He got arguably as much mileage out of that as he did Austin 3:16, which he never said again but the t-shirt sold millions.
If true, and he gets to recruit the indies again, will have to tune back in when he starts bringing in his own talent.
Feels like AEW is going more niche within a niche with this New Japan stuff. I haven’t watched all their TV, but they should have been flooding it with packages and vignettes putting them over as a big deal and why I should care and buy the PPV since it was announced. They just assume everyone watches 50 hours a week of wrestling and knows all these guys.
#1 good idea, #2 maybe they didn’t because NJPW has all the rights to the footage, #3 I’d guess 90% of AEW’s fanbase knows who the new Japan guys are.
I mean even JBL put over AJ Styles as a former IWGP champ “same as Lesnar” when he debuted. Make it feel like a big deal immediately to casuals and WWE only fans. I’ve watched like 10 minutes of NJPW when I found out I had the AXS channel on cable. It was pre AEW and JR did commentary and Cody was wrestling. I fell asleep. I know Okada and Tanahasi and the Bullet Club in passing by reputation, but it feels like they should promote them as worldwide stars and a once in a lifetime event. Whether it’s true or not.
Tony isn’t much of a promoter. He runs his shows like everyone is the most online of wrestling nerd and I don’t think they build up enough stuff
Why on Earth are people searching for Paul Wight so much? What did Dustin Rhodes do in April to get such a big spike that month?
I think you are correct about the niche within a niche and because of that the overwhelming portion of AEW fanbase knows these guys really well. AEW isn’t really bringing in new viewers with this idea and I think they know it. Kinda feels like what WWE did with ECWs one night stand event. Those who knew… knew and those who didn’t they didn’t really do much to attract them. A lot of the American audience tuned into NJPW because of Styles, Balor, Omega, The Bucks, Jericho and once those guys left and most of them to AEW you didn’t have a reason to really keep tuning in. AEW largely gives you what NJPW was famous for and that’s amazing in ring action.
I could be off but wasn’t the Ric Flair Dark Side of the Ring in April or close to that time? It didn’t go to deep into Dustin but it sure as fuck wasn’t kind to him.
After sexually harassing the flight attendant he decided to verbally abuse his ex-wife on the PA system. J.R. had to step in and shut him down.
If we're talking about niche audiences, Dark Side of the Ring is even moreso. I'm thinking that's around the time he went viral on Twitter for some type of tweet. I can't remember what it was, but I remember a bunch of faux outrage.
I wonder if they use this feud to split him from Luchasaurus and have him not completely drop the Jungle Boy name but go to more normal ring gear and be billed as Jack Perry moving forward
To celebrate Shark Week, Rampage will be all ladies matches and every single one will be Lumberjill matches!
With all the 80s/90s nostalgia going on, we need this gimmick brought back. Christian would be perfect for it right now
Codelander was only in the minds of the fans He was genuinely (delusionally) trying to present himself as a heroic babyface It's the same character he's doing now in WWE it's just not as off-putting because the presentation fits the company and he's not in charge of his own creative so it doesn't seem as force-fed.
Sheamus, Ridge, and Butch might be the worst gimmick in wrestling. They look like fucking idiots and what they did to Pete Dunne is borderline criminal. He is never coming back from this.