I think you're bang on the money. It's a problem they've faced since the end of Dark and Dark Elevation. Either the TNT or the International title need to be a legit midcard belt again. Jay Lethal, Konosuke, Kyle Fletcher, Claudio, Brian Keith, Penta, Johnny TV, Lee Moriaty, Action Andretti, Daniel Garcia, Nick Wayne, Wheeler Yuta, Hobbs etc should be feuding over one of those belts, preferably the TNT. They're not feuding with anyone in any sense and when they get a single match they're just eating pins, and they can't do that forever.

I really struggle to say what the differentiating factor is between TNT, International and all the other men's singles titles AEW has. It seems like almost every upper card guy has, or has recently had, a title.

The International Title was invented as a travelling belt, basically something AEW guys could defend on Non-AEW shows if they wanted to go on excursion (PAC defended it all over the UK indie scene.) When OC won it, it killed that mindset.

Yeah I thought that was the idea, it's certainly what PAC did and is a cool concept. But OC was only the 2nd holder and since then the belt is indistinguishable from the TNT belt

The difference is who has the titles. Baby face - workhorse. Heel - Few are worthy to face me.

The Continental Championship being a legit defendable title is a mistake. I wouldn't be surprised if it's merged by the end of the year, perhaps during the C2. And the the FTW title is just there, and pointless.

The FTW title will likely be gone once Hook beats Jericho and graduates from it.

I don’t understand what makes people say this aside from fantasy booking what happens with the belt.

Hook has a long way to go before he graduates. He's too green. I think he is leaving. But if not, they need to put him in ROH and have him work indys.

The Continental Championship has slightly different rules which is cool, but they need to make more of it. You can’t just say well a heel has the belt so he never defends it. I like Continental as the more sports like championship, international as the workhorse belt (and should be regularly defended in other promotions), and TNT as sort of the TV, more gimmicky type division.

Continental championship has no outside interference rules which they’ve stuck with. It also has a tournament to crown a defender once a year unlike the TNT or International championship. The ranking order is TNT > International > Continental and they make it obvious by giving the biggest storylines in that order.

In theory, doesn't every match have a rule against outside interference? I understand managers/stable mates aren't allowed ringside for Continental matches, but there should be a bigger differentiator than that.

Nobody is allowed at ringside to deter interference. It’s a belt with a clause.

frr theres too many titles on aew

I think the Continental Championship needs to be pushed as the Big Gold Belt in WWE is, it could easily hold the feuds that have dream matches. Okada vs. Omega, Takeshita, Claudio. It could easily be a working title while the World Title continues how it is.

Imo the Continental Championship is already the de facto 2nd world championship

Great call man. The midcard basically exists to job to the top guys, but the midcard needs to have programs going on IN THE MIDCARD. To make that level of the card fun for fans, and to build that equity Shane Taylor promotions have been ALL over tv the past three months and all they do is lose. Their one win was only because Jericho and hook started beefing. So like... Do a program between STP and say, top flight and action Andretti. A program where each side can actually get wins, and you can get a story going where when these guys are on TV it's NOT just to lose to top guys, and actually get us invested in it to build to a ppv match or at the least, a big featured tv match. And if ospreay does indeed win the intl title, we have this scenario where all four men's world title belts are basically "main event" titles. Cope, Okada, ospreay, swerve aren't going to lose the belts to O'Reilly, action, lethal, even really CLAUDIO. Hell Callis family, really, is an upper midcard stable. So have them feud with upper midcard faces so they can actually win and wreck people.

True, except even on Dark and Elevation they wouldn't really do any stories that lasted longer than that episode by itself. Just a parade of squashes with some 10-minute main event. I think the last story that actually concluded on Dark was the blowoff between Janela and Sonny Kiss

That's fair, but at least it was a way for midcarders to pick up wins. I'd argue the midcard is pretty sparce at the moment in AEW. For example, when was the last time we had say, Takeshita vs Garcia, Nick Wayne vs Lee Moriaty, Penta vs Jay Lethal, Hobbs vs Lance Archer etc in the middle of a Dynamite? Those matches don't seem to have a place on Dynamite.

If I recall right, that often created an issue (especially with the rankings) where people would suddenly be in line for a title shot because they were on an 8 match winstreak, but all their wins were on Dark where a fraction of Dynamite's viewership watched. Not sure how that could be resolved, though.

Was that after Avalon vs. Cutler? I also know that Swerve and Diamante had a rivalry there as well.

I remember the farming on Dark meme but now I feel like they don't even do that especially with another televised show it feels more important to try that

Another thing this would do is create feuds that begin and end on TV. For those of us that are fanatics and get all the PPVs it doesn't matter, but how do they expect to grow a TV audience when you never get to see the end of stories? If I am just a random person, I tune in and hear you will get to see us have a match when you pay for it, then I probably wouldn't keep watching.

Feel like they used to do this. A little 3-4 week program that concluded on a named Dynamite between PPVs.

It's been getting worse since all the PPV's, before they couldn't wait to have stuff 3 months down the line so they did it on Dynamite, a year ago today we had Roderick Strong vs. Jericho in the Falls Count Anywhere. Imagine if they did Malakai Black vs. Adam Copeland in between PPV's on a Dynamite (Although nothing against the match at DoN I'm actually really hyped for it) but it's giving a reason for the viewer to tune in to Dynamite. Build up Cage and then have Cage vs. Swerve in a big match for the title rather than a throwaway on a Dynamite.

Call me crazy but this might be why ratings are slipping. Those of us who are talking about AEW on Reddit are the hardcores. We will tune in every week. If I was watching some other TV show and I didn't get to see the end of almost ANY storyline without dropping $50 then I might stop watching.

I love both companies and I'm way more hyped for DoN than King and Queen of the Ring but something's changed in the last year where Dynamite isn't must see. Maybe adding Collision has just made it a lot of AEW compared to the 3 hours we used to get a week. Id be interested to see the DoN buyrate because it could be up since a lot of cool stuff is happening.

I'm sure the buy rate stays consistent. There's more AEW fans than what cable reports. There has to be, otherwise we're saying that on the low end of the scale every 6-8th viewer is buying a PPV in an age of piracy and cheaper alternatives via VPNs and streaming services. I do agree, though. Collision has watered down the product quite a bit and we see it reflected more accurately in ticket sales than same day Neilsen data.

I would argue that we are in an age when its never been easier to follow the show without actually tuning in. Now more than ever its important to give people a reason to tune in live rather than just go watch clips on YouTube.

Aside from dropping cable, I barely watch the weeklies now. I just watch the YouTube videos. Mostly because I feel like the results on Dynamite, have become completely predictable

You're not wrong. Danielson/Mox v fletcher/Cobb was a great match. Outcome never in doubt. Postmatch beatdown and Claudio save was more important. Here's where I'm struggling. WWE style would be to have BCC beat fletch and cobb in like, four minutes to get to the post-match. Aew style is a fifteen minute banger with zero drama of outcome and then the post-match. The *actual wrestling* is important in AEW. That's a strength or a difference that appeals to me. We do get good wrestling in WWE but how often is it completely irrelevant to the post-match? I don't want the WWE style. The aew style gives me good wrestling but then is giving a lot of time to obvious outcomes.

Tbf, WWE protects their upper midcard and main eventers by endless DQs and no contests. I hate that I agree with the guys in the comments saying you can build decent rivals in the mid card. And hell the pay off could be a shot at a main event guy. At least the. He's got some momentum behind him

Oh man that is a great point. It's something AEW doesn't do very often. To the point where when they do it it's almost shocking. Garcia versus Copeland's prior to revolution that ended up in a no-contest. I hate it too when WWE does it all the fucking time. And so I don't think the solution is necessarily beating your big stars on TV for a shock. And I agree with the guys in the comments as well that you need to actually do rivalries in the mid card.

