They buried the entire Bullet Club Gold that night. I don't like to use the term bury but it definitely felt that way. I wasn't a fan of that main event at all.
me neither, was a disappointing end to a proper solid run of PPVs too - given Cole was already injured it would have made sense to stick the devil stuff on the back burner there and then and strap up White, hindsight and all that!
I theorize if she stayed, she's most likely AEW Women's Champion by now. Probably heading for a clash with Mercedes in 2025 and another go with Athena next year to boot.
I don't think they were wrong in how they went about her. I think she simply misplayed her hand by running to the worst possible place on the planet to be if you aspire to be more than 'just there'.
This is driven home by the many ventures folks like Joe and MJF have had since she left.
I mean, it’s fair enough, if that’s the general consensus then so be it. I absolutely get it. It’s more regret than anything IMO, it started so well, and ended so, so sour
Shit happens, but I'd hardly call it the single most damaging thing that's happened to the company.
Personally, I feel like, beyond that, I feel like a lot of guys should have had a rocket put on them and also defining the differences between the TNT, International, and Continental titles.
The list is endless, from small irks to major things. I think the whole scenario with Punk has been the most damaging - like the product is markedly better than it was in either summer 2022 or summer 2023, but the perception is still down based on those periods
Wrestling - the only place when you can take shots at an 'employer' and go back there no questions asked months/years later. (Inspired by Atticus Cogar showing up in GCW last weekend but applies with Punk too!)
Hard disagree (sadly). It’s prevalent in politics (civil service or elected), NGOs, corporations to varying degrees of public knowledge but it’s not unique to wrestling.
Have the ring at the end of the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch between Jon Moxley & Kenny Omega at AEW Revolution 2021 actually explode (just like the ones in Japan).
Hiring CM Punk, although then we may not of got The Scapegoat or Killswitch characters, which are both upgrades on their previous ones - On the women's side, not introducing tag titles about 2 years ago, much needed IMO and have been for some time
Besides Punk leaving but the footage with CM Punk for All In and how it made AEW look worse should never been shown.
Plus you had the Ospreay rant on Triple H which that didn’t help.
TK should've sat Punk and the Elite down to have a talk as soon as Hangman dropped the "worker's rights" line. Punk was having a hell of a run and maybe I'm naive thinking this, but it probably would've prevented most of the negative stuff that happened after that
Fire Punk after Brawl Out. The press conference alone would have been enough for a lengthy suspension, but the physical altercation would have been it for me.
She was one dimensional to begin with and then they did her no favors with booking her like Goldberg. She was, and is, two moves and a weak catchphrase
I'd say hiring CM Punk to begin with. Outside of Eddie eviscerating him on the mic and his dog collar match with MJF, there really isn't anything I liked about the run.
In fact, the only time I enjoyed Punk were his ROH days. I knew his AEW run would end the way it did.
Two things can be true at the same time. Sure, he brought them record gates and all that. And just the same, he is responsible for a lot of the current perception and ill will towards AEW. Think about it. "The Feeling" changed entirely as soon as that press conference ended at All Out 22.
Phil Brooks was not responsible for Wembley and it's fucking insane you'd attribute any success the company has had to a guy who said "I didn't want to join at the start because they might have failed"
I was optimistic about it, when he first showed up. After he kept getting into it with ppl and everything else he needed to go. Not to mention he cut the same return promo on Raw as he did when debut on Dynamite word for word.
Yes it was a short term boost but I would argue it would have been better for AEW long term to keep growing organically without him. I can't pretend their were no positives to bringing him on but the negatives far outweigh them.
I think putting Punk over Joe in All in, if they just had the fight backstage an audible should have been called and we could have continued the "real world title" storyline with Joe who went over MJF anyway.
Definitely creating collision for punk. This has killed a successful second brand in rampage and killed house shows where you can find markets and a new fan base
Introduce a women's tag team belt. The women on the roster are incredible and this is another opportunity to build stories and showcase their talents. It makes no sense to me that the men's division has 6 belts and the women have 2. There are over 40 women on the roster - they deserve better.
