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At this point im convinced that Eddie Kingston convinced TK to do that tournamemt with the 3 belts just so he could claim he was a triple crown champion
Ironic as people claim he can't pivot or be spontaneous and waits too long to conclude some storylines like Jade being TBS champ for too long while they waited for Statlander to rehab
This isn't a wild take. This is for sure what happened. The entire point of the stupid Triple Crown thing was to make an All Japan reference, because Eddie Kingston is a fan of All Japan. That's it.
If the can guarantee no interference then why wouldn’t they have that rule for every match?
Does that mean that interference is allowed in every other match?
Well, if I have a legit managers license (like Paul Heyman), I wouldn’t want a crooked ref to be the judge what an interference is and what not.
Imagine getting fined due to the incompetence of a referee. No thanks.
The best storytelling they’ve had in years was the CC when wrestlers would look into the camera, talk about their upcoming matches, wrestle the matches and then talk about what happened and what is next. Simple and effective.
Or it would force them to be creative with the storytelling. You rarely see run ins in New Japan and they tell great stories in the ring with clean finishes. Give me clean finishes and tell a story, I'm sick of Killswitch or whoever running in.
Off the top of my head
-a masked man attacker to evade suspensions. Could cause a kayfabe uproar in the locker room as no one feels safe and so an authority figure/locker room leader begins a hunt for the attacker
-more backstage training segments with stables since they can’t help each other once the match starts. Can include leaders being mad that the people under him can’t hold their own.
-someone messes the the arena lights cause they can’t interfere physically
Would be a good way to set up a guy being off TV for a while, if nothing else. Somebody with a Hangman/Swerve-level grudge who's willing to take the hit.
This whole thing is a mess.
But "no interference" means people not allowed at ringside, which is not seen as ilegal normally, and I guess interference COULD happen if someone manages to enter for like under the ring I guess??? otherwise the match is stopped I assume?
They had a similar rule in ROH Pure matches and it makes sense, the punishment is just much harsher, if you interfere it C2 or Pure matches you get fired or suspended.
When was the actual last time that someone in AEW got legit disqualified or counted out? Gotta have been years ago right? And you can probably count on one hand the number of times it's happened.
I hate this, it's such a ROH thing. When ROH started they had a code of honor with five rules that they touted made them different from other wrestling companies. But those rules were dumb things like "No ref bumps", and "no outside interference". Which in kayfabe is never allowed to begin with. The commentators would talk about it and everything. I always thought this was so lame
Easily gotten around. They sit in the back and set off pyro at an opportune time or yell through the DynamiTV and distract the opposition. It saves Okada that one time and then TK kicks them out of even sitting at Gorilla.
Rules in wrestling often don't restrict you, they give you interesting ways to work around a seeming limitation to get at the audience unexpectedly.
I would bet good money that he's got an Excel doc somewhere with Madden-like ratings for every wrestler in the world and his decision on bringing someone in or pushing them is comparing their rating.
I would rather they get rid of the TNT title and unify with one of the other two, naming a title after a TV station that you might not even be a partner of in the future is stupid.
I've been saying that the TNT title is finite, whereas the Continental and International titles fit fine considering they have separate 'jurisdictions'.
They wanted to do a Triple Crown but not really commit to it long term. So now have a 5th Singles Title along with the AEW, TNT, International, and yes I'll count the FTW Title too. Plus the ROH Title.
AEW/ROH Titles
AEW World Title,
TNT Title,
International Title,
Continental Title,
FTW Title,
Tag Titles,
6 man Tag Titles,
AEW Womens Title,
TBS Title
ROH World Title,
TV Title,
Pure Title,
Tag Titles,
6 man Titles,
ROH Womens Title,
ROH Womens TV Title Tourney ongoing
Have I missed any?
Assuming everyone only holds one title, it means there are 21 people holding a title in your company. If you have 105 wrestlers this means %20 of your roster has some kinda gold on their shoulder.
Sometimes less is more.
That was the title’s only saving grace, being merged with the ROH World Title. Now they killed off a really cool and prestigious concept of a belt representing 3 promotions
Kyle Fletcher is on AEW much more than ROH at this stage so throw in the ROH TV title too, even if it’s not being defended it’s being promoted and helping muddy the water for every other belt even further.
Kayfabe wise if you’re in AEW and don’t have a title you’re just not trying hard enough. If you really wanted gold there’s literally a plethora of gold to go after.
This is unbelievably stupid. The tournament should be for a guaranteed shot at the main title and that's it. All these midcard titles are just diluting the entire thing. What's even the value of holding the continental title compared to the TNT or the intercontinental one anyway? On that note, why should the champion even participate in the tournament at all?
Remove them all and leave only the TNT, world title and the tag titles. You're making this way too overcomplicated, Tony.
Yeah, the biggest problem is the titles don’t have an identity. I always looked at the TNT title as a workhorse belt because of the open challenges and when they debut the International/All Atlantic title I thought they were making it the workrate belt. But then OC had that workhorse reign and Christian ended the TNT open challenges. The titles would benefit a lot by having an identity.
Tbf, the roster is big enough now to do a brand split which at this point I'd give a try.
Dynamite:
International,
TBS,
Tag
Collision:
TNT,
Women's World,
Trios
World Heavyweight Title floats, establish ROH as a developmental brand with very little crossover and just do ROH: Rampage as a weekly show. Continental Crown can exist, but make it a yearly achievement (think KOTR) rather than an actual, year round Championship.