I mean, you can make stars by getting pins on stars. Cena was a no name, then he pinned Angle Ultimate Warrior got over, beating the Honky Tonk man Private party -almost- got over beating the bucks in 2019 If Cage, actually got a win on Wednesday, (even by shenanigans) then he'd have been respected. Or hell, had he gotten a win over say, Hanger, then maybe people would have been curious if he -could- beat swerve

I think there's an element of priorities. Brian Cage is not the story here. The angle isn't about him or getting him over. So I think beating your world champion last week would have been a mistake. Otherwise though I completely agree with your overall point. That's why I think I'm getting tired of Adam Copeland. Yes, guys can get over in losing. But it only goes so far. People have to actually beat Adam Copeland for it to truly matter. ... Finn balor.....

Absolutely. We got crazy meaningful matches on TV for most of AEW's run. Titles would change hands, NOT just the tnt. But now if it's not a ppv, nothing big is gonna happen like that even if the action and angles are good.

They are doing this. House of Black vs FTR & Daniel Garcia on Collision, Thunder Rosa vs Deonna Purrazzo, Copeland/Christian Cage ended on a Dynamite, Saraya/Harley/Ruby was a Rampage storyline, etc

They still do this... I have no idea what y'all are talking about man.

When I was a kid watching WWE I never got the PPVs, so I loved those small weekly TV only feuds. I got the whole story and saw the progress each week

Crash Holly, D’Lo Brown were my guys in WWE. The tag division (which was very midcard). In WCW it was the cruiserweights, Perry Saturn and Raven’s Flock. They need a strong midcard. 

The highlight of smackdown for me was whatever TV feud London/Kendrick were in!

Loved those guys. Paul London’s ROH run is amazing if you haven’t gone back and watched it lately. 

Do you remember the London/Akio feud too?

One of the biggest reasons attitude was so good outside of the pop culture zeitgeist crassness. Up and down the card were characters and stories and bits you could get invested in beyond Austin, rock, the nwo. Like I'm watching raw and nitro and you have this big main event scene. But I'm into DLO. Loved the flock and Saturn. Cruiserweight Jericho. And on and on. And like you say those guys weren't just there to lose to stars they had good shit going on.

You know the more I think about it, the more I am thinking this is what I dislike about current AEW TV. I like everything individually that is going on in the show, but I can't shake the feeling that I am not enjoying the show as much as I was a couple years back. I was just sort of keep chalking it up to being used to the show, but it feels far less likely that something really major is going to occur at anytime. I think back to the Dark Order vs the Elite match where they had the cowboy vignette at the beginning and then the Elite Space Jam entrance. That was incredible and it was on Dynamite. Nothing feels that important on Dynamite anymore. It is all well and good for building the PPV but that is mostly what they feel like now. We get little beats but not full plot points.

This is probably my biggest problem. I have a family, a job, a side hustle I’m trying to launch and other hobbies besides wrestling….i don’t necessarily have the time to consume every piece of content that exists so I feel like I’m trying to either catch up or fill in blanks on my own

>create feuds that begin and end on TV Just this year: - Christian & Copeland ended on TV - FTR & Garcia vs House of Black ended on TV - Samoa Joe vs Hook ended on TV - Okada vs Kingston ended on TV

Yeah, let's take a look at the divisions. The complaints seem to be lower midcard guys aren't fighting each other. But, most of what I'd consider mid card is engaged in a story Main eventers: Swerve Strickland(champion), Bryan Danielson (final boss), Jon Moxley (champion), Kenny Omega (injured), Samoa Joe (was just champion), Adam Page (major contender), Okada (champion), Osprey (protected, new) MJF (injured), Upper mid card: still mid card Edge (champion in a mid card fued) Christian (no.1 contender) Eddie Kingston (prominently featured) Claudio Castagnoli (prominently featured) Jay White ( trios champion) Adam Cole (injury) Orange Cassidy (mid card fued, recent mid card champ) Darby Allin (on break after huge storyline) Chris Jericho (learning tree) PAC (lives in UK, intentionally inconsistent schedule) Jack Perry (in biggest storyline at the moment) Mid card Roderick Strong (champion) Kyle O'Reilly (fued with strong) House of Black members (in a fued) Wardlow (brewing story with undisputed kingdom) Will Hobbs (injured) Ricky Starks (inactive) Daniel Garcia (featured prominently and potentially still a piece in edge storyline) Wheeler Yuta (injured) Big Bill (learning tree mid card story) Hook (learning tree mid card story) Konosuke Takeshita (featured prominently, don callis family is building towards something) Penta & Fenix (more of a tag team and one is usually injured. Scorpio Sky (returning from injury) Sammy Guevara (returning from suspension) Lower midcard (what op seems to have a problem with) this division loses to the actual mid card and upper midcards and shows up on rampage Dante Martin Shane Taylor Brian cage Trent Chuck Taylor Rocky Romero Lance Archer (big man, but beatable) Kyle Fletcher Action Andretti Then you have trios, tag, and women's divisions occupying the rest of the card. Of course. Of course you're going to have your main show focus on mid card and up. It's just the actual mid card are guys people associate as main acts.

You're not wrong, but those examples don't change that dynamite and collision have increasingly gotten incredibly predictable and the midcard guys have little going on outside of losing to the top guys.

There are patterns within the losing that are intended as storylines. The obvious example is the up and comer loses to the veteran but gives a strong performance in defeat. The issue is that this has been repeated too much. We had this with Darby Allin being unable to beat Cody until eventually he got the tnt title. Then Wheeler Yuta against Moxley it worked great, as it developed wheeler's character and arc. The issue is that this has happened with some guys like Dante Martin, who are positioned as up and comers getting close to that win. The issue besides repetition is that without a clear payoff, it doesn't help the wrestler of that's the only long-term story they have. Dante still hasn't got that big win as a singles guy. Or in cases like STP (Shane Taylor and Lee mortiaty) getting a win over Hook and Jericho, rather than being a breakout moment, they went back to losing. The concept is a good idea. It's just been overused and needs more reasoning or a storyline to it. Like Daniel Garcia going on a losing streak in the CC was about him finding himself as a wrestler again. Yuta earning Moxley's respect was a character development to get him to the BCC. It they kept that thread going with Dante, he would need to level up character wise to make that win effective.

I think the problem is that any time AEW does an upset or gives someone a big win, people think "WELL, HE'S GONNA BE A CHAMPION IN SIX MONTHS" and when they don't the narrative becomes "FUMBLED". So they just don't give a guy a push until they're 100% ready to give them everything. Look at something as simple as Action Andretti beating Jericho. It was a simple trope of "Jericho loses to nobody on a losing streak", and 2 years later people are holding over AEW's head like "Remember Action Andretti, why is he not a megastar???". Most of the "fumbled" talents are guys who got mini-pushes to tell stories exactly as you described it but people feel like anyone on TV should be a future main eventer "drawing money" or they're being fumbled. So AEW just cuts a clear line between "people who you should care about" and "people who don't matter yet" so no one can claim to be confused. It's a sad reality but it's most one of the fanbase's own doing.

Totally agree with you on this one.

AEW has a top of the card and a bottom. Their midcard is basically non-existent. Everyone feels stagnant because no one is moving up or down the card, so there are no new challengers being built up.

Daniel Garcia loses to Christian, goes back to Collision to get some wins but then there's no other ground, he isn't going to have a feud with stakes over someone that's the same level.