Probably Punk taking the belt off Hangman. I wouldn't go as far as to say never hire Punk like some here are, but he shouldn't have been the one to end Hanger's run
Thats Easy. I wouldn't have signed phil. Lose the large contract and the locker room killer. Focus completely on page, danielson, cole, malakai, and Christian in late 2021 thru mid 2022. No brawl out, and maybe tony can afford to pay cody what he wanted in jan '22.
Cool & all, but Cody was never staying. He wanted to be a babyface and he was being booed like hell in AEW for that Super-Cody character and CodyVerse.
Although, he has never outright said what made him leave, so I guess we'll never know for sure.
He is happy where he is & that's all that matters.
Making hangman drop the belt. There could be done more with him and the belt. The matches he had where all top notch only the stories where kinda meh. And him retaining against punk would be the better story.
Disregarding Punk or anything related to punk. Stopping that goddamn Jeff Hardy vs Sammy Guevara match. Also giving Wardlow actual long term feuds vs the filler they saddled him with right after his title win.
Ignoring the obvious, Cody should’ve turned heel during the feud with Malakai and won the third match because of it, not just won the match because he’s the conquering hero the fans didn’t want him to be.
Most people will immediately say something about Pepsi Phil or Cody, but I'd never have done the TNT belt hot potato between Guevara and Sky. Made Cody leaving even more damaging, left a stink on the belt that hurt an already poorly booked Wardlow run, and feels like the beginning of AEW's stumble.
Exactly. The Cody and Punk stuff aren't single changes cause they revolve around fundamental differences of TK's and their personalities that led to those departures. That TNT belt booking though was just plain bad and showed that AEW was terrible at pivoting while WWE was getting hot again.
Angle for being on MAX during the pandemic. Even if it's just a day-after replay, it still would've allowed to catch a bigger audience at a time of barely any competition, and allowed for a bigger growth for TNT/TBS
I want to preface this with i am a fan of riho, but I'd have had Nyla Rose be the first women's champ. From a pure character perspective, I believe she would've benefited greatly chasing the belt and finally overcoming the monster heel. Also, it would've done wonders for Nyla
Have Hook retire the FTW as soon as he got it back from Jack Perry. The FTW run was great at first, but dragged on way too long and has been holding Hook back. I'm glad it's retired now so he can do literally anything else.
More talent from the Indies and smaller promotions in more prominent storylines. At times it's a little too ex WWE heavy. I want those guys around but AEW is best when building its own stars
Since everyone is saying Punk, I'll go with my second choice: FTR should have lost this match. The match itself was fantastic, but babyface FTR were starting to stagnate, and that continues to this day. Plus Bullet Club Gold would've been better opponents for Sting and Darby than Ricky and Bill.
I would change The Elite/Cody not booking themselves as the champs in the beginning. I completely understand them wanting to get people over and all but I think they made some missteps with that early on.
I've soured on Punk a lot given how his AEW run ultimately ended up, but I still really like him as a performer overall. In hindsight, though, ending Hangman's reign was a bad call, especially given that he got injured shortly after winning the title and barely did anything as champ
Hangman had absolutely no momentum left at that time and was rarely the most important part of the show. The crowd most likely would've turned on him had he beaten Punk.
You could argue the reason he had little momentum was due to how he was presented while he was champ, which is another thing I would change about AEW back then, and I say this as someone who enjoyed his title run and the matches he had
That 6 million dollar a yr contract extension Jericho got. Maybe if Tony paid less, he wouldn't feel so (the worst decision is obviously punk lets not kid ourselves) obligated to shove him down everyone's throats
Letting Cody write himself out of the AEW championship scene, hopefully then avoiding Cody Island after that (I have many more other than this, and will not talk about punk because that's low hanging fruit 😂)
Yeah, WWE has proved you can hang a promotion on Cody's shoulders, but that only works if he's main eventing. Using him to build up the TNT belt wasn't a bad idea, but mid card titles only carry weight if fans truly believe it's a launching pad to the top of the card.
