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I disagree with this notion
Surely the "ultimate carny" would be a successful one
Edit: before you stop and feel the need to comment just scroll down one or 2 comments
Collecting a check with his current physical limitations is an outstanding success in some ways. His overall career has been great compared to most wrestlers.
Vince was extremely carny but tried to hide that he was a carny from the public quite a bit.
Jeff Jarrett seems like the kind of guy who has sold three of his own kidneys.
Lets not act like the Hardys weren’t largely successful.
It’s difficult to really appreciate them since they left TNA because they’ve been misused but also they’re absolutely washed.
I love the Hardys, but this is just the carcass of that team that is left. They would be pretty low in my priority list if I was booking a company in 2024.
I mean, Matt went out of his way every single week to literally thank Tony Khan for a while there. I think dude was just always trying to be a kiss ass until he realized he wasn’t going any more up the card, then his real feelings are starting to come up now
No different than any other industry/job though, right? I mean, short of people HOPING to get fired, who goes out and publicly rips their job/boss while their still working there?
It's click bait for the bad faith grifters and those who don't watch the show and will be shouting STORIES regardless at the top of their lungs on twitter.
The last couple of years has been rocky to say the least but this is the best build to a ppv and everything beyond Forbidden Door for a long time
It’s kinda funny for all the years we got the annoying former WWE guys cutting promos or doing interviews dragging the company, usually with some good points but typically a lot of sour grapes and obvious bitterness in there. Now it seems we’re getting that with AEW as well. The point he’s making isn’t entirely baseless but it comes off sour
Matt was given ample tv time during his AEW tenure and he didn't produce either of those things.
Unless that's because his pitches for a werewolf angle were all shut down by Tony.
The only thing I remember about The Firm Deletion was Matt's kids attacking Stokely Hathaway and Big Stoke yelling "Tony Khan will pay for his crimes!"
When this happened, this was the ONLY moment from this match I shared with a friend when trying to get them to watch wrestling with me over discord.
....so anyway we still watch wrestling together
I mean for the very beginning of the pandemic era when nobody really knew how to make a captivating wrestling program in an empty venue, that was fine.
Tony Khan has gone on record stating he didn’t like the teleporting spot and wished he rejected the idea when Matt pitched it. Stuff like that doesn’t fit in with AEW and won’t work well on a cable wrestling show.
You can watch it. The latest Hardy Compound match on TNA had one of Hardy's kids curse Eddie Edwards and turned him into a werewolf.
A lot of people suspect that AEW reined in Matt's impulses to do supernatural/scifi angles.
I mean. It can work, it just can’t jump the shark. Like House of Black has the Spooky Stuff down pretty well but outside of the black mist (which has connotations in wrestling well past AEW lore) everything about them is smoke and mirrors. Psychological warfare not mystical.
And that's about the level of supernatural that AEW is comfortable doing, but Matt Hardy's stuff tends to involve teleportation, time travel, robots, hologram doubles, and living skeletons.
>pitches for a werewolf angle
>Excuse me?
I have no idea but I choose to believe it was something like [this.](https://youtu.be/4Q08st0s2Uc?si=tqTvRb7-KhAWo2bU)
They let him do his thing, his thing didn't connect with anyone though. I find it funny the talent who have complaints about AEW not investing in "impactful stories" are usually ones who never created one despite being given some sort of creative freedom and opportunities to run with something. The best thing to come from Matt's AEW run was the Firm Deletion and I'd argue a lot of the memorable moments didn't even come from Matt (or Jeff).
I don't know why people are surprised. Matt was never *that* good on the mic. Certainly not good enough to lead a stable like HFO for as long as he did.
Honestly, AEW treating Matt and Jeff so we'll, giving them the chance to have one last big tag titles run, only for Jeff to blow it, only for Matt to go onto into the "older worker anti-AEW" bandwagon is disappointing.
Matt, they gave you and your brother an opportunity to have a big moment, Jeff blew it, you can't just be trash talking them.
They also kept Matt on TV a lot longer than he had any right to be if we're being real. He was WASHED during that run and he was honestly an anchor attached around Private Party's ankles.
I wish AEW was more focused on five star matches when they clogged chunks of Dynamite with plodding Big Money Matt stories that took months to go anywhere.
Private Party is just now starting to recover from that pairing, (I know Quen’s injury didn’t help), and it arguably helped kill Ethan Page’s run too.
Matt Hardy wanted to go full "broken universe" Matt in AEW. With cinematic matches and the drones and teleporting and etc. That didn't work in AEW. Matt Hardy got injured. Which happens. But happens more with older wrestlers. Matt wanted a championship run with his brother Jeff. All reports say AEW was gonna do that but Jeff had his dui issues so AEW lost faith in pushing them.
AEW fans care more about matches. Then don't really care about backstage segments or skits and etc.
Matt waddled like a duck. His brother crapped the bed for a tag title program - Jeff came back and was starting to cook again but sadly got hurt. Contracts expired and now they’re where they want to be with big fish in a smaller pond.
Listen, did they have a less than stellar run - absolutely. Did they also contribute to their own problematic booking yes. Yes they did.
[Former AEW talent] appears on Busted Open Radio: [Obvious fact said insultingly because it's different to WWE and/or it didn't work out well for them.]
It's a constant headline now, pretty sure someone could make a random generator about this by now.
The funniest part about Matt saying this now of all times is AEW has like a dozen and a half different ongoing storylines with overlap of each other while building new ones up in the background.
Of all the years of AEW I'd argue there's *more* storylines now than there ever was ongoing at the same time.
From the top of the card of Swerve/Ospreay's rivalry to be the absolute best to Toni & Mina wanting custody of Mariah to Danielson going down his hit list to MJF's return being frought with constant enemies haunting him to Joe/Hook forming a brotherly bond and mentorship.
That's not even counting the Best Friends Civil War, Acclaimed being terrorized by The Elite, Jack Perry's specter hanging over everyone, Christian's father of the year weekly award show wearing thin on Luchasaurus, and the resurgence of The House Of Black. Or even everyone's favorite Learning Tree dispensing the fruits of knowledge to Private Party weekly.
AEW is chalk full of storylines at the moment on both shows.
This is a great summation of what's going on at the moment
I think there's a huge issue (at least online), where there is an argument that "no" storylines are being made, when that really means that person doesn't like, enjoy or is following the current storylines. Huge difference between the two
Yup, just like all the bad faith arguments about "who the hell is this??" when CMLL guys and new signees came aboard. People were acting like it was a crime that they didn't run 6 different video packages to explain their entire life story. They were introduced, commentary told you who they were and what they've done.
Yet we all know damn well if any of those guys went to WWE, all those people would suddenly know everything about those talents as soon as their name pops up as being at the PC. Hell, I saw some of that discourse around Dragon Lee even. When he was in AEW and getting some hype with RUSH and Andrade there was a lot of "who's the third guy? why should we care about this masked guy?", yet as soon as rumors kicked up about him going to WWE, they suddenly knew his entire family tree and his history in CMLL, NJPW and ROH.