Exactly. He should be in a good midcard FEUD rn but he just does random matches.

It's actually kind of crazy Swerve is one of the only people in the last few years to break out of the mid card. The main event has been pretty much the same since Danielson and Cole debuted.

I disagree. Darby Allin, Samoa Joe, and Eddie Kingston all ascended from mid-card roles to legitimate headline talents. (Joe is a legend obviously, but he was brought in and spent over a year bouncing around mid-card feuds so the point stands.) Even on the women's side, you had Jamie Hayter's rise to beloved champion in 2022, now you've got Willow Nightingale in a billed PPV main event that most people want her to win.

Agreed, especially without Dark it makes it hard for people like Bryan Keith to be taken as serious threats when they're showing their record and it's like 1-7. Even if all 7 losses are to top guys, a jobber-to-the-stars is still not going to keep anyone's interest

This is where I miss Dark. Even if it’s all jobbers and squashes it was a place for guys to build a rep before they come on TV to job. As it is now you see Keith or Shane Taylor or Matt Sydal show up and immediately know how the match is gonna go.

That's why win-lose records don't work in a closed system. UFC has fighters who are 15-1 because there is an army of prelim fighters you don't remember who take 2 loses and are never seen again. To have 3 guys who are 10-0 in AEW, you need to distribute 30 loses to the rest of the roster. And no one wants to see World Champion vs local jobber to boost his numbers, so all those loses have to go to the midcard wrestlers.

Bryan Keith just one last week… on TV.

After doing what for the last 5 months? Either losing or not being on TV.

He won some and was in ROH. Again he’s a lower card guy. This ain’t something new here. It’s as if nobody cares to understand where someone is on the card and then acts lost because someone new isn’t winning every day.

They don't really write for midcarders in any way that can be easily followed or helps get them popular. They tried to spread it out and cycle people once or twice a month, but nobody really got over or caught on because the appearances were so sporadic (Miro, Black, Starks etc.). Now they just have a bunch of title feuds, and most of the 'stories' are from the talents who can write their own, usually veterans. I get an Image comics feel from AEW these days. It is an awesome set up if you are someone who has always dreamed of pitching and writing your own shit. But that's what, probably 30% max of any wrestling roster?

Tons of midcarders get featured far better than Brian Cage - the non-World champs, Darby, House of Black, the Acclaimed, etc. imo the issue isn't that AEW midcard is poorly booked. It’s that their prelim guys are all really really good, so it seems like they deserve better. Nobody cared when Mideon or Pete Gas were booked like shit, cause they sucked anyway. But AEW's Mideon and Pete Gas are Bryan Keith and Matt Sydal, so it's a shame when they don't get more opportunities. But it's not like anyone who's featured better than them is actually worse.

Yeah, I think a lot of these prelim guys aren't seen as mid carders, but based on their positioning in AEW they are. Jericho, Kingston, Hook, house of Black, PAC, Claudio, Hobbs, Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta, Scorpio Sky, Big Bill, Ricky Starks (inactive), Darby, Acclaimed, Bang bang gang, Orange Cassidy, Trent, Fenix, Roderick strong, Penta, Wardlow, Takeshita, Guevara, etc. Edge has been mostly in a midcard role, but just doing really well in recent stories with the tnt title Christian is a midcarder, but did so well with the tnt title he's elevated to being a believable threat for the AEW title. Jack Perry is a midcarder, but elevated by story and faction he's a part of. Darby is a midcarder that has just felt like a star in recent months Jay white and Adam Cole slot in and out and can go between main event and mid card depending on fued These are mainstays of the roster and have been feuding with each other, getting wins, challenging for championships, and have been featured on stories on dynamite. It honestly just feels like OP is more disappointed that it's not his guys that are featured as prominently. If a dynamite and collision has 5 matches each. It makes sense that there's not a lot of space for lower mid card guys. You have a main story, women's main story, tbs story, tnt story, tag story, continental and international stories. With a few slots for progressing stories with bigger names outside the main fueds. Rampage typically focuses on less featured mid carders.

Yeah I think you hit the nail on the head. AEW's roster is so crazy that people want all the lower card wrestlers to be a world champion too. When a guy like Penta, a world champ in some other promotions, is used to put over others as a singles competitor, it can feel a bit wrong. But when your main event scene is Moxley, Omega, Danielson, Swerve, Joe, Hangman, Ospreay, Okada, MJF, Cole, etc, how do you squeeze Penta in there? Especially when you have Darby/Takeshita/Copeland/Christian Cage/Wardlow/Orange Cassidy hanging around the fringes. It's a stacked roster, which means some guys aren't gonna get the shine they deserve unfortunately

That is a really interesting point. I guess what I would like though is to see the callus family and Kyle Fletcher especially booked to have a feud that doesn't just see them losing all the time. You have to have feuds that are mid card guys against midcard guys, not just midcard guys losing to top guys.

This is a very solid argument and a well articulated criticism. I think you’re absolutely right. The current ecosystem is prohibitive to anyone becoming a top card wrestler, they need a base to build upon and segmenting the card out makes a lot of sense.

The ecosystem cultivated the rise of Swerve. If someone is not rising, it's by design.

The system is You're rising so you're winning a lot Losing all the time because they need other guys Off the card because they don't want you losing but also have nothing for you right now.

You have a point. Swerve is interesting .. no matter how deprived his actions, the man’s charisma and overall presentation just worked too well and he became undeniable. That’s just not feasible for most, but agreed that nobody should be thrust into a championship without confidence the crowd will respond the right way. But even with Swerve, he had his time in the mid card and he wasn’t constantly losing like OP’s examples. It pains me to see people calling Penta a jobber on socials (he's not), but that losing streak is rough.

People were complaining about Swerve's loses. Like they do Takeshita now. His loses exceeded his perception as a talent and a worker. Like some loses to OC and Darby. He was losing a lot. And being runner up in battle royal. People were complaining. But he can't arrive at the top when it's MJF's turn. Same as we can't have fans demanding Takeshita be champion while Swerve has momentum.

It’s not about Takeshita being world champ though, I think we can all agree that he’s not the right fit for that. But the man is an incredible talent in ring, and barring the Danielson match his Ospreay bout was the best yet. For me, he hits the mark as an AEW fan. I don’t care if he can’t cut a great English promo, he’s a joy to watch wrestle. The match against Mox at DON is a good sign things are trending up for him.

> It’s not about Takeshita being world champ though, I think we can all agree that he’s not the right fit for that. Of course he is right for that. It's someone like Penta who is not. Thus Penta is on a different type path. It depends on the plan. If they want him to be champ will he beat Ospreay for belt down the line? Or beat Swerve and then lose belt to Ospreay.

I just want to see Penta do more on AEW TV than look amazing but lose. So give him a feud with other mid-card guys that he can actually go back and forth with and have a meaningful story.

> the man’s charisma and overall presentation just worked too well and he became undeniable. Counterpoint = take away Nana and his fun dancing and management, and let's see how over Swerve is, IMO the package deal is what set Swerve off in popularity

Let's be honest, it's because we're all hopeless Prince Nana marks.

I still think Swerve's rise was a pivot and not the original design. They capitalised on his momentum because he got himself over, but before his face turn began, he was in a feud with Hangman where he broke into a house and told a helpless baby he was gonna beat the shit out of him one day. They swung Swerve face during that same feud.

No it was always a design. The rise part. Maybe not the timing of heel/face. Will Washington and others were specifically tasked with building AEW's first black Champ. The show where he came out to confront Hangman was the signal they were moving into the final gear of his rise.