Other part of it is... non comedic baby faces only work if fans have reason to believe their emotional investment will be rewarded. Once they locked in his ceiling, his gimmick got slapped with an expiration date of "whenever fans get bored of this TNT run"
I’d stop CM Punk from continuing or even starting to rant at that press conference. But if we are not choosing CM Punk related decisions I’d say get rid of the stipulation that Cody couldn’t win the AEW title. He should have been the world champion there.
Honestly, AEW should have offered Cody Rhodes the world to stay. I know it would have been tough to convince him to not ‘Finish The Story’ in WWE but AEW needed him as the Hulk Hogan or John Cena type of main event guy. They have not yet found a guy to replace what he is.
I'll go a bit more recent with one other. Don't do the last MJF heel turn. Have him as a Steve Austin style a-hole babyface, and have him feud with the EVPs who conspired with Cole to make sure he didn't leave AEW with the title, bidding war of 2024.
Use non-colored lighting and show that crowd. It bugs me when they use the colored lighting or don't bother showing the crowd even with a full building
And mic the crowd better. Last years Full Gear sounded dead. It was loud in the building. When Copeland’s music ended during his entrance the entire arena kept singing and you can’t hear it on the broadcast.
Never hire Punk. The initial boost and fucking amazement we all had wasn’t enough to make up for everything the company had to deal with to this day because of his tenure
Have Athena beat Jade. Unlike some, I don't hate Jade just never understood her monster push when she wasn't better than most of the talent she was beating. Give her the Julia Hart treatment in a sense, be patient and let her find the perfect spot.
If signing Brooks is off the table… I’ll go with adding Collision. It’s been too much for the company at this point. The 2nd tour has eaten into Dynamite attendance. They’ve never had a clear direction for it. I there’s more negative than positive. More benefit at this junction to still having Dark.
It’s a dead horse but they should have left Phil on his couch.
The company is worse off for having him, his Collision run showed he wasn’t the draw he pretended to be & now him and his incel fan base are trying their hardest to make the sex trafficking organisation the monopoly in pro wrestling.
I keep talking myself out of things, but really the only thing that properly bummed me out is the Lucha Bros situation so if there was a decision somewhere that made them say "we're done" it's that.
I still live in hope of a *main event* singles feud, Brother Vs Brother, Good Vs Evil *somewhere* 🥹
I would never have hired Phil Brooks. I said so before it happened that he would create issues and that it ultimately wouldn't be worth it and I was right.
I base all this from interactions my friends have had with him down the years. He was rude to the nicest person I know, just to be rude.
Honestly, Not strapping the rocket on Omega from day 1. He was red hot from his NJPW run and many had heard but never seen him. He precedes to lose his first 3 high profile matches.
This. His belt collector run was great, but imagine if it was happening in front of those first PPV crowds. Kenny and Hangman in the first AEW title match? Kenny sending Cody to the Codyverse?
I’m guessing they were afraid of the potential backlash over The Elite booking themselves over like many thought they would. So they went in the opposite direction.
From Hangman Page’s title reign not prematurely ending to Brawl Out not happening, so many positives come from him still making straight-to-streaming horror films instead of being in wrestling again.
I’d have made Proud and Powerful the first Tag Champs. Having the Inner Circle hold all of the men’s gold in the company would have been an amazing visual.
Not a decision, but a tragedy. I’ve always thought the biggest “what-if” was if Mr. Brodie Lee hadn’t passed.
He was just coming into his best work, they were building towards the Hangman match at Revolution and I’ve always imagined he would’ve been the planned 5th champion.
I would’ve treated Hangman a lot better when he was world champion, they never really treated him as the guy, after the Danielson matches he was just sort of there as champ until Punk won it, I would’ve started the feud with Mox earlier for him.
Probably the way they let go of Leva Bates, but I also love her a ton, so I'm still annoyed at how they did her dirty by the end. Ghosting someone like her just didn't sit right with me.
Should’ve never hired Punk. That’s not just hindsight. I never wanted him there to begin with.
If you want something other than Punk…
In 2023, they tried adding way too much WWE style sports entertainment. That was a bad decision that AEW still hasn’t fully bounced back from
1. Keep the title on Hangman.
2. Keep Ricky Starks and Hobbs together for a bit longer with a title run in there.
3. Start the timeless Toni storm story before her first reign ( the chase makes here go crazy)
I would have put Hangman over Punk and let him keep the title. My hope was for him to defend against a returning Kenny Omega. Otherwise him and Mox’s great feud in 2022 could’ve involved the title as well.
