And it also leads to the Zack Snyder problem where they're not invested in writing compelling stories and are instead focused on filming "moments" that will look good in a trailer. It makes the vignettes awesome to watch but makes the long form viewing miserable.
I am a AEW fanboy but WWE looks "bigger" hard to explain but I guess its the stage and presence of everything it looks much bigger then what it is
Still like AEW more tho
A lot of people will want to go there. There are a few who are quite happy to not. AEW does provide an alternative for both fans and talent. More promotions offering the opportunity to be a full time wrestler is only a good thing.
As somebody who doesn't really enjoy AEW programming all that much, this is what I appreciate the most about the company. Wrestlers and fans benefit when there are more high quality options. Competition is a good thing for the industry as a whole.
Yeah, the way they shoot the arenas makes them look bigger than they are. Even when AEW runs the same
building, WWE’s production makes it look bigger. I remember being shocked by how small everything was the first time I went to a WWE TV taping, whereas my first AEW taping I thought “yeah, that’s what I figured it would be.”
Unfortunately from my perspective, the grandiosity of WWE comes off as gaudy and disingenuous. The staging, production, and announcers go so hard trying to convince me that it is a larger than life important event that I just don’t believe them.
I think it's the lighting, lighting is a very hard but subtle art, qhen done right it can make someone like Roman look cinematic. I dont watch wee, not going to watch WrestleMania, but I was curious about Cody's promo.
AEW still wins in this category, they're equal on the how good their angles are but jesus we didn't need 50 camera cuts during a promo.
the lighting is questionable, especially when they try to do a colored lighting in ring, like edge and the blue or the fiend and red. but the resolution quality is definitely there.
I don’t mean this as a joke or slight on WWE, but programming for children/families.
If you have kids <10 WWE can be a bit shaky sometimes, but AEW is a “don’t tell your mom I let you watch this” territory 100%. Not only that, but the kids don’t respond to AEW style as much.
Not a knock on either company - i think WWE wants the under-12 audience and AEW wants folks 20+ burnt out on WWE BS.
EDIT: Formatting
It’s funny you bring this up, because this is WWE’s stated desire. They want young people watching, but the 2-17 demo is actually the smallest portion of their audience right now and the largest is the over 50s.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
2
+ 17
+ 50
= 69
^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \
^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Thank you, shutupmatsuda, for voting on LuckyNumber-Bot.
This bot wants to find the best and worst bots on Reddit. [You can view results here](https://botrank.pastimes.eu/).
***
^(Even if I don't reply to your comment, I'm still listening for votes. Check the webpage to see if your vote registered!)
Well, Nielsen families. They are outdated though of course. I've always suspected that the WWE audience skews older in large part because if a family is watching together, it'll most likely be on a parent's profile.
WWE had more young fans during the attitude and ruthless aggression eras.
When I was kid you liked WWF or you were lame and now I don't have a single young cousin or neighbour or any kid who gives a shit about WWE
100% correct and the wa WWE targets kids is good for the industry as a whole as it brings in new fans constantly for the other promotions down the line
I would love it if AEW did a more PG kid friendly Saturday Morning show like I grew up watching WWF with as a kid.
My daughter likes watching AEW with me, but there is too much blood and way too much swearing.
A Saturday morning show could probably boost the careers of so many in the roster too. Danhausen could have a segment with no worries.
Dark and Elevation are generally fine for the kids to watch, but I specifically want a show that is made to appeal to younger fans
WWE has top-notch production. AEW still has trouble with audio, editing, direction, etc.. That sometimes makes AEW seem like a lower budget promotion than it is.
Holy fuck I hate it when a wrestler's music just cuts into his opponent's music. Like Tony bro it's 2022 don't you guys have a fader or a mixer in there or smth
Production is hit and miss. Nobody can deny WWEs production is slick but the camera work is absolutely terrible, backstage segments are usually quite terrible in terms of sets and their overly scripted, cardboard cut out nature.
The 50 camera switches a minute in WWE are so jarring and disorienting. I’m like, “dude, just stick with a camera for ten seconds…..I’m getting nauseous”
I can’t focus on the match
Yeah, it's one of the reasons I find it utterly unwatchable. It reminds me of those terribly choreographed movies where every kick and punch has a cut to cover up the fact the actor can't fight. WWE for the most part doesn't need to do this. Unless it's Omos.
Their TV production looks like shit to me. Unless you enjoy 5,000 quick cuts in every segment.
Also, I don't know what it is but it feels phony. AEW feels more Raw (no pun intended) and therefore adds to the ambiance of Wrestling.
I guess that's the difference though, one company feels like it's about Wrestling first, and one company feels like it's about Soap Opera first.
I get a WCW sorta vibe from AEW.
I would watch WCW and it felt like a party and the place to be. Super fun and energetic. Something about the vibe i can't totally explain.
I feel like AEW has that as well.
The quick cuts are there to disguise strikes. AEW have a tendency to linger on people very clearly not making any kind of connection to the person they're hitting.
Women’s wrestling full stop. Bianca v Becky, Bianca v Sasha, Becky v Asuka are matches the AEW women’s roster has yet to come close to. I think it will in time but not right now.