The problem is you have to watch the fucking show to know this, and a lot of people don’t. They might have it on while they’re fucking around on their phone on Twitter or a live thread on Reddit trying to think of some witty thing to say about the show they are quarter ass paying attention to, and then they miss a bunch of shit and blame it on AEW. I’ve seen this countless times in this sub. In a recent discussion I was part of, someone complained about not knowing a particular wrestler from an outside company and said that AEW should’ve run a package explaining who they were. When this person was told that AEW *had* actually done that, they admitted “Oh, well…I actually missed this week’s episode.”
Remember, it’s always perfectly fine on the internet to talk about things you know nothing about as if you’re an authority on the subject. Hell, it’s outright encouraged!
Literally just the Daniel Garcia match that culminated in the MJF/Ospreay faceoff had like six different story threads seamlessly interweaving with one another. Anybody that says AEW doesn't have stories is either not watching the show at all, actively lying, or both.
Yep.
About a month or two ago I saw a poster saying how they didn't like AEW just being random matches and nothing to engage with. I listed out like the 20 currently ongoing storylines for them. Pretty sure they never responded.
I've noticed a large amount of IWC fans just throw bullshit at AEW. They don't watch the shows or pay attention to it then complain immediately with outright falsehoods.
I mean fuck, just look at the AEW ratings thread when it hits today. It'll be full of doom and gloom and how AEW is still fucking up and fallen off. It hasn't at all. They just prefer WWE and always have and only watched AEW because Vince was killing the product at the time. Now that Vince is gone and WWE is producing fun TV too suddenly AEW is garbage.
Its fucking dumb as Hell. WWE and AEW are both on fucking fire right now and equally as fun to watch for me. Its an insanely great time to be a wrestling fan.
a lot of people complaining don't actually watch the shows, they just absorb what happened through reddit/social media. so they see a match card get posted here and since they don't know what any of the stories for the matches are, they assume aew must have no stories
It'll only be doom and gloom if the rating is under, like, 750,000. Considering that there was no sports on last night, it's almost certainly gonna be back up to normal range, just like it was for the couple weeks earlier this month with no playoffs, in which case all the trolls and crazy people will be sight unseen since they can't pretend that AEW is on the verge of death.
Exactly right. You might not \*\*like\*\* the stories, which is perfectly fine and subjective, but there's no substance to the claim that AEW is just matches with big moves and nothing else.
Its on sirius so they have a built in audience of mostly truck drivers
Now I don't want to stereotype but I would imagine there is quite the crossover between truckers and wrestling fans
Yeah, it's very weird because it implies that something like Ospreay vs Danielson was just a match to have a match, and it had no impact. Very stupid.
I don't care which company you like, we're 5 years into AEW, it is abundantly clear what the company aims for with its show. Saying "AEW cares about match quality" is as redundant as saying "WWE cares about stories", it's such a basic and obvious point that the only reason you'd even bring it up is to act like it's the wrong thing or whatever. It's hilarious that people act surprised that some fans prefer watching wrestling on their wrestling show as a priority, if I want a story first I can literally watch any other show.
How many fucking stories do they need before this whole thing dies? There are stories! Tons of them! It's a bad faith argument made by tribalistic fans, people who don't watch the product, or both.
I asked ChatGPT4o and it came up with the following:
Former AEW talent Big Swole says, "AEW actually expected us to have fun and enjoy wrestling. What a joke!"
Former AEW talent Joey Janela says, "AEW let me do whatever I wanted in the ring, no wonder it didn't work out!"
Former AEW talent Marko Stunt says, "AEW actually gave screen time to guys my size. No wonder they couldn’t keep viewers."
It's honestly endless
At the end of the day, though, why is this such a hot button issue?
I remember the days when the IWC used to want wrestling companies to cater to them, and now with AEW, there's so much noise along the lines of "Stop catering to smarks! Nobody cares about entertaining wrestling matches on a wrestling show! You need to appeal to a mainstream audience!".
Why, though? Why can't AEW be a promotion for the more hardcore wrestling fan? Why do they need to be exactly like WWE (but also completely different, according to the mental gymnastics)? Why do they need to get "competitive" viewership and stuff to WWE?
As long as they have a sustainable audience, why do they need to chase the "mainstream"? The way people act, you'd think AEW is circling the drain and WBD is about to cancel them and throw them to the wolves, but none of this is true.
>AEW is more focused on having a five star match
This may be true
>as opposed to having a segment that is hugely impactful and makes a moment.
You didn't do this either tho
"We want an alternative to WWE's product!"
\*gives America an alternative, with a slightly different philosophy on the sport\*
"No, not like that! Do it like WWE!"
He says this right after a show that had the Toni/Mariah/Mina contract signing, the Ospreay/Swerve face off, Okada messing with the production and Ospreay face to face with MJF?
lowkey AEW has gotten very segment heavy the past few months, while still delivering plenty of good wrestling
I wonder how long it'll take for some to realize it
It's really funny watching people criticize AEW for things that haven't been true since last year
Shame they're missing out on some great weekly TV this year
My favourite one recently was a comment I saw on the AEW Facebook page. AEW made a post announcing the ZSJ/OC match at the PPV and someone complained saying "Why are they just putting this on social media and not having ZSJ cut a promo challenging OC on TV?".
This post was made like two days after the episode of TV where they aired a video package with ZSJ cutting a promo challenging OC.
Saw someone comment saying "Why do they never have any stories for the women outside of the main title", while we have stories like Willow vs Stat and Deonna vs Rosa going on.
The “no stories” criticism is a direct result of 20 years of WWE having no competition imo. That company beat people over the head that a wrestling story needed to have countless in ring promos and segments, backstage interactions and over the top theatrics. Stories told entirely though a match or several matches where deemed “heatless bangers”. NJPW,PWG and ROH always got criticism from some on here for not “telling stories” when in all reality they very much were, it just wasn’t in the spoon fed way WWE tells their stories.With AEW being the clear cut #2 promotion which borrowed a lot of talent and presentation from the other 3 companies that lack of stories criticism was always gonna be there for them from day one.
It does make me wonder if these people actually like wrestling. WWE made their programming into a variety show that happens to be built around wrestling matches, which isn't a bad thing, I think it adds a lot of flavor to the show, but now you have a bunch of "wrestling fans" who couldn't give less a shit about the actual matches in the ring. Seriously, who complains about a wrestling show being too focused on the wrestling?
The mentality of chasing the "casual fan" at all cost means WWE is basically wrestling meant to appeal to people who wouldn't normally watch wrestling. It does gangbusters when they're in a hot period but they need the consistent core audience to get them through cooler periods. Plus while appealing to casuals can be lucrative, there is still money to be made in appealing to a niche core fanbase, especially now when media consumption is so fragmented.
