Is Jay Lethal the least popular guy in AEW?

[Deleted]

Based on how this forum reacts to him, I do have to wonder if Lethal is detrimental to the product, more so than Jake Hager?

He's still able to wrestle fine, but he doesn't have any charisma unless he's playing another character, his feuds tend to go beyond their shelf life, and given AEW's issues of rotating wrestlers in and out for TV time, Lethal tends to be a fixture on Dynamite regardless.  I'm just trying to dissect what is it that makes him that big a turn off, beyond the domestic issues (of course), given there are other wrestlers who don't have any personality or stick around on television longer than they should yet don't get nearly as negative a reaction... unless you're, say, a Dan Lambert.

[Lizuka #BLM]

At least per the survey I did earlier this year the least popular person in AEW here is Hager.

In terms of broader crowd interest, I'd say it's probably Pillman Jr.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

He's not a detriment to the AEW product as a whole, given live crowds were just cheering a potential face turn of his after the Darby match, and he is not actively lowering viewers or stopping tickets from being sold. Only then would he be an active detriment to the product

FAN and other internet hot spots don't like him, but it's a minority of the fanbase that ultimately does not always connect or is in sync with live crowd goers or the general AEW fans who shell out money for the product or merch

I think at this point Lethal's issues have been largely overshadowed by others within the company anyway this year. He's kept his nose out of the dirt and no one in AEW seems to have a bad word to say about him. People have soured on seeing him wrestle especially if they saw his ROH runs, but overall, he's been there to lose to other wrestlers, so his presence in the company hasn't been obnoxious to me, and he's thrown out some really good matches.

I think the least popular guy in AEW right now, from a fan perspective and even backstage right now, might be Guevara... though Pillman Jr. seems to kill the crowds as well right now.

[Kalmia]

Lethal is definitely unliked (I'd be happy to never see him again) but how much he's used in AEW doesn't help either. It's difficult to get really angry or annoyed against someone like Hager or Pillman Jr. when they're barely on TV. But Lethal is there virtually every week.

So it's combo of him being disliked and just being on TV all the damn time.

[Facetious]

While he's a solid hand, he's genuinely the most boring guy they have right now. Whoever he gets attached to get dragged down by him. I think only Sammy does worse right now

[polarbearpete]

Oct 17, 2022 18:41:44 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

He's not a detriment to the AEW product as a whole, given live crowds were just cheering a potential face turn of his after the Darby match, and he is not actively lowering viewers or stopping tickets from being sold. Only then would he be an active detriment to the product

FAN and other internet hot spots don't like him, but it's a minority of the fanbase that ultimately does not always connect or is in sync with live crowd goers or the general AEW fans who shell out money for the product or merch

I think at this point Lethal's issues have been largely overshadowed by others within the company anyway this year. He's kept his nose out of the dirt and no one in AEW seems to have a bad word to say about him. People have soured on seeing him wrestle especially if they saw his ROH runs, but overall, he's been there to lose to other wrestlers, so his presence in the company hasn't been obnoxious to me, and he's thrown out some really good matches.

I think the least popular guy in AEW right now, from a fan perspective and even backstage right now, might be Guevara... though Pillman Jr. seems to kill the crowds as well right now.

There’s no way for us to know if he turns off viewers or if he actively leads people to not watch or go to shows. As to the live crowds, I’ve never noticed him to be particularly over at any point in his AEW run so far. I’d say crowd reactions to his segments are typically lower than the usual Dynamite/Rampage segment.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Oct 17, 2022 18:50:29 GMT -5 polarbearpete said:

Oct 17, 2022 18:41:44 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

He's not a detriment to the AEW product as a whole, given live crowds were just cheering a potential face turn of his after the Darby match, and he is not actively lowering viewers or stopping tickets from being sold. Only then would he be an active detriment to the product

FAN and other internet hot spots don't like him, but it's a minority of the fanbase that ultimately does not always connect or is in sync with live crowd goers or the general AEW fans who shell out money for the product or merch

I think at this point Lethal's issues have been largely overshadowed by others within the company anyway this year. He's kept his nose out of the dirt and no one in AEW seems to have a bad word to say about him. People have soured on seeing him wrestle especially if they saw his ROH runs, but overall, he's been there to lose to other wrestlers, so his presence in the company hasn't been obnoxious to me, and he's thrown out some really good matches.