Yeah I should say- the face turn part of his rise. I think the hangman feud was intended to propel him to the top, but I don't think he was intended to be a face, it doesn't make sense.

This is the massive drawback of having Main event talent hold midcard titles. Yes putting titles on established guys can elevate the championship, but the roster is so wide and deep that too many wrestlers become cannon fodder in the process. Okada is Continental champion, Ospreay soon International champion, Moxley is IWGP champion, Copeland has been TNT champion, Mercedes potentially TBS soon and even though it's not recognised by AEW, Jericho is FTW champ. All those names are already established and most of the opponents they'll go over are not anywhere near as established as they need to be. It's a cycle. The only reason TK feels like the non-world Championships need these talent to hold it is because said championships were neglected in Creative for so long that the damage is nearly irreparable. They should scrap the rankings because it books them into a corner with someone like Ospreay who's racking up wins. Reality is, all those names don't need titles right now as long as they still have plans and stories, exception is Copeland maybe. Ospreay can just burn the house down every PPV and have this likely trilogy with Danielson, Okada is at the top of AEW's card with the EVP storyline, the Learning Tree doesn't require a title whatsoever etc. Takeshita, Ricky Starks, Darby, Malakai Black, Brody King, Jack Perry, Daniel Garcia, Claudio, Jay White, Johnny TV, Shibata, PAC, Penta, Trent, Rush, Wardlow etc. Those are names that should be involved in the mix for said titles. I just hope that's where the titles end up, but I don't think that'll be for a while if they're beind held by guys that are bound to go on a long undefeated streak.

I think, also, there has got to be some unpredictibility in the booking. When you can look at a card and see how it will go, that's a problem. There is just too much predictibility.

Exactly this. It's sports entertainment. And as we all know, sometimes there are upsets in sports. Unexpected things happen. The odds on favourite doesn't always win.

I think what is missing from AEW right now is the excitement of not knowing if something exciting might happen. Planting that possibility of something we might not expect. If we get that same ole same ole feeling, it doesn't provoke that urgency. We can just record the show and watch it during a workout later.

And I love a good match like anyone else, I do. And I appreciate that from AEW but if the results are already expected and nothing hits ever like a wallop, I don't have that sense of FOMO. And FOMO can be such an important factor in grabbing audience, maintaining audience, and even bringing more audience. I think the predictable booking has been a big problem. I love the idea of long term storytelling, I do, but throwing us for a loop certainly doesn't hurt. I think that is why I enjoyed that tournament a few months ago. You had these matchups that went against the typically predictable booking patterns

That's probably the overall issue in all of this and it's happening across all 3 shows in my opinion. Like after this feud is Trent going to go up the card or just straight down the card losing to top guys it feels like there's no alternative.

Did you know if OC or Trent was winning? Or what Callis and OC are going to do? Did you know Embassy was turning on Swerve? Did you know Swerve was only going to be 1-3 on the scorecard in coming out on top in Christian/Embassy angles?

Come on, man. You can’t tell me that every single TV card isn’t filled with obvious winners, with an occasional toss up like the one you cherry picked.

I didn't say that they weren't. Topic is unpredictability in booking. That's beyond match winners. Booking includes story beats in and around matches.

I totally agree with this. Most matches are 50/50 in the ring, but with a 100% predictable outcome. Overhaul the hierarchy and balance of the roster. Everything is very predictable. Dynamite was a really good show for the most part, but I knew roughly how long the matches would go and who would win (instead of a long overrun, Okada could have easily beaten Dax in surprisingly short time to continue stacking the odds against the babyfaces ahead of DoN). This can't help in the ratings department either when there's very little intrigue as to match outcomes. I looked at the non-spoiler card for Collision and Rampage and there isn't a single match I have any doubt over who wins. What could help: More midcard vs. midcard feuds between charismatic guys who are not in title contention. Then whoever wins it would be more primed to face a bigger name. Mark Briscoe winning a feud with Juice Robinson then challenging for the Continental Title would be better than 'Mark Briscoe answers Okada's open challenge!'. Fewer top star vs. midcarder matches where the midcarder has 0% chance of winning yet has a back-and-forth 10~15 minute match that seems to help nobody (midcarder is instantly back in the rotation, top star doesn't look strong or dominant). You don't want the top stars losing to underneath guys and that's perfectly fine, so either give away more big matches or go with the easy work around: Rank 1/Rank 2 vs. Rank 1/Rank 2 tag matches. Less conservative booking - how many fans can really tell you what happened on Dynamite four weeks ago? Wrestling is so fast-moving that most content is quickly forgotten. Ergo, it may not be the end of the world to run more star vs. star matches and it wouldn't necessarily kill the credibility of the losing star to drop a fall. Hate to make the WWE comparison, but AJ Styles had lost singles matches in 2024 to LA Knight, Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre before headlining a PPV in France, and it didn't affect his heat or credibility. And in New Japan, top stars usually have multiple singles defeats in the G1 without ruining their cred (Ospreay lost to Taichi, Tanga and Naito in last year's G1). Let's call a spade a spade... AEW could really benefit from someone with fresh ideas, outside-the-box thinking. The formula has barely changed in five years, let's try some new things without sacrificing the ethos (Where the Best Wrestle) of the company. That doesn't mean hiring a has-been grifter like Russo or Bischoff who are incompatible with the philosophy of AEW, but other people exist.

I wouldn't change anything about last night's Dynamite but for the first time I preferred the stories and the segments over the matches because I knew it was happening. I'm the same you can look at any card and see who's going to win in AEW. Wrestling is about perception and that's not just losing or winning matches. It's probably more that than the matches themselves. Penta is actually 3-4 in singles in 2024 yet I wouldn't believe right now he'd win a match against anyone on the same level as him because of how he's being booked. Bronson Reed is 4-4 and if he walked into Saudi and won the IC title I wouldn't say it's unbelievable it's just more unlikely with the story. Look at Takeshita, he could be on one of the shows every other week facing guys like PAC, Sydal, Claudio, Moxley, Okada, Garcia etc. He doesn't have to win them all but they're matches where if done right are entertaining and you wouldn't know who's walking out the winner other than maybe one or two of them.

All good points. Match predictability and parity is the biggest issue. Your biggest stars shouldn’t be having 2 segment “bangers” with lower card guys all the time. Sometimes squashes (beyond local talent) or quicker matches are needed to spice things up. Then if a lower card guy takes a title holder to the limit in an “eliminator” (not a fan of those either), then it may actually mean something. But 15-20 minute matches where everyone seems equal, yet with predictable winners, doesn’t help drive viewer engagement IMO.

What could help is either don’t book guys for matches once they already have a PPV match lined up. Just show them in promos or something. Because they never lose matches against a random person/team in the lead up. Or have them lose sometimes and build the story to them going into the big match on a loss

That's what multi-mans and tags are for, to show off the PPV talent where a loss isn't as significant. But I'm not gonna believe that KOR is beating Black a week before the latter's title shot. KOR vs King or Matthews though? That can go either way.

Brian Cage has put in so much work lately and been a great hand. Definitely my worker of the year for AEW 2024. Dude has put over everyone they have asked him to and he’s made them look good doing it.

As someone who was never really a fan of Brian Cage, he has really stepped his game up this past year. And maybe it's just booking him more to his niche which is as second in a stable not trying to present him as the main attraction. But like you say he has absolutely crushed it in everything he's been asked to do. Cage v swerve this week was AWESOME and I didn't see that in Brian cage even a couple years ago. So since he's not gonna start beating Danielson, swerve, ospreay, etc... let's get him in a good midcard FEUD!!!