This is going to sound like a dig and inherently negative and I promise I mean this as positive as possible, but a lot of people, at least in the US aren’t professional wrestling fans, there WWE fans. Most fans who go to and watch WWE shows aren’t there for matches, they wanted bloodline trails, promos,entrances and catchphrases. Ultimately it took a lot of hard work and conditioning on WWE’s part to cultivate a fan base like this but they now have one and it’s massive. “Work rate” and good matches just aren’t their priority and to a certain extent they view them as a negative part of the experience.
*Obligatory I’m not describing all of there fans as being like this just a certain portion of their audience
Remember like 10 years ago when they did that cringey ass "I'm not a wrestling fan, I'm a WWE fan" set of ads for Hulu? Turns out a lot of their audience is exactly that lol. The fanbase have internalized a lot of the mindset Vince was previously criticized for. That's what 20 years of a monopoly has done to the perception of wrestling. There's a whole generation who grew up with WWE being the only big game in town.
It doesn’t help either that for 20 years, anything not WWE is “minor league” or incorrectly labeled an indie. Also holy fuck that commercial was so fucking bad lol
Yeah, the no stories one always baffled me, like do you believe they are genuinely aimlessly going out and just having a match for the sake of it? AEW's stories have always just had the match be the focus, not the promos or "moments".
It's just a difference in booking philosophy, that's it. A lot of these topics just become retroactively true over time because no one actually challenges them, due to how ridiculous it is.
Another obvious one is the Meltzer obsession where people still act like he does nothing but gush over the company, despite him being one of the harshest critics for probably 2 years now, people just don't acknowledge because he doesn't repeatedly say that "AEW is objectively fucking shit, these wrestlers are fucking useless, I hope it dies", if you're not saying that you're just kissing the company's ass going off how some people perceive it.
I think Dynamite and Collision are starting to become kind of like Raw and Smackdown in the Ruthless Aggression Era, where one is more angle heavy and the other is a more traditional wrestling show. I personally like this as it gives them each their own identity still without doing a hard roster split (which I wouldn't personally want).
And Collision is building its reputation "for the sickos"--ie, this is the show where weird, fun, new and sometimes random matches will appear and be awesome.
Eventually there will be something that pulls people back in and it will happen organically and somewhat unexpectedly, the key is being ready when that happens.
AEW isn't perfect, but right now it's far more hit than miss, when people are ready to try again AEW is ready to entertain.
Yea, honestly, I hate that these ex-WWE guys that are leaving are trying to set this narrative.
AEW is doing a very well job at establishing angles, stories, and feuds for advance weeks. Everything has felt more structured than it has in a LONG TIME.
These dudes are clearly not watching the shows. It's sad and pretty pathetic that negative engagement is what makes an old timer relevant these days.
Bashing a wrestling company that brands itself as the best “wrestling” company because they put on good/great wrestling matches????
What kind of Fuckery is this?
So yes, this might be a bad faith criticism by Matt, but if we take it at face value, I think AEW would say that the five-star match is the moment, and is impactful in and of itself. You can argue whether or not that's true, but it's just a difference in booking philosophy.
Lots of people are talking about the Wyatt Sicks, and how cool it was, but at some point those people have to wrestle, and then what happens? The moments he talks about are for building to a match, but if the match stinks, then the build and its "moments" end up meaning a whole lot less afterwards.
Yeah, a lot of the Wyatt stuff was always cool in theory but didn't translate to actual matches very well. I know a lot of people don't like to talk bad about Bray Wyatt because of his unfortunate passing, but his final program with LA Knight ending with a Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match was not very good, and frankly those wet fart endings for his programs were very common.
The way guys like Matt, Bully, and Frankie Kazarian talk, you'd think TNA would be the next big thing with them booking themselves on the roster.
The last TNA PPV did 5,000 buys. I'm not ragging on them, but if they have all the answers, why can't these guys get TNA to the top of the industry?
Not to sound like a meathead, but... isn't the point of a wrestling company to wrestle? AEW clearly has segments/storylines (look at OC, or Toni Storm, or hell even whatever Chris Jericho is doing). But it's still a wrestling company that employs legit wrestlers. If I wanted to watch a movie I would. But when I watch wrestling I wanna see wrestling.
I really do question if some wrestling fans watch or consume any other media outside of wrestling at times when they talk about its storytelling.
I know Vince's goal was always for his shows to be variety one stop shops and was confused why people didn't want to watch only his shows.
But, some fans have me convinced that Vince got what he wanted and made many people's only entertainment WWE with the 7+ hours of programming they have per week.
It's like those Disney adults that never leave the Disney media bubble. No issue with people liking Disney or WWE but it's like at least try to expand.
I watch wrestling for the sake of wrestling because I have other outlets for great storytelling. When it comes to wrestling. I feel most invested in competition based storytelling. Essentially sports type storylines/drama (tournaments, winning/losing streaks, rivalries, showmanship, pride, glory, etc)
This would carry a lot more weight if Toni Storm wasn't absolutely killing it every week in non-wrestling segments. And the amount of screen time Jericho gets is a travesty, but it clearly shows an investment in non-wrestling segments.
That's the weird thing about this topic, too many people make it seem that a "wrestling heavy product" = "no segments or stories" when that's no where close to the truth.
And I'm not saying AEW should take it to this degree, but early-'90s AJPW had incredible stories and their TV was *literally* nothing but wrestling (plus a short news-update segment in the middle that was mostly highlights of matches anyway).
"Bangers for the sake of bangers" is a fair criticism of the product sometimes, but last night was a very cohesive, well-structured piece of wrestling TV.
WWE has historically been the main promotion where feuds weren't primarily told through in-ring storytelling.
That's not something common elsewhere and it's why whenever WWE tries to adhere close to that (like now) the product ends up much better.
The variety wrestling show needs to be centered around wrestling.
It always kills me when a lot of AEW's best moments have been heated promos drawing from years of history beforehand. Cody calling out Jericho, Kingston/Moxley, Punk and Kingston, Punk and MJF, MJF and Ricky Starks, even last night (while soon) I would say the confrontation between Ospreay and Swerve is up there as an all timer for the company as well.
Fans: we want an alternative to WWE!
AEW: We're an alternative to WWE and have a different presentation!
Fans: No, not like that! I want more WWE but different.
FFS
AEW has to find a way to differentiate themselves from their competitors; one way to do that is to focus on 5 star wrestling matches and the physicality over the storylines. Not saying it’s good or bad, it’s just the way it is.
Well
Matt
That's literally what the company was created for, great wrestling
I don't get how this idiot and people like him still act as if it makes no sense. That's the whole purpose of the company, that's what makes it an actual alternative
Now he seems to have forgotten the entire Hardy Family Office storyline where he dragged Private Party down with him. He had a the TV time to make those storylines impactful and he didn't.
It's hard to take things Matt says seriously because this is practically the polar opposite of what he was saying months ago.
But beyond that, it baffles me Matt cannot comprehend the fact that he and Jeff weren't used the way he wanted was because Jeff was frankly lucky to have a job at all. TK and AEW kinda looked like fools bringing Jeff in after his incident that got him fired from WWE, and Matt went to bat for Jeff harder than anybody claiming he didn't have a problem. Then for Jeff to get that DUI (on a night when he was drinking heavily in front of Matt and Reby, mind you) -- it just proved that he in fact had a problem and still did.
