AEW's Scattered Vision & Missed Opportunities: Why Does AEW Struggle To Be A True Alternative?

Рет қаралды 2,793

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 54

@VoicesWrestling 7 ай бұрын

In this clip from a recent episode of The Flagship Podcast (kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKm4dYyVit6bo7c), Joe and Rich discuss AEW's struggle and inability to differentiate itself from the industry leader. Subscribe to The Flagship Podcast & VOW Podcast Network The Flagship Feed Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3Qlj6hQ Google Podcasts: bit.ly/Flagship-GooglePods Spotify: spoti.fi/3QfBQPB Stitcher: bit.ly/Flagship-Stitcher Amazon: amzn.to/3btUPqU Radio Public: bit.ly/Flagship-RadioPublic RSS: bit.ly/Flagship-RSS VOW Podcast Network Feed Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3btWsVq Google Podcasts: bit.ly/VOWPodNetwork-GooglePods Spotify: spoti.fi/3d79fgU Stitcher: bit.ly/VOWPodNetwork-Stitcher Amazon: amzn.to/3zycyp4 Radio Public: bit.ly/VOWPodNetwork-RadioPublic RSS: bit.ly/VOWPodNetwork-RSS

@WalkBesideMe 7 ай бұрын

AEW has been doing stuff like this since their inception. They haven't really done any revolutionary or innovative major angle, it's been stuff going back to the territories days. AEW has always been sports entertainment, it just did the sports entertainment stuff in a less insulting manner

@al5306 6 ай бұрын

In a less insulting manner? They have attempted murder every week that builds to a match on PPV where they "put on a banger" and then respect each other. The matches are full of guys obviously cooperating with an emphasis on looking cool rather than showing a struggle. We've also had mind control; kidnappings; teleportation; the Texas Chainsaw Massacare match; matches with tubs of orange juice; matches with video games as weapons; beer pong during matches; Ghostbusters; Space Jam; Penta sold an invisible fireball; matches over mom's minivan; etc. No one ever gets disqualified or counted out so they eliminate any pretense that there are rules. They do sports entertainment in a more hokey, community theater like way. It's like if an indy wrestling company tried to be WWE while it was under control of Vince.

@WalkBesideMe 7 ай бұрын

I do agree that paying Moné, Okada, and Ospreay main event money to fight for the second or tertiary belts isn't great but they want to tell a story with Swerve. And it's gonna probably be Swerve vs. Ospreay and Okada vs. Omega V at Wembley anyways

@addi543 6 ай бұрын

31:10 gives me Hangman Page’s title reign flashbacks where he’s facing someone who is coming in cold as a challenger (Cole for Hangman, Christian for Swerve) and is taking a backseat to what’s clearly the actual top feud in the company (Punk/MJF for Hangman, The Elite/AEW feud for Swerve)

@ZombiBrew 7 ай бұрын

God, this echoes a lot of thoughts I've been having for awhile now. I love pro wrestling. Been a fan for 20+ years now. Watched it all. All the companies. All the eras. But wrestling will always just be wrestling. I've been chasing a dragon for decades now that I thought was possible. That pro wrestling can be high art. This crazy extreme form of performance art could achieve heights no other could reach. Unique to itself. Stories only wrestling could tell. I believed. Especially when AEW launched. A fresh slate. A new vision. and yet, 5 years in, its still just....wrestling. Same handful of angles, same types of characters, remixed, re-imagined. But nothing actually new. Fundamentally. Everything based in nostalgia. No risks. No disruption. Safe, good pro wrestling.

@timhall5382 6 ай бұрын

HA! You watched "all the eras" since 2004? Golly you truly have seen it all then.

@yungblink 6 ай бұрын

Tony Khan is just not a good booker and never gave you a reason to believe he would do anything differently from “the last 40 years of wrestling”.

@timhall5382 6 ай бұрын

Exactly

@kidneystonermusic 6 ай бұрын

😡 Booker of the Year, every year

@davidcoombsbestmegadethalb9780 6 ай бұрын

@@timhall5382 wrong

@thegeekhustler 6 ай бұрын

Tony Khan hesitating on pulling the trigger on Will Ospreay is literally for the sole purpose of having hin win the World Title at All In. On paper, that is badass... the conquering hero in his home country. The way they are executing it in real life, though, is only making Ospreay lose his steam given how weird his booking has been. Feed him squash matches every chance you get. Give him true challenges like Danielson every PPV, and not jobber/midcard pissants in 20+ minute back-and-forth wars. And hopefully, we get a legitimate push, all the way through to All In.

