ALL IN LONDON SHOWS OFF AEW AT ITS BEST
AEW returned to Wembley Stadium and presented one of its best shows in history, capped off by Bryan Danielson winning the AEW Championship and ending the show surrounded by his family and BCC stablemates.
The show occurred as AEW is on the precipice of announcing its domestic television rights deal in the U.S. and will be the single most important announcement in its nearly six-year history.
More than 53,000 fans attended Wembley, according to the last update from WrestleTix, but the company promoted no attendance figure. In a year where each night of WrestleMania 40 sold just over 57,000 tickets and the listed attendance for SummerSlam was over 56,000, the idea that AEW would hide from their metrics at Wembley year is baffling.
Yes, there would be the usual suspects belaboring the fact that it was a drop from last year’s attendance but to give credence to that criticism is not seeing the forest from the trees. A company drawing that number and a multi-million-dollar gate, which would be higher than all but the largest wrestling shows ever produced is a “win” on any scale.
The show was sold on Danielson’s career placed on the line and supported by his myriad interviews describing his health, pending neck surgery, and the promise to his daughter. If that didn’t plant enough doubt in the average 25–54-year-old male, Green Day’s “Good Riddance” was able to pull at those jaded emotional strings.
It resulted in an all-time great moment for the promotion. It ended a spectacular, albeit short, title reign for Swerve Strickland, who stepped up in every way throughout the lead-up and delivered in the main event of the company’s second-largest show ever.
Danielson’s future is the hook for Wednesday’s Dynamite and what happens next with a vague tease of whether he’ll continue or go out the way Sting did, as a champion. Logic suggests the “Final Countdown” of matches, which would include matches at All Out, Grand Slam with Darby Allin, and at least WrestleDream in Tacoma in his home state. Danielson joked that he was “dragged kicking and screaming” to All In and that all these matches are bonuses he didn’t intend for.
The overall vibe of All In was that of a revived company on the doorstep of its TV announcement and planning major events for 2025 with stadium shows scheduled for Brisbane and Arlington, and a return to London next August to continue its Bank Holiday tradition at the end of August.
In reality, it’s a company in flux where All In was a distraction from faded attendance figures in the U.S. that will come into sharper focus with Wembley settled into the rear-view. This Wednesday in Champaign has just over 1,300 tickets distributed, Sioux Falls for Collision at 1,500, the large Rupp Arena in Lexington at 1,700, Dayton at 1,000, and Arthur Ashe Stadium just topping 3,500 among its shows in September. The All Out pay-per-view in Chicago has topped 6,000, which today is a cause for celebration and that tells the story in a nutshell.
Popularity has decreased and while an internal evaluation behind the “why?” is natural, it’s the external reality of a thriving WWE that would ultimately play a role in AEW’s role in the industry. When you’re the alternative designed to satisfy a disgruntled fanbase, what is your course of action when that same fan isn’t disgruntled with the industry leader?
The popularity fade was woven into canon last week by MJF and Will Ospreay openly referencing the downturn and blaming the other for its fall with Ospreay’s tagline to “restore the feeling”.
The TV deal will eliminate a lot of concerns among the fan base and while the downturn in U.S. attendance shouldn’t become muted, it will alleviate that worry if the company leaps into a profitable deal and reaches the “promised land” that Tony Khan set out for in 2019.
The next months are going to be ones of enormous change for both sides as WWE moves its three core programs as NXT leaves for CW, SmackDown reverts to the USA Network, and the seismic shift of Raw to Netflix in January.
Its prospects for 2025 look exceedingly optimistic through the emergence of top star babyfaces in Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, the return of CM Punk from injury, The Rock lingering in the background for a program(s) next year, and a year dedicated to the farewell tour of John Cena. It is nothing but profits and elevation even with WWE navigating a sex trafficking lawsuit where they are named defendants and saw the company’s largest figure resign (again) in disgrace. WWE has distanced itself so thoroughly from Vince McMahon that none of that baggage has acted as an anchor, so far.
AEW will face the same scrutiny and hyper-criticism it has endured since day one with its critics providing endless carrots to dangle even when the rabbit continually manages to catch the target only to find another placed in front.
The long view needed is that within months we should have two formidable pro wrestling companies spread across all platforms and nights of week earning hundreds of millions on an annual basis in rights fees, graduating to routine stadium-level events, partnering with local authorities that will pay and credit them to stage events, and the greatest rate of pay for talent in the industry’s history spread across a wider swath rather than just the top 1-2 spots.
During its first iteration, AEW’s greatest selling feature was “not being WWE” and for its next chapter it needs to further define what it is “to be AEW”.
POST SCHEDULE
Tonight: Rewind-A-Raw with John Pollock & Wai Ting (Watch)
Tuesday: upNXT
Wednesday: X-Men – Dark Phoenix | MCU H8R (POST Wrestling Café)
Wednesday: Pollock & Thurston feat. Neal Flanagan on All In experience
Wednesday: Rewind-A-Dynamite
Thursday: ASK-A-WAI Mailbag Show with John & Wai (POST Wrestling Café)
Friday: Rewind-A-SmackDown (POST Wrestling Café)
Saturday: Collision Course (POST Wrestling Café)
Sunday: NXT No Mercy
WRESTLING NEWS
**SLAM Wrestling’s Steven Johnson reported on the passing of Fritz von Goering earlier this month due to heart failure. Johnson, who is one of the very best historians in the industry, noted the difficulty in tracking down confirmation of his year of birth and even his real name. In his obituary, his real name is listed as Harold Ray Jennings, although there are legal documents where he is listed as John Gabor and birth date of March 31, 1930, with other listings of 1928. His obit states he was part of the California National Guard for three years and later, joined the U.S. Air Force as a Surgical Orderly and sent to Great Britain and had a brief encounter with Princess Elizabeth while stationed there.