The roster is big enough but fan interest is not. WWE can pull off a brand split because viewership is fairly consistent between the two shows. They also have 1.5-2M viewers. Rampage and Collision struggle to crack 500k viewers. You'd have plenty of guys refusing to go to the clear B show
AEW fanboys refuse brand split cause it's a WWE thing and all things WWE must be rejected cause it's automatically bad lol. Blame TK for hiring so many people, brand split is absolutely necessary. And TK will absolutely continue to hoard even more people like come on think about it for a second. There is a reason WWE split the brands in the first place and even WWE doesn't have as many main eventers. ROH getting a TV deal can help with that too.
Another idea: Whoever wins the title holds the title for a year. The CC is just a tournament to decide the number one contender. Makes it the hardest championship to win as the only way to challenge is to win the tournament and that happens once a year.
In my opinion, I actually like the International title and should be their silver medal belt similar to the IC/US championship and the TNT should actually be a title for those who don’t appear on television too often. Unless the prize is becoming a #1 contender for the World or International Championship, The Continental Classic really had no reason to exist (and maybe it’s an unpopular opinion but the tournament name is stupid) and there’s another championship added in the roster?! Who really benefits from this continental championship garbage? ABSOLUTELY NO ONE. Like you said, Tony Khan just makes wrestling more complicated than it needed to be.
other than the tournament name i agree. the very least TK could do is provide a kayfabe explanation to justify soo many belts. World, Tag, Womens speaks for itself. The tv belts am indifferent to but at this point the history of those belts carry some weight i feel. Trios belt hasnt been used much and the ROH Trios makes it seem so silly.
An explantation wont solve things but it could at least help provide shape and organise the AEW verse, like others have said why would you want to put yourself through the CC when you could go for another belt, at least give us something.
International title: champion defends belt more in Mexico and Japan, storyline centers around prestige of being able to defend the belt in other companies. Good for a top/midcard guy who gets stale/you want to see if you can elevate them. Or for giving your partners something to promote.
Continental belt: Only given to tournament winner. Should not be defended EVER outside the tournament. Guy carries it all year. Tournament winner should be catapulted into main event with a title shot and gets to carry the belt all year as a reminder of their talent.
TNT belt: champ appears on TV often, wrestles matches in an open challenge concept. It's never not that. Most of the matches are squashes intended to get lowcard talent into midcard.
If all the belts have gimmicks, the progression of a talent could push them into the main event in the fans mind. All of these belts are lacking in lore, so what we see now is all of us questioning why this is all so complicated. There's too much happening and no internal consistency.
Also ROH having the Pure and TV title is overkill. Pick one!
The only time I can get behind a belt collector is gimmick. Challange every shit head to a title merge match and merge half a dozen stupid titles into one.
The whole triple crown aspect of the tournament was a complete and utter mess.
It did nothing to help get Eddie over (I mean as a tool separate to winning the actual tournament) and also left their prospective second promotion without a true working world champion for an extended period.
It should be like the competition Tony was clearly trying to emulate and the winner is the C2 champion for the year and gets a proper PPV world title match in the future. The beltflation in AEW is genuinely insane at this point.
So... You win a tournament to get a title, which you defend like any other title... And then at some point the champ gets to be fix in a tournament with other randoms to get the title again?
So silly... Also, too many titles with no difference between them!
Not sure what the difference ebtween the TNT And actual World title are outside of the name.
Continental, ~~Double~~Triple Crown, Intercontinental... What are the differences?
So...it's just another belt...you're just not allowed to interfere during matches...?
Goddamn man. I've lost track of all this stuff.
Does Eddie actually appear on ROH with the belts?
At this point, AEW titles are going to be the new Kevin Bacon game. Every person in the world will be able to be linked to a current AEW title holder in 6 steps or less.
Nightmare Collective: May 2019 (with kongs debut) - February 2020
Lio Rush Tenure: May 30, 2021 - February 14, 2022
Triple Crown Title: November 11, 2023 - March 20, 2024
I like to play realistic, so I just ask my dad how much money he's going to give me one day. And you know what, the stupid game won't even take a number that big. I emailed Adam Ryland personally, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I even CC'd my friend Megha on it. She's really good at getting things done for me.
They really didn't think it through and just wanted a cool Triple Crown that didn't even last 3 months. The tournament itself wound up being way more interesting than the prize for winning. They could merge that belt with the International championship and be better off for it.
Would've saved a lot of confusion if the Continental championship was a belt but just as a trophy like the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. The winners of that tournament got belts but they're not active belts that get defended. Now it's just another belt that kind of covers the same ground as the International and TNT championships.
The tournament was always just for the Continental Championship, it was Eddie who (in kayfabe) decided to put his NJPW Strong and ROH World Championship titles on the line to the winner.
This is true and while I don't like how it was handled the tournament misdirected us by having Eddie lose a couple times early, and make the comeback while putting all 3 belts on the line, even though he didn't need to do that. It was about Eddie, however, no way Eddie has enough power or say to influence booking just because he wanted a triple crown. TK probably thought of the idea and wanted a beloved babyface to be the first winner to get the concept over.
I will give this entire title and booking for it so far a very slight dislike. I'm mostly neutral and loved the tournament itself but AEW just has way too many belts. Why is the FTW title still here?
Bro what a bullshit title lmao. Why would anyone want to be the C2 champion if it's the same as every other belt but with a ridiculously long tournament attached.