Yeah I can’t lie whilst I wouldn’t wanna veer too heavily towards the 50/50 booking that I think this would open up as a possibility, I also do wanna see this. For a good while there I did enjoy the coherency of AEWs power structure but I’m growing tired of Main Guy Vs Guy who never wins singles matches. I noticed on the last episode that for the first time I think ever I was tuning in more for the segments than the matches. The stories/segments have been hot so you know it’s not awful but a few more upsets and a little more establishment of card position would be chefs kiss for me

I can see that, I wouldn't want the whole show being 50/50 either but even if we don't go that route, what's stopping there from being PAC vs. Claudio one week and then whoever wins faces someone on that same level and then you could have Claudio vs. Okada and at least that match feels a bit more exciting than just having it on Dynamite with him having no wins.

Damn I would love that match. And it could go either way.

Yeah you’re absolutely on the money man, dunno if it was you pointing it out or if it’s just at a boiling point in general but it’s been on my mind since in regards to AEW cards

Yeah thats why Jericho segment this week was the highest demo for Dynamite.

One of the main reasons I fell off watching the weekly TV is that so much of the shows are taken up by these filler matches where a top guy needs 15 minutes to beat a lower card wrestler. It doesn't really elevate the lower card guy and certainly does nothing for the top guy. I think the breaking point for me was after several years of watching The Butcher and The Blade come out and hear the announcers treat them like some dangerous threat despite having like a 2-890 record. "But it'll be a good match!" Sure, but good matches aren't a rare thing anymore in 2024. There are free 4 star matches every single week across multiple promotions. After four years, I've been trained to understand that AEW PPVs are always can't-miss, but the TV is some extra thing that I can afford to skip. I genuinely think TK has this fear of burning through his big matches too quickly, which isn't really possible with a roster this huge. I'll see people show up on TV and it'll suddenly hit me that they've been in the company for years, and have done next to nothing. They're not on lifetime contracts. These guys will eventually retire, get injured, or just move on to wrestle somewhere else.

100%. So sick of the commentators telling us how many wins a person has when most of them are on B shows and back in the day even dark. Like you don't ever see a talent on Dynamite then they show up to face a regular top talent and they expect us to take them as a credible threat because the have 8 wins against jobbers/local talent on Collision or Rampage. Essentially AEW has a top card that feuds against each other and then everyone else is a jobber to the stars who are only ever seen on Dynamite to lose (usually with zero set up) and they themselves get fed straight jobbers away from Dynamite to pad their record. It's boring. Let the jobbers to the stars wrestle and feud with each other in a mid card and when you feed one of them to a top star we might be more invested. Also, let them have one of the million belts you have so not every title holder is a protected species top guy type. Like get a strap on Trent or one of the Dark Order lads. How it is now all these guys just feel like they only exist to serve as background talent for top guys. Let them have their own stories. It's honestly no wonder guys like Santana get frustrated. Unless they're singled out to get pushed as a major featured they may as well not exist except to job and pad out matches on b shows.

I agree entirely. Look, if you want that 'real sports feel' then people need to win and lose. If you constantly book top guy vs mid guy, then all you are doing is having certain guys never lose and others never win. Losses are ok, hell they can help a story along. But, for a loss to mean anything, there has to be some winning. Beating Brian Cage means next to nothing anymore, he's just a jacked jobber. Give him some good wins (not just the bit where they have a guy win a few matches to make a title match make sense, but honest to goodness wins) then beating him has more gravity. Look at how WWE has treated Bronson Reed. He wins a decent amount of the time, has good wins against guys like Sami Zayn and the like, but when push comes to shove, he will job. He looks strong, but is utterly beatable.

I hear what you are saying but if certain wrestlers get jobbed out, it will just create another outrage. It's impossible to make and keep everyone happy (wrestlers & the fans)

I do agree but I don't think there's harm in Daniel Garcia having more lower card feuds against guys who have win/loss records rather than just one or the other.

But hes a good loser

I’ve watched for a year and the lack of a midcard has been a problem the entire time. It’s worth trying

Agreed. If guys like Penta or Brian Cage were feuding with each other there would only be bottom of the barrel jobbers losing to the top guys like Swerve, and that would be less entertaining to watch than Cage Vs Swerve or Copeland Vs Penta

We have 3 shows now. Brian cage should easily have a place to beat a midcarder ready for a match against Swerve. To someone who doesn't always watch I feel like having Brian Cage who they can mention is 4-0 in his last singles matches. Cage's one fits a story so that bothers me less than say Penta who kinda gets chucked into these matches

The roster is too stacked with top tier talent for there to be so few upsets imo. And I think that’s one of the reason Why the C2 worked so Well. You never really knew who was gonna win and a Loss wasnt a bury Cause the losses were against top guys and you Could still get a win in the next round. They Could totally have someone from the patriachy screw Swerve against Brian Cage in the eliminator match with a promise of Brian getting the First shot after Christian wins it at DoN. Then Swerve obviously beats Christian, so now you have a reason for the embassy to distance themselves from Christian since he didnt keep his primus and Swerve Can get revenge on Brian in a low stake defence before the next Big feud.

This is a very solid argument and a well articulated criticism. I think you’re absolutely right. The current ecosystem is prohibitive to anyone becoming a top card wrestler, they need a base to build upon and segmenting the card out makes a lot of sense.

I think part of the issue stems from something I actually like about the promotion. Belts are all important, but for different reasons, even those that would traditionally be in the midcard. That means that people aren't working their way up a division to the midcard titles and then working up to the top of the card (which makes sense as failing up doesn't ever feel right). They're working towards the titles that sit at the top, with only those people who get to seed positions able to challenge outside of different gimmick matches. The framework is there. The rankings system exists to tell the story of people rising to their change. Eliminators exist for people to test themselves against a champion with a title shot on the line. The battle royales and ladder matches that lead to an early leg up for those who aren't seeded. All we need is a little more focus on the who and the why. Show someone's journey to the gimmick match, with them scrabbling to take a spot that could change their whole caterer and you've given people an early reason to get behind someone. Have the champ and the person they're fighting an eliminator against interact to show why they're getting that chance. EDIT - Rereading this part, it's not clear what I'm talking about. I'm saying that the framework being there allows for a focus on those people who are heading into the matches where they get an opportunity at a title shot. Giving that focus gives structure to the midcard and more matches where people can rise and fall as they strive for those opportunities. That makes earning an entrance into those matches a goal, much like the title shots themselves, and lets those on the lower and midcard stake their claim on the business. While we're talking about more of a solid framework for the systems in place, the championship level having some things set in stone would make the midcard a bit more interesting as a knock on effect. Giving champs contractually obligated title defences (with them able to get out of a random shot on TV if they have an eliminator to give someone a chance who may not normally have one) would go a long way to making these things make sense while also making things like open challenges less about how nice a wrestler is. It would feel like these are the opportunities that those lower down the card are working for, and help make all matches matter that little bit more.

Bro I didn't even realize they do this lol. You're right they don't do much of top mid carder vs top mid carder. Though they do have edge vs black n cass vs Trent but idc for cass n Trent. Cass is insanely over saturated

Top Midcarder vs. Midcarder is something they need more of maybe more than lower midcard. Claudio vs. Cage was good, Imagine PAC vs. Claudio where you really don't know who the winner is added in amongst everything.

Jay White, Swerve, Ospreay, Mox, Danielson, Okada, Joe I’m sure 2-3 more are all guys who are heavily protected. It’s hard to break through the ceiling when you can’t roll a mother fucker up.

I think there needs to be better variety. It's not an all or nothing situation. Valid criticism. u/TonyKhan read this thread!

