jm
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 6,908
Member is Online
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Post by jm on Aug 11, 2023 16:49:54 GMT -5
Do I really live in a world where Jeff Jarrett has a singles match at AEW's first stadium show and KENNY OMEGA doesn't? No you don't. Last time I checked, there's been no Jarrett match announced. And there's been no announcement that Omega isn't gonna wrestle on the show. So no, you don't live in that world.
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone. Got away with it, this time.
Posts: 24,148
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Post by Bo Rida on Aug 11, 2023 16:51:40 GMT -5
I know it’s the day before the event but this train strike may disrupt people coming into London for the weekend. edit: is sky news tweets blocked in here ? Anyways that what the tweet said. Damn, the other promotions running that day just can't catch a break. Hopefully shouldn't cause too many issues the next day but will cause some, especially to those coming from further away.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Aug 11, 2023 17:09:25 GMT -5
Honestly, with the track record of how these rumors have gone, both six men will happen on the week of All In on Dynamite and Collision respectively. 😆
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
FANatic
Writer, Lover of all things Wrestling. Analytical, Critical, Lovable (hopefully). Lets all have fun!
Posts: 244,181
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Aug 11, 2023 17:10:49 GMT -5
Honestly, with the track record of how these rumors have gone, both six men will happen on the week of All In on Dynamite and Collision respectively. 😆 Hangman/Bucks vs The Righteous would be a really good Dynamite Match if they did it btw
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Aug 11, 2023 17:43:47 GMT -5
Top-tier talents being shuffled into multi-person matches is simply a side effect of having so many (excuse the pun) elite wrestlers in the company at one time. There are a legit 15-20 people I could name (MJF, Cole, Omega, Young Bucks, Page, Punk, FTR, Sting, Allin, Jericho, Takeshita, Moxley, Danielson, Castagnoli, Kingston, Cassidy) that could believably have main evented this show in a big singles match.
It’s the eternal struggle. Number of talents featured vs time allotted to each talent vs overall runtime of the show. New York you could easily write it off to incompetence or even malice… Not so easy with Jacksonville.
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4real
Wade Wilson
Posts: 28,626
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Post by 4real on Aug 11, 2023 22:47:02 GMT -5
I never would have called AR Fox getting a match on this card a month ago. I’m also going to get to see Sting live in 2023. I hope he plays “Invisible Sun” Also doubting we are getting OC v Mox now and it will be some sort of tag match. Which most of this card will be now I feel. Shida v Toni v Britt v Saraya (I assume this is the match we are getting) should be great. Atmosphere for that one will be immense I’m sure. Keith Lee v Swerve I’ve heard is scheduled for All In 2036 This may be unfair, but I cannot help but assume that AEW doesn't trust Keith Lee in a longer match by himself Possibly. I can’t remember the last time he had a singles match.
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daaave
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,384
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Post by daaave on Aug 11, 2023 23:12:01 GMT -5
This may be unfair, but I cannot help but assume that AEW doesn't trust Keith Lee in a longer match by himself Possibly. I can’t remember the last time he had a singles match. Against Jericho earlier this year on Dynamite. And it was pretty bad
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Post by stoptheclocks on Aug 12, 2023 1:55:10 GMT -5
You do the first one. I don't understand at what point getting people on a card became a goal fans are invested in. I can't think of any other medium where having people involved to protect their feelings > the product itself. Do a battle royal if you want to get people on the card for the sake of it, but TK should be strong enough to book matches at the top of the card which are significant and have high stakes. If that means people are left out, so be it. I'd imagine that fans who want to see their favorite wrestler on the card and have bought a ticket to see them would be invested in who's on the card and who isn't. I couldn't presuppose why fans bought tickets, but 90% of them were sold on the back of it being AEW's biggest ever show. It'd surprise me if thousands would clamour for refunds if it turned out wrestler x isn't on the card in a thrown together trios match, but instead there were 4/5 massive singles matches with a story and some stakes behind them. I can only speak for myself, but I'd rather see two random teams play in the Super Bowl, than my favourite team play a pre-season game. But either way, the goal for AEW here should be to put on the biggest and greatest wrestling show of all time, not worry about having everyone involved like it's a school sports day.
