Wrestling In The Time Of COVID-19: the new thread

[Ja'moke]

Eddie Kingston!!

This is ace. Proper rugged, gritty wrestling.

[Ja'moke]

Tonight's Dynamite has been better than the last three week "ppv" specials. And we're only an hour in!

[kitsofan34]

A falls count anywhere match and a no dq match seem like rather desperate, NXT type moves.

[Gurke and Hare]

I love the attention to detail that goes into this show. Just little things like when Moxley went to help Darby up, he didn't extend his hand, he just dragged him up by the neck.

Sammy's back, I guess Lessons have been Learned. I'm not sure we're due another 5v5 match yet, and I slightly agree that they're leaning a bit too much on the gimmick matches, they badly need the crowds back really. Still a hugely enjoyable show though - at the moment I'm going to bed every Tuesday night as if it's Christmas Eve knowing there'll be a present for me in the morning.

[Ja'moke]

What I really love about it is how everything builds from one show to the next. By the end of Dynamite we have a card for next week and it all makes sense.

Lots of good promos last night too. Britt "I am Michael Jordan" Baker, and Jake Roberts narrating Lance Archer's destruction (that ceiling tile spot made me laugh out loud). And of course Eddie Kingston is one of the most natural sounding promos in the game.

[Gurke and Hare]

I'm not familiar with Tornado tag team matches, so I looked them up on wikipedia and was delighted to find out

The first match of this kind was held on October 2, 1937, in Houston between Milo Steinborn and Whiskers Savage against Tiger Daula and Fazul Mohammed.

AEW should definitely sign Whiskers Savage.

[Moribunderast]

Chris Jericho still wearing the juice-soaked jacket, vulnerably asking Santana "Do I still smell like Orange Juice?" and then becoming irate when the answer was "Yes" tickled me SO MUCH. As Gurke and Hare said, the attention to detail in this show is great but it also has to be the most consistently (and genuinely) funny wrestling show I've ever watched.

[Gurke and Hare]

Chris Jericho still wearing the juice-soaked jacket, vulnerably asking Santana "Do I still smell like Orange Juice?" and then become irate when the answer was "Yes" tickled me SO MUCH. As Gurke and Hare said, the attention to detail in this show is great but it also has to be the most consistently (and genuinely) funny wrestling show I've ever watched.

Ortiz's comic timing is amazing. At the very end of that segment, he just stands around a bit as if he's about to say something, and I don't know why but it's hilarious.

[Moribunderast]

Ortiz's comic timing is amazing. At the very end of that segment, he just stands around a bit as if he's about to say something, and I don't know why but it's hilarious.

My housemate (who isn't a wrestling fan but also doesn't hate it) went from DESPISING Ortiz and Santana (because he hates cheating bullshit in matches) to referring to Ortiz as a "genius" after his repeated battles with tiny pools of water/juice. Had the same thing with Sammy where he went from hating him to loving him because of his feud with vehicles and horses. As I say, it's still broad (because it's wrestling) but AEW has some comedy stuff that is genuinely funny to non-fans and not embarrassing like a lot of the stuff WWE writers are forced to produce for their infant overlord.

[Ja'moke]

The comedy is definitely one of AEW's biggest plus points. It's made me laugh more than any other wrestling show in recent memory. I still don't think they've topped that Cody spoof video that the Inner Circle did last year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0WsXcPNZSo&t), which was just fantastic line after fantastic line, but they've come close.

[Gurke and Hare]

"If I know little Christopher, I just know he's going to beat the shit out of Cody at Full Gear." Marvellous.

[Deanjam]

AEW should definitely sign Whiskers Savage.

I presume this was Randy's cat.

[hummingofevil]

What I really love about it is how everything builds from one show to the next. By the end of Dynamite we have a card for next week and it all makes sense.

Lots of good promos last night too. Britt "I am Michael Jordan" Baker, and Jake Roberts narrating Lance Archer's destruction (that ceiling tile spot made me laugh out loud). And of course Eddie Kingston is one of the most natural sounding promos in the game.

