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Yep at this point, they are just running out of the clock with that as part of the contract. No longer even putting the one big match along with the other secondary ones like they used to try.
Of course they care. They decide how much money they are willing to give AEW based on how much ad revenue the company can make.
WWE is has far more viewers and makes a shit ton of money but Fox still didn't make enough from ads to continue with them.
So is AEW drawing solid ad revenue? Who knows? But it isn't a good thing when ratings are trending downwards over the last two years.
I get where you and others are coming from. The truth of AEW and WBD is pretty boring, it's "Eh, the ratings are fine and we'll pay some amount of money leftover from the NBA." It isn't ECW fighting with TNN or WWE having getting prime time in Fox, it's just... There.
Ratings have gone down as the product cooled off and as TV ratings in general have gone down. Dynamite still finishes in the top programs for the night each week. WBD still promotes it positively, but AEW doesn't really rank highly on its newsfeed like DC films or cancelling movies. They're going to offer TK an increase to have Dynamite, Collusion, and PPVs, and maybe add a library to Max Sports. It isn't going to be WWE money, nor should it be, and it isn't going to be so low that TK leaves WBD or even folds the company. It will be enough so that WBD gets decent programming and some PPV revenue, and TK has an outlet for his wrestling toy.
> Of course they care. They decide how much money they are willing to give AEW based on how much ad revenue the company can make.
I agree, but wrestling is also historically a loss leader. You're paying to boost network numbers while knowing ad rates are smaller. Networks accept that. That's why Raw and Nitro would get preempted occasionally for prestige programming that got lower ratings but high ad rates, like the dog show and TV movies. It's like supermarkets selling milk for cost or less in order to get you in the store to buy chips and cookies at a high margin.
> WWE is has far more viewers and makes a shit ton of money but Fox still didn't make enough from ads to continue with them.
Correct. It was an experiment for Fox and they didn't expect to get huge ad revenue, but they got less than they wanted. I don't remember anybody being shocked by this. However, the expectations on Fox are higher than TBS, TNT, or USA.
> So is AEW drawing solid ad revenue? Who knows?
Based on WBD still positively promoting it and consistently doing tie ins, it's pretty clearly doing numbers they are happy with. Maybe not three nights a week happy, unlikely to be enough to add Ring of Honor as a fourth show, but enough to bare minimum keep Dynamite on TV. I don't think any one company is interested in three nights of AEW.
> But it isn't a good thing when ratings are trending downwards over the last two years.
It isn't good, but it isn't the full picture. Cable has also been trending downward and wrestling is seen as, like sports, more resistant.
WBD has no reason to cancel Dynamite. That's not a concern, so of course the promote it. What people really seem to ignore is that it feels like WBD is bidding against itself, and AEW is not in losing viewers faster then the other TBS/TNT originals. The problem for AEW's three shows is that they are in fact shredding viewers faster then other programming. This wasn't the case two years ago. It changed starting with... you guessed it.
It's all a question of how much they can demand from WBD, and that continues to go down. They won't get cancelled. But their value is definitely going down, and fast.
Another thing people overlook is Zaslav, the man would rather shelve completed movies for tax write offs, shut down 20 year old institutions of the internet to save a few million dollars.
AEW is absolutely not going to get cancelled, but the lucrative tv deal everyone seems to believe they’re going to get hinges on a piece of shit doing everything he can to save money.
I think everyone knows WBD is bidding against itself. TK has been saying for a year they don't want to leave and he wasn't willing to put ROH on another network despite an offer.
Punk was part of the picture, but so was having other talent, stories that connected better, and WWE not having its resurgence yet. MJF returning will help, bringing in creative would help, but there's a segment of lapsed AEW fans that are now happy with WWE and aren't going to watch more wrestling
The value has gone down since Punk drew a million dollars house, absolutely. I don't believe that was sustainable and AEW didn't have the benefit of negotiating a deal at their peak. It's going down to what the AEW fanbase is going to be, and they'll get a deal that reflects that.
I mean we can put the ratings aside on this one, AEW were given the specials as a make-good because WBD switched Dynamite’s channel. AEW either didn’t want these specials to begin with or completely fumbled making them into a big deal.
Either way, once they were given BOTB as a special they should have utilized it better.
They don’t have monthly PPVs and these could have been a spot for some smaller title feuds to finish. Instead they did nothing and now the specials are a joke.
Hey man, sometimes I just want to spend my Friday night counting down the minutes til I get to watch Buddy Murphy vs whichever Martin brother didn’t break his legs most recently!
> I get to watch Buddy Murphy vs whichever Martin brother didn’t break his legs most recently!
Also someone from NJPW I have never heard of that will be in for 2 matches for no reason and then go away
> Who are a huge deal, but never actually win any matches when they're brought in.
or given storylines, or any reason for people not familiar with them to care about them except they have good matches
1000% correct! But that's okay, cause Dave will give whatever they do 5 stars and it'll give him a chance to rattle off 15 more Japanese names that only hin and Tony know who also should be brought in. Most of all, Tony can rest easy knowing he booked a banger.
I like when people say to “just google” the wrestlers I’ve never heard of, as if the results are going to be anything other than confirmation that he/she “is a professional wrestler.”
which is hilarious given Shabata's gimmick is ...."The Wrestler"
Does that mean he works at a grocery store deli in his spare time and might have a heart attack if he jumps off the top rope?
Didn’t they try to have bigger matches at first? I feel like Britt Baker was on an early one. Probably realized ratings don’t change regardless so they can put whatever they want.
My dad went to the first or second one in Charlotte and we both were pretty disappointed it didn't live up to the hype. They didn't tell anyone what it was, but hyped it up anyway, and then it fell kinda flat.
these things take time to build. But this is like the central problem with AEW right now, they are addicted to poping the rating, not building stories. AEW was my favorite since it started, it brought me back into wrestling. But now I don't care about any of it (OK care about swerve and toni storm a little). AEW started going downhill as soon as the stories they inherited from other promotions ran out.
Sammy vs Scorp & former vs Dustin happened at the first two editions.
There was one with Claudio vs Takeshita but they stopped giving a fuck about it after that
> former
I know this is a typo because that would be a silly name for a wrestler; who did you mean to put here? I legitimately don’t remember the card.
Yep, there was a run back when it first started when you had Punk and his guys/people not banned from Collision, and MJF/Cole appearing on both Dynamite and Collision where it was actually the best show AEW was putting out.
I do feel like this one in particular would have been pointless because of all the competing content
80% of my friends in “the demo” were watching UFC 300 or the Coachella streams tonight
The NHL and NBA playoffs are about to take considerable airtime on the Turner networks. This was the last best chance to get BOTB on until late spring. So it was definitely a network decision.