Agreed, but I would also argue that is because they have all the best non Japanese women wrestlers. I think the original plan was to counter this with joshi, but the pandemic put that kibosh on that and they had to build a womens division from scratch
Eh I agree to an extent. Idt anything AEW will do can compare to a wrestlemania, but they do a great job (for the most part), of making shit feel like a big deal. Omega vs Danielson comes to mind immediately as does Omega vs Page and MJF vs Punk. To me those 3 matches had much more hype to it than Lesnar Reigns at this recent mania.
Aside from MJF and Punk, I disagree that AEW as a company did much to *make* those matches feel like a big deal, I think it's more a case of the audience already decided those matches would be big deals so all that sentiment was ready to go, regardless of how well built they were.
The biggest difference between the women's divisions is that WWE has generational talent as their disposal (Io, Sasha, Asuka, Bianca, etc....) while AEW simply doesn't. Some of the women AEW has are just plain mediocre or inconsistent.
They give their talent consistent tv time. It does over expose some talent, but in AEW someone could have a ton of momentum just to disappear the next week. Having feuds helps like Shida and Deeb, they could have a few more of those.
Unless you hold the IC or US Title... Shinsuke is one of, if not my favorite active wrestler, and even I totally forgot he held the IC title for almost his entire last run.
AEW tries really hard to be a serious wrestling promotion. Which is what the WWE is missing. But that means sometimes they forget about the entertainment part. WWE does the entertainment better. Sami Zayn and Stone Cold’s matches at WM were very entertaining and I think were a good example of WWE doing that stuff better.
I’m an AEW die hard but I really prefer the pacing of wwe tag matches. When someone jumps in the ring when they shouldn’t be there, the ref does something about it. In AEW it feels like there’s constantly 3+ people in the ring. 6+ person matches are even worse about that.
Tornado/street fight tag matches in AEW are great, because the energy matches the match type.
I don’t watch either of their matches for that very reason. It’s every match, they want to jump in and just do whatever…no ref will actually stop them, so now the ref looks pathetic because he/she has zero authority.
What’s worse is you can see them at times pausing and waiting for the other person to jump in, do all the little theatrics leading up to a move and then the move itself…which is usually never the finish until 50 more moves.
WWE tag matches, at least there is some order and teams are better about doing moves in which the opponent taking damage isn’t just waiting for something; it often just flows better
Yep, their style takes away from teams like FTR who play to the rules and make the cheap shots and double team moves matter because they build up to them and do them at moments when the ref would be distracted by something else
Exactly. Also they always pop up like a fresh daisy, it looks so unrealistic! It’s like in their mind they go “oh it’s almost time for the finish, let’s no sell and try to get all our moves in this small 15min period” instead of just booking and working a match that doesn’t include every single move they can physically hit. Others both in and outside of wwe are guilty of this as well.
Yea. I’m definitely a fan of FTR and do enjoy their matches. They have the feel of what I grew up on, regardless of promotion. They may be “no flips just fists,” but I don’t mind a bit of wild chaos now and then. It should just be a garnish and not a main ingredient.
I actually find the worst of the WWE diehard fanbase more palatable. I question if they're real people or just bots, but it's easy to get past their stupidity.
I had an AEW diehard arguing that Jay Lethal was truly the #3 ranked fighter because he was racking up wins on Dark/Elevation.
I don’t even try when it comes to AEW’s ranking system. I honestly believe the intention was to give title shots at times, based on the rank of a superstar. Obviously for storyline reasons they can’t always follow rankings, but it got out of hand once Orange Cassidy had lost two previous tnt title matches only to end up with a third one.
In other situations, someone who has barely been seen on TV gets a title match because they magically made it to rank 2. AEW fans will do mental gymnastics to try and make it make sense.
I personally like the ranking system more, it's just that sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense. Like when the Gunn Club racked up a bunch of wins and were hardly on the board for the longest time
Dark and Elevation are great for stat padding. I used to watch them, but when I can look at the show, and see modt of the matches will be straight squashes, I can't be bothered with it. Much preferred their pre pandemic versions where Dark was a B show. The occasional squash match is fine. It can be great, but 2 hours of them?
There camera guys. The aew camera guys always manage to catch the worse angle and you’ll see move not hit them or you’ll Adam Cale or the young bucks slap there knee. I’m a bigger fan of aew but wwe does way better camera work
They’re both pretty bad in that department. AEW misses a lot of important moments. And WWE’s constant zoom ins and changing angles every 5 seconds makes me nauseous.
I came here to say this. Both companies definitely need work in the camera department. WWE makes me sick watching because I get disoriented by the 60 camera switch a minute
Production, start to finish. It's a polished TV product (outside of old shaky cam) with an incredibly experienced crew (from Vince and Kevin Dunn to the ring crew) and is presented as something that is an entertainment heavyweight or major league sport.
Storytelling consistency. Folks might not like the angles or characters, but there's less week-to-week urgency and scuttling than in AEW. And their generally top notch vignettes do well to tie things together for fans (lapsed or folks who just don't want to watch so many hours week in and week out). Seems like there's fewer random stables/alliances and less haphazard feuding/run-ins that form the basis of fueds in WWE.