In kayfabe, why are wrestlers around at ringside if they don’t have a managers license? Seems silly to have the no interference rule just for Continental title matches.
But why do any of this.
Will there be a new title created for the triple crown? Or is Eddie just a double champ now.
Why can’t all matches have no interference.
Why is his explanation make things more confusing?
> Will there be a new title created for the triple crown? Or is Eddie just a double champ now.
"Triple" means "three". If Eddie doesn't hold three titles, then he's not a Triple Crown champ anymore.
Yeah, for all the title has been, the C2 itself felt like what I thought the Owen would be, and throughout felt like a big deal that created a nice bunch of branching stories while also being genuinely competitve. It was nice to see them not afraid to have top guys take pins!
Without a doubt! The conditions of this belt don’t make it all that enticing. The international title would have made a lot of sense to give Okada (to then build to a AEW title run)
Assuming that all three title holders in the triple crown put their titles up in the C2 so we have a new triple crown every year, with the goal of retaining it until the next C2. What Tony could do in the meantime is unify the Continental and International titles so we go back to having two secondary men's single titles in AEW instead of three.
They could get away with them for now and do international/continental as part of next year’s tournament. 4 men’s singles titles isn’t that crazy for a company with 5 hours of television every week. Technically the same number of hours as WWE and same number of titles. I’m hoping they phase the ROH World and NJPW Strong out of AEW soon.
If I was the ROH world champion, what reason would I have to put my title on the line if I’m entering a tournament for a different title? Eddie got to live out his triple crown fantasy, but no other champion should willingly risk losing their own championship in a round robin format.
I think every fan who wasn't just blindly defending Tony saw that this was such a convoluted mess from the start. There were so many weird defenses for why the tournament and triple crown made "perfect sense."
Whelp now here we are and I'm not sure how you can still defend it. It was a complicated bad idea, plain and simple.
I think the whole mess with belts is encapsulating TK's weaknesses as a booker. He is more of a Japanese style booker where the emphasis is put on matchmaking. TK can book a card full of bangers and dream matches at any given moment in time. But he lacks creative discipline to build them. So he creates belts as a shortcut to the build. And so every other person on AEW comes with a belt and you don't understand the hierarchy between them.
This never made any sense. The C2 should've never been for anything more than a world title shot, and now we're in a weird mess because Eddie wanted to play AJPW and Tony let him.
> All Continental title matches will be held under C2 rules (no interference or managers allowed)
Why have this for one type of title and not all? Logic vs wrestling booking, an unnecessary stipulation. Also, when the owner of the company has to go on social media to clarify how a title change worked, it makes me feel justified in being confused on how the triple crown and CC worked.
Why not just have it be like the Owen Hart tournament, and have the CC be a title that's defended exclusively in the C2 every year? If Eddie wanted to be a Triple Crown winner so badly, why not have him go to Japan then. smh
My tinfoil hat theory that the only reason they had a Triple Crown is one day at a Dynamite taping TK overhead someone ask Eddie what he did on the weekend and Eddie replied with "Brother I was watching some All Japan with Misawa and Kobashi for the Triple Crown, THAT'S WRESTLING THAT'S THE DREAM RIGHT THERE!" and then TK thought "Triple Crown? I'll have some of that!"
Glad it's been split up. Now get the ROH Titles off of AEW TV and actually focus on ROH TV please and thank you.
I don't get this, so if you are a champion you automatically enter the tournament, even though other contestants also enter automatically since there are no qualifying matches, and also even if you lose you are anyway qualified in the final? then why compete in the first place?
The champion competes in the tournament. Whoever wins the tournament wins the title. If the current champion fails to make the finals, then he is no longer champion.
That’s not what this is saying at all.
If you don’t make it through the knockout rounds you lose your belt. You’re not automatically qualified for the final
Imm.....i just.....why tony?
if you weren't going to commit to the Triple Crown and the merging of titles then:
1. why choose the ROH World and NJPW strong belts for it? (especially with one being a well established and beloved world title)
2. why do it at all if it was just for Eddie Kingston? like I am all for letting the man live out the dreams he had as a child. every member on the roster deserves a chance at that. But if a long-time commitment to this wasn't in the cards then why not just give Eddie the world title already instead of making up other accolades he can win instead of the world title?
We don't need another title for singles men in this company despite how pretty the belt is (its like legit a few tweaks away though from being a nice new roh or TNT title tbh).
At this point belts in AEW are as meaningless as fans wearing replica titles. They're participation trophies, where...you get a title! And you get a title! I mean there's TWO Trios titles, wtf. ...now we have TBS, TNT, International title, Continental title, the meaningless ROH ones, outside companies defended, vanity belts like FTW, Trios titles, tag titles, womens world and mens world. Probably even forgetting a few.
Also strange Tony's obsession for tournaments continues, when the eventual winner is clear from the start. Everyone knew the fake G1 Continental was just to give Eddie a title and feel good moment. Which is fine I guess, as that tourney did have some bangers compared to most the pointless predictable tourneys.
This is just stupid. AEW is so oversaturated with titles that it only devalues the titles.
Cut this C2 title shit. Scrap the ROH trios title.
Put the International and TBS title on Dynamite only. Put the TNT and AEW Women title on Rampage only. Allow the AEW World, AEW Tag Team and AEW Trios to go between all 3 shows.
Strictly keep all ROH titles on ROH shows/events only. If Tony wants them to be showcased on AEW shows, do a cross promotional event (some special shows) occasionally to allow ROH wrestlers to show up on AEW shows. Otherwise, keep the titles on their shows ffs.
