Since this forum is pretty much dead, I decided to write this subject here.
So AEW as been in operation for 3 years now and let face it 2022 hasn't been the best year for AEW. Cody Rhodes leaving, the media scrum debacle, Andrade/Sammy feud, ticket sales that are down, ratings that are slowly lower then last year. That's pretty much every setback they had this year. So I thought what if I ran AEW, what would I have done differently.
1. Right off the bat, I would have put a great team that know how the wrestling business work to help me run the company. The biggest problem in AEW is Tony khan. I get it, he a big fan of pro wrestling and he's very passionate about it but let's face it, he's just that a fan and know nothing about the business or how it works. So he need a solid foundation to make sure the company succeed.
2. This goes with point number 1, making rhodes, the bucks and omega EVP's was a mistake. I get that Without All in, their wouldn't be any AEW but the thing was for that show, it was mostly the IWC coming together and to show their frustration with WWE. That doesn't mean Cody and the elite knew anything about actually running a company. So I while I would have hired them as active wrestlers, I wouldn't have given them executive position within the company. Just look at how big of a mess they created in 3 years.
3. As far as signing talent are concerned, I would have signed only the wrestlers I needed and I would have had them signed contract similar to what WWE have them signed. That way, I'm not stuck in a corner if a situation like the andrade/Sammy fight happened and I got leverage to make sure I'm respected by the wrestlers instead of taken advantage like Tony is right now.
4. I wouldn't have let Cody go to WWE and I would have made sure that he stayed happy in AEW. The Cody thing was the biggest mistake Tony has made in 3 years. Cody was the glue to keep everything together and while not everything he did made sense, he help a lot of wrestlers get over only for Tony to buried them after. Cody was a star that was bringing a lot of publicity to the company through his outside project and the main reason he left was because he didn't see eye to eye with Tony and the rest of the EVP's, frustration took over and he left to become a even bigger star and prove how bad AEW screwed up when they just let him leave. The only thing I would have done different with Rhodes is that I would have told him that the whole thing for about him not being able to challenge for the AEW ever made no sense I would have done the stipulation of him not being able to challenge for the title until jericho's lost the title.
5. I would have given release to wrestlers that wanted to get release. Simply put, if your not happy, I don't want to see you here. Go be somebody else's problem. I would give you your release, you ride your 3 months no compete then if you want to go to WWE go be there problem.
6. I wouldn't have bought ROH. This was a vanity buy from Tony and it delute his product in the process. I would put my focus all on my product instead of trying to do to many things.
7. I wouldn't have run the same market over and over again to the point of over saturation. The big problem AEW as is that they ran the same market to often so fans in those market got tired of the product and stop buying tickets. Fans all around the states and outside of it want to see AEW live, go to those market instead of going to the same 4 or 5 same market. Also I would separate the dynamite and rampage taping. Dynamite would be live with the dark elevation taping before and rampage would go live on Friday with the dark taping before. That way you get to product that feel special and the tapings don't feel like marathon all the time.
8. Finally, the Punk/elite situation wouldn't have happened. I would have put a end to it right from the start. Has soon as hangman page went into business for himself, I would have went to him, told him that he's gonna drop the belt to punk and then he would have been suspended for what he did and if he tries to sabotage punk at the PPV, he's gonna be fired and he's gonna be somebody else's problem because in the end, punk is a draw, page's isn't. Same would have went with the elite. If they tried to spread rumors in the dirt sheet that would cost the company money, I would have shown them the door and their somebody else's problem because just like page, omega and the bucks aren't draw.
So here how I would have run AEW. I would have shown the wrestlers who's the boss and while I would have been there for them, if they do something that would hurt the company in anyway, their gonna be consequences. Make sure that the product is asd appealing as possible and not make it all about myself like Tony does.
So AEW as been in operation for 3 years now and let face it 2022 hasn't been the best year for AEW. Cody Rhodes leaving, the media scrum debacle, Andrade/Sammy feud, ticket sales that are down, ratings that are slowly lower then last year. That's pretty much every setback they had this year. So I thought what if I ran AEW, what would I have done differently.
1. Right off the bat, I would have put a great team that know how the wrestling business work to help me run the company. The biggest problem in AEW is Tony khan. I get it, he a big fan of pro wrestling and he's very passionate about it but let's face it, he's just that a fan and know nothing about the business or how it works. So he need a solid foundation to make sure the company succeed.
2. This goes with point number 1, making rhodes, the bucks and omega EVP's was a mistake. I get that Without All in, their wouldn't be any AEW but the thing was for that show, it was mostly the IWC coming together and to show their frustration with WWE. That doesn't mean Cody and the elite knew anything about actually running a company. So I while I would have hired them as active wrestlers, I wouldn't have given them executive position within the company. Just look at how big of a mess they created in 3 years.
3. As far as signing talent are concerned, I would have signed only the wrestlers I needed and I would have had them signed contract similar to what WWE have them signed. That way, I'm not stuck in a corner if a situation like the andrade/Sammy fight happened and I got leverage to make sure I'm respected by the wrestlers instead of taken advantage like Tony is right now.
4. I wouldn't have let Cody go to WWE and I would have made sure that he stayed happy in AEW. The Cody thing was the biggest mistake Tony has made in 3 years. Cody was the glue to keep everything together and while not everything he did made sense, he help a lot of wrestlers get over only for Tony to buried them after. Cody was a star that was bringing a lot of publicity to the company through his outside project and the main reason he left was because he didn't see eye to eye with Tony and the rest of the EVP's, frustration took over and he left to become a even bigger star and prove how bad AEW screwed up when they just let him leave. The only thing I would have done different with Rhodes is that I would have told him that the whole thing for about him not being able to challenge for the AEW ever made no sense I would have done the stipulation of him not being able to challenge for the title until jericho's lost the title.
5. I would have given release to wrestlers that wanted to get release. Simply put, if your not happy, I don't want to see you here. Go be somebody else's problem. I would give you your release, you ride your 3 months no compete then if you want to go to WWE go be there problem.
6. I wouldn't have bought ROH. This was a vanity buy from Tony and it delute his product in the process. I would put my focus all on my product instead of trying to do to many things.
7. I wouldn't have run the same market over and over again to the point of over saturation. The big problem AEW as is that they ran the same market to often so fans in those market got tired of the product and stop buying tickets. Fans all around the states and outside of it want to see AEW live, go to those market instead of going to the same 4 or 5 same market. Also I would separate the dynamite and rampage taping. Dynamite would be live with the dark elevation taping before and rampage would go live on Friday with the dark taping before. That way you get to product that feel special and the tapings don't feel like marathon all the time.
8. Finally, the Punk/elite situation wouldn't have happened. I would have put a end to it right from the start. Has soon as hangman page went into business for himself, I would have went to him, told him that he's gonna drop the belt to punk and then he would have been suspended for what he did and if he tries to sabotage punk at the PPV, he's gonna be fired and he's gonna be somebody else's problem because in the end, punk is a draw, page's isn't. Same would have went with the elite. If they tried to spread rumors in the dirt sheet that would cost the company money, I would have shown them the door and their somebody else's problem because just like page, omega and the bucks aren't draw.
So here how I would have run AEW. I would have shown the wrestlers who's the boss and while I would have been there for them, if they do something that would hurt the company in anyway, their gonna be consequences. Make sure that the product is asd appealing as possible and not make it all about myself like Tony does.
