Your AEW 2019 Report Card

[#Classic Hi-Definition X]

Now that 2019 is over, how did AEW fare?

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

B+. I was hoping for a sustainably solid wrestling show that would get across to people I know why I love wrestling. I got it. I'm pretty satisfied by that, if not blown away.

[Cyno]

I'll go with a B+. There's been bumps, growing pains, and room for improvement, but it's something that's really fun to watch every week and it helped to reinvigorate my enthusiasm for pro wrestling after WWE nearly crushed it to death.

[Chiral]

B+, it just makes me happy watching and that's pretty much all I need.

[MolotovMocktail]

I give it a B+. It's a breath of fresh air, but there are some issues, though they are also things WWE struggles with - namely overloading their weekly TV's, thus overexposing main event level guys, and turning others into jobbers. Also, it took a while for them to solidify their face and heel alignments, and while they now have most of the men down (except for maybe Jimmy Havoc), I still can't place a lot of the women.

[Mozenrath]

I went back and forth and settled on A. There are hiccups, but it's the wrestling company I am easily the most interested in these days, followed by NJPW and WWE as a distant third. Given how much of the year they were waiting for Double or Nothing, it's kind of nuts just how intense things got once it got rolling.

[Hurbster]

Solid B, let's see how things develop in the coming year.

[Hypnosis]

B+.  Some things can be improved on:

-More women's storylines, and sign more women.  Less Voodoo Brandi and Britt Baker.  
-Have SCU drop the Tag Titles and go in a different direction with them (heel turn, or break-up)
-More psychology and long-term selling
-Production and audio fixes
-U.S. or TV Title
-Orange Cassidy, Luchasaurus, and Jungle Boy pushes
-PIP needs to only be used during matches if TNT chooses to, not promos where we miss out on what people are saying or just walking down the hallway.

[Deputy Muscle]

A- for me.
Definitely been an enjoyable ride so far and the positives massively outweigh any negatives.
Still room for improvement but it's given me a reason to watch wrestling every week again and that makes me happy.

[Lt. Palumbo]

I debated it for a bit, not wanting to seem like too much of a fanboy I guess, but I gave it an A.

What made me decide in the end was this: There's nothing on AEW, NOTHING that I haven't enjoyed to some degree.

Even stuff people crap on I've been interested in. I liked Dark Order from day one and was eager to find out more about their characters. I'm interested to see where this Brandi/Kong thing will go, etc.

Then there's Inner Circle, The Elite, Orange Cassidy, Jurassic Express, etc. I just love it.

Really the only negatives for me have been technical, audio, visual, etc. And if it weren't for those it'd be an A+ for me.

I'm home in Ireland for the holidays and I'm planning on staying up real late to watch Dynamite tonight. I honestly can't even tell you the last time I did that for a WWE PPV let aloe the weekly show.

[Facetious]

I went with a B-. I think most of the shows have been good to great and even the less enjoyable shows don't make me question my fandom. The weakest show they put on was Full Gear.

My biggest gripe is that they need to build things a bit better. They're doing a good job with MJF/Cody and Jericho/Mox, but other things feel like they're rushing. The tag title tournament could have been spaced out to introduce and develop the teams better. MJF choosing QT Marshall as Cody's partner should have been expanded on on TV instead of assuming everyone knows who QT is. Just little things to really boost a storyline.

[Duke Cameron]

B-

[deezy]

C - They started out white out but has come back down to earth some. They've made some mistakes lately but it's to be expected for a new company. We'll see if they learn from their mistakes. So it's a C, Not great but not bad.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Solid B

[bob]

A+

I love this company

I haven't been bored by anything, there hasn't been anything really stupid, wins and losses matter

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

Gut says A-. As far as being an American wrestling company, it’s pretty much ideal for me. There are issues/aspects I don’t like. But they’re also young and I’m willing to go along for the ride and watch them grow.

[Cieto]

A

AEW has me invested in wrestling again on a weekly basis.

[Zone Was Wrong]

I'll go B. They have my attention and interest in wrestling again with a lot of room to grow still. They're focusing on young guys who have a ton of potential, and the older guys in main event positions are being used to put them over and "make them". Any issues I have are slowly being addressed, rather than continuing to try and fit a square peg in a round hole. Darby Allin went from being a guy I've never heard of to someone I'm looking forward to seeing every week.

[ASYLUMHAUSEN]

I went with an A+ simply because it was everything I wanted it to be.

YES my opinion is skewed by bias and the personal experience I had at the 10/30 show (and the experience my son had at the 10/30 show especially)....but, regardless of that, it was everything I wanted it to be so I have nothing to complain about.

HOPEFULLY 2020 brings the completion of The Elite and Marty joins them. That’s really the only thing missing for me personally.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Jan 1, 2020 16:21:14 GMT -5 ASYLUMHAUSEN said:

I went with an A+ simply because it was everything I wanted it to be.

YES my opinion is skewed by bias and the personal experience I had at the 10/30 show (and the experience my son had at the 10/30 show especially)....but, regardless of that, it was everything I wanted it to be so I have nothing to complain about.

HOPEFULLY 2020 brings the completion of The Elite and Marty joins them. That’s really the only thing missing for me personally.

Bias or no, I think you bring up the thing that pushed my rating up the most: AEW's focus on making a show for the live crowd first, and for TV second, is why it has so much felt like the right kind of pro wrestling to me.