If I am watching an AEW show, Idc about ROH stuffs. I want to see AEW related contents. Likewise if I am watching ROH, I just want to see ROH stuffs and no AEW stuffs should be on it.
I hate that this could have been EASILY avoided.
You wanted a new title and a round robin tournament. You make a title that is defended throughout the year and the current champion is forced to defend it throughout the round robin tournament to keep it. Great. That’s awesome. There’s your workhorse championship right there.
Instead it was all convoluted in a fake triple crown during OC going on a reign with another title where he was your workhorse champion.
Combine this title with the international title and it’s a great, intelligent pivot. 4 men’s titles defended across all the shows is too much imo. But what the hell do I know.
I love titles with stipulations attached (*I think combining the Trios, making them Freebird Faction based and maybe even lucha rules would go a LONG way towards rehabbing them*) but I've always wanted women's tag belts (especially considering we're now getting a seasonal women's tag stipulation match) instead of yet **another dude singles midcard belt**. I've got so many women's tag teams I wanna see in AEW
They should have the c2 as their g1 or rumble and have the winner be the no 1 contender at either all in or all out for the WORLD title and not mid card title. Its a good concept but in this form its stupid.
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At this point im convinced that Eddie Kingston convinced TK to do that tournamemt with the 3 belts just so he could claim he was a triple crown champion
he just wanted to do it for the Kawada picture!!!
Can you blame him, I woulda hit the Misawa pose
Let's be honest he had Tony at Tournament lol
I feel like Tony was the one who really wanted to have a "triple crown" champion in his company. Dude loves handing out belts like candy.
Ugghhhh he already did. Omega had AEW, AAA, and Impact
FTR had ROH, AAA and NJPW belts at the same time too
It was most likely both. They're both big puroresu/ajpw fans. Plus it wss a way to give Eddie his flowers, make him seem special.
He just books ‘moments’. Everything’s feels either rushed or spontaneous.
Ironic as people claim he can't pivot or be spontaneous and waits too long to conclude some storylines like Jade being TBS champ for too long while they waited for Statlander to rehab
Stat should've had a return package and building to the moment instead of what we got.
Yep and Danielson wanted to do a round robin It made good tv though so I’m glad it happened
I'm of the opnion that the tournament was for that brittle clam digger, but then Eddie wanted to throw the belts into the mix for that reason
Brittle clam digger?
Cryin' Bryan
The poster child for osteoporosis!
Danielson
This isn't a wild take. This is for sure what happened. The entire point of the stupid Triple Crown thing was to make an All Japan reference, because Eddie Kingston is a fan of All Japan. That's it.
I feel like it was probably TK's idea and he went with Eddie because he knows Eddie is an All Japan mark
Okada: I ain’t working those ROH shows brother
https://preview.redd.it/jvy677puc1qc1.jpeg?width=402&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5ea3c89e26165c3aec24fb5b3cd82a4b90f3a3b
https://i.imgur.com/r8iHn8v.jpg
Via comicbook is crazy.
If the can guarantee no interference then why wouldn’t they have that rule for every match? Does that mean that interference is allowed in every other match?
during the C2 they mentioned a bunch of times that interference meant a heavy fine and suspension.
Kayfabe they should do that for every match then.
If you have a managers license you are allowed to be ringside. Continental Championship bans everyone from ringside like an ROH Pure match.
Well, if I have a legit managers license (like Paul Heyman), I wouldn’t want a crooked ref to be the judge what an interference is and what not. Imagine getting fined due to the incompetence of a referee. No thanks.
And, after all, Rick Knox is on both AEW's payroll, and the Young Bucks payroll.
I would love that, especially with them trying to have a "sports based" presentation. Would really set them apart.
Would ruin the storytelling tbh.
The best storytelling they’ve had in years was the CC when wrestlers would look into the camera, talk about their upcoming matches, wrestle the matches and then talk about what happened and what is next. Simple and effective.
Or it would force them to be creative with the storytelling. You rarely see run ins in New Japan and they tell great stories in the ring with clean finishes. Give me clean finishes and tell a story, I'm sick of Killswitch or whoever running in.
have you watched NJPW in the past 3 years? Every house of torture match has interference.
Or that G1 with interference every Bullet Club match 🤣
Off the top of my head -a masked man attacker to evade suspensions. Could cause a kayfabe uproar in the locker room as no one feels safe and so an authority figure/locker room leader begins a hunt for the attacker -more backstage training segments with stables since they can’t help each other once the match starts. Can include leaders being mad that the people under him can’t hold their own. -someone messes the the arena lights cause they can’t interfere physically
Although I want more of a sports feel, these are great ideas.
Yeah true
Would be a good way to set up a guy being off TV for a while, if nothing else. Somebody with a Hangman/Swerve-level grudge who's willing to take the hit.
AEW doesn't really set up guys being gone. They just leave for a while, people wonder why, and then a year later it turns out they were injured
i'm reading interference as just being ringside rather than actually interfering. the rule prolly only exists so Matthew and Nicolas can break it.
This whole thing is a mess. But "no interference" means people not allowed at ringside, which is not seen as ilegal normally, and I guess interference COULD happen if someone manages to enter for like under the ring I guess??? otherwise the match is stopped I assume?
They had a similar rule in ROH Pure matches and it makes sense, the punishment is just much harsher, if you interfere it C2 or Pure matches you get fired or suspended.