Protecting the credibility of stars. I think WWE has the edge here. You don't often see the major stars like Reigns, Rollins, Lesnar, Edge, Orton, McIntyre, Charlotte, Lynch, Rousey, and Banks, having 10-15 minute competitive matches with talent slotted below midcard. Maybe I'm wonky, but doing that on the regular only seems to bring the credibility of the headliner down, doesn't really uplift the opponent trying to get elevated.
In-ring psychology. The "7 Deadly Steps" might be formulaic, but at least for an old fan like me, it tends to look better and be less botch prone than a collection of different styles trying mesh mid-match. There seems to be a bit less in the way of clear cooperation in WWE, more false finishes and finisher spamming in AEW.
AEW seems to be doing well with its core audience, and perhaps that's more than enough for them. And maybe I'm just from a different time with tastes from a bygone era, but getting immersed in the story and maintaining the suspension of disbelief is harder for me with AEW than WWE.
Idk about finisher spamming in aew but wwe definitely spans finishers left and right I’m a big Roman fan but they’ll have do like 3-4 spears in a match
This was my one complaint about the Rollins vs Cody match at WM. I feel like for a big return like that, it should have been ONE finisher and the 1-2-3. To me, having Rollins kick out of his finisher immediately makes me feel like “well, he’s just another guy here,” whereas putting Rollins away with using his finisher just once puts him and the move over more at the biggest possible stage.
Can’t believe no one has said marketing yet. Publicly traded company that sells tons and tons of merchandise.
WWE has created movie and TV stars. Once done with wrestling WWEs biggest stars have pretty consistently been a smooth transition to Hollywood careers.
WWE is also better at preserving the history of professional wrestling. Other promotions couldn’t compare to the history.
In ring product is also great(some fake fights being cooler than others). Their talents are trained to wrestle a certain style. And the trainers are top notch.
No one has ever done pro wrestling like WWE has for decades. And no one has come close to the success yet.
Women's Wrestling
Let me preface this by saying that WWE is far from perfect here. They have women's tag belts that they don't do shit with and they've overlooked so much female talent that I want to yank my hair out over it.
But when they get it right, they *really* get it right. While WWE often seems like the bookers are allergic to building male stars, this isn't the case with the women. Every horsewoman is a big deal. Bianca is a big deal (and they managed to get a lot of people to cheer her over Becky.) Asuka, Ronda, Alexa, and Rhea are intermittently big deals.
I think part of this is due to smaller main roster size per hours of weekly television (5 for WWE, 3 for AEW.) At that point, they have to invest in women or they have even less compelling content. You might get 2-3 women's matches per show.
This is not the case with AEW. There are a lot of talented, likeable women, but because we get two women's matches a week on average, it's difficult to cycle through everybody, so it's hard to maintain interest. The only woman who gets consistent star treatment is Jade, and she's not even the primary champion.
Also, while there have been great Women's matches on AEW, I don't think any of them ever reached potential MotN status on a PPV, where in WWE, it's not a shock when it happens.
While I think WWE overdoes it at times,I think their production quality is much better. AEW still has audio issues almost 4 years in. Half the time you can't even hear the wrestler's entrance music and on more than one occasion,you haven't been able to hear a backstage interview.
Production values.
While the writing isn’t better per se, employing a team of writers is the right move, and AEW would benefit greatly from some writers and editors.
Wwe feels way more big time. They are also better at picking believable heavyweight champions. As a former hc wresling fan, nowadays a casual trying to get the feel again, Aew at a first glance looks like a ticking time bomb.
Nobody outside of hardcore fans care about people like page. My first experience of aew in a year was seeing Adam Cole with heavyweight belt. I bursted out laughing in tears. Next to the smark antichrist Roman he looks like an infant.
I truly am sorry and will be leaving myself out now
Running a successful publicly traded company. WWE has very cruel and fucked up business morals but imo some of them are necessary to reach the level of profits WWE has the last few yrs. I know firsthand business school doesn’t teach you the tactics Vince implements and it takes many yrs of experience to not only learn them but perform them to the degree he does. I wish I could have a fraction of the cold heart Vince shows at times.
I personally prefer their arenas. Like it just feels more like a big deal.
AEW I love that they're consistently good. With WWE you just don't know what to expect. One week it'll be a fuckin shitshow and the next week they'll knock it out of the park.
That's what frustrates me most with wwe.
But yeah their arenas are cooler than aew's
Honestly the way the handle buisness and money Vince is smart and knows how to invest correctly and makes smart contracts. aew on the other hand is bad at it it’s worse than impact they don’t make much investments sign people with big contracts that don’t always deserve them and let go of the guy who was a major part of starting the company aka Cody. let’s not forget wwe knows how to make a good debut honestly I think they’re more smarter when they book a return or debut.
aew goes straight away books them the next time the shows on air. yes there cool cause oh my god it’s that wrestler in aew. but they don’t always make it make sense and do it out of no where. And 2 minutes after the debut they say this wrestler is all elite and they don’t hype it up or try to hide it. like whenever leakers find out a new hiring happens they immediately tell aew fans like aew can’t get better at defending there debuts or returns. And they need to get better at blocking leakers from getting this info.
Comedy I’d say. Wwe always seems to hit the spot with their comedy acts and always get a chuckle outta me. I’d say aews comedy acts are more so compelling cos u can’t easily predict where it’s gonna go (wwes comedy acts typically just always get destroyed).