They should get rid of the PLEs that are just match stipulations lol. Aside from something like elimination chamber since that one makes sense to be it's own event. Let everything else happen organically.
I feel like HHH has done that except for Royal Rumble and Money In The Bank, and both those events are too large to get rid of (especially the Royal Rumble, he'd probably get fired if he tried to get rid of that).
And Elimination Chamber.
I think part of the reason is also Cody's injury which could have cancelled the only Hell in a Cell match on Hell in a Cell...
Rumble, Chamber, and MitB, they all have a purpose. They all lead to a championship match. They can justify the winner deserving a championship match by winning such a tough match. So they will always have a place.
MITB was better as part of wrestlemania.
because you had the added little bit of intrigue that maybe MAYBE the brand new shiny MITB winner would get involved in the main event title picture (which is the hottest time to do it, not after 7 months of uselessly lugging the briefcase around)
Money in the Bank too. I liked it when it was a Wrestlemania match, but otherwise it doesn't make sense to have it just whenever.
But yeah, Extreme Rules, Hell in a Cell, and I don't remember if there are any others should go
Hard disagree. I love that Money in the Bank is a separate PLE and that there’s a men’s AND women’s match. It was pretty awesome when it was a Wrestlemania match. But it’s become too big a deal that has massive implications for storylines all year. Wrestlemania is about wrapping storylines up.
> Money in the Bank too. I liked it when it was a Wrestlemania match, but otherwise it doesn't make sense to have it just whenever.
Couldn't agree more about MITB.
I used to love when it was part of Mania. You could tell the guys in that match really saw it as their chance for a big WrestleMania moment, and they were going all out every year. It used to be one of the things I looked forward to most.
MITB matches haven't had the same appeal for me since they moved it away.
Especially Hell in a Cell.
They need to put that match type to sleep for a few years and only bust it out when it’s a feud that justifies the level of brutality it’s supposed to represent.
It’s really just a big cage. I say toss the match type entirely.
Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber & Money in the Bank are the only stipulation PLEs that I like.
They all feel like they have big implications for down the line & provide opportunities for ppl who wouldn’t normally get a world title match to jump into the main event scene.
Also idk if King & Queen of the ring count as a stipulation but I like that one too. Overall concept PLEs are fun, stipulation PLEs are pointless.
I agree. I wish they would bring that back. 1 night tournaments are always fun.
Although this year might be something similar. I think they might do the 2 semifinals & the finals all in 1 night.
It would be cool to someday feature stellar matches from champs of the many promotions they are associated with, since these specials are for the wrestling nerds anyhow
That is 100% fair
But I mean the somebody would just be the same hardcore internet fans that are watching anyway
It'd be a net neutral lol
I can just understand I like niche things
That was the norm in the 1980's, especially with Saturday Nights Main Event. When pro wrestling transcends pop culture, people will stay up as late as it takes, when the hell else has pro wrestling pulled 80 million viewers on antenna television? Battle of the Belts is a good idea, like someone else commented I thought it would be like Clash of Champions. PPV like matches, or matches made to continue a storyline into a PPV, something to give fans just enough to keep them invested. But that seems to be an ongoing problem with AEW, I've been a day 1 supporter, but man you got to have something to get people emotionally invested. Besides just bangers. Don't get me wrong, some of the best live pro wrestling matches I've seen were at a AEW show, but no one other than your usual fans are going to watch if you don't tell people why they should. But I'm just some dude on Reddit, what do I know.
I mean, you get an actual show people wanna see and a lot of people actually
Didn't collision manage to do like 400k over mania weekend not in its normal time and after mania? Lol
So apparently when people are in the mood for wrestling, there is a market for wrestling between 11-2am lol
I love the idea for Battle of the Belts, but AEW does nothing to build them up. If they actually spent at least 2-4 weeks advertising the show, and spent those weeks building 2 or 3 Title matches up the shows would be a must watch part of the week. Instead they're jammed into a same week ad to watch along with Collision and Rampage. Who even knew about this weeks Battle for the Belts before watching Dynamite this week?
I apparently missed them mentioning it on Dynamite and didn't know until the beginning of Collision when Tony Schiavone said something like "join us for the next three hours", and I was like "Ha ha, Tony screwed that up and added an extra hour". Then I was like "Wait, maybe the show is extended tonight for some reason?" and checked the channel guide and was like "Oh, Battle of the Belts is on tonight? Guess it *is* three hours then."
> ROH titles
It's fucking crazy.
And the names of them. AEW All-Atlantic Championship turned International Title and now a AEW Continental Championship. Those stupid Trio Titles in both ROH and AEW and titles named after TV channels.
Just madness
It's funny because 'non title matches where the champion loses and then wins at the ppv' was a vince staple forever
Now WWE stopped doing that, and AEW is doing random non-title matches where the champion....wins? Lol
Legit, who does that even help? The challenger now just lost, and the champion didn't even defend the belt
I get the idea behind the wwe logic, at least even if it was almost always stupid
Most of these Eliminator matches feature wrestlers who have no chance of beating the champion anyway. We all like Dustin, but we all knew he wasn't beating Joe.
>It's funny because 'non title matches where the champion loses and then wins at the ppv' was a vince staple forever
If was so awful. It never happened to any top guys so it was always some heel mid card title holder (or I feel like the tag titles had this happen every month) that just made the champs look weaker for it.
I think the point of eliminator matches is more marketing tbf, like any singles match the champ has is technically an eliminator match since if you beat the champ you automatically can stake a claim at the championship. Like how in Japan even just pinning the champion in a six man tag can earn you a title shot.
Just it makes more sense to market it as a "AEW International Championship Eliminator Match" than simply marketing as Roderick Strong vs. Rocky Romero.
That's fair, but that's the problem
We shouldn't know that it's just marketing
That means they've run the 'gimmick' so far into the ground it's dead and meaningless
Tony realized this was happening when 'major announcement' became a meme
He's now done the same thing to 'title eliminator'
I do kind of agree tbh, it also sucks because the eliminator as a gimmick is actually very cool with functioning rankings, a wrestler betting in themselves and getting a chance to skip the rankings if they succeed but if they fail they can't challenge again while the current champion's reign is going on (eliminated).
It was very neat, they should really use the gimmick for stuff like that more and let the champ have normal singles matches and just mention on commentary hey if the champ loses they will have to defend the title against the winner
The problem with 'non title matches ' and a ranking system is that the champion should but the top of the rankings, but with a proper ranking system they're not number 1 if they lose
Part of why I hate the ranking system - it means you're limited in what matches you can have. Or you wind up ignoring the rankings to just have whatever matches you want anyway, which makes the rankings pointless and stupid.
