FTW Championship.
Yeah Khan that really sent shockwaves through the industry!
Oh and thanks to the brilliant journalist who put the spoiler in the title for those of us who haven't seen the show yet!
FTW Championship.
Yeah Khan that really sent shockwaves through the industry!
Oh and thanks to the brilliant journalist who put the spoiler in the title for those of us who haven't seen the show yet!
Last edited by Badger; July 9th, 2020 at 2:03 AM.
It's going to be interesting to see who had more viewers: Cole vs. Lee or Jeircho vs. Cassidy.
I'm pretty sure it's a foregone conclusion that Cole vs Lee will be the winner.
Make this real quick for fun.
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Week 01: 1,409,000 viewers
Week 02: 1,018,000 viewers (plus 122,000 on TruTV)
Week 03: 1,014,000 viewers
Week 04: 963,000 viewers
Week 05: 759,000 viewers
Week 06: 822,000 viewers
Week 07: 957,000 viewers
Week 08: 893,000 (first week to lose to NXT)
Week 09: 663,000 viewers (NXT higher)
Week 10: 851,000 viewers
Week 11: 778,000 viewers (tie)
Week 12: 683,000 viewers
Week 13 (after being off the week prior): 967,000 viewers
Week 14: 947,000 viewers
Week 15: 940,000 viewers
Week 16: 871,000 viewers
Week 17: 828,000 viewers
Week 18: 928,000 viewers
Week 19: 817,000 viewers
Week 20: 893,000 viewers
Week 21: 865,000 viewers
Week 22: 906,000 viewers
Week 23: 766,000 viewers
Week 24: 932,000 viewers
Week 25: 819,000 viewers
Week 26: 685,000 viewers
Week 27: 692,000 viewers (NXT higher)
Week 28: 683,000 viewers (NXT higher)
Week 29: 731,000 viewers
Week 30: 693,000 viewers
Week 31: 732,000 viewers
Week 32: 654,000 viewers
Week 33: 701,000 viewers
Week 34: 827,000 viewers
Week 35: 730,000 viewers
Week 36: 677,000 viewers
Week 37: 772,000 viewers
Week 38: 633,000 viewers (NXT higher)
Week 39: 748,000 viewers (NXT higher)
Week 40: 715,000 viewers (NXT higher)
Jericho/OC was tremendous. Cassidy’s move sets were smooth as fuck, got to be contender for match of the year so far.
NXT is on a roll. 3 ratings wins in a row for the first time since these "wars" started. WWE countering with Great American Bash for free definitely stole the win.
I am curious to see next week what the ratings are after NXT give away the biggest NXT moment on free TV. Very WCW of them. Khan is right saying the demo ratings matter. If it wasn't for the 50 plus, NXT would lose all the time. The older fans helping NXT is sorta weird, because shouldn't NXT be for the younger marks, but I guess us all smart marks are getting social security soon.
Old people don't know how DVR works. So NXT is appointment viewing for them. Boomers get all their news from their Facebook feeds, anyway.
If there's something more important worth watching, then AEW's younger, smarter, more tech-savvy viewers are probably pretty likely to record it and then watch whatever real-world thing is more important.
Meltzer's ratings for Fyter Fest Night 2:
Omega and Page versus Private Party: 4.0
Archer versus Janela: 3.75
Pentagon & Fenix, Butcher & Blade versus Young Bucks, FTR: 4.75
Nyla versus Kenzie, KiLynn: 1.0
Lee, Cabana, Grayson versus SCU: 3.0
Jericho versus Cassidy: 4.25
A few ridiculous overratings there.
I enjoyed the 8 man tag and all but 4.75???
Jericho/Cassidy told a great story and was my MOTN.
That about lines up with my enjoyment of the show. I'd probably bring the 8-man tag down a couple pegs, but I did enjoy it as much as the main event.
Not sure why they had FTR and Bucks lose but maybe it was to make Butcher and the Blah look somewhat credible even though they didn't get the pin. Not a fan of the way FTR are being booked right now. They should have came in and immediately went after the Bucks. All this other bullshit is just boring. Imagine if Matt Hardy returned and instead of beating Edge down they started a tag-team....