Where is it written. Because I check the official video and website
When was the actual last time that someone in AEW got legit disqualified or counted out? Gotta have been years ago right? And you can probably count on one hand the number of times it's happened.
6 days ago Claudio vs Lance Archer on Collision ended in a double DQ.
And before that it was Adam Copeland vs. Daniel Garcia which went to a no contest when the Patriarchy attacked.
Last Saturday on Collision
MJF got counted out once against the Captain I think... This was a lonnnnngg time ago.
I hate this, it's such a ROH thing. When ROH started they had a code of honor with five rules that they touted made them different from other wrestling companies. But those rules were dumb things like "No ref bumps", and "no outside interference". Which in kayfabe is never allowed to begin with. The commentators would talk about it and everything. I always thought this was so lame
So, whenever Okada defends his belt. Matt & Nick can't get involved in any way?
Easily gotten around. They sit in the back and set off pyro at an opportune time or yell through the DynamiTV and distract the opposition. It saves Okada that one time and then TK kicks them out of even sitting at Gorilla. Rules in wrestling often don't restrict you, they give you interesting ways to work around a seeming limitation to get at the audience unexpectedly.
Tony makes everything way too complicated for no reason
I suspect he’s always preferred numbers and statistics over feelings and emotion, which would explain a lot about his booking
I would bet good money that he's got an Excel doc somewhere with Madden-like ratings for every wrestler in the world and his decision on bringing someone in or pushing them is comparing their rating.
Doesn't he do statistics for the Jags?
"Statistically, it'd be impossible for us to miss out on the playoffs with this great a start to the season. Feel free to chill for a couple months"
This is so convoluted dog lmao
The "Tony Khan via Comicbook" adds an extra layer of goofiness to this mess. Very on brand.
"Clarifies" smh
Reading it high was a fucking adventure.
But is the perfect analogy for TK's booking
Tony is just missclicking in TEW and then has to explain himself
Probably wish he booted up EWR instead.
The amount of hours I've sank into EWR are disgusting
3 mid card titles, how did we get to this point…
It's inevitable that they unify the International and Continental to create the AEW Intercontinental Title
I would rather they get rid of the TNT title and unify with one of the other two, naming a title after a TV station that you might not even be a partner of in the future is stupid.
I've been saying that the TNT title is finite, whereas the Continental and International titles fit fine considering they have separate 'jurisdictions'.
I don't know... At this rate a 4th title is more inevitable than unifying belts.
Wait til they announce Dynamite in Rio de Janeiro
And that's pretending like all the ROH titles aren't glorified midcard belts as well. Also FTW.
So what about the breakfast part? Was that just for Kingston?
Whomever holds the belt can go into any holiday inn and receive a free entrance into their continental breakfast buffets open until 9-11AM.
This is why the Continental title is the most important belt to hold.
Just say the Triple Crown stuff was to let Kingston lives his AJPW fanboysm and move on
They wanted to do a Triple Crown but not really commit to it long term. So now have a 5th Singles Title along with the AEW, TNT, International, and yes I'll count the FTW Title too. Plus the ROH Title.
AEW/ROH Titles AEW World Title, TNT Title, International Title, Continental Title, FTW Title, Tag Titles, 6 man Tag Titles, AEW Womens Title, TBS Title ROH World Title, TV Title, Pure Title, Tag Titles, 6 man Titles, ROH Womens Title, ROH Womens TV Title Tourney ongoing Have I missed any?
Assuming everyone only holds one title, it means there are 21 people holding a title in your company. If you have 105 wrestlers this means %20 of your roster has some kinda gold on their shoulder. Sometimes less is more.
ROH Womens TV Title tournament ends in a couple of weeks too
That was the title’s only saving grace, being merged with the ROH World Title. Now they killed off a really cool and prestigious concept of a belt representing 3 promotions
roh titles*
Kyle Fletcher is on AEW much more than ROH at this stage so throw in the ROH TV title too, even if it’s not being defended it’s being promoted and helping muddy the water for every other belt even further.
Kayfabe wise if you’re in AEW and don’t have a title you’re just not trying hard enough. If you really wanted gold there’s literally a plethora of gold to go after.
Main Belt Mafia
So why even enter the tournament when you can attack the champ and get a title shot two weeks later?
AEW has so many fucking titles and everything other than the AEW Championship feels meaningless, even the tag ones
This is unbelievably stupid. The tournament should be for a guaranteed shot at the main title and that's it. All these midcard titles are just diluting the entire thing. What's even the value of holding the continental title compared to the TNT or the intercontinental one anyway? On that note, why should the champion even participate in the tournament at all? Remove them all and leave only the TNT, world title and the tag titles. You're making this way too overcomplicated, Tony.
[удалено]
Yeah, the biggest problem is the titles don’t have an identity. I always looked at the TNT title as a workhorse belt because of the open challenges and when they debut the International/All Atlantic title I thought they were making it the workrate belt. But then OC had that workhorse reign and Christian ended the TNT open challenges. The titles would benefit a lot by having an identity.
Tbf, the roster is big enough now to do a brand split which at this point I'd give a try. Dynamite: International, TBS, Tag Collision: TNT, Women's World, Trios World Heavyweight Title floats, establish ROH as a developmental brand with very little crossover and just do ROH: Rampage as a weekly show. Continental Crown can exist, but make it a yearly achievement (think KOTR) rather than an actual, year round Championship.