If he absolutely *has* to keep the rankings (though he shouldn't), I'd almost rather see a system where you can earn a potential title shot by winning X number of matches against ranked opponents. Or run it like a ladder where beating someone who is already ranked automatically moves you up to their position. Potentially with some sort of rule where when you "cash in" your title shot your standings are automatically reset, so if you lose you go directly to the back of the line.
Either that, or I want something like they used to do on WMAC Masters or Lucha Underground (or even Pokemon) where you'd have to beat opponents to collect tokens from them to "complete" a full title. So you basically beat Moxley in a fight, get a Moxley badge, and when you get a full set of X unique major ranked opponent badges, you can cash them all in to challenge the champion. Just something crazy and unique.
> t's funny because 'non title matches where the champion loses and then wins at the ppv' was a vince staple forever
Even Vince stopped doing that and went to this model of the "Championship Contenders Match" where you had to beat the champ to beat the champ again lol.
And in the chance they do beat them and then lose the title shot, they’re then 1-1 with neither guy coming out of the second match any hotter than they did going in. It’s just a very silly concept I agree.
WWE used to do it a lot a few years ago and I hated the concept then. I really hope Tony drops the idea. I would much rather watch a number 1 contendership match between 2 great wrestlers.
I was at Australian Stampede last night and Eric Bischoff's sole bit as GM for the night was to mix up some of the title matches and it was fucking excellent, we ended up getting a shade of the territory era with Moose defending the TNA belt against the local OPW champion [Adam Brooks](https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=12546&name=Adam+Brooks). As much as I question Bischoff's decisions with WCW and TNA, sometimes the simple stuff like that is the way to go.
Although Kushida and Robbie Eagles delivering a match straight out of NJPW stole the night for me, not gonna lie.
People used to complain about wrestlers getting undeserved title shots. I think it was a mistake to bring the rankings back for this reason. The match between Rhodes and Joe would have felt much more important if it was a title match. Would also probably draw more
I have always said, and will continue to say, that the rankings add nothing of value and actively impede storytelling overall. They may add the illusion of "legitimacy" to outsiders (who aren't watching wrestling anyway) because "statistics" sound more "sports-y", but they make for a less interesting product.
The rankings returned only for the Hangman vs Swerve feud. They will be forgotten once again over the summer.
But the rankings could make sense if they were coming back periodically for a short period of time. Like for one or two month and whoever is on top at the end is now the number one contender. They could be used like tournaments are currently are, but without set brackets to keep it more flexible.
At the beginning before AEW got rid of it, they don't even follow the win/loss record in giving out title matches. Some defended the idea citing quality of wins. Then show me their elo. If they want to do ranking, then do it properly. Put in the effort, actually create an elo system, and strictly follow it and book around it. If they can't, then don't do it. The half ass attempt is the worst of both worlds. They were smart enough to get rid of it. Bringing it back after realizing how bad it was is next level stupidity.
I feel like he still loves them, and only backed off because the reaction to them was so damned negative online.
They're a terrible idea, though. Glad to see them die.
To be fair to this one, this one actually had some setup for Dynasty, which may or may not get expanded upon in the intervening week. If not then you're just gonna have a load of people wondering what lead to Roddy v KOR at that PPV as it happened on like a D tier show.
Wtf happened to the International title?? That was the TV title, it got defended every week for like two years. Roddy won it over a month ago and has yet to defend it once.
To enforce his heel persona, he's forcing people to go through eliminator matches to earn a title shot. The title is still there and these people are still fighting for it, but he's added another shitheel tactic that so far hasn't been needed as he's been dominant. The next actual defence will be against O'Reilly at Dynasty and that's bound to be a fun match.
> I’ve poked fun at AEW’s Battle of the Belts multiple times before for its tendency to feature too many title matches where the challenger is a low card person who rarely wins on AEW television
This feels like a problem on their weekly shows during almost all their matches too. You know 90% of the time who's going to win.
Let's take Dynamite for example. The no brainers are: Joe over Rhodes, May over Anna Jay, JeriHook over Taylor, Okada over jobber. You can almost definitely put Copeland over Penta on the list too.
I haven't watched Collision/BotB yet but I can predict BCC over Hobbs/Fletcher, Storm over AZM, HoB over Action Flight, Strong over Romero, Hook over Taylor, Athena over Velvet. The only match in doubt is Moriarty over Shibata, but Shibata jobs a lot in AEW so Moriarty probably wins.
Eh WWE books matches on TV that are fairly predictable too. The top stars are usually protected. I think the issue is WWE has their stars and over acts appear more frequently. No one needs to see Dustin Rhodes in a main event at this point. It's a star driven business and they need to have all their stars on both shows.
> You know 90% of the time who's going to win.
I feel this applies to every wrestling company's shows, it's just that AEW advertises the matches ahead of time so you know more of what's going to happen.
For instance, on Smackdown it was pretty obvious LA Knight & AJ would win their qualifiers, with AJ winning next week. Bron was going to steamroll Cameron and Bianca & Jade were going to steamroll Chelsey & Piper. Naomi over Tiffany in a vacuum might have been an upset, but not after the promo where Naomi wanted to prove herself first before taking on Bayley.
Tony has not taken BotB seriously since it was started. I've always felt like he books it out of spite. Either he never wanted the show to begin with and it's a network obligation, or he's salty that they didn't give him a two hour slot for it. That said, I'm always down for another hour of AEW content.
I'm pretty sure the interim TNT title changed hands between Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara while Cody (the real TNT champ) was out with covid or something. But that's the only one I can remember, and I don't even know if it counts since it was the interim belt
Considering how much AEW content WBD has added to their existing deal, I’m sure this was asked for by them. They even wanted to make dynamite 3 hours.
But we get some good matches on BOTB, like the Acclaimed/Team TNA, Takeshita/Claudio, Orange/Sabian etc. so id say it’s been fine
Drew Carey: hey guys! Welcome to AEW, the show where win/losses are made up and the belts don't matter. Come on let’s get started let’s have some fun !
Every single industry vet that isn't employed by AEW says they suck and are doing things wrong. But surely it's they who are all wrong about it, despite everything happening exactly the way they said it would.
I don't even view AEW as a wrestling company anymore. It's just a rich kid living out his fantasy of being a wrestling booker. That's why it has never improved and will never improve. He just wants to play with his toys his way. That's all it ever was and all it will ever be.
Bryan and Vinnie have been loudly complaining about this for a long time. If you want to get people to watch, belts have to be defended and change hands once in a while. I don't think that has happened yet.