@pickles168 7 ай бұрын

AEW was supposed to be the American version of NJPW, but instead they became WWE-lite and basically destroyed the actual NJPW

@nohbuddy1 7 ай бұрын

An American NJPW wouldn't work as a weekly TV show

@randomhero6832 6 ай бұрын

He's a thought about how AEW does what AEW should do and stop worrying about who they should be like NJPW and WWE and be like the AEW of 2021-2022 They need there own identity

@tompen94 6 ай бұрын

AEW struggles with being an alternative because the establishment became better therefore making people less hungry for an alternative to begin with.

@ralphso5567 6 ай бұрын

yep

@ishmael802 6 ай бұрын

You guys are right! AEW’s mistake was hiring ex-WWE ppl. Another issue is AEW has alot of great talent, but a-lot of riff raff. Unfortunately when AEW puts them together it devalues the great talent.

@seanmartyn3956 6 ай бұрын

I think AEW is just so afraid to beat guys, because they’re ultimately just not fully 100% believing in them. And that’s evidenced in the Swerve booking right now. You guys hit the point right on the head when talking through that with his first title match being against Christian. There is absolutely NOTHING worse than to do these half-measures with guys you’re trying to push as legit stars. Just go all-in or don’t. It doesn’t help anybody at all

@draven123100 7 ай бұрын

Regarding why neither Ospreay or Okada have been put straight into the title picture, maybe the question needs to be asked if Swerve was merely a diversity choice given all the attention that has been given. Giving him Christian for his first PPV defence does not scream confidence in him as a top guy.

@earthdog7900 6 ай бұрын

When it comes to story telling, you have to prove you can tell the simple stories well before you can innovate and break new ground. I don't think AEW ever told the simple stories well. I don't think AEW ever understood story beats. They always rush and compress everything. Tony tells stories like someone who traded complication tapes.

@rvaboi 6 ай бұрын

What stories are better??????

@edgarrodriguez9753 6 ай бұрын

They were forced into this story. When they showed the the cm punk footage. Tony should have blamed it all on the bucks. The bucks should have rehired jungle boy behind his back. Then whoever lost would have to stay on rampage can’t be on collision

@supermetroid009 7 ай бұрын

I love AEW, but lately it feels like everything they’re doing is so small time

@nohbuddy1 7 ай бұрын

They've plateaued and need to make some genuine stars. You can't just have great matches to get Meltzer's billion star ratings, this isn't PWG. You have the alleged "pillars" that get start and stopped pushes due to a plethora of reasons, then side line guys you should build up with free agents you sign because they're great in ring like a Danielson. Swerve, the god damn world champion, right now is 2nd tier to this Elite stuff. They're also doing the third "top faction" in the last 6 months. You have the Callis thing that died out because of Kenny's issues, you and the Devil thing fissile out because if Adam Cole's injury and MJF's injury.

@angelshide 7 ай бұрын

I think the problem is I am waiting for them to put their own spin on it and do something unique with it, that takes the story to another level and really elevates the rest of their shows, but for the moment, they really haven't. And I fear they won't and it will end up like the whole 'Devil' storyline from the end of last year. Also, it feels very isolated. Other than them interfering with Swerve's opponent (and obviously attacking Tony and then Kenny) they don't really seem to be exerting their influence and making their presence known a whole lot. At the time it seemed bold (for AEW), but two weeks later it already seems like people's interest in the story has waned. We'll see, I guess. I think it's good so far, I just don't know if it's what I want if they can't make it something that is great and incredibly compelling. But I'll give it a chance.

@cedrice.4777 6 ай бұрын

when ppl yearn for sports-based presentation (as opposed to "sports entertainment" for pro wrestling i'm wondering why don't they watch japanese promotions like stardom or new japan...

@VoicesWrestling 6 ай бұрын

You’re commenting on a video from a website that not only watches NJPW but wrote several books about the company. www.voicesofwrestling.com/books/

@cedrice.4777 6 ай бұрын

@@VoicesWrestling and i commend you for doing so but ppl need to understand that what they're asking for already exists and is very easily accessible. i personally don't think american pro wrestling in general will ever get away from the "sports entertainement" style of programming because of the cultural attachement america has for soap opera storytelling.

@VoicesWrestling 6 ай бұрын

@@cedrice.4777 I'd also argue current day NJPW is not providing you, me, or anyone with "sports-based" wrestling either, given the percencity of House of Torture and BULLET CLUB War Dogs interference and shenanigans.