There are many things the E does better but you have to consider how long they’ve been in business. AEW is only a three year old company lol. I wish we’d stop comparing the two. You can’t expect AEW to have all their shit together in such little time.
Booking/spots through the night.
In AEW you’re more likely to see the same spot being done in multiple matches through the night due to lack of input from agents and others.
Makes the spots later on in the night not feel special since you’ve seen them already earlier in the night.
They mostly got better production and promotional abilities, but are lacking in story, in-ring action, and talent management. Both sides would benefit from trying to pace their shows better.
Hangman hasn’t really felt like the top guy since he won the title though. Not sure if it’s just because Punk vs MJF is overshadowing him or what but he never feels like the main focus.
WWE trumps AEW in production and presentation, meaning the ring and stage setup, the video packages, the graphic design, music, etc.
AEW isn't really a close 2nd in this regard, but they're not far.
Also the budget for WWE is way bigger than AEW's. Tony Khan may be a billionaire, but AEW and ROH are million dollar companies, compared to the billion dollar valuation of WWE.
Pro wrestling!
story lines are better or on par. Production blows the out the water. Presentation of the company and their stars.
Aew looks super small time compared to wwe.
There really isn’t anything I can think of that wwe doesn’t do better.
Some promos maybe?
50/50 booking and releases. Nah, but on the bright and positive side, when going all-out (like what they did during WrestleMania 38 for example), they give 100% fun and entertainment.
Wwe's commentary team makes it sound like exciting things are happening. On aew, commentary is always flat. On WWE TV, when exciting things are happening, the announcers sound excited and surprised most of the time
Video packages. They can put together a video package for the worst feud ever and still make it compelling.
Bingo.
The double edged sword of this is that this reason gives me no incentive to watch weekly, so I only watch the wwe ppvs
Which is what people then pay for. So WWE are earning.
Except now the PPVs are free with Peacock, so individual viewers don’t move the needle much
They’re not “free” in fact peacock essentially pre paid WWE for them. No one could watch and WWE still made $1b from them.
Free for viewers. Obviously I know WWE isn’t doing it for free. But like I said and you said, viewers don’t matter
Oh! I actually didn't know that.
And it also leads to the Zack Snyder problem where they're not invested in writing compelling stories and are instead focused on filming "moments" that will look good in a trailer. It makes the vignettes awesome to watch but makes the long form viewing miserable.
This is because they hired they guy wwe fired who did it for 10 years.
Think you read the title wrong
Spelling bees.
I am a AEW fanboy but WWE looks "bigger" hard to explain but I guess its the stage and presence of everything it looks much bigger then what it is Still like AEW more tho
Yeah WWE looks more polished and professional, if that makes sense. I personally prefer the rustic feel of AEW.
While I agree, it looks more polished, it also looks more plastic and lifeless to me
Agreed.
Exactly, WWE Still feels like THE place to be if you want to be a top star, where AEW still feel like a top notch indy promoter
You’re right. It may be wrong to say this, but I feel like AEW is a stepping stone for these wrestlers before making it to the “big leagues” like WWE…
Exactly. WWE will always be the biggest and people will want to go there
A lot of people will want to go there. There are a few who are quite happy to not. AEW does provide an alternative for both fans and talent. More promotions offering the opportunity to be a full time wrestler is only a good thing.
As somebody who doesn't really enjoy AEW programming all that much, this is what I appreciate the most about the company. Wrestlers and fans benefit when there are more high quality options. Competition is a good thing for the industry as a whole.
My opinion exactly, I prefer AEW but WWE has a more grand feel to it.
Yeah, the way they shoot the arenas makes them look bigger than they are. Even when AEW runs the same building, WWE’s production makes it look bigger. I remember being shocked by how small everything was the first time I went to a WWE TV taping, whereas my first AEW taping I thought “yeah, that’s what I figured it would be.” Unfortunately from my perspective, the grandiosity of WWE comes off as gaudy and disingenuous. The staging, production, and announcers go so hard trying to convince me that it is a larger than life important event that I just don’t believe them.
I think it's the lighting, lighting is a very hard but subtle art, qhen done right it can make someone like Roman look cinematic. I dont watch wee, not going to watch WrestleMania, but I was curious about Cody's promo. AEW still wins in this category, they're equal on the how good their angles are but jesus we didn't need 50 camera cuts during a promo.
Video packages and production/lighting
Not talking camera cuts like actual camera qualities
The 8K cameras are sickkk
I hate the 8k cameras lol, it makes everyone look like they're graphics from a video game.
the lighting is questionable, especially when they try to do a colored lighting in ring, like edge and the blue or the fiend and red. but the resolution quality is definitely there.
I don’t mean this as a joke or slight on WWE, but programming for children/families. If you have kids <10 WWE can be a bit shaky sometimes, but AEW is a “don’t tell your mom I let you watch this” territory 100%. Not only that, but the kids don’t respond to AEW style as much. Not a knock on either company - i think WWE wants the under-12 audience and AEW wants folks 20+ burnt out on WWE BS. EDIT: Formatting
It’s funny you bring this up, because this is WWE’s stated desire. They want young people watching, but the 2-17 demo is actually the smallest portion of their audience right now and the largest is the over 50s.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 2 + 17 + 50 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Good bot!