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Aug 12, 2023 2:52:56 GMT -5
I'd imagine that fans who want to see their favorite wrestler on the card and have bought a ticket to see them would be invested in who's on the card and who isn't. I couldn't presuppose why fans bought tickets, but 90% of them were sold on the back of it being AEW's biggest ever show. It'd surprise me if thousands would clamour for refunds if it turned out wrestler x isn't on the card in a thrown together trios match, but instead there were 4/5 massive singles matches with a story and some stakes behind them. I can only speak for myself, but I'd rather see two random teams play in the Super Bowl, than my favourite team play a pre-season game. But either way, the goal for AEW here should be to put on the biggest and greatest wrestling show of all time, not worry about having everyone involved like it's a school sports day. I really don't know how that's a statement you can really confidently make? Largely because "AEW's biggest ever show" is a fundamentally meaningless statement that people can just graft their own expectation onto. Is it the biggest show because of scope? Yeah. But they sold all those tickets with no matches set and with no promise it was supposed to be the ultimate most amazing AEW PPV ever and all the big matches and blow-offs. Hell, it was even opened up with the knowledge All Out was happening a week later. But also not to truck someone out as an example but at least one person in the Dynamite live thread was really really f***ing hopeful and excited by the prospect of seeing Sting at Wembley and now they get the chance to do that. There are people who absolutely want to see their favorites in person because they live on another continent from where they work and live, and get very few opportunities across the whole of a lifetime to witness them in person. What AEW needs to do is put on a really good show, but people have put a bunch of words into AEW's mouth in setting what the bar should be and ignored the elephant in the room of All Out literally a week later. Also like. We can still get 4/5 massive singles matches with a story and some stakes behind them? We don't have the full card yet. They're doing the title match for the company's biggest story. The tag titles are being fought for in the tiebreaker with the two top tag teams in the promotion. Even the multi-mans that have been pitched have direct story implications and advancement behind them. Kenny being in a match with Switchblade--y'know, former Bullet Club leader--and the friend who betrayed him is still a big deal. Moxley having to face off against both the guy with a title he's been beating on and the best friend who thinks he's taken a bad turn? That's not nothing. AEW has always told stories with multi-man matches too, this is an extension of that. Maybe you don't get the Superbowl, but you're hardly getting the Pro Bowl here. It's just weird to say you can't presuppose why fans bought tickets and then make up what sold them on buying tickets.
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Post by stoptheclocks on Aug 12, 2023 4:08:42 GMT -5
I couldn't presuppose why fans bought tickets, but 90% of them were sold on the back of it being AEW's biggest ever show. It'd surprise me if thousands would clamour for refunds if it turned out wrestler x isn't on the card in a thrown together trios match, but instead there were 4/5 massive singles matches with a story and some stakes behind them. I can only speak for myself, but I'd rather see two random teams play in the Super Bowl, than my favourite team play a pre-season game. But either way, the goal for AEW here should be to put on the biggest and greatest wrestling show of all time, not worry about having everyone involved like it's a school sports day. I really don't know how that's a statement you can really confidently make? Largely because "AEW's biggest ever show" is a fundamentally meaningless statement that people can just graft their own expectation onto. Is it the biggest show because of scope? Yeah. But they sold all those tickets with no matches set and with no promise it was supposed to be the ultimate most amazing AEW PPV ever and all the big matches and blow-offs. Hell, it was even opened up with the knowledge All Out was happening a week later. But also not to truck someone out as an example but at least one person in the Dynamite