All Elite Wrestling #1: AEW announced TV deal with TNT, partners with B/R Live

[Kimi]

Shows booked by the boys are going to have problems. It's inevitable.

What a strange statement to make now. This is the Dragon Gate champion not losing on a non-Dragon Gate show It's something that's extremely common and all companies that work with external talent always run into at some point. It says nothing to the booking team of AEW, it's just the reality of the business.

If anything, the fact they did a workaround says only good things about them.


And it's not like the best booking currently isn't being done by an active wrestler, and it's been the case for years now.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Page demands a match at Double or Nothing.

Jon Moxley debuts.

DO IT YOU COWARDS.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

F4W says PAC has been super protective of his finishes since winning the belt and doesn’t want to lose, which is why he’s done draws recently and hasn’t lost.

PAC and Page did a match in England and AEW will release it online for free.

I don’t know whether to praise PAC for being protective of his image as champ, or call him a mark for the belt. I’m leaning former. It doesn’t make much sense for him to do draws with everyone else but then lose a non-title to Page in the states. I don’t know why they couldn’t compromise on a draw finish though.

 

[les Habs]

Seeing Dustin in the promos with only half the face paint makes me think there's something there they could use. They could have him full face paint, but lose to Cody who keeps it personal, and then Dustin slowly "cracks" a bit and does only half the face paint and is sort of a Two-Face character but eventually goes full Dustin.

 

[Cor]

That blows.

Kinda concerning they were booking Page to beat PAC..... that seems...... like I like Page, but this first official show of AEW should be to put over the top guys.

Cody vs Dustin is about the story.
Bucks vs Lucia’s is about the story.

But Omega vs Jericho will be about putting Omega over with the N/A crowd.

And I figured Pac vs Page would be the show stealer, but cementing Pac as THE heel.

 

[Cor]

This also doesn’t really look great. I think one concern people had is, 5 of the active wrestlers largely running the operations and booking and signing talent..... it’s kinda like letting inmates run the asylum.

I think it’s fairly certain that Kenny and Cody will win their matches. Now Page was booked to win his. The Bucks/Lucha Bros match could go either way.

I dunno, perhaps it was just a “we don’t want either guy to lose” type decision so they’ve pulled the match, But it’s pretty poor optic thing to come out before your very first show, and I’m sure the WWE team will have a good chuckle at that.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I’m not ready to go all “inmates running the asylum” but it really doesn’t make much sense for PAC to not be beating Page.

I thought they were going to build to PAC/Omega for the title eventually.

But we don’t know how long PAC was signed for either. It may have been a really short term deal.

 

[Cor]

I’m not ready to go all “inmates running the asylum” but it really doesn’t make much sense for PAC to not be beating Page.

I thought they were going to build to PAC/Omega for the title eventually.

But we don’t know how long PAC was signed for either. It may have been a really short term deal.

I feel like they could’ve done it better than announcing it’s been pulled.

Like, have Page come out. PAC comes out next, and does a promo about how the crowd isn’t worth it, Page isn’t worth it, and AEW isn’t worth it, and walk out. Page cuts a promo, essentially says he isn’t letting PAC screw over the crowd like that, and he demands a match with anyone in Vegas. __________ comes out for the match.

It just seems like an odd thing to be okay with announcing before your first show is all

 

[The Burdened]

I dunno, perhaps it was just a “we don’t want either guy to lose” type decision so they’ve pulled the match, But it’s pretty poor optic thing to come out before your very first show, and I’m sure the WWE team will have a good chuckle at that.

If that's the case, then that is not a good harbinger of things to come for AEW.

Pulling the co-main event that had been advertised for 4-months (wasn't it announced at the literal AEW inception presser?) just because they didn't want either to lose is a WOAT tier decision. All that does is f*** over the fans because they're not delivering the match they advertised.

Do a timelimit, or double pin, or double DQ with an AEW guy running in then do a triple threat the next event where AEW can pin AEW guy and PAC doesn't even have to be involved in the decision so no harm done. There were ways to get around it (that hopefully they explored and maybe PAC didn't want to do non-finish for some reason?)

 

[M.C.G. 31]

They should have just gone to a time limit draw. I hope we hear more about what happened here and what the creative direction was. I don’t understand how they couldn’t compromise unless PAC was dead set on winning clean and AEW doesn’t want to do a clean finish for someone they hope is a big player moving forward.

 

[Disclose]

oh they had to say it. PAC not being there would be weird.
im used to as a UFC fan...... they get injured and change the match or they dont make weight and theres no match.
whatever. it happens. the match still happened and we will see it. just not saturday.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I feel like AEW wants Page to be a top player and wanted him to beat Dragon Gate’s champ and PAC and DG were having none of it.