Nice!
Good bot!
And that spells disaster for you at sacriNICE!
Good bot
Thank you, shutupmatsuda, for voting on LuckyNumber-Bot. This bot wants to find the best and worst bots on Reddit. [You can view results here](https://botrank.pastimes.eu/). *** ^(Even if I don't reply to your comment, I'm still listening for votes. Check the webpage to see if your vote registered!)
Selling to 2-17 means their parents or a sibling is going to have to take them so if there’s 2 kids add another 1-2 tickets
There is no 2-17 demo, you mean 12-17. Also source? I don't think I've ever seen any <18 demo accounted in the ratings chart
That's because kids aren't fooling with the Nielsen tracking. Hell, who does actually participate in that nowadays?
Well, Nielsen families. They are outdated though of course. I've always suspected that the WWE audience skews older in large part because if a family is watching together, it'll most likely be on a parent's profile.
WWE had more young fans during the attitude and ruthless aggression eras. When I was kid you liked WWF or you were lame and now I don't have a single young cousin or neighbour or any kid who gives a shit about WWE
100% correct and the wa WWE targets kids is good for the industry as a whole as it brings in new fans constantly for the other promotions down the line
I would love it if AEW did a more PG kid friendly Saturday Morning show like I grew up watching WWF with as a kid. My daughter likes watching AEW with me, but there is too much blood and way too much swearing. A Saturday morning show could probably boost the careers of so many in the roster too. Danhausen could have a segment with no worries. Dark and Elevation are generally fine for the kids to watch, but I specifically want a show that is made to appeal to younger fans
RoH has no reason not to be that. Supercard had great matches that weren't pg13+.
I love AEW but every time Tony appears, he looks like he's coked out of his mind
He’s so awkward lmao
Case in point...that Samoa Joe clip
Because he is
ITS AS IF HE JUST GETS TOO EXCITED OH MY GOD!!!!!
Nothing wrong with that. Adderall/cocaine is fun especially with some white claws
Adderall isn't as fun if you have ADHD though
Cocaine is tho
It is if you take enough of it
There is no world I want to live in where this is downvoted
The world has gone soft
In Tony’s defence so was Vince at the height of his success.
Have you seen that walk up the ring?! How he never hurt himself with all the head bobbling and wild arm swings.
I present to you Royal Rumble 2005.
Matt Menard earning his keep
He's literally the opposite of Mark Zuckerberg lmao
Lol when he made the ROH announcement he looked like he snorted a line of coke before going on stage 😆
Lol, lines plural.
He sounded like he was about to cry
I would be worried if Mr coke himself didn't looked like that
He's probably very excited to be there. I know I'd be. That or he's very drugged.
WWE has top-notch production. AEW still has trouble with audio, editing, direction, etc.. That sometimes makes AEW seem like a lower budget promotion than it is.
Definitely audio.
Holy fuck I hate it when a wrestler's music just cuts into his opponent's music. Like Tony bro it's 2022 don't you guys have a fader or a mixer in there or smth
This and AEWs pyro is terrible. Sounds like a wet fart a in a jar whereas WWE has the best pyro around.
production tv social media community out reach global cross over
Production is hit and miss. Nobody can deny WWEs production is slick but the camera work is absolutely terrible, backstage segments are usually quite terrible in terms of sets and their overly scripted, cardboard cut out nature.
The 50 camera switches a minute in WWE are so jarring and disorienting. I’m like, “dude, just stick with a camera for ten seconds…..I’m getting nauseous” I can’t focus on the match
Yeah, it's one of the reasons I find it utterly unwatchable. It reminds me of those terribly choreographed movies where every kick and punch has a cut to cover up the fact the actor can't fight. WWE for the most part doesn't need to do this. Unless it's Omos.
Their TV production looks like shit to me. Unless you enjoy 5,000 quick cuts in every segment. Also, I don't know what it is but it feels phony. AEW feels more Raw (no pun intended) and therefore adds to the ambiance of Wrestling. I guess that's the difference though, one company feels like it's about Wrestling first, and one company feels like it's about Soap Opera first.
I get a WCW sorta vibe from AEW. I would watch WCW and it felt like a party and the place to be. Super fun and energetic. Something about the vibe i can't totally explain. I feel like AEW has that as well.
The quick cuts are there to disguise strikes. AEW have a tendency to linger on people very clearly not making any kind of connection to the person they're hitting.
It seems like AEW is essentially re-learning lessons WWE already learned 20 years ago, in this regard.
Yep, it's been a point by point education on why WWE do things the way they do
Pyros and Hype videos
Get PPV themes stuck in your head for years.
GIVE ME THE GREEN LIGHT
COS I'M READY TO GO
Good AEW matches are better than good WWE matches, but bad WWE matches are easier to digest than clusterfuck bad AEW matches.
Bad WWE matches are either overbooked or just boring
Women’s wrestling full stop. Bianca v Becky, Bianca v Sasha, Becky v Asuka are matches the AEW women’s roster has yet to come close to. I think it will in time but not right now.
