I’ll admit, I was the biggest AEW fan. In fact, if you look at my post history, all my posts when making this account were about AEW.
I watched everything from Dynamite, Rampage, and always kept an eye on dark and elevation results. I’ll always be fond of Daily’s Place, in the way ECW fans were fond of the Hammerstein Ballroom. That covid era is special in my wrestling fandom. But I want to touch on why I stopped. This is the first time I’ve posted in the AEW section since November 2021.
I really liked AEW when it first started out. The fact that Shawn Spears felt like a big deal, shows how there was hardly any WWE signings. It was a different roster with a different feel.
What sold me on AEW was, before Dynamite started airing in October 2019, was Tony Khan saying these two statements.
1. On Stone Cold’s podcast he said - “6 million people used to watch wrestling on a Monday Night, let’s get them back”
2. On an interview with Jack Whitehall, he said that I want to get everyone talking about wrestling again. In the queue at the post office, people wearing a wrestling t-shirt.
It felt like we were going to get a viable competitor to WWE. Stories, larger than life characters.
I bought into this further, when I saw Chris Jericho brawl with Mike Tyson. That’s when I knew that AEW is the place to be. I really thought we were getting Tyson vs Jericho when crowds return. As it would create a buzz that had been missing in wrestling in years. I would even speak to the producer Kevin Sullivan on LinkedIn about how great it was. Sharing all his posts, because I believed in the direction we were going. I believed in AEW.
I then saw Stadium Stampede, and I thought this sort of Sports Entertainment style mixed with slow burn stories was what AEW is about.
I also saw that they had bought Bash at the Beach, and if they couldn’t get all WCW trademarks, then they were still heading in that sort of directional buzz.
What changed for me was, when I saw a fake quote from Erich Bischoff saying he wishes he could reboot WCW to show Tony how it’s done. Because it made me realise, that the WCW vision that I bought into from TK’s interview with Stone Cold and Jack Whitehall, was Cody’s vision and not Tony’s.
When Cody said he wants Dynamite to move to Monday’s in 5 years, and then Tony a week later publicly contradicting him it made me think two things
1. Cody’s WCW vision what I bought into was not what I was getting
2. Even back then in 2020, it felt like there was backstage discourse. You don’t publicly contradict someone like that.
Okay fine. So it’s not the WCW vision, but at least it’s something new and different. I had stopped watching WWE at the time.
But even then, I couldn’t escapee WWE, because it’s all they talk about. Britt Baker comes across as someone with really bad vibes as a person. How do you make your body of work taking shots at WWE? Saudi Arabia references, Pie in face to Toni Storm.
People talk about the promo battle with CM Punk and MJF being this masterclass. Yet all the big moments were WWE references. What’s so good about that?
The moment I stopped was the Dynamite after Full Gear 2021. Jay Lethal was presented at the ppv as this major signing. Like the Bucs signing Brady.
And then when he and Sammy had the main event the following Dynamite, as the show was closing JR and Schiavone were patting themselves on the back about “what a great night this has been, an absolutely fantastic night”
You advanced no stories? You just had great wrestling, and hyped up the debut of Jay Lethal as Brady’s first game for the Bucs.
That’s when I realised, this false advertising campaign of 2019, about AEW being the place to bring wrestling fans back, and change the world was a lie.
Tony Khan did a pathetic thing. He saw that there was this mindset in general society about wrestling used to be good 20 years ago but fell off. He baited people in by tapping into that stimulus of the brain - saying that could come back with AEW. Just so people can watch an Indy show instead. He lied.
False advertising. You showed Cody’s vision to the public, when you were only going to use your own.
And when I thought fine, he’s a promoter they are all carny, there was no going back when he disrespected Ted Turner. Ted Turner is going to die in this decade before 2030. He just is, with the condition he has. We are in the last decade of one of the most important people in media, and he disrespected him. He can’t be forgiven for that.
I think AEW is a great product. The fans who watch it, who it’s catered for finally have something that works for them. They deserve it after all the shit they were served by Vince McMahon for years. But I wish that’s who it was advertised towards.
Because as someone who was sold something else, I surely felt duped. But the consolation is, there is a product for people who enjoy it. And I’m glad they do.