Unless anyone can tell me of a previous one Chris Brookes and Mei Suruga *did a roof tile spot in Gatoh Move which make me howl laughing and seeing it again here did not disappoint (maybe Sakura has been on the phone to offer a few ideas). :)

Yes. Dynamite was amazing. Ricky Starks with Taz and Cage is a great idea but Starks nearly knocking Darby's head off was a crazy statement of intent.

And for all you attention-to-detail fans I think Britt Baker's "bruises" and dressing are getting bigger every week. Made me laugh anyway.

*Sorry. Completely misremembered that. It was Chris Brookes and Rin Rin and it was an accident. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHRM3tmE3B0 6.20 here.

Mei Suruga sold it in future matches where she was trying to stop him putting her head through the ceiling. Still very funny mind.

[Old Thrashbarg]

The comedy is definitely one of AEW's biggest plus points. It's made me laugh more than any other wrestling show in recent memory.

Not just the segments either, but the commentary (particularly on Dark with Excalibur and Taz) frequently has me laughing. But they're not trying to be funny at the expense of the actual commentary, it's just the natural rapport between them, with them still doing a great job of both the play-by-play commentary and the (kayfabe) explanations of why/how things did/didn't work and what the wrestlers are trying to achieve. Their treatment of botches is perfect as well.

[Ja'moke]

Not just the segments either, but the commentary (particularly on Dark with Excalibur and Taz) frequently has me laughing. But they're not trying to be funny at the expense of the actual commentary, it's just the natural rapport between them, with them still doing a great job of both the play-by-play commentary and the (kayfabe) explanations of why/how things did/didn't work and what the wrestlers are trying to achieve. Their treatment of botches is perfect as well.

Taz and Excalibur are my favourite commentary duo right now. They just have a great playful chemistry and can make fun of each other without shouting the other down or being nasty. "She's from the fashion capital of Paris, or as I said, Paree." "Last week you said she's from the France capital of Paris." "Yeah, well, that should have been edited out."

[Deanjam]

Oh dear.

[Ja'moke]

Great to see AEW back in the Top 5 again these past couple of weeks and back up to pre-covid numbers. They deserve it, especially with last night's show.

[Deanjam]

NXT has been pretty good too, but the only people watching it seems to be old men.

[hummingofevil]

Did you all listen to Meltzer today? I normally get very bored with ratings talk but he reporting a complete collapse if Uk WWE viewing figures to barely 5 figures (even as +7 days) and how Sky Italia had dropped WWE altogether and picked up AEW instead.

I would love all wrestling to be mainstream (well I would love Vince to go bankrupt and live long enough to see his entire legacy go to shit) but given wrestling is very niche then as people realise AEW is a better product for a fraction of the price then its just another chip in the armour of their domination.

If NXT didnt exist and AEW was doing, say 1.2 million to RAW's 1.6 AND whipping them in demos the tv  deal guys would be getting this far quicker than they are.

[Deanjam]

Unfortunately they're fine for the next 4 years regardless. As Jamoke has pointed out previously, Raw is still the main thing on USA. Difficult to believe that Fox are happy with Smackdown, but nothing will matter until negotiations begin again in about 3 years.

Those UK ratings are horrific, but not surprising. They were headed to under 50,000 on Sky, and BT Sport has much less subscribers.

[peanutbutter]

NXT has been pretty good too, but the only people watching it seems to be old men.

I wonder how much of that is just USA? I know TNT is a way smaller station but I have to imagine a channel that's doing a TV adaptation of Snowpiercer is trying to court a reasonably young audience. What's USA got these days?
Also is it possibly a case that Vince agreeing lower deals internationally would damage their negotiating power in the US at all?



Still think he ultimately doesn't give a shit, some major corp will buy him out for stupid money if it all goes to shit so there's little real risk.

[Moribunderast]

While I don't care too much to read into the ratings (I find them unpredictable, not a good guide of quality and I also question how the Nielsen system is in any way accurate) I am intrigued as to the long-term play of WWE's dwindling ratings and whether AEW being consistently good (hopefully it stays that way) will eventually lead to a turning of the tide. I find it hard to believe WWE could ever be displaced as the US No. 1 wrestling promotion because their name basically IS wrestling in the US thanks to 20 years of monopolisation in the mainstream but it would be nice to think AEW could slowly improve it's viewership thanks to putting on quality television.