live thread was really really f***ing hopeful and excited by the prospect of seeing Sting at Wembley and now they get the chance to do that. There are people who absolutely want to see their favorites in person because they live on another continent from where they work and live, and get very few opportunities across the whole of a lifetime to witness them in person. What AEW needs to do is put on a really good show, but people have put a bunch of words into AEW's mouth in setting what the bar should be and ignored the elephant in the room of All Out literally a week later. Also like. We can still get 4/5 massive singles matches with a story and some stakes behind them? We don't have the full card yet. They're doing the title match for the company's biggest story. The tag titles are being fought for in the tiebreaker with the two top tag teams in the promotion. Even the multi-mans that have been pitched have direct story implications and advancement behind them. Kenny being in a match with Switchblade--y'know, former Bullet Club leader--and the friend who betrayed him is still a big deal. Moxley having to face off against both the guy with a title he's been beating on and the best friend who thinks he's taken a bad turn? That's not nothing. AEW has always told stories with multi-man matches too, this is an extension of that. Maybe you don't get the Superbowl, but you're hardly getting the Pro Bowl here. It's just weird to say you can't presuppose why fans bought tickets and then make up what sold them on buying tickets. The vast majority of that is saying things I didn't say. Didn't say it needed to have all the blowoffs and all the big matches. I also didn't offer any comment on what the final All Out card will look like, I have no idea. My initial post was in response to someone saying that trying to get people on the card vs having singles matches was a tough call. In my opinion, it isn't. Again, I'm not saying AEW 'needs' to do anything in the sense that the whole thing will be a disaster if they don't do what I say. They'll move more tickets for this than any wrestling show ever, they could draw the matches out of a hat five minutes before showtime and I'm pretty sure everyone would go home happy. In my opinion (which I'll keep repeating for the sake of clarity) this is an opportunity to have not just the biggest wrestling event, but also the best if they put on a WrestleMania level card. And if that means All Out becomes Backlash, or a wrestler can't be on the card at Wembley so be it.
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Aug 12, 2023 4:19:09 GMT -5
Like, am I just part of the 10% then? I’m going because me and my brother enjoy AEW and want to see them in a city we both know and can get to easily enough (barring stuff with train strikes on my brother’s end because I’m taking a plane and going by Stansted Express so I’m less affected) and in Wembley Stadium, a place WWE teased at doing a WrestleMania in for years and never did. That’s it.
And so far, I’m getting that. I’m seeing MJF, I’m seeing Adam Cole (the last time I saw him was in York Hall before WWE signed him so that’ll be pretty cool), I’m seeing FTR vs. The Bucks III, I’m seeing Sting in one of his last matches, I’m potentially seeing Kenny Omega, Hangman Page and Kota Ibushi(one of the last people I expected), Toni Storm is someone I never got to see live because WWE kept yanking her from OTT shows when I was still going to them so that’ll be super cool for me. I can keep going on and right now, I get to have that in an atmosphere of potentially 80,000 people and be a part of history. I’m going to Rev Pro the day before, seeing family and friends during that time and I’m going to have a good time.
Like, let me say again, I get people wanted more single matches and people might consider me a sentimental shill or whatever but at the start of this year, I didn’t think I’d get to see anybody for another couple of years at best and I sure as hell wasn’t going to an OTT show even if it is to see Jon Moxley. Now I get to see him and others in Wembley with my little brother on some of the better seats in the stadium (not costing me an arm and a leg) and that’ll mean a lot to me. Unless it turns out to be a WrestleMania 32 level show that drags on forever and has me remember only Zack Ryder winning the IC title and Rock beating Erick Rowan in seconds, I’m going to make a lot of memories there.