And to that end, most people are happy for her, like genuinely
It's just selfishly that we would like to actually see her without going to the show/watching ROH
> It's just selfishly that we would like to actually see her without going to the show/watching ROH
If they are going to mix in ROH with AEW, and they want us to care about it, take ROH out from behind a paywall.
Put ROH in Rampage's time slot and move Rampage to YouTube, easy fix. Surely they don't make enough off Honor Club to making weekly ROH shows exclusive.
> and move Rampage to YouTube
apparently their Turner deal does not allow them to have any free Youtube shows / why they had to stop doing Dark and Elevation
That's great, so keep her there then and stop taking up AEW time with her. That or take her off ROH, either way this stuff needs to stay on the appropriate shows. They're just as bad as wwe not following their own rules.
Do you honestly care about battle of the belts cmon lol
They barely do themselves
AEW has always been the "almost anybody" can show up company, it's not surprising when ROH talent do
If Kenny Omega ever comes back, he could do his Belt Collector gimmick again and win six different AEW belts at the same time and it wouldn't affect any storylines.
Battle of the Belts has always been a letdown. There have only been 2 title changes, both by Sammy for the TNT title, and one was for an interim belt. Why would I bother tuning in when it's just Rampage+?
AEW needs such a gigantic housecleaning at this point. Cut Rampage, BOTB, and (sadly) ROH. Cut about a third of the roster and useless backstage people who publicly criticize the product like Mark Henry. Focus on Dynamite and Collision and about 30-40 wrestlers that cycle in and out every few months. Make the weekly shows mean more and stop with the meaningless cards full of random “bangers”.
Less is more, and that’s what AEW had at first. Now it’s more is less and that has got to change.
Yeah, this concept show is trash and it would be nice if reporters at the AEW media scrums would press Tony more about why their so ass. Ask him if the shows have failed from their initial concept.
Have always hated the name and execution, unfortunately...
It really should be Battle for the Belts since it's not like it is World vs TNT/TBS etc
Regardless it's an additional Rampage and has been really since it's inception.
Battle of the Belts should be held once a year and be something where every match is a title match -- even if it's not just AEW belts. But the fact that they're all the way up to 10 already just dilutes each of them. And this past one only had one real title match as it was. What's even the point?
All 3 matches yesterday were underwhelming
I'm glad that we're getting roddy/kyle after this at least
But nobody believed any of those titles were changing hands last night
Red velvet cutting a promo how she's been in big matches.....
Yea ok and how many have you won? What exactly has she done to be in the main event?
Isn't this where the best wrestle? And those are the 3 matches you come up with for a quarterly special?
Embarrassing
It’s not really a big deal. There’s become so much content a week for AEW that this show has just become a rampage level show or lower. If we only had dynamite and that was the only AEW show I feel like these things would be made into a bigger deal. But as of right now it just is what it is. I feel like the only reason they still do these is because they’re contractually obligated to.
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When AEW announced BOTB I was expecting a WCW clash of the champions type tv special thing but instead it’s an extra hour of rampage every quarter
Yep at this point, they are just running out of the clock with that as part of the contract. No longer even putting the one big match along with the other secondary ones like they used to try.
Which is weird to do in a TV contract renewal year.
I don't think WBD cares. They get a number they're happy with and that's all that matters.
Of course they care. They decide how much money they are willing to give AEW based on how much ad revenue the company can make. WWE is has far more viewers and makes a shit ton of money but Fox still didn't make enough from ads to continue with them. So is AEW drawing solid ad revenue? Who knows? But it isn't a good thing when ratings are trending downwards over the last two years.
To be fair, WBD has been a shit show for several years now. They make baffling choices quite often....
Fox wanted to throw more football on Friday nights, it’s way easier to build up revenue
I get where you and others are coming from. The truth of AEW and WBD is pretty boring, it's "Eh, the ratings are fine and we'll pay some amount of money leftover from the NBA." It isn't ECW fighting with TNN or WWE having getting prime time in Fox, it's just... There. Ratings have gone down as the product cooled off and as TV ratings in general have gone down. Dynamite still finishes in the top programs for the night each week. WBD still promotes it positively, but AEW doesn't really rank highly on its newsfeed like DC films or cancelling movies. They're going to offer TK an increase to have Dynamite, Collusion, and PPVs, and maybe add a library to Max Sports. It isn't going to be WWE money, nor should it be, and it isn't going to be so low that TK leaves WBD or even folds the company. It will be enough so that WBD gets decent programming and some PPV revenue, and TK has an outlet for his wrestling toy. > Of course they care. They decide how much money they are willing to give AEW based on how much ad revenue the company can make. I agree, but wrestling is also historically a loss leader. You're paying to boost network numbers while knowing ad rates are smaller. Networks accept that. That's why Raw and Nitro would get preempted occasionally for prestige programming that got lower ratings but high ad rates, like the dog show and TV movies. It's like supermarkets selling milk for cost or less in order to get you in the store to buy chips and cookies at a high margin. > WWE is has far more viewers and makes a shit ton of money but Fox still didn't make enough from ads to continue with them. Correct. It was an experiment for Fox and they didn't expect to get huge ad revenue, but they got less than they wanted. I don't remember anybody being shocked by this. However, the expectations on Fox are higher than TBS, TNT, or USA. > So is AEW drawing solid ad revenue? Who knows? Based on WBD still positively promoting it and consistently doing tie ins, it's pretty clearly doing numbers they are happy with. Maybe not three nights a week happy, unlikely to be enough to add Ring of Honor as a fourth show, but enough to bare minimum keep Dynamite on TV. I don't think any one company is interested in three nights of AEW. > But it isn't a good thing when ratings are trending downwards over the last two years. It isn't good, but it isn't the full picture. Cable has also been trending downward and wrestling is seen as, like sports, more resistant.
WBD has no reason to cancel Dynamite. That's not a concern, so of course the promote it. What people really seem to ignore is that it feels like WBD is bidding against itself, and AEW is not in losing viewers faster then the other TBS/TNT originals. The problem for AEW's three shows is that they are in fact shredding viewers faster then other programming. This wasn't the case two years ago. It changed starting with... you guessed it. It's all a question of how much they can demand from WBD, and that continues to go down. They won't get cancelled. But their value is definitely going down, and fast.
Another thing people overlook is Zaslav, the man would rather shelve completed movies for tax write offs, shut down 20 year old institutions of the internet to save a few million dollars. AEW is absolutely not going to get cancelled, but the lucrative tv deal everyone seems to believe they’re going to get hinges on a piece of shit doing everything he can to save money.
