Booker T: wrestling on Dark is a demotion.

[mrbananagrabber]

So Booker T had some fairly harsh words for stars coming from WWE to then be wrestling on Dark, because it should only be for the young guys.

wrestlingheadlines.com/booker-t-says-aew-dark-is-a-demotion-for-wrestlers-coming-from-wwe/amp/

I mean, I get his point but if you want to get eyes on the show to see all the new guys, putting some familiar faces can’t hurt.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

There are either not enough things going on for DARK/Elevation to matter, or they put bigger names on DARK/Elevation and it's "A demotion", you really can't win whatsoever lmfao

Like genuinely, who cares if some vets wrestle on DARK? The Hardy's worked with Top Flight, that's huge for them, they ARE young guys, they worked against Private Party, two guys they seem to want to mold as the next big thing themselves, again, young guys, Ruby Soho has been teaming with Skye and Anna on DARK, and it's apparently been her decision to do so because she wants to work with the young girls, Andrade gave Alan Angels one of his best matches to date... you're supposed to have a mix of vets on these cards to get people to care, which are outside of Universal tapings, BEING SEEN BY THE SAME CROWDS AS DYNAMITE/RAMPAGE, like the literal exact same crowds who give the exact same reactions.

These shows are also important for reps, people like Toni Storm and Keith Lee have had long layoffs... finding them spots on these shows helps them get matches in, and helps them improve. You can see how important matches like this are to Keith Lee alone.

Booker T's had some dreadful "old hat" takes before so this doesn't exactly surprise me... but the young guns in AEW working with these experienced wrestlers is literally so important to their careers, they're learning as they wrestle with them, it just matters, and will continue to as they do it.

[Lizuka #BLM]

I don't think in isolation there's anything wrong with popping in on the show here and there, but if Dark is all you ever appear on then you might as well not be there.

[Mozenrath]

I think if you only are doing stuff on Elevation and Dark, it's an issue. (It's really annoying to me that Emi Sakura almost never gets onto TV, and Diamante is criminally underutilized in a similar fashion.)

But, I also think there's plenty of valid reasons to have some people doing a lot of the web show work, and that it's a better look to be "8-2" or something on TV than have a record of 1-1 or the like. You also can't relegate only the newbies to the web shows or you're missing out on a good opportunity to give them experience and find who they have chemistry with.

[mrbananagrabber]

Apr 20, 2022 5:40:59 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I don't think in isolation there's anything wrong with popping in on the show here and there, but if Dark is all you ever appear on then you might as well not be there.

Yeah, there’s something to that. Like guys like Joey Janella who were on the main roster and then hidden away on the internet show..there’s a reason for that. Still more exposure than you’d get on the indies and there’s always the chance you’ll get called up again, but I think in those cases it’s definitely a demotion.

[eJm]

Apr 20, 2022 5:43:39 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I think if you only are doing stuff on Elevation and Dark, it's an issue. (It's really annoying to me that Emi Sakura almost never gets onto TV, and Diamante is criminally underutilized in a similar fashion.)

But, I also think there's plenty of valid reasons to have some people doing a lot of the web show work, and that it's a better look to be "8-2" or something on TV than have a record of 1-1 or the like. You also can't relegate only the newbies to the web shows or you're missing out on a good opportunity to give them experience and find who they have chemistry with.

Also, from a marketing perspective, nobody's going to watch that show. You're not going to convince people to watch two rookies fight each other and the crowd at live events won't care because they barely know them.

[Mozenrath]

Apr 20, 2022 5:44:51 GMT -5 mrbananagrabber said:

Apr 20, 2022 5:40:59 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I don't think in isolation there's anything wrong with popping in on the show here and there, but if Dark is all you ever appear on then you might as well not be there.

Yeah, there’s something to that. Like guys like Joey Janella who were on the main roster and then hidden away on the internet show..there’s a reason for that. Still more exposure than you’d get on the indies and there’s always the chance you’ll get called up again, but I think in those cases it’s definitely a demotion.

I think initially, it might not have been, like when they had him teaming with Sonny Kiss. You at least need to build chemistry in those kinds of situations, and it was a fun little team, but... yeah, they began bringing him back on Dynamite less and less, and I guess we know why.

[Mozenrath]

Apr 20, 2022 5:48:38 GMT -5 eJm said:

Apr 20, 2022 5:43:39 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I think if you only are doing stuff on Elevation and Dark, it's an issue. (It's really annoying to me that Emi Sakura almost never gets onto TV, and Diamante is criminally underutilized in a similar fashion.)

But, I also think there's plenty of valid reasons to have some people doing a lot of the web show work, and that it's a better look to be "8-2" or something on TV than have a record of 1-1 or the like. You also can't relegate only the newbies to the web shows or you're missing out on a good opportunity to give them experience and find who they have chemistry with.