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Aug 12, 2023 4:36:50 GMT -5
I really don't know how that's a statement you can really confidently make? Largely because "AEW's biggest ever show" is a fundamentally meaningless statement that people can just graft their own expectation onto. Is it the biggest show because of scope? Yeah. But they sold all those tickets with no matches set and with no promise it was supposed to be the ultimate most amazing AEW PPV ever and all the big matches and blow-offs. Hell, it was even opened up with the knowledge All Out was happening a week later. But also not to truck someone out as an example but at least one person in the Dynamite live thread was really really f***ing hopeful and excited by the prospect of seeing Sting at Wembley and now they get the chance to do that. There are people who absolutely want to see their favorites in person because they live on another continent from where they work and live, and get very few opportunities across the whole of a lifetime to witness them in person. What AEW needs to do is put on a really good show, but people have put a bunch of words into AEW's mouth in setting what the bar should be and ignored the elephant in the room of All Out literally a week later. Also like. We can still get 4/5 massive singles matches with a story and some stakes behind them? We don't have the full card yet. They're doing the title match for the company's biggest story. The tag titles are being fought for in the tiebreaker with the two top tag teams in the promotion. Even the multi-mans that have been pitched have direct story implications and advancement behind them. Kenny being in a match with Switchblade--y'know, former Bullet Club leader--and the friend who betrayed him is still a big deal. Moxley having to face off against both the guy with a title he's been beating on and the best friend who thinks he's taken a bad turn? That's not nothing. AEW has always told stories with multi-man matches too, this is an extension of that. Maybe you don't get the Superbowl, but you're hardly getting the Pro Bowl here. It's just weird to say you can't presuppose why fans bought tickets and then make up what sold them on buying tickets. The vast majority of that is saying things I didn't say. Didn't say it needed to have all the blowoffs and all the big matches. I also didn't offer any comment on what the final All Out card will look like, I have no idea. My initial post was in response to someone saying that trying to get people on the card vs having singles matches was a tough call. In my opinion, it isn't. Again, I'm not saying AEW 'needs' to do anything in the sense that the whole thing will be a disaster if they don't do what I say. They'll move more tickets for this than any wrestling show ever, they could draw the matches out of a hat five minutes before showtime and I'm pretty sure everyone would go home happy. In my opinion (which I'll keep repeating for the sake of clarity) this is an opportunity to have not just the biggest wrestling event, but also the best if they put on a WrestleMania level card. And if that means All Out becomes Backlash, or a wrestler can't be on the card at Wembley so be it. You brought up how they could have 4/5 singles matches on the card that had things, I pointed out how the tag matches had those things and aren't inherently lesser. Not sure how that isn't engaging with that idea, but also I'm not sure what a "Wrestlemania level card" even means if it's not tons of big angles and feud enders, that's where again I think the whole idea of "this is their biggest show" is a vague catchphrase being used to just gesture toward an idea and give it validity. Either multi-man matches are lesser or somehow 'not story enough', or they can fundamentally be good enough. You said in your post higher up in the chain they need to book matches 'which are significant and have high stakes'. If that means something different from any of the stuff I'm talking about, I'm open to understanding what you mean and how it's not the stuff I was talking about in meaning, story advancement, and which characters are being put into place against each other. For something that "90% of people were sold on" it just feels like rhetorical fluff. How does what is here now underdeliver or in some way not represent what people bought tickets for?
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Post by "Sweet & Sour" ImSoFudginGreat on Aug 12, 2023 5:06:08 GMT -5
I’m not going to be upset one way or another, I’m just hoping for a banger card and whether it’s 1 on 1’s, regular tags, 6 man tags or battle royals I know AEW will do something special. One thing that is floating through my mind is that AEW do take a lot of pages from New Japan’s playbook. They have multi man matches on their biggest shows all the time so I think we should keep that in mind.
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KME
Team Rocket
Posts: 979
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Post by KME on Aug 12, 2023 5:41:25 GMT -5
I really hope it's not a 'Wrestlemania level card', that'd potentially mean I end up falling asleep somewhere in the middle. To be honest apart from this years Mania where they seemed to put effort in, but still lost me early on night 2 because of all the filler, most of the cards for that particular show have felt underwhelming and thrown together for a long, long time. Nothing announced for All In so far feels like that to me, it all has either a long history or is hot right now and none of the rumoured ones do either apart from maybe Ospreay/Jericho if it happens, but even that will have had the buildup of Callis trying to recruit Jericho, even with the multi man aspect to some of them.
MJF/Cole is their current hottest storyline, Bucks/FTR is the close to the best option for a tag match given everyone has wanted that rematch for a long time, the women's match involves arguably their 4 biggest (available) stars, Darby/Sting vs Swerve/Fox is exactly the carnage style of match you want to break up some of the more wrestling heavy stuff and seeing Sting in a huge arena like that is a big deal while Punk vs Joe speaks for itself, started in front of hundreds of people and will culminate in front of 80,000.
