesting challenge for AEW going forward, returning to the "W's and L's" matter philosophy. Because when they were last adhering to that, they had 'Dark' and 'Elevation' to help inflate wrestler's records. How did they build up Lance Archer? He dragged opponents into the ring on Dark etc for victories. When they shuttered the youtube shows, that meant they have to now lean on the three broadcast shows to do a lot of that heavy lifting for pushes. Or they count dark matches that only the fans in attendance see, along with the house shows. They could also count matches that wrestlers do for indie events? Like I said, it'll be interesting.
yall actually convinced yourselves that eddie kingstone is good
First version of the devil mask story I remember was the black scorpion angle they used in late 1990 in nwa/wcw. So definitely not WWE-esque storytelling.
Kingston as a thumbnail… They lat him rot when he was most over and then came up with that tanking ranking tournament… Geez man
Yay for aew positive pete. Im so sick of all the downer videos about aew. They are my favorite and i will stand by them forever
AEW needs to resign Hikaru Shida for another 5 years to teach the younger wrestlers like Billy Starkz, Sky Blue, and Willow Nightengale how to become better wrestlers.
Great video essay!
Nahhh they weren’t at all and it’s embarrassing now
I have watched AEW from day one. It has introduced stars to a wider audience, revived the careers of others, and the competition alone has probably forced some much needed changes on the WWE products. So long as it does not become a retirement home for WWE wrestlers, then I hope they last for many many years. A side note, I do wish the Hardys would retire, Jeff keeps getting hurt, and Matt seems to have mobility issues (stiff legged and noticeably so.
I think AEW should do a full on brand split. I get Collision gets lower ratings/attendance but having Dynamite and Collision as two separate brands works. They have so much talent that it’s a way to get more people on tv and consistent storylines.
I remember when Collision first came out it seemed so new and fresh cause it was different than Dynamite now they all seem the same.
I’ve only just seen the thumbnail and I can only imagine the comments 😬
People always say "AEW did something different" but did it? It seems like AEW from the start was doing NXT, then WWE stopped doing NXT so AEW boomed cause people prefer the NXT style, then Vince left so WWE went back to doing NXT style on the main roster, and AEW suffered cause people can watch that style on a larger stage now? Its all the same style (sometimes a company will do it better or worse but AEW is just NXT which is just PWG on a larger scale
TV is going well. Biggest thing AEW could give us in 2024 is an unannounced yet actually good video game.
As long as Jim Cornette keeps promoting AEW…. they'll be just fine….Bullet Club and AEW ….is fine….🤘
Conrad Thompson recently said the best thing about AEW was that you never knew what to expect every week. Now I know what to expect. I'm not talking big announcements and new stars. People complained about gang wars and run ins but it was the best time in AEW. Get back to being different!
AEW's PPVs never disappoint and you always feel like you get your money's worth. The Classic is a great idea and makes winning matter even more. They do need to have a sustained push for certain Japanese wrestlers, but maybe that's a visa thing? Also, Andrade will not be missed.