Everyone is picking the big moments so I will go with a smaller one.
I would make it so they didn't have a new secondary team in charge of the final pyro for the exploding barbed wire death match. That way the ending went smoothly and the sparklers didnt overshadow a really good match.
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I’d say making Jade Jade.
They didn’t do her or the division any favors with having her be unbeatable.
We’re seeing now just how “not ready and able” she was and is.
This is driven home by the many ventures folks like Joe and MJF have had since she left.
I mean, it’s fair enough, if that’s the general consensus then so be it. I absolutely get it. It’s more regret than anything IMO, it started so well, and ended so, so sour
Personally, I feel like, beyond that, I feel like a lot of guys should have had a rocket put on them and also defining the differences between the TNT, International, and Continental titles.
Phil Brooks is exactly where he should be.
Adam Cole never injures his leg. Seriously de railed momentum for Undisputed Kingdom
Plus you had the Ospreay rant on Triple H which that didn’t help.
I feel that hurt them greatly, especially since it lead to Cody not being able to win the belt.
That, or just letting Hanger beat Punk at Double or Nothing.
In fact, the only time I enjoyed Punk were his ROH days. I knew his AEW run would end the way it did.
He didn't put anyone over
He actively buried the "young talent" he said he was there to help
Less Obvious: Letting Jericho continue to take up so much story and tv time from other talent that could used or need it.
It's nowhere even approaching close.
Actually, I never liked how hangman lost the title. He deserved a poetic ending instead of what was
Although, he has never outright said what made him leave, so I guess we'll never know for sure.
He is happy where he is & that's all that matters.
Letting Cody leave
In all honesty there is a long list of things that if we could we would change.
Honestly, AEW should have offered Cody Rhodes the world to stay. I know it would have been tough to convince him to not ‘Finish The Story’ in WWE but AEW needed him as the Hulk Hogan or John Cena type of main event guy. They have not yet found a guy to replace what he is.
The company is worse off for having him, his Collision run showed he wasn’t the draw he pretended to be & now him and his incel fan base are trying their hardest to make the sex trafficking organisation the monopoly in pro wrestling.
That aside I'd say force them to pivot back when Stat got injured re: Jade *or* make someone else the Devil when Adam Cole exploded.
I still live in hope of a *main event* singles feud, Brother Vs Brother, Good Vs Evil *somewhere* 🥹
Nothing too egregious to me, but this is it.
I base all this from interactions my friends have had with him down the years. He was rude to the nicest person I know, just to be rude.
Past that, nothing much.
Life is chaotic so control what you can and try to roll with the rest of it.
Tony learned a great deal from that mistake, but as a fan, it marked a moment of decline for U.S. pro wrestling
From Hangman Page’s title reign not prematurely ending to Brawl Out not happening, so many positives come from him still making straight-to-streaming horror films instead of being in wrestling again.
they would literally still be together now.
He was just coming into his best work, they were building towards the Hangman match at Revolution and I’ve always imagined he would’ve been the planned 5th champion.
Less obvious put the belt on wardlow while he was hot
If you want something other than Punk…
In 2023, they tried adding way too much WWE style sports entertainment. That was a bad decision that AEW still hasn’t fully bounced back from
I think the negative stuff did really hurt them too. Maybe they would of been better off, we'll never know
2. Keep Ricky Starks and Hobbs together for a bit longer with a title run in there.
3. Start the timeless Toni storm story before her first reign ( the chase makes here go crazy)
I would make it so they didn't have a new secondary team in charge of the final pyro for the exploding barbed wire death match. That way the ending went smoothly and the sparklers didnt overshadow a really good match.
It's like giving wrestlers creative control.
It never ends well....see Dusty Rhodes
The obvious choice is not mixing ROH in with AEW. The company began to lose momentum because of it.
Danielson should have beat Moxley at Grand Slam 2022
The exploding barbed-wire death match. If you're gonna do it, you have to be 100% sure it's going to come off well.