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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Oct 23, 2019 0:35:16 GMT -5
As AEW gets their regular presence in the wrestling landscape further established, one of their major success stories so far has been their webshow Dark, which collates matches taped before and after the live airings of Dynamite and puts them to YouTube. Three episodes of this have gone live so far, with the first two episodes garnering close to a million views each within two weeks, which for a start-up promotion is great numbers.
But I can't shake the fact that they've somehow managed to spin something that WWE have been doing for just over 20 years now as this fresh new initiative. Of course, there's many factors as to why it's clicking for AEW and never completely has for WWE. For a start, there's a louder demand for the AEW product, which has none of the baggage or stigma that WWE ends up putting on... well, just about any show that isn't RAW and FOX-era SmackDown (and even then it may only be specific parts of the show at specific times of the year... you see how this escalates). AEW also aren't afraid to put their absolute top stars on Dark as opposed to Dynamite, as evidenced by the fact that Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks have all worked matches on it already, as opposed to WWE who give it a few months of lip service with some scattered upper-midcard matches before it becomes the exclusive domain of the lower card talents, which feeds into the stigma thing mentioned earlier. The fact that the show that currently represents the arse-end of the roster is called "Main Event" is deliciously ironic. I haven't seen any of the Dark shows, so I don't know how or even if they develop their storylines on there, but I know for sure that WWE don't.
So, what should WWE do? They already do the matches regardless of whether they go to air or not for the sake of warming up the live crowd before the start of RAW/SmackDown or trying to send them home happy after it, so simply not doing them isn't an option. These matches also are currently tied to international TV deals, the primary one being the almost finished UK deal with Sky Sports, which is why Main Event doesn't actually air live on the Network and is uploaded to it on a two/three week delay even though there's next to no substantial content on it.
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mattyy
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Post by mattyy on Oct 23, 2019 0:37:40 GMT -5
honestly they have enough problems writing a RAW and a SmackDown to be worrying about writing a Sunday Night Heat.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Oct 23, 2019 0:39:42 GMT -5
"Hmm, more Sarah Logan and Dana matches."
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FinalGwen
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Post by FinalGwen on Oct 23, 2019 0:42:06 GMT -5
Start a new show, advertise main eventers in all the graphics, then forget about it even existing after a few weeks?
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Oct 23, 2019 0:50:47 GMT -5
WWE has no reason to do much with its second string shows; they exist just to fill space and when things are good, wring a bit more money out of TV deals with them. With how much work they already don't put into making their main shows appealing, C shows featuring people trapped in purgatory but even harder is never going to be a formula. AEW Dark is there to get an internet presence, to keep things moving outside of TV to set up the pieces, and to give more content to a group that is ravenous for more. I'd say that comparatively, AEW Dark exists more in the vein of the pre-shows, which now are standard parts of the PPV experience but for a while after the aftermath of Heat weren't there. "Here's some dark matches, it's free to watch, tune in to our real program to see more if you like this". There's no PPV to sell with the pre-show, but it stands up much more as something with a purpose, rather than as an excuse to keep more people employed.
The two companies operate under such radically different philosophies that I don't think there can be a situation where WWE is able to do a better job at achieving what AEW Dark is doing. It'd be more likely that in time, Dark becomes more like Main Event as the company goes on longer, maybe everyone is a little less hungry. Not saying it will, but that's far more possible an outcome than WWE suddenly revitalizing its side content when the flagship shows are not only way more flawed, but also where the "work" is being "done" to fix them. Main Event may do more financially for its company than Dark, but AEW needs Dark more than WWE needs Main Event.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 1:21:23 GMT -5
AEW is the talk of the wrestling industry and its fans. WWE has responded by giving us even worse shows than they were before.
If Dynamite didn't light a fire under their asses (no pun intended) then Dark certainly won't either.