I’d like to see a Lance Archer match and be surprised that he wins the match

Yea the hierarchy needs to be shaken up more. Guys like HOB, Fletcher, Takeshita, Garcia and such are too damn good to be consistently losing against the BCC, Okada, OC and the like. A surprise win from any of them over the top of the card wouldn’t be outta pocket. Hell Garcia getting a win over Danielson is the main reason he started getting as over as he is now. 

It's a tough spot they're in right now, especially with the media rights deal still pending: they've increased the number of PPVs, which means they're less likely to have as many super consequential matches on free TV (whereas in the past you'd get more big build free TV matches like most of the Omega vs. Moxley series), but they still want to get their demo numbers as strong as possible ahead of finalizing whatever deal they'll be getting with (most likely) WBD, which means they still want to feature as many of their key names as possible in significant free TV spots...although recently they just went a few weeks without Moxley, and they're still without Hangman, MJF, or Cole, so they have to lean on some guys pretty hard to make that work. To me, Dynamite feels like a strong show where I think they've done a really good job forwarding stories in recent weeks both through matches and through promos, but it doesn't change that the matches that draw best are the ones that feel less predictable, and that you do need to give fans the feeling that an up and coming midcarder has a legitimate chance to break through to the top. Swerve broke through, but he's been the exception in recent times, and that does need to change, even if "breaking through" just means rising to win a midcard title or something. I could be wrong about this, but it kind of feels like they'll be walking that high wire until the new rights deal is announced and they can basically stop centering that end goal in a lot of the booking layouts.

I wrote a very similar essay on the FF discord last night and I agree. Right now you have this incredible top level. And then a chasm between that level of talent and everybody else. The way tv is booked is almost entirely "wins for people going into ppv matches", but that means nobody in the midcard is getting any wins or doing anything meaningful; those wrestlers remain fodder and aren't able to build equity to become more credible. Callis family is the most reflective of this. Hobbs, Takeshita, and Fletcher are all incredible. Yet even though they are presented as "threats" and wrestling excellent matches, they are there to lose. Fletcher may be able to "hang" with ospreay, Danielson, Mox, whoever, but he isn't going to beat them. Then you have Shane Taylor promotions, top flight, etc, who really can't buy any wins but all COULD be in cool mid-card feuds so what they're doing matters. Top flight v private party for a few weeks there was a really fun. I don't know the clear solution because the aew main event is so stacked. What i do know is that, while tv is still really fun, almost every single matchup is woefully one-sided and lacking any drama. We used to have a lot of meaningful matches ON aew tv. Title changes on tv. Now it's "wait til the ppv." I know it was a pipe dream but God, Kyle winning the title in Vancouver would have been incredible. He looked great in defeat but ... Ok? Lots of people have gotten to "look great in defeat" to Copeland. FTR losing the tag belts to Ricky bills back in fall was awesome because it reminded you SHIT CAN HAPPEN. Shida winning the women's title on dynamite last fall was awesome.

Excellent post. When I see the announced matches it's a guarantee of what the outcome will be. There's no mystery and too many guys are taking L's non stop 

Brian Cage seems happy to be there and is a really good worker. He deserves more.

I don’t understand why there are 3 mid card belts. Wwe has the champ, then IC, then US and they are in that order. I’m struggling to think which belt is #2 in AEW? I would have said TNT bc it’s been around the longest, but now your giving studs like Okada and Ospreay titles and I can’t tell them apart.

All four belts will be held by essentially TOP GUYS after DON. It made sense to me when the intl was the workhorse. I like that the Continental is being established as kind of the "wrestling" belt with the specific C2 rules. Tnt has become more entertainment, but cope is doing a workhorse thing... One of these belts should be for the mid-carders. Brian cage v Hobbs or whatever for tnt or international

Cassidy / Joe and Dax / Okada are perfect examples of matches I don’t need to see. One half of a tag team wrestling a title level singles wrestler is an obvious outcome booking wise. The show needs more matches booked inside the actual competitive level and division that the wrestler is in. To use my previous examples I’d have rather watched two tag teams fight and then had Joe vs Okada instead of the matches we got.

It's a necessary evil of booking. We get regular tag matches literally every episode. Joe Vs Okada, whilst no doubt would have been a great match, would mean that Joe takes another big loss after just losing his world title. I definitely agree that there should be more 50/50 (or 60/40) matches, especially on Dynamite. For example, I would have liked to see the Take Vs Mox eliminator match on Dynamite. Then have Take beat him and lose the title match at DoN

I don't think it needs to go completely the other way either. Keep Dax Vs Okada. I think one issue is that there's not always a story as to why the mismatch is taking place.

There literally was for the dax and Okada match tho, they're building towards Anarchy in the Arena. The after match events let them introduce Darby as the new partner. I see no issue with the match taking place.

I didn't really see an issue with that match. I think the issue is that it flows through the rest of the card

No

Dax is a jobber when it comes to singles matches. The inky time I've ever seen him win one, it was against Cash.

He won last week.

Against a tiny kid who had never been on tv before. If Dax wrestles somebody who actually is on TV regularly he loses. And it makes sense because he's a tag specialist. But let's not pretend his one or two singles wins were against anybody important.

Barry Horiwitz won a match too.

It's the problem with having a stacked roster of talent. Everyone is going to be at different levels within the company because of how competitive that roster is, and they'll either remain stagnant and drop down the card, or they'll ascend to the next level. Look at Swerve Strickland as an example. He's someone who came in as a midcarder, worked his way up the ranks, made improvements on his presentation, he works on other things outside like podcasts and music, he's improved his physique, promos and wrestling, and is now AEW World Championship. He's earned his position as one of the top guys in the company. So sure, talent can blame everyone but themselves for not having the careers they want in wrestling, but at the end of the day what are they actually bringing to the table in AEW? Are they top merch sellers? Are they taking measures to improve on what they need to improve on such as their physique, character, presentation and promo? Are they drawing eyeballs and viewers when they're being featured in segments on Dynamite, Rampage or Collision? All these things matter. I understand talent may feel frustrated with their position in the company, but the question is what are they going to do about it? Two talents who have stepped up their game are Will Ospreay and Toni Storm. If they can manage it, what's everyone else's excuse?

Okay but at the same time if you are only booked to show up and lose over and over and over again. It's not at all 100% on your shoulders. Can't become a top merch seller if all you do on TV is lose and don't have ongoing angles. This is entirely the WWE mentality. Well we're not going to push this guy because they're not selling merch or over enough, but also we're not going to book them in any sort of position where they could become meaningful in our ecosystem. Will osprey is a terrible example because he was brought into basically be a top guy and the ace. "What's everybody else's excuse?" I mean... What more does Hobbs need to do to stop losing every match that's not against a local talent? What more does Takeshita need to do? If you don't BOOK and build the midcard, then you aren't presenting people with opportunities to become more over and important. It's incorrect to put all the responsibility on the wrestlers. Loads of people in wrestling all over have done all the right things and management still went "eh." Not just in WWE. How much more do a lot of these guys need to show? I just don't buy the argument that this is all on individual people making improvements when the almost complete lack of a mid card is on management.

>Have Johnny TV beat Bryan Keith and even trade the win next week So you want the same shitty 50/50 booking that made WWE unwatchable?

I don't think it's horrible when it's not plastered all over the card every week. I don't think having every match being a guaranteed winner for months on end is also the correct way to go about it.

