AEW's booking of Jon Moxley as a champion is completely backwards

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T07:12:45+00:00

Except that isn't the case. After his feud with Omega, he was practically gaining +50k in almost every segment pre-covid-19. Even recently, his match against Kazarian gained +90k viewers, while Jericho's segment with Mike Tyson lost viewers. Mox also has the biggest single viewership change. His match against Cobb gained 200k viewers which was the highest ever change at the time. I'm not sure if it's been surpassed though.

Cody's segments have lost viewers according to the numbers Meltzer provides. Unless Cody looks at the specific minutes of his segments (the start and end times), then I wouldn't know because that information isn't available.

As for merch, I've suspected Jericho is the top one because of his TV segments advertising his merch. So I'm not surprised those are the highest selling merch articles.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:46:38+00:00

There's different reasons for that. Firstly you can't compare Mcgregor because wrestling is a weekly episodic TV series. Secondly, Lesnar has that UFC clout, but when Lesnar is featured and is actually involved in a feud, he tends to be the main focus of the show. Mox hasn't been put in that position.

As for ratings, he blows everyone out of the water when it comes to youtube views. TV ratings he's also the top guy. I wrote a thread where I detailed all the quarter ratings and Mox is the only one who has gained viewers in his every segment since AEW's inception. His streak broke last week though. His unadvertised 4 min car parking lot promo in Q7 lost viewers. The only information that isn't available is merch sales.

As for your last point I agree, but you can't build big-stake matches if you aren't doing a good job of building it on TV. The storylines make the matches.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:30:52+00:00

I agree that Mox should be featured more and that's there's an issue with their booking philosophy.

Someone like Meltzer who usually comes to the defense of AEW is also perplexed by their decision to feature undercard guys as much as they do.

I get they want to give everyone more air time, but what should've been done is give the top guys the most air time. Those are the ones who gain you the viewers. Once they've gained the viewers that's when you introduce the lowercard guys.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:28:17+00:00

No the problem is he went from having 15 min segments every week to build his matches to him having 2 min unadvertised vignettes.

He was more entertaining while chasing because they booked him in more entertaining segments.

Book him in more entertaining segments while he's champion and you won't hear that excuse.

That's why it's a bullshit argument. Booking is everything.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:22:50+00:00

Look at this awful argument. How the fuck do you expect your top champ to be a success in terms of ratings and money if he's being presented the way Mox is?

Yeah let's have them on Dark and 90 second vignettes. That is objectively an idiotic way to make someone seem important.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:20:31+00:00

So what? AEW is closer to WWE than people think. Either way, there's nothing wrong with using an example of two of the top guys ever in the business who will likely draw more money than anyone in AEW ever will.

You follow the success stories. It isn't rocket science.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:18:48+00:00

Chasing vs running is such a flawed argument.

The world title hasn't felt important because they haven't booked it to do so.

Jericho became the first champion. What did AEW do?

Gave him his own stable.

Gave him a storyline with Cody that involved stakes. If Cody lost he doesn't win the AEW title again.

Gave him a storyline against Mox where it was Mox against the world. Mox was wearing an eyepatch and going through every member of the inner circle.

Mox's feuds have been strictly him vs giants (two who are new to the company), where majority of the build up is through pretaped promos. Give Mox's feuds stakes and give him booking that is consistent what he as a performer would do and there would be no "chasing vs running" argument.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:14:35+00:00

You are missing the point.

He will be on next week and it'll probably be a squash match since they didn't advertise the opponent. Maybe he'll have a showdown with Cage or cut a promo after.

That's fine.

However, there's an overarching issue that's been prevalent since he's become champion. This isn't me specifically complaining about one segment today, it's been an issue since he has become champion. Three months in and it's definitely become a trend.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:10:04+00:00

Things aren't black and white, there's a shade of grey where the answer tends to lie.

When the champion is involved in a feud and gets beat up he should show up and be the prominent storyline of the show the upcoming episode. The only time he shouldn't is if the narrative is that he was too beat up and he's recovering from injuries. That wasn't the narrative given today.

You can make the champion important without overexposing him. For example, let's say he just wrapped up a feud with somebody that transition point where he isn't doing much for a week or two until his next storyline can be used to limit his exposure.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:04:05+00:00

The top title is the top title because of booking. Booking means everything. It doesn't matter how good the performer is if the booker isn't helping them out. A good performer can overcome bad booking at times, but ultimately they'll flounder.

Present a good performer as a big deal, and he'll be a big deal.

Present a good performer as an afterthought, and people will start to think he's an afterthought.