Honestly if I had any doubts beforehand I'd have bought a ticket based on those matches alone, but the possibility of seeing Ibushi teaming with Hangman and Kenny and seeing a version of The Elite take on a version of Bullet Club plus Takeshita, with guys in the match having all sorts of overlapping history, a chance to see one of my favourite in ring performers in Ospreay even if it's not the match I'd pick for him and a bunch more...I just couldn't see how I'd be feeling short changed.
I get it with the Omega and OC matches, both kill it in singles and it's going to disappoint some people if they're not in them but I think there's been a real overreaction to it and to the whole card as a result. Massively so in fact.
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Post by stoptheclocks on Aug 12, 2023 5:53:47 GMT -5
The vast majority of that is saying things I didn't say. Didn't say it needed to have all the blowoffs and all the big matches. I also didn't offer any comment on what the final All Out card will look like, I have no idea. My initial post was in response to someone saying that trying to get people on the card vs having singles matches was a tough call. In my opinion, it isn't. Again, I'm not saying AEW 'needs' to do anything in the sense that the whole thing will be a disaster if they don't do what I say. They'll move more tickets for this than any wrestling show ever, they could draw the matches out of a hat five minutes before showtime and I'm pretty sure everyone would go home happy. In my opinion (which I'll keep repeating for the sake of clarity) this is an opportunity to have not just the biggest wrestling event, but also the best if they put on a WrestleMania level card. And if that means All Out becomes Backlash, or a wrestler can't be on the card at Wembley so be it. You brought up how they could have 4/5 singles matches on the card that had things, I pointed out how the tag matches had those things and aren't inherently lesser. Not sure how that isn't engaging with that idea, but also I'm not sure what a "Wrestlemania level card" even means if it's not tons of big angles and feud enders, that's where again I think the whole idea of "this is their biggest show" is a vague catchphrase being used to just gesture toward an idea and give it validity. Either multi-man matches are lesser or somehow 'not story enough', or they can fundamentally be good enough. You said in your post higher up in the chain they need to book matches 'which are significant and have high stakes'. If that means something different from any of the stuff I'm talking about, I'm open to understanding what you mean and how it's not the stuff I was talking about in meaning, story advancement, and which characters are being put into place against each other. For something that "90% of people were sold on" it just feels like rhetorical fluff. How does what is here now underdeliver or in some way not represent what people bought tickets for? Multi-man matches that feature singles guys that build towards singles matches between those guys, are inherently less important than the matches they lead to. You can disagree with that statement, but I don't think it's a particularly controversial one. People remember Austin vs The Rock at WM17, you don't hear as much about the tag match they were involved in on the previous Raw. Having said that, the point being discussed was whether AEW should stack the card and get as many people on it as possible in order to not upset individual fans or even the wrestlers themselves. If they happen to actually believe that the best and most important card possible features a bunch of multi-man matches then cool, but that's what should drive their thinking rather than the other stuff (again... in my opinion).
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Post by lucaslawless on Aug 12, 2023 6:01:45 GMT -5
Wishful thinking, pure speculation, dont care if it doesnt happen but I think Danielson, cleared or not is likely to show his face, if anything just for The Final Countdown. He doesnt even need to lay a finger on anybody if he is still injured. Same with Hayter to an extent.. I mean shes from my home town so has too!
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone. Got away with it, this time.
