All Elite Wrestling (Discussion)

[Frank Olson]

I didn't get around to watching Fight for the Fallen until a few days after it took place, but I carefully avoided spoilers for the show during that time, since I figured that something big would happen leading into the next major Pay Per View. But it honestly turned out to be kind of an inconsequential show. That would be fine if there was lots of impressive wrestling on the show, but really outside of a few cool spots (like CIMA's Meteora to Omega on that tiny table) there wasn't much that I can even remember all that clearly a few days after watching.

I thought the best match surprisingly was the opening 6-man, which did a really good job of telling several stories at once (in a promotion that otherwise hasn't had very smooth booking so far) without sacrificing exciting in-ring action. The three-way tag and the Omega/CIMA match were both good although the awkwardly presented stakes of the first match and lack of stakes in the second prevented either of them from being too memorable.

The main event had its moments, but I just couldn't get into it because it seemed like such weird timing for a potentially big main event like this when the Bucks are in the middle of their feud with the Lucha Brothers and when Cody really should have been sitting this show out to sell the chair shot from Fyter Fest.

Brandi/Allie was terrible and honestly there's no good excuse to put Brandi in a singles match when there are so many really talented women on the AEW roster. I'm also not excited about Brandi seeming to take the Stephanie McMahon authority figure role in this company. The booking of the women's division so far has been pretty terrible and I really hope that gets better once TV starts.

I'm a little worried about the Jericho and Hangman match. Between Jericho's recent lackluster performance against Okada and the way that Hangman has basically been presented as a lower midcarder up until now I have very little faith in that match delivering the way that you'd ideally want your first big title match to deliver. Omega/Moxley, the Bucks/Lucha Bros. ladder match, and Cody/Spears all seem like much more important matches to me at the moment. And it's hardly ideal that the company's first champion will either be an over-the-hill ex-WWE guy or a young guy who isn't over at a main event level yet.

Also, as noted on the Flagship, the commentary on this show was just terrible. Excalibur was fine, but Marvez adds nothing, and JR was in full-on cranky old man mode, burying the referees and being insufficiently familiar with a lot of the talent. I don't even necessarily disagree with some of the points he was making, but he needs to save his complaints for production meetings and work on getting the matches and talent over when he's got the headset on. Also it's not at all clear who the play by play guy is supposed to be and who's supposed to be doing color, or why there are three people out there instead of two.

I really want this promotion to succeed, but this show definitely highlighted a lot of kinks that will need to be worked out.

[Ckkj14]

The latest Road to show is incredible. Moxleys promo is fantastic

[mlev76]

Not sure if it will draw in lapsed/casuals, but it's a very good promo.

[thecubsfan]

Everything Elite went over the logistical issues with running TV on Wednesdays and house shows on Saturdays. I do think it is probably needed for the younger members of the roster to get some work without the pressure of hitting a TV time and maybe there are some financial needs to run a certain amount of shows.

I wonder though, are untelevised house shows a weird concept in 2019? AEW is going to have 52 TV shows, maybe 12-ish PPVs shows (minor and major), and 30ish shows that are only going to be seen if someone's bootlegging it like it's a lucha indie match. There's inevitably going to be a weird specific match people are going to want to see what's happening on those shows, and that's not going to be something AEW is going to provide. WWE obviously still is running house shows the same way they always do, but everyone else competing in the US market tapes and airs everything. All NJPW IS shows eventually turn up on their service, all ROH shows are on the services, Impact's done the same. There'd be some money in an AEW streaming service, though not as much without the PPVs being involved.

[Murcatto]

Will the house shows be part of AEW canon? I guess they have to be if they're making win-loss records into a thing, it would really insult fans' intelligence if Adam Page loses a house show match and on TV next week the graphic still says he's undefeated. I think anything that has an impact on storylines should be made available in some fashion. It's not like WWE where house show results aren't brought up on TV and ultimately don't matter

[Danwaka]

Maybe the live events will be 10 dollar, single cam specials on BR Live?

[supersonic]

With the difficulty on obtaining these tickets right now, I apologize for not thinking of a group ticket request in advance. I will be requesting all group tickets for their PPV-caliber events going forward. This is fucking ridiculous.

[mlev76]

Decent sized arenas, but not the biggest in either city. Seems like a smart decision running big cities in smaller (but not small) venues for tv.

[supersonic]

What does this company do in Florida to kick off and close out WM36 week in Florida? Do they run Tampa? Perhaps go head-to-head 3 days after WM36 against the NXT tapings in Orlando? Stay home in Jacksonville? Maybe South Beach?

[supersonic]

I have one (1) ticket for All Out to dump. The ticket is readily available in PDF form.

Price: $200
Section: Upper 218
Row 4, Seat 9

The seat has full view of the ring and limited view of the stage.

Price comparison:

Currently, the lowest priced tickets on StubHub are in the same section for $165 each before fees. This is for a group of 4 tickets that totals $821.80 after fees.

The lowest priced individual ticket is going for $189.69 before fees, and then $235.82 after fees.

[mlev76]

I'd throw MJF into the spot to see what he can do.

I've seen a few mention Dustin for the spot.

[monster mafia]

Pac vs Omega confirmed.

[Murcatto]

I think Hangman is going to turn heel. He asked the Bucks to be in his corner for the Jericho match on BTE and they pretty much said they were too busy with the ladder match & producing the show. I don't know what the purpose of that segment was unless Hangman is going to use the Bucks' refusal as fuel for a heel turn. He also used the old "I would do ANYTHING to win" line on the last Road To show.

He has no juice at the moment so a heel turn makes sense, although they probably don't want to turn Jericho face so maybe they'll wait until TV.

[Ckkj14]

I think Hangman is going to turn heel. He asked the Bucks to be in his corner for the Jericho match on BTE and they pretty much said they were too busy with the ladder match & producing the show. I don't know what the purpose of that segment was unless Hangman is going to use the Bucks' refusal as fuel for a heel turn. He also used the old "I would do ANYTHING to win" line on the last Road To show.

He has no juice at the moment so a heel turn makes sense, although they probably don't want to turn Jericho face so maybe they'll wait until TV.

Yeh i got the same impression. Also Kennys promo was awesome

[mlev76]

I can't imagine Page winning. Starting off a national TV show with him over Jericho would seem like very "we do what we want, not what's best for business" thinking. Jericho has a modicum of mainstream cred, so he really has to be the first champion.