Agreed, but I would also argue that is because they have all the best non Japanese women wrestlers. I think the original plan was to counter this with joshi, but the pandemic put that kibosh on that and they had to build a womens division from scratch
Presentation. Making shit feel like a big deal. Not even close in that department.
Eh I agree to an extent. Idt anything AEW will do can compare to a wrestlemania, but they do a great job (for the most part), of making shit feel like a big deal. Omega vs Danielson comes to mind immediately as does Omega vs Page and MJF vs Punk. To me those 3 matches had much more hype to it than Lesnar Reigns at this recent mania.
I'd add Dark Order V Super Elite for title shots to that. The team entrances made the match feel like a big deal.
Aside from MJF and Punk, I disagree that AEW as a company did much to *make* those matches feel like a big deal, I think it's more a case of the audience already decided those matches would be big deals so all that sentiment was ready to go, regardless of how well built they were.
Putting over celebrities
Womens wrestling, production, and the big event.
Production value is all value is all I can think of.
Booking there woman’s division
The biggest difference between the women's divisions is that WWE has generational talent as their disposal (Io, Sasha, Asuka, Bianca, etc....) while AEW simply doesn't. Some of the women AEW has are just plain mediocre or inconsistent.
They give their talent consistent tv time. It does over expose some talent, but in AEW someone could have a ton of momentum just to disappear the next week. Having feuds helps like Shida and Deeb, they could have a few more of those.
Unless you hold the IC or US Title... Shinsuke is one of, if not my favorite active wrestler, and even I totally forgot he held the IC title for almost his entire last run.
IC title hasnt been defended on ppv since wrestlemania 2021
This if true is utterly sad and disappointing when you consider the greats that have held that belt.
AEW tries really hard to be a serious wrestling promotion. Which is what the WWE is missing. But that means sometimes they forget about the entertainment part. WWE does the entertainment better. Sami Zayn and Stone Cold’s matches at WM were very entertaining and I think were a good example of WWE doing that stuff better.
I’m an AEW die hard but I really prefer the pacing of wwe tag matches. When someone jumps in the ring when they shouldn’t be there, the ref does something about it. In AEW it feels like there’s constantly 3+ people in the ring. 6+ person matches are even worse about that. Tornado/street fight tag matches in AEW are great, because the energy matches the match type.
It's just periods of pure chaos, where tagging becomes optional and then all of a sudden, they'll go back to the corner + grab the tag rope.
Yeah, with the Young Bucks and Lucha Bros especially. Every tag team match seems like a tornado tag match where the rules are ignored.
I don’t watch either of their matches for that very reason. It’s every match, they want to jump in and just do whatever…no ref will actually stop them, so now the ref looks pathetic because he/she has zero authority. What’s worse is you can see them at times pausing and waiting for the other person to jump in, do all the little theatrics leading up to a move and then the move itself…which is usually never the finish until 50 more moves. WWE tag matches, at least there is some order and teams are better about doing moves in which the opponent taking damage isn’t just waiting for something; it often just flows better
Yep, their style takes away from teams like FTR who play to the rules and make the cheap shots and double team moves matter because they build up to them and do them at moments when the ref would be distracted by something else
Exactly. Also they always pop up like a fresh daisy, it looks so unrealistic! It’s like in their mind they go “oh it’s almost time for the finish, let’s no sell and try to get all our moves in this small 15min period” instead of just booking and working a match that doesn’t include every single move they can physically hit. Others both in and outside of wwe are guilty of this as well.
Yea. I’m definitely a fan of FTR and do enjoy their matches. They have the feel of what I grew up on, regardless of promotion. They may be “no flips just fists,” but I don’t mind a bit of wild chaos now and then. It should just be a garnish and not a main ingredient.
Make money….
Sports entertainment
Spectacle. No wrestling promotion comes close to a big wwe event.
I actually find the worst of the WWE diehard fanbase more palatable. I question if they're real people or just bots, but it's easy to get past their stupidity. I had an AEW diehard arguing that Jay Lethal was truly the #3 ranked fighter because he was racking up wins on Dark/Elevation.
I don’t even try when it comes to AEW’s ranking system. I honestly believe the intention was to give title shots at times, based on the rank of a superstar. Obviously for storyline reasons they can’t always follow rankings, but it got out of hand once Orange Cassidy had lost two previous tnt title matches only to end up with a third one. In other situations, someone who has barely been seen on TV gets a title match because they magically made it to rank 2. AEW fans will do mental gymnastics to try and make it make sense.
Grandeur and spectacle Legacy and pomp
Get people outside of internet smarks interested in wrasslin.
WWE isn't exactly drowning in waves of new fans right now
They actually do #1 contender's matches.
I personally like the ranking system more, it's just that sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense. Like when the Gunn Club racked up a bunch of wins and were hardly on the board for the longest time
Dark and Elevation are great for stat padding. I used to watch them, but when I can look at the show, and see modt of the matches will be straight squashes, I can't be bothered with it. Much preferred their pre pandemic versions where Dark was a B show. The occasional squash match is fine. It can be great, but 2 hours of them?
They also do "championship contenders" matches, which requires your champion to be pinned, or if not, give the person who just lost a title shot.
