Is it crunch time for Tony and AEW?

[THE FVNKER]

I haven't seen anything else posted so I figure someone may as well address it.

I don't watch much wrestling from either WWE or AEW anymore but I did see where CM Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series. After all the seemingly negative talks about him from both Nick Khan and Triple H, up to and including talent like Seth Rollins (and I'm assuming here, but I'd say there's some talents backstage who are leery of him given the AEW drama) this was a pretty big surprise and a huge return in general.

That being said, CM Punk with no leash in AEW just gave him too much power, freedom and was a huge ego trip for him (I guess, I wasn't there so..)

Does a CM Punk in 2023-4, with a tight leash on being on his best good boy behavior leave the possibility open for WWE to just completely dust AEW? Total viewership, ratings and seemingly most other metrics already have WWE far ahead of AEW but is this the moment WWE runs away with the current-day victory?

Im not a mark for either brand (previously was for AEW but I just don't have time for much wrestling anymore) so I don't have a vested interest in who's doing better, just genuinely curious what others think in addition to this discussion just being interesting to me.

Happy Sunday!

[clifford]

I think AEW need to rethink things and realise that stuff that worked/was successful for them in 2021 and 2022 hasn't been in 2023 and won't be in 2024.

[Allie Kitsune]

No. It's not going to dust AEW.

Though TK does need to dial back a little on giving MJF the Super Cena treatment.

[kingoftheindies]

I think it depends on what you consider crunch time.

Personally I think AEW needs to continue to do what they've been doing for the last 3-4 months to try and rebuild good will, and continue to build stars so they feel unique in AEW even if they aren't AEW homegrown talent. Stay that course and focus on good wrestling and things will get back on track. Dynamite ticket sales are slowly increasiang again, you had a very hot Full Gear, and are doing something with the Continental Classic that is unique in North America.

Above all else, I hope AEW realizes that they are the number 2 promotion in the US and that's okay. Things grew to a level where nobody involved was ready for that and it hurt things business wise. It seems like the course was corrected there, so just focus on regrowing

[Gerard Gerard]

AEW is my favourite wrestling product I can ever recall watching and, while it could do with a lot of streamlining, getting its shit together with the women and debloating at times, it seems in a relatively comfortable position to be pro-wrestling's no. 2. Fortunately, by all accounts, this appears to be TK's goal and seems to be willing to ride that line through its highs and lows.

That said, I do also belief records will be broken if the show is centered on Swerve and he becomes pro-wrestling's WHC Stringer Bell.

[Allie Kitsune]

Nov 26, 2023 10:30:25 GMT -5 Gerard Gerard said:

AEW is my favourite wrestling product I can ever recall watching and, while it could do with a lot of streamlining, getting its shit together with the women and debloating at times, it seems in a relatively comfortable position to be pro-wrestling's no. 2. Fortunately, by all accounts, this appears to be TK's goal and seems to be willing to ride that line through its highs and lows.

That said, I do also belief records will be broken if the show is centered on Swerve and he becomes pro-wrestling's WHC Stringer Bell.

I sort of want to see a Joe vs. Swerve feud where Joe is all old-school mob boss, "back in my day, there was honor among thieves..." and all that, and Swerve just pissing all over that with "Who cares, old man? Today, honor doesn't mean shit!", and they just go to war trying to be the bigger bastard.

[uewfigfed]

Absolutely. Dissolve ROH or make it their NXT straight up, Less tournaments, make their gimmick matches pay per views, and build build build. They have the pieces to be bigger than their current position, but I feel they’re sorta running in place

[Gerard Gerard]

Nov 26, 2023 10:36:08 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Nov 26, 2023 10:30:25 GMT -5 Gerard Gerard said:

AEW is my favourite wrestling product I can ever recall watching and, while it could do with a lot of streamlining, getting its shit together with the women and debloating at times, it seems in a relatively comfortable position to be pro-wrestling's no. 2. Fortunately, by all accounts, this appears to be TK's goal and seems to be willing to ride that line through its highs and lows.

That said, I do also belief records will be broken if the show is centered on Swerve and he becomes pro-wrestling's WHC Stringer Bell.

I sort of want to see a Joe vs. Swerve feud where Joe is all old-school mob boss, "back in my day, there was honor among thieves..." and all that, and Swerve just pissing all over that with "Who cares, old man? Today, honor doesn't mean shit!", and they just go to war trying to be the bigger bastard.

Same, would also like a sort of Bane/Batman deal with MJF and Swerve at some stage with Swerve all like "I was born in the scumbaggery, molded by it."

[Malibu Albino]

AEW have been rebuilding since Punk got canned and I think it has mostly been successful. They have a ways to go, but that’s fine as long as they keep at it. Frankly, I trust AEW to stay the course more than I trust Punk to behave in WWE.

[Denny Zen is Cooking™]

I could be wrong but my personal opinion is that Punk to WWE is going to have roughly 0 appreciable impact on AEW in any way. Punk leaving was a blow, but Punk showing up in WWE literally doesn’t matter in the slightest.

AEW is in a viewership slump right now, and very likely at or near the floor of its weekly viewership. The most passionate AEW fans aren’t going to stop watching AEW just because Punk went crawling back to WWE. The people still watching AEW are glad he’s gone.

[r.]

My last rec time of the year. Want to make this count.

I earnestly recommend you walk away from this niche altogether, It will only hurt you over and over and in the worst ways possible.
It caused me to have a complete nervous breakdown, I don't want that for anyone else.

To answer your question. No, You cannot dust dust.

