Then I realised that’s also not quite a 1:1 analogy.

AEW would be the equivalent of a new soap opera launching but with a bunch of already established characters from EastEnders and Coronation Street amongst its cast. Which would probably draw pretty huge if suddenly Gail Platt and Kat Slater were calling each other SLLLLAAAAAAGGGGGG in the middle of the street.

So, I guess this leads me to conclude that AEW is shit, and nobody should get any enjoyment from it.

I don’t know who those EastEnders characters are, but that’s basically what you have going on. They’re not brand new. They’re building off an existing wrestling climate and have access to top names and a national platform. They just haven’t captured imaginations because they suck.

And look — I’m all for people enjoying what they want. But the idea that AEW is helping things is a myth. Interest in wrestling continues to hit all-time lows. They’ve soaked up talent so groups like ROH and Impact Wrestling have suffered. WWE is under no threat so they can deliberately be more like the WWE they want to be, which is apparently the big no-no AEW is supposed to be fighting against.

My argument from the start is that AEW is bad for wrestling. Especially long-term. A lot of people take issue with that because they think short-term and just see a bunch of people getting a lot of money and another show and think it’s great. Since AEW has come along, we’ve also seen NXT boosted to cable television, so we’ve now got an extra five hours of wrestling a week. Eight when AEW runs a PPV.

It’s too much bad wrestling poisoning the well. My only hope is that people become even more nostalgic for good shit through social media, YouTube, streaming services and it just being so far removed that it can make a glorious comeback in a few years time (we could be talking decades though).

And look, here is another hypothesis of mine: If another billionaire threw their hat into the ring. Let’s say they poached a couple of key AEW guys and got a basic cable platform. I guarantee they could use that talent better and get better ratings. Guaranteed.

AEW is not operating at the highest level that an alternative product to WWE could. It’s basically more of the same in many ways.

I’ll take your word that you don’t know who those Eastenders characters are.

Thanks. We get it over here on cable, but I’ve never watched.

Also, you cannot seriously rest the issues of Impact wrestling at the (forbidden) door of AEW. TNA/Impact is the blueprint of what not to do when you’re trying to be the competition. They’ve had to scale down entirely due to their own missteps.

Alas, it does seem AEW are following that blueprint a little too closely for now.

Don’t let not watching get in the way of writing 300 word op-eds about it. :p

:rofl:

I’m not well-versed in it enough. But I could certainly write about its influence or success.

1.38 million for RAW on SyFy, the network change definitely had an effect on ratings

RAW went to SyFy? Huh?

yeah this week and next due to the olympics

Its not about the actual show, it is about the people on the show acting like assholes over bottom of the barrel ratings.

https://i.redd.it/6rr2qvc7qbu61.jpg

Holy shit, they still beat AEW?! I thought for sure AEW would win this week and they’d trot around with it like a real victory, ignoring that Raw was on SyFy. Holy shit.

This is such a fantastic meme and it suits AEW so perfectly.

Yeah I did mean to say something about that but forgot. It’s not a good look either way is it? Best case scenario is you look like an ungracious winner. I hated it when WWE used to do those little things where they were like “Last week’s Raw had more ____ than _____ combined”. I was always like who gives a fuck? :lol:

It looks bad if you’re “winning,” but it looks especially sad if you’re not winning but act like you are. And if you are winning it draws attention to when you’re not.

Assuming AEW gets the standard rating pop for all the hype of a major debut, it could be close. I would like AEW to beat Raw in total viewership once so all the dummies that work there can brag about how total viewers suddenly matters :rofl:

Exactly.

That would be amazing actually. If it doesn’t happen on one of these SyFy shows then we’re going to be waiting for a lot of these 49 yr olds in the “key demo” to have their birthdays before the narrative changes.

400k for NXT on SyFy

That’s even lower than a Rampage!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">AEW Dynamite last night on TBS:<br>1,129,000 viewers<br>P18-49: 0.41 (541,000)<br><br>Highest total viewership since Sep 29.<br><br> More demos &amp; analysis: <a href="https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8">https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8</a> <a href="https://t.co/9DoABiZs2Q">pic.twitter.com/9DoABiZs2Q</a></p>&mdash; Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1491877943446061058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Wow TBS and the stars of AEW like Keith Lee, Moxley, Punk, FTR, Archer & Hangman more over than Nathan Chen and the Olympics! Also, NHL and NBA was playing and NCAA basketball too! Big 10!

Is this the part where Rick calls me a faggot for watching AEW?

He’s still on the hunt for those posts where I’m “crying about AEW not hitting 1m viewers”. He might be a while…

Like milk left in the sun.

Hahaha, 1.13 million people tuned in for a big surprise just to get a broken Keith Lee. The number itself is sad, but good by AEW standards. They’ve only got so many people who will give them attention left to burn.

Raw on SyFy beat them. Woof.

Haha I love Mr. Nerfect. Bobby Big Wheel.

473k for Rampage. Maybe selling your soul for a one week Dynamite boost only to disappoint people wasn’t the brightest idea?

It's happening, all those 49 year olds are starting to turn 50.

R.I.P. to "Muh Demos"

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">99.178 million viewers for the Super Bowl (24.07 P18-49 rating, or about 31.4 million in the demo), according to Showbuzz Daily. <br><br>Last year's Super Bowl had 91.6 million viewers.<br><br>Puppy Bowl won among cable originals for Sunday in 18-49 (0.42 rating).<a href="https://t.co/Pwb32qhiSR">https://t.co/Pwb32qhiSR</a></p>&mdash; Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1493605876225265666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWERAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWERAW</a> did really well last night considering they were on SyFy. It averaged 1.602M viewers (+15.5% from last week) &amp; a 0.44 18-49 rating (+22%). Those numbers beat a lot of numbers they've done on USA. RAW was #1 for the night on cable, even beating the Olympics <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestlingInc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WrestlingINC</a></p>&mdash; Raj Giri (@RajGiri_303) <a href="https://twitter.com/RajGiri_303/status/1493696411749298181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

RIP Olympics.

Imagine what the Raw Ratings will be once the show is built around Cody!

RIP AEW

Lol at another SyFy Raw beating AEW.

Even if you add Rampage to the Dynamite number…nope.

869,000 viewers for Dynamite

Cody knew the ship was sinking

Ouch! I expected under 1 million because of the letdowns, but wow.