Posts: 24,148
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Post by Bo Rida on Aug 12, 2023 6:01:56 GMT -5
I couldn't presuppose why fans bought tickets, but 90% of them were sold on the back of it being AEW's biggest ever show. It'd surprise me if thousands would clamour for refunds if it turned out wrestler x isn't on the card in a thrown together trios match, but instead there were 4/5 massive singles matches with a story and some stakes behind them. I can only speak for myself, but I'd rather see two random teams play in the Super Bowl, than my favourite team play a pre-season game. But either way, the goal for AEW here should be to put on the biggest and greatest wrestling show of all time, not worry about having everyone involved like it's a school sports day. I really don't know how that's a statement you can really confidently make? Largely because "AEW's biggest ever show" is a fundamentally meaningless statement that people can just graft their own expectation onto. Is it the biggest show because of scope? Yeah. But they sold all those tickets with no matches set and with no promise it was supposed to be the ultimate most amazing AEW PPV ever and all the big matches and blow-offs. Hell, it was even opened up with the knowledge All Out was happening a week later. But also not to truck someone out as an example but at least one person in the Dynamite live thread was really really f***ing hopeful and excited by the prospect of seeing Sting at Wembley and now they get the chance to do that. There are people who absolutely want to see their favorites in person because they live on another continent from where they work and live, and get very few opportunities across the whole of a lifetime to witness them in person. What AEW needs to do is put on a really good show, but people have put a bunch of words into AEW's mouth in setting what the bar should be and ignored the elephant in the room of All Out literally a week later. Also like. We can still get 4/5 massive singles matches with a story and some stakes behind them? We don't have the full card yet. They're doing the title match for the company's biggest story. The tag titles are being fought for in the tiebreaker with the two top tag teams in the promotion. Even the multi-mans that have been pitched have direct story implications and advancement behind them. Kenny being in a match with Switchblade--y'know, former Bullet Club leader--and the friend who betrayed him is still a big deal. Moxley having to face off against both the guy with a title he's been beating on and the best friend who thinks he's taken a bad turn? That's not nothing. AEW has always told stories with multi-man matches too, this is an extension of that. Maybe you don't get the Superbowl, but you're hardly getting the Pro Bowl here. It's just weird to say you can't presuppose why fans bought tickets and then make up what sold them on buying tickets. There's storyline reasons and will almost certainly be entertaining. However you could say that about many of The Shield's matches but while they were usually the highlight of every show the ones that everyone remembers are those against The Wyattts or Evolution. Nobody remembers The Shield Vs Cena, Punk and Big E. We should be getting the former at All in not the randoms. The image of two established stables or top singles stars facing each other at Wembley is the sort of clip that can be shown for decades in video packages and become part of the companies mythology. This could be aew's wm3 and should have the Steamboat Vs Savage equivalent. I'll still almost certainly love it, hell seeing Sting alone should be worth it but it could be more than what's rumoured.
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Post by discoelysium on Aug 12, 2023 6:11:40 GMT -5
The mission for AEW should be putting on such a a good card that they call sell out again in a year or two. This card so far isn't doing that and is going to cause bad feeling with an incredibly passionate part of your fan base.
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ssdrivin
ALF
Claims to be squishy, has yet to be proven.
Posts: 1,042
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Post by ssdrivin on Aug 12, 2023 6:25:00 GMT -5
I really don't know how that's a statement you can really confidently make? Largely because "AEW's biggest ever show" is a fundamentally meaningless statement that people can just graft their own expectation onto. Is it the biggest show because of scope? Yeah. But they sold all those tickets with no matches set and with no promise it was supposed to be the ultimate most amazing AEW PPV ever and all the big matches and blow-offs. Hell, it was even opened up with the knowledge All Out was happening a week later. But also not to truck someone out as an example but at least one person in the Dynamite live thread was really really f***ing hopeful and excited by the prospect of seeing Sting at Wembley and now they get the chance to do that. There are people who absolutely want to see their favorites in person because they live on another continent from where they work and live, and get very few opportunities across the whole of a lifetime to witness them in person. I can't speak to why everyone else booked tickets, but let's be real here, it's Wembley f'n Stadium. You don't book a show there unless you're... uh...well, all in.
We're not talking "AEW's doing a show in the UK", we're talking "AEW's booked the largest, best known, biggest of the big time, most densely historic sporting arena in the country, second biggest in entire continent, one of the top 20 in the world".
A stadium with a capacity that makes the majority of WWE's historic shows look like the Hammerstein Ballroom. The same site that hosted SummerSlam '92. In a country known for crowd heat that makes the sun look like an ice cube.
People were thinking AEW had made a mistake when they announced the venue or that they'd misheard where the event was going to be, that it surely must be the 12k seat Wembley Arena, it was that much of a shock.