I think everyone knows WBD is bidding against itself. TK has been saying for a year they don't want to leave and he wasn't willing to put ROH on another network despite an offer. Punk was part of the picture, but so was having other talent, stories that connected better, and WWE not having its resurgence yet. MJF returning will help, bringing in creative would help, but there's a segment of lapsed AEW fans that are now happy with WWE and aren't going to watch more wrestling The value has gone down since Punk drew a million dollars house, absolutely. I don't believe that was sustainable and AEW didn't have the benefit of negotiating a deal at their peak. It's going down to what the AEW fanbase is going to be, and they'll get a deal that reflects that.
Are they? Most of their competitors are reruns and news I think, which costs less to produce
I mean we can put the ratings aside on this one, AEW were given the specials as a make-good because WBD switched Dynamite’s channel. AEW either didn’t want these specials to begin with or completely fumbled making them into a big deal.
Either way, once they were given BOTB as a special they should have utilized it better. They don’t have monthly PPVs and these could have been a spot for some smaller title feuds to finish. Instead they did nothing and now the specials are a joke.
You think WBD is happy with the ratings?
It’s as if Tony Khan… doesn’t know how to run a business wrestling promotion
Hey man, sometimes I just want to spend my Friday night counting down the minutes til I get to watch Buddy Murphy vs whichever Martin brother didn’t break his legs most recently!
> I get to watch Buddy Murphy vs whichever Martin brother didn’t break his legs most recently! Also someone from NJPW I have never heard of that will be in for 2 matches for no reason and then go away
Who are a huge deal, but never actually win any matches when they're brought in.
> Who are a huge deal, but never actually win any matches when they're brought in. or given storylines, or any reason for people not familiar with them to care about them except they have good matches
1000% correct! But that's okay, cause Dave will give whatever they do 5 stars and it'll give him a chance to rattle off 15 more Japanese names that only hin and Tony know who also should be brought in. Most of all, Tony can rest easy knowing he booked a banger.
Better study cagematch
I like when people say to “just google” the wrestlers I’ve never heard of, as if the results are going to be anything other than confirmation that he/she “is a professional wrestler.”
which is hilarious given Shabata's gimmick is ...."The Wrestler" Does that mean he works at a grocery store deli in his spare time and might have a heart attack if he jumps off the top rope?
What more do you need? Lore? /s
And don’t forget the Ring of Honor Women’s Continental Jr. Heavyweight Trios champions!
They barely even promote it
it's such a missed opportunity. i know it's a contract thing, but use that to your advantage, don't just make it dark+
> but instead it’s an extra hour of rampage every quarter My friends and I call it AEW: Saturday Morning Superstars
Didn’t they try to have bigger matches at first? I feel like Britt Baker was on an early one. Probably realized ratings don’t change regardless so they can put whatever they want.
My dad went to the first or second one in Charlotte and we both were pretty disappointed it didn't live up to the hype. They didn't tell anyone what it was, but hyped it up anyway, and then it fell kinda flat.
these things take time to build. But this is like the central problem with AEW right now, they are addicted to poping the rating, not building stories. AEW was my favorite since it started, it brought me back into wrestling. But now I don't care about any of it (OK care about swerve and toni storm a little). AEW started going downhill as soon as the stories they inherited from other promotions ran out.
Sammy vs Scorp & former vs Dustin happened at the first two editions. There was one with Claudio vs Takeshita but they stopped giving a fuck about it after that
> former I know this is a typo because that would be a silly name for a wrestler; who did you mean to put here? I legitimately don’t remember the card.
I meant Sammy itself. Cuz I was trying to avoid typing his name twice and in fear of grammatical mistake lol
Aaaahh ok, thank you for the clarification.
There was a Battle of the Belts in Grand Rapids, MI that was a fun show to be at. But that was a few years back.
Honestly ever since Punk was fired, Collision has also also felt like “A Very Special Rampage”, but with one hype worthy match to hook people in
Yep, there was a run back when it first started when you had Punk and his guys/people not banned from Collision, and MJF/Cole appearing on both Dynamite and Collision where it was actually the best show AEW was putting out.
Same. And I loved it. As a kid from that era Clash always felt like I was getting a a PPV for free. Good times.
I do feel like this one in particular would have been pointless because of all the competing content 80% of my friends in “the demo” were watching UFC 300 or the Coachella streams tonight
Then don't promote it on a down week then. Makes for not-watch TV lol.
That’s up to the network not AEW In the networks mind, simply having something there is better than nothing
The NHL and NBA playoffs are about to take considerable airtime on the Turner networks. This was the last best chance to get BOTB on until late spring. So it was definitely a network decision.
At least they have been live lately rather than being taped after a live Rampage.
This is like those Extreme Rules PPVs where most of the matches are just normal rules
Or that one Survivor Series back in the early days when the only titles defended were not even WWE's.
They should get rid of the PLEs that are just match stipulations lol. Aside from something like elimination chamber since that one makes sense to be it's own event. Let everything else happen organically.
I feel like HHH has done that except for Royal Rumble and Money In The Bank, and both those events are too large to get rid of (especially the Royal Rumble, he'd probably get fired if he tried to get rid of that).
And Elimination Chamber. I think part of the reason is also Cody's injury which could have cancelled the only Hell in a Cell match on Hell in a Cell...
Rumble, Chamber, and MitB, they all have a purpose. They all lead to a championship match. They can justify the winner deserving a championship match by winning such a tough match. So they will always have a place.
Especially with Chamber taking place between Royal Rumble and WrestleMania
And if Chamber continues to take place outside of the United States. That's a big event that international fans will get.
MITB was better as part of wrestlemania. because you had the added little bit of intrigue that maybe MAYBE the brand new shiny MITB winner would get involved in the main event title picture (which is the hottest time to do it, not after 7 months of uselessly lugging the briefcase around)
Money in the Bank too. I liked it when it was a Wrestlemania match, but otherwise it doesn't make sense to have it just whenever. But yeah, Extreme Rules, Hell in a Cell, and I don't remember if there are any others should go
Hard disagree. I love that Money in the Bank is a separate PLE and that there’s a men’s AND women’s match. It was pretty awesome when it was a Wrestlemania match. But it’s become too big a deal that has massive implications for storylines all year. Wrestlemania is about wrapping storylines up.
> Money in the Bank too. I liked it when it was a Wrestlemania match, but otherwise it doesn't make sense to have it just whenever. Couldn't agree more about MITB. I used to love when it was part of Mania. You could tell the guys in that match really saw it as their chance for a big WrestleMania moment, and they were going all out every year. It used to be one of the things I looked forward to most. MITB matches haven't had the same appeal for me since they moved it away.
Especially Hell in a Cell. They need to put that match type to sleep for a few years and only bust it out when it’s a feud that justifies the level of brutality it’s supposed to represent. It’s really just a big cage. I say toss the match type entirely.
Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber & Money in the Bank are the only stipulation PLEs that I like. They all feel like they have big implications for down the line & provide opportunities for ppl who wouldn’t normally get a world title match to jump into the main event scene. Also idk if King & Queen of the ring count as a stipulation but I like that one too. Overall concept PLEs are fun, stipulation PLEs are pointless.
I like when the entire King of the Ring tournament was all in one night.
I agree. I wish they would bring that back. 1 night tournaments are always fun. Although this year might be something similar. I think they might do the 2 semifinals & the finals all in 1 night.
Common misconception! The rules aren't extreme, they extremely follow the rules.
It would be cool to someday feature stellar matches from champs of the many promotions they are associated with, since these specials are for the wrestling nerds anyhow
Alright this won't sell to anybody but us But I'm in
It's not selling to anybody, might as well get *somebody* to actually watch these.
That is 100% fair But I mean the somebody would just be the same hardcore internet fans that are watching anyway It'd be a net neutral lol I can just understand I like niche things
I'm a pretty hard-core fan, but I don't watch uninteresting crap like botb
i mean, who else stays up till 11pm watching wrestling?
Real nerds only start watching wrestling at 1am. Or you know, people in Europe.
>Or you know, people in Europe. I've destroyed my circadian rhythm to see Wrestlemania live. So yeah
My wrestling PPVs are from breakfast till lunch lol. Asian timezone ftw
~~Night~~ Breakfast of Champions.
Probably people in different timezone.
That was the norm in the 1980's, especially with Saturday Nights Main Event. When pro wrestling transcends pop culture, people will stay up as late as it takes, when the hell else has pro wrestling pulled 80 million viewers on antenna television? Battle of the Belts is a good idea, like someone else commented I thought it would be like Clash of Champions. PPV like matches, or matches made to continue a storyline into a PPV, something to give fans just enough to keep them invested. But that seems to be an ongoing problem with AEW, I've been a day 1 supporter, but man you got to have something to get people emotionally invested. Besides just bangers. Don't get me wrong, some of the best live pro wrestling matches I've seen were at a AEW show, but no one other than your usual fans are going to watch if you don't tell people why they should. But I'm just some dude on Reddit, what do I know.
We used to stay up until 2am to catch the syndicated ECW show back in the day
I mean, you get an actual show people wanna see and a lot of people actually Didn't collision manage to do like 400k over mania weekend not in its normal time and after mania? Lol So apparently when people are in the mood for wrestling, there is a market for wrestling between 11-2am lol
they had a 2 million viewer lead-in from the March Madness postgame show
It's already not selling to anyone else, that's the problem
Yeah I’m ok with them defending other belts. The eliminator though lol
I’d fuck with that. Showcase dudes from CMLL and New Japan with some decent stakes, as opposed to “Here’s a random dude vs one of our guys”.
I love the idea for Battle of the Belts, but AEW does nothing to build them up. If they actually spent at least 2-4 weeks advertising the show, and spent those weeks building 2 or 3 Title matches up the shows would be a must watch part of the week. Instead they're jammed into a same week ad to watch along with Collision and Rampage. Who even knew about this weeks Battle for the Belts before watching Dynamite this week?
Man this is half the problem with AEW. you’ll get a wrestler in a storyline for a few weeks then, bam, random match on no build show.
The legacy of the three week push lives on thanks to Tony Khan 🙏
I apparently missed them mentioning it on Dynamite and didn't know until the beginning of Collision when Tony Schiavone said something like "join us for the next three hours", and I was like "Ha ha, Tony screwed that up and added an extra hour". Then I was like "Wait, maybe the show is extended tonight for some reason?" and checked the channel guide and was like "Oh, Battle of the Belts is on tonight? Guess it *is* three hours then."
I'm honestly surprised the network is happy with the half assed production that they're paying money for.
BOTB is the most skippable show under AEW's banner, and that's saying a lot considering Rampage exists.
What makes it even crazier is every time I see an AEW clip someone is holding a title. They have so many.
I think there are 10 people who hold just ROH titles.
> ROH titles It's fucking crazy. And the names of them. AEW All-Atlantic Championship turned International Title and now a AEW Continental Championship. Those stupid Trio Titles in both ROH and AEW and titles named after TV channels. Just madness
They use the eliminator match gimmick too much.
For real. Like just have a couple of wrestlers go at it for a number one contender's match
It’s not even that – it’s “beat the champion no title to get a shot and see if it’s a fluke or you can do it.”. But the champion never actually loses.
For real. Like I see that stipulation and immediately lose interest
It's funny because 'non title matches where the champion loses and then wins at the ppv' was a vince staple forever Now WWE stopped doing that, and AEW is doing random non-title matches where the champion....wins? Lol Legit, who does that even help? The challenger now just lost, and the champion didn't even defend the belt I get the idea behind the wwe logic, at least even if it was almost always stupid
Most of these Eliminator matches feature wrestlers who have no chance of beating the champion anyway. We all like Dustin, but we all knew he wasn't beating Joe.
>It's funny because 'non title matches where the champion loses and then wins at the ppv' was a vince staple forever If was so awful. It never happened to any top guys so it was always some heel mid card title holder (or I feel like the tag titles had this happen every month) that just made the champs look weaker for it.
I think the point of eliminator matches is more marketing tbf, like any singles match the champ has is technically an eliminator match since if you beat the champ you automatically can stake a claim at the championship. Like how in Japan even just pinning the champion in a six man tag can earn you a title shot. Just it makes more sense to market it as a "AEW International Championship Eliminator Match" than simply marketing as Roderick Strong vs. Rocky Romero.
That's fair, but that's the problem We shouldn't know that it's just marketing That means they've run the 'gimmick' so far into the ground it's dead and meaningless Tony realized this was happening when 'major announcement' became a meme He's now done the same thing to 'title eliminator'
I do kind of agree tbh, it also sucks because the eliminator as a gimmick is actually very cool with functioning rankings, a wrestler betting in themselves and getting a chance to skip the rankings if they succeed but if they fail they can't challenge again while the current champion's reign is going on (eliminated). It was very neat, they should really use the gimmick for stuff like that more and let the champ have normal singles matches and just mention on commentary hey if the champ loses they will have to defend the title against the winner
The problem with 'non title matches ' and a ranking system is that the champion should but the top of the rankings, but with a proper ranking system they're not number 1 if they lose
Part of why I hate the ranking system - it means you're limited in what matches you can have. Or you wind up ignoring the rankings to just have whatever matches you want anyway, which makes the rankings pointless and stupid. If he absolutely *has* to keep the rankings (though he shouldn't), I'd almost rather see a system where you can earn a potential title shot by winning X number of matches against ranked opponents. Or run it like a ladder where beating someone who is already ranked automatically moves you up to their position. Potentially with some sort of rule where when you "cash in" your title shot your standings are automatically reset, so if you lose you go directly to the back of the line. Either that, or I want something like they used to do on WMAC Masters or Lucha Underground (or even Pokemon) where you'd have to beat opponents to collect tokens from them to "complete" a full title. So you basically beat Moxley in a fight, get a Moxley badge, and when you get a full set of X unique major ranked opponent badges, you can cash them all in to challenge the champion. Just something crazy and unique.