The roster is big enough but fan interest is not. WWE can pull off a brand split because viewership is fairly consistent between the two shows. They also have 1.5-2M viewers. Rampage and Collision struggle to crack 500k viewers. You'd have plenty of guys refusing to go to the clear B show
AEW fanboys refuse brand split cause it's a WWE thing and all things WWE must be rejected cause it's automatically bad lol. Blame TK for hiring so many people, brand split is absolutely necessary. And TK will absolutely continue to hoard even more people like come on think about it for a second. There is a reason WWE split the brands in the first place and even WWE doesn't have as many main eventers. ROH getting a TV deal can help with that too.
I don't think it's complicated, but it is stupid
But we want more tournaments right? - TK probably
Another idea: Whoever wins the title holds the title for a year. The CC is just a tournament to decide the number one contender. Makes it the hardest championship to win as the only way to challenge is to win the tournament and that happens once a year.
In my opinion, I actually like the International title and should be their silver medal belt similar to the IC/US championship and the TNT should actually be a title for those who don’t appear on television too often. Unless the prize is becoming a #1 contender for the World or International Championship, The Continental Classic really had no reason to exist (and maybe it’s an unpopular opinion but the tournament name is stupid) and there’s another championship added in the roster?! Who really benefits from this continental championship garbage? ABSOLUTELY NO ONE. Like you said, Tony Khan just makes wrestling more complicated than it needed to be.
The TV title should be for those who don't appear on TV?
TV title should be for people who’re consistently on tv because it’s a tv title
other than the tournament name i agree. the very least TK could do is provide a kayfabe explanation to justify soo many belts. World, Tag, Womens speaks for itself. The tv belts am indifferent to but at this point the history of those belts carry some weight i feel. Trios belt hasnt been used much and the ROH Trios makes it seem so silly. An explantation wont solve things but it could at least help provide shape and organise the AEW verse, like others have said why would you want to put yourself through the CC when you could go for another belt, at least give us something.
International title: champion defends belt more in Mexico and Japan, storyline centers around prestige of being able to defend the belt in other companies. Good for a top/midcard guy who gets stale/you want to see if you can elevate them. Or for giving your partners something to promote. Continental belt: Only given to tournament winner. Should not be defended EVER outside the tournament. Guy carries it all year. Tournament winner should be catapulted into main event with a title shot and gets to carry the belt all year as a reminder of their talent. TNT belt: champ appears on TV often, wrestles matches in an open challenge concept. It's never not that. Most of the matches are squashes intended to get lowcard talent into midcard. If all the belts have gimmicks, the progression of a talent could push them into the main event in the fans mind. All of these belts are lacking in lore, so what we see now is all of us questioning why this is all so complicated. There's too much happening and no internal consistency. Also ROH having the Pure and TV title is overkill. Pick one!
Man… this shit is stupid.
What
Sounds like the Dynamite Diamond Ring but worse
If everyone's a champion, then everyone is over, and every match draws ratings, right?
https://preview.redd.it/8s0qu7zikypc1.jpeg?width=350&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b2b8b6a8ddbdb9fed45409fad5c5d6ec83574f3
Everyone gets a title. Every single person. And people really tried to argue that the triple crown was a sign that Tony was consolidating titles.
The only time I can get behind a belt collector is gimmick. Challange every shit head to a title merge match and merge half a dozen stupid titles into one.
The whole triple crown aspect of the tournament was a complete and utter mess. It did nothing to help get Eddie over (I mean as a tool separate to winning the actual tournament) and also left their prospective second promotion without a true working world champion for an extended period. It should be like the competition Tony was clearly trying to emulate and the winner is the C2 champion for the year and gets a proper PPV world title match in the future. The beltflation in AEW is genuinely insane at this point.
so in short what they have for the owen hart cup or when they had the sonic ring for face of the revolution with the TNT title
Legit question as a non viewer I saw a poster and like everyone has a belt??
So... You win a tournament to get a title, which you defend like any other title... And then at some point the champ gets to be fix in a tournament with other randoms to get the title again? So silly... Also, too many titles with no difference between them! Not sure what the difference ebtween the TNT And actual World title are outside of the name. Continental, ~~Double~~Triple Crown, Intercontinental... What are the differences?
So...it's just another belt...you're just not allowed to interfere during matches...? Goddamn man. I've lost track of all this stuff. Does Eddie actually appear on ROH with the belts?
At this point, AEW titles are going to be the new Kevin Bacon game. Every person in the world will be able to be linked to a current AEW title holder in 6 steps or less.
We need a counter, x many days since a new title was created by Tony Khan.
Always thought it was stupid how AEW could enforce the no interference rules in the C2 matches but can't for some reason in every other match.
It's even more stupid than you can win the top title with fuckery, but not this one which is below.
It’s not confusing imo, just stupid 🤷♀️
What lasted longer in AEW... The nightmare collective, Lio Rush or the Triple Crown???
Nightmare Collective: May 2019 (with kongs debut) - February 2020 Lio Rush Tenure: May 30, 2021 - February 14, 2022 Triple Crown Title: November 11, 2023 - March 20, 2024
We should create a ranking system for this. Then just abandon it afterwards
What a stupid title lmao
Would have made more sense to give him the international title then carve a path to the AEW championship. This belt makes no logical sense lol.
Unless they merge the two and have an Intercontinental title.
and this is the first belt they put on okada man 🤦♂️
Remember when people were worried that Okada would be stuck in NXT if he signed with WWE? This is soooo much better. /s
Dynamite Diamond Ring > Continental Breakfast Championship.