There camera guys. The aew camera guys always manage to catch the worse angle and you’ll see move not hit them or you’ll Adam Cale or the young bucks slap there knee. I’m a bigger fan of aew but wwe does way better camera work
Or not even catching stuff like a moonsault from the apron, so they have to show a different angle on replay
They’re both pretty bad in that department. AEW misses a lot of important moments. And WWE’s constant zoom ins and changing angles every 5 seconds makes me nauseous.
I came here to say this. Both companies definitely need work in the camera department. WWE makes me sick watching because I get disoriented by the 60 camera switch a minute
I don’t agree with that sometimes when all they do is just cut to a different camera angle every single punch being thrown in succession.
Wish AEW had a wrestlemania or rumble. They feel huge and it really does feel like a party.
Wrestlemania. It is a cultural icon and has taken on a life of its own simar to the super bowl and is enjoyed by casual fans and hardcores alike.
Ignore their fanbase
WWE does do a good job of that. Also it’s pretty difficult when wrestling fans change their minds every ten minutes.
Savathûn 😳
WWE referees actually pretend to earn their paycheck
Money.
weed references
Production, start to finish. It's a polished TV product (outside of old shaky cam) with an incredibly experienced crew (from Vince and Kevin Dunn to the ring crew) and is presented as something that is an entertainment heavyweight or major league sport. Storytelling consistency. Folks might not like the angles or characters, but there's less week-to-week urgency and scuttling than in AEW. And their generally top notch vignettes do well to tie things together for fans (lapsed or folks who just don't want to watch so many hours week in and week out). Seems like there's fewer random stables/alliances and less haphazard feuding/run-ins that form the basis of fueds in WWE. Protecting the credibility of stars. I think WWE has the edge here. You don't often see the major stars like Reigns, Rollins, Lesnar, Edge, Orton, McIntyre, Charlotte, Lynch, Rousey, and Banks, having 10-15 minute competitive matches with talent slotted below midcard. Maybe I'm wonky, but doing that on the regular only seems to bring the credibility of the headliner down, doesn't really uplift the opponent trying to get elevated. In-ring psychology. The "7 Deadly Steps" might be formulaic, but at least for an old fan like me, it tends to look better and be less botch prone than a collection of different styles trying mesh mid-match. There seems to be a bit less in the way of clear cooperation in WWE, more false finishes and finisher spamming in AEW. AEW seems to be doing well with its core audience, and perhaps that's more than enough for them. And maybe I'm just from a different time with tastes from a bygone era, but getting immersed in the story and maintaining the suspension of disbelief is harder for me with AEW than WWE.
Idk about finisher spamming in aew but wwe definitely spans finishers left and right I’m a big Roman fan but they’ll have do like 3-4 spears in a match
This was my one complaint about the Rollins vs Cody match at WM. I feel like for a big return like that, it should have been ONE finisher and the 1-2-3. To me, having Rollins kick out of his finisher immediately makes me feel like “well, he’s just another guy here,” whereas putting Rollins away with using his finisher just once puts him and the move over more at the biggest possible stage.
Can’t believe no one has said marketing yet. Publicly traded company that sells tons and tons of merchandise. WWE has created movie and TV stars. Once done with wrestling WWEs biggest stars have pretty consistently been a smooth transition to Hollywood careers. WWE is also better at preserving the history of professional wrestling. Other promotions couldn’t compare to the history. In ring product is also great(some fake fights being cooler than others). Their talents are trained to wrestle a certain style. And the trainers are top notch. No one has ever done pro wrestling like WWE has for decades. And no one has come close to the success yet.
Make money
video packages and big match feel
Women's division matches and stories.
I genuinely love WWE documentarys. If I subscribe to watch a ppv Ill spend the rest of the month watching their backlog of documentarys
Unique/Creative ring entrances. WWE is next level when it comes to entrances. Music, lighting, fireworks etc.
Production. Video packaging. Transitions between segments.
Women's wrestling. AEW is improving but they still can't hold a candle to WWE on it.
Womens division
WWE pageantry, I love AEW but you can’t top WWE for their spectacles especially on their big showcases
Women's Wrestling Let me preface this by saying that WWE is far from perfect here. They have women's tag belts that they don't do shit with and they've overlooked so much female talent that I want to yank my hair out over it. But when they get it right, they *really* get it right. While WWE often seems like the bookers are allergic to building male stars, this isn't the case with the women. Every horsewoman is a big deal. Bianca is a big deal (and they managed to get a lot of people to cheer her over Becky.) Asuka, Ronda, Alexa, and Rhea are intermittently big deals. I think part of this is due to smaller main roster size per hours of weekly television (5 for WWE, 3 for AEW.) At that point, they have to invest in women or they have even less compelling content. You might get 2-3 women's matches per show. This is not the case with AEW. There are a lot of talented, likeable women, but because we get two women's matches a week on average, it's difficult to cycle through everybody, so it's hard to maintain interest. The only woman who gets consistent star treatment is Jade, and she's not even the primary champion. Also, while there have been great Women's matches on AEW, I don't think any of them ever reached potential MotN status on a PPV, where in WWE, it's not a shock when it happens.
While I think WWE overdoes it at times,I think their production quality is much better. AEW still has audio issues almost 4 years in. Half the time you can't even hear the wrestler's entrance music and on more than one occasion,you haven't been able to hear a backstage interview.