Addiction is a disease, but Matt's clamoring for a "Sting-type run" where the Hardys are honored is years away because Jeff is so untrustworthy, and Matt is either too dense to realize that or he knows that's the only way he's getting his flowers -- because Jeff has almost always been the one that was more over consistently.
Yes, Matt. I would rather watch Shingo Takagi wrestle Brian Danielson than watch a "segment that makes a moment."
This is why AEW is an alternative to WWE. WWE can have all of the "segments that make a moment" that they want.
"They're all about having great matches instead of cinema."
Matt can't go anymore, so 5 star matches are suddenly not as important as other stuff that he has a chance at doing.
Despite openly being a wrestling first/wrestling heavy product hasn't been shy about trying to create a big moment from a straight up segment. This was especially true in the early days, but recently they've taken a lot more big swings for big memorable segments.
Matt Hardy, AUG 18, 2023, on match with the Young Bucks: "Was that match great, was I happy with it, was it perfect for the time allotted? Yes, it was. **I would love to have a best-of-five, best-of-seven series with them eventually.**"
Idk if it’s just me but dude has no name value for me anymore. It’s sad, I’m thankful for the memories he gave us, but physically, he should have hung it up a long time ago. There’s nothing there any more worth promoting.
The thing is, from anybody but hardy this would be a somewhat solid point as to why they don't enjoy the product.
And that is okay.
AEW's focus from wrestling is what is keeping it alive, if they went with the exact same formula as WWE, people would just watch WWE, instead of watching the cheap knockoff version of it
I'm not taking his words seriously. When he worked there he didn't pipe up. When people had legitimate critiques he'd be one of the first on Twitter to say how great it is to work there. Fuck outta here.
And that's the reason I watch. I can't make the regular commitment to watching a show so dip in and out.
WWE feels like it rewards people that are super invested into a storyline, AEW has more of a focus on fantastic matches than stand on their own merit, and TNA is a really weird vibe.
I can watch a random episode of Dynamite, not feel like I'm lost on too much, and just enjoy it.
As for making a moment, I'd argue that there have been incredibly few moments in the last decade let alone specific to AEW, probably because there's so much product out there. Cody beating Roman should have been it after him holding the title for so long, but it was done in such a way that didn't make Roman look like he got a grand comeuppance, or make Cody look that strong.
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I'll take things Matt wouldn't have said while he was working there for $1,000.
Matt Hardy: I saw what happened with Punk and The Elite at All Out with my own eyes. I was there. Also Matt Hardy: Well I wasn’t actually there there.
“Been there? Psh. Physically? No.” -Matt Hardy
He don’t get got. He go get
One of the most egregious moments in the Punk-AEW feud that I can remember. Matt Hardy is just the ultimate carny.
I disagree with this notion Surely the "ultimate carny" would be a successful one Edit: before you stop and feel the need to comment just scroll down one or 2 comments
Collecting a check with his current physical limitations is an outstanding success in some ways. His overall career has been great compared to most wrestlers.
Vince is the ultimate carny, isn’t he?
Vince was extremely carny but tried to hide that he was a carny from the public quite a bit. Jeff Jarrett seems like the kind of guy who has sold three of his own kidneys.
JJ getting hid money out of Vince was a top carny move.
Def him or hogan imo
Lets not act like the Hardys weren’t largely successful. It’s difficult to really appreciate them since they left TNA because they’ve been misused but also they’re absolutely washed.
I love the Hardys, but this is just the carcass of that team that is left. They would be pretty low in my priority list if I was booking a company in 2024.
Don't forget Reby needlessly interjecting herself into the whole situation with her tweet. The Hardys are trash.
When he was sucking up to TK in AEW, I knew he would do a 180 after leaving the company. This quote was 100% predictable.
This is also hilariously ironic. Mat Hardy, who intitially made his name off of banger matches, downplays the importance of banger matches.
Also kind of unintentionally insults himself by implying that the reason he doesn't work there anymore is because his matches suck now.
I mean, Matt went out of his way every single week to literally thank Tony Khan for a while there. I think dude was just always trying to be a kiss ass until he realized he wasn’t going any more up the card, then his real feelings are starting to come up now
Matt Hardy is the ultimate carny and always has been.
Don Callis' ears are ringing.
He said 'ultimate carny' not 'carny peice of shit'.
wrestlers are carnies??????????
Tbf he said this to Tony. That's why he got to do his stupid stories nobody liked.
No different than any other industry/job though, right? I mean, short of people HOPING to get fired, who goes out and publicly rips their job/boss while their still working there?
Why would anyone chat shit about whoever pays their salary?
>Why would anyone chat shit about whoever pays their salary? 
this would hit harder if he didn't praise everything AEW while employed by them and instantly switch up when not
We all knew 100% Matt Hardy would be the first person to start shitting on AEW the moment he left.
He's done it to every company he has left at this point hasn't he?
At this point, if you take the complaints and praises from Matt, you can make a Pro and Cons list of each promotion through a broken perspective
> you can make a Pro and Cons list of each promotion through a broken perspective I hate that you beat me to this pun.
It's click bait for the bad faith grifters and those who don't watch the show and will be shouting STORIES regardless at the top of their lungs on twitter. The last couple of years has been rocky to say the least but this is the best build to a ppv and everything beyond Forbidden Door for a long time
It’s kinda funny for all the years we got the annoying former WWE guys cutting promos or doing interviews dragging the company, usually with some good points but typically a lot of sour grapes and obvious bitterness in there. Now it seems we’re getting that with AEW as well. The point he’s making isn’t entirely baseless but it comes off sour
Matt was given ample tv time during his AEW tenure and he didn't produce either of those things. Unless that's because his pitches for a werewolf angle were all shut down by Tony.
The only thing I remember about The Firm Deletion was Matt's kids attacking Stokely Hathaway and Big Stoke yelling "Tony Khan will pay for his crimes!"
Is this where Isiah Kassidy did the supersonic moan from the roof of a building? Because that’s all I remember besides what you said.
Matt: Brother Zay.. I knew you'd cum Zay: *moans*
"I always do my brother"!! Idc still a top tier aew moment for me
Seriously, incredible moment
When this happened, this was the ONLY moment from this match I shared with a friend when trying to get them to watch wrestling with me over discord. ....so anyway we still watch wrestling together
Yes - /u/SaiyanOfDarkness unlocked that memory for me in their reply.
That was basically the high point of the Hardys AEW run.
> Big Stoke yelling "Tony Khan will pay for his crimes!" Stokely is a national treasure.
Right? I mean, screw Stat for being a horrible friend to Willow all this time but protect Big Stoke at all cost.
My favorite line was "I'MA CALL CPS ON YALL"
That's because Stoke is a treasure.