FTW belt......That belt means absolutely nothing. It made sense 25 years ago when Taz brought it in because Shane wouldn't defend it (due to legit injury) so for a few months Taz had this belt. But he brings it in because his roid guy has to wait a week? IDK. All the shoots about Taz being a pussy in real life soured me completely on him acting tough. Low Ki's dad he be.
Archer-Janela was cool, I dig the Sonny Kiss involvement. The other 6-man with Mr. Brodie Lee....anyone who enjoys this angle is a buffoon.
Nyla Rose apparently doesn't give 2 shits about Covid-19. Some beasts breathe fire, others spray spit like a Peter North money shot. Then the bitch licked their hand and smeared it on the camera.....wtf....
LOVE LOVE LOVE Private Party especially dude with the Road Warrior Hawk haircut Mar Quen. Probably match of the night for me. Orange Julius v. Jericho was another good match. Definitely think Jericho saying it was one of the best matches of his 30 year career is about as absurd as really anything he's said since joining AEW but a good match for sure.
All in all a good Fyter Fest.
I imagine FTR's booking is an attempt to do what they should have done with Bobby Roode coming to the main roster: book 'em as neutral babyfaces to gel with the return pop, then give them reason to turn. In this case it's The Bucks, and ideally, this loss will be the beginning of setting up the FTR/Bucks match. Otherwise, I agree if they drag it on past this point.
It's also possible that they didn't care about the return pop(since they don't have actual fans in the crowd), but didn't want to waste FTR/Bucks for a fake crowd.
Private Party match was good but how are they ranked number 5, beat an unranked team the week before and that gives them a title match? The obvious result took away from my enjoyment.
Cage gets a belt again making it obvious as if it wasn’t already that he’s not beating Moxley.
They waste TV time having Nyla beat two jobbers and have her tease a manager announcement instead of using the platform to debut her? It prob won’t be that good anyway but that’s besides the point here.
I know WWE gets shit for their booking but some of this bloody hell!
Overall I enjoyed the show but some really strange booking in parts.
This honestly feels pretty miniscule, though. The Private Party contender shot was obviously shoehorned in to make up for the lack of Mox/Cage, so they didn't have many other choices. Bucks were in a storyline, SCU have already had a couple shots, The Dark Order shouldn't be wasted this moment, and Santana/Ortiz were actually #4. Also, who cares if a match is a little predictable? It's impossible to have matches always be unpredictable. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the match-up for what it is instead of getting caught up in how predictable it is. It was a strong match that for me, made me not really think/care about who was going to win.
I generally agree with the FTW Title/Cage situation, though. I think it would have been better to have the match, maybe make it look like Moxley just barely survived, and then Taz gives Cage the FTW title as a consolation prize that just fuels his rage as he goes on a path of destruction. Again, though, a situation that was clearly born out of last-minute changes and could be much worse.
I’m sure I heard on commentary last week Santana/Ortiz were unranked but correct me if I’m wrong on that.
I get there’s been some problems come up but it still seems rather a big jump for them. The story is Matt the veteran teaching them yeah and this seems a bit early. The match was good though no denying that. It just feels like a waiting game til FTR and/or Young Bucks challenge Omega/Page and I’m less invested as a result but that’s just me.
Fair enough. I think a lot of it definitely has to do with COVID pushing people off TV 1-2 months as well as playing a bit of chicken with what they want to give away before crowds can return. You could be right about Private Party, and the ranking I looked at could be new(doesn't seem like it's been updated from Fyter Fest N2, at least). But overall, I do think the quality of the match makes up for any shortcomings or odd booking choices. It would be another thing entirely had Private Party actually won.
Pairing with Badger's point about predictability, Private Party earned the title shot on night one but the closing segment of night one featured a pull apart between The Bucks, FTR, and Page/Omega. The title match on night two was clearly entertaining but the missed an opportunity and essentially told the audience PP was just there to be there by what they did to close night one. Easily could have done something where PP came out instead of The Bucks to show they shouldn't be overlooked because they're the ones actually come for the shot the next week. Still likely would've led to a predictable result but it could have done some added favors to PP.