[IgnahtaSempria]

Are there areas that AEW could improve upon? Absolutely.

But between All In, All Out, Forbidden Door, Wrestledream, and Full Gear, with World's End to come, AEW is on track to have one of their most profitable years in the company's short history.

There's been a lot of ups and downs lately, so it's just a matter of leveling out and being more consistent.

[Ben Wyatt]

Crunch time? No.

Do they need to reevaluate how they're doing some stuff? Absolutely.

[IgnahtaSempria]

Nov 26, 2023 10:41:20 GMT -5 r. said:

My last rec time of the year. Want to make this count.

I earnestly recommend you walk away from this niche altogether, It will only hurt you over and over and in the worst ways possible.
It caused me to have a complete nervous breakdown, I don't want that for anyone else.

To answer your question. No, You cannot dust dust.

Dude, you seriously need to talk to someone or something.

It's pro wrestling; it's not that big a deal.

[Kalmia]

CM Punk could be the catalyst for the highest ratings WWE has ever seen and AEW would not be in the dust because they were 100% right to fire him for everything that happened. Being good at wrestling doesn't trump assaulting people.

[Ben Wyatt]

Nov 26, 2023 10:40:17 GMT -5 Denny Zen is Cooking™ said:

I could be wrong but my personal opinion is that Punk to WWE is going to have roughly 0 appreciable impact on AEW in any way. Punk leaving was a blow, but Punk showing up in WWE literally doesn’t matter in the slightest.

AEW is in a viewership slump right now, and very likely at or near the floor of its weekly viewership. The most passionate AEW fans aren’t going to stop watching AEW just because Punk went crawling back to WWE. The people still watching AEW are glad he’s gone.

I do think if Punk and WWE make the marriage work, it's not the best optics for AEW

[This Player Hating Mothman]

It's way easier for Punk to walk into WWE on the idea hole will be carved out for him, than it is to patch up a Punk-sized hole in AEW. Too much central, tentpole shit was built up on Punk for it to magically just become fixed on the same time scale. I think AEW's done a good job at rebuilding in terms of building up over acts and figuring out its identity, but they've had to deal with troublesome injuries including of the guy who was meant to fill Punk's space on Collision as its main guy. It's been a really rough and unlucky time for AEW on those fronts.

But WWE's success does not 'dust' AEW, and I don't think Punk behaving in AEW is somehow going to prove shit except to people looking for a reason to make that the narrative for whatever their own personal reasons might be. He was justified for being kicked out of AEW for reasons wholly his fault, and Tony is justified in not wanting to let him keep ruining his company, because his negative actions were having an impact on shit and f***ed All Out's main event regardless of whether he was fired or not. It's an ugly situation, but it's irrespective of AEW rebuilding.

If ticket sales can climb, if ratings stay where they are, if PPV buys aren't down and we don't really have the best insight into those, then AEW will be okay. They have a lot of really good stuff going and its audience is invested, and there's never been any shame in being a second place promotion that provides something different. It's the ideal, frankly. Be a strong contender and offer an alternative, and the fans who resonate with that will come. It's in thinking they need to take WWE on or chip out some of WWE's growth or become the next WCW (or god forbid, the next 2010 TNA) that they would end up blowing up.

[Soultastic]

Product wise everyone's gonna have a different opinion depending on what they like.

However, they absolutely need to get their shit together backstage. TK sat there and allowed Punk to burn his company down at the scrum, then he gave him and other troublemakers their own show, and then allowed him to have power beyond that of a regular talent, to the point that he was blocking people with actual power from entering shows. It shouldn't have taken a choking for TK to put a stop to all of this.

In other words, it's not the product or creative I fear, it's the inner workings of a company that sits there and allows this to happen.

[jp49er80]

Nov 26, 2023 10:41:20 GMT -5 r. said:

My last rec time of the year. Want to make this count.

I earnestly recommend you walk away from this niche altogether, It will only hurt you over and over and in the worst ways possible.
It caused me to have a complete nervous breakdown, I don't want that for anyone else.

To answer your question. No, You cannot dust dust.

I mean this sincerely, but if wrestling is causing you a nervous breakdown, please, please, step away from it and talking about it and talk to someone and get help.

That's not normal, or healthy. Find a hobby that doesn't make you so unhappy.

To answer the thread's question - it does feel a little like a lot of steam has gone out of AEW. There's an element of rebuilding post-Punk, but they need to hit something hot soon - and I'm not sure MJF as Cena is it.

[KME]

No idea what difference Punk will make but do think it's amusing the credit WWE are getting for employing an unemployed man, a guy who they laughed at AEW for having ("he's their problem now"), a guy AEW fired. It was a surprise to many because they denied he was going to be there but the "AEW can't top this!" shouts have been so weird because like...they had Punk. We've already seen him come back from his long absence, cut unscripted promos, work loads of matches and even have some creative control, there's not a lot interesting that WWE can do with him, him being back there after all this time is really only interesting if you haven't watched his AEW run or think WWE is the only game in town. For some people this is an emotional moment and he's back "home" after however many years he was gone, for me I saw him in the flesh in London a few months ago, the novelty would be long gone even if I had the desire to watch WWE regularly again.

It wouldn't surprise me if current trends continued though and WWE's viewing figures went up even more, the reaction to their product and the way I see it are worlds apart, I still think they're a vastly inferior wrestling company to AEW in almost every area, but that's not the current narrative and it's unlikely to change soon.

Either way, time will tell how wise it is employing a known locker room trouble maker when you're "red hot" and in a period of harmony, being conveniently ignored AEW only went into a period of being less hot largely because of Punk.