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Welfare Willis
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Post by Welfare Willis on Oct 23, 2019 1:25:25 GMT -5
AEW is the talk of the wrestling industry and its fans. WWE has responded by giving us even worse shows than they were before. If Dynamite didn't light a fire under their asses (no pun intended) then Dark certainly won't either. Seth lit a fire under Bray Wyatt's ass. Now do that with Vince McMahon, Seth. |
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Oct 23, 2019 1:28:14 GMT -5
AEW is the talk of the wrestling industry and its fans. WWE has responded by giving us even worse shows than they were before. If Dynamite didn't light a fire under their asses (no pun intended) then Dark certainly won't either. Need I remind everyone that the first hour of TV they put on after Double or Nothing had almost no wrestling on it, and the match they did run 45 minutes in had Shane McMahon vs. Lance Anoa'i? |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 1:54:21 GMT -5
I haven't seen any of the Dark shows, so I don't know how or even if they develop their storylines on there, but I know for sure that WWE don't. AEW definitely does. Chima/Darby Allin was explicitly a match to see who would face off against Jimmy Havoc for a shot at Jericho and also was to show that Darby can put people away with the Coffin Drop (he had failed to ever successfully use it before). Jurrasic Express vs. SCU advanced the story of SCU being unbeatable in trios action. Coupled with AEW counting the matches in official records, it goes a long way toward making things matter for the overall product. |
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Futureraven: Beelzebruv
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Post by Futureraven: Beelzebruv on Oct 23, 2019 4:23:50 GMT -5
I haven't seen any of the Dark shows, so I don't know how or even if they develop their storylines on there, but I know for sure that WWE don't. AEW definitely does. Chima/Darby Allin was explicitly a match to see who would face off against Jimmy Havoc for a shot at Jericho and also was to show that Darby can put people away with the Coffin Drop (he had failed to ever successfully use it before). Jurrasic Express vs. SCU advanced the story of SCU being unbeatable in trios action. Coupled with AEW counting the matches in official records, it goes a long way toward making things matter for the overall product. This is the first week I've watched Dark, because it matters. I thought it'd be random matches that don't matter, but on Dynamite they've been actually mentioning it and it counts, so I thought I'd give it a go. Compare that with something like Main Event which is basically the Phantom Zone. |
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Oct 23, 2019 4:30:35 GMT -5
WWE doesn't need any more "meaningful" programming, honestly. If anything, they should work on getting international commitments changed so Main Event can be up on the Network with no delay, and getting the Smackdown dark matches on that program before they even consider putting people of note on it.
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Post by 111111 on Oct 23, 2019 4:59:27 GMT -5
Main event was just a massive hustle on the tv channel that was airing it when it started.
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Post by realist on Oct 23, 2019 6:34:25 GMT -5
Why does the B-show need rebooting? It literally just moved to Fox about two weeks ago. Give it a chance before rebooting it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 9:28:37 GMT -5
I'm just throwing it out there that WWE could also do a dark match show, featuring unaired matches from over the last thirty years, and it would be the greatest thing they've done in ages.
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wildojinx
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Post by wildojinx on Oct 23, 2019 11:37:07 GMT -5
I'm just throwing it out there that WWE could also do a dark match show, featuring unaired matches from over the last thirty years, and it would be the greatest thing they've done in ages. They put out at least three dvds consisting entirely of dark matches (Unreleased 1986-1995, and the Attitude Era 3: Unreleased 1996-2000, and Raw: After the Show which had more recent stuff), as well as numerous dark matches as part of hidden gems. |
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Post by koreycaskets on Oct 23, 2019 11:41:55 GMT -5
"Hmm, more Sarah Logan and Dana matches." No trolling here honestly in all for this! |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 23:39:51 GMT -5
"Hmm, more Sarah Logan and Dana matches." No trolling here honestly in all for this! I'm not joking, at this point you might be able to do a top ten list of the best Sarah Logan vs. Dana Brooke Main Event matches. |
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Post by koreycaskets on Oct 23, 2019 23:59:19 GMT -5
No trolling here honestly in all for this! I'm not joking, at this point you might be able to do a top ten list of the best Sarah Logan vs. Dana Brooke Main Event matches. I misspelled I ment I'm all for this haha . My 2 favs fighting each other on a weekly basis I'm good with that. |
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Post by hbkid718 on Oct 24, 2019 14:17:30 GMT -5
No trolling here honestly in all for this! I'm not joking, at this point you might be able to do a top ten list of the best Sarah Logan vs. Dana Brooke Main Event matches. That's impossible. They only wrestled 8 times. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2019 15:09:37 GMT -5
I'm just throwing it out there that WWE could also do a dark match show, featuring unaired matches from over the last thirty years, and it would be the greatest thing they've done in ages. Christian vs. Paul Burchill. Bragging Rights 2009. Would immediately invalidate Abraham Washington's argument. |
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