Also, from a marketing perspective, nobody's going to watch that show. You're not going to convince people to watch two rookies fight each other and the crowd at live events won't care because they barely know them.

That's a big thing, too. Like, people are in the arenas watching it. You don't want people bailing when they're filming it, and a lot of these people have almost zero experience wrestling on camera, or in front of anywhere near the audience size. You need people working with them who can direct things if they get overwhelmed, and that's going to require some experienced hands.

[Bo Rida]

Thats a bit reductive. They could be there to help younger guys, shake off/prevent ring rust, try new things or a chance to do something they can't do on TV amongst other reasons.

Benoit Vs Regal, London Vs Aiko, Jericho Vs Goldust, there's always been some hidden gems on c shows.

[Deleted]

Bookers been irrelevant for a long time now.

Its been said before, but having clips/recaps of whats happening on Dark during Dynamite would improve things immeasurably.

[clifford]

Seems like this Dark/Elevation viewpoint isn't going away. Most anti-AEW fans use it as a stick to beat the company with, and now other wrestlers seem to see it a 'demotion'.

Apr 20, 2022 5:43:39 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

I think if you only are doing stuff on Elevation and Dark, it's an issue. (It's really annoying to me that Emi Sakura almost never gets onto TV, and Diamante is criminally underutilized in a similar fashion.)

But, I also think there's plenty of valid reasons to have some people doing a lot of the web show work, and that it's a better look to be "8-2" or something on TV than have a record of 1-1 or the like. You also can't relegate only the newbies to the web shows or you're missing out on a good opportunity to give them experience and find who they have chemistry with.

This is my opinion on those shows too. I don't think any one who appears on Elevation or even Dark feels like its a 'demotion'; they are still going out and performing in front of a full crowd, and their work is still being put out there for everyone to see. The fact is the roster is too big; you can't just have Dark/Elevation to feature young talent. Now can the rotation be better? Hell yeah. Seems like a lot of wrestlers can't get on Dynamite/Rampage for months on end, when other similarly level talent is on tv almost every week or at least bi-weekly.

I know they've done some promos and interviews on Dark/Elevation to further angles or hype up a match on Dark/Elevation the following week; do more of that. Have the performers who are mostly on Dark/Elevation do more angles within those shows; the Factory, Dark Order, Emi Sakura etc. Have them do proper feuds. They've done it a bit with Cutler/Avalon and Kiss/Janela; do it more! I still don't see how having a midcard championship exclusive to Dark/Elevation would be a bad thing.

Having said all that, no matter what they do, the shows will always be perceived as 'lesser' by some.

[dbrussel]

If you're a seat filler in catering....then is a promotion

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

If a lot of my students appeared on a wrestling show regularly, I would probably try putting it over instead of tearing it down.

[holyshida]

Working dark is fine if you're also working Dynamite and Rampage. I think everyone should work dark at some point, adds to the credibility of the show. What's not fine is being on Dark 100% of the time and never given the chance to showcase yourself on TV.

[Dave the Dave]

Yeah, every time this comes up we tend to agree here, ONLY being on Dark isn’t great, but bouncing around from that to TV and back isn’t.

I do wish I could see Stu Grayson on tv though bb

[Mecca]

Booker is a hardcore WWE shill. You can find him saying all sorts of shit about AEW that's out there.

[06vwgti]

Apr 20, 2022 7:23:14 GMT -5 Mecca said:

Booker is a hardcore WWE shill. You can find him saying all sorts of shit about AEW that's out there.

For every good point bookah makes, he makes ten more wwe bootlicking points

[Deleted]

Didn't Book say Punk's return promo was bad because it was all anti WWE? That was all I needed to not care about his opinions.

[Deleted]

Being on Dark is only a demotion if you stay on dark and never get seen on Dynamite or Rampage.

The Hardy's are on national TV frequently all the same. Dark was either: A. a chance to get some eyeballs on dark by having a bigger name B. a good way for a veteran tag team to work with some younger talent without having to worry about TV time C. Matt and Jeff just wanted to have some fun without worrying about a big TV match or, and my personal choice, D. All of the above.

[sunnytaker]

from what i've read on the dark/elevation recaps it's a mix of "name" people getting a few Ws and working with younger talent, new people getting their feet wet and "stats padders" for when they need filler rank holders/title matches by having their numbers padded by showing up there before they have their big match. like the woman wrestling britt tonight (can;t recall the named), she was 0-1 facing someone else 0-1 on dark- she gets the W to move to 1-1 and gets to showcase herself a bit to create the idea she might have a chance before she gets fed to britt. or how QT and dustin got a tag title match because they went 5-0 on dark during the pandemic and made their way up to the #1 spot.