@dwaynewright9981 6 ай бұрын

Booking

@totallykoolyeah 6 ай бұрын

New, experienced wrestlers Same inexperienced booker

@thtsnico 7 ай бұрын

aew is struggling to be the alternative because ever since triple h took over, wwe started doing everything aew has done since it’s inception, but better.. and now aew is scrambling

@justoneguy2487 6 ай бұрын

That's the problem - AEW wasn't built on the foundation of a love for wrestling so much as a hatred for what WWE had become. AEW had two main appeals: 1. Be an alternative to the weekly slop WWE had been spewing out, which had hit an all time low from 2017-2019 (the same time period that the Elite's popularity hit an all-time high, resulting in All In and eventually AEW). 2. If they can get good enough, they can become actual competition to WWE and force them to become better. With Shahid Khan's financial backing, AEW had the potential to be the biggest threat to WWE since WCW in the 90s. Now, WWE has become better... but not because of AEW. They became better because of the soft reboot they hit in the pandemic followed by Triple H taking over booking after Vince's retirement. AEW can't be an alternative because WWE is beloved once again and they can't compete with them either because of Tony's incompetence - as a result, AEW has lost both of its two main appeals.

@tronzilla1xboxhater850 7 ай бұрын

What did you guys expect when the evp's are the bucks and omega who are obsessed with the wwe style Being a knockoff WWE was never going to work in the long run, you have 52 weeks a year how can you possibly have hot angles and stories we haven't seen before? Everything has been done Why not structure a promotion like a sports league, take whats interesting about sports that keeps people engaged all year long, have like 4 to 6 wrestling teams, and they recruit wrestlers to thier team and they have contracts, and they do trades, and tell stories something like shaq and kobe 2 superstars butting heads and one had to be traded to another team, and you tell a story of them meeting in a tournament of some sort, have like a young lions or prospect program, and you have the coaches or gms of the team scouting young talent, stuff like that you can do year round, i don't know its gotta be better then doing another variety show disguised as a wrestling show

@erronblack1 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the heart attack at the end of the video guys.

@IBIXBOSSFAMZ 6 ай бұрын

I think the conclusion to the current storyline should be a roster split and having new GM's for each show. Too many wrestlers and titles needs organising to make it easier to follow

@kidneystonermusic 6 ай бұрын

I'd add 3 more titles

@SpaceViking2000 6 ай бұрын

AEW was at its best when they just wrestled. Yes. There needs to be story, look at Hangman, but it boiled down to wrestling. That’s really the only way to separate WWE booking from the rest. To treat it more like New Japan. That run they had during the pandemic was insane. And they brought back that feel with the Continental Classic. Now they are back to square one. I liked the Tony segment. I think it was a good idea. But Khan shouldn’t be on aew tv anymore. Not for a while anyway. At the end of the day, WWE is the main brand. And it’s hot. So they can do no wrong. AEW right now feels like WWE-lite. It needs to go back to being the wrestling show. I think. I won’t pretend like I know what’s best. Just my thoughts.

@MrSniperfox29 6 ай бұрын

Why is Mercedes going after a midcard title? Because there is no way in hell that they could justify Willow going for the main title and that's the feud they are obsessed with because they think people care that Mercedes got injured in a match in another promotion

@jefft3761 6 ай бұрын

Your voice made me turn this off. What groundbreaking story can they do? None of them have experience booking shows before this. But you expect new stories never done before from them? Just be happy they are trying to format a show correctly. Growing pains are abundant with AEW that’s the problem. You’ll be waiting a long time before you get your fresh alternate stories. They have to get the basics down first!

@davidcoombsbestmegadethalb9780 6 ай бұрын

agreed

@hamilstarr4292 7 ай бұрын

AEW is not “fine”! We wanted a revolution & something not like the garbage wwe was at that time. Now WWE has had a major course correction it has broken AEW at its core somehow.

@Trill_Tour 7 ай бұрын

One angle in 5 years has you talking like this? Give me a break

@VoicesWrestling 7 ай бұрын

Were you in a coma from the spring of 2023 through the end of the year?

@s717w 7 ай бұрын

One angle? Do you not remember the MJF/Cole rubbish that ran off a large portion of the fanbase, myself included?

@timhall5382 6 ай бұрын

@@s717whow about the guy who literally wrestles like a sloth? Not as a joke, I saw him beat y2j or Ambrose or someone who was kinda believable as a professional wrestler. I stopped watching then.