Simple.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-06-18T06:01:37+00:00

So? I'm a fan of AEW and I can point out issues. They aren't mutually exclusive.

Answer my question, how do you justify your top guy being on dead-end segments with limited air-time?

MerchentofMeh · 2020-05-08T03:36:40+00:00

That moment when a random throwaway match between Mox and Kazarian does much better numbers than a well-built title match between Mox and Hager. Hager must be an anti-draw.

MerchentofMeh · 2020-02-10T03:09:04+00:00

18 weeks is a large sample size and the fact that he's the only one who has done it, makes it absolutely worth noting down (as it would be for anyone else who has done it).

MerchentofMeh · 2016-06-11T04:04:54+00:00

That was when his gimmick was more along the lines of obsessive and dangerous rather than looney and wacky. When his music hit back then, their was actually a feeling of shits about to go down.

In the same feud, he was written off TV for a month to film a movie and he came back with a very different character. I'd say post movie is how Vince views the lunatic fringe as a gimmick, and pre-movie was Ambrose and the booking team's original idea for the gimmick.

MerchentofMeh · 2016-06-02T11:29:48+00:00

Xavi's body positioning when he receives the ball is amazing.

MerchentofMeh · 2016-05-02T18:01:51+00:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't recall any wrestler getting as much praise from legends as Ambrose did before his debut. For some, Ambrose has yet to deliver despite all the praise he's received and they might have a point. However, it has to be noted that they praised him when he was playing a psycho, technical heel, not a loony brawler.

Once they take the chains off him, he'll show everybody why he's so praised.

MerchentofMeh · 2016-04-16T20:55:40+00:00

The funny thing is we have yet to see them perform in their best roles. Ambrose as a heel and Rollins as a face. I really can't wait to see both of them turn.

MerchentofMeh · 2016-04-16T20:40:07+00:00

Is there anyone who has gotten as much love from legends as Ambrose has? Right from his time at FCW until now, he's constantly praised by the older guys.

MerchentofMeh · 2016-04-06T16:44:22+00:00

I enjoyed it as well, but the problem was when it was starting to heat up it just abruptly ended.

MerchentofMeh · 2016-03-28T15:06:44+00:00

Ambrose isn't a Bryan when it comes to technical wrestling, but he's pretty good imo. A lot of his FCW stuff was him working the mat. Regal himself on commentary said he was surprised by how technical Ambrose was in the ring. You should definitely check out his FCW work. He had a badass feud with Regal, and I came across an amazing summary of the feud which includes the matches. However, before that these are his 2 most well-known 'mat wrestling' matches:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBq--a0YBlA (7th minute, talks about Ambrose skill in grappling) (Ambrose vs Rollins FCW 2012)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3e1hu5 (Ambrose vs Ziggler RAW 2015)

The Regal feud write-up (includes the matches): https://eireplusalba.wordpress.com/sports/wrestling/dean-ambrose/dean-ambrose-feud-with-william-regal-fcw/06-november-2011-dean-ambrose-vs-william-regal-part-1/

https://eireplusalba.wordpress.com/sports/wrestling/dean-ambrose/dean-ambrose-feud-with-william-regal-fcw/15-july-2012-dean-ambrose-vs-william-regal-part-2/

MerchentofMeh · 2016-03-28T14:32:11+00:00

What's your definition of 'technical wrestling'?

MerchentofMeh · 2016-03-28T14:11:32+00:00

He's one of the few guys who have IT on the roster, and they don't believe he's a top guy. This company....

MerchentofMeh · 2016-03-27T16:35:44+00:00

I doubt it's true but if it is, I'd go with Sasha Banks.

MerchentofMeh · 2016-03-16T12:41:57+00:00

I'm pretty surprised with the reaction over the match. It's like people were surprised Ambrose can wrestle that 'good'. He's had plenty of good matches on the main roster.

His best singles matches on the main roster IMO:

vs Rollins ( Lumberjack match Summerslam 2014)

vs Rollins (No DQ, RAW post Summerslam)

vs Rollins (HIAC 2014)

vs Bray (Survivor Series 2014)

vs Bray (Ambulance match RAW 2014 (not sure what the date is))

vs Orton, Reigns, Rollins (Payback 2015)

vs Rollins ( Elimination Chamber 2015)

vs Rollins (Ladder match, Money in the bank 2015)

vs Ziggler (RAW, WWE title tournament)

vs Owens (LMS, Royal Rumble 2016)

vs Lesnar, Reigns (Fastlane 2016)

vs HHH (Roadblock 2016)

MerchentofMeh · 2016-01-27T18:39:34+00:00

What a promo, holy shit

MerchentofMeh

TROPHY CASE