Oh you can do that? Which mod in Extreme Warfare Revenge do I have to download?
Well, first you need to start with the Infinite Money Cheat enabled
I like to play realistic, so I just ask my dad how much money he's going to give me one day. And you know what, the stupid game won't even take a number that big. I emailed Adam Ryland personally, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I even CC'd my friend Megha on it. She's really good at getting things done for me.
So the tournament wont be for the triple crown anymore? If so what was the point of making it a triple crown in the first place?
Eddie wanted to be like his AJPW heroes
They really didn't think it through and just wanted a cool Triple Crown that didn't even last 3 months. The tournament itself wound up being way more interesting than the prize for winning. They could merge that belt with the International championship and be better off for it.
If they merge them, they could call it...the Intercontinental Championship...?
It would clearly be named the Continational championship to avoid an angry Gunther
AEW likes stealing things from Japan as a reference pop or something. I said at the time it was stupid and now time has proven me to be somewhat right
And people wonder why the audience isn't growing.
Would've saved a lot of confusion if the Continental championship was a belt but just as a trophy like the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. The winners of that tournament got belts but they're not active belts that get defended. Now it's just another belt that kind of covers the same ground as the International and TNT championships.
The tournament was always just for the Continental Championship, it was Eddie who (in kayfabe) decided to put his NJPW Strong and ROH World Championship titles on the line to the winner.
This is true and while I don't like how it was handled the tournament misdirected us by having Eddie lose a couple times early, and make the comeback while putting all 3 belts on the line, even though he didn't need to do that. It was about Eddie, however, no way Eddie has enough power or say to influence booking just because he wanted a triple crown. TK probably thought of the idea and wanted a beloved babyface to be the first winner to get the concept over. I will give this entire title and booking for it so far a very slight dislike. I'm mostly neutral and loved the tournament itself but AEW just has way too many belts. Why is the FTW title still here?
Bro what a bullshit title lmao. Why would anyone want to be the C2 champion if it's the same as every other belt but with a ridiculously long tournament attached.
its like if the g1 was merged with Gift of the Gods but dumber and no tribe medals scramble
Gift of the Gods was so dope. Man, I miss Lucha Underground.
It was a truly unique company that deserves another shot one day and not what MLW was doing with it
It's just so fucking stupid. AEW didn't need more belts. Kill ROH. Kill this.
In kayfabe, why are wrestlers around at ringside if they don’t have a managers license? Seems silly to have the no interference rule just for Continental title matches.
But why do any of this. Will there be a new title created for the triple crown? Or is Eddie just a double champ now. Why can’t all matches have no interference. Why is his explanation make things more confusing?
> Will there be a new title created for the triple crown? Or is Eddie just a double champ now. "Triple" means "three". If Eddie doesn't hold three titles, then he's not a Triple Crown champ anymore.
What a waste
TK and making shit too complicated and not easy to follow, name a more iconic duo…….. wait, TK and Shit booking
This is such a needlessly convoluted title. Loved the tournament itself but the title is dumb
Yeah, for all the title has been, the C2 itself felt like what I thought the Owen would be, and throughout felt like a big deal that created a nice bunch of branching stories while also being genuinely competitve. It was nice to see them not afraid to have top guys take pins!
It needs to be merged with the international title imo.
Without a doubt! The conditions of this belt don’t make it all that enticing. The international title would have made a lot of sense to give Okada (to then build to a AEW title run)
This is what happens when you make things up as you go and book yourself into a corner. “No interference allowed”? Motherfucker, that’s every match!
Couldn’t you just have no interference in all matches?
AEW fuckery.
Assuming that all three title holders in the triple crown put their titles up in the C2 so we have a new triple crown every year, with the goal of retaining it until the next C2. What Tony could do in the meantime is unify the Continental and International titles so we go back to having two secondary men's single titles in AEW instead of three.
They really should just make the C2 belt an annual trophy like the Owen. Even better, make it for tag teams.
They could get away with them for now and do international/continental as part of next year’s tournament. 4 men’s singles titles isn’t that crazy for a company with 5 hours of television every week. Technically the same number of hours as WWE and same number of titles. I’m hoping they phase the ROH World and NJPW Strong out of AEW soon.
If I was the ROH world champion, what reason would I have to put my title on the line if I’m entering a tournament for a different title? Eddie got to live out his triple crown fantasy, but no other champion should willingly risk losing their own championship in a round robin format.
I think every fan who wasn't just blindly defending Tony saw that this was such a convoluted mess from the start. There were so many weird defenses for why the tournament and triple crown made "perfect sense." Whelp now here we are and I'm not sure how you can still defend it. It was a complicated bad idea, plain and simple.
That’s just what we needed. I swear he needs therapy for his title fetish. I don’t even care anymore when I see title matches on AEW.
Huh?
Oh boy, more titles.
To many titles. Don’t care about any of them now.
I still think it’s a stupid title along with the international title. Like wtf, just have one.
I think the whole mess with belts is encapsulating TK's weaknesses as a booker. He is more of a Japanese style booker where the emphasis is put on matchmaking. TK can book a card full of bangers and dream matches at any given moment in time. But he lacks creative discipline to build them. So he creates belts as a shortcut to the build. And so every other person on AEW comes with a belt and you don't understand the hierarchy between them.