I don’t think Page is on that level.

I’m almost not even down for my idea earlier of Moxley debuting vs. Page if the idea is to have Page win at DoN to set him on that track as a top player.

 

[Cor]

I’m assuming PAC isn’t signing full-time with AEW for when they start weekly live TV, given how seriously he’s taking Dragon Gate.

So you can kinda see why’d they want to build up Page against him.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I’m assuming PAC isn’t signing full-time with AEW for when they start weekly live TV, given how seriously he’s taking Dragon Gate.

So you can kinda see why’d they want to build up Page against him.

They shouldn’t have booked the match then. I know PAC wasn’t champ when they booked it, but how often do recognizable indies share talent and are okay with their champs losing?

I’m glad they ultimately did the match in England but I’m super curious to hear the story behind this and what the creative direction is for this show.

 

[Cor]

They shouldn’t have booked the match then. I know PAC wasn’t champ when they booked it, but how often do recognizable indies share talent and are okay with their champs losing?

I’m glad they ultimately did the match in England but I’m super curious to hear the story behind this and what the creative direction is for this show.

But if PAC wasn’t champion when they booked the match, how would they not book the match because PAC can’t lose as champion?

You can’t have an egg without a chicken.

 

[The Burdened]

They shouldn’t have booked the match then. I know PAC wasn’t champ when they booked it, but how often do recognizable indies share talent and are okay with their champs losing?

IIRC he was. Won the title at DG's last show of the year.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

IIRC he was. Won the title at DG's last show of the year.

I stand corrected.

So they booked the match knowing he was champ and didn’t think of discussing match outcomes when they had them both there. Alright, then.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I don’t know what Dave’s slant is. They advertised this for four months and now pulled it a week before the event because of “creative differences.” He can spin this however he wants but at the end of the day it’s not a good look at all at face value until we get more details.

I think the quoted tweet is on the other end of this and on the ledge early without all the details too.

 

[JackSlater]

Maybe I'm the minority, but I've never really been a fan of Hangman Page. He just does nothing for me.

He's just a guy for now. A work in progress. Not great by any stretch at the moment.

Shows booked by the boys are going to have problems. It's inevitable.

Certainly looks that way. It doesn't look good for AEW that an equitable solution couldn't be found. It Pac wouldn't agree to some sort of non-loss finish then that's on him, but he shouldn't be losing that match to Page. There are many ways to do the match that should have been agreeable, but I guess we don't really know for certain who is holding it up and for what reasons.

I don’t know what Dave’s slant is. They advertised this for four months and now pulled it a week before the event because of “creative differences.” He can spin this however he wants but at the end of the day it’s not a good look at all at face value until we get more details.

I think the quoted tweet is on the other end of this and on the ledge early without all the details too.

Meltzer has his favourites and does his best to defend them even when he shouldn't. If he knows something else from behind the scenes then so be it, but barring some very unforeseen circumstances it looks bad for AEW, and possibly Pac too. Meltzer is a quality journalist in terms of gathering information but his opinions shouldn't be taken very seriously.

 

[The Burdened]

I don’t know what Dave’s slant is. They advertised this for four months and now pulled it a week before the event because of “creative differences.” He can spin this however he wants but at the end of the day it’s not a good look at all at face value until we get more details.

I think the quoted tweet is on the other end of this and on the ledge early without all the details too.

Is Dave implying *doing a cheesy non-finish would've been lame. No Page/PAC match at all on DoN is better*

He of all people knows exactly how bad it is to not deliver on a big match that has been promoted for 4-months. Now consider that this is their first big anything as an actual promotion. It's not the end of the world, but this is not what they needed at all.



So instead they want to be a promotion that promotes matches for months and doesn't deliver on them? Interesting.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I don’t like this look at all for either camp, more so AEW.

 

[Kimi]

So instead they want to be a promotion that promotes matches for months and doesn't deliver on them? Interesting.

No. They chose to be the promotion that puts on a good show.

A match with a bad finish that achieves nothing and makes no one happy isn't worth doing, so they're not.

 

[The Burdened]

No. They chose to be the promotion that puts on a good show.

A match with a bad finish that achieves nothing and makes no one happy isn't worth doing, so they're not.

I'd suggest their priorities are in the wrong place if they think pulling a big match they've promoted for 4-months is a better option than doing a great match with a non-finish, but that's just me.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Why can’t a time limit draw he an applicable finish here? PAC doesn’t lose, Page looks good for taking him to the limit.

4 months of promotion.

 

[The Burdened]

Why can’t a time limit draw he an applicable finish here? PAC doesn’t lose, Page looks good for taking him to the limit.

and you get a built in return match that can be held after PAC loses the Dream Gate title (still not ideal because they're at the mercy of DG, so I digress)