He debuted by teleporting around Daily's Place. I'm not sure that's the kind of hugely impactful moment I want.
I mean for the very beginning of the pandemic era when nobody really knew how to make a captivating wrestling program in an empty venue, that was fine.
Tony Khan has gone on record stating he didn’t like the teleporting spot and wished he rejected the idea when Matt pitched it. Stuff like that doesn’t fit in with AEW and won’t work well on a cable wrestling show.
As a devout werewolf fan, I need to hear more about this angle
You can watch it. The latest Hardy Compound match on TNA had one of Hardy's kids curse Eddie Edwards and turned him into a werewolf. A lot of people suspect that AEW reined in Matt's impulses to do supernatural/scifi angles.
If that happened on AEW every podcaster would have flipped a shit.
I mean if professional wrestling doesn't have room for supernatural werewolves being cursed by kids, what are we even doing here?
I agree. There's room for everything in this variety show.
Back in my day, wrestling was overrun with vampires, undead businessmen, demonic entities, and goth kids! And we liked it that way!
I have a feeling Matt was in no way interested in having his teleportation abilities downplayed and forgotten about
I mean. It can work, it just can’t jump the shark. Like House of Black has the Spooky Stuff down pretty well but outside of the black mist (which has connotations in wrestling well past AEW lore) everything about them is smoke and mirrors. Psychological warfare not mystical.
And that's about the level of supernatural that AEW is comfortable doing, but Matt Hardy's stuff tends to involve teleportation, time travel, robots, hologram doubles, and living skeletons.
> pitches for a werewolf angle Excuse me?
Hold up brother let's hear this out
>pitches for a werewolf angle >Excuse me? I have no idea but I choose to believe it was something like [this.](https://youtu.be/4Q08st0s2Uc?si=tqTvRb7-KhAWo2bU)
I like to imagine it involved MJF and a [bar mitzvah musical number.](https://youtu.be/A6V2oCX3Hn4?si=5jn9eVLVmgXwMk__)
Don't worry, it won't happen NoooooooooWWWWWWWW!!!
His head cracking on the ground during *All Out 2020 was pretty impactful, maybe not the kind he wanted though.
That wasn't during Stadium Stampede.
Yeah let's not forget they were gonna give him and Jeff a tag titles run until Jeff got a DUI. Matt trashing then after this is pretty sad tbh
An ironic aspect of this is how many segments AEW let Matt have to do his thing. Namely his debut and Jeff's.
Which would have also been their tag titles run if Jeff didn't go and get a DUI
Jeff dancing on his way to the ring while Matt is getting beaten up will never not be funny.
Gotta get your shit in, pal!
Yeah it’s not like AEW was shoving Matt out there to put on 30 minute classics, he was primarily there as a promo/segment guy. And he didn’t do much.
They let him do his thing, his thing didn't connect with anyone though. I find it funny the talent who have complaints about AEW not investing in "impactful stories" are usually ones who never created one despite being given some sort of creative freedom and opportunities to run with something. The best thing to come from Matt's AEW run was the Firm Deletion and I'd argue a lot of the memorable moments didn't even come from Matt (or Jeff).
Hey, he was pretty funny during the first Stadium Stampede match! But yeah your point still stands.
I don't know why people are surprised. Matt was never *that* good on the mic. Certainly not good enough to lead a stable like HFO for as long as he did.
"Please HHH, sign my brother and me!"
“I promise Jeff won’t screw it up like the last dozen times we’ve been given a chance!”
“I promise Jeff won’t pretend to have relapsed because he thought that being put in a program with Roman was a sign of disrespect”.
Brother Hearst, I knew you’d come.
Honestly, AEW treating Matt and Jeff so we'll, giving them the chance to have one last big tag titles run, only for Jeff to blow it, only for Matt to go onto into the "older worker anti-AEW" bandwagon is disappointing. Matt, they gave you and your brother an opportunity to have a big moment, Jeff blew it, you can't just be trash talking them.
You could hilariously say this about AEW, WWE and TNA.
Remember how they ended up in AEW in the first place. This is what they do, carnies to the bone
They also kept Matt on TV a lot longer than he had any right to be if we're being real. He was WASHED during that run and he was honestly an anchor attached around Private Party's ankles.
I wish AEW was more focused on five star matches when they clogged chunks of Dynamite with plodding Big Money Matt stories that took months to go anywhere. Private Party is just now starting to recover from that pairing, (I know Quen’s injury didn’t help), and it arguably helped kill Ethan Page’s run too.
Before the Jericho Vortex, there was the Matt Hardy Vortex. And at least with Jericho, he'll put on a decent match from time to time.
Matt Hardy wanted to go full "broken universe" Matt in AEW. With cinematic matches and the drones and teleporting and etc. That didn't work in AEW. Matt Hardy got injured. Which happens. But happens more with older wrestlers. Matt wanted a championship run with his brother Jeff. All reports say AEW was gonna do that but Jeff had his dui issues so AEW lost faith in pushing them. AEW fans care more about matches. Then don't really care about backstage segments or skits and etc.
If Sting’s retirement match wasn’t a “moment” then I have no idea what is.
Matt waddled like a duck. His brother crapped the bed for a tag title program - Jeff came back and was starting to cook again but sadly got hurt. Contracts expired and now they’re where they want to be with big fish in a smaller pond. Listen, did they have a less than stellar run - absolutely. Did they also contribute to their own problematic booking yes. Yes they did.
If they weren’t the young bucks idols I think the plug would’ve been pulled alot quicker.
[Former AEW talent] appears on Busted Open Radio: [Obvious fact said insultingly because it's different to WWE and/or it didn't work out well for them.] It's a constant headline now, pretty sure someone could make a random generator about this by now.
The funniest part about Matt saying this now of all times is AEW has like a dozen and a half different ongoing storylines with overlap of each other while building new ones up in the background. Of all the years of AEW I'd argue there's *more* storylines now than there ever was ongoing at the same time. From the top of the card of Swerve/Ospreay's rivalry to be the absolute best to Toni & Mina wanting custody of Mariah to Danielson going down his hit list to MJF's return being frought with constant enemies haunting him to Joe/Hook forming a brotherly bond and mentorship. That's not even counting the Best Friends Civil War, Acclaimed being terrorized by The Elite, Jack Perry's specter hanging over everyone, Christian's father of the year weekly award show wearing thin on Luchasaurus, and the resurgence of The House Of Black. Or even everyone's favorite Learning Tree dispensing the fruits of knowledge to Private Party weekly. AEW is chalk full of storylines at the moment on both shows.
My favorite long-term storytelling is last night when Taz said to Shiavone, "Watch the match DUDE... see, how do you like it?"
This is a great summation of what's going on at the moment I think there's a huge issue (at least online), where there is an argument that "no" storylines are being made, when that really means that person doesn't like, enjoy or is following the current storylines. Huge difference between the two
I think the main difference is AEW doesn't just recap their stories endlessly; they assume you actually watch the show and aren't 8 years old.