Known as Fritz Von Goering, the last of the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s age of professional wrestlers, he took his last breath August 13, 2024, at 94 years. Fritz had a long career of 27 years with many titles. He traveled all over the USA and internationally to Japan, Korea, Canada, and Mexico. He appeared on television and film and even wrestled a 600 pound Canadian, brown bear named “Victor the Bear.” Fritz Von Goering was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, Class of 2009.
**Raw is at the Amica Mutual Pavilion tonight and will feature Bo Dallas’ first match since November 2019. It is the go-home edition of Raw before Bash in Berlin with Randy Orton set to appear. Gunther is on the European shows this week, so he won’t be in Providence but could have pre-taped something. The following has been announced:
*Intercontinental Title Tournament: Jey Uso vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Karrion Kross
*Intercontinental Title Tournament: Pete Dunne vs. The Miz vs. Xavier Woods
*Uncle Howdy vs. Chad Gable
*Braun Strowman vs. Bronson Reed
**Wai Ting and I will be live minutes after Raw ends with a review of the show on Rewind-A-Raw.
**The WWE’s European tour is running this week leading into Bash in Berlin. The tour stopped in Brussels, Belgium on Monday and continues with shows in Germany this week with shows in Oberhausen, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt before the two shows in Berlin with SmackDown and the premium live event.
**World Heavyweight Champion Gunther is on the European shows and therefore, won’t be in Providence for Raw.
**On the TNT site, AEW is listed for a 3 ½ hour block on Friday, September 6 going into All Out weekend. Collision will air from 8-10 p.m. ET followed by Rampage and the Countdown to All Out at 11 p.m. AEW is running the NOW Arena in Chicago that night with back-to-back shows at the arena with All Out on Saturday. The Collision portion will air head-to-head with Friday Night SmackDown in Edmonton, Alberta.
**Friday Night SmackDown averaged 246,100 viewers and 107,700 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360 in Canada this past Friday. SmackDown ranked #4 among sports programs that night and #3 in the demo behind the Toronto Blue Jays vs. L.A. Angels and CFL football. WWE Main Event at 10 p.m. ET following SmackDown ranked #9 in sports with 56,800 viewers and 23,600 in the demo. It was SmackDown’s second-largest viewership in Canada since WrestleMania 40.
**Bryan Danielson spoke with Kenny McIntosh from Inside the Ropes and spoke of his conversations with Vince McMahon when his deal was expiring in 2021 and his pitch to participate in the G1 Climax if he stayed with WWE:
So I don’t know for sure if he would have let me. The last conversation that we had where I told him that I was going to [leave], because I told him I was going to go to AEW. I told him once I make my decision, I’ll tell you. And so it was around August of that year, my contract expired the last day of April of 2021, it was early August when I finally decided and I called and told him.
Then he kind of asked me why and I said well, this, that, the other… One of the things I want to do is work with New Japan and do the G1. And he did say in that moment, I don’t know if it would have actually ever come to fruition, [but he did say] I’d let you do that, or whatever it is. So I think maybe?
**Maria Kanellis-Bennett has announced she is going for her Masters in Business Administration at the University of Illinois and noted that AEW has a tuition reimbursement program.
**WWE has uploaded a “lost gem” of a match involving The Nasty Boys from September 2007. Brian Knobs & Jerry Sags were granted a dark match before an episode of SmackDown in Tampa against Drew McIntyre &Dave Taylor. McIntyre provides a hilarious introduction to the match and you should stick around for the smooth ending to the match.
**Just a sample of the weekend coming up as Friday has TNA Emergence in Louisville, NJPW STRONG’s Capital Collision is in Washington, SmackDown from Berlin, and Rampage airs. WWE’s Bash in Berlin is on Saturday and Collision is later that night. The finals of NOAH’s N-1 Victory tournament is Sunday morning and NXT has No Mercy in the evening.
**This week’s episode of NXT was taped last week, so we have the full lineup for the go-home show before No Mercy:
*Je’Von Evans vs. Joe Coffey
*Malik Blade vs. Brooks Jensen
*Kelani Jordan vs. TBA
*Charlie Dempsey, Myles Borne & Wren Sinclair vs. Channing Lorenzo, Luca Crusifino & Adriana Rizzo
*Karmen Petrovic vs. Izzi Dame
*Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson vs. Fallon Henley & Jacy Jayne
*Joe Hendry’s concert
***
AEW ALL IN REVIEW
John Pollock and Wai Ting review AEW All In 2024 from Wembley Stadium featuring Swerve Strickland vs. Bryan Danielson in a Title vs. Career match.
***
COLLISION COURSE
John Siino & Kate From MTL review AEW Collision from Cardiff, Wales featuring PAC, Yuta & Castagnoli vs. Lio Rush & Top Flight for the final spot in All In’s London Ladders Trios match.
***
POSTmarks: Mike Murray
Bruce Lord and David Meyers talk to Mike Murray about the early days of Live Audio Wrestling, and his first meeting with John Pollock.
***
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWE SmackDown as Tonga Loa officially becomes a WWE Tag Team Champion.
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REWIND-A-WAI: WrestleMania X
John Pollock & Wai Ting review WWF WrestleMania X (1994) from Madison Square Garden featuring Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart and Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels in a Ladder Match.
***
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