I think the least popular guy in AEW right now, from a fan perspective and even backstage right now, might be Guevara... though Pillman Jr. seems to kill the crowds as well right now.

There’s no way for us to know if he turns off viewers or if he actively leads people to not watch or go to shows. As to the live crowds, I’ve never noticed him to be particularly over at any point in his AEW run so far. I’d say crowd reactions to his segments are typically lower than the usual Dynamite/Rampage segment.

He was over as a face, which is why the crowd cheered the prospect of him turning back face. Live crowds do like the guy, they'd probably like him more if he was Black Machismo again, but they've never given him no reaction. 

I've never seen his segments lower viewers to dramatic extremes. I'm sure there are people who actively do not watch his matches, but you can say that about several other stars. As you said it's hard to say if he'd be worse than others, but I will go out on a limb and say he is nowhere near the worst right now.

[Dub H]

I would say on a scale of Tv Time x Popularity, yes.

[Rave]

Nah, it's prob'ly Hager, Guevara, or Pillman Jr.

With Lethal, many of us were watching ROH when he was constantly shoehorned into the main event doing the same schtick he's doing now. He's gotten incredibly stale and hasn't done anything to break up the monotony. Then you have the sexual harassment allegations ROH swept under the rug.

[booty]

I'm going with jorah johl

[Spider2024]

Shawn Spears will probably come roaring into this conversation now that he's back.

[Deleted]

Oct 17, 2022 18:38:53 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

At least per the survey I did earlier this year the least popular person in AEW here is Hager.

In terms of broader crowd interest, I'd say it's probably Pillman Jr.

The thing is, Hager doesn't even come out with the JAS anymore, and Pillman has virtually disappeared off the face of the Earth except for when he takes his rightful beatings.

I'm talking about Dynamite regulars.

[lildude8218]

Is Jay Lethal the least popular guy in AEW?

Adam Page: No.

Anthony Bowens: No.

Billy Gunn: No.

Brody King: No.

Cash Wheeler: No.

Chuck Taylor: No.

Danhausen: No.

Dante Martin: No.

Ethan Page: No.

Evil Uno: No.

Isiah Kassidy: No.

John Silver: No.

Kip Sabian: No.

Lee Johnson: No.

Marq Quen: No.

Matt Sydal: No.

Max Caster: No.

Nick Comoroto: No.

Pac: No.

Powerhouse Hobbs: No.

Peter Avalon: No.

Sammy Guevara: YES!

*the others all roll their eyes*

[Main Eventer]

I find Tony Nese way more boring that Jay Lethal.

[HMARK Center]

Dude gets crowd reactions and the TV ratings haven't been dipping with him on screen so...no?

[Instant Classic]

Tony Nese for me.

[Cyno]

There's been plenty of times where someone popular here isn't popular with the wider audience and vice versa. So while I personally am tired of the guy and have been since he was ROH's golden boy, I don't think it's representative of how the AEW audiences feel as a whole. Granted, I wouldn't say he's exactly popular either, but he isn't getting "f*** you" heat like Sammy Guevara was getting in DC either.

Now if you want to see former AEW wrestlers that are incredibly unpopular: Bobby Fish in Impact. Guy gave a promo to completely dead silence. You could hear someone in the crowd (OF HIS HOMETOWN mind you) cough.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Perhaps he is here but I doubt it for the average wrestling fan. That might be Sammy in terms of actual bad kind of heat.

[Deleted]

I find him pretty boring, but I dislike Sammy the most.

[Deleted]

Someone here said it best once when they said that Jay Lethal is so good at playing everything else except Jay Lethal and that is a perfect summation.