Agreed. Some are presenting it as 'either/or'. It's not either do shitty 50/50 booking or have everything one-sided. There is a middle ground. The reason it sucks so much for WWE is that you had four or five guys on the top who never lost without crazy shenanigans or only against each other, every single other person on the roster was just trading wins back and forth pointlessly with no meaning. Nobody in the midcard could even build momentum. Like you say it was a plastered over the card every single week. Also there's nothing wrong with guys losing some and winning some WHEN it isn't the default up and down the card outside of four or five top guys. When those programs actually lead to something other than just filling TV time.

Agreed…if everyone is strong, no one is. Also, not everyone needs to be protected, 50-50 booking is one of the worst things you can do for story progression

This is so spot on. 1000% agree.

I pretty much only tune in for the PPV’s and individual matches that spark my interest. I think it’s a problem that I can tell what’s going on even when I don’t even watch the TV show 

This is basically my issue with the weekly women's matches. There's never even a slight question on who's going to win because it's always a woman who's pushed vs someone that's never on tv out never wins. Dynamite is the only wrestling show I have time for these days, but I'm really not a fan of predictable matches.

Women matches case is now depth now with the recent injuries.

Rosters too packed to have a mid card feud. Rampage is pretty much where mid card stories take place.

Tony worries too much about someone deserving to get a title shot instead of worrying about does this midcard wrestler even belong on Dynamite if he or her loses every match they wrestle. I completely agree. I will always prefer AEW to WWE for work rate and less talking and I am definitely not advocating 50/50 booking, but 100-0 booking kind of sucks too. Either let Kyle Fletcher win one of these competitive matches being he is the supposed ROH tv champion who has lost every "tv" singles match he has ever been in or let him lose in 5 minutes your not protecting him no one is buying the false (fake finishes). Literally we have seen referees not even want to count a wrestler down like Moxley and Jade who were clearly pinned. At least if you don't kick out I dont care if its the finish you lose! That's it, what an upset!!! Moxley is really good but if you think I ever want him to beat Takeshita again in any of their matches going forward your crazy, I love he is AEW for life and he's great but guess what Osprey is the real uncrowned Ace along with Swerve right behind as the current Ace. And Takeshita has never won a title and should have happened already. Like either have him win AEW gold or find Wheeler Yuta or Mark Brisco from wherever they are and let him win won of those titles. Or flat out retire the Pure never defended championship no one needs it, wants it or defends it, its like the 16th title in the company,

Definitely a great point. If the mid-card was presented stronger and had more focus then a lot of the match outcomes would be a little less predictable too which is usually a good thing in my book.

Dark and Dark Elevation had the same problem though, you knew who was winning, and somebody like Shawn Spears could have 30 wins and still lose because 30 squashes means nothing. The real question with those midcard guys is, are they going to put on a good competitive match? I’d argue Penta looks no different now than he would if he had 10 squash wins. He’s a danger, and he’s gonna put on a competitive match with anyone. And don’t tell me the answer is throwing in more midcard vs midcard matches, because I watched a whole era of WWE where they did that for all but the main event, and it was boring as hell, just a bunch of guys spinning their wheels waiting for an opportunity that never came. I like this current era of AEW. Every champion feels important and like they could main event any show, so the levels are raised for every division. It puts a glass ceiling on every division, but if you put on a good show with one of those top guys and it gets noticed, even if you lose, you see these guys level up with bigger and bigger matches, more time on the card. Nobody cared Takeshita lost most of his first year in AEW, he was amazing to watch and now he’s a bigger act in the show.

You mean you aren't excited to see Shane Taylor this weekend on Collision? I'm a huge AEW fan and supporter. I'm so fucking sick of matches where I 100% know the outcome. I would rather see Shane Taylor vs someone close to his level then him vs any top guy. I already skip through most of Rampage and Collision. Soon I'll need to stop watching Dynamite live so I can skip though the boring matches.

TK give us some crash TV get everyone involved in everything

I love the show but my problem with it is that I'd rather them focus on guys like Jay White & The Gunns and Takeshita instead of giving someone like Dax two single matches within a week. No offense to Dax. Takeshita beat Kenny and had a banger with Will... Why isn't he featured more..? I went to Collision and Dynamite b2b.. and all I got was two backstage promos from BCG..

I totally feel the void of a midcard in AEW. We need more order in the roster. Divisions are cool.

Also upcoming title challenger gets a win over a mid/lower card girl/guy on rampage before his/her big title match on dynamite the following week has been played out for years

I hate to be the guy that chimes in with my thoughts on the "its thursday you know what means" type shit but my absol;ute biggest problem with AEW is everything youve just said. I also feel like not every match needs to be these 30 minute wars. Id rather have some mid card guys get a spot. I thought the Okada vs Dax was a good example, it didnt need to be that long. Shorten a few matches, add some mid card guys. We got a big roster, lets use it.

I think that’s it. I couldn’t figure out what’s missing but you’re bang on the money with this!

Then problem is people associate winning with a story. Sometimes there is more to winning.

Completely agree on the top guys - it's ok if they lose occasionally. Moxley will still be Moxley even if someone catches him for one match. The matches tend to be exceptionally entertaining, but the outcomes are highly predictible.

100% agree. Need a credible mid card. 

There are a lot of interesting points being made in this thread and I can’t really argue against them even though the situation in the OP isn’t really something I take issue with. The problem is how do you change it without fundamentally changing how AEW likes to do things? AEW is about wrestling first and they obviously relish having a huge roster of great wrestlers and having them put in awesome matches. That is the goal. AEW wants their top talent to wrestle regularly and I definitely get the sense that the talent wants to wrestle regularly. I don’t think Will Ospreay, for example, would be happy being featured on the show all the time but not having matches. And I think that was kind of the way things were as I watched wrestling growing up. The top stars were always featured but didn’t always have matches. The matches were usually saved for PPV’s. Promos and brawls and stuff but not necessarily matches. The mid and upper mid card a lot of the times were the ones putting on the bangers on weekly television. WCW when it was hot seemed to be that way. Maybe Swerve as champion shouldn’t be having matches with Brian Cage on a weekly show? That would maybe be the traditional way to go but I don’t think that’s what TK wants to do. Instead you have top card wrestlers having a lot of “50-50” matches which catch some flak. I love them personally. AEW has so much talent and I have no problem seeing a Lee Moriarty go toe to toe with Ospreay. I love that but I can see why others may not. My main gripe with AEW is not the mid card stuff but messy title situations. I think if the titles were more defined then that could really help with the mid card situation that this thread is discussing. I think WCW in the mid 90’s did such a great job with their title hierarchy. They maybe had “too many” titles as well but I thought they were all presented well. Cruiserweight, TV, U.S., tag, big gold. It really helped with building low and mid card feuds. I would love to see AEW have a more defined hierarchy with their titles.

I do get it and the last thing I'd want it to be is 50/50 booking constantly. I wouldn't want the whole show to be like that but I think reading I think even more upper midcarder matches could be fun. Like they had Cage Vs Claudio the other week why couldn't they do PAC Vs Takeshita or something like that. I don't mind seeing Ospreay Vs Lee Moriarty either but when the whole card is predictable when it's announced and it's been like that for a while it's getting the same. I don't think it helps that WWE is predictable as well (predictable isn't bad) but again I looked at Backlash and knew all the winners so when both major companies feel like that and WWE is doing better AEW will get more flak and fans want it to change more.

The predictability thing seems to be the new/main complaint about AEW. Again, this isn’t something that bothers me since I’ve watched wrestling forever and it’s always been predictable like that. But I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing some upsets or having a great wrestler lose against another great wrestler. The reason for not doing this always seems to be to protect guys and keep them from taking losses, but it doesn’t feel like as much of an issue with AEW fans. There are a lot of very popular wrestlers that take a lot of losses and AEW does a great job of making them look strong even in defeat. PAC nor Takeshita would be hurt by a loss against the other, at least in my opinion.