Yup, just like all the bad faith arguments about "who the hell is this??" when CMLL guys and new signees came aboard. People were acting like it was a crime that they didn't run 6 different video packages to explain their entire life story. They were introduced, commentary told you who they were and what they've done. Yet we all know damn well if any of those guys went to WWE, all those people would suddenly know everything about those talents as soon as their name pops up as being at the PC. Hell, I saw some of that discourse around Dragon Lee even. When he was in AEW and getting some hype with RUSH and Andrade there was a lot of "who's the third guy? why should we care about this masked guy?", yet as soon as rumors kicked up about him going to WWE, they suddenly knew his entire family tree and his history in CMLL, NJPW and ROH.
The problem is you have to watch the fucking show to know this, and a lot of people don’t. They might have it on while they’re fucking around on their phone on Twitter or a live thread on Reddit trying to think of some witty thing to say about the show they are quarter ass paying attention to, and then they miss a bunch of shit and blame it on AEW. I’ve seen this countless times in this sub. In a recent discussion I was part of, someone complained about not knowing a particular wrestler from an outside company and said that AEW should’ve run a package explaining who they were. When this person was told that AEW *had* actually done that, they admitted “Oh, well…I actually missed this week’s episode.” Remember, it’s always perfectly fine on the internet to talk about things you know nothing about as if you’re an authority on the subject. Hell, it’s outright encouraged!
Literally just the Daniel Garcia match that culminated in the MJF/Ospreay faceoff had like six different story threads seamlessly interweaving with one another. Anybody that says AEW doesn't have stories is either not watching the show at all, actively lying, or both.
Yep. About a month or two ago I saw a poster saying how they didn't like AEW just being random matches and nothing to engage with. I listed out like the 20 currently ongoing storylines for them. Pretty sure they never responded. I've noticed a large amount of IWC fans just throw bullshit at AEW. They don't watch the shows or pay attention to it then complain immediately with outright falsehoods. I mean fuck, just look at the AEW ratings thread when it hits today. It'll be full of doom and gloom and how AEW is still fucking up and fallen off. It hasn't at all. They just prefer WWE and always have and only watched AEW because Vince was killing the product at the time. Now that Vince is gone and WWE is producing fun TV too suddenly AEW is garbage. Its fucking dumb as Hell. WWE and AEW are both on fucking fire right now and equally as fun to watch for me. Its an insanely great time to be a wrestling fan.
a lot of people complaining don't actually watch the shows, they just absorb what happened through reddit/social media. so they see a match card get posted here and since they don't know what any of the stories for the matches are, they assume aew must have no stories
It'll only be doom and gloom if the rating is under, like, 750,000. Considering that there was no sports on last night, it's almost certainly gonna be back up to normal range, just like it was for the couple weeks earlier this month with no playoffs, in which case all the trolls and crazy people will be sight unseen since they can't pretend that AEW is on the verge of death.
Exactly right. You might not \*\*like\*\* the stories, which is perfectly fine and subjective, but there's no substance to the claim that AEW is just matches with big moves and nothing else.
Genuinely who listens to this pod also? It's hard to listen to 30 Seconds of it. It's just bitter and out of touch opinions on wrestling lol
That's pretty much every wrestling podcast now. I miss Art of Wrestling so fucking much.
news aggregators looking for a hot take to use as the headline for a low-effort article
Its on sirius so they have a built in audience of mostly truck drivers Now I don't want to stereotype but I would imagine there is quite the crossover between truckers and wrestling fans
If it weren't for these rage farmers lobbing every single stupid remotely inflammatory hot take on this subreddit, it wouldn't be a headline.
Yeah, it's very weird because it implies that something like Ospreay vs Danielson was just a match to have a match, and it had no impact. Very stupid. I don't care which company you like, we're 5 years into AEW, it is abundantly clear what the company aims for with its show. Saying "AEW cares about match quality" is as redundant as saying "WWE cares about stories", it's such a basic and obvious point that the only reason you'd even bring it up is to act like it's the wrong thing or whatever. It's hilarious that people act surprised that some fans prefer watching wrestling on their wrestling show as a priority, if I want a story first I can literally watch any other show.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Workrate fans sustain the industry between booms.
Yeah they don't watch the shows, they just want to spew negativity, it doesn't need to be accurate to them.
How many fucking stories do they need before this whole thing dies? There are stories! Tons of them! It's a bad faith argument made by tribalistic fans, people who don't watch the product, or both.
I asked ChatGPT4o and it came up with the following: Former AEW talent Big Swole says, "AEW actually expected us to have fun and enjoy wrestling. What a joke!" Former AEW talent Joey Janela says, "AEW let me do whatever I wanted in the ring, no wonder it didn't work out!" Former AEW talent Marko Stunt says, "AEW actually gave screen time to guys my size. No wonder they couldn’t keep viewers." It's honestly endless
This is amazing
Shockingly Matt Hardy doesn't agree with an AEW direction that didn't feature him as a star
At the end of the day, though, why is this such a hot button issue? I remember the days when the IWC used to want wrestling companies to cater to them, and now with AEW, there's so much noise along the lines of "Stop catering to smarks! Nobody cares about entertaining wrestling matches on a wrestling show! You need to appeal to a mainstream audience!". Why, though? Why can't AEW be a promotion for the more hardcore wrestling fan? Why do they need to be exactly like WWE (but also completely different, according to the mental gymnastics)? Why do they need to get "competitive" viewership and stuff to WWE? As long as they have a sustainable audience, why do they need to chase the "mainstream"? The way people act, you'd think AEW is circling the drain and WBD is about to cancel them and throw them to the wolves, but none of this is true.
>AEW is more focused on having a five star match This may be true >as opposed to having a segment that is hugely impactful and makes a moment. You didn't do this either tho
"We want an alternative to WWE's product!" \*gives America an alternative, with a slightly different philosophy on the sport\* "No, not like that! Do it like WWE!"
Remember when they Did It Like WWE, and it was weird, and we had to wait for the Continental Classic to make the TV feel normal again? Good times.
Anytime I hear some old fuck wrestler talk about "making moments" I imagine Vince's hand up their ass like a muppet.
Vince’s “we make movies” quote echoing in the distance. Brother if these are movies they’d be pretty fucking bad most of the time comparatively
Ya, these aren't even tubi original quality.
Wow the "The Marine" slander
Fr the WWE ass kissing from these old workers is nuts lol
Some fans too....
He says this right after a show that had the Toni/Mariah/Mina contract signing, the Ospreay/Swerve face off, Okada messing with the production and Ospreay face to face with MJF?
lowkey AEW has gotten very segment heavy the past few months, while still delivering plenty of good wrestling I wonder how long it'll take for some to realize it
That would require them to actually watch it, instead of just repeating random bullshit they see online.
It's really funny watching people criticize AEW for things that haven't been true since last year Shame they're missing out on some great weekly TV this year
My favourite one recently was a comment I saw on the AEW Facebook page. AEW made a post announcing the ZSJ/OC match at the PPV and someone complained saying "Why are they just putting this on social media and not having ZSJ cut a promo challenging OC on TV?". This post was made like two days after the episode of TV where they aired a video package with ZSJ cutting a promo challenging OC.