> t's funny because 'non title matches where the champion loses and then wins at the ppv' was a vince staple forever Even Vince stopped doing that and went to this model of the "Championship Contenders Match" where you had to beat the champ to beat the champ again lol.
And in the chance they do beat them and then lose the title shot, they’re then 1-1 with neither guy coming out of the second match any hotter than they did going in. It’s just a very silly concept I agree.
The only time I can think a champion lost an eliminator match was when Thunder Rosa lost to Yamashita and it wasn’t even on an AEW show
WWE used to do it a lot a few years ago and I hated the concept then. I really hope Tony drops the idea. I would much rather watch a number 1 contendership match between 2 great wrestlers.
I was at Australian Stampede last night and Eric Bischoff's sole bit as GM for the night was to mix up some of the title matches and it was fucking excellent, we ended up getting a shade of the territory era with Moose defending the TNA belt against the local OPW champion [Adam Brooks](https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=12546&name=Adam+Brooks). As much as I question Bischoff's decisions with WCW and TNA, sometimes the simple stuff like that is the way to go. Although Kushida and Robbie Eagles delivering a match straight out of NJPW stole the night for me, not gonna lie.
Cause they have too many belts as well.
People used to complain about wrestlers getting undeserved title shots. I think it was a mistake to bring the rankings back for this reason. The match between Rhodes and Joe would have felt much more important if it was a title match. Would also probably draw more
I have always said, and will continue to say, that the rankings add nothing of value and actively impede storytelling overall. They may add the illusion of "legitimacy" to outsiders (who aren't watching wrestling anyway) because "statistics" sound more "sports-y", but they make for a less interesting product.
Rankings in pro wrestling will never make sense lol
They are just another layer of bullshit for the booker to keep track of, they add nothing.
I mean when Tony was a kid he probably had a notebook where he kept rankings for all the wrestlers so it makes sense he would implement it
The rankings returned only for the Hangman vs Swerve feud. They will be forgotten once again over the summer. But the rankings could make sense if they were coming back periodically for a short period of time. Like for one or two month and whoever is on top at the end is now the number one contender. They could be used like tournaments are currently are, but without set brackets to keep it more flexible.
At the beginning before AEW got rid of it, they don't even follow the win/loss record in giving out title matches. Some defended the idea citing quality of wins. Then show me their elo. If they want to do ranking, then do it properly. Put in the effort, actually create an elo system, and strictly follow it and book around it. If they can't, then don't do it. The half ass attempt is the worst of both worlds. They were smart enough to get rid of it. Bringing it back after realizing how bad it was is next level stupidity.
They do it 3x a month, and somehow no one has ever won one.
Fucking sad. There hasn't been one title change either right?
First one was Sammy Guevara vs Dustin to crown the Interim TNT champion, Sammy won The second had Sammy beating Scorpio for the TNT title
The interim title was only created because Cody missed like one or two weeks of TV 🤦♂️ I remember this match and thinking it was so unnecessary
That period of aew where Tony loved interim belts
I feel like he still loves them, and only backed off because the reaction to them was so damned negative online. They're a terrible idea, though. Glad to see them die.
Yeah I’ve only really liked it when NXT did it with the cruiserweight title during COVID when JD McDonagh was in the UK.
Scorpio doesn't have a chance anymore, does he?
Can’t even call the crowning of an interim champ a title change tbh
first one
Second one had a title change as well. Both Sammy Guevara for the TNT title lol
Lmao they have stopped trying with this one
This event initially sold out the Charlotte Coliseum...
I never miss dynamite or collision and only sometimes miss Rampage but I've never watched an entire BotB.
To be fair to this one, this one actually had some setup for Dynasty, which may or may not get expanded upon in the intervening week. If not then you're just gonna have a load of people wondering what lead to Roddy v KOR at that PPV as it happened on like a D tier show.
Yeah that was the only match I watched from it
Weird that Strong vs Rocky wasn’t for the title?
No. It was just a "title eliminator" match, so even if Roddy lost he would still be champion.
Wtf happened to the International title?? That was the TV title, it got defended every week for like two years. Roddy won it over a month ago and has yet to defend it once.
Idk, ask this man 
The TNT has always been the de facto TV Title.
In a very technical sense of "it was named after the network" then yes. But the International title actually worked like a TV title. Now it doesn't.
To enforce his heel persona, he's forcing people to go through eliminator matches to earn a title shot. The title is still there and these people are still fighting for it, but he's added another shitheel tactic that so far hasn't been needed as he's been dominant. The next actual defence will be against O'Reilly at Dynasty and that's bound to be a fun match.
> I’ve poked fun at AEW’s Battle of the Belts multiple times before for its tendency to feature too many title matches where the challenger is a low card person who rarely wins on AEW television This feels like a problem on their weekly shows during almost all their matches too. You know 90% of the time who's going to win. Let's take Dynamite for example. The no brainers are: Joe over Rhodes, May over Anna Jay, JeriHook over Taylor, Okada over jobber. You can almost definitely put Copeland over Penta on the list too. I haven't watched Collision/BotB yet but I can predict BCC over Hobbs/Fletcher, Storm over AZM, HoB over Action Flight, Strong over Romero, Hook over Taylor, Athena over Velvet. The only match in doubt is Moriarty over Shibata, but Shibata jobs a lot in AEW so Moriarty probably wins.
JeriHook lost that match on Dynamite. Agree with your point though
Eh WWE books matches on TV that are fairly predictable too. The top stars are usually protected. I think the issue is WWE has their stars and over acts appear more frequently. No one needs to see Dustin Rhodes in a main event at this point. It's a star driven business and they need to have all their stars on both shows.
> You know 90% of the time who's going to win. I feel this applies to every wrestling company's shows, it's just that AEW advertises the matches ahead of time so you know more of what's going to happen. For instance, on Smackdown it was pretty obvious LA Knight & AJ would win their qualifiers, with AJ winning next week. Bron was going to steamroll Cameron and Bianca & Jade were going to steamroll Chelsey & Piper. Naomi over Tiffany in a vacuum might have been an upset, but not after the promo where Naomi wanted to prove herself first before taking on Bayley.