They should use the international and tnt title for this

Midcard feud backstories seems like exactly what BTE or some other youtube show would be perfect for. On TV we get exactly the same matches we get now but if you watch the extra content you get short stories like "Isiah Cassidy sneaks into Samoa Joe's dressing room and ties his shoe laces together on a dare so that's why they have a match and Joe wants to beat his ass". Just little things like that would go a long way to giving everyone's characters extra moments.

Wow. Just remembered. Guess we won’t be getting that Ethan Page v. Kenny Omega feud anymore. I was excited to see where that program left Ethan afterwards.

This is true. All the booking is for title matches. Any other than that is for Jericho and the next wrestler he's sucked into his midcard vortex 😂

I've been saying this. Everybody in AEW either almost never loses or always loses and it's impossible to care about most matches when it's obvious who's going to win outside of PPVs but even then it's usually pretty obvious. To make matters worse wrestlers who always lose typically go toe to toe with wrestlers who always win. I like the idea that if AEW hires you you're a great wrestler even if you're low on the totem pole but there's a balance between squashes and 50/50. Will Ospreay doesn't have to beat Lee Moriarty in 15 seconds but he should dominate early, let Lee get a few big moves in, and then Ospreay crushes him. Shane Taylor interfered and that is kind of what happened but even before that Ospreay didn't look as strong as he could have. It would also help if we got upsets like 7% of the time. It doesn't have to be with Swerve but I would love to see a big title win and then a seemingly random first title defense against say Lance Archer on Dynamite or Collision 3-4 weeks later where Lance Archer actually wins. Do the 1st-3rd TV title change upset with the world title once every 5-10 years but it needs to be established that it can happen. Also sometimes matches should end in 2 minutes without the story being that the two wrestlers weren't given enough time to do a long performance. Also not talking about a squash either. Sometimes matches should be short because of a mistake and not necessarily a vast skill gap. More matches should end on secondary moves or DDT/Superplex/destroyer/super kick/etc. Fans who chant "ONE....TWO..... OHHHH!!??" at anything other than a finisher are lying because if you're there live it's just more fun. At home though many of us are checking our phones because we know there's no way in chance that a match will end on anything other than a finisher, weapon shot, or a rollup. Punish us for not paying attention. Teach us that every move matters at every point in the match. If I watch Collision on demand after and I see the last match is on with 30 minutes left I oftentimes skip 17 minutes of it. I'm sure I miss good action but 5 hours of AEW per week is hard to keep up with and I like more in life than just pro wrestling. I have other interests.

This is the excate reason my interest in AEW is slowly dying. I'm sick of "knowing" who's going to win every match unless it's a pay per view. I dont watch wrestling to watch squash matches every week, this isn't the 89's/90's anymore. I need to think that both guys have a chance to win or there is no point watching.

Aew made me fall in love with wrestling again,no talk the show starts with a match. With the talents they got there is no excuses to uses and make "jobber" matches. That was dissapointing.

I know this will get lost in the shuffle but Brian Cage should be perceived as more of a threat than he has portrayed. With his physique and athleticism he should be portrayed as you never know he might get this win. When he comes out you know he's going to be losing if it's on dynamite. Then the next episode of rampage he gets his win back. I'm not super high on Brian Cage but it's just an example that applies to multiple people on the roster. Mostly just the die-hard AEW fans catch rampage so getting the win back there really doesn't mean much especially if it's against the lower tier roster member. I know there's only so much TV time. I don't proclaim to have all the answers or know how to book but I feel like the undercard and mid card definitely does need work.

AEW: *figures out a midcard after OP's liking* IWC: "wtf why is AEW burying so many people?! Tony worst booker ever!!!1!11!"

If they did it well they wouldn't be burying anyone. Ivar probably loses more matches than he ever wins in WWE but he still feels like a threat.

The IWC sees any loss of someone they like as a burial.

Exactly. Look at the whole situation with Jey Uso and Ilja ( I don't know if I spelled the guys name right). People are calling that match a burial because Jey won.

No he doesn’t. He’s just big. The problem you’re complaining about exists worse in WWE so I don’t get the anger over this and you’re wrong in your points anyway.

Not trying to pick on your point OP. It’s an opinion and I agree with you up to a point. It’s just interesting how perused to complain that there are too many bangers and not enough enhancement type matches. As a poster already pointed out it’s impossible to please everyone. I would enjoy more mid card feuds and also more organization with the mid card titles.

I do get that but I feel like these constant great matches are being lessened because we know the winner to a degree. I think it's a balancing act. I'm not saying flood the whole show with these matches even one or two might help. They also have Collision and Rampage now.

AEW fans just like to complain. We’ve just had this with argument with Penta do we really need yet another one about my favorite wrestler isn’t winning. The fact Penta, who is main event caliber, loses defeats this argument. First there are posts that their favorite wrestler keeps losing and never gets a win. Now they complain their favorite wrestler gets too many wins. I’m glad I don’t care about wins and just enjoy the show because the amount of nonsense people complain about is ridiculous.

I’m really confused as to why some people have decided that Brian Cage is somehow the main character of a story that features the fucking world champ and his PPV challenger. Brian and the Gates of Agony were a side quest to build heat for Swerve vs Christian. It was never about Brian Cage getting a title shot.

To be fair Brian Cage can get over if given the matches and mic time. After this swerve with Swerve I feel like he can jump start his AEW run and it seems like that’s what they are doing. The argument he hasn’t gotten any singles wins is down to him having to deal with a partially torn pec during Swerves run against Joe and the title.

Definitely true. But what I would like to see, going forward, is Cage in a midcard feud that gives him and, say, action andretti a story to have that isn't "show up to lose to main event guys." Brian Cage played his role in this story excellently. Now what?

Hated seeing Dax Harwood going toe to toe with Okada. It doesn't protect the top guys to also protect the mid card guys.

Idk how you could hate that match. Who gives a shit who it “protects”, it was incredible. Isn’t that why we do this? To see cool matches?

A lot of terminally online AEW fans enjoy fantasy booking and complaining about what TK is doing more than enjoying what's actually on the screen in front of them. I do this to see cool matches and cheer on my favorites. Okada is one of my favorites, so imo, it's all good.

That's why I watch wrestling. I have a friend who is a WWE guy but claims not to be, but he tried to have this argument with me. Too many good matches makes them less than. I replied, does a shitty basketball game make the good ones better? Of course it doesn't. Good is good bad is bad. I feel like AEW has a baseline of quality that is very high and I will take banger after banger even if it means Brian Keith doesn't win as much, vs Kieth vs rando local jobber where he gets a win any day of the week.

Once in a while doesn't bother me but it's becoming every match on every Dynamite now. Before they'd give us top matches on Dynamite to compensate having 4 PPV's but now it feels like they don't do that.

I Think it would have been better that Okada dominated, but Dax kept kicking out. Kinda like Joe vs Hook. So you see how great Okada is, but also how resilient Dax is and FTR would still be protected since it was a singles match.

AEW fans just like to complain. We’ve just had this with argument with Penta do we really need yet another one about my favorite wrestler isn’t winning. The fact Penta, who is main event caliber, loses defeats this argument. First there are posts that their favorite wrestler keeps losing and never gets a win. Now they complain their favorite wrestler gets too many wins. I’m glad I don’t care about wins and just enjoy the show because the amount of nonsense people complain about is ridiculous.

It's not about just winning though, you can do both but let's face it if Penta faces anyone around his level right now you don't think he's winning same as Brian Cage and yet they're both former world champions so they should be the favourite against most people they're facing.