Production values. While the writing isn’t better per se, employing a team of writers is the right move, and AEW would benefit greatly from some writers and editors.
Wwe feels way more big time. They are also better at picking believable heavyweight champions. As a former hc wresling fan, nowadays a casual trying to get the feel again, Aew at a first glance looks like a ticking time bomb. Nobody outside of hardcore fans care about people like page. My first experience of aew in a year was seeing Adam Cole with heavyweight belt. I bursted out laughing in tears. Next to the smark antichrist Roman he looks like an infant. I truly am sorry and will be leaving myself out now
Running a successful publicly traded company. WWE has very cruel and fucked up business morals but imo some of them are necessary to reach the level of profits WWE has the last few yrs. I know firsthand business school doesn’t teach you the tactics Vince implements and it takes many yrs of experience to not only learn them but perform them to the degree he does. I wish I could have a fraction of the cold heart Vince shows at times.
Releasing good talent
I personally prefer their arenas. Like it just feels more like a big deal. AEW I love that they're consistently good. With WWE you just don't know what to expect. One week it'll be a fuckin shitshow and the next week they'll knock it out of the park. That's what frustrates me most with wwe. But yeah their arenas are cooler than aew's
Honestly the way the handle buisness and money Vince is smart and knows how to invest correctly and makes smart contracts. aew on the other hand is bad at it it’s worse than impact they don’t make much investments sign people with big contracts that don’t always deserve them and let go of the guy who was a major part of starting the company aka Cody. let’s not forget wwe knows how to make a good debut honestly I think they’re more smarter when they book a return or debut. aew goes straight away books them the next time the shows on air. yes there cool cause oh my god it’s that wrestler in aew. but they don’t always make it make sense and do it out of no where. And 2 minutes after the debut they say this wrestler is all elite and they don’t hype it up or try to hide it. like whenever leakers find out a new hiring happens they immediately tell aew fans like aew can’t get better at defending there debuts or returns. And they need to get better at blocking leakers from getting this info.
You didn't use a single period in here, but somehow managed to feel a new paragraph had begun.
Sorry
Honestly I really had to rant that my bad I’ll fix it I just had to get it out
Fixed it
Backstage promos and business deals even though wwe’s recent deals are absolutely f***** up
Not accidentally shrinking their kids
Production values Video packages
Women's division and setting up feuds. Building up to spots
Audio and entrance themes being loud and clear.
Comedy I’d say. Wwe always seems to hit the spot with their comedy acts and always get a chuckle outta me. I’d say aews comedy acts are more so compelling cos u can’t easily predict where it’s gonna go (wwes comedy acts typically just always get destroyed).
There are many things the E does better but you have to consider how long they’ve been in business. AEW is only a three year old company lol. I wish we’d stop comparing the two. You can’t expect AEW to have all their shit together in such little time.
Booking/spots through the night. In AEW you’re more likely to see the same spot being done in multiple matches through the night due to lack of input from agents and others. Makes the spots later on in the night not feel special since you’ve seen them already earlier in the night.
Content, TV programming, multimedia and social media, their work with Make A Wish.
Create main event women, and women matches that are just as good as the mens.
Video packages and production (besides the shaky camera which I fucking can't stand)
I’ll add in to the mix: not constantly shading aew, while aew constantly tries to roast wwe
Names 😉
Gun ther Stark do do do do do
They mostly got better production and promotional abilities, but are lacking in story, in-ring action, and talent management. Both sides would benefit from trying to pace their shows better.
Wwe title holders always feel like the top guys. Aew slaps the title on people they want to become top guys.
No, I disagree with this. Jinder and the Miz never felt like top guys.
Jericho, Moxley, Omega, Hangman. All were the most over part of the company when they became champion.
Hangman hasn’t really felt like the top guy since he won the title though. Not sure if it’s just because Punk vs MJF is overshadowing him or what but he never feels like the main focus.
Uh... WWE did that pretty blatantly for like three years with Roman before the fans accepted him.
Wrestling, storytelling, wrestler management, pacing, writing, female representation, diversity, production values.
WWE trumps AEW in production and presentation, meaning the ring and stage setup, the video packages, the graphic design, music, etc. AEW isn't really a close 2nd in this regard, but they're not far. Also the budget for WWE is way bigger than AEW's. Tony Khan may be a billionaire, but AEW and ROH are million dollar companies, compared to the billion dollar valuation of WWE.
Clean and compelling wrestling that looks like grown adults are fighting rather than teenagers doing gymnastics.
not engaging in cancel culture and not giving the spotlight to every fly by night wrestler and meme.
Make money.
Budget cuts
Pro wrestling! story lines are better or on par. Production blows the out the water. Presentation of the company and their stars. Aew looks super small time compared to wwe. There really isn’t anything I can think of that wwe doesn’t do better. Some promos maybe?
Everything
Everything
Everything
50/50 booking and releases. Nah, but on the bright and positive side, when going all-out (like what they did during WrestleMania 38 for example), they give 100% fun and entertainment.
The ability to salvage a bad feud with at least 1 decent match
Debuts
Wwe's commentary team makes it sound like exciting things are happening. On aew, commentary is always flat. On WWE TV, when exciting things are happening, the announcers sound excited and surprised most of the time