I'm not saying it's fair to make blanket statements about why tens of thousands of people bought tickets, obviously nobody can do that, but you have to think about the context. It had to be a gigantic show. It couldn't not be. It'd be any promotion's biggest show (WWE excepted, because that'd be mathematically impossible). Unless it was going to fail hard and get TNA'd with a few thousand people in the front row and 75k seats empty and the lights turned off, which despite the early scepticism by some online naysayers wasn't likely to happen, not when the UK (and mainland Europe, just over the river) is starved for big time wrestling events and AEW's the #2 promotion.
Sure, it could totally be, or have been, an exhibition show. But it'd be ludicrous to squander an opportunity like this on a bunch of workrate matches with indie cameos. It's an AEW show, it's not a ROH show, not an NJPW show. You'd have to be either insane or a terrible booker to mess that up. It has to matter.
I'm going on a bit, but I can't oversell just how much of a big deal this show is, just on the venue choice alone. They didn't have to say anything else, they didn't have to make any promises, they didn't have to announce a card, just the two words "Wembley Stadium" are a huge mic drop for anybody not-WWE.
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Post by discoelysium on Aug 12, 2023 6:28:52 GMT -5
I really don't know how that's a statement you can really confidently make? Largely because "AEW's biggest ever show" is a fundamentally meaningless statement that people can just graft their own expectation onto. Is it the biggest show because of scope? Yeah. But they sold all those tickets with no matches set and with no promise it was supposed to be the ultimate most amazing AEW PPV ever and all the big matches and blow-offs. Hell, it was even opened up with the knowledge All Out was happening a week later. But also not to truck someone out as an example but at least one person in the Dynamite live thread was really really f***ing hopeful and excited by the prospect of seeing Sting at Wembley and now they get the chance to do that. There are people who absolutely want to see their favorites in person because they live on another continent from where they work and live, and get very few opportunities across the whole of a lifetime to witness them in person. I can't speak to why everyone else booked tickets, but let's be real here, it's Wembley f'n Stadium. You don't book a show there unless you're... uh...well, all in.
We're not talking "AEW's doing a show in the UK", we're talking "AEW's booked the largest, best known, biggest of the big time, most densely historic sporting arena in the country, second biggest in entire continent, one of the top 20 in the world".
A stadium with a capacity that makes the majority of WWE's historic shows look like the Hammerstein Ballroom. The same site that hosted SummerSlam '92. In a country known for crowd heat that makes the sun look like an ice cube.
People were thinking AEW had made a mistake when they announced the venue or that they'd misheard where the event was going to be, that it surely must be the 12k seat Wembley Arena, it was that much of a shock.
I'm not saying it's fair to make blanket statements about why tens of thousands of people bought tickets, obviously nobody can do that, but you have to think about the context. It had to be a gigantic show. It couldn't not be. It'd be any promotion's biggest show (WWE excepted, because that'd be mathematically impossible). Unless it was going to fail hard and get TNA'd with a few thousand people in the front row and 75k seats empty and the lights turned off, which despite the early scepticism by some online naysayers wasn't likely to happen, not when the UK (and mainland Europe, just over the river) is starved for big time wrestling events and AEW's the #2 promotion.
Sure, it could totally be, or have been, an exhibition show. But it'd be ludicrous to squander an opportunity like this on a bunch of workrate matches with indie cameos. It's an AEW show, it's not a ROH show, not an NJPW show. You'd have to be either insane or a terrible booker to mess that up. It has to matter.
I'm going on a bit, but I can't oversell just how much of a big deal this show is, just on the venue choice alone. They didn't have to say anything else, they didn't have to make any promises, they didn't have to announce a card, just the two words "Wembley Stadium" are a huge mic drop for anybody not-WWE.
Bang on. I don't think people have realised what a big deal booking Wembley is. It's not just your biggest crowd by multiple factors, it's in a stadium and name with over a century of history, a name recognised worldwide for sports and entertainment. The white horse final, live aid, dozens upon dozens of finals. This is not just a random show. This should be THE show, where AEW announces itself into the global stage. And it feels like an after thought. I bought tickets expecting a stadium show. And so far we have one match in the main event that has actual story and stakes. That's simply incompetence
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