AEW's Risky Moves in 2024

[Webster]

When Desperation Takes Over: AEW's Risky Moves in 2024
#AEW #TonyKhan #YoungBucks #EVPs #TheElite

0:00 Tony Khan and AEW is getting desperate in 2024
4:35 Swerve Strickland's Dubious AEW World Title Win
8:05 Okada, Ospreay, Mercedes and AEW Overspending in Free Agency
9:40 Tony Khan Attacked by the Elite
10:13 CM Punk vs. Jack Perry Brawl In Footage,
11:00 Will Ospreay vs. Triple H
11:45 Tony Khan's Harvey Weinstein Joke

It's AEW, and desperate times call for desperate booking, and of course Harvey Weinstein Jokes for comic relief I guess.

2024 is a pivotal year for AEW, and in a time where Tony Khan needs to be setting the table, he's sh*tting the bed. We're barely into 2Q-24 and AEW has already had several moments that make it look like a reeling promotion desperate for a fix. If AEW was a person it would be Tyrone Biggums. Today we have to talk about AEW's most desperate moments of 2024, and how this shortsighted booking is damaging to their long-term viewership.

Thoughts on the above? @Dead2009 @PGen98

 

[+paradox]

aew is going down, very sad...

 

[Webster]

aew is going down, very sad...

WCW down?
Or 80's territories down?

 

[Dead2009]

aew is going down, very sad...

They aren't going out of business any time soon, unless Tony Khans father decided it's no longer worth the risk.

That being said, the problem with AEW is that they're too busy attacking WWE on a weekly basis. It worked for WCW because there was no internet at the time and we didn't have to read social media every time someone said or did something that was supposed to "shock the wrestling world". Scott Hall randomly showing up on Nitro and cutting a promo making it out to be like he's a WWE mole made more of an impact than Will Ospreay getting upset over a HHH OOC comment.

TNA did the same shit and eventually learned to be their own product instead of leeching off of what WWE said or did.

 

[Webster]

unless Tony Khans father decided it's no longer worth the risk.

I'm shocked Shad Khan hasn't pulled the plug on his son's vanity project.

That said: AEW is trying to hotshot the ratings up from where they've been and its' not working as it should. The whole "The Elite attacks Tony Khan and takes over AEW" angle reeks of the Austin-McMahon feud of the WWE's Attitude Era; why? Because Austin and McMahon invested the time/work to pull it off and it was credible, the idea of the everyman rebellign agst. the boss. The EVP's attacking their erstwhile boss - and everyone in AEW knows the Cucamonga Kids run the show there - isn't believable because neither Tony Khan or the Young Bucks can play their respective roles worth a damn.

the problem with AEW is that they're too busy attacking WWE on a weekly basis.

Something which initially worked for WCW but ultimately burned them. Its' a like a sugar high - by putting their best matches on Nitro or Thunder, WCW traded in the cash they would've made on PPV buys for nightly ratings and it only works so far and for so long. AEW's dream matches are similar; yes, its' nice to see wrestlers from New Japan or RoH on AEW programming but unless there's a hook or an angle for them, its' just TK playing Career Manager Mode on WWE 2K24

TNA did the same shit and eventually learned to be their own product instead of leeching off of what WWE said or did.

TNA's worst mistake early on was giving Dixie Carter the reins to the promotion instead of kicking her upstairs as an 'authority figure.' (In that scenario, maybe TNA doesn't see its' iconic star AJ Styles bolt for WWE in the mid-2010's like he did...then again, given how much of a cheapskate Carter was at the time, that might've happened anyway).

 

[Webster]

than Will Ospreay getting upset over a HHH OOC comment.

As an aside, its' rich as hell for that guy to rip on Triple H because (a) Trips has more than earned the right to be where he is (yes, part of it stems from his marriage to Stephanie McMahon) and (b) Will Ospreay was implicated in some shady things himself; per the Tropes...

Outside the ring, Will's apparent role in forcing Pollyanna out of British Wrestling by asking venues to not book her after various disagreements with the Swords of Essex . He denied this for years, though a promoter eventually seemingly confirmed Polly's story. This caused both Will and NJPW no small hint of grief, as many were canceling their "NJPW World" subscriptions to try to get them to fire Ospreay.

Months later, when the suicide of another English wrestler was turned into another Ospreay related controversy after he tweeted a thread which can be summed up as "stop trying to get me fired or I'll kill myself too", the promoter had to recant their stance by clarifying that the venue were the ones who asked them to cancel Pollyanna, and changing their tune from "fuck you Ospreay" to "no mistake warrants constant hate."

 

[Dead2009]

Nah his father wont pull the plug because he probably doesn't even care what's going on, he's got the Jaguars and a football team to run. In terms of having big matches on free television, WWE did that shit all the time during the attitude era and right after the invasion as well.

TNAs biggest mistake was bringing Hulk Hogan in and letting him pseudo run the company while Dixie just played it on television. That almost killed them tenfold.

 

[Webster]

In terms of having big matches on free television, WWE did that shit all the time during the attitude era and right after the invasion as well.

True but (a) they had enough of those matches that they could do that and (b) they didn't hotshot feuds/angles/wrestlers at every opportunity. Instead, they used the good matches you'd see on television to feed into the PPVs' - its' okay to put good/great matches on TV, but you want to put your best matches, your blowoffs, on the PPV.

WCW didn't have the sense to do that and AEW's going down the same route with their dream matches.

 

[Webster]

TNAs biggest mistake was bringing Hulk Hogan in and letting him pseudo run the company while Dixie just played it on television. That almost killed them tenfold.

No kidding; then they added Vince Russo to the mix....

 

[Dead2009]

True but (a) they had enough of those matches that they could do that and (b) they didn't hotshot feuds/angles/wrestlers at every opportunity. Instead, they used the good matches you'd see on television to feed into the PPVs' - its' okay to put good/great matches on TV, but you want to put your best matches, your blowoffs, on the PPV.

WCW didn't have the sense to do that and AEW's going down the same route with their dream matches.

In an era where WWE's whole thing now is the television matters more than PPV, Id expect it to ramp up even more, which is why Raw was a banger of a show last night.

 

[Dead2009]

No kidding; then they added Vince Russo to the mix....

Vince Russo was there long before Hogan arrived. Vince Russo was a heel authority figure/manager on television long before Hogan arrived, in fact.

 

[Webster]

Vince Russo was there long before Hogan arrived.

No wonder Jim Cornette left TNA when he did....

 

[Webster]

In an era where WWE's whole thing now is the television matters more than PPV, Id expect it to ramp up even more, which is why Raw was a banger of a show last night.

Yeah and they can do that because they're the Colossus of Wrestling now.
AEW can't.