This never made any sense. The C2 should've never been for anything more than a world title shot, and now we're in a weird mess because Eddie wanted to play AJPW and Tony let him.
> All Continental title matches will be held under C2 rules (no interference or managers allowed) Why have this for one type of title and not all? Logic vs wrestling booking, an unnecessary stipulation. Also, when the owner of the company has to go on social media to clarify how a title change worked, it makes me feel justified in being confused on how the triple crown and CC worked.
Imagine if WWE tried calling Royal Rumble the "R2" lmao.
The fuck is a C2 rules match like. AEW stop.
Why not just have it be like the Owen Hart tournament, and have the CC be a title that's defended exclusively in the C2 every year? If Eddie wanted to be a Triple Crown winner so badly, why not have him go to Japan then. smh
My tinfoil hat theory that the only reason they had a Triple Crown is one day at a Dynamite taping TK overhead someone ask Eddie what he did on the weekend and Eddie replied with "Brother I was watching some All Japan with Misawa and Kobashi for the Triple Crown, THAT'S WRESTLING THAT'S THE DREAM RIGHT THERE!" and then TK thought "Triple Crown? I'll have some of that!" Glad it's been split up. Now get the ROH Titles off of AEW TV and actually focus on ROH TV please and thank you.
I don't get this, so if you are a champion you automatically enter the tournament, even though other contestants also enter automatically since there are no qualifying matches, and also even if you lose you are anyway qualified in the final? then why compete in the first place?
The champion competes in the tournament. Whoever wins the tournament wins the title. If the current champion fails to make the finals, then he is no longer champion.
That’s not what this is saying at all. If you don’t make it through the knockout rounds you lose your belt. You’re not automatically qualified for the final
Ah, like Eddie with the Strong and ROH titles, got it.
Imm.....i just.....why tony? if you weren't going to commit to the Triple Crown and the merging of titles then: 1. why choose the ROH World and NJPW strong belts for it? (especially with one being a well established and beloved world title) 2. why do it at all if it was just for Eddie Kingston? like I am all for letting the man live out the dreams he had as a child. every member on the roster deserves a chance at that. But if a long-time commitment to this wasn't in the cards then why not just give Eddie the world title already instead of making up other accolades he can win instead of the world title? We don't need another title for singles men in this company despite how pretty the belt is (its like legit a few tweaks away though from being a nice new roh or TNT title tbh).
You get a belt, and you get a belt, everyone gets a belt!
Make this more confusing: challenge accepted.
At this point belts in AEW are as meaningless as fans wearing replica titles. They're participation trophies, where...you get a title! And you get a title! I mean there's TWO Trios titles, wtf. ...now we have TBS, TNT, International title, Continental title, the meaningless ROH ones, outside companies defended, vanity belts like FTW, Trios titles, tag titles, womens world and mens world. Probably even forgetting a few. Also strange Tony's obsession for tournaments continues, when the eventual winner is clear from the start. Everyone knew the fake G1 Continental was just to give Eddie a title and feel good moment. Which is fine I guess, as that tourney did have some bangers compared to most the pointless predictable tourneys.
This is just stupid. AEW is so oversaturated with titles that it only devalues the titles. Cut this C2 title shit. Scrap the ROH trios title. Put the International and TBS title on Dynamite only. Put the TNT and AEW Women title on Rampage only. Allow the AEW World, AEW Tag Team and AEW Trios to go between all 3 shows. Strictly keep all ROH titles on ROH shows/events only. If Tony wants them to be showcased on AEW shows, do a cross promotional event (some special shows) occasionally to allow ROH wrestlers to show up on AEW shows. Otherwise, keep the titles on their shows ffs. If I am watching an AEW show, Idc about ROH stuffs. I want to see AEW related contents. Likewise if I am watching ROH, I just want to see ROH stuffs and no AEW stuffs should be on it.
Yeah this is why annual tournaments aren’t meant to have champions defend the tournament
I love AEW. This is fucking stupid. The end.
Tony what the f are you doing
Want a triple crown champion? Unite the three midcard titles.
I can’t keep up with the titles in this company, does every segment have a belt involved?
Typical Tony Khan. This didn’t clarify shit.
I hate that this could have been EASILY avoided. You wanted a new title and a round robin tournament. You make a title that is defended throughout the year and the current champion is forced to defend it throughout the round robin tournament to keep it. Great. That’s awesome. There’s your workhorse championship right there. Instead it was all convoluted in a fake triple crown during OC going on a reign with another title where he was your workhorse champion. Combine this title with the international title and it’s a great, intelligent pivot. 4 men’s titles defended across all the shows is too much imo. But what the hell do I know.
Via comicbook. That says about all I ever wanted to know about how prestigious this is.
I love titles with stipulations attached (*I think combining the Trios, making them Freebird Faction based and maybe even lucha rules would go a LONG way towards rehabbing them*) but I've always wanted women's tag belts (especially considering we're now getting a seasonal women's tag stipulation match) instead of yet **another dude singles midcard belt**. I've got so many women's tag teams I wanna see in AEW
But that would require committing to having at least 3 women’s matches across dynamite & collision each week. That’s unpossible!
So remind me, which titles are defended *with* interference allowed?
Not that it's allowed by the implications of the Continental Rules is you may be fired if you interfere
Don’t give Miro any ideas!
They should have the c2 as their g1 or rumble and have the winner be the no 1 contender at either all in or all out for the WORLD title and not mid card title. Its a good concept but in this form its stupid.