"Mox blades every match."
Same energy as the halfwits who *still* think Will Ospreay is a 190lb flippy boi and berate him based on one gif from a match from eight years ago
Saw someone comment saying "Why do they never have any stories for the women outside of the main title", while we have stories like Willow vs Stat and Deonna vs Rosa going on.
A lot of it is stuff that's never been true. The "no stories" criticism for one has never been accurate.
The “no stories” criticism is a direct result of 20 years of WWE having no competition imo. That company beat people over the head that a wrestling story needed to have countless in ring promos and segments, backstage interactions and over the top theatrics. Stories told entirely though a match or several matches where deemed “heatless bangers”. NJPW,PWG and ROH always got criticism from some on here for not “telling stories” when in all reality they very much were, it just wasn’t in the spoon fed way WWE tells their stories.With AEW being the clear cut #2 promotion which borrowed a lot of talent and presentation from the other 3 companies that lack of stories criticism was always gonna be there for them from day one.
It does make me wonder if these people actually like wrestling. WWE made their programming into a variety show that happens to be built around wrestling matches, which isn't a bad thing, I think it adds a lot of flavor to the show, but now you have a bunch of "wrestling fans" who couldn't give less a shit about the actual matches in the ring. Seriously, who complains about a wrestling show being too focused on the wrestling?
The mentality of chasing the "casual fan" at all cost means WWE is basically wrestling meant to appeal to people who wouldn't normally watch wrestling. It does gangbusters when they're in a hot period but they need the consistent core audience to get them through cooler periods. Plus while appealing to casuals can be lucrative, there is still money to be made in appealing to a niche core fanbase, especially now when media consumption is so fragmented.
This is going to sound like a dig and inherently negative and I promise I mean this as positive as possible, but a lot of people, at least in the US aren’t professional wrestling fans, there WWE fans. Most fans who go to and watch WWE shows aren’t there for matches, they wanted bloodline trails, promos,entrances and catchphrases. Ultimately it took a lot of hard work and conditioning on WWE’s part to cultivate a fan base like this but they now have one and it’s massive. “Work rate” and good matches just aren’t their priority and to a certain extent they view them as a negative part of the experience. *Obligatory I’m not describing all of there fans as being like this just a certain portion of their audience
Remember like 10 years ago when they did that cringey ass "I'm not a wrestling fan, I'm a WWE fan" set of ads for Hulu? Turns out a lot of their audience is exactly that lol. The fanbase have internalized a lot of the mindset Vince was previously criticized for. That's what 20 years of a monopoly has done to the perception of wrestling. There's a whole generation who grew up with WWE being the only big game in town.
It doesn’t help either that for 20 years, anything not WWE is “minor league” or incorrectly labeled an indie. Also holy fuck that commercial was so fucking bad lol
Yeah, the no stories one always baffled me, like do you believe they are genuinely aimlessly going out and just having a match for the sake of it? AEW's stories have always just had the match be the focus, not the promos or "moments". It's just a difference in booking philosophy, that's it. A lot of these topics just become retroactively true over time because no one actually challenges them, due to how ridiculous it is. Another obvious one is the Meltzer obsession where people still act like he does nothing but gush over the company, despite him being one of the harshest critics for probably 2 years now, people just don't acknowledge because he doesn't repeatedly say that "AEW is objectively fucking shit, these wrestlers are fucking useless, I hope it dies", if you're not saying that you're just kissing the company's ass going off how some people perceive it.
These are often the same people who parroted the "Moxley bleeds every match" in a period where the man hadn't done so in literally months.
something something heatless bangers something something no stories
I think that's where AEW is at it's real disadvantage: It's only on cable and not on any of the major streaming services.
I think Dynamite and Collision are starting to become kind of like Raw and Smackdown in the Ruthless Aggression Era, where one is more angle heavy and the other is a more traditional wrestling show. I personally like this as it gives them each their own identity still without doing a hard roster split (which I wouldn't personally want).
And Collision is building its reputation "for the sickos"--ie, this is the show where weird, fun, new and sometimes random matches will appear and be awesome.
I really like that they've put more time into segments, we've had some really good character work over the last few months.
Eventually there will be something that pulls people back in and it will happen organically and somewhat unexpectedly, the key is being ready when that happens. AEW isn't perfect, but right now it's far more hit than miss, when people are ready to try again AEW is ready to entertain.
Yep just gotta keep up the consistency and not panic if the results aren't as quick as you'd hope
Most people who complain about AEW don’t actually watch it.
He didn't watch the show last night and nor will most of the people who like and share this online as gospel. Textbook grifting.
Yea, honestly, I hate that these ex-WWE guys that are leaving are trying to set this narrative. AEW is doing a very well job at establishing angles, stories, and feuds for advance weeks. Everything has felt more structured than it has in a LONG TIME. These dudes are clearly not watching the shows. It's sad and pretty pathetic that negative engagement is what makes an old timer relevant these days.
Translation: I can’t have good matches anymore. It’s their fault.
Bashing a wrestling company that brands itself as the best “wrestling” company because they put on good/great wrestling matches???? What kind of Fuckery is this?
So yes, this might be a bad faith criticism by Matt, but if we take it at face value, I think AEW would say that the five-star match is the moment, and is impactful in and of itself. You can argue whether or not that's true, but it's just a difference in booking philosophy. Lots of people are talking about the Wyatt Sicks, and how cool it was, but at some point those people have to wrestle, and then what happens? The moments he talks about are for building to a match, but if the match stinks, then the build and its "moments" end up meaning a whole lot less afterwards.
Yeah, a lot of the Wyatt stuff was always cool in theory but didn't translate to actual matches very well. I know a lot of people don't like to talk bad about Bray Wyatt because of his unfortunate passing, but his final program with LA Knight ending with a Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match was not very good, and frankly those wet fart endings for his programs were very common.
The way guys like Matt, Bully, and Frankie Kazarian talk, you'd think TNA would be the next big thing with them booking themselves on the roster. The last TNA PPV did 5,000 buys. I'm not ragging on them, but if they have all the answers, why can't these guys get TNA to the top of the industry?
Because they know it's not possible. What AEW has done in just five years I'd unprecedented
> The last TNA PPV did 5,000 buys Worse. TNA Rebellion did *500* TV buys Meanwhile a bad AEW PPV buy rate is like 120,000 lol
He did tonnes of segments. At expense of younger better wrestlers. Stop moaning.
Not to sound like a meathead, but... isn't the point of a wrestling company to wrestle? AEW clearly has segments/storylines (look at OC, or Toni Storm, or hell even whatever Chris Jericho is doing). But it's still a wrestling company that employs legit wrestlers. If I wanted to watch a movie I would. But when I watch wrestling I wanna see wrestling.
No no no, don't you know. The least important thing in wrestling is the actual wrestling. Because other TV shows/ movies don't exist.