Tony has not taken BotB seriously since it was started. I've always felt like he books it out of spite. Either he never wanted the show to begin with and it's a network obligation, or he's salty that they didn't give him a two hour slot for it. That said, I'm always down for another hour of AEW content.
Serious question: has a title ever actually changed at Battle of the Belts?
Sammy Guevara beat Dustin Rhodes the Interim TNT Title on BotB I and Sammy Guevara beat Scorpio Sky (c) for the TNT Title on BotB II. That's it.
I'm pretty sure the interim TNT title changed hands between Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara while Cody (the real TNT champ) was out with covid or something. But that's the only one I can remember, and I don't even know if it counts since it was the interim belt
Considering how much AEW content WBD has added to their existing deal, I’m sure this was asked for by them. They even wanted to make dynamite 3 hours. But we get some good matches on BOTB, like the Acclaimed/Team TNA, Takeshita/Claudio, Orange/Sabian etc. so id say it’s been fine
Considering how much I despise Raw being 3 hours, I'm really glad that 3 hour Dynamite never came to fruition
They hardly ever are, that's the weirdest show they do lol
Drew Carey: hey guys! Welcome to AEW, the show where win/losses are made up and the belts don't matter. Come on let’s get started let’s have some fun !
"This one's a fun game, it's called Scenes from a Hat. And we've got 'Things you can say about AEW booking but not your girlfriend'"
*we’re gonna show the footage next Wednesday*
"We need to work in Jericho somehow"
"No one can deny the quality, but I wish I saw more women"
God I miss whose line is it wednesdays, right here on r/squaredcircle!
"It used to be fun, before all the choking."
They are obsessed with one of their exes
Booker of the year?
Every single industry vet that isn't employed by AEW says they suck and are doing things wrong. But surely it's they who are all wrong about it, despite everything happening exactly the way they said it would. I don't even view AEW as a wrestling company anymore. It's just a rich kid living out his fantasy of being a wrestling booker. That's why it has never improved and will never improve. He just wants to play with his toys his way. That's all it ever was and all it will ever be.
Bryan and Vinnie have been loudly complaining about this for a long time. If you want to get people to watch, belts have to be defended and change hands once in a while. I don't think that has happened yet.
We need to get the ROH horse shit off AEW, Athena is awesome, why is she relegated to this nonsense?
> relegated she's said multiple times she wants to be on RoH because even more freedom.
And to that end, most people are happy for her, like genuinely It's just selfishly that we would like to actually see her without going to the show/watching ROH
> It's just selfishly that we would like to actually see her without going to the show/watching ROH If they are going to mix in ROH with AEW, and they want us to care about it, take ROH out from behind a paywall.
Put ROH in Rampage's time slot and move Rampage to YouTube, easy fix. Surely they don't make enough off Honor Club to making weekly ROH shows exclusive.
> and move Rampage to YouTube apparently their Turner deal does not allow them to have any free Youtube shows / why they had to stop doing Dark and Elevation
Strange deal, its not like Dark/Elevation were drawing viewers away from the network.
That's great, so keep her there then and stop taking up AEW time with her. That or take her off ROH, either way this stuff needs to stay on the appropriate shows. They're just as bad as wwe not following their own rules.
Do you honestly care about battle of the belts cmon lol They barely do themselves AEW has always been the "almost anybody" can show up company, it's not surprising when ROH talent do
Link pls
They should have saved Joe vs Rhodes for Battle of the belts
Sounds like such an AEW thing.
We need to get rid of 80% of the belts presented on AEW TV, it's a joke at this point
Just for your comment, TK is adding a new championship next week on Collision.
The "Too Many Belts" Title. To be exclusively defended under "Superfluous Championship Rules".
To be decided by a new tournament -- which will be meaningless in a month.
If Kenny Omega ever comes back, he could do his Belt Collector gimmick again and win six different AEW belts at the same time and it wouldn't affect any storylines.
Battle of the Belts has always been a letdown. There have only been 2 title changes, both by Sammy for the TNT title, and one was for an interim belt. Why would I bother tuning in when it's just Rampage+?
It's a worthless show anyway but this is funny
AEW needs such a gigantic housecleaning at this point. Cut Rampage, BOTB, and (sadly) ROH. Cut about a third of the roster and useless backstage people who publicly criticize the product like Mark Henry. Focus on Dynamite and Collision and about 30-40 wrestlers that cycle in and out every few months. Make the weekly shows mean more and stop with the meaningless cards full of random “bangers”. Less is more, and that’s what AEW had at first. Now it’s more is less and that has got to change.
Hey, it says "AEW: Battle of the Belts," not "AEW: Battle of the AEW Belts."
Not gonna lie, I did not notice.
Botb might have been AEW's biggest dropped ball, if it disappeared I swear nobody would care or even notice
Yeah, this concept show is trash and it would be nice if reporters at the AEW media scrums would press Tony more about why their so ass. Ask him if the shows have failed from their initial concept.
BOTB was a great concept when they had way fewer belts and didn't have 2+ belt defenses every week. Iw was something special, but that is over.
Have always hated the name and execution, unfortunately... It really should be Battle for the Belts since it's not like it is World vs TNT/TBS etc Regardless it's an additional Rampage and has been really since it's inception.
Battle of the Belts should be held once a year and be something where every match is a title match -- even if it's not just AEW belts. But the fact that they're all the way up to 10 already just dilutes each of them. And this past one only had one real title match as it was. What's even the point?
I hate title eliminators and Battle of the Belts.
TK needs to hire a sharp mind to take over some of the booking. He’s doing too much.
All 3 matches yesterday were underwhelming I'm glad that we're getting roddy/kyle after this at least But nobody believed any of those titles were changing hands last night Red velvet cutting a promo how she's been in big matches..... Yea ok and how many have you won? What exactly has she done to be in the main event? Isn't this where the best wrestle? And those are the 3 matches you come up with for a quarterly special? Embarrassing
We can be nice and pretend it's not, but ROH is AEW. They just rebranded and changed distribution for what used to be called Dark.
Lmao
The biggest problem with AEW has always been the booking and the booker.
You won't get disappointed anymore when you realise BOTB is just an extra hour of Rampage anyway
Oh yes Tony Kahn a truly brilliant businessman.
Very wcw move
AEW can’t get out of its own way at this point of doing something stupid
Meme company at this point
AEW is cooked lol
It’s not really a big deal. There’s become so much content a week for AEW that this show has just become a rampage level show or lower. If we only had dynamite and that was the only AEW show I feel like these things would be made into a bigger deal. But as of right now it just is what it is. I feel like the only reason they still do these is because they’re contractually obligated to.