You guys have a great product, and I hope AEW is around forever. The industry needs it.
I watched everything from Dynamite, Rampage, and always kept an eye on dark and elevation results. I’ll always be fond of Daily’s Place, in the way ECW fans were fond of the Hammerstein Ballroom. That covid era is special in my wrestling fandom. But I want to touch on why I stopped. This is the first time I’ve posted in the AEW section since November 2021.
I really liked AEW when it first started out. The fact that Shawn Spears felt like a big deal, shows how there was hardly any WWE signings. It was a different roster with a different feel.
What sold me on AEW was, before Dynamite started airing in October 2019, was Tony Khan saying these two statements.
1. On Stone Cold’s podcast he said - “6 million people used to watch wrestling on a Monday Night, let’s get them back”
2. On an interview with Jack Whitehall, he said that I want to get everyone talking about wrestling again. In the queue at the post office, people wearing a wrestling t-shirt.
It felt like we were going to get a viable competitor to WWE. Stories, larger than life characters.
I bought into this further, when I saw Chris Jericho brawl with Mike Tyson. That’s when I knew that AEW is the place to be. I really thought we were getting Tyson vs Jericho when crowds return. As it would create a buzz that had been missing in wrestling in years. I would even speak to the producer Kevin Sullivan on LinkedIn about how great it was. Sharing all his posts, because I believed in the direction we were going. I believed in AEW.
I then saw Stadium Stampede, and I thought this sort of Sports Entertainment style mixed with slow burn stories was what AEW is about.
I also saw that they had bought Bash at the Beach, and if they couldn’t get all WCW trademarks, then they were still heading in that sort of directional buzz.
What changed for me was, when I saw a fake quote from Erich Bischoff saying he wishes he could reboot WCW to show Tony how it’s done. Because it made me realise, that the WCW vision that I bought into from TK’s interview with Stone Cold and Jack Whitehall, was Cody’s vision and not Tony’s.
When Cody said he wants Dynamite to move to Monday’s in 5 years, and then Tony a week later publicly contradicting him it made me think two things
1. Cody’s WCW vision what I bought into was not what I was getting
2. Even back then in 2020, it felt like there was backstage discourse. You don’t publicly contradict someone like that.
Okay fine. So it’s not the WCW vision, but at least it’s something new and different. I had stopped watching WWE at the time.
But even then, I couldn’t escapee WWE, because it’s all they talk about. Britt Baker comes across as someone with really bad vibes as a person. How do you make your body of work taking shots at WWE? Saudi Arabia references, Pie in face to Toni Storm.
People talk about the promo battle with CM Punk and MJF being this masterclass. Yet all the big moments were WWE references. What’s so good about that?
The moment I stopped was the Dynamite after Full Gear 2021. Jay Lethal was presented at the ppv as this major signing. Like the Bucs signing Brady.
And then when he and Sammy had the main event the following Dynamite, as the show was closing JR and Schiavone were patting themselves on the back about “what a great night this has been, an absolutely fantastic night”
You advanced no stories? You just had great wrestling, and hyped up the debut of Jay Lethal as Brady’s first game for the Bucs.
That’s when I realised, this false advertising campaign of 2019, about AEW being the place to bring wrestling fans back, and change the world was a lie.
Tony Khan did a pathetic thing. He saw that there was this mindset in general society about wrestling used to be good 20 years ago but fell off. He baited people in by tapping into that stimulus of the brain - saying that could come back with AEW. Just so people can watch an Indy show instead. He lied.
False advertising. You showed Cody’s vision to the public, when you were only going to use your own.
And when I thought fine, he’s a promoter they are all carny, there was no going back when he disrespected Ted Turner. Ted Turner is going to die in this decade before 2030. He just is, with the condition he has. We are in the last decade of one of the most important people in media, and he disrespected him. He can’t be forgiven for that.
I think AEW is a great product. The fans who watch it, who it’s catered for finally have something that works for them. They deserve it after all the shit they were served by Vince McMahon for years. But I wish that’s who it was advertised towards.
Because as someone who was sold something else, I surely felt duped. But the consolation is, there is a product for people who enjoy it. And I’m glad they do.
You guys have a great product, and I hope AEW is around forever. The industry needs it.