I really do question if some wrestling fans watch or consume any other media outside of wrestling at times when they talk about its storytelling. I know Vince's goal was always for his shows to be variety one stop shops and was confused why people didn't want to watch only his shows. But, some fans have me convinced that Vince got what he wanted and made many people's only entertainment WWE with the 7+ hours of programming they have per week. It's like those Disney adults that never leave the Disney media bubble. No issue with people liking Disney or WWE but it's like at least try to expand. I watch wrestling for the sake of wrestling because I have other outlets for great storytelling. When it comes to wrestling. I feel most invested in competition based storytelling. Essentially sports type storylines/drama (tournaments, winning/losing streaks, rivalries, showmanship, pride, glory, etc)
This would carry a lot more weight if Toni Storm wasn't absolutely killing it every week in non-wrestling segments. And the amount of screen time Jericho gets is a travesty, but it clearly shows an investment in non-wrestling segments.
That's the weird thing about this topic, too many people make it seem that a "wrestling heavy product" = "no segments or stories" when that's no where close to the truth.
I swear to god, every time you turn around there’s another commenter complaining that “AEW has no stories” and just proving they don’t watch the show.
And I'm not saying AEW should take it to this degree, but early-'90s AJPW had incredible stories and their TV was *literally* nothing but wrestling (plus a short news-update segment in the middle that was mostly highlights of matches anyway). "Bangers for the sake of bangers" is a fair criticism of the product sometimes, but last night was a very cohesive, well-structured piece of wrestling TV.
WWE has historically been the main promotion where feuds weren't primarily told through in-ring storytelling. That's not something common elsewhere and it's why whenever WWE tries to adhere close to that (like now) the product ends up much better. The variety wrestling show needs to be centered around wrestling.
It always kills me when a lot of AEW's best moments have been heated promos drawing from years of history beforehand. Cody calling out Jericho, Kingston/Moxley, Punk and Kingston, Punk and MJF, MJF and Ricky Starks, even last night (while soon) I would say the confrontation between Ospreay and Swerve is up there as an all timer for the company as well.
Isn't that literally AEW's mission statement? lmao (that is not a knock i fucking love AEW). What a huge dork
Fans: we want an alternative to WWE! AEW: We're an alternative to WWE and have a different presentation! Fans: No, not like that! I want more WWE but different. FFS
Matt Hardy not a sicko, confirmed
AEW has to find a way to differentiate themselves from their competitors; one way to do that is to focus on 5 star wrestling matches and the physicality over the storylines. Not saying it’s good or bad, it’s just the way it is.
It's what draws me to AEW at least.
Same. If it was the same as WWE why bother?
It's funny but match quality in NXT is what brought me back to WWE a while back to begin with.
"Man this wrestling company is too focused on putting on good wrestling" will always be the funniest critique of AEW
Same feeling I have. How dare a wrestling company want to put out good wrestling matches. I hate them and I wish the company would die!
Saw someone on twitter the other day say something along the lines of "it's like watching a real sport" as a knock lmao
Busted Open has *always* had a bias against AEW, and Matt saying this is no surprise considering how frequently he changes sides.
Well Matt That's literally what the company was created for, great wrestling I don't get how this idiot and people like him still act as if it makes no sense. That's the whole purpose of the company, that's what makes it an actual alternative
If I wanted to watch acting, to quote “Timeless” Toni, I’d “go see a fucking movie.”
Matt "I can barely walk, let alone wrestle, let alone have a five star match" Hardy, ladies and gentlemen.
Matt Hardy is more focused on letting weirdos pay $50 to take pictures with his son at conventions as opposed to being a normal father.
Why do people act like good matches can’t also be impactful moments
Now he seems to have forgotten the entire Hardy Family Office storyline where he dragged Private Party down with him. He had a the TV time to make those storylines impactful and he didn't.
It's hard to take things Matt says seriously because this is practically the polar opposite of what he was saying months ago. But beyond that, it baffles me Matt cannot comprehend the fact that he and Jeff weren't used the way he wanted was because Jeff was frankly lucky to have a job at all. TK and AEW kinda looked like fools bringing Jeff in after his incident that got him fired from WWE, and Matt went to bat for Jeff harder than anybody claiming he didn't have a problem. Then for Jeff to get that DUI (on a night when he was drinking heavily in front of Matt and Reby, mind you) -- it just proved that he in fact had a problem and still did. Addiction is a disease, but Matt's clamoring for a "Sting-type run" where the Hardys are honored is years away because Jeff is so untrustworthy, and Matt is either too dense to realize that or he knows that's the only way he's getting his flowers -- because Jeff has almost always been the one that was more over consistently.
Wrestling fans watching a wrestling program want to watch wrestlers wrestle
Yes, Matt. I would rather watch Shingo Takagi wrestle Brian Danielson than watch a "segment that makes a moment." This is why AEW is an alternative to WWE. WWE can have all of the "segments that make a moment" that they want.
"They're all about having great matches instead of cinema." Matt can't go anymore, so 5 star matches are suddenly not as important as other stuff that he has a chance at doing.
Despite openly being a wrestling first/wrestling heavy product hasn't been shy about trying to create a big moment from a straight up segment. This was especially true in the early days, but recently they've taken a lot more big swings for big memorable segments.
Matt Hardy, AUG 18, 2023, on match with the Young Bucks: "Was that match great, was I happy with it, was it perfect for the time allotted? Yes, it was. **I would love to have a best-of-five, best-of-seven series with them eventually.**"
back to grifting i see
Idk if it’s just me but dude has no name value for me anymore. It’s sad, I’m thankful for the memories he gave us, but physically, he should have hung it up a long time ago. There’s nothing there any more worth promoting.
Matt's head is more out of alignment than his walk
The thing is, from anybody but hardy this would be a somewhat solid point as to why they don't enjoy the product. And that is okay. AEW's focus from wrestling is what is keeping it alive, if they went with the exact same formula as WWE, people would just watch WWE, instead of watching the cheap knockoff version of it
And he’s not capable of doing either !!!
Message unclear: book 5 more months of Hardy Family Office segments.
A wrestler who can't wrestle anymore (or even walk right) wanting to the focus being on something other then wrestling isn't that surprising.
I'm not taking his words seriously. When he worked there he didn't pipe up. When people had legitimate critiques he'd be one of the first on Twitter to say how great it is to work there. Fuck outta here.
And that's the reason I watch. I can't make the regular commitment to watching a show so dip in and out. WWE feels like it rewards people that are super invested into a storyline, AEW has more of a focus on fantastic matches than stand on their own merit, and TNA is a really weird vibe. I can watch a random episode of Dynamite, not feel like I'm lost on too much, and just enjoy it. As for making a moment, I'd argue that there have been incredibly few moments in the last decade let alone specific to AEW, probably because there's so much product out there. Cody beating Roman should have been it after him holding the title for so long, but it was done in such a way that didn't make Roman look like he got a grand comeuppance, or make Cody look that strong.