Sadly I think the reality is that for AEW to ever catch Raw or Smackdown, those numbers will have to continue plummeting. Which they very well may but it will be kinda sad for the industry if the way AEW overtake WWE in viewership is because Raw can no longer get a million viewers. I really don't think enough weight is given to how Vince's terrible booking and production is basically killing wrestling as a (vaguely) mainstream thing. I don't generally feel like many of the viewers who are abandoning WWE are then going to watch New Japan or AEW or Impact or whatever. I think they just stop watching wrestling. Much like WCW fans did after the buyout.

[Ja'moke]

I wonder how much of that is just USA? I know TNT is a way smaller station but I have to imagine a channel that's doing a TV adaptation of Snowpiercer is trying to court a reasonably young audience. What's USA got these days?
Also is it possibly a case that Vince agreeing lower deals internationally would damage their negotiating power in the US at all?

I don't think TNT is that much smaller than USA really. They're both cable channels and two of the more recognisable ones owned by much bigger corporations (USA by NBCUniversal and TNT by WarnerMedia).

Sadly I think the reality is that for AEW to ever catch Raw or Smackdown, those numbers will have to continue plummeting. Which they very well may but it will be kinda sad for the industry if the way AEW overtake WWE in viewership is because Raw can no longer get a million viewers.

I think for AEW to catch Raw or Smackdown's ratings it would require NXT not to air opposite every Wednesday.

[Timothy]

Doesn't the WWE Network air NXT live on Wednesday? And is there a way to find out how many people watch it live on the Network?

[Ja'moke]

Doesn't the WWE Network air NXT live on Wednesday? And is there a way to find out how many people watch it live on the Network?

Not since it went to USA.

[BeardFaceMan]

Kinda shows how petty and unbusinesslike Vince is, that he would take away veiwers from his own network in order to put NXT opposite AEW, who absolutely arent a threat and arent even on WWE's radar, no sir. Is there anything new worth subscribing for on the WWE network now NXT is gone?

[kitsofan34]

It's especially funny considering how by trying to sabotage AEW, they're panicking more and more, making NXT, their one prized asset, as generic and lifeless as the main shows, bit by bit.

I have a lot of issues with AEW but they have a confidence in themselves and don't seem to panic when they lose a few weeks in the ratings, probably cultivated by the unexpected success they've had so far. All their big matches have been avoided in the pandemic, whilst NXT have given away their two biggest matches (Io vs Sasha, Keith Lee vs Adam Cole) for free, barely scraping a ratings win.

[BeardFaceMan]

Doesnt the fact that theyre so high in the coveted over 50s male demo show that its not really wrestling fans that watch NXT, but USA viewers who watch just because its on USA? I think the split between wrestling fans and people who watch NXT just because they watch the network it's on leans a lot harder towards network watchers than it does wrestling fans, I dont think that's the case when it comes to AEW and TNT.

It'd be interesting to know what the show was that was in Dynamite's spot before it started and what kind of viewing figures it got. Would AEW be able to regularly pull in over a million viewers a week, or does the network they're on not get that kind of numbers in that slot?

[Ja'moke]

Kinda shows how petty and unbusinesslike Vince is, that he would take away veiwers from his own network in order to put NXT opposite AEW, who absolutely arent a threat and arent even on WWE's radar, no sir. Is there anything new worth subscribing for on the WWE network now NXT is gone?

The documentaries on the Network are usually very good, especially that recent Edge one. I haven't seen the Undertaker series, but that's been getting great reviews too. That said, I did cancel the Network a couple months ago, but I borrow a mate's (and he borrow's my Fite TV for Dynamite).

[Timothy]

Kinda shows how petty and unbusinesslike Vince is, that he would take away veiwers from his own network in order to put NXT opposite AEW, who absolutely arent a threat and arent even on WWE's radar, no sir. Is there anything new worth subscribing for on the WWE network now NXT is gone?

Most of the documentaries are great but that's about it.